I recently made some comments regarding the efforts of Rogue Blades Entertainment (they’re having a pretty nifty sale on now) to lift the ailing body of Sword and Sorcery from the grave in which it has been vanquished and which, like a wraith, I’m sure it will rise again. Especially with the upcoming release of both Solomon Kane and Conan (some excellent comments on this at The Cimmerian) as movies.

As I’ve been putting together a little story of my own, I’ve been pulling a lot of influences from out of the recesses of this dusty old attic which is my mind, and I just wanted to share a few which hold a great level of nostalgia to me as they were books I read over and over which, in my mind, pulled me into the more pulp-style fantasy fiction – a genre which I do wish would have a resurgence. It’s a wonderful genre which broke free of many chains and proved that anything can go when you’ve got swords and sandals on. Some of them were even intergalactic and had aliens in. You just threw anything in and dumped your hero into a melting pot with just a sword and a grunting attitude to cut stuff up until it was dead. Then let someone else clean it up.

So. Here’s a small offering of four sweet books which might just be a tad difficult to find…

Brak the Barbarian – John Jakes
Often overlooked in the shadow of the other Barbarian, Brak was the barbarian I always envisioned as the ultimate barbarian. In the second book, The Sorceress, he is told it would be foolish to attack the Evil Castle of Evil as it’s far too dangerous. His reply is simple. “What if we attacked not with a hundred men but with one? What if I went alone?” And that’s Brak to the core. Built for the business of barbarianing, he manages to thwack the evil, slice the sorceress and even cut up a snake in the bargain. Very rippy, as the Orks like to say.

Death Trek – Jeffrey N. Wallmann
Vantro (another Barbarian) is dropped onto an alien world and told to pretty much kill everyone. Which he does his level best to do. Naturally when he sees a beautiful princess (scantily clad) his first thought isn’t of killing her and he does a first rate job of fixing the evil and heading off into the wild sunset without the girl. Every barbarian leaves the girl. However, I love the final line of this book, as Vantro looks down into the tear-filled doe-like eyes of his soon-to-be-abandoned new love, he says “Loners always go, but sometimes come back.” As many said about a man named Ace Rimmer; What a guy.

Snowcastles – Duncan McGeary
Some barbarians like it in the desert, but others come from the snowy lands of the north – and they’re the toughest of the lot. Just ask Faffhrd. He’ll tell you. In Snowcastles, it’s heroic and always-noble savage, Prince Greylock who is banished and vows vengeance on the evil magician who did him wrong. Stuck in the lowlands, he finds a scantily clad wench who beguiles his savage heart. Oh joy! Isn’t this why we love this genre? With the help of a rather sly wizard, he returns, vanquishes the evil, and ascends the throne which is rightfully his, in time for the next fruitfully violent adventure. I liked this one a lot, actually. And though I never was able to track the other books in the series, I did manage to actually track down the author himself! You can too. Just visit his blog.

The Baalbak Quest – David J. Kelly
Now this is a forgotten masterpiece. I loved this book a lot. It’s central character, Killstar was just my kind of anti-hero, and seems to be the reanimated body of someone he’s forgotten. His central quest seems to be collecting both knowledge of himself and just, well, stuff. The most annoying thing about this novel is I don’t have the rest of them. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be any more of them. Why not? Argh! I cry. If anyone knows this man, tell him I need to read the rest!

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