This post is brought to you by the Sirtago & Poet series by Jack Mackenzie. These tales are collected in two volumes (so far) including Blades & Alchemy and Blades & Abominations. Sword & Sorcery’s greatest duo since Fafhrd & Grey Mouser, Ka Sirtago is a massive swordsman but also the heir to the Trigassan Empire; and Poet is his companion, smaller but equally deadly. The two blunder their way through the earlier adventures, gaining skills and knowledge that lead them to even bigger trouble. There is a reason these two are a fan favorite.
Jack Mackenzie’s Ka Sirtago and Poet series includes an adventure set at sea called “The Sound from the Deep”, which first appeared in Sails & Sorcery: Tales of Nautical Fantasy (2007), edited by H. W. Horner. This anthology features only Sword & Sorcery at sea. Was this a new idea? Not really. Robert E. Howard blended pirate/adventure fiction with Fantasy in “Queen of the Black Coast” (Weird Tales, May 1934). Conan’s days with Belit as a sea-roving pirate known as ‘Amra’ was contained in this one tale but was expanded into almost fifty issues of Conan the Barbarian by Roy Thomas. “The Black Stranger” (Fantasy Magazine, February/March 1953) was another pirate Conan tale re-published as The Treasure of Tranicos (1980) with L. Sprague de Camp.
Zothique (1970) by Clark Ashton Smith includes some nautical stuff with “The Isle of the Torturers” (Weird Tales, March 1933), “The Master of the Crabs” (Weird Tales, March 1948) and “The Voyage of King Eurovan” (the heavily edited version was called “The Quest of Gazolba” in Weird Tales, September 1947). Smith also has an Atlantean series called Poseidonis (1973) with “A Voyage to Sfanomoe” (Weird Tales, August 1931) as well.
Henry Kuttner was one of the first to write new S&S at Weird Tales with his tales of Elak, who does a bit of sailing in “Thunder in the Dawn” (Weird Tales, May June 1938 ) and “Beyond the Phoenix” (Weird Tales, October 1938). Decades later Adrian Cole would expand these ideas in books like Elak, Sea Hawks of Atlantis (2025).
Fritz Leiber was the true successor to heroic fantasy but not at Weird Tales, but John Campbell’s Unknown. “The Bleak Shore” (Unknown, November 1940) and “The Sunken Land” (Unknown, February 1942) have water settings. Cele Goldsmith and Fantastic would pull Fritz back into writing S&S, giving us “When the Sea King’s Away” (Fantastic, May 1960), “Scylla’s Daughter” (Fantastic, May 1961) and “Their Mistress the Sea” (1968) all featuring aquatic moments.
Over at Planet Stories “Witch of the Demon Seas” (Planet Stories, January 1951) (retitled “Demon Journey” in the 1970s) by Poul Anderson (as A. A. Craig) blends Sword & Sorcery with Sci-Fi, setting the heroic action on another planet reminiscent of Leigh Brackett’s “The Enchantress of Venus” (Planet Stories, Fall 1949). Like several others by Anderson, you can tell he wanted to write S&S but had to settle for an SF market. Robert Silverberg would write a similar novel, Conquerors From the Darkness in 1965. In all these tales, sailors must defend themselves from fish-men with swords.
A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) by Ursula K. Le Guin gave us a fantastic map of a world where everyone lives on an island. The archipelago of Earthsea means wizards like Ged will have to sail to face off against the Dragon of Pendar or confront his soul-self. There are six books in the series.
Conan of the Isles (1968) by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter is chronologically Conan’s last adventure. King Conan is tired of politics. His wife Zenobia has died and his son Conn is able to take over as ruler. The old Cimmerian sails off to find an unknown world beyond the Hyborian continent.
Thongor Fights the Pirates of Tarakus (1970) by Lin Carter was the sixth and final Thongor adventure. Thongor has become emperor and must defend his empire from the pirates. There is a big naval battle finale.
Conan the Buccaneer (1971) by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter has Conan, the captain of the ship, Wastrel, sail off to find a mythical island and its treasure. He has to deal with princesses, other pirates and, of course, Thoth-Amon. Like Conan of the Isles, this one is largely written by Lin Carter.
The Tigers of the Sea (1974) by Robert E. Howard & Richard L. Tierney includes unpublished pieces like “Tigers of the Sea”, “Swords of the North Sea”, “Night of the Wolf” and “The Temple of Abomination”. Of these the last is the most interesting with Cthulhu Mythos monsters. Howard’s straight pirate tales were published under Black Vulmea’s Vengeance (1976).
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate (1976) by Michael Moorcock was to become the second novel (not the second written) where Elric and his other avatars sail through time to stop alien sorcerers from destroying the universe. This is the ultimate Sword & Sorcery team-up with Elric, Erekose, Hawkmoon and Corum working together. I’m surprised Marvel didn’t turn it into a comic.
Cugel the Clever occasionally takes to the water. Cugel’s Saga (1983) by Jack Vance features the most sailing though. After stealing a precious magical device, Cugel signs onto the ship Galante as a worm-wrangler. (Worm-powered ships!) He manages to take control but is outwitted by the old captain’s wife. (Granted, he was spending too much time with their comely daughters.) They end up running aground and the novel moves on.
World Fantasy Award nominee On Stranger Tides (1987) by Tim Powers sees a change from Howardian pirates to more historical ones. In Powers’ novel, a French puppeteer, John Changdanac, sails to Jamaica to become trapped in a world of zombies and pirates. The book would loosely form the plot of the fourth Pirates of the Carribean film, which is appropriate as Powers probably inspired the entire 2000s trend of new pirate-fantasy.
The Anteros Series (1993-1995) by Alan Cole and Chris Bunch is another example of heroic fantasy with plenty of sails. Terry Brooks’ Shannara series goes nautical in 2000 with the Journey of the Jerle Shannara sequence, though Brooks’ sailing is all done in the air. Despite the zeppelin-ships and hawk riders, the books have plenty of maritime feel as the scions of Shannara sail off to a lost city run by a killer computer. Gene Wolfe’s Pirate Freedom (2007), Pirates & Paladins (2023) by Mark Goodrum, Waters of Darkness by David C. Smith and Joe Bonadonna (2023) are some more but there are many others, as Fantasy fully embraces ships and sails.
Conclusion
If you like sails and sorcery, the next Bearshirt novel should satisfy. The City of the Forlorn begins with Arthan the bear man plunged into the sea to deal with things that pull you under. He ends up in the crew of some free sailors and ventures south to the city of the title. It’s a grand saga with pirate raiders, pterodacyl riders and a race of mummy-wrapped villains all in and around the sea. It should be on sale some time in early 2027.
Sword & Sorcery from RAGE machine Books
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