Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy" discussion

Clearly a passion for Sword & Sorcery is luring Goodread members to join this group, however our interests seem varied. There are established authors and editors here, as well as long-time readers. Sharing your interests will enable the group to provide content you care about, and this would allow existing members a means to welcome newcomers.

Please chime in with a quick blurb about why you are here!

If I am going to ask others to chat, I better participate.

I read more dark fantasy than I write, but enjoy both. I am interested in learning about upcoming works, discussing old ones, connecting directly with authors and readers, and growing the community/fan base.

There are few in my family, workplace, and neighborhood who share my interests in S&S, so I was happy to find this group (thanks to Periklis for setting it up).

Here is my author blurb:
S.E. Lindberg resides near Cincinnati, Ohio working as a microscopist, employing his skills as a scientist and artist to understand the manufacturing of products analogous to medieval paints. Two decades of practicing chemistry, combined with a passion for the Sword and Sorcery genre, spurred him to write Lords of Dyscrasia--a graphic adventure fictionalizing the alchemical humors.

Thanks for pointing us to the introduction thread, Seth!

I read, edit, and write dark fantasy, surreal "literary" works, and a whole lot of other genres. I've been an S&S fan since age 7, when I was forever corrupted by stumbling on a few copies of "Savage Sword of Conan" ("Where are her clothes? Is that a head he's holding? How did that guy turn into a snake? MOM!!!!!").

As far as my own work goes, I am a World Fantasy Award-winner for having edited the Leviathan 3 anthology with Jeff VanderMeer. My own fiction has appeared in over 50 venues as far-flung as Asimov's, 3rd Bed, American Letters & Commentary, Exquisite Corpse, and Postcripts, to name a few. I also have some of my work up on Smashwords (couple of free stories there, if you're interested, though I don't consider either one S&S).

My reading tastes run the gamut. Seriously, I can't categorize them. And I go in waves. I didn't read S&S for a long time, mostly while I was in college. But I came back "home" in time, and here I am.

I also run a blog, Forrest For The Trees, where I post my goodreads reviews, rant about some things, and blather aimlessly on such topics as dark chocolate and wandering my beautiful city of Madison, Wisconsin.

Hello, all. I'm Steve, a longtime fan of Howard, Leiber, et al. I have been fortunate enough to have published some of my own sword-and-sorcery tales in a variety of venues in the last few years, although I have had very little time for writing he last couple of years. I look forward to getting to know you.

I'm Howard, and I've been a sword-and-sorcery fan since I first sat down with a beat-up, used copy of Leiber's Swords Against Death. I've lost track of how many times I've read that volume since.

I've spent long years tracking down obscure fantasy, pulp adventure, and sword-and-sorcery tales. I edited the first six issues of the Flashing Swords e-zine, several issues of Black Gate magazine, and assembled and edited eight collections of the historical fiction of the late, great, Harold Lamb.

These days I'm writing historical fantasy (I still think it's sword-and-sorcery) for a living with two series. One is for Thomas Dunne/St. Martins, starting with The Desert of Souls, continuing with the short story collection The Waters of Eternity, and the soon-to-be-released second novel, The Bones of the Old Ones. These are 1001 Nights style Arabian swashbucklers with fantastic elements, and have been likened to crosses between Sherlock Holmes and the 1001 Nights, or Indiana Jones meets Sinbad... and I think those approach the feel a little.

The other series I'm working on is with Paizo, for their Pathfinder Tales line. The first of those books was released last year, Plague of Shadows.

Much as I love sword-and-sorcery, it's not all I read. I spend a lot of time reading historicals, or history, or old pulp adventures, or space opera, and, recently, some westerns, along with the occasional mystery.

I'm Joe. I'm a reader, not a writer, although I do find the writing process fascinating. I've been reading fantasy and SF in various incarnations pretty much since I pulled a copy of The White Mountains off the shelf in the elementary school library.

For me the gateway drug into S&S in particular (and a whole lot of other excellent stuff) was probably some of the Lin Carter-edited anthologies -- Kingdoms of Sorcery and Realms Of Wizardry in particular. Plus Burroughs' Barsoom books and lots of Moorcock's Eternal Champion books. And the "recommended reading" list at the back of the 1st Edition Dungeon Master's Guide.


