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

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

This poll was a mix of close winners from last round, plus some input from Jack. Thx everyone!

Check out the Poll, also on Homepage (link below works)
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/8...

Feel welcome to write-in options and drum up support for any ideas.

Agree with Matt, it’s well done. 1hr 20min conflict between a monster hunter and the creature who killed his daughter.

Slow burn horror with Sword n Sorcery milieu; little dialogue (mainly one actor). Most action off screen. Photography, setting, and story rule here.

A medieval warrior's gruesome collection of heads is missing only one - the monster that killed his daughter years ago.

Genres
Action, Fantasy, Horror

Director
Jordan Downey

Starring
Christopher Rygh, Cora Kaufman

Out now ... available on Amazon video
(And maybe other places)

https://www.amazon.com/Head-Hunter-Ch...

The thesis supports the context behind The Shadow Cycles

Philip Emery, group member and author of some nice/weird fiction (in RBE;s Return of the Sword too) just submitted a graduate thesis on "Revivifying the Ur-text: a reconstruction of sword-&-sorcery as a literary form".

https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jsp...

ABSTRACT:
From the early 1980s until the late 1990s the genre or sub-genre known as sword-&-sorcery was largely moribund. The Tolkien-derived high fantasy novel, on the other hand, flourished and mutated into six, eight, ten volume, or open-ended series. Even though the terms high fantasy and sword-&-sorcery are sometimes used interchangeably, sword-&-sorcery came to be viewed as an inferior, cruder form: rougher in style, more limited structurally, stunted in terms of character development, even morally questionable (rather than ambiguous).

‘Revivifying the Ur-text’ aims to investigate if it is possible to subvert the genre, to
create a work that realizes the form’s potential to exist as ‘literature’.
In order to do this it attempts to both analyze and re-vision the form by rendering the
genre down to its pristine elements - exemplified but not monopolized by the widelyacknowledged creator of the sword-&-sorcery form, Robert E. Howard. The critical areas of the thesis thus concentrate on Howard, but extend backwards to Beowulf as proto-sword-&-sorcery and forwards to contemporary fantasy writers such as Joe Abercrombie and Steve Erikson. It begins by constructing an account of the creation of the form by Howard, hypothesizing that the conditions for its genesis are a result of the writer’s internal emotional and thought processes interacting with external circumstances.

This is followed by a study of a set of highly influential anthologies published in the
sixties edited by Lyon Sprague de Camp, interrogating de Camp’s introductions as well as his selections, sub-categorizing these into the variations on the Howardian model which evolved in the wake of his 1920/30s work, work from which other writers developed a commonly perceived genre.

From this the thesis proceeds to a consideration of related forms such as epic fantasy,
science fantasy, and grimdark, prefaced by a survey and analysis of what sword-&-sorcery was/is perceived to be by commentators such as de Camp, Brian Attebery and Peter Nicholls.

These sections are followed and augmented by a refocusing on Robert E. Howard. A
consideration of the crucial relationship between violence and the numinous in his fantasy is central to this thesis. This is done both through research into published texts, mainly fictional but also non-fictional, and is discussed both generally and through in-depth case studies of two stories, attempting to identify the particular elements of his writing which contributed to the birth and definition of sword-&-sorcery in order to establish Howard’s output as an ‘Urtext’.

The creative heart of this research is my sword-&-sorcery fiction, The Shadow Cycles.
Here I have attempted to write a narrative in the form which innovates narrative techniques, modifying or abandoning the generic scaffolding of situations, and methods of characterization, and developing a style of language appropriate to my aim of revisioning Howard’s Ur-text for the 21st century.

This is followed by a concluding ‘afterthesis’ which draws on all the preceding
sections to explicate the relationship between the critical and creative elements of the thesis.

As with earlier critical sections, these recruit a synthesis of literary history, influence studies, genre theory, narratology, and practical criticism. By so doing they touch on conceptions of the literary such as those of Bakhtin, Eagleton, Todorov, and Katherine Hume.

John, cool. I backed Tales of the Magicians Skull, but forgot/missed your review of Valen. Thanks for sharing that.

Btw. I’ve been prodding Perilous Worlds re: a release date for Living Plague and Emerald Lotus reprint. Anxious for those.

Alright... now I went ahead and bought some of each
Valen the Outcast Vol. 1: Abomination and Slaine: The Horned God - Part One

Ooh... cool

Slaine sounds good

Am curious how Clint likes Belit

Savage Sword Of Conan (2019-) #3 came out.

This was probably the best of the three.

Nice art and a decent story are delivered well, but almost too fast. One silly escape scene mars a great issue. Scott Oden's entry for "Shadow of Vengeance" was spot on: fluid prose, crisp details, ramping tension.


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

Phil wrote: "Excellent and astute post, Seth.
I am still around, but with ever-decreasing internet access - and definitely introverted!"

Hey Phil! Wanted to return the hello ... but as per Introvert rules, there is no expectation you reply :)

Jack wrote: "And in an interesting confluence of past and present, an advertisement in my copy of Eric B (Zebra Books edition, 1978), includes a list of "Fantastic Sword and Sorcery..." titles, including [book:..."

Awesome. We'll have to see if Ted honors that! You may be able to get the kindle version for that.

I know we have an introverted group, so I share some observations: several people who are members of this group reading Haggard, and they post individually status updates or on Facebook (but not here).

That's ok of course.

Anyway, just know that the number of comments here do not reflect the number of people who are influenced by the groupreads.

I'm still in Marvel Conan comic land.... I tried out the first installment of the third series (Age of Conan).

The premise, cover, and Stackpole episode of "Bone Whispers" were great. The Comic itself... could have started much better.

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

Finally reviewed #4 : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The emerald lotus is starting to take center stage, and Stygian creatures/sorcery become dominate. Looking forward to #5.

I feel even more inclined to get both the reprint of "Emerald Lotus" and "Living Plague" once available.

Matt, Im interested in your opinion about all things Emerald Lotus. Especially after #4

Just devoured #4, and it is a great issue.

Will review soon, but the art and story of the comic were amazingly dark and deep... and Black Starlight really gels. Love the undead and Sorcery inclusion.

Need more!

Conan The Barbarian (2019-) #4 is available (US kindle)... another dose of Black Starlight in there.