Black God's Kiss

By C.L. Moore

From C.L. Moore, a pioneer of sword and sorcery, come the classic tales of Jirel of Joiry.

Originally published in the legendary magazine Weird Tales in 1934, C.L. Moore’s Jirel of Joiry is fantasy’s first true strong female protagonist, as well as one of the most striking and memorable characters to come out of the golden age of science fiction and fantasy. Published alongside landmark stories by H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, the five classic stories included in this volume prove that C.L. Moore’s Jirel is a rival to Conan the Barbarian and Elric of Melnibone, making BLACK GOD’S KISS an essential addition to any fantasy library.

“I was looking for tales of dire conflict, hot-blooded honor and impetuosity, leadership and courage—all the qualities that my culture told me were reserved for males…what a joy it was to run across Jirel, who at some levels of my soul I longed desperately to be.”—Suzy McKee Charnas, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diversion Books
• Release date: Sep 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781682301166

Reviews for Black God's Kiss

[ragwaine · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I made it about a third of the way through this book before giving up. It was all about atmosphere. Page after page of description of shadows and flickering lights and the voice forever calling. This was possibly the most repetition I've ever read in a book. It just felt like one long scene where the same things kept happening over and over. The plot is really bad too. A warrior princess punishes and evil conqueror and then falls in love with him and regrets it because she can't stop thinking about his muscley arms around her and the kiss that he stole from her. It's the ultimate "no means yes" sexist plot.In this first third of the novel the main character was completely alone about 90% of the time, just wandering. Ugh!!!

[g026r · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've got a bit of an odd relationship with many of the Weird Tales authors, and particularly the stories that they published therein.Case in point, Catherine Moore's Jirel of Joiry stories, collected here in one volume, including the crossover with her other character, the space-faring Northwest Smith, that she wrote with her eventual husband, Henry Kuttner.Now, in Moore's defence, these were written fairly earlier in Moore's career, and were not originally intended to be read in such close proximity to each other. But, at the same time, it's impossible to escape the impression that Moore didn't have that much of an idea beyond "sword-and-sorcery stories with a female lead"; the majority of the stories recycle the same basic plot — Jirel winds up in some alternate dimension where she faces off against an adversary wielding strange magics — and the prose veers between overwrought and repetitive — how many times do we need to be told of Jirel tossing her red hair, or about her yellow eyes? Eye-colour in particular appears to have been a thing for Moore at the time, as numerous characters have unusual eyes, which are then frequently described — or uninspiring, as evidenced in most of the action scenes.It's one of those odd things, in that I read them and enjoy them but even while reading I'm never quite certain why that is.

[zare_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Meet Jirel of Joiry, first female fantasy heroine., vengeful and harsh warlord on a quest to vanquish his foes and evil-doers. In her adventures she chases her enemies to other plains of existence, fights very disturbing creatures and even comes across a traveler from the distant future.Very interesting collection of stories - but be warned! If you expect constant action and sword fights you may end up disappointed because main point here is the atmosphere of the story - effects of the surroundings, eerie creatures and sounds, torments and fear of the main character - not just mere hack-n-slash

[sben-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The cover is terrible, embarrassing.

Okay, that aside, the stories were pretty good pulp fantasy, and the first (title story) in particular had a nice twist ending. By the end, the recipe got a little old, but I suppose that's what one expects from the genre. Definitely different than modern fantasy, and worth a read if you can get past the cover, but don't feel too shy about skipping one of the middle stories if it's getting old.