Brian Murphy's Blog, page 41

The title of the post should speak for itself, but a little context.

Heard on the intranets recently... "Gary Gygax ripped off Dave Arneson! Dave is D&D's true creator!"

My response: Horse shit.

Ideas are like a@#$holes. We've all got one, and most stink. I can sit here in the calm quiet of my living room and fire off a dozen. "Weight loss app." "Online mentoring program for pediatricians." "Telehealth scheduling interface." "Dying Earth role-playing game."

They mean (almost) nothing. What matters is the execution.

You've got an amazing idea for the next 7 volume epic fantasy series? Great. It means nothing ... unless you write it. And it's good.

That awesome weight loss app idea? Great. Now program it. Market it. Sell it. Until then, your idea is so much vapor.

Back to Gygax-Anderson. The idea of taking tabletop military wargames and altering the scale to make a tin soldier representing a unit of 1,000 men a single hero you control and imbue with personality, is a pretty cool one. Whoever conceived that idea, whether Gygax or Anderson (or some other unnamed wargamer), remains up for debate, though Arneson was definitely part of the conversation. His fictional game world of Blackmoor inspired Gygax, and together the two men went on to co-develop the original D&D game rules.

But Gygax took the idea and created TSR, turning an idea into an industry. Without Gygax, there would be no D&D.

That's the power of execution vs. ideas.

Heavy metal.Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus I've switched to working out from home and dumped the commercial gym. And I'm loving it.

In addition to weights and a bar I bought a Rogue R-3 power rack. It's been worth every penny. It actually has adjustable safety pins  (imagine that), an item which my prior semi-shitty box gym did not possess. Near criminal for a business that ostensibly exists to get people strong.

The result of this equipment and the knowledge that if I fail a heavy lift I'll be fine, plus having no one waiting on me or interrupting my routine with inane babble, has been a small PR. Today using a below parallel/hips below the crease of the knee squat, I hit 455 x 2, followed by 405 x 7. Not bad for a 47 year old dad and desk jockey.

I'm into sword-and-sorcery and heavy metal, so lifting heavy goes hand-in-hand. I was raised on Arnold Schwartzenegger films and Frank Frazetta barbarian physiques and wanted to look like that. For the record I don't, but I believe in exercise and the physical fueling the mental.

Thanks Amazon!I'm looking forward to digging into these, in particular My Father The Pornographer, Chris Offutt's memoir of his father Andrew. Though perhaps best known for his work editing the Swords Against Darkness anthologies and as an author of some S&S, horror, and science fiction titles, Andrew Offutt apparently made most of his income writing porn novels under pseudonyms. This one was prompted by my recent re-read of Swords Against Darkness for the Appendix N Book Club Podcast.

Happy to support DMR with this purchase of Heroes of Atlantis and Lemuria. I've been slowly adding to my collection of CAS and The End of the Story is a welcome volume.

Finally, The Conan Companion is at first glance and one cursory thumb-through a beautiful book and a detailed publishing history of Conan.

More to come on these later.

This one is worth a listen (he says, in understated fashion):


Fierce is the gale
From the north sea
We drink and rejoice from the chalice
Holding the course
Through long nights and days
The ice and the hail bear no malice
Tow the line
Keep it fine
Every man seeks this end

Valhalla - you are calling


I had forgotten how good this one was, until I hit upon it during a Youtube search while getting under the bench press today. I was able to hit another rep on my top set at 320 (x8 reps), right as the intro kicks into high gear at around the 40 second mark. See if it won't do the same for you.

Redeemer of Souls (2014) seems relatively forgotten after the more smashing success of Firepower (2018). While I do admit the latter is a better all-around album, Redeemer has a few monster tracks, including "Dragonaut," "Redeemer of Souls," "Sword of Damocles," "Battle Cry" and of course, "Valhalla." It was Priest's first album without the great K.K. Downing, who decided to retire and get into the business of opening a country club, but Richie Faulkner (The Falcon!) reinvigorated the band, and Halford proved he still had a lot left on the fastball. See the 4:28 mark.

I saw Priest play in support of this album in 2014 at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell MA, and got to meet three of the band members back stage. That story is too long and too good to be told here so shall wait for another day.

