Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy" discussion
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What are you currently reading?
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Joseph wrote: "Decided it was time for a drop o' the pure, so I just started Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventures by Robert E. Howard."Some of Howard's best work in my opinion.
I just stopped reading Lord Valentine's Castle by Robert Silverberg.Life's too short to be reading such boring books.
Well, a main character with amnesia, but with big hints about his real identity even in the first few pages. Everybody instantly likes him because he feels special. Numerous pages are spent on him learning juggling, into boring detail, which of course he has a instant talent for.Meanwhile (which I didn't mention in my review) he meets a girl in his juggling troupe which he guesses is 15, while he guesses he himself is end twenties (he doesn't know, he has amnesia), and of course within two days they're in love and in bed together.
Everybody seems to be praising the worldbuilding but all non-human races are just ugly humans with different colors and maybe a limb or two records. And the rest of the worldbuilding is just describing everything as being soooo big.
100 pages of that felt like a chore, so I quit.
Point clearly made, and here I thought I wanted to read this.
I recently managed to lay my hands on 10 full tomes of "Robert E. Howard's Savage Sword" series and started reading.I am about to complete 1st book and I find them bit above avarage quality.
https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Howards...
Just finished reading Elric of Melnibone and other stories. Totally loved it. I'm about to start reading the next books in the series in the immediate future
Devrim wrote: "I recently managed to lay my hands on 10 full tomes of "Robert E. Howard's Savage Sword" series and started reading.I am about to complete 1st book and I find them bit above avarage quality.
https..."
I've got that whole series as well but haven't read it all yet. I understand they discontinued it.
I finished "Snakewood", a fairly new Grimdark Fantasy by Adrian Selby about a week ago and I liked it. The Goodreads' Reviews seem to be very mixed which I can understand as the first 50-60 pages are a bit difficult to follow but it was worth wading through as the novel slowly revealed a story of revenge that had been simmering for twenty years as someone was hunting down and killing the 20 aging members of a band of mercenaries. I also read "The Star Kings" by Edmond Hamilton, a fun pulp golden age Science Fiction story (a very fast read) and now I'm reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' "The Oakdale Affair" another fast "pulp" read. And in between I read Hamlet as well.
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And now I've started Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora, which bids fair to be kind of a sword & sorcery caper book. Only partway through the first chapter, but enjoying it immensely.
I am currently reading The Black Castle by Les Daniels. The setting is the Spanish Inquisition with all of it's horrors. The drama is between two brothers, one the Grand Inquisitor of the Church-the other a vampire, and the woman they both desire for their individual ends.
Druss is awesome. Druss is good. Reading more Druss is good.I too am reading Gemmell, just begun the omnibus of the first 2 Rigante books, TALES OF THE RIGANTE.
I finally finished reading Thunder on the Battlefield: Sword. As with any anthology, some of the stories were a bit on the bland side, but overall I was impressed with the quality. There were definitely more hits and misses, with some protagonists I would definitely like to see reappear in future stories.My story-by-story review is here.
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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On a Black Company binge. I have quite the backlog of reviews, now reading book 6, Bleak Seasons. Damn these cliffhanger endings.
The Dread Empire series by Glen Cook is also worth checking out.
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I've just started book #2 of the Demon Cycle, The Desert Spear and very good so far it is too :) I'll post a review on my GR account when I'm done.Oh, and also reading a history of daily life in the Middle Ages, very informative and good material to draw on for my own stuff!
Finished reading the main works of the Black Company series. Great stuff!Recommendations for books with a similar feel are welcome. (A similar series, I've mentioned before are the Gaunt's Ghosts books by Dan Abnett. Although these take place in the Warhammer 40K universe, they're very similar in scope and feel, by focussing on a single regiment. The body count is also similar.
Now I'm doing some re-reading. I just started again with Suldrun's Garden, the first book in the Lyonesse trilogy by Jack Vance.
One of his masterpieces!
I read the first 2 books in the Planet of Adventure Tetralogy by Jack Vance. I will read the final two books soon but took a break to read "Black Amazon of Mars" and "The Secret of Sinharat" both by Leigh Brackett and featuring her hero Eric John Stark.
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Myself, I read a couple of Leibers (Swords in the Mist and Swords Against Wizardry) and started Elric in the Dream Realms, which I'll probably follow up with Elric: Swords and Roses.
Then I expect I'll have to start my Hugo reading ...
Joseph wrote: "Love Vance! And Cook! And Brackett!Myself, I read a couple of Leibers (Swords in the Mist and Swords Against Wizardry) and started [book:Elric in the Dream Realms|6473..."
I need to reread Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories. It has been almost 30 years since I've read them! I liked those stories as much as Conan.
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https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Reminisce or reread or read
I am getting into Rosemary Sutcliffe's Roman series. I finished The Eagle, and half way thru the next one, Silver Sword. I quite like them both so far, although the writing is a little remote, the descriptions and characters are good. Third one by the end of the week I reckon.
