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| SFReader Forums > Book, Magazine, and eZine Publishers > Flashing Swords > Flashing Swords Issue 3 | Forum Quick Jump
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Storn
Neophyte
      
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 153
| Posted 7/24/2005 12:33 PM (GMT -4) |   | quote:
but you could possible twist up the plots just a tad. Not easy in 3K words but you could. I'm not sure you should, like I say I like the stories I've read so far, but you could, a little.
yeah, Hocking, a subplot about a deranged, anal-retentive, over-controlling lord, Duke Dooie, threatening tithe reduction, unless he gets his way... or something.
Visual Storytelling
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4503
| Posted 7/24/2005 12:52 PM (GMT -4) | | Storn,
gee I expected you to jump on the undercover as a dancing girl theme . . .[:D]
Mike
Michael D. Turner
"Psyched Up" in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
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Buxom Slayer
Temptress + mistress of Swords
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 42
| Posted 7/24/2005 4:47 PM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by John Hocking
Hey Buxom!
I tell a Sword & Sorcery tale about a glorified librarian and a lady constable breaking up a drug ring selling spider venom, and it's a "run-of-the-mill" plot?
Man, you're getting harder to please these days!
Glad to see you on this forum and I hope you find my next story more to your liking.
hi John!
i've seen a lot of tv cop/detective episodes where an expert/scholar helps a cop. + a flood of drug gang tales. + giant spiders are 10-a-penny + much over-used in fantasy these days.
but i enjoyed your very exciting tale + gave it a worthy 7 /10.
i can only give higher scores to tales with greater more surprising + original plots, + more ambitious + spectacular combats, + unusual powerful magic, + more original + viciously terrifying-horrific monsters + chilling supernatural evil, oh, + ofcourse a really great climax!
[ but u know all that cos u achieved it all in CONAN + THE EMERALD LOTUS - great S+S! rating = 9 /10. a must read! ][8D]
thanks for entertaining me so well with all your stories. best wishes *** [:)]
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Rob Mancebo
Adept
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 911
| Posted 7/24/2005 5:11 PM (GMT -4) | | F/S III
Web of Pale Venom
Quite an adventure for a scholar. I hope to see many more. Lucella defeats Philon very easily to not have any explanation. Especially after he’s ‘sparred against many lady Legionnaires’. It gave me one of those ‘wait a moment’ pauses when reading. Other than that, I enjoyed this one, although I thought he should’ve pushed a little harder to get his meal in the end. He earned it after all.
The White Wyrm
Good historical fantasy. I was a little disappointed with his non-reaction over his lover’s murder and his own poisoning. I thought that that should’ve been a climatic moment in the story. Good revenge though and a good tie-in with later history.
The Covenant
I enjoyed this one. I always like a ‘turning evil against evil’ story.
Two fools Make a Tragedy
Ah yes, at the end of the day adventures don’t always pay. Warriors against monsters and a wizard with a mystery thrown in. A well done S&S piece.
End of duty
Nice to see a little slash & blast, swashbuckling action. A glorious end of a military career.
Black powder comments:
You don’t really ‘snipe’ with muskets. Beyond 75-100 yards you’re lucky to even hit a man sized target. That’s why those massed formations were used during the musket era.
No type of lock was specified but, since they weren’t messing with glowing matchcord it sounded like flint locks. In the rain, a flintlock’s pan can be cleared of powder and the touch hole plugged to keep the main charge dry. It only takes a moment. In Colonial America a feather was used for this purpose. Just dump out the powder and jam the shaft into the touch hole.
If they could see the lights of the fortress then the firing of the bombards should’ve lit up the night gloriously.
The Demon War
I must admit a personal preference to human S&S but this was a nicely done alien species war.
Raven’s Eye
This one was interesting. I could’ve wished for a little more desperation. 3-to-1 is not good odds in a real fight. She seemed to think that it was. I would’ve expected a little more of the ambush-type action she displayed with the first killing.
