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[Periklis, Fafhrd (Emeritus)]

Greg wrote: "Periklis wrote: "I've been reading a few noteworthy Sword & Sorcery related titles lately.

* Black Road, Vol. 1: The Holy North, which brought to mind RE Howards historical fiction..."

You might also like Northlanders, Vol. 1: Sven the Returned and Aquila.

[Greg]

Periklis wrote: "Greg wrote: "Periklis wrote: "I've been reading a few noteworthy Sword & Sorcery related titles lately.

* Black Road, Vol. 1: The Holy North, which brought to mind RE Howards histo..."

Thanks for those recommendations, Periklis! I've added them to my TBR shelf.

[S.wagenaar]

Re-reading The Lion of Cairo by Scott Oden. I feel like I never gave this novel the attention it deserves the first time around; gonna take it slow and easy. Savor the details and watch for the Robert E Howard influences.

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

I finished Cleopatra (which did have at least a couple of swords and some handwavy occultism) and started A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson, which is set in the same world as his The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps. Not quite S&S at this point, but I'm enjoying it.

[Peter]

I just finished The Princess Bride, which was a bit of a let down, and now before I pick up another novel, I'll read some Beneath Ceaseless Skies issues.

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

And let's see ... The Man in the High Castle, which didn't have any actual S&S in it, needless to say, and have now started Poisoned Blade by Kate Elliott, which probably has swords and might or might not have any sorcery, but I really enjoyed Court of Fives, the first in the series.

[Emily]

Today, I finished Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire. I'm also reading The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu.

[Peter]

Started with Shadows Linger, the second Black Company book. The first book didn't exactly blow me away, but members of this group have been so enthusiastic about the series, I decided to give the series another go.

[Greg]

Emily wrote: "Today, I finished Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire. I'm also reading The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu."

Welcome to the group, Emily! :) Every Heart a Doorway looks interesting.

[S.E., Gray Mouser (Emeritus)]

Emily wrote: "Today, I finished Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire. I'm also reading The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu."

Hi Emily! Nice to see you here!

[Richard]

Peter wrote: "Started with Shadows Linger, the second Black Company book. The first book didn't exactly blow me away, but members of this group have been so enthusiastic about the series, I decided..."

Great series! Although, with great hype comes great expectations. I can see how it didn't blow you away. If Shadows Linger doesn't hook you, maybe this series isn't for you.

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Finished Poisoned Blade, which did have swords and at least a glimmer of sorcery in it, and started The Vagrant by Peter Newman, which seems to be some kind of far-future post-apocalyptic thing, but whose eponymous hero does carry a big-ass sword.

[Peter]

Richard wrote: "Peter wrote: "Started with Shadows Linger, the second Black Company book. The first book didn't exactly blow me away, but members of this group have been so enthusiastic about the ser..."

Thus far I'm liking the second book way more than the first one.

For all people who like the Black Company books, I'd recommend the Gaunt Ghosts books by Dan Abnett, although it's placed in the Warhammer 40K universe, it's great military sf/fantasy, comparable in tone to the Black Company stuff.

[Greg]

Having finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower this morning, I think I'll be turning to a bit of Conan shortly.

[Michael]

Just read "Death Angel's Shadow" and I am currently reading "Night Winds" both by Karl Edward Wagner.

[Martin]

Just finished 'Malice' by John Gwynne. Very much book 1 of the series with no plot arcs completed. Many POV characters and short chapters which makes it hard work to get into the story for the first 150 pages, worth persisting with though.

[Peter]

Martin wrote: "Just finished 'Malice' by John Gwynne. Very much book 1 of the series with no plot arcs completed. Many POV characters and short chapters which makes it hard work to get into the story for the firs..."

I felt the same about the first book, in the second book it started to fall into place more.
The third book? I can't say much without spoiling, but believe me when I say I really want to see part 4 appear!

Edit: I just checked, and part 4 is out! Nice!

