A READER'S GUIDE TO SWORD & SORCERY G-I

G

C. M. Gilbert (?)

1. The Ozine Conquest (1981)

Roland J. Green (1944 - )

Green has made a career writing as the most recent Jeffrey Lord, author of the Richard Blade novels (sf’s poorest example of “product” publishing) but occasionally writes S&S under his own name. His Wandor series is traditional Conan pastiche with few surprises. Perhaps Green’s best effort has been his recent Conan novels. After years of copying Howard’s barbarian, he finally got to write the real thing.

The Wandor Series

1. Wandor’s Ride (1973)
2. Wandor’s Journey (1975)
3. Wandor’s Voyage (1979)
4. Wandor’s Flight (1981)

Thieves World Series

1. Jamie the Red (1984) (with Gordon R. Dickson)

The Conan Series

1. Conan the Valiant (1988)
2. Conan the Guardian (1991)
3. Conan the Relentless (1992)
4. Conan and the Gods of the Mountain (1993)
5. Conan at the Demon's Gate (1994)
6. Conan and the Mists of Doom (1995)
7. Conan and the Death Lord of Thanza (1997)

E. Gary Gygax (1938-2008)

A bit of Love-Hate thing for Gary Gygax. On the one hand, AD&D™ brought Fantasy to a whole new venue; but on the other side, it signed the death warrant to pure Sword & Sorcery. The game would meld Tolkien and Howard in a way that no one could ever see them inseparably again. Gygax did write a series of AD&D™ novels about Greyhawk and Gord the Rogue. (Greyhawk was inspired by the Andre Norton novels Quag keep (). These are great books but they aren't the worst products TSR would produce in the guise of fiction.

Greyhawk Series

1. Saga of Old City (1985)
2. Artifact of Evil (1986)


Gord the Rogue Series

3. City of Hawks (1987)
4. Night Arrant (1987)
5. Sea of Death (1987)
6. Come Endless Darkness (1988)
7. Dance of Demons (1988)

Pawns of Chaos (Eternal Champion Tribute)

1. "Evening Odds" (1996) by Gary Gygax

H

M. John Harrison (1945– )

Largely a horror writer now, Harrison began his career with a fantasy novel and later a series of short stories set in the same world. The Virconium stories are not traditonal hack-and-slash but colorful and inventive.

Virconium Nights Series

1. The Pastel City (1971)
2. A Storm of Wings(1980)
3. In Viriconium (1982)
4. The Floating Gods (1983)
5. Viriconium Nights (1984)
6. Viriconium (1988) - omnibus

Robert E. Howard (1906-1936)

The original item! Howard’s Hyboria is our world in the centuries before recorded history and perhaps the first important fantasy creation of this century (the other being Tolkien’s Middle Earth). Sword-play fills Howard’s work while dark and brooding atmosphere hangs over the action. Many of the later Conan stories were not as Howard had planned them. Through the editorship of L. Sprague de Camp, some were polished, others finished, and some non-Conan stories were converted. These later works and pastiches by other writers are often disparaged by Howard purists, but still may be worth a read. Of Howard’s other characters—Kull, Bran Mac Morn and Solomon Kane—though fewer in numbers, these books are often the ones that long-time Howard fans tout as his best. While Conan is fun, he tends to rely on his brawn, rather than his brain. Kull shows more intelligence as well starring in the wonderful Atlantean backdrop. Bran Mac Morn dwells in a dark, Celtic world which is surprisingly engrossing, considering the scanty number of tales. Solomon Kane, a Puritan, hacks his way across Europe in the first volume The Skulls in the Stars then wanders through Africa in The Hills of the Dead. Of the other single volumes of Howard’s, all are filled with bite and power and none ever disappoints the true S&S fan.

