Customer Reviews

Sails & Sorcery: Tales of Nautical Fantasy

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Short-story anthologies are pretty hit-and-miss in terms of quality. Sails and Sorcery, thankfully, has far more hits than misses. There are a few genuinely intriguing settings (Stillworld-- about a planet that has stopped rotating on its axis) and some neat historical fantasy as well. Even the blatant "Call of Cthulhu" pastiche (Sea of Madness) does a good job of depicting the terror of being lost at sea and finding a strange, otherworldly island (better, in some ways, than Lovecraft's original, since this story isn't bogged down with ludicrous amounts of purple prose). There are some authors here that I'd definitely like to see more from in the future.
Like any anthology, there are a couple stories you'll probably gloss over-- one or two generic Middle-Earth-on-the-high-seas. But they are, thankfully, few.
Some of the best things about Sails and Sorcery are the black-and-white illustrations that accompany every story. They're professional quality and fit each piece of fiction quite well (it's obvious the artist has carefully read and mulled over each one).
Sails and Sorcery is a nice volume to own. Particularly since there isn't nearly enough aquatic fantasy fiction out there.

This book of short stories is a delightful read for those who like tales of pirates and adventure on the high seas. It is full of adventure and romance, with witches and wenches, chaos and camaraderie, horrors and heroes, magic and mayhem at every turn of the pages. My favorite story was "Rum Runners", with very colorful characters and just the right mix of suspense and humor, peppered with enough romance to be compared to Pirates of the Caribbean. You will enjoy the various stories, all touched by the supernatural.