Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy" discussion
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What are you currently reading?
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For myself, I did read the Thulman book and enjoyed it well enough; at some point I'd like to read Werner's other big Warhammer omnibus, Brunner the Bounty Hunter.
Having said that, I'd be much more likely to read further Warhammer, and Warhammer 40K, books, if they made it more convenient to get the eBook versions. Right now, as far as I know, the only place to get them is on the Black Library website, and they're ... not cheap. Not that I'm unwilling to pay $11.99 for an eBook, necessarily, but that does get above my comfort zone for 250 page sword & sorcery novels, all other things being equal.
Jack wrote: "Michael wrote: "Arley wrote: "Christopher wrote: "Hello all! I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions for me, (I hope this is an ok forum to ask this in). Due to me being a huge witcher fan, ..."It is okay not great in my opinion. I read it at the behest of a friend who is a huge Warhammer fan. I felt that Matthias Thulman may have had more of a likeness to Matthew Hopkins than Solomon Kane :) It was a good read though. If you really like the Warhammer stuff then from me that is a big recommendation.
I read one of the Thulmann books (Witch Hunter) years ago and enjoyed it then but didn't follow up because the books were hard to find locally. I have a feeling that the main bookshop in my city doesn't sell role-playing game-related books in principle (probably on some religious basis) so its selection of fantasy and science fiction is - and always has been - poor. I rarely buy books there any more.Currently, I'm reading The Dead, the second instalment in a YA zombie series set in Britain. Although it is YA (most of the main characters are under 15), the level of violence and the low life expectancy of the main characters makes the book readable to an adult audience.
Finished reading The Dead, a violent and, at times sad and depressing tale, but lightened by good humour and hope. It contains plenty of action and is quite a page-turner.
I finished the second book in the Imperial Radch trilogy, Ancillary Sword. Very good read. A slight drop from the first book which won Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C Clarke, etc just about every major Sci Fi award there is in 2013 I believe. I look forward to the third book Ancillary Mercy but right now I just started a brand new book, "Night Wraith" by Chris Fulbright and Angeline Hawkes. This one is supernatural horror. They are a great writing team and I especially like Angeline's stories of Kabbar of El Shazzar, (Out of the Garden) a warrior in the vein of Conan, Kane, and others who lives in ancient Mesopotamia but with living mythological monsters and sorcery (Kabbar's mother is a sorceress in ancient Ur).
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Out of the Garden and Other Tales of the Barbarian Kabar of el Hazzar looks good. Hadn't heard of Angeline Hawkes; will look into her book.
S.E. wrote: "Michael wrote: "I finished the second book in the Imperial Radch trilogy, Ancillary Sword. Very good read. A slight drop from the first book which won Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C Clarke, etc just about ..."I think you will enjoy it.
Michael wrote: "I finished the second book in the Imperial Radch trilogy, Ancillary Sword. Very good read. A slight drop from the first book which won Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C Clarke, etc just about every major Sci ..."Of the Imperial Radch series, I've only read the short story, Night's Slow Poison, which was a 3-star read for me. I'd be into trying out the novels at some point.
Night Wraith looks like a good read!
Joseph wrote: "Still not actually S&S, but I'm now about half way through The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher (wrapping up my reading for the Hugo ballot). It does, in fact, have..."Looks interesting. Kind of a steam punk novel?
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So far (about half way) it's been generally entertaining adventure fiction; maybe not quite as good as Dresden, but still a fun beach read sort of book. It has some elements of steampunk, but they're actually pretty minor -- if anything, I'd say I'm getting a bit more of an anime feel from it. (I'm reminded of Last Exile at points, if that helps.)
Greg wrote: "Michael wrote: "I finished the second book in the Imperial Radch trilogy, Ancillary Sword. Very good read. A slight drop from the first book which won Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C Clarke, etc just about ..."So far I've only read the prologue and the first chapter and I'm hooked.
Joseph wrote: "Greg wrote: "Looks interesting. Kind of a steam punk novel? "So far (about half way) it's been generally entertaining adventure fiction; maybe not quite as good as Dresden, but still a fun beach ..."
Must check it out myself then!
Michael wrote: "So far I've only read the prologue and the first chapter and I'm hooked."
That sounds promising! :)
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That sounds promising! :)"
I thought the Ancillary books were great -- the first one deserved pretty much all of those awards.
S.E., you met Kabbar in Return of the Sword...
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S.E. wrote: "Jason, eh gad, I loved the Return of the Sword anthology but my memory failed about Kabbar's story. Pulling it up on my kindle now.":)
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Joseph wrote: "Finished Jack of Shadows -- sometimes I miss the era of the 200 page standalone novel -- and decided it was finally time to revisit Westeros, so began rereading [book:A Game of Thrones..."Yes. I love those 200 page stand alone novels that you can rip through in a couple of days or a week if you're busy. I have to read a few of them and short stories in between the thicker books and series. Jack of Shadows was one of my favorite Zelazny stories and one of my favorite authors. I also miss when the comic cons were smaller. Back in the 80s I was able to hang around Zelazny and his friend and other fav author Fred Saberhagen for a while. The lines to them were not long and they signed just about every book I owned by them which was just about everything they wrote! Very nice gentlemen too!
Started reading Gridlinked a couple of days ago - not S&S but science fiction with elements of spy/crime/military fiction. Liking it so far.
