Black Gods Kiss

by C.L. Moore

Book Overview

First published in the pages of Weird Tales in 1934, C.L. Moore's Jirel of Joiry is the first significant female sword and sorcery protagonist and one of the most exciting and evocative characters the genre has ever known. Published alongside seminal works by H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, the five classic fantasy tales included in this volume easily stand the test of time and often overshadow the storytelling power and emotional impact...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1601250452
• ISBN13: 9781601250452
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: Paizo Inc.
• Length: 222 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.0" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 16 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 11 and higher

Customer Reviews

Superb pulp fantasy

Much more than a Gal Conan and written with equal skill, but in a totally different tone, than Howards most famous creation. Jirel of Joiry is an excellent example of what a pulp author could do when giving her imagination, and writing skills, free reign. Though largely forgotten these days, C. L. Moore deserves her time in the spotlight along with H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard.

EXCELLENT BOOK! KUDOS TO C.L. MOORE!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book a lot! C.L. Moore and Robert E. Howard both wrote for Weird Tales during the 1930's and both admired each others work. I can understand why after reading Black God's Kiss. I didn't know C.L. Moore was a woman until I read a letter posted on the internet where she was asking REH for more stories of The Sword Woman because only two stories ever written and left readers wanting more. Jirel of Joiry is one tough woman who not only is beautiful, brave, a loyal leader to her men, and smart! Rather than let her 20 or so men die at the hand of her enemy she goes on a dangerous quest to find a small box to return in exchange for their lives in Hellsgarde. All of the stories are excellent but Hellsgarde is my favorite as it has quite of a bit of supernatural, mystique, and more. I thought the inhabitants of the rock castle were reptilian people but I sure was wrong. This is a terrific book to read and lend to a friend. Must Reads:) Blood & Thunder, The Life & Art of REH by Mark Finn,One Who Walked Along by Novalyn Ellis REH's girlfriend, The Black Stranger & Other American Tales, The Never Ending Hunt by Paul Herman and all of his Weird Words and The Last of The Trunk, Selected Letters of REH by Rob Roehm, Dark Horse Comics of Conan, Kull, Solomon Kane, Marvel B & W comics by Roy Thomas back in the sixties, Bran Mac Morn, The Best of REH 1 & 2, Conan by Roy Thomas and Conan The Phenom, The Dark Barbarian and The Barbaric Triumph by Don Herron, Two-Gun Bob, Glenn Lord, Lord of Samarcand, Almuric, Boxing Stories, Action and Western Stories, and more. REH was and is still the best of the best story teller and poet and C.L. Moore is one of only a few people that could write stories on a regular basis that got printed in Weird Tales which says she's in unique company. Tell others about REH and C.L. Moore and keep supporting your local and online book stores. One last pleasant surprise!! Find The Beast From The Abyss which is a story about the valor and more of Cats by REH. Cats that fight river rats as big as dogs and the most herioc cat of all. This is awesome! Enjoy as it can be found on Howard Works. Check out the REH Foundation and Forum!

Unputdownable!

