NIALL OF THE FAR TRAVELS by Gardner F. Fox

Illustration by Jack Crame from Dragon #44

When you're researching a sub-genre as wide-spread as Sword & Sorcery it shouldn't be surprising that you'll end up looking in some odd places for new material. I found this to be true in my hunt for Gardner F. Fox's tales of Niall of the Far Travels. I was acquainted with Fox's Kothar and Kyrik novels (I also knew he was the first author to create a true Sword & Sorcery comic in 1950 called "Crom the Barbarian" as well as the inventor of Batman's Utility Belt.) What I found out when I got a copy of Lin Carter's Years' Best Fantasy 3 (1977) was that Fox had written a complete series of stories for Dragon Magazine, which I used to buy back-in-the-day. I never really thought of it as a fiction magazine. So I dug back in my musty old collection and sure enough… Niall of the far Travels.

The series includes:

1. "Shadow of a Demon" in Years' Best Fantasy 3 (Dragon Magazine #2, August 1976)

Niall crosses a wizard named Maylock and ends up being the pawn of a demon seeking revenge.

2. "Beyond the Wizard Fog" (Dragon Magazine #5, March 1977)

3. "The Stolen Sacrifice" (Dragon Magazine #13, April 1978)

4. "The Thing from the Tomb" (Dragon Magazine #23, March 1979)

5. "The Eyes of Mavis Deval" (Dragon Magazine #33, January 1980)

6. "The Cube from Beyond" (Dragon Magazine #36, April 1980)

7. "The Cup of Golden Death" (Dragon Magazine #38, June 1980)

8. "Out of the Eons" (Dragon Tales #1, August 1980)

9. "The Lure of the Golden Godling" (Dragon Magazine #44, December 1980)

10. "The Coming of the Sword" (Dragon Magazine #55, November 1981)

I'm surprised no one has ever collected these. They are as entertaining as the Kothar stories, not great but fun. Maybe with the current boom in S&S it will happen?