This is Marion Zimmer Bradley's second anthology devoted to exploring the fantasy genre and the women that inhabit it. These aren't romance stories, or tales of Amazons ultimately defeated by a superior man, or domestic stories. These are tales of adventure, where the protagonists are women of the sword or magic staff who actually do something. Despite the cheesy "pulp-fantasy" cover that this second anthology had the misfortune to display, the stories are anything but cheesy. They cover a vast array of tones and styles, ranging from the epic struggle, to the tongue in cheek, to the rough and tumble. These gals aren't waiting for the handsome Hero to step in and rescue them. And with skilled editor Marion Zimmer Bradley selecting the stories for this anthology, each short story has something to offer.

Those of you who have read through the first anthology in the series will note the presence of a number of the same authors, as MZB herself mentions in her foreword. "A Night at the Two Inns" by Phyllis Ann Karr continues the adventures of Frostflower and Thorn-- Karr's gentle sorceress and tough swordswoman duo. Likewise, Diana L. Paxson continues the story of her character Shanna with "Shadow Wood". Other returning authors include Stephen Burns with "The Black Tower", Charles Saunders with "Shimenge's Mask", "Fireweb" by Deborah Wheeler, and "Cold Blows the Wind" by Charles DeLint. Jennifer Roberson also returns with "The Lady and the Tiger" which features, I believe, the first appearance of her now famous Tiger and Del characters.

Warrior women, thieves, craftswomen, sorceresses and assassins all populate these pages. Some stories are straight adventure and epic fantasy such as "The Black Tower" by Stephen Burns and "Shimenge's Mask" by Charles Saunders. Others are biting and surprise the reader with their endings. Try "The Lady and the Tiger" by Jennifer Roberson or "Hunger" by Russ Garrison. Still others are just sincerely funny. Don't miss Elizabeth Thompson's "On First Looking Into Bradley's Guidelines, Or Stories I Don't Want To Read Either" which does a fine job at elaborating the things that Marion Zimmer Bradley didn't want to see submitted for this anthology. The editor was tickled by the poem; I suspect readers will be too.

Beyond the varieties, there are a few tales that defy simple definition, and shine out in this collection. Popular author C. J. Cherryh pens "The Unshadowed Land"; a story that gave the editor goose bumps-not to mention me! The other one I will note is "The Wound in the Moon" by Vera Nazarian, this was the authors first published story and is truly a beautiful, disturbing and thought-provoking piece.

What makes these anthologies stand out, besides the exceptional stories and powerful heroines, is MZB's own introductions to each story and author. Her comments are almost as delightful to read as the stories themselves. For anyone who likes this anthology, I highly recommend you check out the first Sword and Sorceress anthology if you can find it. The good news is there are now nineteen Sword and Sorceress anthologies to read and discover, but I will firmly uphold that the earliest anthologies, particularly the first three, are some of the best.

Happy Reading! shanshad ^_^

The best of the anthologies that MZB put out, the stories in here are some of the best. Sadly, content has sharply declined in the last five or six. I can't bear to waste money on them anymore, but I still read this one. This has some especially potent stories that are more than that, they are alive.

This is well worth the price to reorder it! Good fantasy, from when fantasy was actually good.

Yes, I knew Marion. After helping me sell my first novel, House of Zeor, she became my writing mentor for many years, and I can safely say she taught me maybe 80% of what I know and today teach about writing -- maybe more -- in workshops such as the one at Westercon.

Sword of Aldones was my absolute all time favorite Darkover novel, and that's still true today -- which was a disappointment to MZB.

You see SoA was her first actual forray into attempting to take the embarrassingly juvenile "Sevener" series she wrote for personal amusement (as we today write Star Trek and Buffy stories)and turn it into a professional product.

It's sale was a milestone in her life and professional career -- but she always knew and felt that it had technical and structural flaws. She felt the characters did a lot of running around, and people, issues and things popped out of nowhere, and the whole thing lacked a central motivational backbone.

But you see - that is what I love about it.

I just made up all the missing parts and never missed them.

Thus while the rewrite of this part of Darkovan history is now the actual basis of the series, and SoA is ignored -- I found the rewrite less enjoyable because it told me the answers to all the unanswerable questions posed in SoA (which I had so much fun answering for myself).

Because MZB and I are so very - VERY - different people, of course what I made up to explain the inexplicable is very different from what she eventually supplied.

However, if you are as much of a Darkover fan as I am (I found Darkover when I was a Freshman at the U. of Calif at Berkeley - which is when I also discovered Theodore Bikel -- these two having literally changed my life) -- then you need to read and compare these two books and decide for yourself which is the actual foundation of the Darkover series.

