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| Monster Tales! |
I have many fond memories of youthful reading. When I was in elementary school I was enthralled with the likes of Fire-Hunter by Jim Kjelgaard, Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (abbreviated/illustrated version), and was engrossed/entertained/scared shitless by Monster Tales: Vampires, Werewolves & Things. I'm still looking for a reasonably-priced copy.
With the benefit of hindsight I realize that these books were leading me, inevitably, toward sword-and-sorcery. Barbaric/pre-historic heroes. Warfare. Monsters and the weird. Throw into a bubbling cauldron and you get S&S. Soon I would find The Savage Sword of Conan, and my path was fixed. But I was already leaning heavily in that direction.
My gateways to sword-and-sorcery are here at Tales from the Magician's Skull.
2 comments:
I forgot about "Fire-Hunter"! Wow!
I read history from a young age. Starting with the sets of encyclopedias my parents had. I know I read historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction too but I'm not remembering specifics. I know I read Robert Silverberg "Revolt on Alpha-C" in the third or fourth grade not long before I started in on the historicals of Rosemary Sutcliff. And then the Conan Ace paperbacks.
:) I forgot about Fire-Hunter too, until a few months ago. I might have to track down a copy for nostalgia's sake.
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