Appearing in 1973/74 the first two volumes for this anthology series feature Sword & Sorcery tales commissioned especially for these volumes by Lin Carter. The eight stories are by the (then) members of SAGA, The Swordsmen And Sorcerers Guild Of America. The stories are of varying quality pretty much as good as you'd expect from the eight writers.

Volume One contains:

The Sadness Of The Executioner by Fritz Lieber

Nominally a tale of Lieber's S&S duo Fafhdr & The Gray Mouser they only appear briefly at the end. This story would seem to have been an influence of Terry Pratchett's sequence of Discworld novels dealing with Death. Here the premise is the same and Lieber's writing shows a similar sardonic wit to Pratchett. 8/10

Morreion by Jack Vance

A Dying Earth tale with Vance returning to this milieu for the first time since 1966. Vance was probably the best writer of the eight and this witty tale is one of the series best. 9/10

The Merman's Children by Poul Anderson

Anderson only wrote fantasy occasionally but displayed his ample talents whenever he did. Here he pays tribute to his Danish heritage by offering a sequel to the folktale of Agneta and the Merman. He would return to this theme in a later volume. 8/10

The Higher Heresies Of Oolimar by Lin Carter

Carter concludes this volume with his own contribution. Probably not his worst work but hardly his best. Unfortunately he opens the tale with an avalanche of his unintentionally ridiculous coined fantasy names - Thoorana Zephrondus, Dazenderath, Uth Chanderzool, - and further on we encounter Yuthontis, Lakhdool, Ubonidus, the Quastrophian Forest, Pazodolah, Oror Oromazpus, Lokoto Xodar, Jathdolindian, Llu nam Puk, Quam gan Chee (Sam Gamgee anyone?), Ith mak Jorb, Carter just goes on and on with these juvenile names. The story is passable, channelling the witty styles of Lieber and Vance fairly successfully but following those writers in the same volume only highlights Carter's lack of originality in terms of plot and milieu. 6/10 ( )

First volume of the definitive 1970s Sword & Sorcery anthology. Fritz Lieber's story is fairly trivial and Poul Anderson folk tale retelling doesn't fully belong to the genre, while Lin Carter is still Lin Carter. The Jack Vance story is as literally fantastic as you would expect. The second volume is a better package overall. ( )

A fine anthology, dating from the aftermath of the Tolkien invasion. "the Sadness of the Executioner" by Leiber, "the Merman's children" by Anderson are the cream of the crop, but the other two are worthy of inclusion. ( )