S.E.’s Comments (group member since Nov 01, 2012)

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

Reading "Sword Woman" from the Del anthology of the same name. Red haired Agnes is tough!

Sarah wrote: "Glad you liked what you found there. REH is much loved at Black Gate. Barbara Barrett has posted some great stuff about Howard's poetry, like this piece about the swords in REH's sword collection a..."

Sarah, that is a great blogpost on REH and Swords. Thanks for sharing.

Joseph, I like the Swords sans sorcery idea for a Groupread. Make sure you remind me if I forget to add that to proposed items.

Charles wrote: "I'm about halfway through Krull. It takes place on a sword and planet kind of world, but so far the tropes have been more sword and sorcery to me. Kind of an interesting mix."

Somehow I missed KRULL in the 80's. Just watched it via Netflix DVD with my 11yr old son. We enjoyed it. It had some cheezy moments, but it was a solid Sword & Plant adventure (given a lot of the other 1980's Conan-Clone Crap, this was at least a real movie). I appreciated the occasionally trippy scenes/set-designs of the Dark Fortress and the evil-Beast lord who displayed some supernatural Horror flare.

Bill wrote: "The recent, somewhat misleadingly-named collection 'Sword Woman' from del rey is probably the easiest way to find Howard's historicals for US readers...."

Cool. I just ordered Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventures. Thanks Bill and Dave for the discussion. I was eyeing Dark Agnes for a while incidentally.

And to Greg...and Joseph...thanks for kind comments on the Masthead! I always enjoy coming up with a banner. Unfortunately, I do not have any original Weird Tales magazines.

Charles wrote: "The Sowers of the Thunder Crusader tales are actually my favorite Howard."

I never read REH's historical fiction yet. This may be a good time. He may be the only author that has surprised me with additional, must-read libraries (i.e. I went through the typical rites of REH passages:(1) "discovered" Conan and thought he rocked, then (2) "discovered" his other heroes (Bran Mak Morn and Solomon Kane rock more), then (3) "discovered" his Lovecraftian works....Nameless Cults: The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Fiction of Robert E. Howard (which has The Gods of Bal-Sagoth in it...though I am not sure if it is the same Andy is asking about.)

I speculate that many of us here know only parts of REH. For me, it seems I should try some of historical fiction. Suggestions?

Red nails was my fav. There was an animated movie on the works years ago that fell apart unfortunately. Would have liked to see that.

July August 2014 Groupread: Vintage Howard. It is time to discuss, read, re-read the works of the "father of the Sword & Sorcery" genre: Robert E. Howard. A lot of his work originally appeared in the pulp magazine Weird Tales, with wondrous covers by Margaret Brundage.

The Masthead Banner displays some: L-->R
Illustrator: Margaret Brundage.
Author: Robert E. Howard

Queen of the Black Coast : Weird Tales issue May 1934
The Hour of the Dragon: Weird Tales December 1935
Red Nails: Weird Tales July 1936
Black Colossus: Weird Tales June 1933
A witch Shall Be Born: Weird Tales December 1934 (vol. 24, no. 6),
The Slithering Shadow Cover: Weird Tales September 1933
The People of the Black Circle: Weird Tales September 1934 (Vol. 24 #3)

Phil wrote: "Dear All,
Just to mention that the new self-published e-book edition of my novel ‘Necromantra’ has just gone live at Amazon and Smashwords – containing... additional material. ..."

Phil, great news. Glad to hear Necromantra is available again. The additional material sounds enticing. What new goodies emerged from the darkness?

Charles wrote: "I forgot to add this the other day, but I put up a blog post about my top ten sword and planet books. If anyone is interested, the link is http://charlesgramlich.blogspot.com"

Charles, that's a great list...with concise reviews of each too. Anyone looking for Sword & Planet books should check out Charles's list.

Compelling interview with Tom Barczak author and illustrator of Veil of the Dragon:

"I can’t not write about loss and love, death and rebirth. It’s very much a part of who I am... Everyone has their own Heroes Journey. Tell it. And if you’re still on it, finish it. Then tell it."