Always looking for new (to me, at least) books and always happy to find people to talk about them with.

Hi, I'm Periklis and have been an S&S reader for the past ten-to-fifteen years. I first became acquainted with the genre from local compilations of Fantasy & SF stories, that translated many stories from Flashing Swords and Swords Against Darkness. Apart from Howard's Conan and a few Elric stories, I discovered Wagner's Kane and Saunder's Imaro. It was around 2007, when I picked-up a copy of the Black Gate magazine at a local hobby store and discovered a new era for fantasy literature.
I created this group, initially as a list, in order to gather any relevant information about (written) Sword & Sorcery. I'd like to thank everyone for joining so far and especially Seth for making this work a LOT better.

By the way, Howard her published my first sword-and-sorcery story, "The Redemption of Calthus," back in the day. Nice to run into you here, Howard!

Hey Steve-- good to see you here! Whatever happened to the Calthus collection I'd heard about? I'd love to read more from that cycle of adventures.

Hi Joe,

I loved those Lin Carter anthologies. I sold off a number of Ballantine Adult Fantasy books that I knew I'd never re-read, but I held onto all the anthologies, my favorite of which is probably Golden Cities, Far.

I'm also fond of Kingdoms of Sorcery and Realms of Wizardry, which are still on my shelf.

My thanks to Perikles for creating the list!

My introduction to sword & sorcery came in the early 90s, through the Elric Saga I and II omnibus volumes from the Science Fiction Book Club. The Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser collections and scattered Savage Sword of Conan magazines soon followed. I'd been primarily a Dragonlance kid to that point, so this sort of weird, non-PG fantasy blew my mind. I was fairly isolated from fantasy fandom--especially stuff that wasn't in-print and on B. Dalton or Waldenbooks' shelves--and had only heard the term "sword & sorcery" used as a generic term referring to fantasy in general, so similar work was difficult for me to track down.

I later became heavily interested in H.P. Lovecraft and subsequently Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard (the non-bowdlerized stuff). I found and devoured a lot of the public domain pulp fantasy and proto-S&S. Most of my S&S reading has been in the past 15 years, as the Internet and the reprints that followed Del Rey's Conan collections have made S&S much easier to find.

I've read Kane, Jirel, Dying Earth, Imaro, etc., but I have absolutely no experience with the Lin Carter, Karl Edward Wagner, and Andrew Offutt anthologies that seem to have been a lot of people's jumping-on point.

Phil wrote: "My thanks to Perikles for creating the list! [..]I'd been primarily a Dragonlance kid to that point, so this sort of weird, non-PG fantasy blew my mind...."

Welcome Phil and thank you for participating!
It's good you mentioned comics (I also grew up with -translated- Savage Sword of Conan) and Dragonlance (an early reading habit I recently revisited).
Please share any thoughts on what to improve and/or modify on the group.

Phil, I didn't get to REH for years -- and got in "backwards." Most people come to Lamb after reading REH, but I got to REH because I'd heard he'd been influenced by Lamb!

He's been one of my favorites ever since, although there was a brief hiccup. The first Robert E. Howard story I read underwhelmed me so that I didn't explore further for another couple of years. A lot of people name it as their favorite Conan tale, but it remains one of those that just doesn't click for me.

I didn't find Lin Carter until I started researching the history of sword-and-sorcery.

Howard: The Calthus collection is still in the works, but wheels grind slowly. Stories are written and in good editing hands now. In the meantime, I am writing a historical novel and loving it.

Steve, I'm glad to hear it. You ever want an introduction or a blurb for that, you've got it.

I will take you up on that, Howard!

I'm MD Lachlan - author of the Wolfsangel series and soon to be author of the Son of the Morning series from Gollancz under the name Mark Alder.
Sword and Sorcery's in my blood - from The Gray Mouser to Pohl, Elric and on to Joe Abercrombie (if he reads this I shall claim I was hacked).
I'm not just an S&S fan, I love some epic fantasy too and plenty of the unclassifiable stuff - from Jonathan Strange to Philip Pullman.

Welcome M.D.!

M.d. wrote: "I'm MD Lachlan - author of the Wolfsangel series and soon to be author of the Son of the Morning series from Gollancz under the name Mark Alder.
Sword and Sorcery's in my blood - ..."

Thanks so much for joining. Son of the Morning seems mighty interesting. You could promote, present or discuss this upcoming work of yours (or any of your books) in the Promotional Space thread, or start a new post, either in the General Discussions thread or Writing, Crafting Dark Fantasy.

Hello all, I'm Jason. My reading tastes vary widely, but I really enjoy and appreciate what S&S has to offer. The action and immediacy of it can be very refreshing. I am not as well read in the genre as I wish to be, however, and I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts, reviews and recommendations. Not only for pleasure and to educate myself further, but also to provide justification for purchasing more books with excellent writing and fantastic covers (another weakness of mine). A quick perusal of the anthology thread here already has me itching.

Although I've been reading fantasy since I was a lad, lured into it by The Hobbit, I came to S&S somewhat later in life compared to many others, by way of some original Ace Conan books I happened upon (it was the Frazetta covers that caught my eye). From there I read Conan and the Emerald Lotus by John C. Hocking. In the course of going online to see if he had written any other pastiches, I discovered a posting of his on a speculative fiction forum (sadly there was no other pastiche available). I was intermittently (okay . . . infrequently) active on that forum, my first foray into an online community, where I encountered some of the fine folks posting here. Hello Howard, Steve, Jason and Bill.

Since then I have had the good fortune to read a great deal more S&S and to have some of my own work published in various venues such as Rage of the Behemoth, Magic and Mechanica, Flashing Swords magazine, and most recently online at Black Gate.

I look forward to participating here regularly, although I admit that social media in all its proliferations is still something of a mystery to me--a scary, scary mystery.

Welcome Jason and thanks for sharing your passion for the genre. I really enjoyed your story "The Duellist" on Black Gate. Feel free to promote your work (as mentioned above), share your views and maybe offer some suggestions regarding the group's Bookshelf. There is also a poll concerning a possible group read/discussion.
I look forward to reading your future writings & posts.

I'm Teresa Frohock, and I'm the author ofMiserere: An Autumn Tale. I've just sent my latest novel, Garden in Umber, to my agent for review and we hope to begin submitting it to publishers after the first of the year. I enjoy dark fantasy and some sword and sorcery; I also love historical/magical realism.

I've signed on to S&S at an invite from Periklis. I tend to be more of a lurker due to time constraints; however, I really enjoy reading what other people have to say about books they enjoy (or not).

I think that's all for now. Thanks for the invite, Periklis!

Thank you for joining! I'm looking forward to discovering your work, after reading these sample chapters of Miserere. Also, this blurb convinced me that your book fits very well in the group's Bookshelf:
"Miserere is about redemption, and the triumph of our best impulses over our worst. It's also about swords, monsters, chases, ghosts, magic, court intrigues and battles to the death. It's also (and this is the important part) really, really good." - Alex Bledsoe

That quote meant a lot to me because I really admire Alex's work. He is a one of the best storytellers out there today. ;-)

Hello, everyone; and thanks to Periklis for inviting me to join.

I write as John Grant, and my S&S qualifications, outside a few short stories, are that back in the late '80s and early '90s I wrote, alongside Joe Dever, the 12 Legends of Lone Wolf novels to go with Joe's Lone Wolf adventure gamebooks. Also in that general period I wrote two fantasy novels that were, particularly the former, strongly influenced by S&S: Albion and The World.

The Legends of Lone Wolf are currently being reissued by DarkQuest Books in the form of 4-5 omnibus volumes, Vol #2 being due sometime Real Soon Now.

These days I tend to write mainly urban fantasy/slipstream/sf -- that is, when not writing nonfiction. My latest piece of fantasy is the noirish novella The Lonely Hunter, which PS Publishing released a few weeks ago.

I'm in the final stages of a massive encyclopedia of film noir right now (desperately trying to finish by the end of the year, about the third extended deadline the publisher's given me!), so please forgive me if I don't join in the chatter too often in the near future.

John wrote: "Hello, everyone; and thanks to Periklis for inviting me to join.

