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| SFReader Forums > Book, Magazine, and eZine Publishers > Flashing Swords > Flashing Swords Issue 3 | Forum Quick Jump
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erazmus
Master
      
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4475
| Posted 7/26/2005 8:32 AM (GMT -4) |   | Take note fellows, Howard's not seeing much Sword and Planet stories. There's one way to stand out. [;)]
Mike
Michael D. Turner
"Psyched Up" in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
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Bruce Durham
Crom's Administrator & Drinking Buddy
Date Joined Jan 2005
Total Posts : 609
| Posted 7/26/2005 1:18 PM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by Daniel
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
www.pitchblackbooks.com
Great! I have this really keen idea about a guy I'll call Carter, who ends up on Mars and meets a really gorgeous princess who has been hatched from an egg and yet has a navel... [:)]
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Admin: Community Forums for the Official Site of Conan the Barbarian
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PaulMc
Adept
Date Joined May 2005
Total Posts : 990
| Posted 7/26/2005 1:22 PM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Great! I have this really keen idea about a guy I'll call Carter, who ends up on Mars and meets a really gorgeous princess who has been hatched from an egg and yet has a navel... [:)]
Worked for John Norman [:p]
-- Paul McNamee
http://writer.paulmcnamee.net
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4475
| Posted 7/26/2005 2:01 PM (GMT -4) | | And Don Ayers plus a lot of fellows nobody's ever heard of.[:p]
But why not Sword and Planet? anyone perverse or independant enough to be writing S&S instead of . . .what the heck-ever we call that mainstream fantasy stuff that I don't like around here, should be off the wall enough to enjoy S&P and the challenge of making it work.
And it definatly has its own challenges and its own charm. I think I'd try a beautiful woman transported to a world of hunky, egg grown naveless guys who find her's endlessly fascinating or of religious or mystical significance. Give her a gravity derived advantage in strength and speed but a woefully inadequet understanding of political and social dynamics and turn her loose. Done straight it would be fun, done with tongue in cheek and it'd bee hilarious, better than _Bill the Galactic Hero_ and I could sell it on that basis, I'm sure.
Anyone want to collaberate?
Mike
Michael D. Turner
"Psyched Up" in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
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MichaelEhart
Sage
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 2315
| Posted 7/26/2005 2:32 PM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Anyone want to collaberate?
Sure, if I get to run the spellcheck [:)]
Faust-- How comes it then that thou art out of hell? Mephistophilis-- Why this is hell, nor am I out of it. | | Back to Top | | |
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4475
| Posted 7/26/2005 2:40 PM (GMT -4) | | Michael,
You may have noticed, I never spell check my posts. I assure you I do let spell chucker crunch its way through my stories. I'm a self taught typist and I use the web boards as a place to work on my typing, which basically sucks. I also employ a variety of proof readers who save me from many errors.
Mike
Michael D. Turner
"Psyched Up" in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
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MichaelEhart
Sage
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 2315
| Posted 7/26/2005 2:48 PM (GMT -4) | | I challenge you to a bad typing duel!
One of life's weird ironies was that a few years back I was assigned to teach an advanced keyboarding class.
I handed out lots of assignments, and ducked the issue of my miserable keyboarding skills.
And as far as spelling is concerned, I am of the Oxfordian Shakespeare School of Manditory Optional Letter Order.
God Bless Bill gates and Spell Check!
Faust-- How comes it then that thou art out of hell? Mephistophilis-- Why this is hell, nor am I out of it. | | Back to Top | | |
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Jay Stevol
Neophyte
Date Joined May 2005
Total Posts : 154
| Posted 7/26/2005 4:40 PM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by Supr
quote:
Originally posted by Storn
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.
This confuses me, somewhat. From my perspective, the 'old S&S' was categorized more by its style, plotting, and characterization than by the weapons that the protagonist happened to be proficient in. Remember, the term 'Swords and Sorcery' was not coined until much later. I enjoy Solomon Kane and consider it just as much a part of the S&S tradition as Conan or Kull, despite the fact that the hero is a Puritan gunslinger in 16th century England. Why do I like it? Because the hero is tough no nonsense, the settings are exotic, the pace is heartstopping, the sorceries are mysterious, and the stories are gripping and vivid. Isn't this what Flashing Swords is about?
