On 7/19/26 9:27 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
The Sword Smith by Eleanor Arnason
Having tired of the king of Eshgorin's management style, blacksmith
Limper tendered his resignation. Alas, the king's management style
includes a disinclination to accept resignations. Thus, the bounty on Limper's head.
https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/runaway
Another nice review - thanks.
Regarding "I have absolutely no idea who publisher Condor was", I had to
poke around, but I did come up with the following snippets, cobbled
together from different sources (primarily found in spots at a nonprofit called "Library of America", main web presence found at loa.org ):
Condor Books was a short-lived, late-1970s paperback imprint notorious
for being part of a massive tax-shelter scheme. It is highly notable
among science fiction collectors primarily as the original publisher
of Eleanor Arnason's debut novel, The Sword Smith (1978).
The imprint was owned by best-selling author Robin Moore (who wrote
The French Connection and The Green Beret).
Moore, along with two lawyers, purchased the reprint rights for
paperbacks at heavily inflated values, then convinced investors to put
money into these books as tax shelters to claim massive deductions.
The IRS eventually audited the company, deeming the operation a tax
avoidance scheme. Moore pleaded guilty to fraud in 1986 and received a
suspended prison sentence.
I didn't dig any deeper, or cross-reference the info above.
Tony
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