Michael wrote: "Hi, everyone. Thanks for letting me join the party! These days, I'm mainly focusing on fantasy. In fact, my debut dark fantasy novel, Wytchfire, just came out last month. I've also ..."

Hey, welcome Michael. Wytchfire sounds pretty good. I was enticed to enter the Giveaway, though my to-read pile is glaring at me.

Having enjoyed Swords of Talera: Book One of the Talera Cycle as part of the Sword and Planet group read (see review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...)

...I got sidetracked and stumbled into some compelling dystopia with swordplay and a disturbing lack of books: The Reader of Acheron
- Walter Rhein’s The Reader of Acheron is 'A Reader-Haunted World' (yes, that is a call-out to Carl Sagan) review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Charles wrote: "I was googling some Sword & Planet stuff last night and came upon a site that might interest some. It's called Best fantasy books com. Here's the direct link to the sword and planet entry: http://b..."

Hey Charles, BTW...I just finished Swords of Talera: Book One of the Talera Cycle--a fun adventure. I'll get a review out soon. According to your Facebook feed I should have lost weight while reading it, and I have! My figure is svelte.

"Dr. Charles Gramlich, professor of psychology at a prominent New Orleans University, has made the extraordinary claim that reading the three books of the Talera fantasy series, Swords of Talera, Wings Over Talera, and Witch of Talera, will actually help you lose weight and maintain a svelte figure. Gramlich says that, “those who read the slender volumes of the Talera series, which are quick and exciting stories, develop a speedier metabolism, allowing them to burn calories more quickly. This effect lingers for weeks after the books are finished,” he adds, “and can easily be prolonged further by consuming another book by the same author.” When asked whether that author, Charles ‘Allen’ Gramlich, was any relation, Dr. Gramlich abruptly yelled “Fire” and left the room."

Sean wrote: "I'm interested in getting some art books from some of the sword & sorcery greats such as Frazetta & Whelan, etc. Trouble is, after searching around I for the life of me don't know what to get. Th..."

I have Icon: A Retrospective by the Grand Master of Fantastic Art, Frank Frazetta, which is pretty good I think. It was part of trilogy (the next two being Legacy: Selected Paintings and Drawings and Testament: The Life and Art of Frank Frazetta).

I intended to read Cherryh's "Well of Shiuan" to extend last Groupread's book (I read "Gate of Ivrel" finally)... But I got sucked into Charles' "sword of Talera". The Kindle sample was good, and I decided to just go with it. Morgainne will have to wait a bit.

Just wrapped up Tom Barczak's Veil of the Dragon. It's a nice take on good vs. disembodied evil. It's poetic, trippy, haunting stuff. Perhaps it would be fitting for a Sword & Ghost ... or Sword & Faith sub-genre (if those exist).

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

S.E. wrote: "Member and artist Gary chimed in on the Sword-n-PLanet thread (https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...) regarding art's place in eBook and small..."

I had some thoughts, given that I illustrated and formatted the eBooks for Lords of Dyscrasia and learned the joys of digital publication (I am not fairly acquainted with the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite). ePub formats 1.0 and 2.0 were not kind to format with images; it was rather easy to prepare the Print version, but the activation energy was tough to overcome. I think with ebooks becoming more standardized every day, and with ePub 3.0 emerging the HTML5 foundation...it will be easier to use and place images.

Member and artist Gary chimed in on the Sword-n-PLanet thread (https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...) regarding art's place in eBook and small publishing:

He wrote: "I'd love to hear what you have to say about it and I'm curious about your feelings on art's place in this ebook/ small publisher world. Thanks!"

thoughts here?

All, since most members here are authors/editors/illustrators, this folder is an experiment to help make connections.
- Looking for a cover artist or editor? Post a request here.
- Perhaps you are an illustrator or editor and you are looking for manuscripts...that works too.

In many cases, discussions can (and should) be continued offline via private messages, but if you are open to commissions (or commissioning others) you are welcome to advertise/connect here to get things started.