I write as John Grant, and my S&S qualifications, outside a few short stories, are that back in the late '80s and early '90s I wrot..."

Thank you for joining us!
I first encountered your work, as co-editor of The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. Having read the Lone Wolf gamebooks, I'm really interested in reading their novelisation, as their essentially a Sword-and-Sorcery take on game-books.
Albion looks like a very interesting read of fantasy/S&S through a slipstream/New Wave of SF "lens", from the little information I could find on the Encyclopedia of Fantasy:
"set in a Land whose common people have only short-term memory except for rote activities, it depicts the tyranny imposed by those equipped with full memories [...] in fact it is an exploration of the relationship between physical and created Realities, both of which JG depicts as parts of the "polycosmos", a Multiverse".
Good luck with your work on the encyclopedia of film noir and feel free to join us in any discussion, here on the group, when your time allows it.

Hi Periklis

set in a Land whose common people have only short-term memory except for rote activities, it depicts the tyranny imposed by those equipped with full memories [...] in fact it is an exploration of the relationship between physical and created Realities, both of which JG depicts as parts of the "polycosmos", a Multiverse

In fact, the latter part of that applies more pertinently to The World, which is, IMHO, by far the better of the two novels.

Thanks for the reminder about introductions S.E...I'm Michael J. Sullivan and my Riyria Revelations (Theft of Swords, Rise of Empire, Heir of Novron) has been out for about a year now, and I couldn't be happier with it's reception. My goal when writing is to create a book that I want to read and as such my works tend to be classic traditional fantasy.

My second series will be coming out starting with | The Crown Tower (Aug 2013) and The Rose and the Thorn (Sep 2013).

I'm excited to get some great recommendations from this group...goodreads is always such a great place to discover new reads.

Welcome Michael, John, Teresa, M.d., and Jason... and Steve, Phil,and Joseph!

I had made it a personal challenge to acquaint myself with the authors who join this group by reading (and reviewing) their works...but authors/publishers are joining faster than I can read! In the past few weeks I devoured an anthology by Rogue Blades Entertainment, immersed myself in a mind-boggling novella by Forrest, and lost myself in the scimitar-sorcery debut of H.A. Jones. Varied content and styles, and all recommended reading. Now... I need to track down the next few ...

Actually, I am thinking this approach may be a good Group-Reads theme in the future (for now I encourage all to participate in the poll to decide the first Group Read.) Perhaps we can try out a "read something from an author in this group" theme later.

Anyway, welcome to all!

Hi everyone,

My name's Jon Moeller. I came to sword-and-sorcery via computer games, specifically the old Infocom "Arthur: The Quest For Excalibur" text-based adventure game, the "Quest for Glory" series, and "Betrayal in Krondor." I liked the last game so much that I started reading the Midkemia books when I was a kid (lo these many years ago), and went on from there.

I've written a lot of sword & sorcery, too. Specifically, stories for the Sword & Sorceress anthologies (volumes 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, and 27), and a story for Rogue Blades Entertainment's "Demon" anthology. My sword & sorcery novel DEMONSOULED came out back in 2005 from Gale/Five Star. Eventually it went out of print, but in 2011 I turned it into an ebook, along with all four of its sequels. I also wrote THE GHOSTS series of novels with the character from my Sword & Sorceress stories as the protagonist, and if all goes well, I'll start writing a sixth book in that series come February.

Right now I'm writing the sixth book in the DEMONSOULED series, and alternating between reading "The Dragonbone Chair" by Tad Williams and "A Throne of Bones" by Vox Day. So my current reading all seems to revolve around bone-themed furniture. Which cannot be comfortable.

Anyway, when not reading or writing, I work in IT support. And I sleep. Occasionally.

-JM

Jonathan wrote: "Hi everyone,

My name's Jon Moeller. I came to sword-and-sorcery via computer games, specifically the old Infocom "Arthur: The Quest For Excalibur" text-based adventure game, the "Quest for Glory"..."


Welcome! Thank you for joining us. Feel free to participate in the group, if you like, and promote your work in this thread.