I would’ve expected her to be cornered or surprised in some way or you could go into more detail about why it is that she feels competent to take on numerous attackers single-handedly. I just missed the ‘drama’ in the action because she was too cool about the whole thing.
The Catacombs
Very nice. Good all-around S&S action. A treasure, a pretty girl, several big baddies, some enchanted objects, betrayal, and just desserts.
Overall I think that my favorites in this issue were The Catacombs, Two Fools, and Web of Pale Venom.
I look forward to the next one. [:)]
Rob
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Rob Mancebo
Adept
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 911
| Posted 7/24/2005 5:24 PM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by Storn
I like Batman Begins, but I kinda had this internal giggle when ever the word ninja was used in conjunction with Raz a Ghul and the whole Destroyer's vibe of secret society dedicating to keeping balance. I LIKE the secret society aspect, the skills and training... all of that... but every time ninja was used and pajama guys showed up... I just giggled inside. Kinda sad.
Because I think the ninja enviroment is an awesome one. Martial arts, spy craft, disguises, poisons, the practicality angle, the societal angle of being the ones outside of society to do the dirty deeds dirt cheap... all of it is really, really cool if tackled in a serious, thought provoking way.
- Interesting how all those 'Ninjas' were on a mountaintop in CHINA too, isn't it?
- Ah well, Dr Hatsumi said to find the roots of the Ninja you must travel the Silk Road.
- For 'real' Ninja strangeness read 'Path Notes of an American Ninja Master' By Dr. Glenn Morris. It will give you a better explanation of the reality behind the Myth-- and maybe a new way to look at life.
- Still cool stuff but you have to strain out Hollywood.
Rob
Adventure-History-Fantasy-Folklore
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John Hocking
The Olde Prospector
Date Joined Jun 2004
Total Posts : 144
| Posted 7/24/2005 5:56 PM (GMT -4) | | Hey Rob, thanks for the thoughtful commentary.
Lucella's fight with Philon was based on an actual street fight I witnessed in which the attacker grossly underestimated the strength and intent of his victim.
The scene was supposed to be surprising. I want Lucella to be very dangerous. Sorry if it felt unbalanced to you. | | Back to Top | | |
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4503
| Posted 7/24/2005 6:00 PM (GMT -4) | | John'
Heck, I just assumed that there's a difference between sparring and fighting for real, and he never 'sparred' with her.
Mike
Michael D. Turner
"Psyched Up" in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
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Rob Mancebo
Adept
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 911
| Posted 7/24/2005 8:24 PM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by John Hocking
Hey Rob, thanks for the thoughtful commentary.
The scene was supposed to be surprising. I want Lucella to be very dangerous. Sorry if it felt unbalanced to you.
Thanks for the entertainment.
- It wasn't really unbalanced-- it just raised unanswered questions.
- Having her finish with something like, "You were sparring with the wrong women," or "No one gets promoted by defeating the boss, they let you win!" I think would've been enough. Just a little something to keep people from saying, 'Huh, how did that happen?'
- As a recurring character in a series, obviously, you don't need to do this since the reader will already know that she's 'Hell-on-wheels'. Since the story is being presented on its own, I just thought that it would've helped.
Rob
Adventure-History-Fantasy-Folklore
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Red Viper
Acolyte
Date Joined Mar 2005
Total Posts : 439
| Posted 7/24/2005 8:56 PM (GMT -4) | | I rather liked Lucella's quick dispatching of the fellow, in contrast to his sneering dismissal of her as a foe. The temptation to follow it up with a line of snappy dialogue probably was great, but I think it was wise to resist it in this case. A witty rejoinder was the expected thing, probably, in many readers' minds, and -- to me, at least -- I always find it refreshing when a storyteller has me expecting something along one line, then does something else.
Of course, if a writer has an absolutely fantastic rejoinder, then it's time to toss it in there!
Red Viper, aka Steve Goble | | Back to Top | | |
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Storn
Neophyte
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 153
| Posted 7/25/2005 4:26 AM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by erazmus
Storn,
gee I expected you to jump on the undercover as a dancing girl theme . . .[:D]
Mike
Michael D. Turner
"Psyched Up" in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
www.baen.com
Susanne, my girlfriend, frowns on me jumping on other dancing girls... undercover or not.
