ON CRUSADE

A second volume of historical fantasy stories about the Knights Templar (after Tales of the Knights Templar, not seen), edited by respected fantasist Kurtz (the Deryni series, etc.). Following the First Crusade, the warrior-monk Knights Templar were commissioned in 1118 as a sort of 12th-century Highway Patrol; they rapidly developed into an impressive fighting force and soon diversified into shipping, banking, and other businesses until they were destroyed in 1307 by Philip IV of France. The Templars’ reputation for matters mystical and romantic probably derives from their association with the Holy Grail—indeed, they spent the first decade of their existence excavating beneath King Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem, and who knows what they found? The galley at hand offers 10 new speculations (the publishers, however, count 11) from Diane Duane, Deborah Turner Harris and Robert J. Harris, David M. Honigsberg and Alexandra Elizabeth Honigsberg, Richard Woods, Robert Reginald, Andre Norton, Bradley Sinor, Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald, David Spengler and Julie Spengler, and editor Kurtz herself, who also supplies links between the stories. Of greatest probable interest to Templar fans and eclectic fantasists.