background preloader

Sword & Sorcery

Facebook Twitter

Swords and Sorcery Magazine - Home. Leigh Brackett. Life[edit] Leigh Brackett was born December 7, 1915 in Los Angeles, California and grew up there. On December 31, 1946, at age 31, she married Edmond Hamilton in San Gabriel, California, and moved with him to Kinsman, Ohio. She died of cancer in 1978 in Lancaster, California.[1] Career[edit] Author[edit] Brackett was first published in her mid-twenties. Her first published science fiction story was "Martian Quest", which appeared in the February 1940 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. Brackett's first novel, No Good from a Corpse, published in 1944, was a hard-boiled mystery novel in the tradition of Raymond Chandler.

In 1946, the same year that Brackett married science fiction author Edmond Hamilton, Planet Stories published the novella "Lorelei of the Red Mist". Brackett returned from her break from science-fiction writing, caused by her cinematic endeavors, in 1948. Brackett's stories thereafter adopted a more elegiac tone. Brackett's Solar System[edit] Screenwriter[edit] Leigh Brackett (ology) Glen Cook. Glen Cook (born July 9, 1944) is a contemporary American science fiction and fantasy author, best known for his fantasy series, The Black Company. Cook currently resides in St. Louis, Missouri. Biography[edit] Glen Cook's love of writing began in grade school, and in high school he wrote the occasional article for his school's newspaper.

After high school, Cook spent time in the United States Navy and later worked his way through college, leaving little time for his writing endeavors. Cook began to write in earnest while working for General Motors at an auto assembly plant in a job which was "hard to learn, but [involved] almost no mental effort", writing as many as three books per year.[1] It was during this time that Cook wrote his first novel of The Black Company, a gritty fantasy series that follows an elite mercenary unit through several decades of their history.

Cook is currently retired from his job at GM, living with his wife, Carol, and children (Justin, Chris, and Mike) in St. The Black Company. Cover of the first novel in the series, "The Black Company". The Black Company is a series of fantasy novels by author Glen Cook. The series combines elements of epic fantasy and dark fantasy as it follows an elite mercenary unit, The Black Company, through roughly forty years of its approximately five hundred year history. Novels[edit] Main chronology[edit] The Books of the North[edit] The Books of the South [edit] The Books of the Glittering Stone[edit] Bleak Seasons (Main Annalist: Murgen) —April 1996She Is the Darkness (Murgen) —September 1997Water Sleeps (Sleepy) —March 1999Soldiers Live (Croaker: the duty is passed off to Shukrat and Arkana of the Voroshk in the last chapter, implying thenceforth they will share the duty of Annalist) —July 2000 Spin-offs[edit] The Silver Spike (Case) —September 1989 Omnibus Editions[edit] Science Fiction Book Club hardcover omnibus editions[edit] Tor Fiction softcover omnibus editions[edit] Short stories[edit] To be released[edit] Plot summary[edit] [edit]

Ambrose & Elsewhere. Saladin Ahmed | Saladin Ahmed's website. Throne of the Crescent Moon (Crescent Moon Kingdoms): Saladin Ahmed: 9780756407780: Amazon.com. Jack Vance. Dying Earth. Dying Earth is a fantasy series by the American author Jack Vance, comprising four books originally published 1950 to 1984.[2] Some have been called picaresque. They vary from short story collection to fix-up (novel created from older short stories) perhaps all the way to novel.[2] Setting[edit] The stories of the Dying Earth series are set in the distant future, at a point when the sun is almost exhausted and magic has reasserted itself as a dominant force. The Moon has disappeared and the Sun is in danger of burning out at any time, often flickering as if about to go out, before shining again.

The various civilizations of Earth have collapsed for the most part into decadence and its inhabitants overcome with a fatalistic outlook. The Earth is mostly barren and cold, and has become infested with various predatory monsters (possibly created by a magician in a former age). Origins[edit] Vance wrote the stories while he served in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II. 1. 2. Michael Moorcock. Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published literary novels. He is best known for his novels about the anti-hero Elric of Melniboné, a seminal influence on the field of fantasy in the 1960s and 1970s.

In 2008, The Times newspaper named Moorcock in their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".[3] Biography[edit] Michael Moorcock was born in London in 1939 and the landscape of London, particularly the area of Notting Hill Gate and Ladbroke Grove, is an important influence in some of his fiction (cf. the Cornelius novels). Moorcock has mentioned The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Apple Cart by George Bernard Shaw and The Constable of St. Nicholas by Edwin Lester Arnold as the first three books that captured his imagination.[4] Moorcock is the former husband of Hilary Bailey. Moorcock was the subject of two book-length works, a monograph and an interview, by Colin Greenland. Moorcock's Miscellany. Elric of Melniboné. Elric of Melniboné[1] is a fictional character created by Michael Moorcock, and the antihero of a series of sword and sorcery stories centring in an alternate Earth.

