barsoomcore said:
One thing I really like about Frazetta is his woman . . . She's not a freakish starvation queen with an inflatable chest. She's a little heavy through the hips. She's got a bit of a belly. She's round. She looks strong . . . She looks like she can command banths and compel great warriors to her will.
Hard to imagine any modern actress doing her justice . . . It's too bad, cause I think Frazetta's image is healthier and sexier and stronger.
Agreed! Well said!
Several years ago (10+ or so, I guess), a series of books was put out under the Tor Fantasy imprint, I believe, written by James Silke. Frazetta's name appears on the cover as well, and the covers are all Frazetta illustrations. I don't know if Frank contributed to the writing at all, but it's great inspiration for a Frazetta-style game full of beautiful women, treacherous danger, overwhelming wilderness, dreadful magic, and so on. Very, VERY pulp. The books are based on a painting Frazetta did called
The Death Dealer, which you may have seen: shadowy figure wearing a horned helmet and holding a massive single-bladed axe astride a black charger.
The four books (
Prisoner of the Horned Helmet,
Lords of Destruction,
Tooth and Claw, and
A Plague of Knives) follow the adventures of Gath of Baal, the prisoner of the horned helmet, who becomes the Death Dealer. He's a massive, almost sub-human brute who lives like an animal in the forest and hews his foes down like a thresher going through wheat. There's an old conniving rogue who helps him out, and a beautiful red-headed maiden, and perils and villains at every turn.
The writing isn't good. But, it's so over-the-top and emminently entertaining pulp, with nothing but blood and lust, page after page. If anyone's looking for inspiration, they may still be out there. Again, the writing isn't going to win any awards, but the stories are classic 30s style fun, in the vein of Conan.
Incidentally, one of the characters is exactly what barsoomcore mentioned: her name's Cobra and she is, quite literally, queen of the serpents. She's not as young as the read-headed maiden, and her magic has its price, and you're never quite sure who's side she's on, but she's still voluptuous, sensuous, charming, dangerous, and a power to be reckoned with.
Check 'em out! Read with tongue planted firmly in cheek!
Warrior Poet