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

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

Wrapped up The Birthgrave (spoiler alert: Great book! albeit with some imperfections) and started Sword of Destiny, the most recently translated of Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher novels, which I expect will be much closer to sword & sorcery in the classic mode. (In terms of the Witcher series, this is actually the second book he wrote, but it wasn't issued in English; like the first book, it's a linked collection of short stories about Geralt having wacky monster-slaying shenanigans, I assume.)

As I think about it, my favorite Clonan may be Kull. (Who, admittedly, predates Conan and who really is a different character in a lot of ways that most of the Clonans aren't.)

S.E. wrote: "Joseph, LOL, you are a whole month early (Tanith Lee groupread expected in July)! You may have to read a sequel... like Vazkor, Son of Vazkor or Quest for the White Witch."

Yeah, a bit early, but I had an opening in my queue. I may try to add another one in July/August, although sadly the other two White Witch books aren't due out electronically until much later in the year. But Lee left plenty of fine alternatives.

About 1/3 of the way through Birthgrave now. Best. Chariot race. Ever. Well, at least it's right up there with the one in Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay.

S.E. wrote: "Joseph.... Thanks man, for 98cents I snagged a copy."

Likewise! and I think it's moving towards the front of my queue ...

S.E. wrote: "I'm thinking of reading the Nictzin Dyalhis stories that Karl Wagner has reprinted in Echoes of Valor III."

Excellent choices. (And isn't Nictzin Dyalhis the greatest name ever for a sword & sorcery author?) I thought I heard someone was going to be putting out all of Dyalhis' work electronically at some point?

Edit: HA! http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Weird-Fi...

In most cases (at least of the ones I've read over the years), it's not so much "avoid at all costs" as "read if convenient but it's not worth any actual effort to seek out".

S.E. wrote: "Anyone else find the Monty Python reference in Kothar of the Magic Sword?

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I've had my fill of Clonans."

Yes, there are limits to human endurance.

And I just started The Birthgrave. Man, Tanith Lee was amazing!

S.E. wrote: "Just received a new copy of the re-released The Birthgrave. It is coincidental that her first book was being remarketed as she died.

US Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Birthgrav..."

I had the ebook preordered. I didn't even realize it was DAW -- I thought it was another one of the ones she was self-publishing or something.

Was very happy to hear that DAW is picking up more of her back catalog -- those books deserve to be available again.

Jon wrote: "The Stormlord is one of my favorite books but it contains very little magic. It's a political, birthright claiming, revenge epic in an alien barbarian world... more like a fantasy Ben Hur or proto Game of Thrones than pure sword and sorcery."

I think you could say the same thing about The Birthgrave, as I think about it.

It almost feels like that was a genre that never quite took off (crushed under the weight of Shannara?) -- I have vague memories of other similar books from back in the day, including Brothers of Earth by C.J. Cherryh, although that's explicitly science fiction.

S.wagenaar wrote: "I've always had a strange, sexist aversion to reading adventure-type fiction written by women. Like they cannot write "strong" enough for me. I don't know why. Who knows, I could very well have rea..."

Which books? I'd also point you towards C.J. Cherryh, especially The Morgaine Saga and The Paladin.

S.E. wrote: "One of my few 2-stars. Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria, a true floater review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Now to try Kothar..."

A great, and very fair, review.

http://www.tor.com/2015/05/26/tanith-...

She didn't write a lot of S&S, but some of her earlier works definitely qualified -- Cyrion springs to mind, and The Birthgrave and its sequels, and The Storm Lord and its sequels.

Thongor was definitely not my favorite Lin Carter series -- if I had to choose, I'd probably go with the World's End/Gondwane stuff. Or, more likely, just reread Zothique and Dying Earth and call it good.

All excellent choices!

Aaron wrote: "Anybody read Alan Burt Akers? Reading Transit To Scorpio (Dray Prescot, #1) right now and so far I am enjoying the Burroughesque adventure. Seems there is alot of books in this ser..."

I have a bunch but don't think I ever quite tried them.

But speaking of sword & planet, I did enjoy The Sword of Rhiannon although her use of Celtic names on Mars kind of bugged me.

I'll also give a big thumbs-up to Rat Queens.

And as it happens, A Crown for Cold Silver is also somewhere on my list.

My big problem with the Prism Pentad (assuming I'm not misremembering -- it's been years) was that (view spoiler)[in the end, after five books, it just didn't matter -- they went through this great quest and killed the Dragon King, who was immediately replaced with an emergency back-up Dragon King -- trying too hard to split the difference between "epic, world-changing adventure" and "we can't make any major changes to our setting". (hide spoiler)]

Periklis wrote: "Great link Joseph. On the D&D tie-in novels Marmell mentions, the Dark Sun trilogy -Tribe of One- is embedded with S&S mores & tropes... "

Dark Sun was always one of my favorite TSR campaign settings just because it wasn't Not-Medieval Not-Europe. I've managed to accumulate most or all of the novels but haven't read anything after Troy Denning's Prism Pentad (The Cerulean Storm etc.). More for the infinite list ...