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

Hey all,

A poll is due soon to guide July-August groupreads.

Any ideas to populate that? What do you want to read then (perhaps others do too)?

What is at the top, or bottom, of your TBR pile? Need a boost by tackling it with some buddies?

Let me know via this thread.

I’ve been all over the place lately with my reading, and it’s been fun.
Have we touched on the horror aspects of S&S as a topic? The horror of Worms of the Earth is a great early example, and Wagner’s Kane series is steeped in Gothic Horror touches. Anything more horror-centric in S&S out there?

Campbell’s Ryre.... Lumley’s Khash and Shad series .... Schweitzer’s We Are All Legends.... Lebbon’s Dusk/Dawn

Shea’s Nifft the Lean too

How about The Mask of the Sorcerer by Darrell Schweitzer? S&S with horror aspects? I have not read it yet...

S.wagenaar wrote: "How about The Mask of the Sorcerer by Darrell Schweitzer? S&S with horror aspects? I have not read it yet..."

The Mask of the Sorcerer is very good. Not S&S per se, but it was spawned from the notes/drafts of Schweitzer's never published Conan pastiche "Conan the Deliverer."

I interviewed Darrell Schweitzer (https://www.blackgate.com/2018/09/03/...) and read his essays. He has a dry humor, and is is self-deprecating... clarifying that his pastiche was not about a midwife, or a milkman. In any event, "Mask" is awesome as a weird adventure.

I have the sequel on my TBR (Sekenre: The Book of the Sorcerer) as well as The Shattered Goddess.

I loved his We Are All Legends, which deserves more press (it is more S&S too).

Perhaps a Darrell Schweitzer read is in order?

Or...how bout Bronze Age S&S! I was looking at my copy of The Reign of Wizardry by Jack Williamson and it got me thinking that most S&S is usually in some sort of pseudo-Iron Age...

S.wagenaar wrote: "Or...how bout Bronze Age S&S! I was looking at my copy of The Reign of Wizardry by Jack Williamson and it got me thinking that most S&S is usually in some sort of pseudo-Iron Age..."

Stan, I never heard of Jack Williamson. The Reign of Wizardry looks cool.

Jack Williamson was primarily a science fiction author from the Golden Age, although he wrote a few fantasy adventures as well.

S.E. wrote: "S.wagenaar wrote: "Or...how bout Bronze Age S&S! I was looking at my copy of The Reign of Wizardry by Jack Williamson and it got me thinking that most S&S is usually in some sort of pseudo-Iron Age..."

Oh, wow, Seth! Yeah, Jack Williamson is one of the old-school pulpmeisters. His novella "Darker Than You Think" is a required shape-shifter text!

I was fortunate enough to be invited as a wee, tiny little guest author at the 1988 Superman Con here in Cleveland (where Supe had been created, 50 years earlier). I was plopped onto a couple of writer panels, including one on something like..."Building Fantasy Worlds"---where I was the rookie, alongside Jack Williamson, Fred Pohl and a couple of other veteran sf/fantasy luminaries. I basically kept my mouth shut enough that nothing too stupid escaped my brain, listened attentively to my colleagues, and tried to look bright.

That's the con where I also met "fellow pro guest" James Doohan, whom I bumped into in the guest lounge over sandwiches and Star Trek banter.

Nice memories. My longtime friend Rebecca Meluch---also a young guest sf-writer there---and I still riff about our experiences at Superman Con. Pohl, especially, was a blast to talk to, full of great stories about the pulp days. Williamson was very quiet and unassertive, but an engaging gentleman.

I'll second Shea's Nifft the Lean and second it hard. Shea was a prose master and is cruelly underappreciated.

Jack Willamson was, though best known for his SF, a pulpster par excellence. Keith Haffner has made it something of a Grail Quest to reprint as much Williamson as he possibly can.

Darker Than You Think was justly called out. It's unforgettable but you probably should have read it when you were 16.

For pure pulp adventure you can hardly beat the author's Golden Blood which was serialized in Weird Tales. In fact, I'd be pretty surprised if you didn't immediately recognize the April 1933 cover for the novel's first installment. One of WT's most iconic covers.

Aw, just check this link out, if you would...

https://tellersofweirdtales.blogspot....

The cover story he did for Strange Tales, Wolves of Darkness, is pretty fine, too.

Wow, some pretty informative responses from a couple of writers who know a few things! Thanks guys, I think I’ll tackle some Williamson next; I have Darker Than You Think in paperback, as well as Golden Blood on my Kindle ( currently enjoying Seven Sorcerers at the moment...).

Love the conversation... it inspired the initial choices of this poll:
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