'The Wreck of the Kissing Bitch' – Keith Roberts

I didn't even know that the 'Warlocks and Warriors' anthology was even a thing until I was on eBay, looking to revisit Douglas Hill's 'Last Legionary' series. It very much was though so of course I had to have a copy. And this week being what it was, reading time has been at a real premium, it was pretty much inevitable that I'd be dipping into this collection; especially when I realised that the rest of the week has mostly been Black Library works (nothing wrong with that at all but I fancied a change).

The problem I find with Sword & Sorcery collections is that they're all drawing from the same well so it's a question of how many stories you've already read. Doesn't stop me buying them though ;o) The 'Warlocks and Warriors' collection was a bit of a welcome surprise then in that there was only the one story that I'd read before ('The Sleeping Sorceress' of course). Luck of the draw or a little reminder that there is still so much to read...? I didn't really care, I just wanted something quick and entertaining to round off the week ;o)

In the end I went with 'The Wreck of the Kissing Bitch', an intriguing prospect as it's a tale set in the world of Moorcock's 'The Ice Schooner' but not a tale from Moorcock himself (he was cool with Roberts writing it though so all is well). I love 'The Ice Schooner' so had to see how this one played out.

Frey Skalter of Abersgalt is one of the finest hunters on the ice but none of that matters when he becomes the hunted... His heart is stolen by a mysterious, and beautiful, serving girl and the arrival of an old enemy could see him lose his heart again, quite literally this time...

'The Wreck of the Kissing Bitch' not only has it all but manages to pack it all into a mere twenty two pages. Just the read I was looking for then, thoroughly entertaining and a quick enough read that I was able to fit it into the little time that I had for reading. I don't know if it's collected anywhere else but I'd say it's worth keeping an eye open for.

I couldn't go too much further without addressing the Moorcock connection. Roberts strikes a fine balance between acknowledging Moorcock as the man behind the source material (and I loved the way that the opening paragraph had echoes of 'The Ice Schooner's' opening along with some geography to tie it down, talk about paying your dues right at the start) and telling his own story. The background is very clearly the world of Konrad Arflane but the story itself is all Frey Skalter is he is just the man to carry it off, not able to stay out of trouble but with nous and 'lance play' to get himself out of it. His misadventures fly past in a flurry of very readable pages, it's all very 'awesome hero' vs. 'dispicable foe' and it worked very well along those lines. Which was great as that was exactly what I was after, a bit of swashbuckling action (Sword & Sorcery without the Sorcery) where the outcome is visible a mile off but the journey to get there is the main thing. I'm going to have to add Keith Roberts to my list of authors to check out.