Swordspoint

A Melodrama of Manners

By: Ellen Kushner

Narrated by: Ellen Kushner, Dion Graham, Katherine Kellgren, Robert Fass, Nick Sullivan, Simon Jones

Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award, Audio Drama, 2013

Award-winning author, narrator, and screenwriter Neil Gaiman personally selected this book, and, using the tools of the Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX), cast the narrator and produced this work for his audiobook label, Neil Gaiman Presents.

A few words from Neil on Swordspoint: "It's as if Jane Austen wrote fantasy... an imaginary world where the characters are real people: a Vanity Fair of aristocrats, rogues, orphans, and heroes; a book where the best swordsman in the land can make far more money dueling at private parties than he can as a knight-errant. Ellen Kushner casts her sharp eye over them all, but with great affection and lavish detaiI.... couldn't think of a better performer for Swordspoint than Ellen, and her reading is polished, intimate, and – since Riverside is of her creation – wholly authentic.

"What really makes this production of Swordspoint unique, though, is the supporting cast in this special "illuminated production". Several key scenes are fully dramatized, and throughout the entire book's soundscapes you will hear the cadences of the marketplace, the music of the drawing rooms, and of course the ring of steel drawn from the scabbard. Ellen actually wrote new dialogue for the crowd scenes, so the actors aren't just mumbling "rhubarb rhubarb" to simulate speech.... You'll be able to hear performances from acclaimed and award-winning actors, including Dion Graham, Katherine Kellgren, Robert Fass, Nick Sullivan, and the remarkable Simon Jones."

In this exciting new "illuminated production", the author herself reads her own work, supported by a full cast. Author Ellen Kushner is also a popular performer and National Public Radio host (Sound & Spirit). For years, fans have been asking her to record her own audiobook of Swordspoint. To mark the 25th anniversary of the book's publication, Ellen teamed up with Sue Zizza of SueMedia Productions, known for her signature touches of soundscapes and sound effects, multi-voiced dramatizations, and all the techniques of "illuminated production". Together they have made Swordspoint a brand-new audio experience, in which the full supporting cast dramatizes and illuminates key scenes from Ellen's compelling narration.

On the streets of Riverside, a man lives and dies by the sword. Even the nobles on the Hill turn to duels to settle their disputes. And in this city, the swordsman Richard St. Vier is the undisputed master, as skilled as he is ruthless – until a death by the sword is met with outrage instead of awe, and the city discovers that the line between hero and villain can be altered in the blink of an eye. Because every man lives at sword's point, if you can only find his weakness. And even the greatest swordsman in Riverside has one thing he cares for deeply.

Hailed by critics as "a bravura performance, a delight from start to finish" (Locus), "intelligent, humorous and dramatic" (Publishers Weekly) and "witty, beguiling and ingenious" (Interzone) , Kushner's "Melodrama of Manners" has become a classic, a favorite not only of Neil Gaiman but a host of distinguished colleagues, including George R. R. Martin ("unforgettable!"), Orson Scott Card ("powerful") and Gene Wolfe ("as if Noel Coward had written a vehicle for Errol Flynn!").

The artwork used for the audiobook edition of Swordspoint is based on the artwork and design by Thomas Canty for the original first US edition of the book.

To hear more from Neil Gaiman on Swordspoint, click here, or listen to the introduction at the beginning of the book itself.

Learn more about Neil Gaiman Presents and Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX).

©1987 Ellen Kushner (P)2011 SueMedia Productions

Critic reviews

"A glorious thing, the book we might have had if Noel Coward had written a vehicle for Errol Flynn. It’s wicked and visual and witty, and it pulls you in like the doorman of a Bourbon Street bar." (Gene Wolfe)

"Swordspoint begins with a single drop of blood on a field of new-fallen snow, an image that burned itself forever into my mind the first time I encountered it. I can close my eyes and see it still. It’s a terrific opening, an unforgettable opening... and the book just gets better from there." (George R. R. Martin)

“Ellen Kushner delivers her utterly unique blend of modern fantasy and nineteenth-century novel of manners with absolute conviction, affectionate humor, and perfect phrasing. “Neil Gaiman Presents” has provided original music, lively soundscapes, and the voices of some of the audio world’s most distinguished performers. Hearing Katherine Kellgren, Dion Graham, and others sharpen the cutting, insightful dialogue is pure pleasure.” ( Audiofile)

99% Kushner, 1% "cast", 100% adolescent fantasy

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Neil Gaiman seemed inordinately proud of the supposedly full-voiced production. Why, then is this 99% Ellen Kushner reading it? MAYBE 1% is performed by the actors (who aren't terribly good) they advertised, and sometimes even those scenes shift abruptly into Ellen Kushner reading it again, Kushner voicing the same characters they had previously had voiced by actors & actresses; after the mid-way point, even that 1% ceases and it becomes all-Kushner-all-the-time. This was a sham, a case of false advertising, a waste of my time and money. Either have a single person read the whole thing, like most other audiobooks, or have a full cast performing the whole thing. You can't get away with this sort of piss-poor production if you plan to advertise it as something else.

Would you ever listen to anything by Ellen Kushner again?

No.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of the narrators?