At the same time you will discover one of the foundations of my own Sime Gen Universe, now available on amazon.com. Sime Gen: The Unity Trilogy is much more like Sword of Aldones than it is like Sharra's Exile.

Live Long and Prosper,
Jacqueline Lichtenberg

I can't believe I'm the first to review this book. Where are all you loyal "freinds of darkover" hiding. Anyway I never read "Sharra's Exile" but I am well aware that this is the original story of Lew Alton and his dealings with the Sharra Matrix. Which is why I never bothered with Sharra's Exile, shoot read The heratige of hastur and this one and your all caught up. I like this one because it doesn't go to far into the characters, cause they always have the same problems no matter what family they come from, which actually makes me read more to actually find out what is going on. The ending is anti-climactic but who cares, Sharra's dead right? NOT!

I read this book in college and it was a haunting beconing of my ancestors from the past to prod me on and become something more than the traditional wife and mother. Woman warrior in the book symbolizes true women inner strength and abilities that can be transferred to modern society in America, as little girls grow up to be voters, tax payers and soldiers defending this country was well as mothers expanding and raising the next generation.

This is one book you won't be able to put down! It kept my full attention all the way through. If you like adventure stories with heroines here's another great one from the author of 'Mists of Avalon'. Zadieyek of Gyre is a warrior woman you will not forget!

I read Anthologies. I read them alot, and one thing I've noticed is that there is usually at least one story that just isn't worth the trouble of reading it. This is one book where this was not a problem.

Since this book is a collection of stories from a magazine there are many types of subjects with only the magazine as a common thread among the seperate stories. This is a departure from current anthologies and actually kept me interested throughout the book.

Great for subway rides!

This book was quite good. I got it used for 20 cents, so it was definetely worth the price! It's one of Marion Zimmer Bradley's older works, and I seem to find them better than her newer ones. Dark Satanic is a dark-fantasy/occult horror story that follows pretty much the usual formula, however, the author tells the tale extremely well, making the characters very involving and I could feel their descents into maddness. It was quite chilling at times, and an easy read--not in that it was quick and light, but it was fast-paced and I read it straight through without being bored once. I am a big fan of Marion Zimmer Bradley, but I haven't really liked what I've read of her recent occult-type novels (Ghostlight was decent but not captivating, and Witchlight was dumb and boring). However, if this is what her 1970s period horror writing was like, I'll certainly try a few others

VERF INFORMATIVE EXCELLENT BOOK ONLY SLIGHT FLAW IS HAS NO INDEX NONETHELESS WELL WORTH BUYING NO COMPARISON TO ANYTHING ELSE ON THE MARKET AT THIS LOW PRICE . EDDIE ORTI

This two-in-one volume combines the already classic "Darkover" novels THE HERITAGE OF HASTUR (1975) and its direct sequel SHARRA'S EXILE (1981). If you have yet to discover the magic of Marion Zimmer Bradley's legendary creation, this a perfect volume to get introduced to the world of the bloody sun and its inhabitants. Read about the unwilling Comyn heir Regis Hastur, his forbidden love to his paxman Danilo Syrtis. Read about the dangerous Sharra matrix, a conspiration to overthrow the Comyn Council and numerous other wonders of the world of the red sun. Do not miss it.

I began reading Ms. Bradley's work probably around the time this book was published, but I never saw this in a store until 1998. I was very familiar with her writing style and had grown attached to all the Darkover, Avalon and Atlantis characters but I never knew of her short stories. Some of these are from her writing "beginnings" and I must say, they are the best I've ever read. Each is complete. That is not to say they all leave you satisfied. Some I don't believe are meant to do that, but instead seem to have an urgency in the telling that doesn't go away when you finish the last paragraph. I can still feel the family in "Jamie" and I can still feel my revulsion for the stress relieving mechanism is another of the stories. This is a wonderful collection with a depth that I don't think was always able to be realized in Ms. Bradley's popular novels. It's well worth the ordering wait.

Take your favorite Darkover novel, compress it into a few pages but leave all the emotional impact in place -- that's "The Keeper's Price." I notice that MZB and Lisa Waters kept coming back to Hilary Castamir's charcter, and I wish there had been a novel about her. :)

Leaving aside the brilliance of the title masterpiece, the rest of the collection is strong and well-organized. Even the stories I didn't like as much at first ("A Simple Dream" comes to mind, as does "Ambassador to Corresanti") have grown on me. I've read and re-read this collection probably twenty times in the past year. I still want to read it over again. These are wonderful stories!

I also appreciated how well-organized this collection and _Sword of Chaos_ were, and wish the anthologies had continued to print stories in approximate chronological order.

Oh well.

All of those who are interested in paranormal and spiritual matters must have this book. Great reference manual, very objective, well documented, up dated material, one topic will lead you to another. Wonderful book, the English and the Spanish version.