I picked up this book because I used to enjoy the late Fred Saberhagen's wild military science fiction stories about the Berserkers, an ancient self-replicating machine army that had centuries ago wiped out their creators and are now wanting to destroy all life. Only Man stands in their way.

Of Berserkers, Swords & Vampires has a forward by his wife. I'm not fond of forwards but this one showed an especial respect for her late husband's work and her involvement with it.

Most of the book is a collection of past reprints from his pulp days and also involves not only Berserker robots but also sword & sorcery fantasies and Fred's version of vampires and Dracula.

I won't bore you with listing the story titles and table of contents. I will say that some of his stories were a slow read and many get off to a slow start. With some persistence and a good Merriam Websters, the reader can plow through and I think enjoy some of his tales.

Was the original King Minos and the Minotaur actually dealing with an alien from outer space, who only wanted to teach his technology? The White Bull is such a story. Another tale using Greek mythology has certain magic swords that are used against the gods, when Mars inadvertently gives extreme power to a minor mortal wizard.

And a space adventure where Boris Brazil and crew involve themselves in the lives of aliens on this water planet and try to prevent a civil war so as to set up a base. Quite interesting.

And then I find that these tidbits are based on entire story-arcs such as Book of Swords, many Dracula novels and Berserker tales.

So if you want to check out Fred's work then this anthology definitely gives you a taste of what to read. My interest has always been his military science fiction stories, but now I may just check out his Boris Brazil and Book of Swords books!

Recommended.

Other Books By Fred:

Berserker: Man Against Machine in a Race for Survival [BOX SET]
The Book of Swords Set
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Seance for a Vampire

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I picked up this book because I used to enjoy the late Fred Saberhagen's wild military science fiction stories about the Berserkers, an ancient self-replicating machine army that had centuries ago wiped out their creators and are now wanting to destroy all life. Only Man stands in their way.

Of Berserkers, Swords & Vampires has a forward by his wife. I'm not fond of forwards but this one showed an especial respect for her late husband's work and her involvement with it.

Most of the book is a collection of past reprints from his pulp days and also involves not only Berserker robots but also sword & sorcery fantasies and Fred's version of vampires and Dracula.

I won't bore you with listing the story titles and table of contents. I will say that some of his stories were a slow read and many get off to a slow start. With some persistence and a good Merriam Websters, the reader can plow through and I think enjoy some of his tales.

Was the original King Minos and the Minotaur actually dealing with an alien from outer space, who only wanted to teach his technology? The White Bull is such a story. Another tale using Greek mythology has certain magic swords that are used against the gods, when Mars inadvertently gives extreme power to a minor mortal wizard.

And a space adventure where Boris Brazil and crew involve themselves in the lives of aliens on this water planet and try to prevent a civil war so as to set up a base. Quite interesting.

And then I find that these tidbits are based on entire story-arcs such as Book of Swords, many Dracula novels and Berserker tales.

So if you want to check out Fred's work then this anthology definitely gives you a taste of what to read. My interest has always been his military science fiction stories, but now I may just check out his Boris Brazil and Book of Swords books!

Recommended.

Other Books By Fred:

Berserker: Man Against Machine in a Race for Survival [BOX SET]
The Book of Swords Set
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Seance for a Vampire

( )