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

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

Aaron wrote: "Ever since I read "She" I have been wanting to read more of his works."

At a minimum, I highly recommend King Solomon's Mines and Allan Quatermain. After that, maybe some of the historicals -- Cleopatra and Eric Brighteyes, for example. Plus he wrote a bunch of other Quatermain adventures (most of which I haven't read yet) and three other books about Ayesha.

OK, seriously, read Blackguards: Tales of Assassins, Mercenaries, and Rogues -- I guarantee you'll find many stories you like, and probably a few you love.

Finished Blackguards: Tales of Assassins, Mercenaries, and Rogues and am going way into the past with H. Rider Haggard's Jess. (Part of my probably never-to-be-completed project to read all of Haggard's novels in more-or-less order of publication.)

Myself, I came to Conan (and Howard) relatively late -- when I was young (late 70s/early 80s) the comics were big, the Ace paperbacks were in the local bookstore and the movies were coming out, but nothing ever quite grabbed me -- I was more of a fan of Burroughs and Barsoom.

Then when I went off to college, the public library in the college town happened to have a copy of Conan (Ace #1) on the shelf, so I gave it a try and ended up picking up all of the rest of the Ace books in fairly short order. Yeah, the series as a whole definitely had its ups and downs, but it brought me to Conan and to Howard, which can only be a good thing.

(I did start getting Red Sonja comics -- there was a short series that started in the early 80s that I picked up -- and the Solomon Kane miniseries. Might have started with the books if they would've been available in the local public library.)

Aaron wrote: "I had actually gotten a few of his books from him when he was selling on eBay. Not sure if he still is or not, but the nice thing was every book I had gotten from him he autographed. Definitely a n..."

I'm sure he's still selling on eBay. He's also pretty active on Facebook.

Dan wrote: "I liked them both. Flashing Swords! tended to have the bigger names more consistently, but I liked the variety in Swords Against Darkness. Also Flashing Swords tended to have longer novella length ..."

Yep, that's pretty much exactly the comparison I'd make. I think my personal preference was just for fewer, longer stories in Flashing Swords vs. more shorter stories in Swords Against Darkness. Definitely need to revisit both series at some point (after Blackguards).

Dan wrote: "A great anthology series really!"

I should go back and try Swords Against Darkness again one of these days. I always found myself more drawn to Flashing Swords! #1.

S.E. wrote: "Here is the link to the podcast :

http://jonathanstrahan.podbean.com/e/..."

Thanks! I meant to link it, but didn't have a direct link available at the time.

It really is a great discussion.

The latest episode of the Coode Street Podcast (Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe) is an hour-long conversation recorded at World Fantasy with Glen Cook and Steven Erikson.

Jason M wrote: "totally enjoyed Sunset Mantle, really like Reiss' writing."

It's the best of the TOR novellas that I've read so far, and that's saying quite a bit. Has Reiss written anything else?

Finished Sunset Mantle, another TOR novella that I'd recommend unreservedly -- I think it'd be a very interesting companion to Gemmel's Legend -- and am starting Blackguards: Tales of Assassins, Mercenaries, and Rogues for the anthology group read.

Dan wrote: "I'm thinking I might pick up Swords & Dark Magic to read at home. I have the signed limited edition from Subterranean Press, and I don't think I'll be taking that to work with me to read. Lot's of ..."

I thought that one had some great stories in it; and the SubPress edition is beautiful.

Finished Aztec and read a couple of possible interest to the group -- The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson, which is definitely playing with and informed by sword & sorcery tropes, and The Builders by Daniel Polansky, which is like a Sergio Leone film starring talking animals. Both are Tor.com novellas -- I think I'll have to read at least a few more of them before I pick out an anthology for the group read.

I think the only Fox novels I've actually read were Warrior of Llarn and Thief of Llarn. I'm pretty sure I enjoyed them, but if you put a gun to my head I'd have trouble telling you anything about them other than they were set on a planet called Llarn.

Did Fox write any of the classic Adam Strange run?

Jack wrote: "Just finished this book, a few months late for our group read. WOW! Awesome book. Thanks, S.E., for recommending this book. My full review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show......"

If you liked it, I'd recommend just about all of Schweitzer's work, his novels in particular: The Mask Of The Sorcerer, The Shattered Goddess and The White Isle. (They're unconnected standalone books, although both Mask and Goddess have associated short story volumes.)

Dan wrote: "I read this one: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Robert Harrison translation and introduction with Guy Gavriel Kay Afterword.

Never heard of Orlando Furioso (thoug..."

Yeah, I enjoyed Orlando Furioso -- my review -- although it was long and a bit of a slog.

Dan wrote: "Well I finished off The Song of Roland, and I was greatly impressed. Not Sword & Sorcery, per se, but very likely an influence on its development. I could see parallels to some of Howard's works, H..."

Which edition of Song of Roland? I read Ariosto's Orlando Furioso (an English prose translation) a few months ago, which I think is part of the same cycle.

AlamoJack wrote: "Finally getting around to We Are All Legends. Better late than never.

Joseph: Star Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company is a good read so far. It's my first SW novel."

I have Twilight Company waiting -- it's just that after 4-6 weeks of nonstop Star Wars it was time for a change. Glad to hear it's good, though.

Wrapped up Star Wars: The Force Awakens and decided to go to a different long, long ago: Aztec by Gary Jennings. Which doesn't have sorcery, but does have swords. If you count wooden clubs edged with obsidian shards as swords, that is.

And I still haven't watched the whole thing ...