The 'Lost Tales' of Keith Taylor
Keith Taylor celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday today. That got me thinking about his literary legacy. While Mr. Taylor has more books in print—digitally—at this moment than at any time since the 1980s, there are quite a few of his short stories that have never been reprinted. Many of them are closely connected to his ‘Bard’ tales of Felimid mac Fal. Others are something of a mystery even to me…
Most fans of Keith have come to his work either through the 'Bard' novels or the two Cormac Mac Art pastiches he co-authored with Andy Offutt. The CMA books got several printings, as did most of the Felimid mac Fal novels. Even the rarest, Bard V: Felimid's Homecoming, was recently reprinted as an e-book and paperback.
However, there are three tales of Felimid that only got published one time. "On Skellig Michael"--in Swords Against Darkness II--was the first appearance of Felimid in mass market paperback and the first story of that Irish bard I ever read. However, it is--so far--the last story of Felimid chronologically. He's in his late forties in that tale.
"The Demon Cat" is a short, but powerful, tale. Chronologically it is the very first tale of Felimid. He's just left the bardic school of Erin and runs into serious trouble. "The Demon Cat" was published in the Winter 1989/1990 issue of Weird Tales.
The final unreprinted story of Felimid is "The Brotherhood of Britain", which appeared in Mike Ashley's excellent anthology, The Camelot Chronicles. This takes place a year or two after "The Demon Cat". Felimid has been exiled from Erin and ends up in the war-camp of the Britons on the eve of the Battle of Badon. His participation would have a ripple effect throughout the first four 'Bard' novels.
A lesser-known hero of Taylor's is Nasach of the Spear, who first appeared in Swords Against Darkness V. Nasach is basically a 'working class' fighting man of Erin. He doesn't have the training or education of Felimid, but he makes up for it with sheer determination and pragmatism. We know that Nasach ends up as one of the most feared of Irish reivers--and becomes a mentor to Felimid's rakehell father, Fal--but Taylor's stories of him have yet to chronicle that period. Here are the published tales of Nasach, so far:
Mr. Taylor sold a further tale of Nasach--"The Crimson Spectre"--to Skelos magazine a few years back, which story was supposed to appear in issue #5, but that issue has never appeared. Keep your fingers crossed.
A couple of years ago, Keith revealed that there is one more rare Nasach story out there:
There is one other Nasach story, but he's only ten years old in it and it appears in the anthology of children's fantasy, DREAM WEAVERS, from Penguin Books (1996). The editor is the remarkable Paul Collins. It's the last story in the collection, and the title is "At the Edge of the Sea."
The Spring 1988 issue of Argos, which contains “The Harvest of Malice”. The cover features a fairly inaccurate painting of Pendor.
It should be noted that Taylor wrote two stories of Fal mac Fergus' early days--before he met Nasach. Those previously-unreprinted tales were brought together for the first time in Renegade Swords II. D.M. Ritzlin is an editor of discernment and taste.
There are other unreprinted tales of Felimid's friends--and foes--out there. "The Harvest of Malice" catches up with the wizard, Pendor, after the events of Bard. "The Ordeal Stone" tells a tale of Vivayn sometime before she meets Felimid in Bard. Both are excellent examples of authentic Celtic fantasy.
"The Conqueror of Vectis" takes place years before Bard. Its protagonist is Cerdic, the renowned Jutish sea-wolf who eventually conquered Wessex. However, in this tale, he is just trying to wrest the Isle of Wight from another Germanic pirate. Jerry Pournelle thought enough of this story to buy it for his 'There Will Be War' series of anthos, despite--as he admitted--it not really 'fitting' that series all that well. This one is still in print, but I thought it well worth mentioning. I wonder if Nasach--or Fal--ever tangled with Cerdic?
One more Felimid-adjacent story is "The Man with the Evil Eye", which can still be found in DMR’s Death Dealers and Diabolists. It is an early tale of Palamides the Cataphract, who first appeared in Bard and Bard IV: Ravens' Gathering.
So much for the stuff I know about.
What of "The Revenant"? Considering the issue of Weird Tales it appears in, it could easily be a tale of modern horror. However, it could be set in the past, perhaps Dark Age Britain/Europe, like so many of the stories already mentioned.
"Spears of the Sea-Wolves" sounds even more intriguing. If I had to bet, I would say this one is set in Dark Age Britain.
Just as Keith has written tales of Ancient Egypt, he has also penned stories set in Classical times. Two of those I'm sure about are "The Favour of a Tyrant" and "The Walking Walls of Rome". Two other possibles are "The Scribe of a Hundred Lies" and "The Bath-house".
Well, that's about all the time I have at the moment. There are at least ten stories I haven't covered, as well as one essay. I hope this blog entry inspires other Keith Taylor fans to track down some of his more obscure tales.
Happy birthday, Keith!