I liked the suddeness of the Lucella's dispatching of Philon too. Just thought I would toss me 2 cents in.
quote:
Still cool stuff but you have to strain out Hollywood.
Hollywood? In my mind, it is the Japanese storytellers that have to take most of the blame. Just watched Red Shadow (based on long time running ninja TV show of the 70s starring Sonny Chiba) and Azumi. Red Shadow was played for laughs... and it was goofy fun... sorta what we talked about... ninjas as comedy can work still. Yet it still strived for poigniant moments of "why do we kill", "whom do we serve", "why are our friends getting wiped out?"
Azumi is pretty serious storyline, yet the over-the-topness of the villains and what not, ruined a really intense plot. The beginning of Azumi is freakin' brutal. But it loses that focus as it moves along.
I would take ninjas seriously again in the hands of Sam Peckinbaugh... but alas, it would take the evil ninja magiks I know to ressurect him.... and lately, I have't been getting the green light from the studio.
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John Hocking
The Olde Prospector
Date Joined Jun 2004
Total Posts : 144
| Posted 7/25/2005 4:32 AM (GMT -4) | | Aw guys.
Lucella DOES deliver a rejoinder, even if it's more cruel than snappy.
Philon says, "I will cut you down, Lucella."
Then she sticks her sword through his neck, smiles into his stricken face, and says, "Not quite, Philon."
Check how many times in the course of the tale Philon uses the phrase, "Not quite."
He's supposed to use it often enough to make him sound like a pretty annoying guy.
Guess I should have had him say it a few more times. | | Back to Top | | |
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Rob Mancebo
Adept
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 911
| Posted 7/25/2005 7:26 AM (GMT -4) | | quote:
I would take ninjas seriously again in the hands of Sam Peckinbaugh... but alas, it would take the evil ninja magiks I know to ressurect him.... and lately, I have't been getting the green light from the studio.
Visual Storytelling
- No you would not. You might enjoy them as media icons. But if you DO want to take them seriously, find a Bujinkan dojo near by and show up to train with them. (Most Japanese don't even know that there are still real Ninjas living and training in Japan.)
- Now all the 'Evil Ninja Magic' tends to be hidden until higher belt levels in the booj. If you want to learn about that, find a Hoshinjutsu dojo and/or read Dr. Morris' book (Since he's been honored with a teaching certificate by Hatsumi, you can expect that his esoteric techniques pretty well mirror those of Bujinkan.)
- Ninjas in Japanese media are used about like Cowboys in American media. It doesn't matter that no one in the mid 1800s wore sequined shirts, they looked really cool on Roy Rogers in the mid 1900s on Movies & TV so, what the heck, why not? It wasn't reality it was just entertainment.
Rob
Adventure-History-Fantasy-Folklore
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Rob Mancebo
Adept
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 911
| Posted 7/25/2005 7:35 AM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by John Hocking
Aw guys.
Lucella DOES deliver a rejoinder, even if it's more cruel than snappy.
//He's supposed to use it often enough to make him sound like a pretty annoying guy.
Guess I should have had him say it a few more times.
Sorry, I missed it. It's tough to insert something like that in a way people will notice yet not 'spoon-feed' it to them.
Did anyone else catch it??? (Maybe some others did.)
Rob
Adventure-History-Fantasy-Folklore
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Red Viper
Acolyte
Date Joined Mar 2005
Total Posts : 439
| Posted 7/25/2005 10:00 AM (GMT -4) | | John: Please forgive my poor memory. I did note the "not quite" at the time, but did not remember it when I jumped in with my two cents about snappy rejoinders.
Please attribute that to the fact that I read your story first -- as soon as Issue 3 went up! -- and so it's been a while, and an old guy's memory gets hazy. And I read yours first because I knew I'd like it.
