Joseph’s Comments (group member since Oct 24, 2012)

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

I just started NADA the Lily by H. Rider Haggard on what, by coincidence, turns out to be his 164th birthday (06/22/1856).

Mary wrote: "The Ginger Star, The Hounds of Skaith, The Reavers of Skaith -- hmm, are those sword & planet?

Certainly shows the changes. She moved him out of the so..."

I'd say absolutely yes, they are; and I really need to read those at some point. I remember seeing them on the paperback spinner in the public library, but never quite got around to taking them home with me.

I think Enchantress is plenty swordy.

I actually just finished reading a whole bunch of Leigh Brackett back in May -- two of the Haffner Press collections of her short stories, Lorelei of the Red Mist: Planetary Romances and Shannach - The Last: Farewell to Mars and holy crap, she was good. Burroughs' Barsoom, with its towers and jeweled princesses and four-armed green-skinned savages will always be my first love, but Brackett's prose is just ... she could write rings around him.

Another lovely, lovely banner! That's one of my favorite Whelan Barsoom covers (on John Carter of Mars), even if the book is a stinker.

Moved on to The Prophecy Con, the third of Patrick Weekes' Rogues of the Republic trilogy.

I'm currently reading The Prophecy Con (sequel to The Palace Job), also by Patrick Weekes. Fun books!

S.E. wrote: "Richard, have you seen the Netflix series of the Dark Crystal? I enjoyed it. Also got the Soundtrack by Daniel Pemberton...."

I loved the series; I'll have to get the soundtrack.

I'll be very curious to know what you think!

And I did rewatch Krull last night and enjoyed it quite a bit. The crystal spider in particular is supremely creepy.

Right now, my favorite story might be Enchantress of Venus; but Sword of Rhiannon is also first-rate.

And finished Shannach - The Last: Farewell to Mars (man, Brackett was good!) and started something in the SF vein, Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire

For Krull, at least, I'd say you can go to the movie before the book.

I actually just started watching Dragonslayer (now conveniently available on Amazon Prime); I need to work Krull into the mix sooner rather than later.

Finished Lorelei of the Red Mist: Planetary Romances and decided to keep going with Leigh Brackett, so next up is Shannach - The Last: Farewell to Mars.

And as long as I'm thinking of it, some lost continent movies (of, well, not what I'd call great levels of quality):

Atlantis, the Lost Continent, which was actually based on a musical.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054642/...

Warlords of the Deep, a.k.a. Warlords of Atlantis
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078474/...

Disney tries an animated feature that's not a musical (and which at least has some lovely Mike Mignola design work):
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0230011/...

I know there are others, of course.

Finished Louise Cooper's Time Master trilogy with The Master, and decided it was time for some sword & planet (or noir & planet, as the case may be) with Lorelei of the Red Mist: Planetary Romances, the second, lovely Haffner Press collection of Leigh Brackett's short stories.

Eh, we're pretty freewheeling, so say what you want and if you think it warrants it, put specific bits in spoiler tags.

< spoiler > like this but without the spaces < /spoiler >

(view spoiler)[for example (hide spoiler)]

It's been quite a few years since I read any of the Pellucidar books, but I did enjoy them. They feel a bit closer to Tarzan, at least in terms of Burroughs' works, what with all of the jungle adventures &c., but Burroughs can really let his imagination run wild and abandon even the thin veneer of a pretense of writing about an actual place as when he has Tarzan flitting about Africa.

I recently rewatched the old At the Earth's Core movie (with Doug McClure and Caroline Munro and Peter Cushing). It was ... not very good, but fun in an I'm eight years old and this is on TV on a Saturday afternoon sort of way. McClure was also in adaptations of Burroughs' Land & People That Time Forgot.

I have not, but it's got a pretty solid table of contents.

Jack wrote: "Picked up The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay. It's not true S&S, but it has the familiar Norse saga feel à la Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword t..."

Loved that book!

I know I was reading Tarzan before I got my first John Carter book, but once I read Princess of Mars, that was it for me; I was well and truly hooked.