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

Who Made Me a Princess Vol. 2 by Plutus

The Apothecary Diaries 10 by Nekokurage

Ghost in the Serpent by Jonathan Moeller

Frolic on the Amaranthyn

The Dark Ones by Thomas J. Doscher

Cloak of Embers by Jonathan Moeller

Dust Of The Ocean by Dorothy Grant

Portrait of a Priestess: Women and Ritual in Ancient Greece by Joan Breton Connelly

A Superhero for Christmas by H.L. Burke

Conquests and Cultures by Thomas Sowell

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 7

awesome!

Rakehell : Issue 1

This Was Our Pact by Ryan Andrews

Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce

Having finished The Crippled God last week, I'm finally finished with Malazan after a mere five months.

I followed it up with a couple issues of New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine, and have now started Ann Leckie's Translation State

And now for something completely different: A Winter Pilgrimage: Being an Account of Travels through Palestine, Italy, and the Island of Cyprus, accomplished in the Year 1900.

Villains Are Destined to Die, Vol. 6 by Gyeoeul Gwon

A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War by Amanda Foreman

Started Lysbeth A Tale Of The Dutch by H. Rider Haggard.

I haven't posted in this topic in a while. Sorry! This year, among other reads, I've been reading Timothy Zahn's YA Dragonback series and enjoying it so far even if Zahn's notions of future tech might be a bit dated now (e.g. people are still filling out paper forms instead of digital ones, they use 'communicators' but these don't seem to have smart-phone capabilities). Nearly finished the third book - Dragon and Slave.

Numen The Slayer by Grady P. Brown

Fist of Heaven and Earth by Kit Sun Cheah

Game of Immortals by Kit Sun Cheah

Started The Book of Ile-Rien: The Element of Fire & The Death of the Necromancer, Martha Wells' new collection of two of her very early novels.

Since my last post in this topic, I finished Dragon and Slave, read Dragon and Herdsman and I'm now reading Dragon and Judge. These are the third-fifth books in a six-book series.

I just read "The Shadow of Vengence" by Scott Oden.
If you told me it was a lost Robert E Howard Story I think I'd have believed you. Out of and author I've ever read it was the closest to Howard's voice.

Guardians of the Twilight Lands: The Sixth Book of Unexpected Enlightenment by L. Jagi Lamplighter

Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen 2 by Hiromi Satō

Having finished Dragon and Judge, I'm now reading the final book in the series: Dragon and Liberator.

I finished The Book of Ile-Rien: The Element of Fire & The Death of the Necromancer and started The Earth is Flat: Tales from the Flat Earth and Elsewhere, a recent collection of Tanith Lee's heretofore uncollected Flat Earth stories.

Joseph wrote: "I finished The Book of Ile-Rien: The Element of Fire & The Death of the Necromancer and started The Earth is Flat: Tales from the Flat Earth and Elsewhere, a recen..."

Were you prompted by the SFWA's recently announced posthumous award to choose Lee for your current read? I have a book of hers that I've been meaning to read for years - maybe I'll start reading that shortly.

Greg wrote: "Were you prompted by the SFWA's recently announced posthumous award to choose Lee for your current read? I have a book of hers that I've been meaning to read for years - maybe I'll start reading that shortly.."

Kind of a confluence of circumstances -- that announcement, and Holly Black name-checking the Flat Earth books in an article up on Reactormag.com (the former Tor.com).

And I love Tanith Lee and the original five Flat Earth books are somewhere in my top five favorite series of all time, so the surprising thing is why I hadn't read this one already.

Which book of hers do you have?

Joseph wrote: "Greg wrote: "Were you prompted by the SFWA's recently announced posthumous award to choose Lee for your current read? I have a book of hers that I've been meaning to read for years - maybe I'll sta..."

The book concerned is The Book of the Damned. Is that one you've read?

I didn't know that Tor.com had been renamed Reactormag.com. I see from the site that this occurred in January. It's unusual for a company to make such a big brand name change but there's an article about it so I'll have a read of that to find out why it happened.

Greg wrote: "The book concerned is The Book of the Damned. Is that one you've read?."

Yes, although not for many years. It's great -- a collection of stories (novelettes? novellas?) set in a sort of alternate version of Paris at various points in its history. Very decadent and gothic.

I only vaguely heard about the name change, but I think it was because they wanted to give themselves a bit of separation from TOR the publisher (since they spend so much time on the website talking about other publishers' books).

Joseph wrote: "Greg wrote: "The book concerned is The Book of the Damned. Is that one you've read?."

Yes, although not for many years. It's great -- a collection of stories (novelettes? novellas?) set in a sort ..."

The ISFDB says the book is a collection of three novellas. My copy is boxed with other books at the moment.

And that makes sense to try to separate the publisher from the Web site so that they can comment more freely on other publishers' books. Not sure if that will really make a difference if people know that Reactormag is owned by Tor.... :P

GRIMMSBANE

Continuing on with some Tanith Lee, now starting her novel The Storm Lord.

If the Villainess and Villain Met and Fell in Love (Manga), Vol. 1 by Harunadon

Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad by Austin Kleon

I finished Anackire and am starting the final book in the trilogy, The White Serpent.

Just read Tolkien's The Children of Hurin yesterday, in one sitting. Couldn't put it down. Awesome story of a character doomed by his own pride (which in a way you could say was a working of Morgoth's curse, but it could also be entirely Turin's own failing.)

I should read that. I'm told that's a strong S&S story.

It [Children of Hurin] is grimdark AF.

Myself, I'm starting The City of Marble and Blood, which some people here might have heard of ... :)

Jason wrote: "I should read that. I'm told that's a strong S&S story."

It definitely is!

Myself, I'm starting The City of Marble and Blood, which some people here might have heard of ... :)"

How did you like the conclusion of the Vis trilogy?

Dariel wrote: "How did you like the conclusion of the Vis trilogy?"

I liked it! Had Tanith Lee's other best chariot race. Having said which, the linkage to the first two books was even more tenuous -- it's set about 100 years after Anackire, so there aren't any returning characters, and it mostly takes place on a smaller scale than the previous books. But I do recommend it.

Richard wrote: "GRIMMSBANE
"

Looks interesting - and the first book by a new author - so I've added it to my TBR shelf.

Joseph wrote: "It [Children of Hurin] is grimdark AF.

Myself, I'm starting The City of Marble and Blood, which some people here might have heard of ... :)"

Grimdark Tolkien sounds wonderful! :)

Also, I've added the first book in the Chronicles of Hanuvar series to my TBR shelf. Interested to see how this series develops.

Of Breaking Waves by George Phillies