marriage she wishes to avoid. Flight of the Raven
(1990) and A Tapestry of Lions(1992) are enter-
taining but unexceptional potboilers. Having ex-
hausted most of the potential of her imagined
world, Roberson wisely abandoned it at that
point.
Roberson’s second fantasy series is less ambi-
tious but is generally superior because of the depth
of her characterization of its two recurring charac-
ters. The Swords series consists of Sword-Dancer
(1986), Sword-Singer(1988), Sword-Maker(1989),
Sword-Breaker (1991), Sword-Born (1998), and
Sword-Sworn (2002). The two protagonists, one
male and one female, are both experts with the
sword. They are introduced in a fairly routine
quest story but become much more vivid in the
second volume, in which one must clear her name
after she is forced to kill her mentor. Their subse-
quent adventures compel them to contemplate
what is meant by the term dutyand battle super-
natural menaces and an army of fanatics, and they
include a shipwreck and abduction by pirates.
They eventually discover the secret of the male
partner’s origin and return to his homeland to ful-
fill the destiny he never realized awaited him. The
series is one of the most intelligent and engaging
sword and sorcery epics.
Roberson has also written some historical nov-
els and collaborated with Melanie RAWNand Kate
ELLIOTTon The Golden Key(1977). Her short fic-
tion has yet to be collected but includes several
notable stories, including “The Count of Summer
King” (1988), “The Horse Who Would Be King”
(1995), and “Guinevere’s Truth” (1996). Although
still actively writing, she has been regrettably less
productive in recent years.
Roberts, John Maddox(1947– )
Although John Maddox Roberts has been actively
working in science fiction throughout his career,
most of his best work has been in the fantasy and
murder mystery fields, the latter primarily a series
set in ancient Rome. His first fantasy novel was
King of the Wood (1983), which pits Vikings
against Mongols in North America. His next was
Conan the Valorous(1985), the first of eight nov-
els he would add to the CONAN SERIEScreated by
Robert E. HOWARDover the course of the next 10
years, ending with Conan and the Amazon(1995).
Although Roberts did not recreate Howard’s
character exactly, making him more intellectual
and less inclined to solve every problem by hitting
it with a sword, his evocation of the barbaric set-
ting is superior to that of most of the other writers
contributing to the series. Conan the Marauder
(1987) and Conan the Rogue(1991) are the best
of the set.
The Islander(1990) is the first in an original
series set in the Stormlands, a devastated land
where magic has emerged following the collapse of
technology. The opening volume serves primarily
to set the stage and introduce the main character.
In The Black Shields(1991) he violates a taboo and
is forced into exile, but some of his enemies are
pursuing him, intending to punish him more dra-
matically by killing him. The Poisoned Lands(1992)
follows the career of an ambitious king who seeks
to extend his rule to include his neighbors, which
leads to the threat of an even wider war in The
Steel Kings(1993). Queens of Land and Sea(1994)
brings the sequence to a close.
Roberts’s only remaining fantasy novel is his
best, Murder in Tarsis(1996), in which three un-
likely detectives are given the task of solving a po-
litically sensitive murder, with everyone expecting
them to fail so that the matter can be forgotten.
Unfortunately, the threesome decides to take their
job seriously, uncovering more than they bargained
for. Roberts’s experience writing detective fiction is
evident here. His most recent series is alternate
history science fiction involving the battle between
Rome and Carthage. He has written at least one
good fantasy short story, “Arms and the En-
chanter” (1992).“The Rocking-horse Winner”
D. H. Lawrence(1926)
Although D. H. Lawrence is perhaps best known
as the author of the once-controversial Lady Chat-
terley’s Lover(1928), he is also the author of this,
one of the more frequently reprinted short stories
of the supernatural. Paul is a young boy growing up
in a very difficult family situation. Paul and his sis-
ter are treated well, but their mother’s affection is292 Roberts, John Maddox