Here at The Silver Key I spend most of my time talking classic sword-and-sorcery, but I’ve been keeping track of some new releases that I thought were worth reporting on. My wallet will be feeling the pinch in the coming weeks.
Swords & Sorceries: Tales of
Heroic Fantasy: Volume 1. I’m really liking this old school cover by
Jim Pitts, and the editor Steve Dilks knows sword-and-sorcery. Looks like a
great new collection.
Necromancy in
Nilztiria by D.M. Ritzlin and The
Godblade by J. Christopher Tarpey, from DMR Books. DMR is the most committed publisher
of sword-and-sorcery today, republishing classic titles and issuing original
works. I haven’t been disappointed with Swords
of Steel or Heroes of Atlantis &
Lemuria, and Renegade
Swords, another purchase, is on my TBR pile. These two new titles look
excellent also.
New
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories coming from Tales from the Magician’s Skull. I’m a subscriber to Tales from the Magician’s Skull and am interested
how they plan to handle these classic characters. Leiber had such a unique voice,
and it’s not clear if author Nathan Long will be using the characters to
tell new stories, or will try to imitate Leiber’s style (the way this release is
written I’m leaning toward the former). I’m on record as saying I have no problem
with pastiche, or writing new stories using classic characters, as long as they
are not passed off as works of the original author. Adrian Cole has done some
excellent work with new stories of Elak of Atlantis, for example.
Barbarians at the
Gates of Hollywood: Sword and Sorcery Movies of the 1980s. Black
Gate’s review by Fletcher Vredenburgh of this title convinced me I should
give it a shot. Other than Conan the Barbarian and perhaps a couple others, sword-and-sorcery’s
silver screen boom was uniformly terrible, but a detailed history of how this
phenomenon came to be is up my alley.
Robert E. Howard: A Closer Look (Hippocampus Press). An update of a 1987 title by Charles Hoffman and Marc Cerasini. Looks like a solid study. More Howard scholarship is always welcomed.
There are going to be new Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories? I don't know how I feel about that.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest problems is that Tales from the Magician's Skull does not accept stories that have any kind of sexual or erotic content. That's one of the main ingredients of Leiber's writing, and the Mouser's kinky interests and the erotic situations in which he and Fafhrd find themselves in were one of the most original, delightful, and mature aspects of the stories. I personally would prefer that the characters were not continued by anyone. I sincerely wish Nathan, Howard, and everyone involved the best of luck in the endeavor. But it won't really be Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.
ReplyDeleteGeez, Robert. Condemning it utterly before you’ve read a single word?
ReplyDeleteIf anyone knows how pastiche falls short of “really being” the material it pays tribute to, it’s me.
But I know those involved have worked very hard on thIs project and I’m at least willing to read the work before suggesting I know how successful it is in capturing some of the spirit of Leiber’s stories.
You’re an artist and author. Imagine encountering this kind of prejudice.
John Hocking
Re: Tales From the Magician's Skull, I'd like to correct the statement that we "do not accept stories that have any kind of sexual or erotic content."
ReplyDeleteAllow me to quote from our submissions guidelines (found here: https://goodman-games.com/tftms/2020/10/20/announcing-open-call-for-sword-sorcery-fiction-for-tales-from-the-magicians-skull/)
"Keep any sexual stuff to PG-13, about what you would have seen in foundational tales of the genre by Robert E. Howard, Leigh Brackett, the early Lankhmar stories of Fritz Leiber, and so on."
We then specifically state as things we don't want: "Stories with rape, graphic sex, sexual violence, underage sex, children being hurt, or anything too close to “real life horror.” We are parents, and we want to publish stories our families can be proud of."
The later Lankhmar stories, where the adult Mouser is sexually interested in young women just barely this side of puberty and, in one instance, it's ambiguous whether he's engaged in consensual erotic restraint or simply raping her -- no, we won't be emulating that particular aspect of his fiction.
Thanks for the explanation Howard. It is your magazine, your call on content.
ReplyDeleteRegarding SWORDS & SORCERIES- TALES OF HEROIC FANTASY. David A. Riley is the editor, not me. It's published by Paralell Universe Publications. I do have a story included.
ReplyDelete