Hi, I am the Muse of Hell for the "Heroes in Hell" series started by Janet Morris in the 1980s and rebooted in 2011. I have two short stories published in the anthologies Lawyers in Hell and Rogues in Hell. I function as an editorial assistant to Janet and Chris Morris of Perseid Press Inc and we are re-releasing the books and stories of The Sacred Band of Stepsons, composed of characters Janet Morris started in the Thieves' World series created by Robert Lynn Aspirin and Lynn Abbey, in the 1980s. This is some of the EARTHIEST sword and sorcery and heroic fiction that has been written. These stories have been gathered in Tempus and the Fish the Fighters and the Song-Girl. There are three Sacred Band novels from the 1980s, one of which we have re-released and two more are about to be: Beyond Sanctuary, Beyond the Veil and Beyond Wizardwall. Hello to all and I would be happy to discuss these.

Sarah wrote: "Hi, I am the Muse of Hell for the "Heroes in Hell" series started by Janet Morris in the 1980s and rebooted in 2011. I have two short stories published in the anthologies Lawyers in Hell and Rogue..."

Welcome and thank you for joining, O Muse!
I have added the "Tempus and his Sacred Band" books on the group's Bookshelf. Feel free to discuss these books, here and here. Also there is a Poll running, about a future group read.

Hi, I'm Bruce Durham and I'm a S&S author and fan (sounds like an AA intro...). I discovered S&S way back in the 60's while perusing a selection of pocketbooks and coming across a title with artwork that was, quite simply, stunning. The book was Conan the Conqueror, and the cover was by the legendary Frank Frazetta. From that moment on I was hooked, and anything that had the name Robert E. Howard attached, I bought. At that time I also discovered authors like Wagner, Leiber and Moorcock.

I have some 30 plus short stories published in a number of venues, including Flashing Swords, Lovecraft eZine - June 2011 - Issue 5, Rage of the Behemoth, Return of the Sword, Sha'Daa: Last Call and Sha'Daa: Pawns, as well as Lawyers in Hell and Rogues in Hell (Hi Sarah).

Nice to see some other familiar names here. Like Steve, Howard Andrew Jones published my first ever S&S tale, The Marsh God, which was also adapted into a graphic novel.

Currently I'm working on several S&S and horror stories, another graphic novel project, and researching material for a historical novel.

Thanks for the invite!

Bruce wrote: "Hi, I'm Bruce Durham and I'm a S&S author and fan (sounds like an AA intro...). I discovered S&S way back in the 60's while perusing a selection of pocketbooks and coming across a title with artwor..."

Welcome Bruce, thank you for joining!
I'm looking forward to the re-release of "The Marsh God", as mentioned on your website.

Hi everyone,

I'm Jake Elliot, but this link is incorrect. I don't write Doctor Who books, that is another Jake Elliot. I write Dark Fantasy and I'm the author of two novels published through Damnation Books, The Wrong Way Down and Crossing Mother's Grave. I live in the Portland area, the West Coast capital of literacy, hoping my work will continue turning heads favorably.

When I finally get caught up on all my reading, I will begin following this group with a bit more zeal. Currently, adding another book to my pile will force me to purchase a wheelbarrow. On an author's income, that is too damn expensive. ;)

Bruce wrote: "Hi, I'm Bruce Durham and I'm a S&S author and fan (sounds like an AA intro...). I discovered S&S way back in the 60's while perusing a selection of pocketbooks and coming across a title with artwor..."

Periklis wrote: "Bruce wrote: "Hi, I'm Bruce Durham and I'm a S&S author and fan (sounds like an AA intro...). I discovered S&S way back in the 60's while perusing a selection of pocketbooks and coming across a tit..."

I am anxiously awaiting the release of "The Marsh God" too, Bruce! Gee, maybe one day you will want to publish an anthology of your work (hint, hint)!

Periklis wrote: "Bruce wrote: "Hi, I'm Bruce Durham and I'm a S&S author and fan (sounds like an AA intro...). I discovered S&S way back in the 60's while perusing a selection of pocketbooks and coming across a title..."

