Pat McIntosh is a Scottish writer best known for a series of mystery novels featuring the characters Gilbert and Alas Cunningham. Years before she began that series, however, she wrote five short stories recounting the adventures of the swordswoman Thula, who was a sort of warrior-nun. They remain of interest today, as McIntosh managed to limn a world with some detail within a relatively small word count, and the characterization of Thula, her allies, and her enemies, is quite adroit. While the first three stories appeared in a fanzine called Anduril (then the official organ of the Tolkien Society) they were reprinted by Lin Carter in the first three volumes of his Year’s Best Fantasy Stories (six volumes, DAW Books, 1975-1980). Two more stories of Thula were specifically commissioned by Carter for volumes 4 and 5. The first story in the series, “Falcon’s Mate,” was eventually reprinted in Dragons and Warrior Daughters: Fantasy Stories by Women Writers (Lion Tracks, ed. Jessica Yates, 1989) The Thula stories have never been collected, and only “Falcon’s Mate” has been reprinted outside of Carter’s series.
"Falcon’s Mate” | Anduril #4, ed. John Martin, July 1974 | short story | Reprinted in The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories, DAW Books, ed. Lin Carter, DAW Books 1975
“Cry Wolf” | Anduril #6, ed. John Martin, August 1976 | short story | Reprinted in The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories #2, ed. Lin Carter, 1976
“Ring of Black Stone” | Anduril #5, ed. John Martin, July 1975 | short story | Reprinted in TheYear’s Best Fantasy Stories #3, DAW Books, ed. Lin Carter, 1977
“The Cloak of Dreams” | The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories #4, DAW Books, ed. Lin Carter, 1978 | short story
“Child of Air” | The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories #5, DAW Books, ed. Lin Carter, 1980 | short story
Internet Speculative Fiction Database entry
—Entry by Christopher Rowe
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