edited by Jendia Gammon and Gareth L. Powell
Published by Stars and Sabers in February 2025
I’ll preface this review by saying I was a backer of this book via Ko-Fi (which I also have), and my name appears as a named supporter in the acknowledgment section of the book. That isn’t to say this review won’t be impartial because of course it will be, but it is important to be transparent and note that I have a connection to the book.
Of Shadows, Stars and Sabers is a mission statement, a manifesto that announces to the literary world that there’s a new kid on the spec-fic block, so you better watch out.
It is the first book published by new imprint Stars and Sabers, a labour of love by award-winning writers Jendia Gammon and Gareth L. Powell. I have watched this book take shape from the author announcements to the cover reals all the way to publication day, and I can say there’s been an air of excitement about it not just from the contributors but from the editors themselves.
It is a hype that is sustained by the contents of the book.
Of Shadows, Stars and Sabers is an anthology of speculative fiction featuring authors such as Stark Holborn, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Cynthia Pelayo, and Kali Wallace amongst many, many others. The stories vary from weird urban fantasy to Victorian ghost stories to post-apocalyptic (though there are far too few spaceships for my liking) and are well written and easy to read.
I won’t go into each individual story here, but I will mention some standouts, the ones that stayed with me long after reading.
The Shadow Eater of Órino-Rin by Eugen Bacon is a great start to the book with tons of worldbuilding and characterisation in such a small space.
Grey by Ren Hutchings seemed simple enough but grew more and more complex as the story went on and that shift near the end was unexpected and made the story for me.
Last Gasp by Stark Holborn plays on the choose your own adventure genre by having the reader flip a coin at certain points to choose the path taken culminating with a life-or-death decision by the toss of the coin. Set in the same universe as the Factus Sequence made me scramble for the second book as I’ve recently finished the first.
The Companionship of Lighthouses by Lizbeth Myles is a cosy tale of rescue and companionship that, despite its familiar themes, felt like a cosy pair of well-worn slippers.
Who’s Afraid of Little Ole Me by Sarah L. Miles is a story that slowly revealed itself to me in the best way and once I got it, I clung onto it with glee.
Holy Fools by Adrian Tchaikovsky, being a fantasy story rather than science-fiction meant that it was bereft of the hard science that I mentioned in my review of Shroud, but I think this works in his favour here and the story was certainly good enough to make me want to go back to his book City of Last Chances, which to my shame I abandoned last year.
Not all the stories were a hit for me, which is fine. It’s an anthology with twenty-nine stories so I’d expect a few that I didn’t gel with. That is often the problem with larger anthologies and it’s one that I accept. Being that reading is a subjective hobby, I imagine other readers will find their own noteworthy stories that aren’t the same as mine.
One of the stated goals of the anthology was to introduce readers to authors they may never have heard of, with some being game writers and some having never written a short story before. I can honestly say that it has achieved in this goal. I haven’t heard of about fifty percent of the authors in this book, and it’s only made me want to seek them out.
Going back to my first paragraph, what did I mean when I said it was a mission statement?
Well, as a first book from a new imprint, the sheer amount of writing talent portrayed in the anthology tells us that future publications will be quality products with award-winning and award-nominated authors, and of course they will be. The editors Jendia Gammon and Gareth L. Powell are themselves powerhouses in speculative fiction and if they continue to put as much passion and quality into their future publications as they do their own writing then Stars and Sabers are an imprint not just to watch, but to read.