r/SwordandSorcery

So, probably quite a few of us know about Cimmerian September, wherein participants read Conan material, either original Howard, or pastiche. What other months could be done? Here are some possibilities:

Atlantean August--Kull, obviously, but there is plenty of non-Howard S&S that uses the mythical island continent as a backdrop.

Nyumbani November--Charles R Saunders' Imaro series and related short stories, though it could be expensive.

Melnibonean May--self explanatory, and more alliterative, even if Elric's brooding nature aligns better with March...

November could also be for Newhon...

Realistically, only Conan has enough material for a monthly read to require multiple years to complete (as a character, at least). But other monthly stand outs are certainly possible. What am I not seeing, since I have really only read the big names?

I am 111 pages into The City in the Autumn Stars and I unfortunately have to admit to being less than thrilled with it. The historical references in The Warhound and the World's Pain (which I read for the first time a couple months ago) were of a quantity that my OCD habit of looking up every reference I wasn't familiar with wasn't particularly bothersome. But in The City in the Autumn Stars, it's so stuffed to the brim with constant, unending historical references, that I just had to concede that I am not going to understand what he's talking about a lot of the time because if I stopped to look everything up it'd literally multiply the amount of time it's going to take to read the book by a fairly big number.

I understand that unlike most of his other stuff I have read this is supposed to be partially a work of historical fiction, but in all seriousness, who is the audience for this? Is it assumed that the vast majority of readers are equally as well read up on the history of France in the 1700s? Are readers expected to have to make the choice of either constantly stopping to figure out what the historical references mean or just give up and concede that they're not going to understand what he's talking about? And I at least have the benefit of the Internet, I can't imagine trying to figure out what all these historical references mean at the time the book actually came out.

Also, the sorcerous element was introduced fairly early in The Warhound and the World's Pain but about a third into The City in the Autumn Stars there's still not the slightest hint of it.

So on both these fronts, how similar is The Dragon in the Sword to The City in the Autumn Stars? I am definitely going to read it either way, but I'd like to know what I'm in for. Is it equally overflowing with historical references? I am extremely anti-spoiler, but without any details, is a huge chunk of the book going to go by before the sorcerous element is introduced or even hinted at?

On a related note, I have heard some MM fans talk about how much better his writing "craft" got in the 80s and afterward compared to his 70s work. Well, as you may guess by my username, my favorite books of all-time by any author are The Knight of the Swords, The Queen of the Swords, and The King of the Swords. Those are from the 70s and are a lot easier to understand and therefore a lot easier to get swept up in because I am not struggling to figure out what's going on.

Even when it's not because of specific historical references, I feel like The City in the Autumn Stars is written in a much more convoluted way that is unnecessarily harder to understand just in terms of sentence/paragraph structure and wordiness. (Same with The Warhound and the World's Pain.) So is this because of it being partially historical fiction, or does this have something to do with the development of his writing "craft" and reflective of all his work during and after this period? (I only put "craft" in quotations because I am honestly unsure exactly what it's supposed to mean even though I seem to see it referred to a lot.)

Sorry to be negative, but I've bought seven issues of Savage Realms Monthly, and a lot of their stories leave me pretty underwhelmed. I started skipping over issues that continued the adventures of Redgar, because I just wasn't enjoying them, but some of the other stories aren't great either.

I bought the Neither Beg Nor Yield anthology, and I'm halfway through it. So far I've given up on two stories and just skipped them, and the rest of have been hit-and-miss for me.

I want to stress the "hit" part of that, because I DO enjoy some of these tales. I just wish it was with more consistency.

Just curious how the golden axe series is received? Anyone ever play? Who’d you play as?!

Need to cover some of my late father’s debts and medical bills. I am considering selling my complete set of the Centipede Press editions of the Elric books. I have all seven, signed with matching numbers. They’re unsealed but in pristine condition with archival plastic on the jackets. Hard to get a good idea of their value. I see a posting on Abebooks for a matching set of volumes 1-6 for $10k and I see unsigned editions selling for $500 to $1200 on eBay. Anyone have a better idea of what I should be asking? I don’t want to sell them, but I want to clear these debts for my mom. Any help is appreciated.

I have been making my way through Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser for the first time and maybe my expectations were too high given their reputation and how much I liked the 70s DC Comics, but I am not as impressed as I expected to be.

I am only about halfway through the second book, but since they're short story collections I have made my way through quite a few stories. My favorite is probably The Jewels in the Forest because I love them getting attacked by the building itself while they're in it and then it flailing after them as they run away. But these types of stories where the sorcerous element is something really original and they confront it head-on, which I love, have unfortunately felt few and far between.

I feel like most of the stories have been more along the lines of the last one I finished, The Howling Tower, which is a very good example of what I am not that enthusiastic about. When the sorcerous element is finally introduced, it is via "info-dump" so it has the least tension built possible. The sorcerous element itself wasn't all that original in my opinion. And probably worst of all, F&GM almost have a minor brush with it at the very end but actually manage to get out of any possible danger without ever directly engaging with it at all.

Although I tend to prefer the REH Conan stories in which the sorcerous element is more prominent, the ones in which it isn't don't have the same comparative drag for me because he still eventually confronts it head-on and he has such a wide variety of occupations rather than it being thief story after thief story after thief story like with F&GM.

So I guess I have a couple questions. Am I just being too harsh? Is my "feeling" that the stories more frequently resemble the latter than the former not actually factual? And most importantly, going forward, can I expect to get stories like The Jewels in the Forest more frequently or will tales like The Howling Tower continue to be more prevalent?

If you were creating a beginner’s guide for Sword and sorcery, what would you put on it? Which books would create the best foundation for a new reader to our favorite genre?

Hey all!

Can I read Kane in pub order? Or is similar to Elric where chronological is preferred?

Thanks and sorry if this is a FAQ

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone can lend any insight into the heavy atmospheric feeling these movies give off? Such as Conan and Excalibur (I'd be interested to hear of any other favorites/classics of the genre), I wasn't "encouraged" to watch such films growing up so exploring them now is quite a treat.

They somehow seem divorced from traditional morality somehow (or at least were made long enough ago as to be/feel alien to modern audiences?) It's not like I'm watching a film where I feel like I need to be overly sympathetic to the characters involved, they are flawed and human (some of them at least), but while I can't identify with them, it piques my interest even more, feeling more mythical in nature, like I'm watching the Epic of Gilgamesh, from an alien culture and I don't have to identify or even understand the characters to enjoy.

I'm not sure if that makes sense, but it's a very interesting feeling to not have to feel like I have to root for the protagonist 100% or even understand their emotions.

Any thoughts/discussion/suggestions are very welcome!