overgeeked
B/X Known World
I looked back at the Conan the Cimmerian anthology and realized I was two stories shy of completing the fiction in the book. The last 25% or so is original drafts, notes, synopses, and miscellanea. So I dove back in.
Weirdly, the blatant racism in “Vale” stopped exactly where I quit the story. The rest of the piece is a typical horror tinged sword & sorcery yarn.
The last piece of fiction in the anthology is Devil in Iron. Another damsel in distress story where Conan gets the girl in jeopardy and she’s mostly set dressing.
I read somewhere recently that one reason so many early sword & sorcery stories were a bit on the sexier side was Weird Tales paid more for the story featured on the cover. The magazine also sold more copies when the cover art was particularly enticing to younger male readers. So many writers put a lot of scantily-clad or naked women into their fiction in hopes of getting the cover and a bigger check.
In all it’s a good anthology of mostly good-to-great stories if you can look past the occasional blatantly racist or casual sexist remark. The sexism is mostly confined to what’s typical of the genre, screaming damsels in distress being rescued by the mighty-thewed protagonist. Though there were 1-2 more fully realized female characters.
Weirdly, the blatant racism in “Vale” stopped exactly where I quit the story. The rest of the piece is a typical horror tinged sword & sorcery yarn.
The last piece of fiction in the anthology is Devil in Iron. Another damsel in distress story where Conan gets the girl in jeopardy and she’s mostly set dressing.
I read somewhere recently that one reason so many early sword & sorcery stories were a bit on the sexier side was Weird Tales paid more for the story featured on the cover. The magazine also sold more copies when the cover art was particularly enticing to younger male readers. So many writers put a lot of scantily-clad or naked women into their fiction in hopes of getting the cover and a bigger check.
In all it’s a good anthology of mostly good-to-great stories if you can look past the occasional blatantly racist or casual sexist remark. The sexism is mostly confined to what’s typical of the genre, screaming damsels in distress being rescued by the mighty-thewed protagonist. Though there were 1-2 more fully realized female characters.