The Conan Series

1. Conan the Conqueror (1950)
2. Conan: The Flame Knife (1955) (aka Tales of Conan) (with L. Sprague de Camp)
3. Conan the Adventurer (1966) which contains:

4. "The People of the Black Circle"
5. "The Slithering Shadow"
6. "Drums of Tombalku" (with L. Sprague de Camp)
7. The Pool of the Black One"

8. Conan the Warrior (1967) which contains:

9. "Red Nails"
10. "Jewels of Gwalhur"
11. "Beyond the Black River"

12. Conan the Usurper (1967) which contains:

13. "The Treasure of Tranicos" (aka "The Black Stranger") (with L. Sprague de Camp)
14. "Wolves Beyond the Border" (with L. Sprague de Camp)
15. "The Phoenix on the Sword'
16. "The Scarlet Citadel"

17. Conan (1968) which contains:

18. "The Tower of the Elephant"
19. "The Hall of the Dead" (with L. Sprague de Camp)
20. "The God in the Bowl"
21. "Rogues in the House"
22. "The Hand of Nergal" (with Lin Carter)

23. Conan the Freebooter (1968) which contains:

24. "Hawks over Shem" (with L. Sprague de Camp)
25. "Black Colossus"
26. "Shadows in the Moonlight"
27. "The Road of the Eagles" (with L. Sprague de Camp)
28. "A Witch Shall be Born"

29. Conan the Wanderer (1968) which contains:

30. "Shadows in Zamboula"
31. "The Devil in Iron"
32. "The Flame Knife" (with L. Sprague de Camp)

33. Conan of Cimmeria (1969) which contains:

34. "The Bloodstained God" (with L. Sprague de Camp)
35. "The Frost Giant's Daughter"
36. "The Queen of the Black Coast"
37. "The Vale of Lost Women"
38. "The Snout in the Dark" (with L. Sprague de Camp & Lin Carter)

39. The Treasures of Tranicos (1980) (with L. Sprague de Camp)

The King Kull Series

1. "Prolog" (A portion of "The Hyborian Age")
2. "Exile of Atlantis"
3. "The Shadow Kingdom"
4. "The Altar and the Scorpion"
5. "Black Abyss" [Completed by Lin Carter]
6. "Delcardes' Cat"
7. "The Skull of Silence"
8. "Riders Beyond the Sunrise" [Completed by Lin Carter]
9. "By This Axe I Rule!"
10. "The Striking of the Gong"
11. "Swords of the Purple Kingdom"
12. "Wizard and Warrior" [Completed by Lin Carter]
13. "The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune"
14. "The King and the Oak" (poem)
15. "Epilog" (A portion of "The Hyborian Age")

The Bran Mak Morn Series

1. The Worms of the Earth (1969) which contains:

2. " Foreword"
3. "The Lost Race"
4. "Men of the Shadows"
5. "Kings of the Night"
6. "A Song of the Race"
7. "Worms of the Earth"
8. "Fragment"
9. "The Dark Man"

The Cormac Mac Art Series

1. The Tigers of the Sea (1976) which contains:

2. "Tigers of the Sea" (with Richard L.Tierney)
3. "Swords of the Northern Sea"
4. "The Night of the Wolf"
5. "The Temple of Abomination" (with Richard L.Tierney)

The Solomon Kane Series

1. Red Shadows ( Grant, 1968)

2. "Skulls in the Stars"
3. "The Right Hand of Doom"
4. "Red Shadows"
5. "Rattle of Bones"
6. "The Castle of the Devil"
7. "The Moon of Skulls"
8. "The One Black Stain"
9. "Blades of the Brotherhood"
10. "The Hills of the Dead"
11. "Hawk of Basti" (with Ramsey Campbell)
12. "The Return of Sir Richard Grenville"
13. "Wings in the Night"
14. "The Footfalls Within"
15. "The Children of Asshur" (with Ramsey Campbell)
16. "Solomon Kane’s Homecoming"

Turlough O'Brien

1. "The Dark Man" (1931)
2. "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth" (1931)
3. "The Shadow of the Hun" (1975)
4. "The Gray God Passes" (1972)

Single Collections

1. Almuric (1939)
2. Skullface and Others(1946)
3. The Dark Man (1963) a: Pigeons From Hell
5. Wolfshead (1968)
6. The Marchers of Valhalla (1972)
7. The Book of Robert E. Howard (1976)–Illustrated by Jeff Jones
8. The Second Book of Robert E. Howard (1976)
9. Robert E. Howard’s World of Heroes (1989)
10. The Robert E. Howard Library Volume 1: Bran Mak Morn (1995)–edited by David A. Drake
11. The Robert E. Howard Library Volume 2:King Kull (1995)–edited by David A. Drake

Eric Iverson–Pseudonym of Harry Turtledove (1949 - )