Lots of people always refer to the old days of Sword & Sorcery books that influenced D&D. I have always been a fan of Conan and some of the typical others. But I'm curious; are there any modern books that are still considered Sword & Sorcery? If so, which ones do you recommend?
One of the problems is that modern fantasy books tend to throw in elements of high fantasy, low fantasy, epic fantasy, swords 'n' sorcery and the other sub-subgenres all together, so it's not so clear-cut any more.
In terms of the things that influenced D&D you had Howard's Conan stories, obviously, but then Jack Vance's DYING EARTH and Roger Zelazny's AMBER books are arguably not swords 'n' sorcery. Fritz Leiber's LANKHAMAR and Michael Moorcock's ELRIC books obviously are.
In more recent fantasy you're probably looking at Steven Erikson's MALAZAN books, although they tend to mix the styles together, and maybe Glen Cook's BLACK COMPANY novels? James Barclay's RAVEN books are aimed in the same direction but aren't very good. Some elements of David Gemmell's fantasy books are also in that genre.
One of the problems is that modern fantasy books tend to throw in elements of high fantasy, low fantasy, epic fantasy, swords 'n' sorcery and the other sub-subgenres all together, so it's not so clear-cut any more.
In terms of the things that influenced D&D you had Howard's Conan stories, obviously, but then Jack Vance's DYING EARTH and Roger Zelazny's AMBER books are arguably not swords 'n' sorcery. Fritz Leiber's LANKHAMAR and Michael Moorcock's ELRIC books obviously are.
In more recent fantasy you're probably looking at Steven Erikson's MALAZAN books, although they tend to mix the styles together, and maybe Glen Cook's BLACK COMPANY novels? James Barclay's RAVEN books are aimed in the same direction but aren't very good. Some elements of David Gemmell's fantasy books are also in that genre.
Thanks for the suggestions. It's too bad there aren't any modern books that are only swords & sorcery style. It seems like S&S should still be a viable genre. But maybe I'm wrong.
Yeah, for some reason most modern secondary world fantasies tend towards world-shaking events, whilst the raison d'etre of swords 'n' sorcery is a smaller conflict for a small band of heroes (or just one person, as was usually the case with Conan).
Erikson, Cook and Gemmell are probably the closest amongst modern fantasy writers. Paul Kearney has some elements of that as well (check out his new book, THE TEN THOUSAND). Scott Lynch has a different approach with THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA and RED SEAS UNDER RED SKIES, which are pretty good. Joe Abercrombie's FIRST LAW TRILOGY also incorporates elements of sword 'n' sorcery in it and is worth a look.
Well, Mona seems to be a fan of old school Sword & Sorcery tales. Maybe when Paizo begins publishing new fiction, he can get someone to write a modern Sword & Sorcery tale and revive the genre!
I'm sure people would buy it... well I would anyway.
I'd say Gemmel's Drenai Saga is the closest thing to modern S&S...lots of mighty thewed heroes bashing their way through the sinister wizards evil conjurings....Unfortunately Gemmel passes away a cpl of years back...but his books have that S&S flavor to me...
Mostly in Sword and Sorcery magic is the weapon of the enemy and its the strong armed, honest muscle and steel hero who has to defeat them... Gemmel excells at this...his true strength as a writer is his characters... His characters tend to a depth unsual for the S&S genre.... I highly recommend him to anyone who liked the genre...
I also quite enjoy Erickson and Glen Cook.... excellent world builders.... The Malazan books by Erickson may be the most intensely realized world of recent years...only George RR Martin, Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind can even come close to the depths Erickson has plumbed
Cooks new series the Instrumentalities of the Night is somewhat different than his previous works...slightly different bent and a truly interesting main character...I highly recommend you read it...and the Black Company and the Dread Empite series
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I just purchased James Enge's BLOOD OF AMBROSE from Pyr based on one Ambrose short story in Black Gate. I haven't read it, yet, but it's new and it's been getting favorable reviews.
If you don't already get Black Gate, I strongly suggest that you do. A lot of the material in there is quite good. It's all S&S, and because it's more like an old-school pulp there's a nice mix of short and long fiction.
http://www.blackgate.com
--Erik
You might check out Steven Brust's The Phoenix Guards and Five Hundred Years After. They're essentially homages to Alexandre Dumas' "Three Musketeers" series, with elves and sorcery thrown in. He did a 3-part finale ("The Viscount of Adrilankha," comprised of The Paths of the Dead, The Lord of Castle Black, and Sethra Lavode) that I found to be quite a bit weaker than the first two installments.