Poul Anderson 1 hr 26 min read

Condemned pirate Corun laughs at the death-sentence offered a reprieve: guide a black galleon to the fear-haunted Citadel of the Xanthi wizards, though his lover be a witch.

Poul Anderson's 1951 story is a rousing sword-and-sorcery adventure. Vivid, driven golden-age pulp. Read it for a colorful Planet Stories yarn of a doomed corsair's perilous voyage to a wizard-haunted citadel, blending swashbuckling action with dark sorcery and a dangerous witch-lover, in the fast-moving, exotic style of the classic sword-and-sorcery magazines.

In its time

Published in 1951, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

1 hr 26 min read (a novella, a full arc in one sitting or two).