"Black God's Kiss" by C. L. Moore(1934)
Originally appeared in Weird Tales October 1934. Plot: Guillaume and his forces take Joiry in battle. The conqueror wishes to see the man who leads only to find it is a woman, Jirel, the red-headed warior-woman. Guillaume kisses her savagely, as a promise of what her fate holds. Jirel escapes her prison and finds Brother Gervase, a priest who once explored the depths of Joiry with her mistress. Going through a weird transdimensional portal, Jirel finds herself in a world of bizarre creatures and unGoidly evil. There she seeks a weapon with which to destroy Guillaume. She finds it in the Black God's kiss which she delivers to her enemy, only discover the weapon is too great, and her emotions misunderstood. Monsters: The Black Terrors - Small, tooth-filled things which squash with black blood when jirel cuts them up with her sword. The Frog Woman - Jirel spies a beautiful woman who has little or no soul left, who leaps about like a frog. The Demon of Light - This creature lives in a tower made of light. It tries to lure Jirel inside but she resists. She throws a dagger inside and it is vaporized. The monster can't devour anything that doesn't come inside its precincts. The Black God - This black statue possesses a powerful auara that suggests it is not a statue at all. Its placement and design are all for one purpose, to lead visitors to its face and to kiss its lips. When Jirel does this she feels a terrible, crushing agony inside. She loses it when she kisses Guillaume. (But not entirely -- see sequel "The Blad God's Kiss") The Blind Horses - Jirel spies a herd of beautifl horses that move in an unsual way. later she realizes they are all blind. Stephen Hickman chose that scene for the cover painting of the Ace paperback. History: This tale holds a unique place in Sword & Sorcery history. It is the first tale to be written within the new genre not written by Robert E. Howard. (He was quite enthusiastic about it. He sent a copy of "Sword Woman" to Moore after this story appeared.) It is the first tale of a female S&S hero as well, since Moore would not stoop to mere pastiche. All the other sword- women who followed would be in her mold: Red Sonja, Bloodsong, Xena, etc. Most important of all, Moore showed that S&S did not have to follow blindly after Conan's footsteps. Rating
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