Jason’s Comments (group member since Jan 16, 2013)

Jason’s comments from the Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy" group.

Clint wrote: "Four stories that you would hand to someone totally new to REH and say “read these. These are why I am an REH fan”."

Cool idea. Probably in this order too.

1 - "Vultures of Wahpeton" ~ Corcoran is simply terrific as the lone badass killer who agrees first to be a lawman, then to be a thief, then to avenge a girl and rides off into the sunset angry, alone, and absolutely still a badass. A great Western and proof REH was more than Conan.

2 - "Queen of the Black Coast" ~ It might be a little too-much in the face for some newbies with its dancing naked heroine and overtly sexed-up opening, but ultimately this is my favorite Conan tale that simply drips with the raw intensity of the man, with the bonus of the raw intensity of the woman as well. This tale sings with vitality and life despite dipping low into mourning before surging upward into a full embrace of living loud and large whilst one can.

3 - "Kings of the Night" ~ Kull in full glory, only a trace of his philosophical examination of what-is and/or what-is-not-yet to slow things down. This is a great tale displaying the might of Kull of eons gone brought forward to aide Bran in a desperate fight with supposed allies and countless foes. This story shares the glory of Kull the warrior-king with the glorious goal of Bran the lonely-king and adds Vikings and Celts and Roman-killing!

4 - "Iron Shadows in the Moon" ~ There are other tales I could have chosen, but I decided to run with this one, as it is an exquisite example of short story S&S action. If our new-to-Howard reader hasn't caught on by now there probably is no hope, so what's to be lost, eh? Instead, I'll go for the gusto and share this one, a tale with one of the best opening sequences of all time: the raw energy of terror, lust, madness, blood, flight, death, delivered in a dramatic sensory intensity of psychology. This is a prime S&S tale of survival; all else that happened was secondary.

I can dig a master librarian. Welcome to the big league, Joseph.
Sorry to see you go, Jack!

S.E. wrote: "It's Classic Howard AND a current Howard!"

Sweet!
(see what I did there?)

I recently finished The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian, and I've been simultaneously reading SSOC, A Word From the Outer Dark, One Who Walked Alone, Index to One Who Walked Alone and Day of the Stranger, and plan to begin the Berkley Skull-Face soon, so guess I'm in this one!

good topic, but there is a dedicated discussion category for authors, books, and series that should hold much of this. but while I'm here...

I have one 2-story Kindle .99 cent short of my guy, Direk. There's supposed to be more of them, someday. Vengeance is My Lord's: Tales of Direk, Lord of Vengeance

well, as Ohio is supposed to be a hotbed of paganism, seems fitting.

Howdy All! Anyone here on Facebook and interested in joining a private group as an advance reader for reviews and blurbs for Rogue Blades?

If I have not already invited you and you find this appealing, please let me know. I believe we have to be 'friends' for me to invite you, so reach out.

Thanks!

Richard wrote: "
@Jason
I had you pegged for somewhere on the east coast for some odd reason. No wonde..."

Hahahahah, no East-coaster here! From the Midwest, West Coast in the military, Westerner at heart, finally in Texas.

Jack wrote: "The members of our S&S group have a diverse set of interests and backgrounds. I think it would be interesting just how far and wide we span the globe..."

Texas!
And how 'bout a tally mark after each entry so we can see which is the largest S&S base? :)

nope, I don't avoid eras. And W. E., since you're confessing I will too - haven't read and have no desire to read Dune.

Good idea, Seth! And much thanks for the shout-out, Richard!

Welcome Robert, this is a laid-back, friendly group of S&S affectionados that only occasionally make reading demands ;)

Robert wrote: "If anybody's interested, I'm giving away free e-copies of my book Sword of Betrayal ("Edris wants to be a poet. His father wants him to kill the king's son.")..."

Great attention-grabbing tagline! I grabbed it.

Agreed, lost interest after books .5 & 1. Expected to be reading them all, now... nah.

S.E. wrote: "I needed a refresher on the reading order and figured others could benefit.

Grabbed this from a nice site:
https://booksreadingorder.com/the-wit..."

Nice, thanks Seth. I found this too late though, and after reading several recommended reading order lists I'm not sticking Season of Storms in early - pretty much every review/list I saw said it contributes not much and should only be read by completists.

ugh, sorry to learn this, John.

and I'm delighted to have your story, Matt!

Thanks, Stan! Each of these has the potential to fill from the current pendings, we're very close! I hope not to but will reopen for a month if I have to after we've sorted things out. Thanks for submitting!

I'm going to try this one, been wanting to read THE LAST WISH and get this series started.

FYI y'all - RBE's 2019 open calls close in one week. DEATH'S STING, REACH FOR THE SKY, and SLAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE are almost full. Be sure to check them out!

Valhalla