A companion collection to Thunder on the Battlefield: Swords, this second anthology offers some intriguing female heroes with foul moods, strange forms, and powerful loves, loyalties and affections. Ghosts of a distant world that might be our future, bombed or sunken and burned, fill these tales, changing direction and dragging their readers to lands of screaming seas and mysterious pasts. Complex, multifaceted foes, sometimes lyrical prose, dark evils, curious angels and cherubians, portals, faith and war; this collection has it all. And there’s even a Halfling hiding somewhere in there!

“I don’t want to be a warrior’s wife,” says one character. “I want to be a warrior.” And a fine one she is, well-portrayed, inspiring me to look for more books by her author, S. H. Roddy. Then there’s the wonder of finding Steven Shrewsbury’s Gorias, remembered from longer tales, and then... and then...

It’s another fine collection of sword and sorcery to ensorcel fans of the genre, and another fine read.

Disclosure: I was given a free ecopy during the blog tour and just wish I’d got around to reading it sooner. ( )

“Transcend reality with seventh star press,” says the blurb, and this book certainly does that. Hunters, farmers, and soldiers are all different, and so are the cultures they come from. G. Jerome Henson’s slow-building Horde yields the field to the echoing refrain of D. T. Neal’s Grinders, with hints of distant worlds and secrets untold. From earthly desert to Valhalla, from centaurs to hired swords, with gods of Egypt, Israel and more, this anthology has some haunting, surprising tales, lots of great characters, and a wonderful feel of having only glimpsed the curious worlds that lie out there.

I tried to pick a favorite tale for this review, but kept revising my choice, Loraine Parker’s Thief of Souls might win, or D. T. Neal’s Wolf and Crow. But maybe I’ll just say I like them all, reveling in the powerful ending offered by Jessica Veter’s Witch of Rymal Pass, with secrets and loss all revealed in perfect time.

Disclosure: I was given a free ecopy during the blog tour; just wish I’d found time to read it earlier. ( )