Periklis’s Comments (group member since Sep 30, 2012)

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

In the city of Bone, on the world of Bish, the warrior Venir and his friend Melegal the thief incur the mortal wrath of a royal family. The adventurers quickly get out of town, but not out of danger: the wicked nobles join forces with the most evil race on Bish, the underlings, to track the duo down and kill them.

Read the book for free on Amazon Kindle: The Darkslayer: Wrath of the Royals

Demonsouled and Child of the Ghosts are offered for free on Amazon Kindle:

Demonsouled

Child of the Ghosts

John wrote: "Hmm. I'm currently in South Korea, without a Mastercard or Visa, and therefor no real means of acquiring a S&S anthology to read. I don't suppose anyone could help me out? I *do* have a kindle."

You could check this thread, where bargains are posted. I'm not sure there are any bargains for S&S anthologies available at the moment, but you could always ask in the group-anthology-read thread. Many of us read digital books. Hope you have a good time in Korea too.

Ralph wrote: "Thank you Periklis Begzos for the welcome. [...] This is "Thorgil Bloodaxe, Enter the White Queen".
The cover is designed by Casper Art, who works with Viking re-enactors from all over the world. The black-and-white picture inserts in the book are the works of Casper Art..."

You're welcome. As I have no way of moving messages between folders, I created a thread where you can further present and discuss your book.

As originally posted by Ralph E. Laitres:

"This is Thorgil Bloodaxe: Enter the White Queen.

The cover is designed by Casper Art, who works with Viking re-enactors from all over the world. The black-and-white picture inserts in the book are the works of Casper Art.

You can preview the book to get a feel of the story.

Enter the White Queen is a Sword and Sorcery tale."

***



Here's the plot synopsis:

Thorgil Bloodaxe is an aging mercenary man, who sells his blade to those who can afford his price. He holds no allegiances to any land, but only serves those who will add silver to his purse of coins. Once a proud Jomsviking commander and a member of the Byzantium Empire’s elite mercenary unit of Varangian Guards, Thorgil now makes his meager living by wandering from one northern province to another, providing protection to fat merchants or aiding in blood-feuds. Enter the White Queen of Nidafjoll, who is seeking a warrior called the Bloodaxe who murdered her sister Karelia of Trolleboten thirteen years earlier. Queen Hvit, the White Queen spies on the northern kingdoms with the aid of her mirror from her kingdom isle. To avenge the murder of her sister, the White Queen unleashes a host of events that would change the lives of many. Thorgil is forced by the hand of the White Queen into a perilous adventure that may very well cost him his life.

John wrote: "Greetings!
My name is John Elwood and I'm quite new to Sword & Sorcery in general. I was searching the groups for "dark fantasy," when I came across this, and was intrigued. After reading the var..."

Welcome John, hope you enjoy your venture in the genre (and the group!).Fritz Leiber's work helped define and shape the genre. The Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories will serve as a great introduction. May I recommend The Dying Earth? If you like more genre-blending S&S, you'll enjoy it.
You could also join the group's first read (Jan/Feb 2013), dedicated to anthologies. It's a nice way to discover new authors and different approaches to adventure stories.

Ralph wrote: "Greetings to all in this Sword andSorcery group. My name is Ralph E. Laitres, and I have been a fan of Sword and Sorcery since my teenage years back in the 70s. That is when I was introduced to the..."

Welcome Ralph, thank you for joining us. The The Savage Sword of Conan is also one of my earliest memories of S&S.
Why don't you introduce new readers to Thorgil, by creating a post in this thread?

Janet wrote: "Perklis, when I click on "here" in your post, it takes me to a list of discussions and I don't know how to begin a new topic. Sigh. So, here's a reading list/chronology, and if you could put this outline somewhere, where it's useful and show me where, I can expand on it if desired."

"Perkilis, you're not half so happy as I, to have met you and found some help with this.... You can listen to a good-length free sample of Wake on Amazon or audidble.com. I loved how it came out."

I have deleted the post from the "Introductions" thread (unfortunately I cannot move it between folders) and created the post here.
I also created and separated from the older books, The Sacred Band of Stepsons Expanded "Author's Cut" editions series.

