Heroic fantasy

[nomadman]

Most of the really raw, no holds barred S&S is currently out of print, so you'll need to hunt around for second hand copies. The Kane series by Karl Edward Wagner is probably the best of the bunch. There are three novels and a couple of short story collections (with some overlap), though Nightshade realeased an omnibus collection a few years back. Very dark, very violent. Oron by David C Smith is similarly bloody and brutal. There are a couple of books in the series, though I've only read the first. