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

Many of these Megapacks are available on Amazon/Kindle.
Today I spotted The Adventure Megapack (for $0.99) containing stories by Robert E. Howard, Harold Lamb and William Hope Hodgson among many others. Looks like a good sampler of the earliest days of the genre...

Wildside Press is planning a new Sword and Sorcery Megapak, republishing stories by David C. Smith, Ted C. Rypel, Cynthia Ward, Jessica Salmonson, yours truly, and many, many others. No word on publication date yet.

I'm looking forward to that Megapack for sure.

Cool news Joe! Be sure to yell nice and loud when it is available :)

LOL!!!! They'll hear me in Siberia! (Dave Smith and I have a few fans out there -- so I'll have to yell loud enough!) Just sitting and waiting on word.

Joe wrote: "LOL!!!! They'll hear me in Siberia! (Dave Smith and I have a few fans out there -- so I'll have to yell loud enough!) Just sitting and waiting on word."

Great news. Looking forward to it!

Thanks! I'm hoping to see this MegaPak before I'm too old to remember what sword and sorcery is!

Looking forward to seeing the complete ToC on that one as well.

Joe wrote: "Wildside Press is planning a new Sword and Sorcery Megapak, republishing stories by David C. Smith, Ted C. Rypel, Cynthia Ward, Jessica Salmonson, yours truly, and many, many others. No word on pub..."

I'm supposed to have a story in it, too. Still waiting on word.

That's right, Bruce -- you, too! The whole FB Swords and Sorcery League gang, I believe.

Sweet! Congrats Bruce. Which tale?

That's interesting that so many here will be representin' :)
Too bad I've not yet had a published S&S tale.

Jason M wrote: "Sweet! Congrats Bruce. Which tale?

That's interesting that so many here will be representin' :)
Too bad I've not yet had a published S&S tale."

Thanks Jason. One of my Dalacroy tales: 'Abuse of Power'. Yeah, it's too bad the man behind RBE didn't have a tale to contribute :).

Jason -- what about going with Black Gate Fiction? Or the new eZine format? There are a lot of markets out there. Always being posted on FB. My Bonadonna's Bookshelf on FB has a lot of market links on the Wall, and in my Notes page.

Yes, all sound ideas Joe. I've had a story I really like accepted twice now to publications that have since died (one was the Ricasso Press Through Blood and Iron anthology I was extremely excited to appear in alongside many of the S&S authors I know and/or have published), and it is currently a contender in one more anthology. If it returns from that I intend on making Mr O'Neill an offer he can't refuse ;)

LOL!!! I have one in the works and I may make him a similar offer! For all the technology we have today -- it's still like it was in the 70s, with all the fanzines: they pop-up, put out a couple of issues, and then go down like a paper Titanic. Great story title for you: THE ROGUE BLADES OF BLACK GATE. That conjures some very old-school sword and sorcery imagery.

An eZine dedicated to pulp-driven S&S would be wonderful. It would certainly fill a niche that current pubs that claim they accept S&S don't. Lovecraft eZine began as a one-man operation and has become wildly successful. No reason a site that features S&S couldn't (after all, the original HAJ Flashing Swords was working well until the people behind it pulled the plug for whatever reason)

I didn't even know about HAJ's Flashing Swords until it was long gone. I had been away from it all for over a decade, reading in other genres, and working on scripts. I did submit to Black Gate in 2007 or so. Got a rejection. But i did give O'Neill a freebie tale, lol! I'm still being rejected by the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. They still want old-school ms submissions. At least the last 2 rejections from them were personal letters, instead of the standard form-letter rejection.

I had terrible luck submitting to Black Gate. I usually got a note back saying how much he liked the action, the prose, the setting, the dialogue, etc., ... followed by an explanation that my story wasn't what he was looking for. Sigh. I wrote a book review for BG once, at their request. They sent book, I reviewed it, wrote a nice piece, turned it in early, was told it was good ... and never saw it again. Sigh.

I miss the hell outta Flashing Swords, though. Those were the days.

Steve wrote: "I miss the hell outta Flashing Swords, though. Those were the days."

I was happy to discover that the first 5 issues of Flashing Swords have been archived on-line. There is this listing of issues #9-#11, but litle information after that...

Steve wrote: "I had terrible luck submitting to Black Gate. I usually got a note back saying how much he liked the action, the prose, the setting, the dialogue, etc., ... followed by an explanation that my story..."

I had the same rotten luck, Steve. After 3 attempts I gave up. Figured by brand of S&S fantasy would never fit their publication.

Periklis, I believe #11 was the last issue. The FS brand was sold to an author, but another issue never appeared (I was supposed to have a story in their next (first) issue). I'm not sure who owns the brand now, or if it's available, but it sure would be nice if someone could resurrect it.

Periklis wrote:

I was happy to discover that the first 5 issues of Flashing Swords have been archived on-line. There is this list..."

It's funny seeing me introduced as a 'newcomer' (which I was) in issue 2. :)

I miss andy offutt's excellent SWORDS AGAINST DARKNESS. That was a ground-breaking series, and a great opportunity for new writers. He published some hard-core, old-school sword and sorcery -- no fairies or elves, no "kinder, gentler sword and sorcery." I came thisclose to making a sale with him. I exchanged many friendly letters with him, too. I'd like to see that taken up again, but I don't think that brand of sword and sorcery is that popular anymore. Bob Price (who continues writing Thongor pastiches) is trying to sell an old-school anthology of "mighty warriors" sword and sorcery -- all male authors who were published in the 70s and 80s: Dave Smith, Ted Rypel, Rich Tierney. Price and Adrian Cole have "resurrected" both Kuttner's Elak of Atlantis and Karl Wagner's Kane, and are doing the pastiches. No feminine touch there in that antho. I wonder how well it will be received, if and when he finds a taker?

Thanks for sharing the link to the archived Flashing Swords! I read a few today, and I have to say they were all pretty good. Too bad this isn't still around.

Any specific reason nobody has mentioned Heroic Fantasy Quarterly as a place to submit a good S & S tale?

They pay fairly well, if not professional rates, and I've seen some pretty decent stuff on there, particularly the Hokage stories by R Michael Burns.

I was just curious.

Paul wrote: "Any specific reason nobody has mentioned Heroic Fantasy Quarterly as a place to submit a good S & S tale?

They pay fairly well, if not professional rates, and I've seen some pretty decent stuff on..."

Frankly, I'm not sure what kind of S&S they are looking for. Maybe the kinder, gentler, so-called 'New S&S'? I've tried them a couple of times, but got the 'didn't quite fit, send more' response. That's why I miss FS and RBE. They appreciate old-school.

I don't know if that's quite accurate Bruce, they bought a story of mine and it was neither kind nor gentle ;)

Different editors have different tastes, different needs, etc., as you of course know. I think it's hard to reach a conclusion on what they are after based on just a few rejections. Sometimes it's as simple as already having a similar story in the queue, and remember HFQ can only buy 12 stories a year. HFQ is certainly closer to FS than something like BCS, however, though I think both are great (and vital) markets.

I really liked working with HFQ, and I've enjoyed the stories I've seen on there, though I have a tough time keeping up with online only venues (maybe that will change if I get a tablet).

And I also miss Flashing Swords -- that's where I had my first sale...right before they tanked (Jason later picked up the story for The Return of the Sword). I agree Bruce that their brand of old school s&s was really well presented during that initial HAJ run; shame later publishers didn't seem to know what to do with FS, despite good intentions.

As I'm sure some of the other authors that appeared in FS have done, I've occasionally daydreamed of hunting down the current rights holder and trying to resurrect the magazine along it's original lines. A quick stroll through Ralan's graveyard usually dissuades me of the notion, however.

Bill wrote: "I really liked working with HFQ, and I've enjoyed the stories I've seen on there, though I have a tough time keeping up with online only venues (maybe that will change if I get a tablet). "

I have this same problem with online only venues. Seems to me it would make a lot of sense for them to at least put out a Kindle version.

Bruce, just found some of your stories in the Flashing Swords archives. Great stuff!

Checked out Bill's story over at HFQ as well. It was good and not at all kind or gentle!

Paul wrote: "Bruce, just found some of your stories in the Flashing Swords archives. Great stuff!

Checked out Bill's story over at HFQ as well. It was good and not at all kind or gentle!"

Just a figure of speech. Guess I'm picking the editors on a bad day or something. I appreciate you reading those stories. They are among my earliest. One of these days I'd like to gather them into a collection, after revisiting each and doing a Janet Morris-type 'Director's Cut'. :)

Bruce wrote: "One of these days I'd like to gather them into a collection, after revisiting each and doing a Janet Morris-type 'Director's Cut'. :) "

I would buy it. There's a real need for good, old-style S&S.

Paul wrote:

I would buy it. There's a real need for good, ..."

Excellent! There's one... :)