I have a confirmed fetish for anything Viking and this song definitely gets me ... aroused. I think Poul Anderson would have approved of it. Hell I think Ragnar Lodbrok would have drank mead from the skulls of his enemies with this one as the soundtrack.

Not a volume of Robert E. Howard
stories, despite the large
"Robert E. Howard"
This past Sunday I had the honor of joining hosts Jeff Goad and Ngo Vinh-Hoi for an episode of the Appendix N Book Club podcast. This is one of my very favorite podcasts, and a must-listen if you’re interested in pulp fantasy, sword-and-sorcery, or exploring the literary roots and inspirations of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Subscribe today.
We reviewed a classic, Swords Against Darkness, the first in a series of five S&S anthologies edited by Andrew Offutt. It had been a few years since I last read SAD and upon re-read I found it even better than I remembered.
What follows are some rough notes I made for the show, not a polished essay. I hope the guys from Appendix N don’t mind the preview. This is just a taste of what we covered.
The episode is supposed to drop on July 27. My computer audio gave out at least 2x during the program which was a source of considerable frustration (and likely some annoying post-production). Jeff and Ngo, thanks again for the opportunity.
General commentaryThis is quintessential sword-and-sorcery. Quite the roll-call of S&S heroes—Kardios of Atlantis, Simon of Gitta, Ryre, Vettius, etc.
Editor Andrew Offutt is perhaps best known these days as the subject of My Father, the Pornographer: A Memoir. But he wrote many credible S&S stories for the likes of Thieves’ World, three Conan novels, Cormac Mac Art stories including a couple with Keith Taylor (When Death Birds Fly and Tower of Death, which I have on my bookshelf), and of course served as the editor of Swords Against Darkness.
Swords Against Darkness II has a helpful introductory essay by Offutt, “Call it what you Will,” which was among the many essays I referenced in Flame and Crimson. A relevant quote from that essay, “As to ‘sword & sorcery’—sometimes the tale contains no sword—or no sorcery! Or, more rarely, neither. (Sword and supernatural might come closer, if we’re to discuss, haggle, or bicker”)
This collection is perhaps more accurately heroic fantasy, due to historical nature of some of the stories. But I’m not going to bicker or get pedantic. Much.
Cover is noteworthy for the blurb, “Heroic Fantasy in the tradition of Robert E. Howard”—very common to namedrop Howard on S&S covers, which is indicative of general popularity of REH /Lancers/Conan in general. Zebra for example had a line of REH reprints—Tigers of the Sea, Worms of the Earth, A Gent from Bear Creek, etc. Zebra later adopted “swords and sorcery” on its spine. And it’s got Frazetta cover art of course, though I’m not as fond of this piece as most of his other work.