Thanks. We're essentially revisiting some of the original artwork and perhaps throwing in a few extras. Not sure when it will see the light of day, though... Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Sarah, me too. Know a good publisher? ;)

Jake wrote: "Hi everyone,

I write Dark Fantasy and I'm the author of two novels published through Damnation Books, The Wrong Way Down and Crossing Mother's Grave. I live in the Portland area, the West Coast ca..."

Welcome Jake, thank you for joining us. Apart from your books, I noticed your Skyrim fiction blog. I'm truly enjoying your take on the game. Would you like to discuss Skyrim as Sword-and-Sorcery/Dark Fantasy on the post here?

Gee, Bruce... I think I just might ;)

Periklis wrote: "Jake wrote: "Hi everyone,

I write Dark Fantasy and I'm the author of two novels published through Damnation Books, The Wrong Way Down and Crossing Mother's Grave. I live in the Portland area, the ..."

I'd love to. Are there any key points you'd like for me to highlight, or are you seeking a general overview of gamer-blogging/S+S style?

Hello to all the new members! Especially Sarah and even more especially Bruce, who I've actually met in person once!

Jake wrote: "Periklis wrote: "I'd love to. Are there any key points you'd like for me to highlight, or are you seeking a general overview of gamer-blogging/S+S style? "

That's great. Write whatever feels more relevant to you and anyone interested could discuss this under your post. Thanks!

[this is the introdustory post but you can start a new one (here) if you feel you need to take this more in your direction.]

Hi I'm Anne - I was invited here by Periklis, and like Teresa I'm more of a lurker on Goodreads than a regular participant, owing to limited time - deadlines looming and all that!

I'm not sure which was my introduction to S&S - Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar stories, or the Thieves' World anthologies that came out in the 1980s. I love stories of thieves and other lowlives, more so than barbarians and wizards.

My own novels are maybe not strictly S&S, but neither are they epic fantasy. The current trilogy Night's Masque (The Alchemist of Souls, The Merchant of Dreams and The Prince of Lies) is set in Elizabethan England with an alternate history twist, but the protagonists are a bunch of ne'er-do-wells and one of them wields a sword, so hopefully that's credentials enough!

Anne wrote: "Hi I'm Anne - I was invited here by Periklis, and like Teresa I'm more of a lurker on Goodreads than a regular participant, owing to limited time - deadlines looming and all that!

I'm not sure whi..."

Hello and thank you for joining us!
Although I have yet to read The Alchemist of Souls, I have added it on the Historical Fantasy Shelf on the group's Bookshelf.

Thanks, Periklis! I'm just adding mine to the promo thread, since I have another book out this Tuesday :)

Anne wrote: "Thanks, Periklis! I'm just adding mine to the promo thread, since I have another book out this Tuesday :)"

Thanks for posting!
Two days away from a UK release and here's the promo thread. I also noticed a very handy recap of the first novel on your website.

Anne wrote: "Hi I'm Anne - I was invited here by Periklis, and like Teresa I'm more of a lurker on Goodreads than a regular participant, owing to limited time - deadlines looming and all that!

I'm not sure whi..."

Anne: The Thieves' World started Janet Morris' Sacred Band series and she is now writing again. Her books are here on the list and we are re-releasing her backlist as fast as we can! I'll tell her about your nice compliment.

Thanks, Periklis, for the invitation. I guess like a lot of the people on here I'm more an occasional dropper-by than a regular on Goodreads, but I try to wander in once a month or so. By way of introduction, my most recent book is Blackdog, from Pyr -- epic fantasy full of gods, demons, battles, divine politics, shapeshifters, camels, and seven devils escaped from a frozen hell, though they're probably not quite what you have in mind when you hear the word 'devil'. Camels, I did mention camels? Yaks, too. And a hero possessed by an obsessively protective shapeshifting dog spirit. Heroes off on adventures with swords and horses and lots of history behind them make my favourite kind of fantasy, so I'm looking forward to discussions in this group.

K.V. wrote: "Thanks, Periklis, for the invitation. I guess like a lot of the people on here I'm more an occasional dropper-by than a regular on Goodreads, but I try to wander in once a month or so. By way of in..."

Thank you for joining us!
I discovered Blackdog from an SF Signal podcast dedicated to Sword & Sorcery. I'm looking forward to reading your work, which you are more than welcome to discuss in the group.