I just finished Scavengers by Chris Fulbright and Angeline Hawkes. A Zombie Apocalypse type story that takes place in the Dallas area. I also a quick story by Joe R Lansdale called Duck Footed. A humorous story about an older doctor moving back to a small East Texas town where he is finds strange happenings around a Televangelist's 24 hour TV show. I just started "Argonauts" which is a Sci Fi version of Jason and the Argonauts that had pretty good reviews. It seemed to be popping up everywhere on my feeds because of my past purchases on Amazon. I also read a couple of stories from "Fists of Iron Round 3" by Robert E Howard. I read a couple of short stories in between novels.
Jack wrote: "Michael wrote: "I just finished Scavengers by Chris Fulbright and Angeline Hawkes. A Zombie Apocalypse type story that takes place in the Dallas area. I also a quick story by Joe R Lansdale called ..."Ha ha! You will enjoy it then.
Jack wrote: "I'll have to check out Scavengers. Like many native Houstonians, I have an anti-Dallas mentality, so I fully support all zombie activity in and around Dallas. "LOL Must check if my Houstonian cousins agree!
Greg wrote: "Jack wrote: "I'll have to check out Scavengers. Like many native Houstonians, I have an anti-Dallas mentality, so I fully support all zombie activity in and around Dallas. "LOL Must check if my H..."
I'm sure they will. They're jealous of Dallas for some reason! LOL
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Joseph wrote: "I just got back from spending a week at Glacier National Park. The trip was bookended with 24 hour Amtrak rides, which I used to good advantage to finally revisit Westeros -- I finished [book:A Gam..."Which did you enjoy the most - the week at Glacier National Park or the book reads on the way to and from there? :P
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Hmmm ... That's a difficult one ...
Having finished Gridlinked, a good, slightly James Bondesque sci-fi thriller, yesterday, I started re-reading The Other Nineteenth Century, a collection of short stories set in an alternate nineteenth century. I'd originally got this book back in 2003 but only read the first eight stories before abandoning it later that year for some (now forgotten) reason. I might read something else concurrently but haven't decided what yet.
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Davidson had won a few Nebula/Hugo/World Fantasy/Locus awards and was nominated for more, yet he's comparatively little known. Maybe that will change now that his work is available on Kindle.
@Jack, I really enjoyed the first 2 books of the first Black Company trilogy. a lot. I felt book 3 a bit of a let down, story- and character- wise, though. I've yet to read the following trilogy(ies?).
Just started Matthew Hughes Pathfinder book Song of the Serpent - he was commissioned to write a Cugel the Clever pastiche for the game setting. So far it's a ball.
I just finished reading the first issue of the new Journal, Skelos, which is not only sword and sorcery but does contain that kind of material. I thought it was very good. I reviewed it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...I also reviewed it on my blog: http://charlesgramlich.blogspot.com
Some here might find it of interest
Loved your short story Charles. Very cool and kinda gross! ;)
Thanks, Glad you enjoyed. Definitely a little gross
Ditto Charles. I've been reading Skelos as well.
Seth's Black Raven stories are a delight. in another timeline, RBE was his publisher. ah, well. I'm just thrilled by his success.
Jack wrote: "EDIT: I forgot to mention that Seth Skorkowsky is from East Texas. Since I was born and raised in the Houston area, I thought this was a big plus. I can rationalize almost any book purchase. "LOL What are the book purchases you can't rationalise then? :P
Jack wrote: "Greg wrote: "Jack wrote: "EDIT: I forgot to mention that Seth Skorkowsky is from East Texas. Since I was born and raised in the Houston area, I thought this was a big plus. I can rationalize almost..."The Necronomicon might be a good contender, if it existed....
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About 45 pages into Brothers of the Sword, by T V Olsen- Viking adventure written by one of the big name western writers of the 50's-60's. On a bit of a pulp/historical adventure kick-the source of S&S in many ways.
Well I'm reading off-topic right now... Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brien... If anyone's got a recommendation for a good S&S/fantasy author I'd be happy to get back on message!
S.wagenaar wrote: "About 45 pages into Brothers of the Sword, by T V Olsen- Viking adventure written by one of the big name western writers of the 50's-60's. On a bit of a pulp/historical adventure kick-the source of..." That sounds like fun... I'm a bit of an addict to the TV show Vikings... there's a new series due out any time now :)
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And fortunately, my Kindle was found at the venue, and I'll pick it up tonight when I go there to hear some Hungarian music.
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Yeah, it would've been a shame if I had to buy the newest, greatest model ...
Oh, and when I got home sans Kindle, the first thing I had to do was finish George R.R. Martin's A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and I have to say the illustrations are much more effective in the hardcover than in the eBook version.
I am reading "Downfall of the Gods" by K J Parker. It's a humorous take on a goddess and a quest she sends a mortal on to gain redemption for a crime he committed.
Besides some Dutch-language only fantasy I've been reading Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings by Borges, which I found too be honest a bit boring.Currently I'm reading the 4th book in the flintlock fantasy books of Django Wexler: The Guns of Empire.
So far another ripping yarn.
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I read that First Omnibus Series (Gotrek and Felix) as well and though I am not a gamer and don't ordinarily read books based on games (Warhammer), I thought it was pretty good. I also read the Mathias Thulman book which is kind of a conglomeration of Solomon Kane (Robert E Howard) and the historical character Matthew Hopkins, a witch hunter who had a reign of terror during the English Civil War. Vincent Price played him so well in a low budget horror movie called The Conqueror Worm or The Witchfinder General movie.