The proper name and title of the character is Elric VIII, 428th Emperor of Melniboné. Later novels by Moorcock mark Elric as a facet of the Eternal Champion. Elric first appeared in print in Moorcock's novella, "The Dreaming City" (Science Fantasy No. 47, June 1961); subsequent novellas were reformatted as the novel Stormbringer (1965), but his first appearance in an original novel wasn't until 1973 in Elric of Melniboné.

Moorcock's albino character is one of the better known in fantasy literature, having crossed over into multimedia, such as comics and film, though efforts towards the latter stalled over the years. The novels have been continuously in print since the 1970s. Fictional history[edit] Elric is described by his creator, in the first book, Elric of Melniboné, as follows: Influences[edit] Novels[edit] Chronology[edit] The Elric Saga. The story of Elric, the last emperor of Melniboné, ruler of the dreaming city and keeper of the ruby throne, brings together many images of life and death, fate versus free will, generations of tradition and the destruction of that tradition, thought versus action, evil versus good , law versus chaos, and the difficulties faced when trying to reconcile and make meaning out of one's own existence.

It is also a vehicle for Michael Moorcock to expound on yet another incarnation of "The Eternal Champion", a theme that runs throughout many of his fantasy novels. On this page I hope to give a brief overview and opinion of this tragic, yet action packed series. It is certainly one of the best offerings from Michael Moorcock, and changed my views on good fantasy forever.

Having discovered the Elric Saga back in 1980 it introduced me to the new idea of an anti-hero and showed me that everything does not have to turn out "OK" in every book that I read. Cymoril: Elric's cousin and consort. Dorian Hawkmoon. Dorian Hawkmoon, Duke of Köln is one of the fictional characters created by Michael Moorcock in his series of the Eternal Champion books.

Overview[edit] Dorian Hawkmoon is one of the less "problematic" characters Moorcock ever created a series around. Unlike the anti-hero Elric of Melniboné, or the alienated and tragic Corum, or the sometimes savage Erekosë, Hawkmoon is described as being very much close to an all-around "good guy", despite lacking some subtlety (or perhaps, for this very reason).[1] Hawkmoon is captured by the evil forces of Granbretan who implant by means of arcane technology (devised by a caste of 'sorcerer-scientists') a sinister black jewel in his skull.

He is sent to The Kamarg (a future version of the southern French region of Camargue) to perform reconnaissance prior to invasion. The black jewel transmits (and may record) all that Hawkmoon sees to Granbretan's capital, Londra. The Runestaff is one of the major artifacts in Moorcock's multiverse. Other media[edit] Eternal Champion. The Eternal Champion is a fictional creation of the author Michael Moorcock and is a recurrent feature in many of his novels. About the Eternal Champion[edit] The fictional Multiverse, which consists of several universes, many layered dimensions, spheres, and alternative worlds, is the place where the eternal struggle between Law and Chaos, the two main forces of Moorcock's worlds, takes place. In all these dimensions and worlds, these forces constantly war for supremacy. Since the victory of Law or Chaos would cause the Multiverse either to become permanently static or totally formless, the Cosmic Balance enforces certain limits which the powers of Law and Chaos violate at their peril.

Law, Chaos, and the Balance are active, but seemingly non-sentient, forces which empower various champions and representatives. All the incarnations of the Eternal Champion are facets of each other, and the Champion may also be aided by a companion, who, like himself, exists in various incarnations. Fritz Leiber. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Swords and Deviltry, the first short story collection exclusively featuring Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are two sword-and-sorcery heroes appearing in stories written by American author Fritz Leiber.

They are the protagonists of what are probably Leiber's best-known stories. One of his motives in writing them was to have a couple of fantasy heroes closer to true human nature than the likes of Howard's Conan the Barbarian or Burroughs's Tarzan.[1] Fafhrd is a tall (seven feet) northern barbarian, very strong and usually wielding a two-hand sword, which he can hold even one-handed; Mouser is a small (not much more than five feet) mercurial thief, truly gifted and deadly at fencing and dueling, using his sword in one hand and a long dagger in the other; once known as Mouse and a former wizard's apprentice.

The characters were loosely modeled upon Leiber himself and his friend Harry Otto Fischer. Setting[edit] Publication history[edit] Omnibus editions[edit] The Scrolls of Lankhmar: Fritz Leiber Wiki and Message Board. Welcome to the Scrolls of Lankhmar. This is a community project to do two things. Create and provide a wiki about Fritz Leiber and his writings, and to finish the RPG Guide to Nehwon which is a knowledge base for all role-players playing or running a Nehwon-based role-playing game. Add your knowledge! Have you read any Fritz Leiber stories? Are you well-versed in any of his works? Fritz Leiber Fritz Leiber was born in 1910 and died in 1992. Best Known Leiber's best known works include his Sword & Sorcery1) series about those two infamous scoundrels, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, who not only blazed a trail in S&S parallel to Conan since 1939, but whose exploits were very influential in the early development of Dungeons & Dragons.