At the very outset it needs to be stated that I don't agree with all those reviewers who had thought that they were doing C.L.Moore and her fantastic creation a service by comparing her with Conan the Cimmerian. No, Jirel of Joiry is not a "Gal Conan", she is a lot more than that or any other Red Sonja types currently flooding the fantasy market. She is closer to Kull of Atlantis in sombriety and credibility. Her physical strength has limits, she knows fear and acknowledges its presence in the periphery of her landscape, but most importantly: she neither tries to hide her feminine identity, nor does she try to exploit it unnecessarily. She is haughty, vengeful, impulsive, but she is a human being who tries to be the sole determinant of her own destiny. These stories, written at least 70 years ago, are documentary evidence of the presence of such a realistic heroine in the pulps at a time when they were despised as little more than "boyish" fantasies. Jirel is the ruler of the medieval French principality of Joiry at a time dominated by warlords and wizards. Six of her adventures (unfortunately that's all) are collected in this slim volume publoshed by Paizo Books in a nice format. These stories are: 1. "Black God's Kiss": After her kingdom is overran by a cruel antagonist, Jirel explores a land of evil & sorrow (accessible through a forbidden route under her castle) in search of a weapon that would avenge her humiliation at the hands of the antagonist. 2. "Black God's Shadow": Jirel's remorse for the extreme punishment effected upon the antagonist in the 1st tale forces her to return to her unique hell where she breaks an evil spell for ever. 3. "Jirel Meets Magic": After the dark and forebodingly Freudian descriptions in the first two stoies, this tale is simply Tolkienesque as Jirel crosses over to another state in search of a fugitive wizard and comes across a witch with ultimate powers. 4. "The Dark Land": This hauntingly beautiful and yet terrifying tale forces Jirel as well us to question ourselves about love. 5. "Hellsgarde": This straight-forward horror story (as well as Gothic romance) was a fun read after the oppressive first stories. 6. "Quest of the Starstone": This is obviously a product of popular choice as the author brings together two of her most famous creations in a simple plot leading to Jirel being relegated to the second-best position by North Wset Smith. All-in-all, I heartly recommend this book to not only the readers of rip-roaring adventures, pulps, horror stories, etc. but also to those interested in the female heroines and their role-models.

Super Reader

Ok, these Paizo Planet Stories books are pretty cool. Rather than some of the cheaper looking flimsy trade paperbacks around with ordinary paper this is nicer, and has one of the covers designed to make it longer last with an indentation before the spine - whatever you call that. Also, not as tall as I thought they would be - around 20cm by the looks, so going for a bit more retro look, if not all the way to the old mass market. Retro font, too. The cover art is fairly nice, too. Black God's Kiss is about a bazillion times better a title than 'Jirel of Joiry', too, which an earlier not complete collection of stories was titled. My sister had this book, and the dodgy fairy-sounding title put me off it for a while when I was much younger. That aside, there a 10 page or so intro by Suzy McKee Charnas detailing the history of Moore's character, and how such an aggressive female heroine was important to her when she was young and looking for heroic fictional role models. As she points out, Moore has a different style to fellow Weird Tales denizen Robert E. Howard, and while these aren't quite as good as his major the stories overall the quality is high, and the crossover with her other character Northwest Smith is great. A 3.92 average for a book is definitely impressive. Black God's Kiss : 1 Jirel Meets Magic - C. L. Moore Black God's Kiss : 2 Black God's Kiss - C. L. Moore Black God's Kiss : 3 Black God's Shadow - C. L. Moore Black God's Kiss : 4 The Dark Land - C. L. Moore Black God's Kiss : 5 Hellsgarde - C. L. Moore Black God's Kiss : 6 Quest of the Starstone - C. L. Moore Having to rid herself of a wizard that has killed some or her men, Jirel finds worse, his own ruler, a sorceress. 4 out of 5 An escape from a captor leads Jirel basically into a Clark Ashton Smith style story, and a passionate revenge. 4 out of 5 Jirel looks for a way to undo some of what she has done when she decides that the Black God's Kiss was rather an extreme solution to her earlier hatred. 3.5 out of 5 Jirel is snatched from lying severely wounded by a wizard who is a lot more than he seems. 4 out of 5 Jirel finds your strange mysterious castle that only appears occasionally, and an occupant that has a bit of the undead thing going on. 3 out of 5 The wizard Franga is getting his arse handed him by Jirel so badly he has to summon help. The man, time and place he chooses to pick is Northwest Smith, having a quiet drink and convo in the future. Northwest, of course, intrigued enough to step through a strange gate into the past is more than capable of smelling a rat, along with being impressed by the bloodnut warrior. 5 out of 5 4.5 out of 5

'Jirel of Joiry' plus one additional story

This is a reprint of all of the stories found in the collection "Jirel of Joiry" plus one story where the main character meets her male counterpart from many of the author's other short stories. If you already have the original collection be aware that you are paying almost entirely for that one story, which is definately worth reading, in a new jacket with different artwork.