Idea for May-Jun Poll

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

I'm starting to get ideas for the May-June groupread.
Could use some feedback (more ideas to populate the poll).

1) Conan Pastiche
2) John R. Fultz has a collection via DMR coming out April...WORLDS BEYOND WORLDS
3) Any Pulp Hero Press book (I have ~5+ on top of my TBR pile, including the below)
-Sometime Lofty Towers
-Savage Scrolls Volume One : Thrilling Tales of Sword-and-Sorcery
-Mad Shadows III: The Heroes of Echo Gate
-The Dream Lords Book One : Rebellion
-Rakefire and Other Stories

Thoughts?

[Clint]

I like the idea of reading books from a modern publisher.
DMR and Pulp Hero Press are both solid choices.

Biography of S&S writers? I recommend both Mark Finn’s book and Todd Vick’s for REH. I’ve only encountered, and read one about CAS (I will have to dig it up for title and author). In the same ball park, there are some great collections of essays. Most recent, and a hell of a great book, Brian Murphy’s Flame and Crimson: A History of Sword and Sorcery. For a great guide to REH’s fiction journey, I heartily recommend David Smith’s Robert E Howard: A Literary Biography.

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

Clint, brilliant. We never had a nonfiction/biography topic!

[S.wagenaar]

I’m interested in Conan pastiche reads(lots out there could use the love) but expand it to REH pastiche to include Cormac Mac Art, Bran Mak Morn, Red Sonja (I know, not purely REH, but close) and others.

[The Joy of Erudition]

That's true...I have a Conan book by Poul Anderson I've been planning to read for some time, and also a Conan and a Cormac from Andrew Offutt. I'd go for that option.

For nonfiction, I'd be interested in a pulp or S&S history/overview like the one mentioned.

[Clint]

@Joy, DO IT. Read Flame and Crimson. Excellent book

[The Joy of Erudition]

I'll put it on my list!

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

Scot Oden Presents The Lost Empire of Sol: A Shared World Anthology of Sword & Planet Tales also looks good... from Rogue Blades Foundation.

Just released



An exciting repository of the tales of an empire that pre-dates the solar system's recorded history. A spectacular homage of ten 'romantic tales of high adventure' written in the American pulp imagination style of breathless bravado. A return to an era when the exploration of time and the mystery of space travel held the attention of the reading world with heroes/heroines that faced dangerous unknowns with hopes and fists raised high!

20,000 years ago, the first Emperor of Sol ascended the Iridium Throne of Earth. A sorcerer who learned to extend his life through elixirs and potent demonic bargains, he ruled a thousand years, until deposed by a conspiracy among his wives. His youngest wife, the most cunning, became the first Empress of Sol and began the Imperial practice of tracing lineage through the female.

This anthology's "present" is 10,000 years after the Ruin of the Empire of Sol, an event immortalized by a cabal of poets who wove history with myth. Civil war erupted inside the Empire when warlords of another planet sought to seize the Iridium Throne of Earth. War rent the system, until finally a doomsday weapon was deployed. This weapon caused the Ruin; it shattered worlds and threw the citizens of the Empire into such a state of savagery that it has taken 10,000 years to make it to a current Dark Age. The worlds of the solar system have slowly emerged to reclaim only the most slender portion of the ancient splendor of the Empire. Through the combined efforts of sorcery and science, mankind and alienkind have returned to the stars in Aether ships, though even these are considered crude by the ancient Imperial standards.

Above them all looms a mysterious THREAT on the horizon. Augurs see bad omens, demon familiars speak of a coming cataclysm; a few ships have gone missing along the fringes of the system, only to be spotted and boarded later . . . ghost ships with missing crews. One had a cryptic note scrawled in blood: "They're coming!"

Foreword, by Fletcher Vredenburgh
Sword & Planet is the Genre We Need, by John O'Neill
Prologue, by Scott Oden
To Save Hermesia, by Joe Bonadonna & David C. Smith
The Lost Princess of Themos, by Tom Doolan
What Really Happened at the Center of the World, by Christopher M. Blanchard
A Sand-Ship of Mars, by Charles Allen Gramlich
Whispers of the Serpent, by Howard Andrew Jones
Outcasts of Jov, by Mark Finn
Written in Lightning, by Keith J. Taylor
Survivors of Ulthula, by E.E. Knight
Hunters of Ice and Sky, by David Hardy
A Gate In Darkness, by Paul R. McNamee
Epilogue, by Scott Oden

[Jason]

thanks Seth!
Scott's name is properly spelled now, if you'd like to update the link :)
Also, not quite out yet - Kindle 4/23, print before or by then.

[Jason]

actually, you know what? this group has great taste, so what do you say to this offer: first 5 folks who respond here and publicly pledge on John Carter's memory to read & post review of this book sooner then later I'll send e-version to this week.

[Richard]

@Jason

By John Carter’s memory I’ll happily read and review The Lost Empire of Sol.

[Richard]

Sounds like an awesome read.

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

I already pre-ordered, but that's a nice offer! folks, jump on that. Pledge your hearts and soul to John Carter

[Clint]

@Jason. I would gladly review

[[deleted user]]

Jason M wrote: "actually, you know what? this group has great taste, so what do you say to this offer: first 5 folks who respond here and publicly pledge on John Carter's memory to read & post review of this book ..."

I would love a copy and pledge to John Carter Master of Mars to read and review.

[Jason]

Richard, Clint, David, you're all on! I will message when ready to send along. thank you all!

[Clint]

@Jason, Thank You Sir. I look forward to reading it.

[Clint]

@Seth, in the spirit of promoting/sustaining the publishers that put out material I enjoy, I do dig the idea of books selected from said places. DMR, PHP, RBE, all solid choices. I would suggest the slant towards living authors. Shake those grognards like myself that have a tendency to stay in their comfy (I know they are dead, but I know I love ‘em) world.

This idea could encompass both fiction and non-fiction.

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

@Clint. You had me at "Grognards"!

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

Jason M wrote: "thanks Seth!
Scott's name is properly spelled now, if you'd like to update the link :) Also, not quite out yet - Kindle 4/23, print before or by then."

Took me a while find the misspelling....I was sure you called him Scott Odin! Anyway, I found a missing-T and fixed that on Goodreads.

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

Ok, the poll is live!

Thanks go to members steering the content. Nods go to Clint who suggest a non-fiction/biography option (why have we never done that?).

Thanks to publishers like DMR, Pulp Hero Press, and Rogue Blades (among others) we have plenty of contemporary works/authors to read/discuss. So little time....such huge TBR piles

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