Still, if labels are what people want, then I don't see any reason not to have them. Forgive me if I don't see the relevance in a bowman over a musketeer or a catapult over a cannon. | | Back to Top | | |
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Rob Mancebo
Adept
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 892
| Posted 7/26/2005 6:16 PM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by erazmus
Done straight it would be fun, done with tongue in cheek and it'd bee hilarious, better than _Bill the Galactic Hero_ and I could sell it on that basis, I'm sure.
Anyone want to collaberate?
Mike
Joel Jenkins did it straight. It was released this year. It's not a copy of Burroughs but a little more updated version of a Mars 40,000 years ago. Lots of fun for those of us who like Sword & Planet.
Rob
Dire Planet
$15.95
Marooned on Mars, U.S. astronaut Garvey Dire limps for safety from the scathing sand-storm even while his oxygen supply runs low. What he finds is not only evidence of an ancient civilization, but he is catapulted into the past and finds himself fighting not only for his own survival, but for the survival of his home planet in another place and another time!
"Joel Jenkins' Martian epic, Dire Planet: If high adventure and deeply realized alien cultures with lots of beautiful warrior women are your bag, you owe it to yourself to check this sucker out..." -Russ Anderson, author of Mythworld
Adventure-History-Fantasy-Folklore
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4475
| Posted 7/26/2005 7:08 PM (GMT -4) | | That echo's Brachetts "Sword of Rhiannon". Which ain't a bad thing to echo.
Mike
Michael D. Turner
"Psyched Up" in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
www.baen.com | | Back to Top | | |
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Buxom Slayer
Temptress + mistress of Swords
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 42
| Posted 7/26/2005 9:01 PM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by jonesha
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.
thank u so much. that will be fine + most helpful.
big buxom best wishes from me *** [:)]
[ S+S RULES ! + i mean swords + bows + sorcery/magic + monsters..please? ][8D]
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Rob Mancebo
Adept
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 892
| Posted 7/27/2005 10:01 AM (GMT -4) | | quote:
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.
Nawww. Same- same- Especially when mixed. Remember, for centuries guns gave a man one shot then it was clubs, swords, and knives just like traditional S&S. If you want a straight-out sword duel, set it on a damp day. Damp powder is just mud.
// Many things happened at once. Several other guns were discharged from the forest around them scorching the night air with billowing sparks and blossoms of flame, and a number of the Hungarian troops fell dead or screaming. The dark man dropped his pistol and drew a saber. His left hand released Zsuzanna and handed her another long pistol from under his cloak. This done he fell to with the sergeant.
In less than a moment the fire-lit glade was a slashing, hacking flurry of men. The outcome was decided in the first few moments. The force of terror was with the black draped men who rushed from the forest shadows like ghouls. They were flailing, slashing, razor edged dervishes who scattered men’s blood wherever they passed. The Hungarian troops stood for only long enough to see their number reduced by two thirds and then, the survivors broke and ran screaming into the night.
“Bah!” One of the men in black wiped his blade upon the long coattails of a fallen soldier. “Sheep! Nothing but sheep!”
“Ten years is a long time,” one of the other figures agreed, “but I did not think that things would’ve changed this much. Whole towns butchered by the Turk, half the population of Transylvania rotting in shallow graves, the whole of Hungary hiding within fortified towns. Now we find soldiers chasing down what few people are left with a hangman’s rope! Who do these pox-eaten dogs think will be left to work the land?”
“It’s been too long for me to remember what Hungary should be like, my friends.” The first of the black dressed men negligently broke off the arrow that protruded from his chest. He sheathed his sword without cleaning the blade and turned back to where Zsuzanna stood with the pistol held out before her in an unfamiliar manner.
“It’s cold girl.” He dropped his heavy cloak with a pull and a shrug and wrapped it about her shoulders. The cloak was unbelievably warm and made her realize how cold the Carpathian night air truly was. The act also uncovered his shoulders to display the shine of a polished steel breastplate that had caught the archer’s arrow. Breastplate and mail, engraved pistols and a gilt worked saber. This was no common soldier.
