1/10/2024 0 Comments Book of lust swf![]() ![]() It felt like cowardice to hide, moving from village to village, unknown, often unwelcome, yet they had no choice. He knew the princess still lived, and he would be hunting her, Mother said. Talbot, the man who had burned her father, was a commoner and would never be accepted as king unless he had a royal bride. Some of their people escaped with them, but they scattered to the four winds. Princess Sianna and her mother fled through the catacombs of the city, leaving the bones and ashes of a king behind. The guardians claimed it was impregnable, but no one warned them that their enemy was armed with a dragon. The citadel fell when the princess was fourteen. I can only hope that readers will get as much pleasure from these stories as I did, and that Witches, Princesses, and Women at Arms turns out to be, to quote a certain beloved film with a unique take on fantasy traditions, exactly, “As you wish.” And I’ve never had so much trouble choosing which to use to fill the finite space in this book. ![]() In all my years of editing anthologies, I’ve never read so many submissions that were beautifully written and just what I’d asked for. The relationships are intense, sometimes quick to ignite, sometimes all the hotter for restraint that flares at last into a fierce blaze. Royalty or a miller’s daughter, a woman warrior passing as a man, a sorceress in flowing robes, even a window inspector dangling in harness on a high-rise building-who better to rescue a long-haired captive in a tower?-all of them are made so real that you long to touch them, and be touched. There are curses and spells, battles and intrigue, elements of magic and explorations of universal themes, and, yes, sex, sensuality, and true love, all bound skillfully together into complex and many-layered stories. Their heroines are witches and princesses, brave, resourceful women of all walks of life, and even a troll and a dryad. Some created original plots with a fairy-tale sensibility, while some wrote with merely a subtle aura of fantasy. Some adapted traditional tales, and some updated old stories to contemporary times, not merely changing the gender of a character but making the female aspect essential. ![]() The wonderful writers showcased here gave me all I hoped for, and even more. I certainly do, so in this anthology I wanted erotic romance and wild adventure with women who use their wits and/or weapons and come together in a blaze of passion. ![]() Don’t you long for heroines who win each other? How often have you tried to envision “he” as “she” when you’re reading fairy tales? Those flights of imagination can sweep you up into worlds of magic and sensual delights-or would, if only so many heroes winning the day (and, of course, the girl) didn’t get in the way. Toads, Diamonds, and the Occasional Pearl Published in the United States by Cleis Press, an imprint of Start Midnight, LLC, 101 Hudson Street, 37th Floor, Suite 3705, Jersey City, NJ 07302. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio, television or online reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |