If you missed the last one….
This post is brought to you by Bearshirt #1-4 by G. W. Thomas. The first four books of this series are novels, unlike the latest, which is a story collection. When I first conceived of doing a long series of S&S books I had the Western books of Leo P. Kelley in mind but the Jeffrey Lord books from Pinnacle also inspired. Whether it’s Doc Savage or The Executioner or any other lengthy pile of novels, I wanted to have some of that fun. Now some of these different series were written as “Men’s books”, meaning they have dollops of sex scenes (usually in Chapter 4 and 11 for some reason). I did not want that for Arthan the Bear-man. The original idea was more like “What if Conan was the son of Beorn from The Hobbit?” This is meant to be an action-oriented series with good world-building and plenty of monsters. I hope these four first books have accomplished that. I am currently working on Bearshirt #6: Kingdom of the Dead.
In previous posts we have looked at Belmont-Tower Books, Zebra Books, Manor Books, and a list of S&S anthologies. Continuing with the listing of the great paperbacks of the 1960s to 1980s, we have Pinnacle Books. Pinnacle began as a paperback arm of the girly publisher of Escapade. More of a Romance company, they did branch out into Science Fiction and eventually Sword & Sorcery as the fad weathered on into the 1970s.
Their first big series was the Richard Blade books, which they acquired from Manor books. They reprinted the first six novels then carried on publishing five new ones every month. Written by Manning Lee Stokes at Manor, Roland J. Green, author of the Wandor series for Avon, wrote the majority of the novels beginning in 1974. Green would later apply his S&S skills to seven Conan novels for Tor between 1988 and 1997.
Jeffrey Lord (House Name)
The Bronze Axe (1973) by Manning Lee Stokes
The Jade Warrior (1973) by Manning Lee Stokes
Jewel of Tharn (1973) by Manning Lee Stokes
Slave of Sarma (1973) by Manning Lee Stokes
Liberator of Jedd (1973) by Manning Lee Stokes
Monster of the Maze (1973) by Manning Lee Stokes
Pearl of Patmos (1973) by Manning Lee Stokes
Undying World (1973) by Manning Lee Stokes
Kingdom of Royth (1974) by Roland J. Green
Ice Dragon (1974) by Roland J. Green
Dimension of Dreams (1974) by Roland J. Green
King of Junga by (1975) Roland J.Green
The Golden Steed (1975) by Roland J. Green
The Temples of Ayocan (1975) by Roland J. Green
The Towers of Melnon (1975) by Roland J. Green
The Crystal Seas (1975) by Roland J. Green
The Mountains of Brega (1976) by Roland J. Green
Warlords of Gaikon (1976) by Roland J. Green
Looters of Tharn (1976) by Roland J. Green
Guardians of the Coral Throne (1976) by Roland J. Green
Champion of the Gods (1976) by Roland J. Green
The Forests of Gleor (1977) by Roland J. Green
Empire of Blood (1977) by Roland J. Green
The Dragons of Englor (1977) by Roland J. Green
The Torian Pearls (1977) by Roland J. Green
City of the Living Dead (1978) by Roland J. Green
Master of the Hashomi (1978) by Roland J. Green
Wizard of Rentoro (1978) by Roland J. Green
Treasure of the Stars (1978) by Roland J. Green
Dimension of Horror (1979) by Ray Nelson
Gladiators of Hapanu (1979) by Roland J. Green
Pirates of Gohar (1979) by Roland J. Green
Killer Plants of Binaark (1980) by Roland J. Green
Ruins of Kaldac (1981) by Roland J. Green
The Lords of the Crimson River (1981) by Roland J. Green
Return to Kaldak (1983) by Roland J. Green
Warriors of Latan (1984) by Roland J. Green
Robert Adams
If you think of Robert Adams you probably think of two things immediately: Horseclans and Ken Kelly. The successful Horseclans series of eighteen books (largely published by Signet) began at Pinnacle with the first three books. The third book featured a cover by Frazetta’s wife’s nephew and a master of Fantasy artist in his own right, Ken Kelly. Signet wisely continued the Kelly covers with A Cat of a Silvery Hue (1978) when the series changed publishers.
The Coming of the Horseclans (1975)
Swords of the Horseclans (1977)
Revenge of the Horseclans (1977)
Ross Anton Coe
Ross Anton Coe is a two-hit wonder with the Warrior of Vengeance series. His other work is novelizations under his real name Ron Renauld. Augage is a wicked sorcerer planning to destroy the world. Duroc is the only man who can stop him since he is immune to his magic. With his axe he will chop his way to the villain and save the world. The sequel follows the aftermath of that journey.
Sorcerer’s Blood (1982)
Trails of Peril (1982)
David C Smith is usually associated with his novels with Richard L. Tierney like the Red Sonja series for ACE Books. He also had a series on his own about a swordsman named Oron for Zebra. For Pinnacle he produced a trilogy of more epic proportions with The Fall of the First World. We have kings fighting for succession while demons and sorcerers bring about the destruction of the world.
David C. Smith
The Master of Evil (1983)
Sorrowing Vengeance (1983)
The Passing of the Gods (1983)
Other Books
Pinnacle Books were known to do media cross-over material like the Doctor Who books. The only S&S movie to get a novelization was The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982) starring Lee Horsley and Richard Moll. For more on this S&S novelization and others, go here.
The Sword & the Sorcerer (1982 Movie Novelization) by Norman Winski
Conclusion
Pinnacle Books came into the Sword & Sorcery arena around 1974 and left by 1984. These were the best years of the trend that began with Lancer in 1966. The focus had been on series with the potential to run long. Only the Blade series did this, and only by switching to more Science Fictiony themes as the books went on. Say what you want about Pinnacle, but they did have the longest running S&S series until the Conan books superseded it at Tor. Like most paperback publishers, they were there to feed on the S&S frenzy then depart with whatever profits they had, quick to be forgotten. Also like most, their Romance books performed better (for most S&S publishers like Manor it was their Horror books).
Sword & Sorcery from RAGE machine Books
Love seeing the vintage Sword & Sorcery books!
Reminds of the days of mall bookstores and drugstore spinner racks.
Yah. It does.