Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars | 112 ratings

Price: 17.72

Last update: 08-27-2024


About this item

From the vast lore surrounding King Arthur, Camelot, and the Knights of the Round Table comes an anthology of gender-bent, race-bent, LGBTQIA+ inclusive retellings. Featuring stories by:

Alexander Chee Preeti Chhibber Roshani Chokshi Sive Doyle Maria Dahvana Headley Ausma Zehanat Khan Daniel M. Lavery Ken Liu Sarah MacLean Silvia Moreno-Garcia Jessica Plummer Anthony Rapp Waubgeshig Rice Alex Segura Nisi Shawl S. Zainab Williams

A Publishers Weekly Summer Reads pick!

Here you’ll find the Lady of the Lake reimagined as an albino Ugandan sorceress and the Lady of Shalott as a wealthy, isolated woman in futuristic Mexico City; you'll see Excalibur rediscovered as a baseball bat that grants a washed-up minor leaguer a fresh shot at glory and as a lost ceremonial drum that returns to a young First Nations boy the power and the dignity of his people. There are stories set in Gilded Age Chicago, '80s New York, 21st-century Singapore, and space; there are lesbian lady knights, Arthur and Merlin reborn in the modern era for a second chance at saving the world and falling in love - even a coffee shop AU. 

Brave, bold, and groundbreaking, the stories in Sword Stone Table will bring fresh life to beloved myths and give long-time fans a chance to finally see themselves in their favorite legends. 

Audiobook table of contents:

  • "The Once and Future Qadi" by Ausma Zehanat Khan, read by Ali Nasser
  • "Passing Fair and Young" by Roshani Chokshi, read by Soneela Nankani
  • "How, After Long Fighting, Galehaut Was Overcome by Lancelot Yet Was Not Slain and Made Great Speed to Yield to Friendship; Or, Galehaut, the Knight of the Forfeit" by Daniel M. Lavery, read by Em Grossland
  • "I Being Young and Foolish" by Nisi Shawl, read by Amani Starnes
  • "The Bladesmith Queen" by Sarah MacLean, read by Lena Lee
  • "Do, by All Due Means" by Sive Doyle, read by Jeena Yi
  • "Mayday" by Maria Dahvana Headley, read by Joel Froomkin
  • "Heartbeat" by Waubgeshig Rice, read by Shaun Taylor-Corbett
  • "Jack and Brad and the Magician" by Anthony Rapp, read by the author
  • "The Quay Stone" by S. Zainab Williams, read by Shanta Parasuraman
  • "Black Diamond" by Alex Segura, read by Omar Leyva
  • "Flat White" by Jessica Plummer, read by Laya Lewis
  • "Once (Them) & Future (Us)" by Preeti Chhibber, read by Deepti Gupta
  • "A Shadow in Amber" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, read by Gisela Chipe
  • "White Hempen Sleeves" by Ken Liu, read by Dani Martineck
  • "Little Green Men" by Alexander Chee, read by Vikas Adam 

Top reviews from the United States

Ana
5.0 out of 5 stars Came in good condition
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2023
I needed this book for class and it came in in good condition. The books spine started wearing but thats understandable for a paperback copy.
unorgaynized
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Retellings!
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2021
Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

It's always difficult to rate anthologies-- some of the short stories are fantastic, some are not as much. I usually am more of a generic-historical-fantasy-time-period person, and I'd thought I would love the first section so much more. It even started out with a fantastic, amazing story that I was so sure would set the tone. Unfortunately, The Once and Future Qadi (Ausma Zehanat Khan) seemed to be the best of the lot. I struggled through the next two, and found myself experiencing reading lag by the fourth. The fifth took me longer to make my way through, and the final one pulled my attention only by the dint of it being sapphic. A fair amount of the stories in the past seemed to lie mostly on destiny-- "this was said, so this would happen". The Bladesmith Queen seemed to rely mostly on the trope of Finding the Right Man to not Fear the Woman-- something that nearly made me put down the book.

