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

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

Rogue Blades wrote: "Doing lots of reading myself, though quickly running through this thread has introduced me to several more authors/titles to pursue. I too picked up the free Kormak tale from King and will check ou..."

I just finished The Harsh Suns and reading Return of the Sword along with the SF Use of Weapons.
Amazons! looks like a great pick.

Rogue Blades wrote: "Wow! What an awesome banner for the group! Well done whoever created that, and much thanks for including a slice of Johnny Perkins' cover from Return of the Sword!"

That is S.E. Lindberg's work! Here are the full credits for the works used. Seth has also drawn the eerie & evocative illustrations of his Sword & Sorcery novel, Lords of Dyscrasia.

S.E. wrote: "The Group Reads topic on Anthologies spawned Phillip Emery's work calledNecromantra. Here is the Discus..."

Thanks for the heads-up. I tried contacting Immanion Press, through their website and Facebook regarding Emery's work and the response I got was (from a Facebook message): "We aren't publishing his works at this time.". What is weird is that Necromantra and The Shadow Cycles, are seemingly available to order on their website. So, upon further inquiry, they offered me their sales e-mail for placing an order for printed copies of these two books: orders@immanion-press.com. Anyone interested should try contacting them.

Clyde wrote: "G'day all, I'm Clyde Andrews and I live in Melbourne, Victoria. I'm a published author (with some mild success) under a different name, but got tired of the mill so now I'm self publishing and enjo..."

Welcome Clyde, thank you for joining us. Be sure to check the group's Bookshelf whenever you're looking for a new adventure, or participate in the JAN/FEB 2013 - Anthology themed - Groupread. Also, have a look at the group's past discussions, for many S&S related resources.

Fletcher wrote: "My name's Fletcher Vredenburgh and I blog under the handle "the Wasp" at a site called Swords & Sorcery: A Blog. I've been reading the stuff since I came across my dad's copies of "Death Angel's S..."

Welcome Fletcher and a fine blog you've been running. I enjoyed your dissection of Chris Achilleos' covers on the Raven books. I have also fond memories of Dale Rippke's Heroes of Dark Fantasy (it is archived here). Its absence was filled by Black Gate for me.
Feel free to participate and join the January/ February Group Read, themed "S&S Anthologies", if you like.

K.V. wrote: "Thanks for the link to the article! It was James Enge who brought Harold Lamb to my attention (by describing Blackdog as containing "Harold-Lamb-style adventure" which embarrassingly led me to say,..."

Shamefully, I haven't read any Harold Lamb fiction but I'm about to read his "Red Hands" from Return of the Sword, for the January/ February AESoF: Sword & Sorcery Group Read.
Thanks are due to Howard Andrew Jones, not only for sharing the link above with the group, but mostly for editing all of the Harold Lamb Steppe collections, as well as Swords from the East, Swords from the West, Swords from the Desert and Swords from the Sea.

K.V. wrote: "I saw someone, I think Jim Butcher, use the phrase "horse and sword" fantasy somewhere, and toyed with the idea of declaring a new subgenre of "camel and sabre"."

Yes it was Jim Butcher on an SF Signal podcast, who coined the term "horse and sword". There is also this "Pug and Sword" comic-strip, discovered by Seth.

Scott wrote: "Hey, all! My name is Scott and I'm a writer . . . which is also an acceptable entrance for a 12-step program :) I first discovered S&S when I was 10 or 11. My older brother had an extensive libr..."

Welcome Scott, it's a pleasure to have you among us. Lokking forward to your forthcoming Orcish saga.

William wrote: "I'm Willie, Scottish writer, now living in Canada

I've tried my hand at several works of fantasy over the years, and they almost always come out the same way -- pulpy, with swords, sorcery, monste..."

Welcome and thank you for joining us. I really appreciate what you describe as Stevenson's "fast paced entertainment that also educates [...] and the solidity and truth of his characterisations."
Your books, The Sleeping God and The Watchers Omnibus especially, seem to be of interest to any Sword-and-Sorcery reader.
Feel free to discuss or present your work to new readers in the Authors Discussion.

