Lace and Blade
#14: Lace and Blade
Deborah J. Ross, ed.
This was a gift, and one I now treasure because I have two autographs in it. Yay!
Anyway. This is an anthology from Norilana books feature stories of love, honor and valor, featuring characters ranging from highwaymen to a queen that's lost her head (that is, the head is enchanted to keep talking.)
I enjoyed all of the stories in here, some more than others, which is inevitable, I suppose. madrobins wrote a wonderful, almost comical tale that is perfect to start the book with of a young lady that lost a family heirloom and begs her friend's help in getting it back.
Chaz Brenchly wrote a wonderful tale about what two eunuchs might get up to in the evenings when they're off duty.
The most well-crafted is the last by sartorias which tells the tale of two men and two women going to extremes to get each other's attention.
The one I liked the least was the Asaro, and not because it was a bad story. In fact, it's a great example of crafting a three-stage story; character tries to get out of a bad situation and it gets worse, tries again and it gets worse, then climax and resolution. It's set in the same world that uses shapes and colors for magic.
But this anthology was totally worth the read. There were several more excellent stories, by Diana Paxson and Tanith Lee and a few others. They all had great examples of how to start stories (yeah, I'm still stuck on craft, but hey, they're all good at what they do.)
Deborah J. Ross, ed.
This was a gift, and one I now treasure because I have two autographs in it. Yay!
Anyway. This is an anthology from Norilana books feature stories of love, honor and valor, featuring characters ranging from highwaymen to a queen that's lost her head (that is, the head is enchanted to keep talking.)
I enjoyed all of the stories in here, some more than others, which is inevitable, I suppose. madrobins wrote a wonderful, almost comical tale that is perfect to start the book with of a young lady that lost a family heirloom and begs her friend's help in getting it back.
Chaz Brenchly wrote a wonderful tale about what two eunuchs might get up to in the evenings when they're off duty.
The most well-crafted is the last by sartorias which tells the tale of two men and two women going to extremes to get each other's attention.
The one I liked the least was the Asaro, and not because it was a bad story. In fact, it's a great example of crafting a three-stage story; character tries to get out of a bad situation and it gets worse, tries again and it gets worse, then climax and resolution. It's set in the same world that uses shapes and colors for magic.
But this anthology was totally worth the read. There were several more excellent stories, by Diana Paxson and Tanith Lee and a few others. They all had great examples of how to start stories (yeah, I'm still stuck on craft, but hey, they're all good at what they do.)