ThePenwell
The Black Sky fantasy series is an homage to the works of Clark Ashton Smith, Sapper (Herman Cyril McNeile), Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and others.
The novellas are set in a strange world-ours before the Deluge-and follow Jezorah, a young woman raised by the Dhosai, a sorority of priestesses and prophetesses who navigate the world under the protection of ancient vows.
Black Sky unfolds in a strange and distant past when forbidden things roamed unchallenged. The story straddles the genres of Sword and Sorcery and Sword and Planet.
Sword and Sorcery is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, sorcery, and the supernatural are often present. More personal than works of high or epic fantasy, Sword and Sorcery often overlaps with the genre of Heroic Fantasy, both dominated by Robert E. Howard's legendary Conan the Barbarian.
Sword & Planet is a subgenre of science fantasy that features adventures set on other planets or the primordial past, where heroes struggle against terrifying creatures. Often armed with simple swords, spears, and bows, heroes are pitted against bizarre creatures in hand-to-hand battles. Such works include Percy Greg's "Across the Zodiac" from 1880 and Edwin Lester Arnold's "Lieutenant Gullivar Jones: His Vacation" from 1905. The most famous example of this genre is Edgar Rice Burroughs's classic "A Princess of Mars," initially serialized by All-Story in 1912 as "Under the Moons of Mars."