My view of sword and sorcery.

[bdurham]

Lots of S&S discussion and no mention of Karl Edward Wagner's Kane character? Fantastic stuff. Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser - good, but felt too 'literary' to me to be true S&S. Anybody ever read the Imaro stuff by Saunders? I remeber some other series I read in high school, Brak the Barbarisn I think? I don't remeber it being all that good.

I recently pulled out my Conan collection and am re-reading them, starting at the beginning of the 'original' de Camp series.

My son is 11 - I recently foudn the full run of Burroughs Tarzan, Pellucidar, and John Carter of Mars books on eBay. He's going through them now. I think he needs to be a bit older for Conan though!

'Brak the Barbarian' was written by John Jakes, who is probably known better for his historical fiction. You may remember 'North & South'. Either way, you're right. It wasn't that good.

You should do yourself a favour and get the 3 book Conan set from Del Rey. These are the pure Howard stories as they originally appeared, before de Camp took liberties with them for the Lancer series.

[von Darkmoor]

I've a novel idea! I think I shall review those KEW titles here on SFReader once I finish them!

[cussedness]

Let me know when the reviews are up, Jason. I would enjoy seeing what you thought of them.

[London]

What does sword and sorcery mean to me? I do not confuse it with high fantasy, urban fantasy, dark fantasy, or literary fantasy. Although the lines may blur at times between high fantasy and sword and sorcery (as it does in my own writing), sword and sorcery to me is its own genre and clearly defined.

Sword and sorcery has a gritty swagger that speaks of cracked skulls, black candles atop a bloodstained altar, and a searing blade in the dark. It is the lustful gleam in a rogue's eye as he gazes at the object of his undoing. It is, when the vultures are closing in at last to pick clean the ribs of the fallen, a pile of corpses stacked like a wall around a steel-thewed warrior bearing a blood-streaked grin.

It is not sparkling magic swords, prancing unicorns, wizardly apprentices, or an average character discovering the hero within. Rather, It is superhuman strength, savage will, lightning reflexes, and heavy blades tearing through flesh and bone. It is not about you or me, but about warriors who tower over their fellow humans and who spit in the face of death every day of their lives.

I agree!

Now that said, give me your top five S&S novels.