Thanks, Jack. I'll add the Space Wolf books top my to-read list!
Just finished 'Kings of the Wyld', a very enjoyable book with a strong S&S feel to it. Recommended.
Just started with Beyond the Pool of Stars by Howard Andrew Jones. Im not necessarily into tie in fiction, and I'm not familiar with Pathfinder, but I've been impressed with Jones' other work.So far a bit more high fantasy then my usual tastes, but the pulpy action is great so far.
I finished Beyond the Pool of Stars. The Pathfinder tie in elements feature heavily in the story, making the magic way less mysterious than in traditional sword & sorcery. The main plot: jungle trekking in search of a treasure in a lost city is the stuff good S&S is build from.Highly recommended.
I've been reading through the Conan short stories. I'm only as far as "The thing in the crypt," but so far i love all the short stories lumped together.
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Sounds like a book to put on my to-read list then.I'm currently reading Song of the Serpent by Hugh Matthews. It's another Pathfinder tie-in, but very different from the one I read by Howard Andrew Jones.
Where Jones adapted his normal style to a more party-based, high magic adventure story, this one is mostly a Jack Vance pastiche, mostly of his Cugel books.
Which makes sense, because Hugh Matthews is a pen name for Matthew Hughes, who has written a lot of science fantasy inspired by Jack Vance. As this is close to his regular fiction, I'm not really sure why he used a pen name.
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Just finished Song of the Serpent. Was a bit disappointed in the end. At some point the book switches gear from a Vancian picaresesque story to a very by the numbers plot driven fantasy story including prophecy like dreams.Now back to the last book in the Lyonesse story: Madouc.
I love Anthologies, as it gives me a taste of many authors within one book, those I find appealing, I seek out more of their work. With that in mind, today I picked this one up The Sword & Sorcery Anthology on my trip to a great little bookstore in downtown Sydney. The authors included are Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, George R. R. Martin, David Drake, Caitlin R. Kiernan, C.L. Moore, Karl Edward Wagner, Glen Cook, Ramsey Campbell, Poul Anderson, Joanna Russ, Gene Wolfe, Charles R. Saunders, Jane Yolen, Rachel Pollack, Michael Shea, Jeffrey Ford, and Michael Sawnwick. Most of these authors I've never heard of and I look forward to the story they offer in this anthology.
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Yeah, I thought that was another really solid collection.
Jon wrote: "I love Anthologies, as it gives me a taste of many authors within one book, those I find appealing, I seek out more of their work. With that in mind, today I picked this one up [book:The Sword & So..."Wow, are you in for some good introductions then! I'll enjoy learning which authors - and stories - excite your S&S genes.
Thanks guys... I'll be sure to post back as I go through the book.
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I finished D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths and started The Dragonbone Chair, neither of which are particularly sword & sorcery; but I also picked up copies of Black Road, Volume 1: The Holy North and Northlanders Book 1: The Anglo-Saxon Saga, which, well, I don't think they have any sorcery, but there are swords (and axes and hammers and crossbows and ...) aplenty.
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Joseph, Swords Against Darkness looks great, as your review provides the table of contents. We'll have to push that during our yearly Jan-Feb Anthology groupread.
I've read theThe Dragonbone Chair a long time ago; I recall it going slow but I was engaged anyway....until the second book. Then it was too easy to drift away.
Anyway, I've a few "weird" anthologies I am reading....mainly Weirdbook #35 with Skelos 2: The Journal of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy in queue. WB#35 is living up to its legacy so far.
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I first (and last) read the Tad Williams books back in 1994 or so; his new book in the setting (The Witchwood Crown) seemed like a good reason to go back and revisit it. I expect it'll be keeping me occupied for the rest of the summer, at least -- they're long books.
Joseph wrote: "Having finished Swords Against Darkness, I recommend it unreservedly to anyone who's looking for a first-rate anthology..."Thanks for the review, Joseph! Having glanced at several of the others, I am grateful someone literate in S&S took the time to offer analysis. I'm just beginning to read the anthology myself, and agree with your idea that "Forging & Shaping, which has the oldest stories and could almost be taken on its own as one of those old L. Sprague de Camp anthologies"...or a continuation of Offutt's original Swords Against Darkness series :) I look forward to reading it.
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Thanks for the review, Joseph! Having gla..."
You're welcome! I have to admit that the one thing that bugged me a bit about the anthology was the title -- why reuse one from an existing series? Although she did name-drop the Offutt series in the introduction, so there was at least some acknowledgement there.
(And speaking of previous anthologies -- at least two or three of the stories were from one or another of Lin Carter's Flashing Swords series. Now there's a set of books I should pick up again one of these days.)
I just finished The Bones of the Old Ones, which is a well crafted classic sword & sorcery tale.A bit too crafted and overwrought, but the characters and setting are great.
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Best described as David Edding meets Joe Abercrombie: it does subvert the standard tropes of epic fantasy (a bit), but it doesn't go all grimdark, there is no good in the world.
And lots of great actions scenes (so many heads roll...)