Nicholas Eames, Sacred Semantics: I cannot really describe this story except to note that it is bloody hilarious and had me cracking up the whole way through.Brian Staveley, the Art of War: This one blew me away with the sheer scope and depth presented within such a short space.This one had strong writing and powerful imagery.

Steven Poore, Asalantir Forever: I’ve had a weakness for stories that deal with the particular futility of life in the trenches since Blackadder Goes Forth.Will be keeping a VERY strong eye on the author. On reflection, likely my favourite story in the whole anthology.

Gut wrenching little tale of the price of violence and war on children.

Timandra Whitecastle, This War of Ours: this one HURT, man.

John Gwynne, The Greatest Battle: If you know John’s work you’ll recognise the style and characters, but it stands, I think, as an enjoyable, well placed fragment of a bigger story, with entertaining characters and a typically engaging and well-written battle scene.

Laura M Hughes, Dear Menelaus: This was probably the most unique story in format – a letter from Helen to Menelaus.Highlights for me were (in order of appearance not rating): To my mind, there were a lot of enjoyable reads and only a couple that I really struggled with (remarkable, considering the sheer number of stories). It’d be a reeeeeeal shame if you didn’t buy this anthology, son. Third, it’s entirely for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), so your money is going to one of the best causes you could ask for. Second, it’s got some great authors you probably already know and love, and they all deliver, but there’s probably some stories in there by people you don’t know that are gonna knock your socks off (there were for me). But, in general, it’s worth noting a few things about the anthology as a collection.įirst, it is thematically strong, with all bar a few stories really tying in nicely to the exploration of the art of war, but a huge range of takes on that concept within the book (some grim, some funny, some heartbreaking, some heartening). I know I tend toward wordiness at the best of times so I’m not going to set myself some kind of terrible challenge and talk about everything in here. This is a mammoth anthology, with 40 (FORTY!) authors and stories. Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the anthology from the publisher.

Nicholas eames goodreads