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Bruce Durham
Crom's Administrator & Drinking Buddy
Date Joined Jan 2005
Total Posts : 613
| Posted 7/25/2005 2:38 PM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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Buxom Slayer
Temptress + mistress of Swords
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 42
| Posted 7/25/2005 5:27 PM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by bdurham
..Buxom Slayer (Slayer??? I won't ask what you slay them with [:D] )..
why, with my very big natural charms ofcourse..
..well i've never had any complaints so far..[;)]
----
u earned my praise with your hard work + good ideas. thanks.
i want the writers + editors to know my own high standards of what i like in swords+sorcery tales. i want the stories [ to be like yours + Werners + Hockings] to have high impact excitement + /or supernatural surprises. + i dont want em to lie 'whimpering in a corner' like some of the poor ones.
my review of 'The Covenant' was too harsh maybe, but was my honest reaction to the limp story. but i do try to give credit to the writers ability, even if i dislike that story. i said it was "a very short but well written piece".
--
i must go + try on my new swinging 'slay-bells'..[ for whom doth the bell toll for next..?!][:D]
cheers *** [:)]
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Buxom Slayer
Temptress + mistress of Swords
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 42
| Posted 7/25/2005 5:50 PM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by jonesha
Dear Buxom, Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy those four. Many people have gone out of their way to praise some of those stories you disliked. Also, as to End of Duty, please recall that, in addition to sword and sorcery, Flashing Swords is intended to feature swashbuckling historicals as well as sword and planet. You'll be seeing some more action-oriented swashbucklers in this e-zine's pages. In any case, I hope you'll stick with us. Issue 4 is a fine, fine read! best wishes,Howard.
thanks for the nice welcome.[:)]
i mistakenly thought that flashing swords was an S+S e-zine. silly me?!?[:D]
a website mainly promoting S+S should not be wasting time + space on lots of other genres?
i like lots of different genres but it is S+S that needs reviving, not 'the 7-armed yellow gatling-gunners from the planet Yog-splad-ooosha' ?!? [ still, do ya think it might get accepted by the ed' if i enclosed some fresh delirium root with my story?! ][:D]
--
if u must insist on 'swashing your buckle'..i do like bloody pirate tales..
come on guys + sing along now.."15 men on a big girls chest, yo-ho-ho + a bucket of rum.."
..[ i cant remember the rest? can anyone help out a drunken singing buxom pirate?!][;)]
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Jay Stevol
Neophyte
Date Joined May 2005
Total Posts : 154
| Posted 7/25/2005 7:07 PM (GMT -4) | | | I don't feel that FS is branching out into different genres at the expense of 'real S&S'. The three genres that FS asks for in the submission guidelines are all variations on the same theme anyway. I agree that there needs to be a strict limit as to what counts as S&S, S&P, and SBH, but so far I feel that Howard has provided some excellent examples of the type. Muskets and rapiers have just as much a place in FS as crossbows and claymores, IMO, provided the tales stay exciting and keep my pulse racing. | | Back to Top | | |
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4503
| Posted 7/25/2005 7:36 PM (GMT -4) | | Buxom,
I'd second what Jay said and go a step farther. Flashing swords is not branching out so much as its returning to the roots of S&S. Robert E. Howard may be the seminal writer of S&S but he was working from, and in, the larger field of adventure fiction. He was influenced by ninteenth century popular writers such as Dumas and Scott, and more directly by H. Rider Haggard, Edgar Rice Burroughs and his contemporaries. Along with Conan, Kull and Solomon Kane he wrote historical adventure fiction, as well as fight stories and westerns. If Flashing Swords is to accomplish what(our) Howard has set out to do its going to have to use the entire base of support that S&S started with. Thats Adventure and Blue Book and the Pall Mall Gazzett as well as Weird Tales and Unknown.
Their are a lot of sub-sub genres and cousins to S&S out there and personally I'd like to see good examples of all of them find a home. Lost World Tales, Sword and Planet adventures, Swash Buckling Adventure stories. anywhere that the action is intense, the story riveting, thats a good place to put your magazine, and I think Howard has done quite well.
