Swords for Hire

Swords for Hire
Author: Will Allen
Publisher: Centerpunch Press
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2003
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 9780972488204

This BookSense Top 10 Fantasy Pick teams young Sam Hatcher with Rigby Skeet, a wisecracking Royal Guardsman. The two must rescue King Olive, who was betrayed by his odd, worm-loving brother, and is imprisoned in the dungeon of the superhuman Boneman. "Readers will revel in the story's charm, humor, and numerous twists and turns."--"ForeWord."

Swords for Hire

Swords for Hire
Author: James Miller
Publisher: Birlinn
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2012-12-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 0857905481

In 1612, George Sinclair, an illegitimate son of a Caithness laird, became a Norwegian national hero. Along with almost 300 of his followers, Sinclair was killed in an ambush in Norway while marching to join the king of Sweden's army. Sinclair has legendary status in Norway but has been almost totally forgotten at home, just as the memory of thousands of other Scots who served as mercenaries in the armies of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries has faded into obscurity. In this book, James Miller tells how a considerable proportion of the able-bodied male population of Scotland at one time sought service on behalf of almost every dynasty and monarch on the continent. Some were fleeing from justice, others went to seek fame and fortune - and found it.

A Sword in Her Hand

A Sword in Her Hand
Author: Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem
Publisher: Annick Press
Total Pages: 197
Release: 2011-02-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1554514703

As the murmur of prayers fills the icy room, mother and baby seem doomed. When the newborn finally struggles into the world, the Count of Flanders flees in a rage. The child is not the expected male heir — but a girl. Growing up under the disapproving eye of her heartless father, the strong-willed Marguerite instinctively learns to survive in the fierce and violent male world of the Middle Ages, with its pagan rituals and bloody fights to the death. When her father demands that she wed a man she detests, the young countess uses all her cunning to stop the marriage. The only thing she cannot conquer is the plague, which marches across the land killing thousands, including the man she loves. Based on a real character, this colorful story is told with sharp humor and is filled with dramatic intensity. The final scene in the book, in which Marguerite and her father engage in a savage sword fight, will remain engrained in readers’ memories.

The Book of Swords

The Book of Swords
Author: George R. R. Martin
Publisher: Bantam
Total Pages: 584
Release: 2017-10-10
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0399593772

New epic fantasy in the grand tradition—including a never-before-published Song of Ice and Fire story by George R. R. Martin! Fantasy fiction has produced some of the most unforgettable heroes ever conjured onto the page: Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian, Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné, Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Classic characters like these made sword and sorcery a storytelling sensation, a cornerstone of fantasy fiction—and an inspiration for a new generation of writers, spinning their own outsize tales of magic and swashbuckling adventure. Now, in The Book of Swords, acclaimed editor and bestselling author Gardner Dozois presents an all-new anthology of original epic tales by a stellar cast of award-winning modern masters—many of them set in their authors’ best-loved worlds. Join today’s finest tellers of fantastic tales, including George R. R. Martin, K. J. Parker, Robin Hobb, Scott Lynch, Ken Liu, C. J. Cherryh, Daniel Abraham, Lavie Tidhar, Ellen Kushner, and more on action-packed journeys into the outer realms of dark enchantment and intrepid derring-do, featuring a stunning assortment of fearless swordsmen and warrior women who face down danger and death at every turn with courage, cunning, and cold steel. FEATURING SIXTEEN ALL-NEW STORIES: “The Best Man Wins” by K. J. Parker “Her Father’s Sword” by Robin Hobb “The Hidden Girl” by Ken Liu “The Sword of Destiny” by Matthew Hughes “‘I Am a Handsome Man,’ Said Apollo Crow” by Kate Elliott “The Triumph of Virtue” by Walter Jon Williams “The Mocking Tower” by Daniel Abraham “Hrunting” by C. J. Cherryh “A Long, Cold Trail” by Garth Nix “When I Was a Highwayman” by Ellen Kushner “The Smoke of Gold Is Glory” by Scott Lynch “The Colgrid Conundrum” by Rich Larson “The King’s Evil” by Elizabeth Bear “Waterfalling” by Lavie Tidhar “The Sword Tyraste” by Cecelia Holland “The Sons of the Dragon” by George R. R. Martin And an introduction by Gardner Dozois “When fine writer and expert editor [Gardner] Dozois beckons, authors deliver—and this surely will be one of the year’s essential anthologies.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

The Sword and Shield

The Sword and Shield
Author: Emma Khoury
Publisher: Hcw Press
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2021-09-09
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781935355991

Ezra Toth is your typical sword for hire. A dark past, a few secrets, a talent for killing, with a sharp sword and sharper wit. Perhaps his several dozen cats are a bit unique but other than that... He returns from an ordinary, arduous job to find representatives of the crown waiting for him at his home - not so typical. They bring him to the Crown Prince who has a problem only Ezra can solve. Crown Prince Christophe's brother, and possibly even the King himself, are part of a plot to assassinate him. With no idea who in the palace is truly loyal to who, Ezra must navigate a myriad of potential suspects whilst protecting the heir.

This Sword for Hire

This Sword for Hire
Author: Richard Lee Byers
Publisher: Over Easy Media Incorporated DBA Rothco Press
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2016-06-17
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781945436000

Selden, a wandering mercenary, sets up shop as a fencing master in Balathex, also known as the Whispering City, partly for the murmur of its many fountains and partly for its penchant for conspiracy and double-dealing. When short of funds, he practices his old trade and lands in situations stranger and deadlier than any he ever encountered in war.

By the Sword

By the Sword
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Publisher: Astra Publishing House
Total Pages: 449
Release: 1991-02-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1101127260

Granddaughter of the sorceress Kethry, daughter of a noble house, Kerowyn had been forced to run the family keep since her mother's untimely death. Yet now at last her brother was preparing to wed, and when his bride became the lady of the keep, Kerowyn could return to her true enjoyments - training horses and hunting. But all Kerowyn's hopes and plans were shattered when her anscestral home was attacked, her father slain, her brother wounded, and his fiancee kidnapped. Drive by desperation and the knowledge that a scorcerer had led the journey which would prove but he first step on the road to the fulfillment of her destiny.

The Hammer and the Blade

The Hammer and the Blade
Author: Paul S. Kemp
Publisher: Del Rey
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2015-09-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1101964979

For readers of Brent Weeks, Joe Abercrombie, Peter V. Brett, and Scott Lynch comes the first book in a fantastic, hilarious new sword-and-sorcery series that puts a clever new twist on the golden age of epic fantasy. Robbing tombs for fun and profit might not be a stable career, but Egil and Nix aren’t in it for the long-term prospects. Egil is the hammer-wielding warrior-priest of a discredited god. Nix is a roguish thief with just enough knowledge of magic to conjure up trouble. Together, they seek riches and renown, yet often find themselves enlisted in lost causes—generally against their will. So why should their big score be any different? The trouble starts when Nix and Egil kill the demonic guardian of a long-lost crypt, nullifying an ancient pact made by the ancestors of an obscenely powerful wizard. Now the wizard will stop at nothing to keep that power from slipping away, even if it means freeing a rapacious beast from its centuries-old prison. And who better than Egil and Nix—the ones responsible for his current predicament—to perform this thankless task? Praise for The Hammer and the Blade and Paul S. Kemp “A gripping tale [with] the feeling of a classic Dungeons & Dragons campaign.”—Publishers Weekly “Most heroes work up to killing demons. Egil and Nix start there and pick up the pace.”—Elaine Cunningham, author of the Thorn Trilogy “Kemp delivers sword and sorcery at its rollicking best, after the fashion of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.”—Library Journal