Here is a complete list of all "The Sacred Band of Stepsons" tales, as written by Janet E. Morris and Chris Morris.

***

Anthologies: 2 volumes of Sacred Band Tales. These two anthologies contain all the Sacred Band Tales published anywhere, as of 2012:

Volume 1 of Sacred Band Tales:
Tempus, an expanded "Author's Cut" edition of Tempus (published in 1987 by Baen), this Paradise Publishing edition includes the first five Tempus stories from Thieves' World(R), plus a story (An End to Dreaming) that predated Thieves' World(R), and new material available nowhere else. In strict chronology, it follows Beyond Wizardwall.

Volume 2 of Sacred Band Tales: The Fish the Fighters and the Song-Girl
This second anthology contains all the later Tempus stories published in Thieves' World, plus a new novella from which the volume title takes its name, and additional new interstitial material. In strict chronology, it follows "The Sacred Band" and was published 2012 by Perseid.

Novels:

Beyond novels (trilogy):

#1: Beyond Sanctuary (now available from Perseid in an Author's Cut Edition, with 14K additional text; also claimed by Thieves' World as first "authorized" TW novel.

#2: Beyond The Veil (Author's Cut edition in production with 25K additional text), second of our three authorized TW novels.

#3: Beyond Wizardwall (Author's Cut edition in progress), third of our three authorized TW novels.

Farther Realms (trilogy):

#4: City at the Edge of Time

#5: Tempus Unbound

#6: Storm Seed

21st century Sacred Band of Stepsons novel:

#7: The Sacred Band

If someone wants to read these in purely chronological order, intermixing the anthologies with the novels, we suggest this order:

Beyond Sanctuary
Beyond the Veil
Beyond Wizardwall
Tempus (with his right-side companion Niko)
City at the Edge of Time
Tempus Unbound
Storm Seed
The Sacred Band
The Fish the Fighters and the Song-Girl

Note: We have had people who started with the Sacred Band, then read Fish/Fighters, then went back and started with the Beyond novels, so there is no strict required order: the stories and novels all stand well enough on their own for most people. Because the two anthologies have interstital new material that wraps each old TW story as if they were flashbacks, my chronology for rading these books is basically the internal chronology of writing them.

Thanks for this opportunity to clarify (if indeed I have done so). We are so happy with The Sacred Band and Fish/Fighters, which chronologically follows it directly, that we have several more volumes planned.

-Janet E. Morris

Janet wrote: "Perklis, how very kind of you. I need exactly the sort of help you're offering. Thank you for making a listing for the "Wake of the Riddler" audiobook. We're doing several more: stories read alo..."

I'd never thought of audiobooks as a return to the earliest form of story-telling, oral storytelling. What a wonderful notion.
I'd be happy to help you, thank you for writing back.

Janet wrote: "Periklis wrote: "Janet wrote: "I'm Janet E Morris, sometimes Janet Morris. I've written dark s&s for many years, including my own Silistra series, Thieves World(R), the Sacred Band of Stepsons ser..."

Thanks for your lengthy response. It really helped clarifying the publication history of the series.
I have created the audiobook version of Wake of the Riddler and combined it with the Kindle versions. I'd be happy to assist you with any listings of your work here, on Goodreads. Just let me know what changes should be made (inbox me here or use my e-mail). Regarding revised and/or expanded versions of your work, they'd need to be seperated (if they are listed and combined with the original works) and listed as a series. I'd be happy to help there too.
Also, if you'd like to introduce readers of the group to the series, probably suggesting areading order or mentioning an internal chronology please feel free to create a post here.

Janet wrote: "I'm Janet E Morris, sometimes Janet Morris. I've written dark s&s for many years, including my own Silistra series, Thieves World(R), the Sacred Band of Stepsons series, Beyond trilogy, Heroes in ..."

Welcome, thank you for joining us.
Although GR connected your name with the books, I'm a little confused as to which books belong to the "Tempus and his Sacred Band" series. Most books are listed as the Thieves' World Novels series. Is the wikipedia entry the complete list of the series?