The people at Iron Throne Publishing seem to know their Swords & Sorcery:

"All Iron Throne Publishing products are based around the Swords and Sorcery genre as created by the Golden Age authors. Authors such as Clark Ashton Smith, Manly Wade Wellman, Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Catherine Lucille Moore, and Henry Kuttner."

They've created The Riddle of Steel RPG in the past, a system and setting, that combined Conan-inspired storytelling with a realistic combat system, approved by the Association for Renaissance Martial Arts (ARMA).
They have just released their new game, Blade of the Iron Throne for free. Just register on their website to download a 15MB full-color PDF of the Core rulebook.
Thanks to Scott Oden's, enthusiastic post on his Facebook, we've become aware not only of the game, but also that its setting is the world of Xoth, a Hyborian Age-analogue.

I just started reading Return of the Sword. It is really encouraging to see editor's Jason M. Waltz enthusiasm and knowledge of the genre in the introduction. It reminded me of Andrew J. Offutt's introductions in the S.A.D. series. I'll probably write about the stories when finished with the book. I'm looking forward to Bill Ward's story, as I loved his The Last of His Kind.

So, how is everyone else's reading progressing?

Joseph wrote: "I'm not reading it (yet) but just wanted to mention that William King just published a new Kormak novel: Defiler of Tombs. (Which is available on Amazon and from the other electronic Usual Suspect..."

Thanks for the heads up. I'm preparing an entry for the series and adding it to the group's Bookshelf. And my wishlist, which is getting ridiculously long...

S.E. wrote: "Jason wrote: "...I couldn't tell if they were still in business or if it was just a ghost-site..."

Cripes. I will definitely reconnect on Necropress's response. Thanks for the heads-up."

I ordered a copy of the book directly from them (paid through Paypal) and got the book whithin the usual timeframe (10 days for international shipping). Didn't try contacting them first.
Try ordering through Paypal (if they still have that option available) and worst case senario, if you haven't received the book after 40 days, start a dispute (through Paypal) and they will return your money.

P.S. the Ryre tales are terrific, here are the full contents of the collection.

The Black River is a blog with relatively few entries, but serves as a good introduction to the '80s S&S nostalgia, in mediums such as comics, video games, films and the occasional dog-eared paperback.
From the owner's (THE NECROMANCER) introduction:

"Welcome to my blog where we will discuss sword and sorcery both new and old ( though more old than new.) with a smidgen of fantasy thrown in the mix."

Rogue Blades wrote: "Is it possible to export a particular shelf, say to a spreadsheet? I'd like to have a list of the anthologies so that I can check off the ones on my shelves, add ones not currently on the list, and..."

A far as I can tell, not directly from the Group's Bookshelf. If you add any book to your (Goodreads virtual) shelf, it can be exported from tools>import/export (lower left) or views>print (on the upper right).

Thanks to Bruce Durham and Jason Waltz I will be reading Return of the Sword too!

As posted by Howard Andrew Jones:

"A while back Periklis was asking for more Harold Lamb information and I pointed him to the Lamb web site.

I just rediscovered an essay I wrote more than a year ago -- can't believe I forgot it. Anyway, it explains to the very best of my ability why Lamb is so good and why he should be read:

http://bryanthomasschmidt.net/sffwrtc..."

Click on the link, to read the full article:

" Before Stormbringer keened in Elric’s hand, before the Gray Mouser prowled Lankhmar’s foggy streets—before even Conan trod jeweled thrones under his sandaled feet, Khlit the Cossack rode the steppe. He isn’t the earliest serial adventure character, but his adventures are among the earliest that can still be read for sheer pleasure. "

Janrae wrote: "Here is a coupon to get Blood Rites free."

Thank you for offering this! (here's the link for Blood Rites)
I've started reading In the Darkness, Hunting and was wondering which series should be read next. I noticed the first book in the Lycan Blood Series, Serpent's Quest, which is offered for the bargain price of $1!
Since all your books take place in a shared world, is there a suggested reading order (perhaps based on its internal chronology)?

I've found his author info on Immanion Press. Hope it helps a bit...

Janrae Frank, author of the Sword & Sorcery stories of Chimquar the Lionhawk, collected in In the Darkness, Hunting will be discussing her work.
Thank you, once again, Janrae for joining us!