The Joy of Erudition’s Reviews > Fantastic Sword & Sorcery and Fantasy Stories, November 1976 > Status Update

The letters columns and classified ads are always interesting, giving a glimpse of what was on everyone's mind at this time in history, and sometimes giving their opinions of historical events as they were happening.

"The Forest of Andred" was the worst story in the issue, and was so badly written that I looked up the author to see if he'd done anything else, and was shocked to find that this is sort of a "cult classic" author writing under a pseudonym! Granted, this is one of his very earliest works (only his 3rd published story, years before his novels), so it's entirely possible he improved greatly since then.

L. Sprague de Camp's essay "White Wizard in Tweeds" is a somewhat dry but interesting mini-biography of J. R. R. Tolkien (whose name he says is pronounced "tol-keen", not "tol-kin") focused on his writing and publishing of The Hobbit and LotR, as well as the critical reception of the time, with lots of citations. In addition to written correspondence, de Camp says he also spent a day talking with him in person once.

"Black Moonlight" is a Thongor story, and here he's a pirate with a crew of merry men, sailing to some island ruins to seek a treasure of pearls. When his crewmate Kanthar Kan (suspiciously similar to Kantos Kan of Barsoom) is found dead, Thongor goes alone into the jungle to find what killed him. This is better-written than anything I've read by Lin Carter before.

"Tharquest and the Lamia Orbiquita" was my first Brian Lumley story. This is the first actual sword & sorcery story in this magazine, and it feels like a bit of a spoof. The character is a massive rake, and he thinks this will let him survive a night with a lamia with a taste for men. The prose is over-the-top mythical style, and follows the rule of 3. It seems to be set up as a series with this character. Psyche!