But with the mass-market paperback publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings in the 1960s, the Lancer Conan Saga shortly thereafter, and the appearance of the BAFS and their famous unicorn colophon, “fantasy” became a thing. Says Williamson:
By 1974, then, a discrete genre, with a definition and a canon, had demonstrably emerged. Such a thing had not existed at all in 1960, and even in early 1969 it had consisted of a cross section of work appearing as a subbranch of science fiction (Sword and Sorcery) or as books for young readers, with a few titles presented as loosely “Tolkienian.”(Note: I covered this in a little more detail on DMR Blog this past June on what would have been the late Carter’s 89th birthday).
In short, the BAFS collected disparate writers of fantastic
material (Williamson uses the term “literary mavericks” which is apt) and
published them in a mass-market paperback series, creating a story in of
itself—the story of fantasy.
Let
that sink in a moment. This was a landmark occurrence, and the BAFS,
though they reportedly did not sell particularly well and dissolved as a series
after the sale of Ballantine Books to Random House, remain an incredibly
important artifact for historians, collectors, and genre fans. While I don’t
think all of Carter’s choices were perfect, there is vast storehouse of great
reading in the series. The Broken Sword.
The King of Elfland’s Daughter. Zothique. The Well at the World’s End. The
Night Land. And, prior to Carter’s term as editor, The Lord of the Rings, The
Worm Ouroboros, and A Voyage to
Arcturus.
So yeah, the BAFS were hugely important to the development
of fantasy as we know it today. But I believe another, lesser-known publication
shares equal footing in the development of fantasy fiction.
I’m talking of
course about Amra.
Prior to his tenure as BAFS editor Carter was writing tales
of Thongor, writing Robert E. Howard pastiche and completing unfinished Conan
and Kull stories in the likes of King
Kull (Lancer, 1967) and the Lancer Conan Saga, and he was also writing
about fantasy in the pages of Amra.
Published from January 1959 to July 1982—ten years prior and
eight years post BAFS—Amra was a
laboratory and meeting hall for fantasy fiction. It was also a figurative
lions’ den, with its readers levying harsh criticisms on some of the poor fantasy
work being published, particularly in sword-and-sorcery circles. For example, Carter’s
A Wizard of Lemuria took quite a bit
of heat in September 1965:
The only such distinguishing
feature that I am able to discern in THE WIZARD OF LEMURIA is that it is
entirely derivative of other works in the genre, with no obvious originality
whatsoever. Add to this the absolute lifelessness of the characters -- even at
his very worst (which could, admittedly, be pretty abysmal at times), Edgar
Rice Burroughs never created anybody quite this wooden. Add also for good
measure a modicum of sleight-of-hand methods for getting people to the right
place at the right time, somewhat reminiscent of the “with one bound, I was
free” jokes.
In its pages you can see the fantasy genre taking shape, and
subdividing. Amra is perhaps today
best known for being the birthplace of the term “sword-and-sorcery” in a now
famous exchange between Michael Moorcock and Fritz Leiber (sword-and-sorcery by
the way might have easily been dubbed “swordplay and sorcery,” as that term was
bandied about a lot more often in Amra
than the former). Fantastic worlds were being charted in the form of Hyborian
Scholarship, and the efficacy of various medieval and bronze age arms and armor
discussed.
For a small mimeographed fanzine of rough, unpolished type, the
list authors that contributed is truly remarkable. L. De Camp, Lin Carter, Fritz
Leiber, Poul Anderson, Michael Moorcock, Robert Bloch. The likes of Glenn Lord,
E. Hoffman Price, and August Derleth. Much of Amra’s artwork is crude, though it has a charm of its own, but some
of it is outstanding. Every so often you’ll be hit with the likes of Roy
Krenkel or Jeff Jones or Frank Frazetta and be blown away. It was, as pulp
fantasy historian Lee Breakiron described, “A Lion Among Fanzines.”
Amra’s columns and
letters tell a story. You had open criticism of Carter’s work and
sword-and-sorcery’s “Clonans.” Columns from the likes of Unknown editor John W. Campbell decrying the current state of
swashbuckling fiction, with the likes of Michael Moorcock echoing Campbell’s
sentiments. As far back as 1959 an Athenian-like fictitious gathering of
sword-and-sorcery aficionados, gathered to discuss what type of name would suit
Conan and other tales “sufficiently like the Conan stories”:
Ye Muster was called to order, in
the absence of Ye King of Aquilonia, at the unCromly hour of 11:00 AM, by Ye
Royal Chancellor. The principal subject discussed was the question of just what
made the Conan stories what they were, as well as the questions what stories are
sufficiently like the Conan stories to fit well into AMRA and what would be a
good type name for such stories.
After some discussion, it was
agreed that at least some of the factors that made the Conan stories effective
are the presence of a hero in the old sense of the word exerting his wit and
his muscle against magical and mundane opponents, all displayed against a
strange and wonderful time and place.
Amra championed
sword-and-sorcery and heroic fantasy at a time when the future of such fiction
was uncertain. Leiber had almost given up on more stories of Fafhrd and the
Gray Mouser in favor of more popular and publishable science fiction and
horror, but later credited Amra with
being one of the inspirations for resuming their adventures.
Why Amra ceased
publishing in 1982 at the height of the excitement for the Conan the Barbarian film is a bit of a mystery. But by then,
sword-and-sorcery was already on its way out. Not in the public consciousness
or in popular culture, but certainly in literary circles it was well on its way
to becoming anathema.
If we’re going to credit the BAFS for playing a major role
in canonizing and defining the terrain of fantasy—and we should—let’s also recognize
Amra for serving as its barroom, a
place where authors and a passionate fanbase could meet and share enthusiasm,
ideas, and informal scholarship.
I’d like to thank Lee
Breakiron for getting me digital access to the complete run of Amra for Flame
and Crimson. I’m in his debt. Breakiron has
written a nice recap and summary of Amra, “A lion among fanzines,” in the Nemedian
Chroniclers #2, available at the Robert E. Howard Electronic
Amateur Press Association.
5 comments:
AMRA is amazing! And incredibly difficult for me to complete the run.
I've always wanted to read Amra. The closest I've come is The Blade of Conan and the few Amra articles it contains.
Amra is great... it's a window into the past, between the letters and art and interesting columns. The Blade of Conan and The Spell of Conan are collections of some of the better essays, and definitely worthy of any S&S collection, but they leave out much of the color and fun. Those books are like reading blog posts with all the comments turned off.
AMRA was a seed bed. The production was better than most amateur magazines of the day. I've talked about those early days. There's a tendency to forget what was going on in England. SCIENCE FANTASY did not just run the first Elric story. Non-fiction and letters columns discussed what I preferred to call epic or heroic fantasy. Fritz was joking with 'sword-and-sorcery' riffing off current 'sword-and-sandal' Italian movies with American body-builders as 'Hercules' or some other mythic strongman. It became dismissive, even applied to Fritz's own considered prose and credible human characters. People prefer to dismiss the unfamiliar and others lazily accept the consensus. We've come a long way since AMRA but I would love to reread those old issues which continue to offer interesting points about 'heroic fantasy'!
Is this indeed the Michael Moorcock? If so, thank you for stopping by this blog, and for the wonderful comment. And of course for an incredible body of work that has provided me hours of enjoyment.
Secondly, I have a digital copy of the entire run of Amra Vol. 2 (1959-82). It's not great, a .PDF, but its quite readable. It's a massive file size but I'm happy to try to get you a copy, if you are interested.
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