Ellen Kushner's debut, Swordspoint, was originally published in 1987. It tells the story of a swordsman-for hire named Richard St Vier, who one day kills two men at a party thrown by an important lord. At the behest of the people around the town (and occasionally, for personal reasons), Richard kills more people. The man who threw the aforementioned party, Lord Horn, one day tries to hire Richard to kill a man called Michael. Richard refuses. In turn, Lord Horn devises a way for Richard to kill Michael, which ultimately comes to fruition, but not before Richard ultimately kills Lord Horn.
Kushner's novel is regarded as a cult classic and one of the most important fantasy novels of the past 100 years. At the time of its release, the novel was well-received critically (Publisher's Weekly, for instance, said that "Her novel is intelligent, humorous and dramatic, with a fine, malicious feeling for the operation of gossip in a closed society.") Today, the novel is still in print and has been lauded by contemporary authors like George R.R. Martin.
