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

Time to unearth arcana! Sword & Sorcery, our group reads for July and August are "OBSCURE WORKS." So we all won't be reading the same books, but we all can search for them, read, discuss, and review them! Let's shed a little light on lost gems.

Remember the poll? Poll Link for obscure bookst... if you need a goal, try one of those. If you voted for one, read it or discuss why you chose it. Our banner is made from two of those items:



Heather Gladney's Blood Storm (sequel to Teot's War of The Song of Naga Teot series). Cover by John Jude Palencar 1989

The Book of Paradox by Louise Cooper, cover by Frank Frazetta 1973.

I have two in the queue for this:

1) The Book of Paradox

2) Shadow Of The Wolf by Robert Holdstock/Chris Carlsen

Note that the entire Berserker series is available as an Omnibus...someone here told me about this ... I think it was Stan Wagenaar:

US Link = https://www.amazon.com/Berserker-SF-G...
Berserker SF Gateway Omnibus: The Shadow of the Wolf, The Bull Chief, The Horned Warrior

Steven Morgan from Facebook adds: "Messenger of Zhuvastou" by Andrew J Offut is an overlooked classic." Our group has a Facebook page as a protal page, not for chatting, so I redirected here.

Messenger Of Zhuvastou

We actually have a lead contact with publisher for Ryre: Far Away and Never from the groupread a few yrs ago. Order direct from the original publisher may still be feasible... will need to look up the email

http://necropress.com/product/campbel...

Madeleine Michaud was running the Press in her father's stead a few yrs ago.

Less than $7 usd

They also have Ghor Kinslayer... which should have been the best compilation ever .... but was executed poorly. For REH buffs and S&S, its worth 8$ for historical perspective.

Has anyone read or ?

Shadow of His Wings was great. I found it used in my local bookstore and the Darrell K Sweet cover sold me. The next book The Mace of Souls is also good. Although, I remember it being slow to start.

I don't think I ever read Shadow of his Wings, but I'm pretty sure I read Mace of Souls; at least, I owned it.

Never read Tara of the Twilight -- that was Carter's (shudder) erotica, wasn't it? (n.b. I have no particular problems with either Lin Carter or erotica, but I think they're two great tastes that should probably be kept far, far apart from each other.)

Dennis wrote: "Has anyone read or ?"

I've read Tara of the Twilight and hated it. The erotica was Lin Carter's own creepy fetishes, the protagonist was the author's typically shallow and passive woman-character, and the sword-and-sorcery couldn't keep it glued together.

Just finished The Book of Paradox, Louise Cooper's 1973 debut [Frazetta cover on a first novel? awesome]. A nice trip to a dreamy afterlife that has echoes of Moorcok and Vance.

Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Anyone read her Indigo or Time Master series?

I read the Time Master series years ago. The details are foggy, but I remember liking it.

I read Indigo, Time Master and the Time Master prequel & sequel trilogies. I'd say the prequel & sequel stuff can be skipped, but would definitely recommend the Time Master trilogy and the Indigo books. She also had a standalone, Mirage, that's worth checking out.

Shame that she died relatively young, and is mostly out of print these days.

This may be common knowledge, but if you are having trouble finding certain titles www.bookfinder.com is an excellent tool.

S.E. wrote: "Steven Morgan from Facebook adds: "Messenger of Zhuvastou" by Andrew J Offut is an overlooked classic." Our group has a Facebook page as a protal page, not for chatting, so I redirected here."

I'll try to fit "Zhuvastou" into my summer schedule. I just finished Offutt's "The Shadow of Sorcery" today (I came across it randomly in a used bookstore down South during a business trip), and the novel is much better than I'd expected. It has a mercifully low level of Offutt's habitual, soft-porn sexism, and surprisingly high amounts of unusual plot twists, non-standard characters and metafictional humor. "Shadow" is a sequel to "Shadowspawn", but it's one of those rare sequels that outshine their predecessors. I'd say that it, too, deserves more exposure to S&S readers.

Hey, Seth!

I've been remiss in joining in on many of the worthy topics you propose here (though I do follow them all). But I was moved today to post in this "obscure works" thread about a medieval heroic-fantasy classic many readers may have missed. It's a salient work that surely inspired me, among many better-known titles, during the time when I was firing the creative crucible that led to my Gonji series, around 1980.

I'm talking about THE DOOMFARERS OF CORAMONDE, by Brian Daley. It's the tale of the crew of an American APC in Viet Nam that gets teleported, all armament intact, into a conflict in a fantasy kingdom rife with dragons, sorcery and besieged castles. (Flaming dragons vs. phosphorous grenades---get outta town!)

I personally bear a fondness for cross-time/cross-cultural-technological conflicts (as even a cursory look into the Gonji books would reveal). So this one really triggered my enchantment machinery. Highly recommended.

Daley penned one sequel---THE STARFOLLOWERS OF CORAMONDE---before a tragically early death. His literary star was on the rise, I think.

TC, thx for the adds. I include Goodread quicklinks to those:

The Doomfarers of Coramonde and...
The Starfollowers of Coramonde by Brian Daley

Thanks for adding the links, Seth. I see that in the "Readers Also Enjoyed" section next to the DOOMFARERS page, they list Roger Zelazny's ROADMARKS, another cross-cultural dimension-hopper I'm pleased to recommend, this time about an adventurous arms dealer in a beat-up pickup truck who accesses a mysterious, ancient road that enables travel through space and time. A small but very enjoyable little action thriller in Roger's celebrated output.

I'm a bit partial to Roger, having met him a few times when I was a kid and he was still living here in the Cleveland area, before work took him to Baltimore. His Amber series had significant impetus on my decision to get serious about working in heroic-fantasy. I'm still casual friends with his author-son Trent.

I love Zelazny and just wish more of his stuff was available in eBook (even though I have pretty much everything in paperback). I reread Jack of Shadows a couple of years ago and it remains a favorite.

As far as dimension-hopping adventurers, there's also always Robert A. Heinlein's Glory Road ...

Started Norvell Page's Flame Winds at the pool. Lots of rhapsodic fun thus far!

I'm making my way through Charles de Lint's A Handful of Coppers, a collection of his early, lesser-known heroic fantasy. It's fascinating to see an established wordsmith's early works.

Nik wrote: "I'm making my way through Charles de Lint's A Handful of Coppers, a collection of his early, lesser-known heroic fantasy. It's fascinating to see an established wordsmith's early works."
I'll be interested to see what you share about how heroic the stories are.

I don't know if this is the right place to ask but, has any one read the Iron Lords by Offutt? Is it worth tracking down?
Also Suaine and the crow god by stuart gordon was an interesting fantasy/historical kind of weird book--I liked the writing. . .

I really enjoyed the Iron Lords by Andrew Offutt. Although, the story doesn't have a definitive ending. Lady Of The Snowmist left me wanting more. I say if you've liked Offutt in the past go for it.

From the cover art Suaine and the Crow-God looks like a Viking type story. I cannot find a synopsis anywhere. And it looks like it might fit right in with the Obscure book read this month.