[S.wagenaar]

Digging into my latest acquisition; Imaro 2: The Quest for Cush. Charles Saunders is a S&S legend and the Godfather of Sword and Soul. This is well written, action loaded S&S that is simple to read, but never low brow or dumbed down. Charles can describe a scene perfectly with a few short sentences, while many a newer fantasy scribe would need pages for the same effect. Charles is the Man, and Imaro is a kick-ass hero. If he was ever on the silver screen, I think Michael Jai White would fit the bill. Read more Saunders...

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Just started The Golden Strangers by Henry Treece, which is historical (or prehistorical) fiction set in Britain -- written in the 1950s, but the sort of thing that REH probably would've grooved on.

And I'm sure I discovered Treece because of an article posted on Black Gate.

[S.wagenaar]

I have this as well. Let us know what you think about it. I have several of Treece's novels, but have yet to read them...

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

And, having finished Treece (which was excellent) and a couple of shorter pieces, I'm revisiting Dark is the Sun by Philip José Farmer for the first time in, well, decades. Not S&S, but maybe at least associational by way of Gamma World?

[Greg]

Joseph wrote: "And, having finished Treece (which was excellent) and a couple of shorter pieces, I'm revisiting Dark is the Sun by Philip José Farmer for the first time in, well, deca..."

Ahhh, Gamma World! It's been ages since I played it! But Dark is the Sun is intriguing for its 15 billion-year future earth! It seems unlikely that humans will be around then as the cover art seems to suggest, though advanced sentient life might exist in another form. And if the planet is 'sunless' what provides the earth with daylight? Sorry if I'm being a bit picky on this! :P

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Greg wrote: "Joseph wrote: "Ahhh, Gamma World! It's been ages since I played it! But Dark is the Sun is intriguing for its 15 billion-year future earth! It seems unlikely that humans will be around then as the cover art seems to suggest, though advanced sentient life might exist in another form. And if the planet is 'sunless' what provides the earth with daylight? Sorry if I'm being a bit picky on this! :P "

Yes, it's one of those futures where somehow humans have managed to survive more-or-less in their present form, although currently sunken into barbarism and roaming a world littered with the ruins of past civilizations (from which they frequently scavenge, although some things are just flat-out incomprehensible). Plus genetically-engineered cats & dogs and the odd race of photosynthesis-using centaur plant-men. Hence Gamma World.

If I'm understanding the setting correctly (it's a bit challenging because it's mostly being filtered through the perceptions of the aforementioned primitive humans), most of the light is coming from the sky at large -- this is one of those universes where expansion eventually slowed and reversed itself, and now everything is coming back together into what will eventually be a new singularity.

[Greg]

Joseph wrote: "Greg wrote: "Joseph wrote: "Ahhh, Gamma World! It's been ages since I played it! But Dark is the Sun is intriguing for its 15 billion-year future earth! It seems unlikely that humans will be around..."

OK. So the light is coming from other galaxies that are now much closer to Earth while our own galaxy is collapsing in on itself so that our star system is much nearer to the brighter core of the galaxy - or something like that?

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Greg wrote: "OK. So the light is coming from other galaxies that are now much closer to Earth while our own galaxy is collapsing in on itself so that our star system is much nearer to the brighter core of the galaxy - or something like that? ..."

Yeah, something like that. Also, Earth's rotation is now 142 hours, so people wake & sleep multiple times in a single "day". There's at least one part of the sky that's dark, so there's something approaching night when the place you're standing is rotating to face that, but I'm not sure whether it's actually dark or just "2:00 a.m. Alaskan summer" dark.

(Edited to add: And I don't think Farmer gave a lot of thought to the actual physics or anything -- he just described it in a way that seemed cool and appropriate to the story. Would be interesting to see, say, Alastair Reynolds' take on a similar setting.)

[Greg]

Joseph wrote: "Greg wrote: "OK. So the light is coming from other galaxies that are now much closer to Earth while our own galaxy is collapsing in on itself so that our star system is much nearer to the brighter ..."

Yeah I'd agree that Reynolds would probably take a more technical/scientific approach. Does the moon still orbit the earth in Dark is the Sun?

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Greg wrote: "Yeah I'd agree that Reynolds would probably take a more technical/scientific approach. Does the moon still orbit the earth in Dark is the Sun? ..."

