Flashing Swords! is a series of fantasy anthologies published by Dell Books from 1973 to 1981 under the editorship of Lin Carter,[1] and revived under the editorship of Robert M. Price in 2020. It originally showcased the heroic fantasy work of the members of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America (SAGA), a somewhat informal literary group active from the 1960s to the 1980s, of which Carter was the guiding force. Most of the important sword and sorcery writers at the time of the group’s founding were members; later, membership was extended to other fantasy authors.
Summary
The Flashing Swords! series provides a cross-section of the heroic fantasy of the period. Carter and SAGA also sponsored The Gandalf Award from 1974-1981. With the collapse of Carter’s health in the 1980s the anthology series, the Gandalf award, and likely SAGA itself all went into abeyance.
A revival of the series edited by Carter's literary executor Robert M. Price was projected, with the first volume, Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! #6 published (briefly) by Pulp Hero Press in July, 2020. Due to an introduction found objectionable by some of the authors whose works were included, the publisher delisted the book a few days after publication.[2] A second edition of the volume, retaining just three of its twelve stories and adding seven more, was eventually issued by Timaios Press in January, 2021.[3] Subsequent volumes of the revived series were issued by different publishers.
In Price's volumes 6-7 (including both versions of v. 6) forty-one stories by twenty-one authors were published, including three by Glynn Owen Barrass, one by Cliff Biggers, three by Lin Carter, one by Adrian Cole, three by Pierre V. Comtois, one by Jason Ross Cummings, one by Santiago del Dardano Turann, two by Steve Dilks, one by Charles Garofalo, three by Clayton L. Hinkle, one by Mike Jansen, four by Wayne Judge, one by Steve Lines, one by Paul F. McNamee, seven by Robert M. Price, one by D. M. Ritzlin, one by Charles R. Rutledge, one by Frank Schildiner, one by Richard Toogood, one by Michael A. Turton, and five by Glen M. Usher. The pieces by Hinkle are graphic novellas.
Before producing the two versions of Flashing Swords! #6 Robert M. Price edited a similar Sword and Sorcery anthology, The Mighty Warriors (Ulthar Press, 2018), showcasing some of the same authors whose works appeared in his Flashing Swords! volumes.[5]
Of the stories slated for the original version of Flashing Swords! #6 that were not carried over into the revised version, D. M. Ritzlin's "A Twisted Branch of Yggdrasil was subsequently published in his collection Necromancy in Nilztiria (DMR Books, 2020), while Adrian Cole's "The Tower in the Crimson Mist" and Steve Dilks's "Tale of the Uncrowned Kings" were subsequently published in the anthology Savage Scrolls, Volume One (Pulp Hero Press, 2020).