Mike
Michael D. Turner
"Psyched Up" in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
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Buxom Slayer
Temptress + mistress of Swords
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 42
| Posted 7/25/2005 8:57 PM (GMT -4) | | TO THE EDITOR..
in future can u please clearly label each story [ after the title] as being..
S+S, or..
S+P,
SBH,
or even SSS ?
this would be most helpful so i can read the S+S 1st, + maybe try the rest later?
thankyou. [:)]
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4503
| Posted 7/25/2005 9:06 PM (GMT -4) | | Perhaps an icon of some sort?
Mike
Michael D. Turner
"Psyched Up" in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
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Storn
Neophyte
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 153
| Posted 7/26/2005 3:05 AM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by Buxom Slayer
TO THE EDITOR..
in future can u please clearly label each story [ after the title] as being..
S+S, or..
S+P,
SBH,
or even SSS ?
this would be most helpful so i can read the S+S 1st, + maybe try the rest later?
thankyou. [:)]
I, for one, do not want labels. I trust the editors to find stories that fit in the ballpark... and ballpark is close enough for me. To be honest, Buxom, I find your definitions too narrow. You are willing to accept rousing pirate tales, but reject any fantasy with a musket in it? That seems to be nitpicky.
The recent review on Sword and Sorcery, of Jack Vance's Dragon Riders has aliens, slaves, spaceships and muskets... yet still seems to be FIRMLY in the realm of adventure, fantasy literature.
As what you read first... that is what the blurb is for. If you don't like what you read within the first page, no one is holding a musket to your head making you finish.
Visual Storytelling
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Supr
Neophyte
Date Joined Apr 2005
Total Posts : 107
| Posted 7/26/2005 7:49 AM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by Storn
quote:
Originally posted by Buxom Slayer
TO THE EDITOR..
in future can u please clearly label each story [ after the title] as being..
S+S, or..
S+P,
SBH,
or even SSS ?
this would be most helpful so i can read the S+S 1st, + maybe try the rest later?
thankyou. [:)]
I, for one, do not want labels. I trust the editors to find stories that fit in the ballpark... and ballpark is close enough for me. To be honest, Buxom, I find your definitions too narrow. You are willing to accept rousing pirate tales, but reject any fantasy with a musket in it? That seems to be nitpicky.
The recent review on Sword and Sorcery, of Jack Vance's Dragon Riders has aliens, slaves, spaceships and muskets... yet still seems to be FIRMLY in the realm of adventure, fantasy literature.
As what you read first... that is what the blurb is for. If you don't like what you read within the first page, no one is holding a musket to your head making you finish.
I'm S&S purist and have nothing against labels. All I can tell that writing stories about steel and magic is damned harder than writing stories with help of gunpowder and muskets.
I wanna the good old S&S stilisation!
But I have nothing against pirate stories written like Captain Blood by R. Sabatini.
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jonesha
Forum Moderator
Date Joined Jun 2004
Total Posts : 655
| Posted 7/26/2005 8:04 AM (GMT -4) | | I can see Buxom's point. I think labeling is going to far, but in the future I'll certainly indicate whether or not a piece is a "historical" one or a sword and planet (to date I've only accepted one sword and planet tale and, if memory serves, have only really received one as well) in the editorial preamble to each story. Although in this case even that was tricky. This was set in Joe's ongoing cycle of Stevan the Targeteer, set on an alternate Earth where you'll find both magic AND supernatural beasties. This particular Stevan story just didn't happen to have any.
best,
Howard
Managing Editor
www.swordandsorcery.org
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Daniel
Carl Jung's Waterboy
Date Joined Aug 2003
Total Posts : 4515
| Posted 7/26/2005 8:18 AM (GMT -4) | | to date I've only accepted one sword and planet tale and, if memory serves, have only really received one as well)
***
That's too bad. I love Sword and Planet and was hoping some good stories would show up at FS. I'm open to these kind of stories as submissions to Prism Quarterly as well.
http://www.pitchblackbooks.com/SFsubguide.htm
Daniel
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