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

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

preorder now https://www.weirdtales.com/store/p/we...

I think purchases can be done issue-by-issue via the Weird-tales website. Once available of course.....should be soon.

Weird Tales #366
Sword and Sorcery Issue
Cover art by Bob Eggleton
https://www.weirdtales.com/

Howard Andrew Jones
Moorcock Michael
Neil Gaimen
James A. Moore
...many more

lol. Joy has a knack for GIFs. Pls don't teach Clint or Joseph how to do that.

Oh dear. What have we done? lol.

It's almost updated now... still a bit slow to update everywhere.

Banner/Groupread Moderation
BTW, all, the esteemed Stephen Babb stepped up to make a banner and help with the group reads, at least for a trial run. He needs moderator status to do that. Thanks Steve! (BTW I'm reading his Skallagrim book now....and the album he has that inspired it is awesome).

Several others expressed interest in helping.

PollsI think having 1-2 volunteers running the polls (once every two months), would be great (moderator status not needed).
...Aaron, Michael...Clint....maybe one of you can help in Oct for that.

GR Librarian for S&S Maybe 1-2 more GR Librarians actively helping updated S&S books too...maybe we should make a folder for that type of request.

This will be the discussion area. Any Conan pastiche welcome.
Keep an eye out for Conan - Blood of the Serpent.

John wrote: "Hey, noble GR librarian types, can anybody alter my listing on A Book of Blades?
On that book I'm John Hocking, which does not connect the work with the rest of my stuff, which is all under John C..."

I updated John C.'s name! Or at least I tried. Should take affect in a few min.

@Joseph, that's good to know. I'd like to get a critical mass of GR librarian's within this group to help update new and vintage S&S works

I wonder how many GR Librarians we have out here (useful to have to edit meta data and covers....especially for new releases). Any besides me do that?

GenCon was a blast; hosted several panels...that included Matthew John from Rogues in the House podcast, Howard Andrew Jones from the Skull (he just got a 5 book deal from Baen too), and Jason Ray Carney from Whetstone.

Anyway, trying to read too in the spare minutes I have. I'm hooked by Skallagrim – In The Vales Of Pagarna right now.

There's a feakin' cool alien sword that has me thirsty for more action & lore....

ok I started the process. I combined the editions....Check out all the versions:
https://www.goodreads.com/work/editio....

You will have to select the book pages and click around until you see all the book covers....then "switch to this edition" of you want to see the newer cover.

Interesting that GR just released a new look/interface for the book pages. Have you all seen that?

Any GR librarian can add it. I'll try look into it when I can.

Michael wrote: "I can share the load as well if needed."

Thanks crew. I'm getting some private messages too. This is great.

Of course, members here can try some roles out without being official moderators. That is always welcome. ie...someone could run a group-read and start polls without that status (i think). I love the idea of having dedicated corners/sections that people own (we effectively have that....Mary has her writing section, I post stuff from the Tales From The Magician's Skull Blog, and Oliver has a thread for his podcast.....).

Think about what you'd like from the group, and feel welcome to propose/try things that will bring you/everyone benefit. As members you do get to steer the site content.

Moderators get access to more editing power of course. And can organize the page if it gets too disorganized.

In short, I've been blessed with several networking opportunities over the past decade (most of them connected to this group) and I after about a decade I'm finally stretched so thin that I need to rebalance some efforts. Those opportunities include, (a) taking a leadership role of GenCon Writer's Symposium (b) interning for Tales from the Magician's Skull (c) being a managing editor of Black Gate.

I still plan to moderate this group, but I don't think I can keep leading the self-imposed groupreads and banner-images much longer.

Fellow group-creator Periklis and moderator Joseph both rock of course, but another minion position (or two) may be opening up.

I'd love to find someone (or multiple people) who:
(a) has patience and knowledge of the Goodreads interface (ie basic HTML)
(b) has the patience to work with people :)
(c) wants to help sustain & build the S&S community
(d) are crafty with images and can make cool montage/banners

Thoughts from the group? Best, Seth

Skull Minion of the Thirteenth Order, Bill Ward, casts more spells upon is weary, mortal dogs (via the Tales From the Magician's Skull Blog, link).
https://goodman-games.com/tftms/

JUL 29 In The Land of Dreams: Lord Dunsany’s At the Edge of the World by Fletcher Vredenburgh
https://goodman-games.com/tftms/2022/...
I didn’t read any of Dunsany’s stories until long after I had encountered several of his direct literary descendants. I discovered H.P. Lovecraft on the Stapleton Library shelves, Clark Ashton Smith on the foxed pages of old anthologies, and Jack Vance in dad’s boxes of books in the attic. I didn’t know their style had been presaged by Dunsany’s stories of mysteriously abandoned cities, phantasmagorical river journeys, and strange, forgotten gods. I knew some of Lovecraft’s earlier stories, especially his short novel, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1927), were called “Dunsanian,” but it is only in more recent times I’ve read Dunsany’s own words.

