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

S.E. wrote: "Oh, I see a Shadowland groupread forming now.... "

LOL With seemingly endless possibilities when you include whole series with the name!

There's also this:

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

Joseph wrote: "There's also this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-fHw..."

:O To be run on continuous play while reading the above-mentioned books?

Greg wrote: "Joseph wrote: "There's also this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-fHw..."

:O To be run on continuous play while reading the above-mentioned books?"

I can think of worse things.

Interesting discussion of Swords Against Death from Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series happening with some friends on Facebook. We're currently reading The Sunken Land, one of the best.

Watching Justified (the last few eps of S5) and thinking it's kind of a shame Elmore Leonard never worked in the genre ...

Good S&S, well written, is kinda like the noir of fantasy. All those writers who churned out tough, gritty crime and western fiction would be great candidates to write good S&S...

Finally reading The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan - Not bad, not great, but alright. Not nearly as violent or cynical as it's folks have made it out to be (so far).

Just finished The Doom of Undal; it is good historical fiction, with an epic feel. Darker than one may think. Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Now back to the group read. I hope to tackle another clonan. Kothar of the Magic Sword awaits...

Hey S.E., just read a positive review over at Black Gate for your novel Lords of Dyscrasia; pretty cool or what!

S.wagenaar wrote: "Hey S.E., just read a positive review over at Black Gate for your novel Lords of Dyscrasia; pretty cool or what!"

Wow, it is there! Link = Blackgate reviews Lords of Dyscrasia. Thanks go out to Joe Bonadonna for the review.

Well deserved and congratulations, Seth. Here's hoping it drives a lot more traffic your way, as you deserve the audience.

Thanks, Jason. Hope all is well with you. I look forward to another Bladewitch installment from you.

Nice review in Blackgate, Seth!

Excellent

And I just started The Birthgrave. Man, Tanith Lee was amazing!

About 1/3 of the way through Birthgrave now. Best. Chariot race. Ever. Well, at least it's right up there with the one in Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay.

Joseph wrote: "About 1/3 of the way through Birthgrave now. Best. Chariot race. Ever. Well, at least it's right up there with the one in Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay."


Joseph, LOL, you are a whole month early (Tanith Lee groupread expected in July)! You may have to read a sequel... like Vazkor, Son of Vazkor or Quest for the White Witch.

S.E. wrote: "Joseph, LOL, you are a whole month early (Tanith Lee groupread expected in July)! You may have to read a sequel... like Vazkor, Son of Vazkor or Quest for the White Witch."

Yeah, a bit early, but I had an opening in my queue. I may try to add another one in July/August, although sadly the other two White Witch books aren't due out electronically until much later in the year. But Lee left plenty of fine alternatives.

I just started, "Blindsight" by Peter Watts, a hard science fiction novel with a nice nihilistic view of the Universe.

Dark Crusade by Karl Edward Wagner

Men of Bronze, by Scott Oden. A bad-ass sword-swinging, bloody historical adventure novel; just the way I likes it!

Wrapped up The Birthgrave (spoiler alert: Great book! albeit with some imperfections) and started Sword of Destiny, the most recently translated of Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher novels, which I expect will be much closer to sword & sorcery in the classic mode. (In terms of the Witcher series, this is actually the second book he wrote, but it wasn't issued in English; like the first book, it's a linked collection of short stories about Geralt having wacky monster-slaying shenanigans, I assume.)

Currently reading Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed. Great Arabian flavored Sword & Sorcery/Epic fantasy.

I would love to read more of this type of stories.

Peter wrote: "Currently reading Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed. Great Arabian flavored Sword & Sorcery/Epic fantasy.

I would love to read more of this type of stor..."

Peter, I have not read much Sword & Sandal, but I did enjoy The Bones of the Old OnesHoward Andrew Jones. Have you read these?

No, I didn't. I'll add Howard Andrew Jones to my to-read shelf!

Adding a big thumbs-up to the Howard Andrew Jones recommendation.

Peter wrote: "Currently reading Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed. Great Arabian flavored Sword & Sorcery/Epic fantasy.

I would love to read more of this type of stor..."

that's been on my tbr list for ages, going to have to make it happen soon.

Yep, Howard's stuff is good. I need to check out his Pathfinder books.

Fletcher wrote: "Yep, Howard's stuff is good. I need to check out his Pathfinder books."

:O For a moment, I thought you meant Robert E! I bet he would've written some interesting Pathfinder novels - and maybe a few modules as well!

And I also started The Golden Age of Weird Fiction MEGAPACK TM, Vol. 4: Nictzin Dyalhis. Great stuff! (And nice and short.)

Joseph, thanks to you for identifying and sharing the megapak availability. I'm about 70# done... I'm counting this as my "obscure group read".

S.E. wrote: "Joseph, thanks to you for identifying and sharing the megapak availability. I'm about 70# done... I'm counting this as my "obscure group read"."

You're welcome! I just finished it this morning; will try to write a review when I'm home and not typing on a laptop.

I'm continuing reading in pseudo-Arabian settings, this time in a more flintlock-era: The Thousand Names by Django Wexler.

The first tropes have been spotted: a girl dressed as a boy to become a soldier and an officer reluctantly taking command after his superior died. Let's see if Wexler can do something exciting with this.