“Nekht Semerkeht”Offutt did same thing here that Carter/De Camp get shat upon for, finishing an REH story. For the record I’m OK with this practice, as long as it’s clearly called out.
Page 16—This line “The new world and the old personified in the two men,” an interesting clash of the conquistador de Guzman and native American. Double meaning in that North America is the new world, but also alludes to civilized vs. barbarian, at the same time. Paragraph is exquisite.
Page 17—The Indian read “the ultimate doom of his race—REH was sympathetic of natives and critical of rapacious conquerors (a point of contention in his letters with HPL).
Page 18—Beautiful metaphor of expedition as a ship adrift on the open sea. REH’s love of the west is plain here. He was writing this very late in his life circa 1936 when westerns were his passion. And suicide was weighing heavily on on his mind (“the game is not worth the candle”). This extended dialogue puts to rest the simplistic notion that REH only killed himself due to his mother passing. He was meditating on the futility and sordidness of existence long before his mother’s death, and suffering from depression.
Attackers of the city Tlasceltec are slain are slain by necromancy, a blue cloud of death. This city received tribute from Montezuma? Wow.
A lot of weirdness going here—Feeders from the sky, children of darkness with hairy bodies and hands of a woman (WTF?)
S&S is both historical and a-historic, the intrusion of the weird into the everyday makes it more horrible and alien
P. 42—here is why gunpowder does not mix with S&S—one shot kills a sorcerer. “I am dying, of a weapon that ends prowess and cleverness and will harden man all the more.”
P. 43—“false foolishness of patriotism.” Shot across the bow by Howard at flag-wavers.Cool that De Guzman “sat and conversed” with Nekht Semerkeht (an deeply ancient sorcerer from ancient Egypt), who returns the favor by attempting to guide him into a pit of rattlesnakes. Not cool.It’s a dark end for the city, and none fit to rule it—certainly not De Guzman who is portrayed as a brutal conquistador. S&S “heroes” are not always that.
“The Tale of Hauk”Language of Saga—structure and cadence. “Geirolf came again.” Short, clipped, prose, understated.
Clash of pagans and encroaching Christianity. Oaths, and oathmaking. Geirolf wishes to be freed from a “straw death.”
Historical—King Harald Fair-Hair, first King of Norway, King Alfred, etc.
Page 66—so deliciously creepy—“the skipper’s come again.” Geirolf “riding the ridge pole” on the roof—what imagery.
“Drow and Lich” used interchangeably to describe Geirolf—of course very different than D&D.
Hauk has 18/00 strength, no doubt.
“The Smile of Oisia”Suffers from early infodump
Ship owner Fafnir finds the corpse of master clerk Brumus, who has been tortured to death.
Sorceress wants the mask of Karmik—top 89 she is described as a 9th level witch, but pooh-poohed as weak? She is marked for death as a sacrifice to Oisia, goddess of chance. Chance in S&S—not epic destinies.
94—This is pure S&S—adventure for women and gold
Tower raid is like the Tower of the Elephant, Kessak and Nalcon echo Fafhrd and the Gray mouser … Story feels derivative of S&S template, too self aware perhaps. But good.
“The Pride of the Fleet”Weird selection as its sword and planet (actually references ERB/Dejah Thoris). But S&P is S&S cloaked in the guise of SF. John Carter stories huge influence on S&S, etc.
Female protagonist meets a rather vicious end.
Author Bruce Jones did work and art for Red Sonja, and pokes fun at chainmail bikini stereotype—perhaps he was fed up with having to write these stories? Like prior story, shows self-awareness of S&S.
“Stranger from Atlantis”Manly Wade Wellman—a legend whose Kardios stories recently reprinted by DMR. Pulp author with huge bibliography of adventure, horror. Total of I believe 5-6 Kardios stories across various anthologies.
Atlantis has sunk—after Kardios kissed the queen, as prophecy foretold. Odd.
Nephol are race of giants, clumsy, Kardios quick and dangerous in comparison. Serve him feet of an elephant to eat?
Has a sword and harp—D&D bard, and obviously he has some high stats
Monster is Fith, a blob from the sky that consumes. Needs a magic sword to kill it—feels like plot contrivance—giants try to give him a mace, oh yeah, we also found this weird blade of unknown metal that fell with it.
Lowered into a well, upside down, with torch and sword—badass. Plus the torch is cool, flames inside a piece of cane.
Danger of “bowing to someone” and Kardios’ rejection of authority, his sword his preferred companion, are both very S&S.
“Ring of Set”Richard Tierney—one half of the Red Sonja series author along with David Smith. Smith wrote first draft and outline, Tierney completed them.
Historical, feels like REH with the timeline advanced. And it is. Ring of Set is from “The Phoenix on the Sword”
Again very historical, elite Roman guards Praetorian Guard, etc.
Simon of Gitta is another classic S&S hero. More than 15 appearances, I believe this was his first. As recent as 2018 in Robert M. Price anthology The Mighty Warriors.
Has some magic—again would be a D&D multi-class, with a few levels of illusionist.
Magic is very S&S, turns on its wielder. You don’t use the Ring of Set lightly.
“Largarut’s Bane”Odd, quiet little story about a fishing village leader whose “bane” is his pride—he has angered a god and it places a curse on his kin (daughter Eriel), whom he has been babying/ignoring/not letting grow. A slow grower but it works
A witch aids Laragarut by drawing him away and having his daughter confront her (and his) literal demons; Eriel passes the test. Strong female empowerment here—not what one would consider typical S&S, and yet it is—it’s about strength, and might prevailing over sorcery/horror.
“Dragon’s Teeth” First appeared in Midnight Sun (need a copy)
Vettius, Roman Legionaire officer, 6-7 stories set in late Roman Empire. Again historical.
Drake wrote one of my all-time favorite S&S stories, the heavily reprinted “The Barrow Troll”
Civilization is still portrayed as disgusting, even though it’s told from a Roman perspective. Sarmartians are the barbarians, but Romans aren’t much better. Very S&S
Hydaspes, a hedge wizard with a monkey on his shoulder like a living ventriloquists’ dummy. What a cool character.
“The Sustenance of Hoak”Lovecraftian tale, horror but with more characterization and humanity than is typical in HPL
Ryre stories appeared in Whispers, Savage Heroes, but largely in Swords Against Darkness
I recommend Far Away and Never (Necronomicon Press, 1996) which also includes an original Ryre story by Campbell.
Prefigures Glen Cook’s the Black Company and Grimdark in general. Death of Glode is straight out of Abercrombie. Dirt and blood and mire.

