good sword and sorcery

The best S&S I've read is Fritz Leiber's Swords Series. Read the early stuff (Swords Against Death) first though, as Leiber went downhill as he got older. I'm surprised no-one's mentioned Michael Moorcock yet, except in an off hand comment. Elric is classic S&S, and a must read. If you like Elric, then perhaps you should try some other Eternal Champion stories.

Clark Ashton Smith, with the Zothique, Hyperboria and Averoigne stories and Jack Vance, with the Dying Earth stories, are very highly regarded. Though how well you like these authors will depend very much on your personal taste, they're both very stylistically unique.

These four (together with Howard) are the big name S&S authors. There is more obscure stuff, though this can be very difficult to get.

Karl Edward Wagner's Kane series is, as you said, right in there

I think Darkness Weaves is an unrecognized masterpiece of the genre

Joshua Dyal said:

For more modern interpretations of the genre, the x-slayer series of books from the WFRP setting aren't bad. Skavenslayer is, I believe, the first one, but there's gotta be at least eight or nine of them total, and they mostly are all self-contained and you could read them in any order without too much trouble.

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Trollslayer is the first, but is a collection of disconnected shorter stories. Skavenslayer gets some sort of storyline going, and is also laugh out loud funny at many points.

From the AD&D DMG 1979...

Just to third, or fourth, reading Leiber post haste. I agree the quality of the work slipped a bit as he grew older, but he should be allowed that. The Swords series is simply magical.

All these well deserved recommendations of Howard--what do others think of the other authors working on Conan? I haven't read any of Jordan's Cimmerian work, but I'm rather fond of Kurt Busiek's take in the current Conan comic. Does it succeed as good S & S, do you think?

As for current D & D books being the new Sword and Sorcery pulps, I'm not too sure. They seem too regulated by editorial control to allow for the manic freedom good S & S needs. I really haven't felt that thrill reading something by Salvatore that I do when I read Leiber--possibly because Fritz wasn't dancing to some gaming company's tune.

MonsterMash said:

Seconded - one of the true greats of S&S fiction.

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Yup, Leiber's the best, never a dud story (IMO). I love most early (pre 90s) Michael Moorcock stuff - Elric, Corum, Hawkmoon, Erekose - and it's culturally closer to me than the American authors. Moorcock is highly variable though, unlike Leiber.

ShrinkyLink said:

All these well deserved recommendations of Howard--what do others think of the other authors working on Conan? .

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I dislike nearly all of them. The exception is John Maddox Roberts... his stories aren't so great either, but he has a deep knowledge of history and throws in a lot of historical counterparts in his Hyborian stories.....

ShrinkyLink said:

All these well deserved recommendations of Howard--what do others think of the other authors working on Conan?

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Most Howard pastiches (whether of Conan or of one of his other characters) are shockingly bad.

ShrinkyLink said:

I haven't read any of Jordan's Cimmerian work, but I'm rather fond of Kurt Busiek's take in the current Conan comic. Does it succeed as good S & S, do you think?

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Yes, Busiek's Conan is good swords & sorcery fiction. And the first trade paperback just came out (for those who don't buy comics on a monthly basis).

One thing that everyone should checkout is SwordandSorcery.org. Mr. Jones has done an excellent job of combining some of the old classic material with new writers. In addition, there are well written articles on lesser known aspects of the genre. Well worth taking the time to read.