The Liar's Key

Just finished a sword and sorcery tale from Roger Zelazny which is a good book from a master of scifi/fantasy, but not as good as his best. Still solid 4 stars from me.

I will start on the last book of the two-book series soon.

I'm finally getting around to reading Stephen King's Four After Midnight, a collection of novellas basically. The first is "The Langoliers." The TV show/movie stayed very close to the book, I see.

After The Golden Age of Weird Fiction MEGAPACK TM, Vol. 4: Nictzin Dyalhis (which I highly recommend to anyone who's interested in fiction from that era), I moved into American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett, which is not even remotely sword & sorcery, but which is very, very, very good.

Nictzin Dyalhis. I always want to spell his name as Dialysi. There's a little known author but man could he write.

I was really happy to learn that was his real name.

Someday I should write an S&S story starring an unlikely pair of rogues named Nictzin Dyalhis and Vlaada Chvatl (Polish board game designer; if anyone does any tabletop gaming, I definitely recommend looking at Mage Knight).

I've just started reading "Sojourn", the third book in Salvatore's (unending) series of books about Drizzt, the drow elf. I'm not sure if it qualifies as S&S; it might be a border case. Anyway, so far it's mostly like reading somebody's RPG session transposed into prose. Nothing wrong with that, and it's often exciting, but it doesn't really give me the immersion good fantasy writing can give. That being said, I'm only a few chapters in.

Jon wrote: "I've just started reading "Sojourn", the third book in Salvatore's (unending) series of books about Drizzt, the drow elf. I'm not sure if it qualifies as S&S; it might be a border case. Anyway, so ..."

I'd call that sword & sorcery, even if it's based on an RPG world. The only tale involving Drizzt that I've read so far is The Crystal Shard.

Greg wrote: "Jon wrote: "I've just started reading "Sojourn", the third book in Salvatore's (unending) series of books about Drizzt, the drow elf. I'm not sure if it qualifies as S&S; it might be a border case...."

I've got the two graphic novel compendiums with the Drizzt stories but haven't gotten into them yet. They look very interesting though, and what I have skimmed I've liked.

Quentin wrote: "Greg wrote: "Jon wrote: "I've just started reading "Sojourn", the third book in Salvatore's (unending) series of books about Drizzt, the drow elf. I'm not sure if it qualifies as S&S; it might be a..."

I have a couple of other Forgotten Realms books to read but these aren't Drizzt ones. Getting those compendiums would save on time and probably money as opposed to getting the individual novels.

Jack wrote: "I'm reading the fantasy short-fiction collection "The Mammoth Book of Warriors and Wizardry."

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Good collectio..."

Looks interesting, Jack! Added it to my TBR shelf.

Greg wrote: "Jon wrote: "I've just started reading "Sojourn", the third book in Salvatore's (unending) series of books about Drizzt, the drow elf. I'm not sure if it qualifies as S&S; it might be a border case...."

S&S it is, then! "The Crystal Shard" is the next on my list, provided I still like Salvatore after this book. I thought the first Drizzt book, "Homeland", was very good. I was actually a little surprised that a heavily syndicated work can be that good. I was correspondingly disappointed by the second one, "Exile", which I thought was like a mediocre episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

That "Mammoth Book" sounds very interesting, thanks for mentioning it.

The Mammoth Book of Warriors and Wizardry has Tanith Lee as a contributor, so that can feedback into the groupread! Jack and others reading that, please share your thoughts with the group when ready on that collection.

I have Lee's The Birthgrave in queue, but have been first sucked into Hell...Doctors in Hell actually. Good stuff.

And I'm currently on another end of the gender spectrum with The Space Opera Renaissance; but after that I might try to add another Tanith Lee to the mix. I just picked up her newest collection on Kindle, Legenda Maris. (Which doesn't seem to have a GR entry yet, so http://www.amazon.com/Legenda-Maris-T... will give the details.)

Jon wrote: "S&S it is, then! "The Crystal Shard" is the next on my list, provided I still like Salvatore after this book. I thought the first Drizzt book, "Homeland", was very good. I was actually a little surprised that a heavily syndicated work can be that good. I was correspondingly disappointed by the second one, "Exile", which I thought was like a mediocre episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation."

The Crystal Shard is Salvatore's first book so it's possible that it won't read as well as his more recent work. I gave it 3 stars when I read it 10 years ago so I enjoyed it but felt it could've been a bit better.

With syndicated works I think you're going to get some really good ones as well as a few zingers.

S.E. wrote: "The Mammoth Book of Warriors and Wizardry has Tanith Lee as a contributor, so that can feedback into the groupread! Jack and others reading that, please share your tho..."

LOL I like the idea of a Sinchester carbine as found in Doctors in Hell! Also, I can think of a certain doctor who's missing from that collection. ;)

S.E. wrote: "The Mammoth Book of Warriors and Wizardry has Tanith Lee as a contributor, so that can feedback into the groupread! Jack and others reading that, please share your tho..."

What a nice project! I'll try to tag along as soon as I get on the top of my other reading and writing projects.

By the way: Thanks all, for helping me see the light on Mark Lawrence! I've ordered the first book now, and I'm really looking forward to read it. But I still maintain that he should get a new cover artist. For the untrained eye (i.e. mine) it still looks like a cheap GRRM pastiche.