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

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

S.E. wrote: "Joseph. Thanks! You rock."

Thanks! It's always nice to be amongst folks who share my obsessions ... :)

Yes, Sailor is basically comprised of three novellas, of which Jade Man's Eyes is the third; it was inserted whole, but as I said was revised to replace Moonglum (whom Elric hadn't met yet); also, I think the beginning was rewritten to follow more closely from the second story. The Del Rey series actually has both versions of Jade Man's Eyes (in two different volumes).

When I first started reading the series (back in high school in the 1980s, long before Fortress or Revenge) I always went chronologically -- at the time I didn't even know that they had been written out of sequence.

This time (well, I started this several years ago) I'm reading the Del Rey books, which are kind of the Elric equivalent of their Conan books -- everything in order of publication (more or less) and with some extras and other miscellanea. It's interesting reading them in order of publication -- it gives a much better sense of Moorcock's development as a writer. Plus there's at least one story ("Jade Man's Eyes") that was rewritten after publication to put it in a different position in the series. It was originally written for one of Lin Carter's Flashing Swords anthologies and had Elric & Moonglum; when Moorcock placed it in Sailor on the Seas of Fate (before Elric met Moonglum), he revised it and replaced Moonglum with Count Smiorgan Baldhead.

As to which order is "better", I'm kind of torn -- it's interesting to see them in publication order, but I have a strong nostalgic connection to the original set, preferably with the Whelan or Robert Gould cover art.

Yeah, what Jack said -- they're pretty similar in tone, so it's kind of dealer's choice. Right now, if I had to pick one I might suggest Fortress, but I'm only a few chapters into Revenge.

And finished Elric in the Dream Realms and am continuing on to Elric: Swords and Roses, after which I'll move on to other things -- probably time to try to catch up on my Hugo reading.

Love Vance! And Cook! And Brackett!

Myself, I read a couple of Leibers (Swords in the Mist and Swords Against Wizardry) and started Elric in the Dream Realms, which I'll probably follow up with Elric: Swords and Roses.

Then I expect I'll have to start my Hugo reading ...

S.E. wrote: "Joseph, I wish I could read and review as fast as you. You are rolling! Appreciate all the shares."

Thanks!

And finished Swords Against Wizardry, which was Leiber still at the top of his form.

And started Elric in the Dream Realms, the fifth in the Del Rey series, which I'll probably follow up with Elric: Swords and Roses.

As long as it gets a better reception than Marco Polo, which I just finished watching -- canceled on a cliffhanger after two seasons.

Having said which, I did enjoy it and would definitely recommend it -- at times it felt almost like a more wuxia-flavored Harold Lamb.

Darren wrote: "There's not enough "Yay! McG is off the project!""

As long as he's not replaced by Brett Ratner.

Not entirely sure I'm sold on the cover art (which, since I'll be getting on Kindle, is no big deal), and not sure why they're recycling the title from the Offutt series, but this table of contents is impressive as hell and I'll probably be getting this as soon as it's available.

http://www.prime-books.com/shop/print...

Content

Paula Guran, Introduction: “Knowledge Takes Precedence Over Death”

Forging & Shaping

Robert E. Howard, “The Tower of the Elephant”
C. L. Moore, “Hellsgarde"
Clark Ashton Smith, “The Dark Eidolon”
Jack Vance, “Liane the Wayfarer”
Leigh Brackett, “Black Amazon of Mars”
Fritz Leiber, “Ill Met in Lankhmar”
Michael Moorcock, “While the Gods Laugh”

Normalizing & Annealing

Tanith Lee, “Hero at the Gates”
C. J. Cherryh, “A Thief in Korianth”
Karl Edward Wagner, “Undertow”
Katherine Kurtz, “Swords Against the Marluk”
Mercedes Lackey, “Out of the Deep”
Michael Shea, “Epistle from Lebanoi”
James Enge, “Payment Deferred”
John Balestra, “The Swords of Her Heart” (original)

Tempering & Sharpening

Joanna Russ, “Bluestocking”
Samuel R. Delany, “The Tale of Dragons and Dreamers”
Elizabeth Moon, “First Blood”
Saladin Ahmed, “Where Virtue Lives”
Scott Lynch, “The Effigy Engine: A Tale of the Red Hats”
Steven Erikson, “Goats of Glory”
Elizabeth Bear, “The Ghost Makers”
Kameron Hurley, “The Plague Givers”

S.E. wrote: "December 18, 2019
"The new He-Man and the Masters of the Universe movie finally has a release date and a new writer, but needs a director."

http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/ma......"

Could we please exchange it for a Thundarr the Barbarian movie?

S.E. wrote: "Love your reviews, Joseph."

Thanks! And I just started Swords Against Wizardry (the fourth book in the series), after which I'll probably shift over to Moorcock.

The Leiber books really are great in a way that I wasn't necessarily able to appreciate back in my younger days. I was aware of the characters (maybe from a write-up in Dragon Magazine and/or from seeing the Gods of Lanhkmar section of Deities & Demigods?), but I never really read much of the series in high school, mostly because it wasn't available at the library -- I had a copy of the first book in paperback, but I think that was about it. Eventually (my senior year in college) I finally got to read the whole series when I picked up the two-volume SFBC hardcover omnibus edition.

I started Swords in the Mist last night. (I had reread the first two books in the series a few years back.) Almost finished with "Lean Times in Lankhmar", the second story. It's good stuff! I love Leiber's prose.

S.wagenaar wrote: "I have a lot of Moorcock and Leiber unread on my shelves...looks like a win-win for me. Always wanted to get into the Swords Trilogy paperback I got kicking around here..."

That may actually be my favorite Moorcock.

From my Facebook feed last year:

Next night and for seven nights in all the Wild Dance of Melniboné would fill the streets. Potions and petty spells would ensure that no-one slept, for sleep was forbidden to any Melnibonéan, old or young, while a dead emperor was mourned.

I'm going to have to see it before it leaves town. Conveniently, I just put in for PTO for the last week of May, which is, coincidentally, the last week it'll be here ...

Ulff wrote: "Sword Woman by Howard. I've read & enjoyed DelRey's Conan collections and Solomon Kane, and once I'm done researching for my next novel, Sword Woman will provide the stories to read."

I read Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventures last month, and it was definitely one of the strongest Del Rey collections (even if my own personal tastes run a bit more in the Conan/Kull/Solomon Kane direction).

Especially now that it (Dread Empire) is actually completed.