I would have cast either a full cast or just Kushner. Make up your minds, folks.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

No. It read like a female version of what women accuse men of writing when we write lesbians -- an adolescent fantasy. It's all fashion and parties and squabbling over status, with action sequences that usually occur off-stage or crawl along at a snail's pace, set in a world in which every man is only one meaningful glance away from hopping into bed with another man. It read like the sort of terrible Harry Potter slash-fics my female friends wrote in high school and college - a girl's fantasy of what men get up to when women aren't around.

Any additional comments?

I regret buying the sequel at the same time I bought this book. I anticipated loving this, since everyone seems to, and instead I find myself despising it.

Historic fiction??? Just a really bad book.

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A true plot, characters whom one would care about, and less contrived writing.

Has Swordspoint turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, because I am not sure to which genre this book actually belongs. It is supposed to be a fantasy, yet it seems the author goes to great lengths to make it read as if it were not fantastic.

What three words best describe the narrators’s voice?

uncultured
insincere
boring

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

No, not really. It just seemed to be one of the most self conscious, tatted up, over embellished books I have ever read.

Any additional comments?

Don't bother unless you are young and inexperienced and know little of history.

Someone should say it outright

As far as I can tell no one reviewing this book mentioned that the story is a sappy, homosexual romance.
I read it because Neil Gimond described it as "what Jane Austen would have written if she wrote fantasy". The comparison is a slander of Jane Austen's writing style.
Swordpoint doesn't have much action and frankly the "witty dialect" and plot consist of characters speaking somewhat in period for Jane Austen's books. This is not enough to entitle a book to the description of clever. The only shrewd part was two sentences on fireworks. I kept waiting for a surprising plot twist or something.
If someone had bothered actually saying what book was about I would not have wasted my time or a credit on such trash. Thank goodness for Audible's return policy.So fair warning.

Buyer beware!

Would you try another book from Ellen Kushner and/or the narrators?

I have been a long time subscriber to Audible and travel for a living. As such I listen to audio books an average of four hours per day. When I research my purchases I take some time to read reviews, etc, and usually they are spot on (not so with this series). Within a few hours of listening I was bombed with scene after scene of homosexuality. No where in the reviews was this mentioned or I missed it. I can endure a bit of that if the rest of the work held up but that was not the case. The writing is what I would expect from a first year college student and seems forced with no real objective in mind. The plotting seems to be a second thought, as though we are supposed to be so enthralled with the descriptions of the sensual thoughts going through the minds of the players as to ignore anything else. There is nothing here of any value to save this work including the author's narration. She needs to leave this to the professionals. This is the first time I have been motivated to write a review. I have been so pleased with my book selections in the past that this one stands out as a big mistake!

Really Disappointing

Would you try another book from Ellen Kushner and/or the narrators?

No

What do you think your next listen will be?

Something from an author I've previously enjoyed

Would you be willing to try another one of the narrators’s performances?

No

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

No

Any additional comments?

The premise of the book intrigued me. But there were too many narrators, and the sounds effects left no room for imagination to take hold. The effects were a poor copy of those used in early radio shows which for me, further degraded any enjoyment I might have had. I will not pursue the rest of the series.

extremely disappointing

I purchased this book on the strength of Neil Gaiman's name. The story is insipid. The sound effects are distracting and canned and the acting is amateurish at best. I would like a refund but I cannot find how to do that.

Promising story peppered with lingering erotica

I was excited about the Neil Gaiman production, the talented vocal cast and the "fairy tale for adults." All of that was there, but I did not expect the constant sexual content. Everyone appears to be bisexual and the pace of the novel ceases as every move and glance is described in uncomfortable detail. I found myself skipping forward through half the scenes and finally gave up halfway through.

Disappointing, and I wish a review had tipped me off. It will not be a problem for many, but if detailed sex scenes between men and women or men and men are not what you are looking for, skip this book.

a bore

Would you try another book from Ellen Kushner and/or the narrators?

i liked the narrator, and her reading her story lent it a true bent to what the author pictured. unfortunately that was boring characters and a story line that was long and drawn out.

What could Ellen Kushner have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

ended it about twenty chapters earlier.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

disappointed in other peoples comments that made me have the idea it would be a good purchase. this book left much for wanting. i fell asleep with this on for about two hours and woke up none the worse for the plot line. if i did not have a desire to push through hard listens and a field job that requires long hours alone right now, i would have discarded this book hours ago. i finished it with a sigh of relief and the last four chapters drug on for hours it seemed.

Any additional comments?

she pushed the boundaries of sexuality, especially for the eighties, but pushed it right into a typical stereotype of gays, the flamboyant homosexual. i think she would have been better off writing about a lesbian couple where one was an unconventional swordsperson. this story was brutally boring and snobbish. i regret having listened to it, except for the comfort of knowing i pushed through a hard listen and came out unenlightened and disappointed in it. the only book on tape i have wished i had not bothered with, so far.

skip this one, carry on. this is not the book you are looking for.

I don't like the style at all

I would really rather prefer to be warned of gay sex content in advance. The reading is mediocre and I'm not a fan of this staged multi cast style with sound effects, a single talented reader is far preferable. I found the content offensive and after two attempts to get through it I gave up in chapter 9. Waste of money if you ask me.

I BROKE MY OWN RULE

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of the narrators?

Never, never buy a book narrated by the author. I would rather they pay the price for one excellent narrator than several mediocre ones. An excellent narrator is an artist while the others just speak or overact.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Could not get through even to the fourth chapter.