Will you dare his tomb? You will,
 because Jim Holloway pointed the way.
A big name in fantasy role-playing/Dungeons and Dragons art passed away yesterday—Jim Holloway.
Jim was not my favorite D&D artist of all time—I might have to go with Bill Willingham or Erol Otus—but he was one of the 5-6 most iconic and prolific of the silver or “commercial” age of TSR, circa 1981 and on.
It’s hard to pick my favorite Holloway illustration but I might have to go with the cover for I3, Pharaoh(1982). It’s not typical of Holloway’s work—there isn’t the glorious confusion of twisted faces and tangled bodies fighting on some underground battlefield or tavern floor, or any hint of the humor that defined so much of his illustration for the likes of Dragon magazine. But there is in it a deep call to adventure, a mystery and a majesty in the figure of Amun-Re that caused me to play this module over and over in my youth, along with the rest of the Desert of Desolation series.
It’s hard to overestimate the importance and impact of fantasy art in the 1970s-80s. In this pre-internet era, when computer games were fun and beginning to get immersive but limited by crude green-screen graphics, artists like Jim Holloway were gateways to wonder. They provided the visual representation of the words of Gary Gygax, Tom Moldvay, Frank Mentzer, David Cook, Tracy and Laura Hickman, and others. Holloway’s detailed style was such that you could look at one of his illustrations and conceive an entire adventure around it, or at least a pivotal boss-battle. His artwork was, as this nice post on Black Gate demonstrates, how D&D was actually played at the game table—with laughs, and fumbles, and great ideas like tripping stone giants with a 50 foot rope. The look of characters whose players used charisma as a “dump stat”—mighty of frame but with buck teeth and bad breath.
This old school era of weirdness and unbridled creativity is slipping into the past, day by day. Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, Tom Moldvay, David Trampier, David Sutherland III, and others, have all passed away. Add Holloway to that roll call of heroes of the imagination. RIP.

Some interesting happenings and ramblings...

Another podcast appearance. This coming Sunday, July 5, I'll be recording an episode of the Appendix N Book Club Podcast. The topic of the show is the Andrew J. Offutt-edited Swords Against Darkness (vol. 1). This follows hard on the heels of my appearance on the Literary Wonder & Adventure podcast. Apparently if you want to get on a show, the best way to do it is to write a book. I am a subscriber and fan of the Appendix N podcast, which as its name indicates is about the literary inspirations for Dungeons and Dragons. I'm re-reading Swords Against Darkness for the occasion and am finding it as awesome as the last time I read it, at least through the first two stories. Not that I needed a reminder but Poul Anderson's "The Tale of Hauk" is one of the better sword-and-sorcery tales ever written. And the incomplete REH tale "Nekht Semerkeht," finished by Offutt, was better than I remembered.

A worthwhile post about fantasy art over on Black Gate. Head on over to read Robert Zoltan's "The Importance of Good Fantasy Art." This is a nice piece, well-written, and with lots of great accompanying art that aptly demonstrates Zoltan's thesis. I know I've picked up more than one sword-and-sorcery/pulp fantasy paperback based on cover art alone. Zoltan stirs things up a bit by referencing the age-old debate about why Robert E. Howard's paperbacks sold so well in the 1960s: Was it Howard's meteoric writing talent, or Frank Frazetta's genius? Or both?

