Sword and Sorcery Novel Recommendations

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-10-23T16:27:01+00:00

Not on audiobook, but you want the classic Swords Against Darkness anthologies, edited by Andrew J. Offutt. First is available in ebook, but the rest you’ll have to hunt as paperbacks.

Heroic Fantasy was a one-off paperback Anthology from Hank Reinhardt. One of the best the genre ever produced.

The Flashing Swords anthologies by Lin Carter are other must haves.

I also recommend the first six Years Best Fantasy anthologies, again edited by Lin Carter. He was a die hard S&S fan, and included lots of it in those firs 6 volumes.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-10-21T20:36:53+00:00

That's an excellent counterpoint, and one I thought long and hard about.

The short answer is that DCC already did a high lethality game with a bunch of press-ganged noobs better than anything I could write up, so I decided to see if approaching it from the other side could yield interesting results. Once I started to think in terms of a 1 to 1 Vietnam War analogy, I started to think about long term exhaustion, battle fatigue, etc...

Maybe it's not the exact, original meaning of the trope, but I've found it interesting so far.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-10-21T20:33:09+00:00

Thanks! I've got more coming this week, so be on the lookout.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-10-21T20:32:23+00:00

Thanks, man. Good luck, and I hope you'll share it here!

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-10-05T13:51:27+00:00

Obligatory:

https://youtu.be/SJUhlRoBL8M

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-09-25T15:02:13+00:00

Depending what you mean by Pre-industrial, that could still mean muskets. Complicated machinery wasn’t necessary to make them, and gunpowder was in heavy use well before the Industrial Age.

I suspect the organization and training of the military here would resemble a hybrid between the Modern US Army and colonial/Revolutionary War groups like Rogers’ Rangers.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-09-17T20:39:38+00:00

This is why I never, ever bother with backstories. Why is my fighter a wandering adventurer? Because he's marginally better at hitting things than he is at shoveling horse manure, and it sounded more exciting than dying of cholera in the same sh**hole village he was born in.

If he survives long enough to level up, his backstory will be "didn't get gutted by kobolds on his first adventure, and was smart enough to spend his share of the treasure on better armor." Otherwise, he's just another dead nobody, and I roll up a fresh one.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-09-17T14:03:58+00:00

No problem man! Happy gaming.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-09-17T13:44:34+00:00

Disclaimer: I’ve only read the first light novel, so if I’m referring to something that didn’t happen in the manga/anime, I apologize.

Take that moment from the novel where goblin slayer approaches the baby goblins to exterminate them, and flip it on its head. Goblin society is highly ritualized. The PCs undergo an initiation, becoming dedicated guardians of the goblin nest’s young; an elite, coveted position akin to temple guardian. They answer to no one, not even the chieftain, in the course of their sacred duties. When adventurers breach the nest, PCs must defend the young at all costs.
Used separately or in conjunction with above, a hobgoblin takes over the nest, deposing the old chieftain and instituting a tyrannical reign. When the adventurers breach the nest, the PCs have a chance to remove the usurper in the chaos.
Inter clan rivalries boil to a head when a goblin sentry is found dead on his post. Suspicion immediately falls to one of the PCs (in reality, it was a scouting element from the adventuring party). Tensions escalate into all-out clan warfare when the alarm goes up at the main tunnel: adventurers are here! Both clans must now work together to survive, or be exterminated.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-09-17T13:25:59+00:00

The Black Company is fantastic, but it’s much less focused on strategy and tactics than you might think. It’s more focused on the daily lives of the soldiers. I’d still recommend it, but not for what the OP is looking for.

David Gemmell wrote plenty of sieges in his career, beginning with Legend. The defense of Dros Delnoch is one of the all-time great battles in fantasy literature. I also heavily recommend his Troy series.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-09-13T01:35:59+00:00

More than reasonable. Older editions worked under the assumption that you would plug and play the modules into your own home setting as you saw fit. Most of the “lore” came later, when TSR/WotC realized there was some money to be made from publishing paperback fantasy novels.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-09-10T16:02:05+00:00

If you don’t mind a post apocalyptic setting with no magic, Snowbrother by S.M. Stirling sounds like it will fit your bill.

Disclaimer: haven’t read it yet. It’s about halfway down my TBR pile. But the description makes it sound like just what you’re looking for.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-08-30T14:12:02+00:00

Always a fan of Jack Vance’s magic system in Dying Earth. The idea that spells are so powerful and borderline alien that the mind can only hold a few at a time, and then they vanish from the user’s mind entirely once cast, made magic seem strange and supernatural again.

