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 listening to the Appendix N Book Club podcast referenced in the article, and based on the first couple of episodes, I'd recommend it.

Peter wrote: "I just started Blackguards: Tales of Assassins, Mercenaries, and Rogues.

So far (and I'm just in the 3rd story), it is shaping up to be a great book."

Yeah, I liked that one.

Myself, I got through A Wizard of Earthsea in something close to one sitting and will be starting The Tombs of Atuan later today.

Well, for my own part I very much enjoyed The Book of Swords, although I'll admit it was less of a sword & sorcery collection than it was being made out to be in the introduction. But it had some great stories in it by people I enjoy, and several authors (Matthew Hughes foremost amongst them) whom I really need to acquaint myself with.

Richard wrote: "Have you seen the Earthsea movie? Live action or animated? Worth checking out."

I never saw the live action miniseries. The animated version from Studio Ghibli was very pretty, at least, but probably worked best to the extent that you could completely divorce it from any connection to the books. I think Le Guin kind of hated them both.

And I just added all of the Earthsea books to my Kindle, so I think I know what'll be coming up next for me.

Myself, I'm quite enjoying The Book of Swords thus far; but after I finish that, I find myself taken with a sudden desire to reread A Wizard of Earthsea and maybe a bunch of other Ursula K. Le Guin -- sadly, she died on Monday.

Started The Book of Swords, which I'm expecting to enjoy just based on the authors involved.

Jack wrote: "Al wrote: "I picked up Dwarves by Markus Heitz recently, so I'm good with this choice."

I had the same book in mind when I made the suggestion. It's on my to-read list. Looks good."

Jack wrote: "Al wrote: "I picked up Dwarves by Markus Heitz recently, so I'm good with this choice."

I had the same book in mind when I made the suggestion. It's on my to-read list. Looks good."

That's also on my Kindle somewhere.

I'm also starting to get a bit of an itch to read some Drow books despite the fact that every time I pick up a Drizzt book, I read the first couple of pages and just can't get past that point. Maybe this time, or maybe I'll try the Elaine Cunningham books instead.

Film or TV novelizations.

Gaming tie-in fiction, especially now that the Warhammer & 40K books are starting to appear (in overpriced fashion) in the US Kindle store.

Have we done graphic novels?

Finished King Hereafter which I highly recommend if you're in the mood for a very substantial historical novel, and started Frankenstein, what with it being its 200th anniversary and all.

Michael wrote: "It is certainly derived from "Arabian Nights" . I believe "Magic the Gathering has a "City of Brass" card but I've never played those games :). http://www.bartleby.com/16/701.html ..."

I might or might not have that card somewhere ...

Michael wrote: "I finished "City of Brass" last week and highly recommend it! I gave it 5 stars! Has sorcery and swords in it for sure. It is more of an epic fantasy though and what makes it different from so many..."

I'm definitely interested, although for me the City of Brass will always be:

Jason M wrote: "S.E. wrote: "Okay, I polished off The Fortress of the Pearl.
That was easy! Moorcock writes consolidated page turners!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... = review

Was c..."

Yes, that's a good list.

Having said which, of the original six Elric books (Elric, Sailor, Weird, Sleeping Sorceress (a.k.a Vanishing Tower), Bane, Stormbringer), only Stormbringer and Elric of Melnibone are actually novels -- the rest are short story collections or fix-ups. If you want an Elric novel (and you've read some of the short stories), I'd probably recommend Stormbringer, which concludes the series; or, secondarily, Elric of Melnibone, which begins it.

If you're interested in non-Elric Moorcock novels, I'd also recommend The Eternal Champion and Phoenix in Obsidian (a.k.a. The Silver Warriors), which are both Eternal Champion novels, and are both worthwhile.

Don't try to order Moorcock's books; that way lies madness. Or, at least, organize each individual series (Hawkmoon, Corum, etc.), but don't try to put the series in any kind of overarching sequence.

Mary wrote: "Beren and Lúthien by J.R.R. Tolkien"

I'll be very curious to hear about that one.

Jason M wrote: "I, too, am diving into KEW's first Echoes Echoes of Valor in addition to a heavily recommended antho Swordsmen in the Sky"

Excellent, excellent choices both.

Jason M wrote: " (and I've been getting the SubPress limited edition hardcovers, just for fun)...

oh, to have such fun as you, Joseph!"

Seeing those books on the shelf (they're up to seven so far) is really impressive, and also gives you an idea of how much larger the later volumes are than the first couple.

I was literally using the SubPress edition of Bonehunters for a hand weight when I had to do some physical therapy a couple of years ago.

Richard wrote: "Crown of Stars! Wow! That takes me back. I loved that series. I seem to remember it being more dramatic than magical though."

Somehow I never quite got around to reading any Kate Elliott until I picked up her Court of Fives books a few years ago. This is a gap in my reading that I feel I need to fill.

Cindy wrote: "I am the same with the last Thomas Covenant book by Stephen Donaldson. They are so long and complicated I have reread them to get the full flavour of it all, but that is a big chunk of reading now. ..."

As it happens, I'm also kind of in the same position with Covenant -- I reread the original two trilogies when the first book in the new sequence came out, but I think that's about as far as I got.

As a rule, for the past few years I've been allowing myself to fit one giant series into my schedule each year. For 2016 it was Game of Thrones. This year it was Tad Williams' Osten Ard books. Right now, I'm thinking next year may actually be Kate Elliott's Crown of Stars books, although that's subject to sudden change at my slightest whim.

Yeah, I read the first five Malazan books back in 2003 or 2004 and really liked them, and I keep meaning to go back and read the whole thing now that it's finished (and I've been getting the SubPress limited edition hardcovers, just for fun) but it's such an intimidating number of pages ...

I just started King Hereafter, Dorothy Dunnett's historical novel based on Macbeth, which as it turns out would have slotted very nicely into our Viking group read earlier in the year.

S.E. wrote: "All,

A new anthology is our Feb 13th: Art of War: A BookNest.eu Anthology with Tales of War by Forty Masters of Fantasy.. The cover was just revealed:



From fantasybookcritic.blo..."

Dang! That's quite the list of contributors!