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Loading... An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat (Dread Empire) (2008)by Glen Cook
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This collection of short fiction is worth the price of purchase for the pirate ship stories alone... the rest are great explorations of character in the creation of the setting of the Dread Empire world. Plot wise these stories borrow lots from the pulp, fairy tale and mythic traditions and are great additions to the history of epic adventure fiction. Fans of the "new" fantasy writers like Joe Abercrombie, Steve Erikson and Scott Lynch should check out these formative tales in this tradition along with the black company series no reviews | add a review
Belongs to SeriesDread Empire (story collection) Contains
The Dread Empire, a gritty world of larger-than-life plots, nation-shattering conflict, maddening magic, strange creatures, and raw, flawed heroes, all shown through the filter of Glen Cook's inimitable war-correspondent prose. The Dread Empire, spanning from the highest peaks of the Dragon's Teeth to the endless desert lands of Hammad al Nakir, from besieged Kavelin to mighty Shinshan, the Empire Unacquainted with Defeat, with its fearless, masked soldiers, known as the Demon Guard... An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat collects all of Glen Cook's short fiction set in the vast world of the Dread Empire, from "The Nights of Dreadful Silence", featuring the first appearance of Bragi Ragnarson, Mocker, and Haroun bin Yousif, to the culture-clashing novella "Soldier of an Empire Unacquainted with Defeat"; from "Silverheels", Cook's first published work of fiction, to "Hell's Forge", a haunting tale of cursed pirates and strange lands, appearing here for the first time. Also including a detailed introduction and extensive story notes by Glen Cook, An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat charts the development of this influential American author and the massive, multifaceted world that he created. Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Varide in nature and time all of them are quite good and few are particularly special. I was most taken by the Vengeful Dragon, a set of three tales featuring crew trapped as shades upon a piratical Maire Celeste. Other tales were set in more tradional villages on either sides of the big war.
In my opinion Glen Cook writes better short stories than the full length novels. In a short story there isn't room for character development (never Cook's strongest point) and so we can cut to the heart of the action. There alos isn't room to develop a omnipresent observer, so fights and intereactions are far more personal than happens in the main books.
Enjoyable selection, a shame that many more were lost to the ravages of time and so will never see the light of day. ( )