I acquired this one, and a yellow-spine-DAW-books copy which I kept, in an eBay lot of fantasy books. I was jonesing for some sword & sorcery action (and gruesomeness) and found a little of what I was looking for here. I did not like all of the stories in this book. Some of them were just boring and written in a plain prose that lacked verve as opposed to some of the best offerings in the genre and most bordered on straight fantasy rather than sword & sorcery (and most of the S&S stories were not purely of the S&S genre either). Some of my favorites in this anthology are: Taking Heart (an enjoyable cloak and dagger drama between two rogues) by Stephen L. Burns, The Valley of the Troll (the troll’s curse was A level trolling of the villainous robbers) by Charles de Lint, The Sword of Yraine by Diana L. Paxson, Daton and the Dead Things (eerie and weird like sword & sorcery should be) by Michael Ward, Gate of the Damned (just plain good bloody and weird sword & sorcery) by Janet Fox, Child of Orcus (sword and sandals with sword & sorcery elements) by Robin W. Bailey, and I did also find the brief Things Come in Threes by Dorothy J. Heydt enjoyable as well as quirky.
The Sword of Yraine is a standout here and had me in the grips of some genuine suspense. In it, raiders, stragglers from a defeated army, overwhelm a temple and take the priestesses hostage and brutalize them until they reveal the location of their treasure. It focuses on SA committed against the virginal initiates and the plight of one of them, Yraine, not assaulted but comes close, who is trained in sword fighting to foment resistance and win the day after a nude sword duel. It was suspenseful and somewhat disturbing as there is the what-you-would-expect vengeance for such crimes visited upon one of the rapists (but not by our heroine). The heroine was well-written and proactive even when she was essentially helpless.
Daton and the Dead Things had a situation often found in mythology but was told in a purely weird-tales story mode. The prisoners of the monster who were so traumatized as to believe that they were “dead things” and thus “not good to eat” were interesting in concept and the monster, the titular Daton, was menacing, creepy, and pathetic all at once.
Gate of the Damned had the creepiest villain/monster out of all of these stories and has a pretty compelling protagonist in the amazon Scorpia.
Child of Orcus was pretty good until it got into its last third basically degenerating from sword and sorcery into classical myth. Other than that, it was a good one.
None of the stories made me angry that I read them, I did like seven of them though the remainder I don’t even really remember much about them. I have read Gimmile’s Songs by Charles L. Saunders before in his [b:Dossouye|3284566|Dossouye (Dossouye, #1)|Charles R. Saunders|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1222350570l/3284566._SY75_.jpg|3320915]. As I remember it, it’s okay (the story featured here), it has some sadness in it.
I would recommend Sword & Sorceress to those looking for some good sword & sorcery stories, seven out of fifteen isn’t that bad (approximately 48% which is much better than some other anthologies I’ve read). ( )

I sure hope the next ones are better. I started with number 22-25 and loved almost every story. Just finished number 1 and didn't really care for a single one. ( )

Love this anthology series, led me to many interesting fantasy authors over the years. ( )

I’m not even sure where I first picked up one of MZB’s Sword and Sorceress books. All I know is I was hooked with the first one. It took me several years to collect all 21, but I loved each one. Some years are better than other, and there are a few stories that I have never forgotten, but over all, you can’t go wrong reading this entire set! ( )

Once upon a time, when I was a little girl, in the dark days pre-Buffy, it was hard to find a female action hero. And yes, little girls need them, and teens, and even young women. So when the first Sword and Sorceress was published in 1984, I grabbed it, and it was love at first sight of the cover. I still own that paperback. On the back it boasts the appearance of "Glen Cook, Phyllis Ann Karr, Charles R. Saunders, Jennifer Roberson, Diana Paxson." Others on the contents page who'd later gain prominence include Emma Bull (her first sale) and Charles de Lint. There are 15 fantasy short stories here in all.

To be honest none were greatly memorable. When I recently picked up again an anthology of stories by Isaac Asimov after decades, I immediately remembered the content of most from just their title, and of many others just from the first few paragraphs. I could say the same of classic literary short stories after having read them once years before. None of the stories here rise to that level, and you couldn't mistake any for literary fiction. None really take stylistic chances. Only two are even first person. A disconcerting amount--over a third--contain at least the threat, and three times the depiction, of rape. With a couple of the stories, I didn't see the point of the protagonist being a woman--their gender could have been changed and it wouldn't have impacted the story in the slightest.

On the other hand, I found only two clunkers. Otherwise these were all enjoyable, and a few especially so. If I had to name a favorite, it would be Stephen L. Burns "Taking Heart" one of the few humor pieces, and with a great handling of point of view and a nicely wry twist. Followed closely by two historical fantasies: Charles Saunder's "Gimmile's Songs," set in Africa with an amazon heroine and Robin W. Bailey's "Child of Orcus" set in Ancient Rome with a woman ex-gladiator in the pay of Empress Messalina. I also particularly liked Pat Murphy's "With Four Lean Hounds" which had a nice fairy tale feel.

In the years the anthology has existed (it's still being published with Elizabeth Waters as editor) it has included such authors as Mercedes Lackey, C.J. Cherryh, Elizabeth Moon and Laurell K. Hamilton. It got off to a solid start here. ( )