(from Storm of Crows 1610)
Rob
Adventure-History-Fantasy-Folklore
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Red Viper
Acolyte
Date Joined Mar 2005
Total Posts : 439
| Posted 7/27/2005 10:20 AM (GMT -4) | | Rob: I followed your link ... interesting web site! I'm going to get to your fiction once things settle down for me. I read enough to know I want to read more. I was wondering, too, who produced the art on your web site? It's a bold style, very cool. I especially like the image with Storm of Crows.
Red Viper, aka Steve Goble | | Back to Top | | |
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Supr
Neophyte
Date Joined Apr 2005
Total Posts : 107
| Posted 7/27/2005 10:42 AM (GMT -4) | | | I'm missing the good old times when knights took the crossbows for unhonourable weapons. | | Back to Top | | |
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4475
| Posted 7/27/2005 11:55 AM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by Supr
I'm missing the good old times when knights took the crossbows for unhonourable weapons.
And let their men-at-arms use them on their behalf?
Mike
Michael D. Turner
"Psyched Up" in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
www.baen.com | | Back to Top | | |
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Supr
Neophyte
Date Joined Apr 2005
Total Posts : 107
| Posted 7/27/2005 12:49 PM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by erazmus
quote:
Originally posted by Supr
I'm missing the good old times when knights took the crossbows for unhonourable weapons.
And let their men-at-arms use them on their behalf?
Mike
Alas there were always intrigues... like there were one shot muskets and multi shot muskets. | | Back to Top | | |
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ChristopherS
Storyteller & Gifted Liar
Date Joined Jan 2004
Total Posts : 61
| Posted 7/27/2005 3:01 PM (GMT -4) | | After I wrote "The Covenant" I decided to write another tale about the Crusader (this is the only character I've written about more than once). I decided I wanted to play with the conventions a little so I put him in a world of swords and sorcery and crossbows and muskets and cannons. Then I gave him the first revolver pistol. Did it work? Well, it did for me and it became my second sale. Since then I've written two more adventures with him and now I'm playing with an idea for a possible novella with him. Will it work? Maybe... :)
Chris
www.zumayapublications.com | | Back to Top | | |
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ChristopherS
Storyteller & Gifted Liar
Date Joined Jan 2004
Total Posts : 61
| Posted 7/27/2005 3:01 PM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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Red Viper
Acolyte
Date Joined Mar 2005
Total Posts : 439
| Posted 7/27/2005 3:44 PM (GMT -4) | | Christopher ... glad to hear there will be more Crusader tales forthcoming. Hope they all find an appreciative editor.
Red Viper, aka Steve Goble | | Back to Top | | |
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Rob Mancebo
Adept
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 892
| Posted 7/28/2005 3:01 AM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by Red Viper
Rob: I followed your link ... interesting web site! I'm going to get to your fiction once things settle down for me. I read enough to know I want to read more. I was wondering, too, who produced the art on your web site? It's a bold style, very cool. I especially like the image with Storm of Crows.
Red Viper, aka Steve Goble
Thanks!
All the art was done by Noel, his link is in my 'Links' area for those interested. For the 'Storm of Crows' illo I supplied him with copies of historical woodcuts of the the armor, weapons, uniforms and a couple of diagrams of what the Bathory castle was thought to have looked like when complete. Along with it I sent a quick (horrible!) scetch of what I was interested in. He's very fast and very reasonable.
Rob
Adventure-History-Fantasy-Folklore
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Rob Mancebo
Adept
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 892
| Posted 7/28/2005 3:21 AM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by Supr
I'm missing the good old times when knights took the crossbows for unhonourable weapons.
- Yes but even then the Landsknechte and Reislaufer just collected with halberds and 16 foot pikes to knock them off their horses. It was "Against the cavalry- present your pikes!" and that effectively ended the era of knightly supremicy. Pesant pikemen were cheep and easy to train, knights took a lifetime of training and $$$$$ out the wazzoo. A pike cost one gold Florin VS a knight's 3/4 plate at 45 Florins and a war horse that might cost 4 times that! Add weapons, barding, support-- well the faster Emperor Maximilian could replace Imperial Knights with Landsknechte the quicker he was able to expand the 'Holy Roman Empire'.