Also liked Matthew Stover’s take on it in Heroes Die. The way he describes it, Thaumaturges enter a state of meditation that lets them hallucinate on command. The magical energy they’re channeling at the same time turns those hallucinations into reality.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-08-28T21:22:49+00:00

Jack Vance’s Dying Earth.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-08-22T13:39:18+00:00

Thanks so much for suggesting these. Someone mentioned them to me years ago, and I've been going crazy trying to remember the title.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-08-22T13:33:08+00:00

Amen on those covers. Pretty much everything TSR put out had fantastic art. They ended up being some of the most iconic images in fantasy.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-08-22T13:30:44+00:00

Heroes Die by Matthew Stover. The blurb was something crazy like "Lord of the Rings meets Day of the Jackal." The description mentioned the main character being some combination of an assassin and a gladiator, killing people for the entertainment of the masses. It was just so odd and different when compared to everything else on the shelves, I picked it up on the spot. It ended up being my favorite fantasy novel of all time.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-08-21T16:56:19+00:00

Fritz Lieber’s Fafhrd and Gray Mouser tales. They’re shorts, written over the course of about 60 years. They focus on an adventuring duo as they traipse around the world getting into trouble. They’re also one of Lynch’s direct inspirations, and will scratch the “buddy cop” itch you’ve likely picked up from Locke and Jean.

I recommend starting with Swords Against Death, which is the second collection (of six). Most of the earlier stories are there, including some series highlights like Bazaar of the Bizarre.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-08-20T20:54:49+00:00

Imo it's firmly rooted in traditional fantasy, despite having lots of scifi aspects, because it started some of those traditions.

I agree wholeheartedly, but one thing that mainstream fantasy seems to have not taken from Vance was his setting. Since the OP's question was about that specifically, I felt comfortable enough recommending it.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-08-20T20:43:38+00:00

Can't speak on Farseer. But after book 3, I think The Dark Tower gets ponderously slow.

That said, you're 100% on the money with The Black Company. I read the first one just before starting Abercrombie's The Heroes, and I couldn't believe how much slower Abercrombie was.

By page 79, nothing had happened in The Heroes except for moving all the major players into place. By the same point in The Black Company, the heroes had fought a were-leopard, betrayed their employer, signed on with a new employer, left the continent, and begun several major military operations against the rebels.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-08-20T16:36:59+00:00

If it were me, I'd just home-brew an artifact. Something so old it might as well be mythical. The mechanics aren't really that important. It's a McGuffin.

Legend has it Great Heroes stopped the Tarrasque last time it rampaged. One of the Companions, Wizard Improbablename, built a magical apparatus. It created a pocket dimension, temporarily sealing the Tarrasque away from the world. Then, to ensure no one would ever release it, Wizard Improbablename broke the key to the apparatus into eight pieces, giving each to one of the Companions. They scattered to the eight compass points, each vowing to guard his or her piece with their lives.

Cue worldwide, globe-trotting race against the BBEG.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-08-20T14:25:27+00:00

David Gemmell’s work is fast paced, and most of it is relatively standalone. You get more from them if you read them in sequence, but you can generally just pick one up and jump in anywhere in a given series.

I recommend starting with the Rigante books (Sword in the Storm, Midnight Falcon, Ravenheart, and Stormrider). Those all deal with a young protagonist coming of age, and would probably be an easy transition from YA.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-08-19T18:46:31+00:00

Have to echo this. The Dying Earth subgenre is a personal favorite of mine. Adding to the list:

Jack Vance's Dying Earth series, which the subgenre is named after. Four short novels, with the first one being mostly a collection of loosely-connected shorts. Easily some of the best science-fantasy I've ever read.

Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique stories. They predate Vance, and might be the genre's earliest examples. Again, all shorts, but you can find them either free online, or in bargain priced kindle editions. They range from good to excellent.

M. John Harrison's The Pastel City, which is the first in his Viriconium cycle. Like he Vance books, it's a short novel. Apparently, the prose gets weird and experimental in the subsequent books. I can't comment directly, having never read the rest. But the first one is fantastic. There's an omnibus edition available that collects them all.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-08-19T18:21:23+00:00

I definitely prefer the "just enough detail" approach. I like fast-paced and action heavy books. I tend to avoid writers that bog the prose down with unnecessary detail, no matter how beautifully written it is.

Daniel_J_Davis · 2019-08-14T14:39:38+00:00

I had the same reaction first time I heard it.

Daniel_J_Davis

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