Sword & Laser Anthology

Whilst 4 stars may be overrated when compared to those I'd give 4*s to for professional authors, I've given this 4 stars because this is enthusiasts having a first go at putting something out there / you buy this knowing that; so the criteria by which I'd rate it is different.

There's a great collection of stories, with some really imaginative ideas. Some are fantastic by any criteria, some a little lacking; but it's an enjoyable read, and great to see people having a go.

Full Review
Overall I thought this anthology was OK as an anthology, but great for what it was: A way to support Sword & Laser and some of its talented members.

I LOVE Sword & Laser. It's largely responsible for not only getting me to read more, but getting me to read A LOT more. It introduced me to good reads and some really great people that I love to read and discuss books with.

So when they are doing stuff for funding, be it a Kickstarter for a second season of the awesome video show that introduced me to this amazing group that I had been missing out on for years, I'm all over it. I believe I got a copy of this from the kickstarter.

Just because I rated this 3 stars, doesn't mean there aren't some good stories here. There just aren't enough of them for my liking. The rating is simply an average of the rating I gave to each of the 20 stories.

All of them are well written though. For a bunch of up and coming/unknown authors you wouldn't know it. If nothing else Tom and Veronica did an excellent job picking quality writing.

I'm not really a fan of anthologies. For some reason I love the long doorstopping fantasy series, and have trouble with short stories. I think because I like vast world building and complex magic systems.

Some of these stories were pretty cool, but then they were suddenly over. I might have liked them better if they were longer. Of course the authors were limited to pretty short word counts too, so they might have needed to edit them down.

This was still a great kickstarter reward, and I may have to look into a few of these folks to see what else they've written.

I read this book over the course of a few months. That's one benefit to short stories at least. This means I don't remember the Sword stories as well as the Laser ones.

I have to give Honeybun by Austin Malone for best sci-fi story, and (surprisingly for me who prefers fantasy) the best overall.

Best Sword story is a toss up between Partly Petrified by Auston Habershaw and The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed.

Some good stories to check out, and with the options they have for buying it digitally it's certainly worth supporting such a great group if you haven't already.

Sword Ratings
Soft as a Feather When Done Right by Nicole Feldringer - 3.5 stars
A Night For Spirits and Snowflakes by Aidan Moher - 3 stars
Saltwater Skin by Kristy Sutherland - 3 stars
Partly Petrified by Auston Habershaw - 4 stars
The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed - 4 stars
White Flame by Jeffrey N. Baker - 3.5 stars
How Fox Fixed the Sky By Stephen Case - 3 stars
A Good Man by Zachary Tringali - 3.5 stars
Knowing Better by Paul Krueger - 3 stars
The Novice's Guide to Adventuring by Sean Tadsen - 3.5 stars

Laser Ratings
The Osiris Paradox by Sarina Dorie - 2 stars
Leviathan! Leviathan! by Jacob A. Boyd - 3.5 stars
Jonah's Daughter by Jacob A. Boyd - 2 stars
Birdy by Rebecca J. Thomas - 2 stars
The Same International Orange by Luke R. Pebler - 4 stars
Afterward by Mike Murphy - 3 stars
Data Dump by Trisha L. Sebastian - 3 stars
Honeybun by Austin Malone - 4.5 stars
False Lights by Victoria Hooper - 4 stars
Only Darkness by David Emery - 3.5 stars