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| SFReader Forums > Book, Magazine, and eZine Publishers > Flashing Swords > Greatest Authors and Stories of Sword and Sorcery | Forum Quick Jump
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Red Viper
Acolyte
      
Date Joined Mar 2005
Total Posts : 439
| Posted 12/10/2005 5:35 PM (GMT -4) |   | You know, I enjoy Offutt's work, too. His ideosyncratic prose often grates on the nerves, but his characters are often quite solid and his imagination is rather vivid. Shadowspawn remains a favorite sword-and-sorcery character of mine. And Offutt deserves plenty of kudos for his "Swords Against Darkness" series of anthologies. Those offered solid stories and a wide range of tone. I'd love to see more anthologies of that quality.
Red Viper, aka Steve Goble
Upcoming stories: "The Grey Mother," "The Bloated Curse," and "The Gods-Forsaken World," all upcoming in Flashing Swords; "The Hungry Bottle," upcoming in Sword's Edge | | Back to Top | | |
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Jay Stevol
Neophyte
Date Joined May 2005
Total Posts : 154
| Posted 12/11/2005 11:07 AM (GMT -4) | | quote:
Originally posted by gardnersteve
Thanks for the input. I've added your comments to the list. Which of Moorcocks S&S is best after Elric by the way?
I haven't actually read any of his other works either. Sorry. I gather that Sojan Shieldbearer was written very early in his career. There's an article over on Flashing Swords by SC Bryce that you might find interesting, if you haven't yet read it: http://www.swordandsorcery.org/sojan.asp
I've heard conflicting things about his other S&S work, ranging from innovative to derivative. I'm not really qualified to answer myself. I do know that Von Bek is closest in tone to the real world, whilst Corum and Hawkmoon take place in the far past and far future respectively. | | Back to Top | | |
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cussedness
Forum Moderator
Date Joined Apr 2005
Total Posts : 799
| Posted 12/14/2005 2:39 AM (GMT -4) | | Jessica Amanda Salmonson's Tomoe Gozen novels, Sword and Sorcery in a mythical Japan.
Also you might want to take a look at the old sword and sorcery antho Amazons that she edited as there were a number of people with stories in it that went on to write more in sword and sorcery.
Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover novels were very sword and planet in the beginning, although they leaned more toward sf in the latter period of her writing. That's because of the Leigh Brackett influence.
Most of what I wanted to add had been added by the time I found this thread. Sigh. I need to come around more often.
Janrae Frank
Blood Rites http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook29989.htm
http://www.janraefrank.com | | Back to Top | | |
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jonesha
Forum Moderator
Date Joined Jun 2004
Total Posts : 655
| Posted 12/14/2005 3:56 AM (GMT -4) | | << Jessica Amanda Salmonson's Tomoe Gozen novels, Sword and Sorcery in a mythical Japan....... old sword and sorcery antho Amazons>>
I know of the Gozen novels but have never read them. I keep meaning to drop by Violet Books and order copies, but my to-be-read pile is so huge to start with. I DO have the Amazons anthologies and have dipped in to read some of the stories in the first volume.
I got the chance to talk with Jessica Amanda Salmonson at the World Fantasy Convention. I waylaid her when I saw her ID badge and she was kind enough to speak with me at length about various sword and sorcery topics--Imaro, Charles Saunders, Lin Carter, the state of the market, Harold Lamb (she assumed I would be older because I run the Lamb site, and my "youth" gave her hope for Lamb--I'm 37, but hey) and the work of Janrae Frank as well. It was a sincere pleasure.
best,
Howard
Editor-in-Chief
www.swordandsorcery.org
Flashing Swords E-Zine | | Back to Top | | |
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JMP
Stablehand
Date Joined Jun 2005
Total Posts : 21
| Posted 12/14/2005 5:46 AM (GMT -4) | | On the ancient/medieval side, maybe Vergil's Aeneid should be added. It has at least as much fantastic content as Homer's epics, and it's clearer that Vergil thought he was writing fantasy. There're some interesting fight scenes (like the epic-concluding duel with Turnus, for instance). And if S&S fans are going to read only one Icelandic epic, I'd recommend the Saga of Grettir the Strong. The Icelandic narrative style takes some getting used to, but I suspect the troll-fighting outlaw hero (who is afraid of the dark) will appeal to many a reader. Snorri's Prose Edda merits a look, too: the stories of Loki and Thor palling around in Giantland are sometimes reminiscent of Leiber. A big book from the Renaissance people might like is Ariosto's Orlando Furioso-- a little frothy, at times, but full of fights and magic and sorcerers and cliffhangers.
On the modern side, some of James Branch Cabell's fantasy novels might fit here: Domnei, Figures of Earth and Jurgen. There's a fun adventure fantasy novel by John W. Campbell jr. (yes, him), The Elder Gods. Still in that Golden Age territory: L. Ron Hubbard buckled a pretty good swash before he got busy inventing Dianetics and Scientology and Tom Cruise etc: Slaves of Sleep and Masters of Sleep are a couple of his novels for Unknown. Pratt's Well of the Unicorn, which falls toward the high fantasy end of the spectrum perhaps, still has some interesting magic and fighting. Jack Vance's later fantasy novels about Lyonesse probably deserve a mention: they were marketed as high fantasy, but that shouldn't put off people who liked The Dying Earth or the Cugel stories. Jack of Shadows is another great adventure fantasy by Zelazny.
Um... that's enough free associating for now, I guess. Hope some of this helps.
JMP
James M. Pfundstein | | Back to Top | | |
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gardnersteve
Timeless (Lostsouls.mud)
Date Joined Nov 2005
Total Posts : 90
| Posted 12/14/2005 6:17 AM (GMT -4) | | | Thanks James! Those stories sound great. I'll add them to the list when I have a chance. Please let me know of any more good S&S you know of or dig up! | | Back to Top | | |
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jonesha
Forum Moderator
Date Joined Jun 2004
Total Posts : 655
| Posted 12/14/2005 7:08 AM (GMT -4) | | Hey James,
Great suggestions. I have never been able to suffer through the whole of the Aeneid, but I've read some neat excerpts. It can be tedious, and Homer never is. Orlando Furioso, yes, by all means. Jurgen--not so much. A good book, but not blood and thunder. My sense is that Cabell's other books are the same way (I really ought to find out, since I tracked down their Ballentine printings and have them sitting on my bookshelf, ear Well of the Unicorn--similarly tracked down and unread).
I have Slaves of Sleep and enjoyed it. Really must read Masters of Sleep someday. Jack of Shadows is the one book by Zelazny I don't think I've ever read, and I hear it's an oversight I really need to correct. And the Prose Edda and some of the other sagas--really, really I need to read those. Someday. Hopefully I have many years left to get through my "to-be-read" pile.
Editor-in-Chief
www.swordandsorcery.org
Flashing Swords E-Zine | | Back to Top | | |
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Wild Ape
Stablehand
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 41
| Posted 12/19/2005 6:40 PM (GMT -4) | | | I think Harry Turtledove should be in there somewhere. John Jakes needs to get back to sword and sorcery though. I'd like to see Brak finish the quest. If you haven't read his 'I Barbarian' then you need to get a copy if you can find it. It is historical swashbuckling and a darned good read. I like Eric Flint's stuff as well. | | Back to Top | | |
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erazmus
Master
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 4475
| Posted 12/20/2005 8:18 AM (GMT -4) | | Another Eric Flint fan! I didn't think anyone read his fantasies! Well, his Joe's worlds stuff anyway. Its an aquired taste and I liked _The Philosophic Strangler_ better than _Forward the Mage_.
What did you think of his collaberations with Ryk Spoor in _Mountain Magic_?
Mike
Michael D. Turner
"Psyched Up" in _Turn the other Chick_-ed. E. Friesner-Baen books
www.baen.com
"Two Ravens" in Amazing Journeys Magazine #9 Sept. 05
"An Incident at Black Tongue Tavern" in _Bash Down the Door and Slice Open the Badguy_ from Fantasist Enterprises | | Back to Top | | |
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AndyBow
Acolyte
Date Joined May 2005
Total Posts : 267
| Posted 1/22/2007 3:16 PM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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