Back in 1964, I bought a copy of Swordsmen in the Sky and immediately fell in love with Swords & Sorcery fiction. From the classic Frazetta cover to the interior artwork by Jack Gaughan, the stories in this collection completely captivated me. Later, I would seek out the works of the authors included in this volume: Poul Anderson, Edmond Hamilton, Leigh Brackett, Andre Norton, and Otis Adelbert Kline. Don Wollheim, advanced for his time, devoted almost half of this book to the work of two women writers. Swordsman in the Sky is one of those books I’ll never forget because of the impact it had on me as a youth.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Swordsmen of Lost Terra (1951) by Poul Anderson
The People of the Crater (1947) by Andre Norton
The Moon That Vanished (1948) by Leigh Brackett
A Vision of Venus (1933) by Otis Adelbert Kline
Kaldar, World of Antares (1933) by Edmond Hamilton.
I have this one. Great stuff.
SWORDSMAN IN THE SKY ignited my passion for Swords & Sorcery back in the Sixties, Bill. A great collection!
Well, first and foremost, Wollheim was a canny editor who knew that good and commercially potent writers, particularly when they were women with ambiguous names, were not to be ignored…and it made no more personal sense than commercial nor literary to snub Brackett when including work by her husband (Hamilton). All told, the current book line isn’t the only attempt over the decades to recapture the flavor of the adventure-sf magazine PLANET STORIES, as this book demonstrates (by borrowing at least two of its key contributors in it s best years in Brackett and Anderson). (And, of course, Brackett would produce what she’d hoped to make the first of a series of anthologies a decade after your fateful purchase, with THE BEST OF PLANET STORIES, VOLUME 1.)
You’re right, Todd. And I have a copy of THE BEST OF PLANET STORIES (VOL. 1). That might be a good candidate for FFB.
I think someone’s done it already, but I’m not sure that should stop anyone…
A great fun book!
I remember my delight as a kid when I first read SWORDSMEN IN THE SKY, Scott. Hope you enjoy the goodies in the box I sent you.
Same experience, George, though I’d always liked Edgar Rice Burroughs and had read some of Poul Anderson’s Sword & Sorcery previously. But this collection went on my Keeper shelf right away. Convincing most readers that there is a fair amount of S&S worth reading is the same as trying to convince them that there are actual literate, worthwhile westerns.
I was discovering the ACE Books editions of Edgar Rice Burroughs about the same time as SWORDSMAN IN THE SKY was published, Ed. A work of art in any genre, S&S or Westerns, can rise above the genre’s conventions.
George, if you get the urge to review THE BEST OF PLANET STORIES (VOL. 1) please don’t fight it. The tales vary a bit in quality, but all are enjoyable. And SWORDSMEN IN THE SKY is also a good pick and a good read.
I’ll have to find my copy of BEST OF PLANET STORIES (VOL. 1), Drongo. I work ahead so I’ve already chosen books for the next three FFBs. But I’ll put it on my Review Real Soon stack.