I don't think so. I'd have to check the text (which I can't because I don't have the eBook) but I think that at one point in the past the moon might have been turned into a mini-sun? And there have probably been multiple moons at various points over the past fifteen billion years.

Oh, and it's also mentioned that the Earth's orbit has been shifted multiple times as the Sun went through various stages of stellar evolution and decline.

[Greg]

Joseph wrote: "Greg wrote: "Yeah I'd agree that Reynolds would probably take a more technical/scientific approach. Does the moon still orbit the earth in Dark is the Sun? ..."

I don't think so. I'd have to check..."

It would be a very alien earth to us by the sounds of it!

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Greg wrote: "It would be a very alien earth to us by the sounds of it! ..."

It is! That's one of the things that's always drawn me to the book.

[S.E., Gray Mouser (Emeritus)]

Reading Hero of Dreams by horror aficionado Brian Lumley. Discovered it by running into publisher Paul W Ganley at the World Fantasy Convention.

This is part of a series: picture Fafred and the Gray Mouser adventuring in Lovecraft's Dreamland.

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Someday I need to revisit the Lumley books, even if he is a proponent of the Derlethian Heresy.

Myself, I just started River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay, which I'm very much looking forward to.

[Peter]

I'm reading Fata Morgana, a 2000 reprint of a dutch 1980 fantasy anthology with lots of the greats: Jack Vance, Tanith Lee, L. Sprague de Camp, Robert E. Howard, Karl Edward Wagner, Fritz Leiber.
If I look at the sources, it seems the editors picked a lot of stories from the Heroic Fantasy anthology, including one of the few stories published by A.E. Silas.

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

I fell down the Star Wars rabbit hole again -- just finished Catalyst - A Rogue One Novel (in preparation for seeing the movie tomorrow) and started Battlefront - Twilight Company by Alexander Freed.

[Richard]

I'm reading Children of the Lion by Peter Danielson. This story is historical fiction and is about Abraham leading his people out of Egypt to conquer and claim lands in Canaan. Even though the characters are Biblical, the story is more adventure than religious. Half way through and I'm very pleased with it.

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Richard wrote: "I'm reading Children of the Lion by Peter Danielson. This story is historical fiction and is about Abraham leading his people out of Egypt to conquer and claim lands in Canaan. Even though the char..."

Wow, I read the first ... dozen? of those back in the day. Mostly really enjoyed them at the time. Have sometimes been tempted to pick up the last five or six volumes and go back to them.

[Richard]

Jack wrote: "Just started Glen Cook's Bleak Seasons, the first book in the four-book concluding arc of The Black Company series. I plan to read the four books straight through and get 'er done."

Envious. I would love the re-read those one day. I discovered Glen Cook with the Black Company series. I enjoyed the Dread Empire books just as much or more and hope to get around to reading his Garrett P.I. books someday.

[Richard]

Joseph wrote: "Richard wrote: "I'm reading Children of the Lion by Peter Danielson. This story is historical fiction and is about Abraham leading his people out of Egypt to conquer and claim lands in Canaan. Even..."

Yeah, there are nineteen total. I'm still trying to run down #17 Death of Kings. Lol, the lady at my local used bookstore said, '...those books are as old as the hills!', when I called her about some of the titles I was missing. I have paperbacks that were 'old' when Children of the Lion was published.

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Richard wrote: "Joseph wrote: "Richard wrote: "I'm reading Children of the Lion by Peter Danielson. This story is historical fiction and is about Abraham leading his people out of Egypt to conquer and claim lands ..."

Have you read them before? I generally enjoyed them as historical novels (although I have no idea how well-researched they were. The one thing I remember that really rubbed me the wrong way (somewhere in one of the early books, I think?) was (view spoiler)[a "magician" who was able to use mass hypnosis/the power of suggestion to make crowds of people think they were seeing literal flying demons; at that point, you might as well just shrug your shoulders and make him a real magician summoning real demons, which is just as plausible. (hide spoiler)]

I remember there were a number of similar series (family dynasty/romance, right down to the same style of cover), but most of them were more colonial/Western or early 20th Century in their setting, which wasn't nearly as appealing as ancient near east and Egypt.