The "Present" section absolutely made up for what I struggled through in the first section (after the first one). Mayday (Maria Dahvana Headley) and Heartbeat (Waubgeshig Rice) stole my attention, and kept them fixated. The Quay Stone (S. Zainab Williams) kept me ensnared. Black Diamond (Alex Segura) caused me to to pay an interest in the sport it described. Flat White (Jessica Pummer) was an interesting turn on a modern-day AU. Once (Them) & Future (Us) (Preeti Chhibber) made me want a whole story on them.

The Future section was far shorter than I would have expected, admittedly, though I did enjoy it as well.

One thing I found was how many were showing that the myth was cylindrical-- it was playing out, over and over, new names, different backgrounds, same people-- and a name that popped up a few times for Arthur was Arturo. I feel as if this drove it in, though I'm sure it wasn't on purpose. Overall, I did enjoy the anthology once I got to the present. 4 out of 5 stars!
tilla
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting collection
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2024
Read this back when it came out in 2021. Really enjoyed some of the stories which is why I reread it again this year. Really good variety of stories by some interesting authors. Finding I *still* enjoy a few of them, just not as many as the first time. In fact, I found a couple of them downright depressing.

The book is a good introduction to a number of authors I'd never even heard of before, let alone read anything by.
Kat
5.0 out of 5 stars a great anthology
Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2022
I love tales of the Arthurian legend and I loved this.
I was impressed by every author who took the legend
and created different stories (some during the legend,
others with a modern setting, and the last few set in
the future). I enjoyed every one. Thank you! Must read
for Fantasy lovers!
Elizabeth K. Ainslie
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant selection of entertaining and thought-provoking stories
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2021
I enjoyed some of these stories more than others, but all were at least very good, many were truly remarkable. Definitely recommend.
Alyssa Reads and Reads
4.0 out of 5 stars King Arthur retelling through a modern eye
Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2021
The idea behind the Sword Stone Table anthology is to give readers versions of the King Arthur legend through modern, own voices lenses. The stories work best when focusing on the perspectives of “forgotten” characters, including queer, gender and race focused retellings.

As with most anthologies, I had my favorite stories.

The Bladesmith Queen by Sarah MacLean
This story features a strong, independent heroine who creates swords, saves her village and manages to find her fated mate, too.

Do, By All Means by Sive Doyle
This tale is set sometime in the distant past about a young woman on a magical quest. She finds her princess soulmate after eliminating her inferior male competition in heroic fashion.

Flat White by Jessica Plummer
Flat White is a modern take on Arthur and his friends, with Elaine, barista as the central figure. The ideas of what is predestined vs what individuals can control are front and center.

Little Green Men by Alexander Chee.
Aside from the nice Arthur references, I’m always up for a future reality show on Mars with queer characters and descendants of Bjork. Really.

This anthology is a great concept, and it’s really cool to see the many different interpretations of the King Arthur story. But, the stories require different levels of previous knowledge about King Arthur and his world. The more you know, the more interesting and intriguing some of the stories can be. There were a few stories that had me visiting Wikipedia to check a name or fact that I felt like I missed. However, some stories require minimal previous knowledge to be fully enjoyed.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Kris
5.0 out of 5 stars The book from my list I had to tell friends about
Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2021
Conversation starting re-imagined short stories of Arthurian legend. Edited by Swapna Krishna and Jenn Northington, the assorted works by sixteen contributing authors in “Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices” are vibrant, alternative perspectives on classic tales surrounding the Knights of the Round Table, Guinevere, King Arthur, Merlin and more. Each is just the right length to be read in a sitting, ideal for a casual reader like myself, and every one as thought provoking as the last.

Powerful from the start, I knew right away I would recommend this book to my friends who love to read. I found several of the stories stayed with me long after for their compelling angle on the well-told myth. Even the order and arrangement of the stories is done with care, giving the anthology a sense of flow and creating a positive experience for the reader. The range and style of stories is a journey itself, some that swept me in with fantastic detail, others that made me cackle with glee and one or two that had me blush. LGBTQIA+ inclusive.

Easily a highlight of my reading so far this year!

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