The Tales of Sand & Sorcery, by Marsheila Rockwell
I’m very fond of short stories. I like reading them, and I like writing them. I particularly enjoy linked short stories using the same character, like Conan of Cimmeria and Solomon Kane, or Sherlock Holmes and the Shadow. This used to be a more common mode of storytelling in the days of pulp magazines, but it went away as the publishing industry ossified over the years and it became non-viable for most writers to write a series of short stories. Now, however, the pulp magazines (and quite a few other media formats) have been replaced by a new, enhanced medium – the smartphone. Smartphones need access to infinite content to provide a good value proposition to their manufacturers and users, which means it is once again viable for writers to write a series of short stories.
Pulp fiction has been reborn in a new and better form.
THE TALES OF SAND & SORCERY series by Marsheila Rockwell is an excellent example of what I have in mind. It revolves around two women, Shaala and Kij. Shaala was the daughter of a sultan who spurned the advances of the sultan’s pet wizard-priest, and in retribution, the wizard cursed her to feel neither pleasure nor pain until she died, and Shaala wanders the earth looking for a way to lift her curse. Kij has the ability to shapechange into a tiger, and is consequently regarded as sort of a semi-divine figure to whom judicial cases are submitted, with the judgment delivered by Kij’s tiger form feasting upon the criminal. (One imagine this approach saves on both the prison and catering bills.) Naturally, there are unpleasant consequences, and Kij is exiled and forced to flee, and eventually meets up with Shaala.
These are good sword & sorcery stories, with lots of fighting, keen characterizations, and an interesting setting, a fantasy version of the Arabian Nights. Of the six stories so far, SHAALA AND THE SEA OF DRIED TEARS is my favorite, but they’re all good. Eventually, this is going to make for a heck of a fix-up novel.
-JM
The series (so far):
“Shaala, Made of Stone”
“The Jade and Honey Harlot”
“Both”
“Shaala and the Sea of Dried Tears”
“Unmade”
“Shaala and the Tiger’s Daughter”