"Howard Andrew Jones on Sword And Sorcery"

[Periklis, Fafhrd (Emeritus)]

Author William King, invited Howard Andrew Jones for a guest post on his website:

"What do I like about sword-and-sorcery? There are protagonists who must live by their wit and weapons skills in deadly lands, beset by schemers and intriguers."

He writes about early influences (like Appendix N), contemporary S&S writers and his passion about Sword-and-Sorcery.

I wonder if there is a (full) digital archive for Flashing Swords Magazine somewhere over the net...

[K.V.]

That's an interesting definition of sword and sorcery, "... live by their wits and weapon skills in deadly lands". I like it. I've always found the categorization a bit confusing once things start breaking down into subgenres. It's more of a continuum with a nucleus of defining books at the core of each subcategory, I suppose, and most books orbiting a couple like electrons being shared.

[Periklis, Fafhrd (Emeritus)]

K.V. wrote: "That's an interesting definition of sword and sorcery, "... live by their wits and weapon skills in deadly lands". I like it. I've always found the categorization a bit confusing once things start ..."

I really like the metaphor of "nucleus" and "electrons". There are also very interesting sub-categories (or self-definitions) of the genre, like Sword and Soul and Sabrepunk.

[K.V.]

I saw someone, I think Jim Butcher, use the phrase "horse and sword" fantasy somewhere, and toyed with the idea of declaring a new subgenre of "camel and sabre".

[Periklis, Fafhrd (Emeritus)]

K.V. wrote: "I saw someone, I think Jim Butcher, use the phrase "horse and sword" fantasy somewhere, and toyed with the idea of declaring a new subgenre of "camel and sabre"."

Yes it was Jim Butcher on an SF Signal podcast, who coined the term "horse and sword". There is also this "Pug and Sword" comic-strip, discovered by Seth.

[K.V.]

I have to share that link with a pug-owner I know.