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

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

Michael, so cool that you attended REH days.

Did you find Elric the same after rereading decades later? Nostalgic? Better/worse?

Great thoughts AR. You combine nice analyses for readers and a nice ‘solutions’ for writers.

Click on the Amazon link and sign up to be notified when Conan and the Living Plague is ready to be released....
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/178...

Black Gate has a nice post on Wolfe by C.S.E Cooney

And the Bright Star Falls Behind: On Gene Wolfe - Sunday, June 2nd, 2019 - Posted by C.S.E. Cooney

It has a listing of other posts, memorials, etc.

How so? I’ve only experienced his Batman Arkham Asylum... and was blown away (well, that may have been Dave McKean’s art).

Anyone here read Grant Morrison's 18 Days by Grant Morrison?

It looks good.

Love the conversation... it inspired the initial choices of this poll:
Click here to VOTE on the Poll

The Goodreads-widget is below, but the links do not always work...

New trailer: https://youtu.be/zSV42j8lccg

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance | Teaser | Netflix

Comes Aug 30 2019

Phil, until your update I didn’t know there was a 5th book either. Sounds like the writing is consistent. I only read the first two, and though I am a huge fan of esoteric writing, I was left feeling confused about the larger story arc.

S.wagenaar wrote: "Or...how bout Bronze Age S&S! I was looking at my copy of The Reign of Wizardry by Jack Williamson and it got me thinking that most S&S is usually in some sort of pseudo-Iron Age..."

Stan, I never heard of Jack Williamson. The Reign of Wizardry looks cool.

S.wagenaar wrote: "How about The Mask of the Sorcerer by Darrell Schweitzer? S&S with horror aspects? I have not read it yet..."

The Mask of the Sorcerer is very good. Not S&S per se, but it was spawned from the notes/drafts of Schweitzer's never published Conan pastiche "Conan the Deliverer."

I interviewed Darrell Schweitzer (https://www.blackgate.com/2018/09/03/...) and read his essays. He has a dry humor, and is is self-deprecating... clarifying that his pastiche was not about a midwife, or a milkman. In any event, "Mask" is awesome as a weird adventure.

I have the sequel on my TBR (Sekenre: The Book of the Sorcerer) as well as The Shattered Goddess.

I loved his We Are All Legends, which deserves more press (it is more S&S too).

Perhaps a Darrell Schweitzer read is in order?

Shea’s Nifft the Lean too

Campbell’s Ryre.... Lumley’s Khash and Shad series .... Schweitzer’s We Are All Legends.... Lebbon’s Dusk/Dawn

Hey all,

A poll is due soon to guide July-August groupreads.

Any ideas to populate that? What do you want to read then (perhaps others do too)?

What is at the top, or bottom, of your TBR pile? Need a boost by tackling it with some buddies?

Let me know via this thread.

Cool; Wikipedia indicates a Hawkmoon show may be in the works by the BBC.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/bbc...
"Date: 14.02.2019 Last updated: 14.02.2019 at 08.00
Category: BBC Studios
BBC Studios today announces that is has secured the rights to the omnibus of Runestaff fantasy novels by multi-award-winning author Michael Moorcock, with a view to adapting them into a returning TV series. The Runestaff saga consists of four books: The Jewel in the Skull, The Mad God’s Amulet, Sword of the Dawn and The Runestaff."




Also, saw a cool blogposts on the reading/chronology vs publication order of Elric

https://rossonl.wordpress.com/2016/04...

Sidebar here on movies. I was excited to hear (decades ago?) that an Elric movie was in the works. Of course, nothing seems to be on the radar.

That impresses me. Even the iconic Conan struggles to get a movie adaptation every 20yrs. Why is the bar so high?

GRR Martin's GOT got its TV version (with a movie budget) on air in 2011 (first book published 1996). That timing seems reasonable (ie a ~20yr delay to build up a huge following)

Moorcock's Eternal Champion was published in ~1970 (some even in 1962), blossomed into a dozen or so heroes ever since. Still no films. Sigh.

Anyone else hungering for the Elric, or other Eternal Champion, film?

The Beautiful Dark Writing by Grimdark Queen Anna Smith Spark is on my mind! My interview with her just went live on BlackGate.com!

Learn her take on making grim-things attractive, about her father's influences, about her breathtaking shoes, her nightmares... and all sorts of insights into the creation of the Empires of Dust trilogy (last one to be published in a few months).

And ....for the Gencon attendees going to the Writer's Symposium, we'll extend this discussion live (Aug 2nd; Fri 5pm) during the Q&A with Anna Smith Spark! See you, with her, in Indianapolis. Sign up for that tomorrow.

Topical article on musical adaptions of Moorcock

https://rideintoglory.com/chronicle-o...

“Written by Dave Ritzlin

Heroic fantasy has always been a popular lyrical subject for heavy metal bands, and it’s not hard to see why. Heavy metal simply isn’t normal. You just can’t write powerful, dynamic compositions and have the vocalist sing about mundane things such as walking the dog or taking out the trash (unless by “trash” you mean “posers”). There are many different approaches a band can take to penning lyrics of the fantastic. Some are inspired by mythology or films, while others create their own stories. Some look to literature for inspiration. Those that do usually find it in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Cimmerian, or Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné.

Michael Moorcock was born in London in 1939. He was probably the first prominent author of fantasy and science fiction to have a connection with hard rock music. He penned lyrics for Blue Öyster Cult and Hawkwind, as well as performing live with the latter. He still joins Hawkwind members on stage today, even at the age of 79! Throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s he wrote a massive amount of novels and short stories. Of all his accomplishments, his stories of Elric are what he is best known for....,,”

Kickstarter for HFQ #3

Going now (May 13) for another 27days

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...

Just 3$ usd gets you the eBook

From the pitch:
Heroic Fantasy Quarterly has been putting out top-notch Sword and Sorcery, Adventure, and Historical Fiction and poetry since 2009. In 2014 we sifted through our works to find you the very best of our offerings, and thus was born the Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Best-of Volume 1.

In 2016 we put together our first Kickstarter campaign to fund the Best-of Volume 2-- and it was a success! From our modest goal of $500 we made over $2,000. Can we repeat that feat? Can we call down the lighting to strike twice? There is only one way to know!

Our basic goal for this project is $750 by June 5, 2019 to produce Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Best-of Volume 3. We’ll announce the results of the campaign here on our Kickstarter page, our Facebook page, and in our editorial for HFQ issue #41 on August 1, 2019.

The Best-Of volume 3 will be available October 1, 2019. Kickstarter Backers will get their copies before we release them to the world at the World Fantasy Convention in Los Angeles in early November.

According to editor Jason M Waltz (member here too) he is striving to make Kindle books by this fall of the below:

Rage of the Behemoth
Demons: A Clash of Steel Anthology
Return of the Sword: An Anthology of Heroic Adventure
Challenge! Discovery
in that order...
... probably sooner than fall 2019