Jason wrote: "I finished Swords Against Darkness last week and thought it was a really good read. I wrote a brief review that is neither riveting, nor earth-shattering, and may not be worth your time (reviewing ..."

The Swords Against Darkness series, is probably my favorite anthology series so far. Many authors and heroes discovered here. Tierney's "Simon of Gitta", Drake's "Vettius" and Wellman's "Kardios". The "Ryre" stories are probably my favorite. Campbell writes action-packed/ horror tales, while cleverly deconstructing many tropes of the genre.
While I liked Bruce Jones' story, you're right and it feels a little out of place whithin the anthology.

Gene wrote: "Hi, I'm Gene Phillips, a longtime S&S fan. I published a couple of S&S stories in obscure semi-pro mags with names like BLOODRAKE. Since I revised some of the characters heavily for a current nov..."

Welcome Gene, thank you for joining us.
Feel free to participate on the January/February Group Read, dedicated to S&S anthologies.

Sean wrote: "Ah, now I understand, I thought I was going to be reading a "James Brown displaced in time by hundreds of years in the past" type adventure story when I clicked on this link!

Dang that would be co..."

Yes, I'd probably read that book , hoping that there's gonna be a sequel involving Jimi Hendrix too...
Kidding aside, the Imaro books are probably the perfect introduction to the genre. Check the sword and soul shelf for more titles.

Sean wrote: "I have even searched out some of those writers and bought their works [...] With Sages & Swords, I leave not wishing to seek out any of the works of these contributors. Unfortunately, not recommended."

That's the worst thing to expect from an anthology. I was looking for a copy of "Sages & Swords" for the Dabir & Asim ("The Thief of Hearts") story alone at some point, but thankfully it's included in The Waters of Eternity.
Sorry this book didn't work out for you...

And here is the cover for the first Gonji book to be released by Borgo Press (imprint of Wildside Books), "Gonji: Red Blade from the East".

[via the official Gonji Fb page]

Joseph wrote: "Periklis wrote: "I was dissapointed by: Robert Silverberg, Gene Wolfe and Tanith Lee, especially given their past works."

The Silverberg piece was a Majipoor story, wasn't it? I loved Lord Valent..."

Indeed it was a Majipoor story. Tried another Majipoor short, The Seventh Shrine, which I can't say I liked. I have a copy of the first three Majipoor books and despite these small disappointments I have high hopes for.
Thanks for recommending Shea'a book. I wasn't aware of it, at all...

Bill wrote: "Didn't realize you guys were busy reading RoTS over here, now I want to go reread it myself. Lots of great stories in there (and thanks for the kind words on mine everybody)...."

Really liked your story. It's one of my favorites so far. While reading it, I had the impression I was seeing an imaginary Frazetta painting of "Thermopylae" or watching a really gritty version of "Fire and Ice" (directed by David Fincher, maybe?)...

Bill wrote: "I really liked Red Worm's Way -- I always wanted more stories of drunk Morlock, but off the top of my head this seems like the only one, though."

"The Singing Spear" falls into that category. Morlock's suffering from withdrawal in that one, if i recall correctly...

With Swords and Dark Magic, I discovered new authors, which remains my first priority in an anthology.
I ordered hard-copies of more Morlock Ambrosius' adventures, Greg Keys' Fool Wolf, K.J. Parker's first part in the Engineer trilogy, CJ Cherryh's "Paladin", Glen Cook's first Black Company novel and the first Malazan book upon reading their authors' short stories.

I especially liked the stories of: James Enge, Michael Moorcock, Greg Keyes, Scott Lynch, Garth Nix and Joe Abercrombie.
Michael Shea's "Dying Earth" tale was entertaining, but I love his Nift stories much more.
Kiernan's story was indifferent but I'll read any further works of hers in the genre. Same with Lebbon's story. His story is set in the Echo City, but I'll be probably reading more Noreela stories in the future.
Bill Willingham's story was to short to leave any impressions.
I was dissapointed by: Robert Silverberg, Gene Wolfe and Tanith Lee, especially given their past works.