[Richard]

Joseph wrote: "Richard wrote: "Joseph wrote: "Richard wrote: "I'm reading Children of the Lion by Peter Danielson. This story is historical fiction and is about Abraham leading his people out of Egypt to conquer ..."

I've never read them before. I have seen the other series, but they didn't seem appealing to me either. I discovered this Children of the Lion series in some local thrift stores. The covers grabbed my attention, and who can say no to $0.25 paperbacks?

[Greg]

Joseph wrote: "I fell down the Star Wars rabbit hole again -- just finished Catalyst - A Rogue One Novel (in preparation for seeing the movie tomorrow) and started [book:Battlefront - Twilight Com..."

How was the movie?

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Greg wrote: "How was the movie?"

I liked it a lot -- thought it was better as a movie than Force Awakens, although from a character standpoint I might still prefer Rey, Finn and Poe. Am hoping to see it again tomorrow, but that'll depend on the weather -- if we get all of the snow &c., that makes the thought of sitting on a bus to the theater & back much less attractive.

[Greg]

Joseph wrote: "Greg wrote: "How was the movie?"

I liked it a lot -- thought it was better as a movie than Force Awakens, although from a character standpoint I might still prefer Rey, Finn and Poe. Am hoping to ..."

Unless you have a good book to read on the bus?

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Greg wrote: "Unless you have a good book to read on the bus?"

Fortunately, my Kindle is never far away.

And fortunately, the snow didn't actually start until late afternoon, so I was able to get to the theater & back for a second screening without difficulty. (And on the way there & back I was reading Battlefront - Twilight Company, which is shaping up to be much better than I would've expected, given that it's ostensibly based on a first-person Star Wars shooter that doesn't even have a single-player campaign.)

[Greg]

Joseph wrote: "Greg wrote: "Unless you have a good book to read on the bus?"

Fortunately, my Kindle is never far away.

And fortunately, the snow didn't actually start until late afternoon, so I was able to get ..."

Sounds like you're experiencing some nice Star Wars saturation there!

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Greg wrote: "Sounds like you're experiencing some nice Star Wars saturation there! ..."

It's one of my favorite saturations.

[S.E., Gray Mouser (Emeritus)]

Started Skelos for the Jan-Feb book read.

Just polished off Lumley's Hero of Dreams. Reminded me a lot of his Khash series and Shea's Nifft the Lean.


If you put Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray mouser in Lovecraft's Dreamland you would get Lumley's Hero of Dreams
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Greg]

S.E. wrote: "Started Skelos for the Jan-Feb book read.

Just polished off Lumley's Hero of Dreams. Reminded me a lot of his Khash series and Shea's Nifft the Lean.


If you put Lei..."

I read and enjoyed Brian Lumley's Mythos Omnibus almost twenty years ago and I've been meaning to read more of his books since. I'd be into reading this series as well.

As for my own reading, I finished Something Wicked This Way Comes yesterday and One Piece, Volume 02: Buggy the Clown. While there was sorcery in the former there was much swordcraft and a touch of sorcery in the latter, but neither would be your typical S&S books!

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Greg wrote: "As for my own reading, I finished Something Wicked This Way Comes yesterday and One Piece, Volume 02: Buggy the Clown. While there was sorcery in the former there was much swordcraft and a touch of sorcery in the latter, but neither would be your typical S&S books!"

I haven't read any One Piece (my mind still can't handle reading manga right-to-left) but I've watched about 300 episodes of the anime.

Am I the only one who kind of wants to see Captain Jack Sparrow meet Monkey D. Luffy?

[S.E., Gray Mouser (Emeritus)]

Thx to my daughter, Ive become a fan of anime/manga like Deathnote and Attack on Titan (especially the latter). Note sure what to take from this pirate Luffy thing :)

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

I've actually been rewatching Record of Lodoss War recently, which I highly recommend -- it's very much a D&D-inspired high fantasy story (possibly based on the creator's D&D campaign?). Bonus points for the pronunciation of "elf" and "dwarf" in the original Japanese audio.