This post is brought to you by the Bearshirt series, by G. W. Thomas, now six volumes long and growing. Arthan the Bear Man is a powerful swordsman who can also change into a thousand pound brown bear. Preferring a solitary life in the woods, he rarely enjoys such as terrible foes threaten his world, like an army of bee-men, lizard folk in a lost world, a horde of goblins in a secret city, and a war between the werewolves and bears. This is Heroic Fantasy filled with action and color.
One of the innovations Ted White brought to Fantastic (1969-1978) was the return of the two or three-part novel serial not used since the glory days of Cele Goldsmith. Under the suffering Harry Harrison and Barry N. Malzberg, the longest stories were single issue novellas (sometimes called “novels”). Ted started using longer material with the June 1969 issue and the two part serial of Jack Vance’s Emphyrio. While not a Heroic Fantasy, it did begin the new trend. By 1980, ten novels would appear, several of them major pieces of 1970s Sword & Sorcery.
I’ve included links to other reviews. These opinions do not necessarily reflect my own but I think it is healthy to open the floor to more than my one POV.
The first novel was a minor one by a new author named Piers Anthony. Long before Xanth, Hasan (December 1969–February 1970) was an Arabian Nights adventure, something Anthony knows about. In the first issue he also published a long article on the source material with an explanation on how he did his version from the original. Kasan is an Aladdin-like young man who is kidnapped by a wizard named Bahram. Hasan is taken to the island of Serendip where he will eventually meet the Seven Sisters and the bird woman Sana shown on some of the paperback covers. Anthony adapts the Arabic tale for Western tastes.
What Others Thought: Story Graph Review
The Crimson Witch (October 1970) by Dean R. Koontz is from Koontz’s early years when he wrote mostly Science Fiction. This portal Fantasy has Jake Turnet taking a powerful psychedelic drug that thrusts him into another dimension, one ravaged by nuclear war and transformed into a land of magic. His companions on a quest to return to our reality are two witches from Eye Mountain and a vegetarian dragon. Cheryn is the crimson witch of the title and the love interest. Koontz plays with Pulp Fantasy tropes in the way many SF writers do. I found much of the dialogue laughable bad. 1970s drugs, nuclear war and vegetarianism date this novel much as it does John Jakes’ Mention My Name in Atlantis (1972).
What Others Thought: Live Journal
“The Sleeping Sorceress” (February 1972) by Michael Moorcock was a portion of The Vanishing Tower. What will chronologically be the sixth Elric book, Moorcock wrote this one with the American market in mind. There is more traditional S&S action in it than some of the previous. Elric and Moonglum go after the wizard Theleb K’aarna, crossing the Sighing Desert, navigating the City of Beggars and finally confronting the sleeping sorceress Myshella in her vanishing tower. Theleb k’aarna will have to wait for the next book. The novel was made from three segments, “The Torment of the Last Lord”, To Snare the Pale Prince” and ‘Three Heroes With a Single Aim” of which the Fantastic is only the first third. It received a comic book version in the 1980s.
What Others Thought: Looking For a Good Book
“The Forges of Nainland Are Cold” (August–October 1972) was the second half of Ursus of Ultima Thule by Avram Davidson. The first half “Arnten of Thule” appeared in If, August 1971. The tale follows the warrior Arnten (or Bear) in a prehistoric world before the Ice Ages. The local dwarves, known as Nains, craft the iron weapons but a metal sickness has caused them to fail. Arnten finds his father as well as his parent’s shape-shifting ability, becoming an actual bear. The were-bears join a group of shaman to go on a mission to break the spell of the rusting disease. Davidson has taken a leaf from Clark Ashton Smith’s Commoria stories, and placed the tale in the distant past. Were-bears! What more do you need?
What Others Thought: Strange at Ecbatan
Conan of Aquilonia by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter was served up in four slices with “The Witch of the Mist” (October 1972), “Black Sphinx of Nebthu” (July 1973), “Red Moon of Zembabwei” (July 1974) and “Shadow in the Skull” (February 1975). The paperback version did not appear until 1977 due to the collapse of Lancer Books and its copyright mess that Lin liked to bitch about in his Year’s Best Fantasy collections from DAW. The book finally showed up at ACE Books with a nice Boris cover. The collective plot of the book involves the kidnapping of King Conan’s son, Conn, by Thoth-amon with the help of the Hyperborians. Conan follows the wizard’s trail from north to south of the Hyborian continent. Fans finally get the big contest between warrior and wizard. The four pieces were adapted by Marvel Comics. For more on this book, go here.