Speaking of Flame and Crimson, I recently received a couple of very nice five-star reviews, one each on Amazon and Goodreads. I loved this bit from the Amazon review, which speaks well of my writing style, but perhaps not so much of skill as a researcher: He is not an academic so we are spared the typical turgid prose that comes from University presses. Highly recommended. The Goodreads review contains my favorite blurb to date: I enjoyed, very much, the chapter on the influence of S&S on Heavy Metal music. If Mr Murphy wrote another book about that subject, I would pre-order it! I'm thrilled, beyond belief, that this book seems to be well-received, and that I've been able to provide folks with some entertaining reading hours. If you read and enjoyed Flame and Crimson but have not yet left a review on Amazon or elsewhere, please do take a moment to do so. Apparently more reviews helps with search rankings and the likes, and they bring a smile to my face.

This podcast thing is going to happen (eventually). I don't have a start date in mind, or a title, and still I need to figure out how I'm going to pull it off from a platform/technical perspective. But besides those not-inconsiderable obstacles, I'm going to give this podcast hosting-thing a try.

I loaned a friend of mine, age 49, the first two Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser paperbacks. Despite having read no sword-and-sorcery in his lifetime and having no real interest in the subject this guy actually plowed through Flame and Crimson, merely because he's a good friend of mine and wanted to be able to talk and ask questions about this project that consumed most of my free time over the past 5 years. The section on Leiber interested him enough to prompt him to ask me if he could borrow my old copies, so I loaned him Swords and Deviltry and Swords Against Death. I post this here not to brag, nor (just) as a reminder that he has them on loan, but to note that I am very curious to see how someone approaching F&GM and sword-and-sorcery for the first time, later in life, enjoys the stories. I almost pushed him away from Leiber and in the direction of Howard and the likes of "The Tower of the Elephant" but opted not to. I'll report back here with his impressions once I get some feedback.

I'm giving some serious thought to starting up a podcast. I think the world could use a regular show on my favorite subgenre of fantasy--sword-and-sorcery--its practitioners, and the weirdness that surrounds it.

However, I have some reservations. One is time. Another is whether anyone would listen. The third and largest is that I don't think I'm a particularly interesting person or a compelling speaker. My forte' is the written word. I'm a middle-age dad and way, way out of touch with current popular culture. I don't watch TV and the last time I may have been vaguely cool was 1992.

That said, I'm slowly formulating a plan for an interview-style show, where I would host various authors, designers, artists, and personalities to talk about themselves and their work. I think I would focus on S&S/heroic fantasy, but stray into horror, heavy metal, movies, possibly comics.

I'd love to get some input on this, yay or nay. If someone has run a podcast and could offer any encouraging words of wisdom, pitfalls to avoid, run screaming in the other direction-type advice, etc., that would be particularly helpful. Hit me up here or over e-mail.

The History of Sword and Sorcery: A Conversation with Author Brian Murphy (that is me) is now available for listening on the Literary Wonder & Adventure Show podcast. Check it out here. It's also up on Youtube.

I'm a bit nervous to listen myself as I'm no sword-and-sorcery hero, and have always been far more comfortable working in the written word rather than the spoken. But I hope I had some interesting things to say Again, I thank host Robert Zoltan and his companion Edgar the Raven for the opportunity.

Edit: Just started listening and I'm loving the post-production work. We didn't start the show with crashing, Basil Poledouris-esque intro music playing in our earphones.

Yesterday would have been the 90th birthday of the late Lin Carter (1930-1988). I took the opportunity with the prompting of the gents over at DMR publishing to write an essay commemorating the occasion. The angle I chose was his contributions as a pioneering historian of fantasy.

I don't agree with everything Carter had to say about sword-and-sorcery, and get into a few of them at DMR. Check it out here if you're interested. But I also think Carter deserves praise for his work as essentially the first person to offer a coherent history of fantasy with his Imaginary Worlds (1973), published during his tenure as editor of the great Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series. The dude loved fantasy and told a cohesive story about how it came to be, and some of the itches it scratches in our collective humanity.

One of these days I'll have to do some more exploration of my thoughts on pastiche fiction. It's complicated. But some days you just want to read some Thongor.