In Science Fiction his Change War series is known for its originality in time travel fiction, and includes the Hugo winning short novel, The Big Time. It is in the field of horror that Leiber caused the greatest shift in writing. Wiki Contents Discussion Forum. Fritz Leiber. Robert E. Howard. Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936) was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He is well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre. Howard was born and raised in the state of Texas.

He spent most of his life in the town of Cross Plains with some time spent in nearby Brownwood. A bookish and intellectual child, he was also a fan of boxing and spent some time in his late teens bodybuilding, eventually taking up amateur boxing. Howard’s suicide and the circumstances surrounding it have led to varied speculation about his mental health. Biography[edit] Early years[edit] Robert E. Howard was born January 22, 1906 in Peaster, Texas, the only son of a traveling country physician, Dr. During Howard's youth his parents' relationship began to break down. First writings[edit] In 1919, when Howard was thirteen, Dr.

—Robert E. Professional writer[edit] Robert E. Sword and Sorcery[edit] The Works of Robert E. Howard. Pigeons from Hell - Robert E. Howard. This document was prepared with borrowed Blackmask Online etext for Arthur's Classic Novels. XHTML markup by Arthur Wendover. Feb 10, 2005. EText courtesy mikronous. (See source text for details.) This is the etext version of the book Pigeons from Hell by Robert E. Howard, taken from the original etext pighell.htm. Arthur's Classic Novels Griswell awoke suddenly, every nerve tingling with a premonition of imminent peril. Griswell tried to remember what had awakened him. Or was it a dream? Dreaming, he had seemed to relive his past few waking hours, in accurate detail. They were tired, sick of bumping and pounding all day over woodland roads. The oaken door sagged on broken hinges. They discussed gathering wood and building a fire, but decided against it. This, in part, was what Griswell had dreamed. He blinked his eyes.

It was the sound of whistling on the floor above. "John! " Branner had risen. Griswell lay incapable of movement, his mind a whirl of bewilderment. Yes! "We'll see. " Conan the Barbarian. Publication history[edit] Having digested these prior influences after he returned from his trip, Howard rewrote the rejected story "By This Axe I Rule! " (May 1929), replacing his existing character Kull of Atlantis with his new hero, and retitling it "The Phoenix on the Sword". Howard also wrote "The Frost-Giant's Daughter", inspired by the Greek myth of Daphne,[citation needed] and submitted both stories to Weird Tales magazine. Although "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" was rejected, the magazine accepted "The Phoenix on the Sword" after it received the requested polishing.[2] "The Phoenix on the Sword" appeared in Weird Tales cover-dated December 1932. The publication and success of "The Tower of the Elephant" would spur Howard to write many more Conan stories for Weird Tales.

Following Howard's death, the copyright of the Conan stories passed through several hands. Setting[edit] A map of Robert E. According to "The Phoenix on the Sword", the adventures of Conan take place "... Red Nails by Robert E. Howard. Conan the Barbarian (1982. Conan the Destroyer (1984. Conan the Barbarian (2011. Kull of Atlantis. Kull of Atlantis or Kull the Conqueror is a fictional character created by American writer Robert E. Howard, also creator of Conan the Barbarian, Solomon Kane, and Bran Mak Morn. The character was more introspective than the subsequent Conan, whose first appearance was in a re-write of a rejected Kull story. His first published appearance was "The Shadow Kingdom" in Weird Tales (August, 1929). Kull was portrayed in the 1997 movie Kull the Conqueror by actor Kevin Sorbo. Fictional character biography[edit] Life in Atlantis[edit] Kull was born into a tribe settled in the Tiger Valley of Atlantis.

Slave, pirate, outlaw and gladiator[edit] Kull attempted to reach Thuria but was instead captured by the Lemurian Pirates. Soldier and king[edit] The series continued with Kull finding that gaining the crown was easier than securing it. The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune finds Kull reaching his middle-forties and becoming progressively more introspective. Supporting characters[edit] Stories[edit] Style[edit] Kull the Conqueror (1997. Solomon Kane. Charles Saunders Writer. Imaro (novel) Sword and Sorcery. Black Gate. Swords & Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery: Jonathan Strahan, Lou Anders. The Sword & Sorcery Anthology: Robert E. Howard, C. L. Moore, Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson, Michael Moorcock, Joanna Russ, Charles R. Saunders, Karl Edward Wagner, Ramsey Campbell, David G. Hartwell, Jacob Weisman: 9781616960698: Amazon.com.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies - Literary Adventure Fantasy. Heroic Fantasy Quarterly - Prose. Poetry. Pulp. Swords and Sorcery Magazine - Home.