Comments on: Reading Roundup, September 2009

By: Reading Roundup, October 2009 — Bill Ward

Reading Roundup, October 2009 — Bill Ward — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:02:59 +0000

[...] I mentioned last month, I have the pleasure of reviewing the two new Harold Lamb collections from Bison Books, the fifth [...]

By: Jason T

Jason T — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:30:37 +0000

Thanks for the additional insight and information. Looks like this might make the perfect holiday gift to myself.

By: Bill Ward

Bill Ward — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:06:26 +0000

I think Swords From the West is sort of the perfect place to start, for a couple of reasons. One big one is variety — you have stories in Europe, in the Crusader Kingdoms, and in Transoxiana and Persia and places in Central Asia, and you’ve got stuff ranging from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Then too, many of the stories are about the fusion of cultures, and the tension of East meeting West, and the enormous variety of points of view that creates. You also have everything from short stories to short novels all in one package, and historical figures and events rubbing elbows with creations of Lamb’s own devising.

I think these stories may be more accessible to Westerners as well, as Khlit and his world (what admittedly little of it I have read at this point — and yes it is 4 volumes of Cossack stories) is more alien to us. As far as action and pace go, well, you’ll get that no matter what you pick up, and there’s certainly no shortage of it in Swords From the West.

You can read a few of the stories that are in this volume in the old online Flashing Swords — ‘The Golden Horde’ and ‘Protection.’

By: Jason T

Jason T — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:26:11 +0000

I keep meaning to pick up some of those Howard Lamb collections from Bison Books. It sounds like Swords from the West might be a good place to start. Any thoughts on how it compares with the ‘Steppes’ stories in the previous 4? volumes?

And I’ll certainly be getting the new BG in December, isn’t it?