I can't believe how useful Sorcerer & Sword has been for my library. I just picked up Robert E. Howard's Tigers of the Sea and David Drake's Birds of Prey. I read David Drake's The Dragon Lord and really dug the pseudo-historical bent.

So, my big question: I just bought a paperback Howard book, titled (in full): "Introducing Cormac Mac Art the most colorful Robert E. Howard character since Conane Tigers of the Sea." It's a mouthful, I know. Zebra books, edited by Richard L. Tierney printed 1975, looks like. So how pure is this one? (disregarding the full-color cigarette commercial in the center of the book!)

Oh, and for those of you who can find it, the Wagner-edited People of the Black Circle anthology is brilliant. I was pretty hesitant to read any Conan after enjoying Kull and Kane so much, but Conan really stands up. What a relief!

So thanks again, Ron, for the pulp bibliography and primer that is Sorcerer & Sword.

Hi Zak!

Well, if you read Tigers of the Sea, you'll see where David Drake got his protagonists for The Dragon Lord. It's a pretty direct lineage there.

I think Tigers is a great read, and I wish I'd remembered to give it reference in 'Sword. Great illustrations by Tim Kirk, too, if I recall, in that edition.

Conan really is a great character, isn't he? It's quite horrible to contemplate what's happened to him.

Best,
Ron

Ron wrote:
Conan really is a great character, isn't he? It's quite horrible to contemplate what's happened to him.

So far Conan hasn't disappointed. Though I do like Kull and Kane more, Conan is certainly a stronger presence than so many other fictional heroes. What I like is that I can enjoy it as a reader and a writer, watching the relationship maps grow, and especially how REH constantly keeps the pace moving by always worsening the situation just as it seems to be a little safer. That, and his ability to create memorable opponents. So far in my reading he's encountered a giant stinky snake, an iron golem sentient by a dark chthonian force, fickle savages, creepy sorcerers and quite possibly more I can't remember. Man, oh man. THIS is what I want my fantasy gaming to be (well, unless I'm on a tactical miniature kick, then I use the other rpg).

I don't even want to think about what happened to Conan. I'm just grateful that REH's other characters weren't as popular and didn't suffer so much. Sigh. Which leads me to re-ask my question: This Tigers book shouldn't be filled with "posthumous collaboration" or editing to fit the "canon," should it? From skimming the intro, it looks like the editor simply fixed a few factual errors.

Hi Zak,

Yeah, as far as I can tell, the Tigers material didn't receive much beyond a few tweaks from a fairly traditional editorial standpoint. It's not like Conan, in which a vast body of pastiche essentially ate and obscured its inspiration.

Best,
Ron