[Re-post/Article] "A (Vaguely) Political Defense of Sword-and-Sorcery"

[Periklis, Fafhrd]

An interesting & humorous post from Richard Lee Byers:

" Blame Zeus. Him and all the other Greek gods who couldn’t keep it in their pants. [...] Or blame Merlin. He engineered or at least endorsed the test of the Sword in the Stone to identify the Rightful King, the dude whose bloodline gives him the mojo to do what others can’t. [...] [W]e also have good old gritty, often cynical, and occasionally downright nihilistic sword-and-sorcery, where antiheroes live and die according to purely personal codes and authority is typically hostile and corrupt. "

...followed by an equally interesting observation by Paul Weimer: "It may have lost some of its cachet as a label, but I don’t think S&S has lost any of its power. If anything, some of the intense character focus and “telephoto” look that S&S offers has been appropriated by epic fantasy."

[Richard]

I'm glad you liked it.