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

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

Joseph wrote: "S.E. wrote: "Just read and devoured the sword & sorcery, pulp short tale Mage Maze Demon, and am enjoying the graphic novels of Silent Hill Omnibus (since Silent Hill..."

Loved the terror within Midwich Elementary in SH1; then the voyeuristic Pyramid Head-Manikin scene in SH2--->was hooked ever since on the series. I often switch/replay the game in easy mode so I don't have to deal with the clunky combat...and so I can absorb the ambiance & explore more without the fear of dying. Agree about the first movie. That was well done and true to weird mythos of the series.

Am disappointed about Konami's issues. Silent Hills for PS4 promised to be awesome (involvement with Guillermo del Toro and Norman Reedus-walking dead actor). Then it got abruptly cancelled. Poop. Silent Hill Omnibus and Silent Hill Omnibus, Volume 2 will have to satiate my need to roam thru a ghost town.

Just read and devoured the sword & sorcery, pulp short tale Mage Maze Demon, and am enjoying the graphic novels of Silent Hill Omnibus (since Silent Hills was cancelled, I need a fix).

Many of the fighting fantasy game books are electronic now; iTunes and google play have them, just search "Fighting Fantasy" ... they are not eBooks but are Apps with faux dice rolling

I think Iain McCaig did the covers for the ones Greg mentions.

Greg wrote: "I might just go with whatever title takes my fancy then although if I wanted to read them all then it would probably be easier to read them in publication order."

Hey Greg, it would be cruel to follow up on your OCD to read series in entirety and in order.... but I chime in anyway to tell you that I finally read Firestorm. As a fellow RPG addict...you may get a good high off reading that :).

My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

All Warhammer, Grimdark, and Fighting Fantasy fans would devour this, though to appreciate it it helps to have other prequels: i.e., Zagor is the warlock in the first Fighting Fantasy gaembook (1983). I was led to the Zagor novels via a kickstarter campaign I sponsored You are the Hero. That's a great reference for the emergence of Games Workshop.

Some of the 1980 and 1990's books are tough to find now. More are in the UK, so you may be able to get them easier being across the pond.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/03/0...

Reports of a Red Sonja series for TV is circulating.

Just polished off Rathen: The Legend of Ghrakus Castle which was a quick read resonating a YA/RPG feel. Review = https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Now need to get to Firestorm for the RPG-tie in group read.

Martin wrote: "Sword & Sorcery is great. We all know it; but we also know that not a lot of people who are fans of fantasy are seeing it that way. It has the reputation of being the stupid and immature one with s..."

Martin, great topic. As with the intro. to the recent Anthology Group Read, I'll echo my optimistic feelings on the health of the genre. Just in 2015 there were at least three Anthologies that continue the roots of S&S with different themes/emphasis:

Blackguards: Tales of Assassins, Mercenaries, and Rogues: for the up and coming "grimdark" fans; lots of new writers and interesting takes

Heroika 1: Dragon Eaters: for the mythological fantasy take on S&S. My first, non-Indie work appears in that, so I am a fan :). Look out for more thematic anthologies from Perseid Press in the near future.

Weirdbook 31: For the "weird fiction" fans (this reboot volume had only a few S&S contributions, but S&S grew out of weird fiction, ie via Clark Ashton Smith and Howard Phillips Lovecraft)

Then there are others continuing to broaden and add life to S&S. Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology was not published in 2015, but Milton J. Davis continues to publish Sword & Soul books, which are a great extension of Charles R. Saunders's works.

Then there are the eZines like:

Heroic Fantasy Quarterly :http://www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com/

and Beneath Ceaseless Skies: http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/

Oops, it is 40months worth .... So only 20 banners.

Derek, those selections are in dire need of reviews. I'm sure you remedy that.

Mary wrote: "The fun part is that while guns and sorcery mix, and so do guns and swords, most books do not have all three to be "sword and sorcery with guns". The latest books I read with guns and swords (and p..."

Totally agree, Mary. I hope the discussion includes both sorcery-n-guns AND swords-n-guns.

Steven wrote: "I don't know much about Homer (Doh!) or Shakespeare, but reflecting on the concept of "...and earthier sort of fantasy" makes me think it can be determined by the amount of abstraction between enem..."

Swords-n-Simpsons .... now that is groupread topic.

Ashe wrote: "A lot of weird westerns would definitely count. Sixguns and sorcery makes for a good name too. I'm about to start Wake of Vultures. Girl in the wild west discovers the supernatural...."

Ashe/all, the voted-for topic was "swords-n-sixshooters"...but I had trouble fitting that into the masthead banner and thought that some folk may want to combine the RPG-tie-in and read some Warhammer 40,000.... so I went with "guns."

Please don't send Grimluk after me!

Jason M wrote: "Great banner once again, S.E.! I love me some Ray Swanland in the morning!"

Thanks Jason. It's always fun making the banners. It seems to charge up readers a bit. All 40 banners done to date are on pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.com/sethlindber...

I'll be reading Firestorm, an obscure novelization of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks (~1980's) that evolved into Games Workshops' Warhammer.

Groupread Mar Apr 2016 Topics:
(a) Swords-n-Guns - link to folder
and
(b) RPG tie-in Discussion (link to folder)

What counts for these topics? Whatever you decide...just come discuss and be prepared to articulate the connection.



Banner Credits go to Raymond Swanland:

Dungeons & Dragons - Forgotten Realms
The Legend of Drizzt: The Collected Stories by R.A. Salvatore
Cover art (c) 2011 Raymond Swanland

Warhammer - Space Wolves
Blood of Asaheim by Chris Wraight
Cover art (c) 2014 by Raymond Swanland

What is a RPG tie-in? Well RPG = role-playing-game. Any media-type relation is okay, so if you play a video game RPG and found a novelization...that works. Perhaps a novel was born first and inspired an RPG...that works too....but please share the connection and spur discussion. We are talking stuff associated with trademarks like:

Forgotten Realms / Dragonlance / Warhammer / Diablo

From Solomon Kane to Warhammer 40,000, let's see what swords-n-sixs hooters, swords-n-guns, etc. you can come up with. Topic is broad based, but be prepared to defend your own definition of what a gun is and why your book is connected to sword-n-sorcery.

Congrats! Need to track this down. Where can we get a copy?

Jason M wrote: "Hilariously well timed S.E.!"

Glad the humor was conveyed. Guess, I could have used a comma in there....

Sweet Mary and Joseph! Thx guys for the fast response!