What Others Thought: Vintage Pop
The Fallible Fiend (December 1972–February 1973) by L. Sprague de Camp is part of his Novaria series. The short novel follows the demon Zdim as he bumbles his way through the demands of his sorcerous masters. Demons are just creatures existing on another plane and not supernatural. Zdim’s poor understanding of the earthly realm (He’s dim, right?) leads to misunderstandings that cause disaster. This is L. Sprague de Camp in the humorous mode (not a parody like Harold Shea) but with a John W. Campbell twinkle in its eye. The Novaria novels have a similar comedic touch which I find preferable to outright hilarity.
What Others Thought: Black Gate
“The Son of Black Morca” by Alexi and Cory Panshin appeared in three segments (April–July–September 1973). It was published in paperback as Earth Magic (1978). It was the Panshins’ only Fantasy novel. Haldane, the son of Black Morca, encounters a witch in the woods near his castle. This sends the lad on a quest for truth that will end with him confronting his own identity and place in the realm. The theme is reminiscent of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea classic, A Wizard of Earthsea (1969). This shouldn’t surprise me as both Le Guin and Panshin were inspired by Buddhist philosophy.
What Others Thought: PorPor Books
Count Brass (June–August 1975) by Michael Moorcock is a tale of Dorian Hawkmoon, not Elric. Five years after the war with Granbretan, Dorian Hawkmoon and his wife, Yisselda, are rebuilding their domain in Kamarg. Their quiet is broken when Ysselda’s dead father, Count Brass, is seen the marshes. Brass died at the battle of Londra, but using time travel he has returned for vengeance that won’t end until Hawkmoon crosses back to the battle and saves Brass’s life. Moorcock’s use of SF elements like time travel shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with his End of Time series, which connects to the multiverse of Elric and Hawkmoon.
What Others Thought: Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review
Bard (1981) by Keith Taylor (using the pseudonym Denis More) published the majority of the book as “Fugitives in Winter” (October 1975), “The Atheling’s Wife” (August 1976), “The Forest of Andred” (November 1976) and “Buried Silver” (February 1977). Taylor only added one segment in paperback as well as rewriting the first person tales into third person. The series follows the bard, Felimid Mac Fal as he escapes Saxons then a sorcerer and finally chases a werewolf to silver. For more on this series, go here.
What Others Thought: Black Gate
The White Isle (April–July 1980) by Darrel Schweitzer was the only serial under the editorship of Omar Gohagen. Prince Evnos of Iankoros’s life is shattered when his wife dies in childbirth. He becomes a sorcerer with the intention of rescuing her from the afterlife. His delving shows him that every soul will suffer terribly in Hell, whether good or bad. Failing to save her, Evnos retreats to the White Isle and a pointless struggle against Death. In the end, he finds a way to defy the dark one if not defeat him. The book is tragic with a Clark Ashton Smith tonality.
In my interview with Darrell back in 2003, he was hesitant to call it “Sword & Sorcery”, which I understand since that term is loaded with baggage. (For the interview, go here.) He did call it “Adventure Fantasy”. It always struck me as S&S in the Moorcockian/Gothic mode with some Shakespeare thrown in. George Freeman’s gorgeous illustrations say S&S to me. (The Canadian artist would later ink Elric comics.) These two issue of Fantastic were really a gift. Most of the issues after Ted left were a hot mess both in fiction and art. Freeman knocked this one out of the park before they combined Fantastic with Amazing Stories after one more issue.
What Others Thought: Stuff I Like
Conclusion
I may have given the impression there was no other Sword & Sorcery in Fantastic, which is simply not true. Several Fafhrd & Gray Mouser short stories appeared, that were peppered between different collections as well as L. Sprague de Camp’s non-fiction articles that were collected in Literary Swordsmen & Sorcerers: The Makers of Heroic Fantasy (1976). Each article was a chapter in this future tome, featuring authors like Lord Dunsany, E. R. Eddison, H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, J. R. R. Tolkien and Fletcher Pratt. There were also single stories from Lin Carter, Gardner F. Fox, Fred Saberhagen, Howard L. Meyers, and a Thomas Burnett Swann Fantasy set in England. White’s amazing ability to bring the best in Heroic Fantasy to his magazine ended when Ted left for Heavy Metal and a new magazine era more interested in SF than swords and dragons. The Sword & Sorcery writers would have no choice but to gravitate to the Fantasy Role Playing mags like The Dragon or less Howardian mags like Fantasy Book.
Sword & Sorcery from RAGE machine Books
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