Because it has been ten years since Sword-Bound came out, I purposely put in callbacks to certain early adventures, even as far back as the first volume. Sword-Bearer is a direct sequel to Sword-Bound, and picks up six weeks after the end of that volume. Also, I wanted to entertain the reader with adventures, not bog them down in continual discussions of sexism.Īnd then what is Sword-Bearer about, and how does it connect, both narratively and chronologically, to the other Tiger And Del books, and especially the previous one, 2013’s Sword-Bound? Certainly they continued squabbling about various beliefs and differences between men and women, but it became banter as opposed to verbal confrontation. In Del’s Northern world women were able to be whatever they wished, no questions asked.Īs the series continued, this subtext became less overt because Del had proved herself and Tiger accepted her skill. In Tiger’s Southron world, women were subservient, so Del’s personal freedom was alien to him as well as other Southron men. While I wrote Del as a feminist, mostly I wanted her character to prove by doing that that women could be equally competent as men in the same jobs.

The book was written in 1984, and published in ’86, so the topic (and terminology) still loomed large. Initially, the subtext of Sword-Dancer, the first volume, was to address what was then called “male chauvinist pig” mindset and behavior.

In the following email interview, Roberson discusses their return in the new novel Sword-Bearer ( paperback, Kindle), including why fans won’t have to wait another ten years for their next adventure.įor people who haven’t read any of them, what is the Tiger And Del series all about, and what kind of world are these books set in? It’s been ten years since we last heard from Tiger and Del, the titular characters of Jennifer Roberson’s romantic fantasy series.

Sword-Dancer by Jennifer Roberson