{"id":291,"date":"2006-08-02T21:30:29","date_gmt":"2006-08-03T04:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=291"},"modified":"2024-08-09T10:11:16","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T14:11:16","slug":"swordspoint-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/291","title":{"rendered":"Swordspoint"},"content":{"rendered":"

Swordspoint<\/em>: A Melodrama of Manners<\/a> (1987) Ellen Kushner<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Despite my best efforts, I ended up re-reading Swordspoint<\/em> again. I really love this book–and with good reason. <\/p>\n

Here, see for yourself:<\/p>\n

The falling snow made it hard for him to see. The fight hadn’t winded him, but he was hot and sweaty, and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He ignored it, making for Riverside, where no one was likely to follow him.<\/p>\n

He could have stayed, if he’d wanted to. The swordfight had been very impressive, and the party guests and its outcome would be talked about for weeks. But if he stayed, the swordsman knew that he would be offered wine, and rich pastry, and asked boring questions about his technique, and difficult questions about who had arranged the fight. He ran on.<\/p>\n

Under his cloak, his shirt was spattered with blood, and the Watch would want to know what he was doing up on the Hill at this hour. It was their right to know; but his profession forbade him to answer, so he dodged around corners and caught his breath in doorways until he’d left the splendors of the Hill behind, working his way down through the city.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Isn’t that marvelous? This book makes me want to run out and take up fencing–except for the fact that I’m a complete klutz and would most likely end up impaling myself. Though it might be worth it.<\/p>\n

The strange thing about this book is that although it’s labeled as fantasy, it isn’t–not really. There is no magic, no faerie, no supernatural creatures–the only fantasy is that the world where Swordspoint<\/em> takes place has never existed. <\/p>\n

I love everything about this book. I love Alec and St Vier, I love the writing, I love the story, it’s all wonderful and perfect and I could sit right back down and read it again and enjoy it just as much. <\/p>\n

Rating: 10\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Swordspoint: A Melodrama of Manners (1987) Ellen Kushner Despite my best efforts, I ended up re-reading Swordspoint again. I really love this book–and with good reason. Here, see for yourself: The falling snow made it hard for him to see. The fight hadn’t winded him, but he was hot and sweaty, and he could feel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,2,291,148],"tags":[82],"class_list":["post-291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-10-10","category-fantasy","category-paper","category-queer","tag-ellen-kushner"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-4H","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2129,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2129","url_meta":{"origin":291,"position":0},"title":"Swordspoint","author":"Michelle","date":"December 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Swordspoint: A Melodrama of Manners (1987) Ellen Kushner Why yes, I did just re-read Swordspoint. And it was good. Published by Bantam Rating: 10\/10","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/06\/Swordspoint-e1510885578236.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":388,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/388","url_meta":{"origin":291,"position":1},"title":"Swordspoint","author":"Michelle","date":"June 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Swordspoint: A Melodrama of Manners (1987) Ellen Kushner I couldn't help myself. I re-read Swordspoint. Sometimes when you're feeling bad, you just have to turn to favorites.","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/06\/Swordspoint-e1510885578236.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2527,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2527","url_meta":{"origin":291,"position":2},"title":"Swordspoint","author":"Michelle","date":"September 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Swordspoint: A Melodrama of Manners (1987) Ellen Kushner I just couldn't help myself. Every year or so I need to reread this book--because it's simply that awesome. Rating: 10\/10","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/06\/Swordspoint-e1510885578236.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4045,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4045","url_meta":{"origin":291,"position":3},"title":"Swordspoint, Audio Edition","author":"Michelle","date":"September 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Swordspoint (1987\/2011) by Ellen Kushner (Author, Narrator) with Dion Graham, Katherine Kellgren, Robert Fass, Nick Sullivan, Simon Jones This review is of the audio recording of Swordspoint. Please check my review of the book Swordspoint for my thoughts on the story rather than the recording. First, Ellen Kushner is the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"swordspoint-audio","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/swordspoint-audio.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":288,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/288","url_meta":{"origin":291,"position":4},"title":"The Privilege of the Sword","author":"Michelle","date":"July 29, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Privilege of the Sword (2006) Ellen Kushner There are a handful of authors whose books I actively seek out, looking for crumbs of news of upcoming books: Sean Russell, Guy Gavriel Kay, Charles de Lint, and also Ellen Kushner. Well, July has been a good month for me; new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Privilege-of-the-Sword.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10485,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10485","url_meta":{"origin":291,"position":5},"title":"Swordspoint","author":"Michelle","date":"April 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Swordspoint (1987) Ellen Kushner I have no idea what brings it on, but I've been in one of those moods where I read a few paragraphs of a book, decide I'm not in the mood for it, and try something else. As is typically, I have to resort to something\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "10\/10"","block_context":{"text":"10\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/10-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/06\/Swordspoint-e1510885578236.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}