Conan or Elric?

[Desdichado]

Also, where's the main page of the "classics of fantasy" list? I'd like to browse through those articles, but I can't seem to find a link to them anywhere.

 

[francisca]

I'm glad I'm able to read both. But I pick: Conan. If you know me, you don't need to ask why. I'm not a brooder, and prefer to be a man of action.

I prefer Fafhrd and the Mouser to all others.

 

[mmadsen]

Also, where's the main page of the "classics of fantasy" list? I'd like to browse through those articles, but I can't seem to find a link to them anywhere.

If you go to the books page, there's a tiny link at the bottom to the archives. You'll have to scan through the list looking for "classics of fantasy"...

(Ooh, they've posted a new one: Hobberdy Dick.)

 

[mmadsen]

That article you posted, mmadsen, is interesting.

Thanks. I certainly found it interesting.

Although I do enjoy Fritz Leiber immensely, the writer of that article seems to want to deify him beyond what he deserves.

I'm actually not a gigantic Leiber fan, but I didn't mind seeing him lionized like that. Of course, one reason I don't count myself a huge fan is that I haven't read the books in a long, long time, and when I tried to reread them, I found the first book uninteresting (and didn't finish it). Of course, the article points out why that might be:

Those interested in sampling the series would be well advised to skip over the stories in Swords and Deviltry (late additions to bring the two characters together and provide them with "origin stories") as well as the frame story for Swords Against Death and plunge right into the heart of the series with "The Jewels in the Forest" and the stories that follow in the second volume (Swords Against Death). Other outstanding stories include "The Cloud of Hate" (Swords in the Mist), "The Frost Monstreme"/"Rime Isle" (Swords and Ice Magic), and most of The Swords of Lankhmar. Like the first volume, the final (The Knight and Knave of Swords) is best avoided by all but completists.

I may have to hunt down the "right" stories to read.

Also, to call one of the most influential writers of the genre an "innocent hack?" Ouch!

He calls Howard an honest hack, and -- while I love his work -- he is a hack: his writing isn't "literature"; it's pulp fiction, written for money. I can respect that:

Sword and sorcery was a mainstay of the fantasy pulp magazines, best exemplified in the work of Robert E. Howard, whose Conan series (1932-36) pretty much set the standard for decades to follow. Howard may have been a hack, but he was an honest hack, able to vividly convey his own wild-eyed enthusiasm for violence as a solution to virtually any problem. Conan himself is a paean to the virtues of the Noble Savage who grows in character throughout the series, culminating in the novel Hour of the Dragon (also known as Conan the Conqueror) where a middle-aged Conan has acquired a sense of responsibility and fights to defend the subjects of his usurped kingdom.

 

[mmadsen]

I'm sure plenty of these points made about Conan are tongue-in-cheek, but they betray a basic ignorance about Robert E. Howard's Conan:

• Austrian accent
• Strength and chainmail bikinis
• Didn't have the sense to wear some clothing

There's a world of difference between the Governator as Conan in the movies (especially the second) and the character as written by Howard. There's also a world of difference between the many terrible pastiches (Conan the XYZ) and Howard's original stories.

 

[Desdichado]

If you go to the books page, there's a tiny link at the bottom to the archives. You'll have to scan through the list looking for "classics of fantasy"...

(Ooh, they've posted a new one: Hobberdy Dick.)

There isn't a main page for the "Classics of Fantasy" column anywhere? How do you know if you missed one or not?

 

[Desdichado]

He calls Howard an honest hack, and -- while I love his work -- he is a hack: his writing isn't "literature"; it's pulp fiction, written for money. I can respect that:

Ah, my mistake. Still, according to that definition, there are few (if any) non-hack authors who have been published. Shakespeare is a mere hack. Not only that, the connotations involved with the word imply that Howard did nothing original or had no skill, both of which are untrue.

 

[trancejeremy]

I always liked Karl Wagner's Kane better, as he's both a barbarian and a sorcerer.

He's kind of a refinement (or descendant) of both Howard & Moorcock's style. Howard as a whole, not just the Conan stuff, but also his Cthulhu stuff.

 

[CrusaderX]

I like Conan much more than I like Elric.

But I like Solomon Kane more than either of them.

 

[evileeyore]

Carrot Ironfoundreson. Above all the greatest hero the Disk has ever produced.

Wants nothing more than to do his job, and do it well. Could probably give Conan a run for his money, and wouldn't even blink over Elric. Probably get smoked by Elric, but then it would be a-thousand-to-one-odds now wouldn't it...


TTFN

EvilE

One of my favorite quotes about Carrot:

"'E's fighting in there!" he stuttered, grabbing the captain's arm. "All by himself?" said the captain. "No, with everyone!" shouted Nobby, hopping from one foot to the other.

-- Making Friends and Hitting People (Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!)