Old Sorcery, New Edge: Q&A with Molly Tanzer
The award-winning author of 'The Diabolist's Library' trilogy on her route to writing, taming research and penning the official resurrection of Jirel of Joiry, the first lady of sword and sorcery
Art by Sasha Durdevic
Molly Tanzer is an award-winning American novelist, short story writer and editor with a gift for combining historical fact with fantastical fiction. Reviving an iconic sword and sorcery heroine eighty-five years after her last outing, Molly is now continuing the adventures of the first lady of heroic fantasy in the pages of New Edge Sword & Sorcery.
Jirel of Joiry first appeared in the delirious 1934 short Black God’s Kiss by Catherine L. Moore. The flame-haired warrior-knight of the French province of Joiry, the character’s adventures spanned a mere six stories in as many years, all of them published in Weird Tales: Black God’s Shadow (1934), Jirel Meets Magic (1935), The Dark Land (1936), Quest for the Starstone (with Moore’s future-husband Henry Kuttner, 1937) and Hellsgarde (1939).
Cover art by Margaret Brundage
Though comparable in vigour and style, the Jirel stories were not as numerous as the barbaric tales of Robert E. Howard, while Moore herself never had an advocate like Glenn Lord or (thank God) an L. Sprague de Camp. Though her status as the first female sword and sorcery star has afforded her a respectable place in the canon. And I’d be very surprised if Roy Thomas hadn’t read those stories before penning Red Sonja for Marvel in 1973.
Paperback Library edition, 1969, cover artist not credited
A young Catherine L. Moore, photographer and date unknown, image sourced from the Tellers of Weird Tales blog
Ace Books, 1982, cover artist not credited
Over thirty-five years since Catherine Moore passed away in 1987, Oliver Brackenbury, editor of respected fiction magazine New Edge Sword and Sorcery has struck a deal with the Moore estate to continue Jirel’s adventures…