Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy" discussion
General Discussions
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What are you currently reading?
Richard wrote: "@KirkThanks for the heads up about the Sinbad book! I was able to get books one and three for kindle for a couple of bucks and book two is only $3 and change in paperback!"
Same. I need to organize my reading list better. So many books, so little time.
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree*No doubt the overall vibe is humorous Fantasy but if you think you wouldn't like it you might want to think again. The first page:
"Viv buried her greatsword in the scalvert’s skull with a meaty crunch. Blackblood thrummed in her hands, and her muscular arms strained as she tore it back and out in a spray of gore. The Scalvert Queen gave a long, vibrating moan… and then thundered to the stone in a heap.
With a sigh, Viv slumped to her knees. The persistent twinge in her lower back flared up, and she dug in the knuckles of one huge hand to chase it away. Wiping sweat and blood from her face, she stared down at the dead queen. Cheers and shouts echoed from behind her.
She leaned closer. Yes, there it was, right above the nasal cavity. The beast’s head was twice as wide as she was—all improbable teeth and uncountable eyes, with a huge, underslung jaw—and in the middle, the fleshy seam she’d read about.
Jamming her fingers into the fold, she pried it open. A sickly golden light spilled out. Viv slid her whole hand into the pocket of flesh, curled her fist around a faceted, organic lump, and yanked. It came free with a fibrous ripping sound.
Fennus moved to stand behind her—she could smell his perfume. “Is that it, then?” he asked, only a little interested. “Yep.” Viv groaned as she hoisted herself to her feet, using Blackblood as a crutch. Without bothering to clean the stone, she stuffed it into a pouch on her bandolier, then propped the greatsword on her shoulder."
Kirk wrote: "Oh hell yeah! I'm most definitely grabbing this when it drops."Thanks Kirk! Still assembling stories, once I have about six I think I can put out a new collection. Suggestions for at title would be welcome!
I'm finally getting around to Brent Weeks. Thought I'd start with this short sampler sequel Perfect Shadow
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I just finished a re-visit of the anthologies Amazons! and Amazons II. I agreed with young me on my stand-out stories: a Dossouye story by Charles R. Saunders and a Chimquar story by Janrae Frank. So now I am opening up a collection of the Chimquar tales, In the Darkness, Hunting (love the cover)
currently re-reading Conan stories through The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian.
Just finished Moorcock's The Vanishing Tower and am moving on to The Revenge of the Rose, working through volume 2 of the new Tor Elric collection. Written twenty years apart, I look forward to navigating the tonal whiplash going from a book that was fun but read like one of the ones Moorcock talked about writing in a work week, then picking up the paycheque and spending it at the pub on the same Friday, to what I expect - going by The Fortress of the Pearl - will be a much more literary effort.
@JamieIt’s pretty great. I really enjoyed it.
Oliver wrote: "Just finished Moorcock's The Vanishing Tower and am moving on to The Revenge of the Rose, working through volume 2 of the new Tor Elric collection. Written twenty years apart, I look forward to n..."
Moorcock bounces back and forth as my favorite author along with Joe R. Lansdale (mattering on my mood) and have read at least 40 of his books and can assure you his earlier non-literary Fantasy is superior in overall achievement and entertainment and though the later novels are really good they lack that pulpy Howardian center to his storylines he exemplified earlier on. Mastering the written word does not equate as being better as I'm sure you know. Which is something I wish even some of my own GR friends realized like Bill Kerwin and modern day author Forrest (who wrote one of my very favorite stand-alone Fantasy novels) though I suppose it's more a matter of taste for the most part. To old farts like me, "it is known". 🤫
Hi all! Has anyone gotten Putting the Fact in Fantasy: Expert Advice to Bring Authenticity to Your Fantasy Writing? Would you recommend it? Thanks!
Scott Oden - Untitled Cozy Flash #1 (from his blog)https://scottoden.wordpress.com/2022/...
*With intentions to create a Cozy Conan flash fiction piece Scott turned this into both something else and something more. About a normally mean-spirited thieving cutthroat - a reflectively evil cast Conan-type character - in a world very Howardian in nature. The story evolved into a touching tale about Gebal and a dog in a dark alleyway. **Hoping Scott writes more of these!
After taking a break from it to read David C. Smith's Sometime Lofty Towers, I'm heading back to Moorcock's Revenge of the Rose.SLT really stuck to my ribs. An easy book to recommend, which I do wholeheartedly: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
Article on TOR . com:
The Brilliant Ambiguity of Conan the Barbarian's Riddle of Steel
by Robert Repinohttps://www.tor.com/2022/05/11/the-br...
*I see S&S group members, Scott Oden and C.T. Phipps, have read and commented on it but all Conan fans will want to read this cool article.
Just pre-ordered Tanith Lee's Cyrion for Kindle. Really looking forward to this, I've read just two or three of the Cyrion stories and loved them.
Reading the very group appropriate
Listening to the very group inappropriate -
Mod
Dariel wrote: "Just pre-ordered Tanith Lee's Cyrion for Kindle. Really looking forward to this, I've read just two or three of the Cyrion stories and loved them."Oh, very nice, will need to check this out!
I read the short, intense Sometime Lofty Towers by David C. Smith over a couple of nights. My five-star review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
@Al - How did you like that GOD OF WAR? I enjoyed it, meant to read the sequel.
I liked it. I loved the game, so it was fun to see more of the background between the Gods. The action didn't really compare with the game - but what could - but otherwise it was a blast.
Just finished The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, just started Jack of Shadows by Zelazny. So far it’s great, it’s a very quick read and very focused on the “fun thief in Hell” conceit.In between short books I’m working through Andrew Roberts’s 900-page biography of Napoleon. So far it’s actually very readable.
Nathaniel wrote: "Just finished The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, just started Jack of Shadows by Zelazny. So far it’s great, it’s a very quick read and very focused on the “fun thief in Hell” conceit.In between sho..."
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate. Awesome. A favorite of mine since I was 11.
Seeing as this is an S&S group, I recently finished Skallagrim by Stephen R Babb, and it was good fun. Worth checking out. I'll have a proper review soon, hopefully tomorrow.
Started up Thune's Vision by Schuyler Hernstrom. I first discovered him in the pages of Cirsova a number of years back and quickly picked this up. I think it's oop now as a new edition is out. Dude had serious chops very early on.
Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"
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Oh hell yeah! I'm most definitely grabbing this when it drops.