A Swashbuckling Anthology: Swordsmen and Supermen, edited by Donald M. Grant
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Swordsmen and Supermen (Centaur Press, February 1972). Cover by Virgil Finlay
Swordsmen and Supermen 1972, subtitled “Swashbuckling Fantastic Anthology.” From Centaur Press, edited by Donald M. Grant. Cover from Virgil Finlay. This was linked to Centaur Press’s Time-Lost series of books but I’m not sure it quite fit that or the “swashbuckling” subtitle. It’s a strange mishmash of material, including three old reprints and two new stories (from ’72).
It starts off with a Robert E. Howard story, but it’s one of his humorous westerns featuring Breckinridge Elkins called “Meet Cap’n Kidd.” It’s a funny tale but not really the type of fantasy one associates with Swordsmen.
Then we have “The Death of a Hero” by Jean D’Esme, which does have some sword and axe battles, but it’s an excerpted piece of a novel called The Red Gods and I’m not sure how well it stood on its own.
Third is “Wings of Y’vrn” by Darrel Crombie, featuring a shapeshifter main character. Donald Grant was apparently very high on Crombie at this time, and the prose is well done. Crombie was a pseudonym for Joseph Fraser Darby, a Canadian who had worked as a journalist. Apparently this is the only known story by Crombie. I liked it pretty well.
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Grey Maiden: The Story of a Sword Through the Ages by Arthur D.
Howden Smith (Centaur Press, October 1974). Cover by David Ireland
“The Slave of Marathon” is next, by well-known writer Arthur D. Howden Smith (1887 – 1945). This is one of Smith’s Gray Maiden stories (Gray Maiden being a sword) and is my favorite story in the book.
Finally, we end with “How Sargoth Lay Siege to Zarwemm” by Lin Carter. This is a very brief piece, only a few pages, by Carter, and while well-written, is not really a story at all but more of a vignette about an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.
Charles Gramlich administers The Swords & Planet League group on Facebook, where this post first appeared. His last article for us was on Avon Fantasy Reader, edited by Donald A. Wollheim. See all of his recent posts for Black Gate here.
Wow – I have a few of these old Centaur Press “Timelost” books. I haven’t pulled them off the shelf in decades. You’re making me feel old!
I’ve had most of mine a while but didn’t get them until I was in my 30s when I came to the New Orleans area and found a good SF/fantasy bookstore
Yeah, it’s not the worst anthology I’ve ever read, but also not one that I’m going to be rushing out, shoving copies unsolicited into strangers’ hands.
I like having it but I doubt I’ll ever read it again
An immortal work, like all Centaur Press books, in that it was printed on qualty paper that does not disintegrate. Immortality of content may very… I bought this one for the Lin Carter story back in the day, because like all young fantasy enthusiasts of the time, I recognized him as a kindred spirit. This was before I realized that, in his case, immortality of content was also variable. All that said, the immortality of Centaur’s content generally holds up pretty well. I first encountered Friel and Mundy though this publisher, in addition to Howard’s Solomon Kane.
I found the Centaur Press books a bit later but they are definitely sturdy works that hold up well.
What do you think was the reason behind fantasy anthologies with misleading titles, subtitles, or covers? Was it to capitalize on the high demand for S&S at the time? (was there?) Or to shoe horn stories into a popular series? Or demand from the publishers to use certain words (sword) in the title/banner? Reminded me of the first “Heroic Visions” anthology I picked up recently. Other than a Fafhrd & Gray Mouser story and a very S&S cover, very few of the stories in the first volume were about sword-wielding heroes – but all were very enjoyable
At least sometimes, the covers were stuff they had on hand or had even been used on other publications (although probably this wasn’t the case for Centaur). The covers were also a strong part of the marketing concept, and that’s probably why the titles were misleading. Whatever sells.