JUL 26 Ballantine Adult Fantasy: William Hope Hodgson
https://goodman-games.com/tftms/2022/...
William Hope Hodgson, godfather to cosmic horror and ghost detectives alike, had two books reprinted in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy line, The Boats of the Glen Carrig and The Night Land. The Night Land was published in two volumes because of its length — more controversially it received heavy editing from series editor Lin Carter to render Hodgson’s deliberately difficult prose more accessible.

JUL 24 Adventures in Fiction: Lord Dunsany (also known as Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany) by Michael Curtis
https://goodman-games.com/tftms/2022/...
Some Appendix N authors directly influenced the creation of fantasy role-playing. We see concrete inspiration in the trolls borrowed from Poul Anderson or the “Vancian” magic system of D&D. Other Appendix N writers exerted a less obvious influence, providing more a sense of tone and wonder than any specific element. It can be argued, however, that one Appendix N author wielded the greatest influence on fantasy role-playing not because his works were borrowed wholesale or served to color Gygax and Arneson’s campaigns, but because he inspired numerous other Appendix N writers, impelling them to create the stories from which RPGs derive their origins. Few would recognize the name Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, but many more know him by his title, Lord Dunsany (pronounced Dun-SAY-ny), whose birthday we honor today.

JUL 22 Ballantine Adult Fantasy: Lord Dunsany
https://goodman-games.com/tftms/2022/...
Among the most reprinted authors in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy line was Lord Dunsany, the Anglo-Irish peer who was also a tremendously prolific short story writer and playwright. Dunsany’s sweeping elegies of imagined worlds were both reminiscent of classical myth and the dreaming aesthetic of the visionary fantasists and tellers of Weird Tales going back to Poe. Dunsany is cited as an influence by almost every major writer of the fantastic to emerge over the course of the twentieth century.

JUL 19 Fantasy in the Time of Lord Dunsany by Brian Murphy
https://goodman-games.com/tftms/2022/...
When Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (July 1878-October 1957) set pen to paper, he was wrestling tigers and dragons from the air and committing them to paper. None before or since have done it quite like the man known as Lord Dunsany. He was sui generis, writing in an age where there was no fantasy genre as we know it today. Dunsany was influenced by the bible and Greek mythology, old fairy tales, and to a lesser degree by a few peers including Rudyard Kipling and William Morris. But crucially, not a body of fantasy literature. Coupled with his one-of-a-kind elevated writing style, Dunsany’s early fantasy material feels ethereal and wondrous, as fresh as when it was written more than 100 years ago.

JUL 12 A Look at Savage Scrolls
https://goodman-games.com/tftms/2022/...
New from Pulp Hero Press is Jason Ray Carney’s Savage Scrolls (2020), an anthology of contemporary sword-and-sorcery fiction. And make no mistake, this is actual sword-and-sorcery, not sword-and-sorcery used as a vague descriptor, a marketing buzz word, or a broad umbrella term for dark fantasy or fantastic darkness or pseudo-fabulist progwave interstitial slip-hop ironically-referencing-a-loincloth wannabe litfic masquerading as sword-and-sorcery. No, Savage Scrolls is refreshingly exactly what it purports to be, and it does what it says on the cover – providing a collection of contemporary sword-and-sorcery from some of the best modern practitioners in the game.

Oliver wrote: "For those with an interest in New Edge Sword & Sorcery... https://mailchi.mp/12d438e492d3/new-e..."

I'm in!

wow!

From HAJ's Facebook:

" am pleased to announce that I just signed a five hardback book contract with Baen Books, the famed science fiction and fantasy publisher, home to many of my favorite writers, like David Drake, Alan Dean Foster, and Tim Powers.
The first two books of my new series are already written. They star Hanuvar, the last general of Volanus. The Dervan Empire has leveled his city and carried its last few survivors away in chains. Against the might of a vast empire, Hanuvar has only an aging sword arm, a lifetime of wisdom… and the greatest military mind in the world, set upon a single goal. No matter where they’ve been sent, from the festering capital to the furthest outpost of the Dervan Empire, he will find his people. Every last one of them. And he will set them free.
Those familiar with Hannibal of Carthage might recognize the broad outlines here, inspired by a single question – what would Hannibal have done if Rome had destroyed Carthage in his lifetime? If you're not familiar with Hannibal, just imagine a soldier of Sherlock Holmes level intellect whose genius is focused upon the protection of his people and the preservation of his culture.
These books are straight up sword-and-sorcery. They are adventures in a secondary world inspired by the ancient Mediterranean, where magic is real, but rare and dangerous and unpredictable. Those familiar with Conan of Cimmeria or Elric of Melniboné paperbacks will be familiar with how the books are structured. Each consists of smaller adventures that build upon one another, with arcs and returning enemies and allies throughout. You might also picture each book like many a modern TV series, complete with an explosive "season finale" to wrap things up.
I can honestly say that I've never had as much fun writing books as I've had writing these. I can hardly wait for you to read them. I'm delighted by Baen's support and the incredible level of backing they've already provided, and thrilled that their passion for classical sword-and-sorcery matches my own. We can hardly wait to share Hanuvar with all of you.
The first book, *Lord of a Shattered Land*, will come to bookstores near you in August of 2023.
-- Advance Praise for *Lord of a Shattered Land* --
“This wonderful work put me in mind of the stories I read when I was editing Baen’s Robert E. Howard library.”―David Drake, author of *Hammer’s Slammers*
"Howard Jones creates engrossing fantasy tales by combining historical authenticity with his thoughtful modern sensibilities and shapes events with his keen understanding of great adventure writers like Harold Lamb, Robert E. Howard, and Leigh Brackett."―S. Craig Zahler, novelist and writer/director of *Bone Tomahawk*
"Howard Jones writes not-to-be-missed epic fantasy with immersive worldbuilding and the highest stakes for the characters, fighting for personal survival and the survival of their world.”―Martha Wells, Hugo, Nebula and Locus award-winning author of the Murderbot series
"’History, real or feigned’ was Tolkien’s recipe for a good story. Howard Jones’ new novel has deep roots in history, real and imaginary. It’s a heroic fantasy set in a deeply imagined, fantastical world, but its hero has a strong resemblance to Hannibal, especially in his tragic post-war years. The book is a riveting portrait of a hero trying to keep his civilization alive in the wake of a devastating military defeat; it’s a series of ripping yarns that collectively add up to a greater story with a deeper impact than any of its parts; it’s another triumph for Howard Andrew Jones, premier wielder of the new edge in sword-and-sorcery.”—James Enge, World Fantasy Award nominated author of *Blood of Ambrose*
"Howard Andrew Jones is the leading Sword & Sorcery author of the 21st Century. He's taking the entire field in new directions, with work that is deeper, more adult, and more ambitious than heroic fantasy has any right to be. His *Lord of A Shattered Land* is his best work yet, a heroic fantasy retelling of one of the great tales of antiquity, the fall of Carthage and its legendary general Hannibal. It's a rich canvas on which Jones has sketched an engrossing and fast-paced tale with a stellar cast. At the center of it all is one of the great fictional creations of modern fantasy, Hanuvar himself, whose quest to free his enslaved and scattered people is the epic story of a single brilliant mind arrayed against the apparatus of an entire empire. It's a magnificent achievement, destined to become a modern classic.”—John O’Neill, World Fantasy Award Winning Publisher of *Black Gate*
In the pages of Howard Andrew Jones’s latest epic (and I mean epic!) fantasy novel-in-stories, we meet the weary, resolute, and utterly compelling Hanuvar: great general of a shattered land. Thought dead by his foes, now Hanuvar has dedicated his life to saving his enslaved countrymen, journeying ever deeper into the heart of enemy territory. On the way, he keeps company with poets and gladiators, actors, priestesses, and circus performers—and we keep company with him. As we follow Hanuvar on his many adventures, fighting alongside him against increasing odds and unspeakable monsters (both human and otherwise), and befriending his friends along the way, somehow the light around us seems to grow more golden, the shadows more restless, the ghosts more bittersweet, and the darkness more fanged. *Lord of a Shattered Land* reads like a heroic classic we all grew up with, yet in Jones’s work, the familiar combines with the unknown in a heady elixir of battle, blood, magic, triumph, and tenderness.—C.S.E. Cooney, World Fantasy Award Winning author of *Bone Swans *

I enjoyed part 1. Im sure part 2 will be as good. Amazing podcast. you rock

Greg wrote: "Well that makes no sense!"

Yep. Adding URLs is nutty now. I usually ask GR to fix their interface (and they are usually pretty fast), but whatever motivated them to mess up the "add HTML link helper code" .... may also make them against the work-around I mentioned above... so I was avoiding submitting a ticket.