- Also, pikemen you can send back home to farm until the next battle. Knights always want to be-- well, knights! In peacetime they become a violent nusance to the entire countryside. They're almost as much of a pestilance as the schlactenbumlerin (Camp hures that follow the army and pillage the dead-- and almost dead-- to support themselves.) Some groups should only be released during time of war.
Rob
Adventure-History-Fantasy-Folklore
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Bruce Durham
Crom's Administrator & Drinking Buddy
Date Joined Jan 2005
Total Posts : 609
| Posted 7/28/2005 9:09 AM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by Supr
I'm missing the good old times when knights took the crossbows for unhonourable weapons.
Not to mention a crossbowman's hands. [:0]
quote:
Originally posted by Rob Mancebo
- Yes but even then the Landsknechte and Reislaufer just collected with halberds and 16 foot pikes to knock them off their horses. It was "Against the cavalry- present your pikes!" and that effectively ended the era of knightly supremicy. Pesant pikemen were cheep and easy to train, knights took a lifetime of training and $$$$$ out the wazzoo. A pike cost one gold Florin VS a knight's 3/4 plate at 45 Florins and a war horse that might cost 4 times that! Add weapons, barding, support-- well the faster Emperor Maximilian could replace Imperial Knights with Landsknechte the quicker he was able to expand the 'Holy Roman Empire'.
- Also, pikemen you can send back home to farm until the next battle. Knights always want to be-- well, knights! In peacetime they become a violent nusance to the entire countryside. They're almost as much of a pestilance as the schlactenbumlerin (Camp hures that follow the army and pillage the dead-- and almost dead-- to support themselves.) Some groups should only be released during time of war.
Rob
Adventure-History-Fantasy-Folklore
www.geocities.com/robmancebo/
However, Landsknechte, the Swiss and any others who became mercenaries, especially in Italy, proved to be far more dangerous and destructive (especially in peacetime) than any wayward knight. [:)]
Cheers,
Bruce
-------------------------
Admin: Community Forums for the Official Site of Conan the Barbarian
Contributing Editor for Flashing Swords. The leading edge in fantasy: Guaranteed Oprah Free!
Moderator for Paradox Interactive Games AAR and Fanfiction Forums
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4475
| Posted 7/28/2005 9:15 AM (GMT -4) | | That depends on your definition of "Peace Time". An army of unemployed or under utilised mercinaries, like a horde of displaced step dwellers in your country, usually means it isn't peace time. Best idea is to hire them to attack a neighbor, just to keep them out of the crops.
Mike
quote:
Originally posted by bdurham
However, Landsknechte, the Swiss and any others who became mercenaries, especially in Italy, proved to be far more dangerous and destructive (especially in peacetime) than any wayward knight. [:)]
Cheers,
Bruce
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Michael D. Turner
"Psyched Up" in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
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Bruce Durham
Crom's Administrator & Drinking Buddy
Date Joined Jan 2005
Total Posts : 609
| Posted 7/28/2005 12:15 PM (GMT -4) | | So long as there's an enemy to fight. Walter of Montreal (not the Canadian Montreal), took his 8,000 condottieri on a tour of Italy extorting florins from places like Rimini, Siena, Florence and Pisa before being arrested in Rome and beheaded. Some Dukes got in the habit of paying a merc army almost as much in peacetime as in war just so they wouldn't pillage the locals. That is, unless a person like Duke Visconti could convince a condottieri like the famed Honeyed Cat to live off the land in neighbouring Padua. The Hawkwoods and the Colleones were rare for their loyalty. [:)]
-------------------------
Admin: Community Forums for the Official Site of Conan the Barbarian
Contributing Editor for Flashing Swords. The leading edge in fantasy: Guaranteed Oprah Free!
Moderator for Paradox Interactive Games AAR and Fanfiction Forums
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