Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy" discussion

@Joseph

Yeah, I was too broad with that statement.

And now for a bit of fun
The Queen of Swords

Richard wrote: "@Joseph

Yeah, I was too broad with that statement."

I know it's engendered some ... spirited debate. :)

Unrelatedly, I finished Tremontaine: The Complete Season 4 and am about to start When the Goddess Wakes for our current group read.

Richard wrote: "And now for a bit of fun
The Queen of Swords

"

Pretty cool cover art!

@C.A.

You should see the first two in the series. Raymond Swanland is the artist. Very distinctive.

Heroes Fall by Morgon Newquist

The Crystal Shard by RA Salvatore

Jason wrote: " The Crystal Shard by RA Salvatore"

Nice! That's what I wish I was reading (though I'm enjoying my re-read of The Eye of the World & also A Warrior's Curse by Jeffrey L. Kohanek ) but I can't find my paperback edition anywhere and I'm too dang broke to purchase a new copy/or the Kindle version.

*Just* finished "Furta Sacra: Thefts of Relics in the Central Middle Ages" by Patrick J. Geary. If you want to do research on the theft of relics, perhaps as inspiration for a sword & sorcery story, you really couldn't do better!

Michael Fierce wrote: "Jason wrote: " The Crystal Shard by RA Salvatore"

Nice! That's what I wish I was reading (though I'm enjoying my re-read of [book:The Eye of the Wor..."

I've been meaning to read this for over 30 years. I met Salvatore just after he signed his contract for this book. He's from the town next to the one I grew up in and he stopped by one day to give us writing-enthused high schoolers a talk about books and getting published. I started reading other books of his before beginning the dauntingly long Drizzt series.

Jason wrote: "Michael Fierce wrote: "Jason wrote: " The Crystal Shard by RA Salvatore"

Nice! That's what I wish I was reading (though I'm enjoying my re-read of [..."

Cool story. I hope you have a good time with it.

One Bright Star to Guide Them by John C. Wright

I'm reading the graphic novel 1984 and it's great. The novel is one of my top 5, maybe top 2 books of all time.

Al wrote: "I'm reading the graphic novel 1984 and it's great. The novel is one of my top 5, maybe top 2 books of all time."

We read the original in High school ... And today the word 'Orwellian' is commonplace. Interesting, since words form out of necessity of expression.

Desperate Forest by Cece Louise

Finished The Mask of the Sorcerer and started Sekenre: The Book of the Sorcerer, a short story collection/sequel.

Hell for the Holidays by Tina Glasneck
A short story about the Norse gods.

This is a "currently watching" addendum to a relatively current read for me (I read The Warlord of Mars earlier this year) -- I just saw this video from Tom Scott about a rotating jail patented in 1881, and, not having heard about this before, I thought it might have been the inspiration for the rotating jail featured in The Gods/Warlord of Mars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DGXH...

Just starting Poul Anderson's The High Crusade, which inexplicably I don't think I've ever read before.

Sparks and Monsters by Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio

Hollow City by Kai Wai Cheah

The Wisdom of Crowds

Just finishing up D&D's Out of the Abyss, a compilation of modules in which the players delve into the Underdark as made famous in a number of Forgotten Realms books.

For reasons I find hard to articulate, I just started The Crystal Shard, the first (in publication order) of R.A. Salvatore's roughly one million billion Drizzt books.

Considering the sheer number of them, it seems almost surprising that it's one of the 5 or 6 of them that I've read (Icewind Dale trilogy, 1st of the Dark Elf trilogy, and the Legend collection of short stories).

I'm about 95% certain that I read Crystal Shard when it first came out back in 1988 (when dinosaurs roamed the earth), but that's as far as I ever went. I'm hoping to at least get through the initial trilogy; I'm certainly not planning on trying to get through all 50+ of them in one go.

It was later for me, but it was the first one I read, and it was mostly because I loved the Icewind Dale game.

Big Panda and Tiny Dragon by James Norbury

Dungeon Master's Guide for D&D's 5th edition. Gearing up to DM for my BIL and his boyfriend, along with a few of their friends. They asked me to do it over a year ago, but I wasn't comfortable with the new rules yet. I still don't have them completely down, thus the perusal of this book, but after playing in my brother's campaign over the past year, I feel like I'm on firmer ground.

Scaling The Rim by Dorothy Grant

Time for Streams of Silver.

Going to be reading that in 2 - 3 weeks myself. Still reading The Eye of the World and The Crystal Shard. Might take me a sec! Hope you have a good time with it, Joseph!

Starting The Witchwood Crown tonight. Been many many years since I read the original trilogy.

Starting The Halfling's Gem, the third in R.A. Salvatore's Icewind Dale trilogy.

Recently started Dilvish, the Damned. Dilvish makes for an interesting S&S hero, more Elric than Conan, and Zelazny's storytelling has a mythical feel to it.

Joyeuse Guard by Marion G. Harmon

Just started H. Rider Haggard's Heart of the World, which I believe is going to turn out to be one of his lost race books rather than (as I initially expected) one of his historical novels.

Blood on the Blade

Penance: A Young Adult Superhero Novel by Paula Richey and Thomas Plutarch

Started Guy Gavriel Kay's most recent, A Brightness Long Ago. I'd forgotten just how good he is.

Roads

The Order of Things by James V. Schall

J.W. wrote: "Hawkmoon by Michael Moorcock White Wolf Omnibus edition. While not as dark as his "Elric Saga," it's still very enjoyable."

I'm currently reading (Dec 2021) Moorcock's "The Jewel in the Skull" which is the origin story for Dorian Hawkmoon, volume 1 of History of Runestaff series. Half way through and it's okay. Not high adventure but good for pulp style fantasy, I think.

The Sword of Hel

Savage Realms Monthly Tales of sword and sorcery

Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits, Vol. 7 by Waco Ioka

Night Shift Dragons by Rachel Aaron

Savage Realms Monthly: March 2021: A collection of dark fantasy sword and sorcery short adventure stories