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

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

This was actually linked in the comments in the SF Signal Mind Meld piece, but I thought it also deserved some attention ... (It's written by Ari Marmell, whose Widdershins books I quite enjoyed.)

http://suvudu.com/2010/01/poniards-an...

S.wagenaar wrote: "Hey Charles, I have yet to read any Cook. You feel it is true S&S? Any particular books? Or just start with the first Black Company books? Cook seems to have quite s few novels, going back to the e..."

Myself, I'd definitely say start at the beginning of the Black Company series -- they start as kind of military fantasy/sword & sorcery, and progress to something more epic as the series continues.

He's also written at least a couple of standalone books -- The Swordbearer and The Tower of Fear -- that I'm reminded I haven't read yet.

And some interesting discussion in the comment thread ...

Watching Justified (the last few eps of S5) and thinking it's kind of a shame Elmore Leonard never worked in the genre ...

S.wagenaar wrote: "Yep, ponies in both tales! Not to be confused with the popular pets of today- no doubt modeled after the tough, wild horses used by the Mongols of our own history that were often referred to as "po..."

No rainbows or glitter, then?

S.wagenaar wrote: "Found some scans of The Dragon magazine online, and read the first Niall tale. Pretty good, but more like excellent fan fiction than a mainstream novel. Good S&S elements, but the one-against-many sword fight of "over three hours" is a bit silly! Still, I liked it enough to read the other two stories I found."

Yeah, it was better than the story I wrote in college for Creative Writing, but not all that much better. But it was a pleasant enough way to pass some time.

S.E. wrote: "Joseph, you are a true librarian. I've never heard of his Niall character. Did he emerge into something better? ..."

That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me ...

As to Niall's travels, I'll cheat: http://www.gwthomas.org/niallofthefar...

I found that page when I was Googling after reading the story. To summarize: It looks like there were a total of 10 stories published between Dragon #2 and Dragon #55; the first story went into the Lin Carter anthology I mentioned, but the rest of them don't ever seem to have been reprinted or collected.

And it's interesting going through those very early issues of the magazine. They actually had a surprising amount of fiction, including a multi-part story by one "Garrison Ernst".

(Myself, I didn't start collecting Dragon Magazine until issue #44 or so. But as I may or may not have said previously, for many years it had a really solid book review column that led me to many, many authors I might not have discovered otherwise.)

Just read something that would count for both "obscure" and "Clonan" -- "Shadow of a Demon", the first Niall story by Gardner Fox. It appeared in Dragon Magazine #2 -- I have the CD archive of Dragon 1-250, which is where I read it -- although it looks to also have been reprinted in The Year's Best Fantasy Stories 3.

Not a great or particularly original story, but entertaining enough in its way.

Charles wrote: "It's been quite a while since I've read Dunsany. He was definitely a precursor for plenty of disparate elements of later fantasy, I imagine."

He did get an entire chapter in Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers: The Makers of Heroic Fantasy. (Great book, btw, if you're interested in older authors.)

Charles wrote: "Dunsany's stuff strikes me more as in the high fantasy than in the sword and sorcery genre. Of course, he was writing before there was such a separation in fantasy really."

Any excuse to read (or reread) Dunsany is a good excuse.

Charles wrote: "Yep, I suffer from it too. Or rather, I enjoy it as well. :)"

It's a good problem to have.

(And for me it's not just books -- I do the same thing with movies, games, etc.; I've come to the conclusion that what I'm really seeking in my entertainment, in whatever form, is narrative.)

S.wagenaar wrote: "I have your Bitter Steel collection Charles, and will definitely check it out! I have a terrible affliction in which I collect books and stories far faster than I can possibly read them..."

It's so good to know that I don't suffer alone in that affliction ...

S.wagenaar wrote: "We should also take the time to dig up some recent S&S that might be somewhat obscure to the average reader; i.e. THE KORMAK SAGA , pretty good stuff!"

Big thumbs up on those, yes!

S.E. wrote: "I like Elak, but haven't read the others to vote for/against. I've read most of REH of course... so if a newby-Clonan-reader wanted to choose only one clonan to read...which one should it be?"

Honestly, I'd say whichever you can lay hands on most easily. But if I had to choose, I'd probably say Kothar -- Fox is definitely a better writer than Carter; I haven't had much exposure to Brak.

My write-in: Elak of Atlantis by Henry Kuttner.

I'm also vaguely tempted to revisit Robert Adams' Horseclans books (now available electronically with really dreadful covers. Really, really dreadful covers) but I'm afraid the years will not have been kind to them.

OK, since it didn't win on a write-in, I'll again urge The Man of Gold by M.A.R. Barker, now back in print as an eBook.

And/or The Sword of Rhiannon by Leigh Brackett (which came to mind because it's going to be the Sword & Laser pick next month).

Greg wrote: "Joseph wrote: "There's also this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-fHw..."

:O To be run on continuous play while reading the above-mentioned books?"

I can think of worse things.

There's also this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-fHw...

Greg wrote: "So maybe add the Shadowland (singular) titles to the list? :P

The more the merrier!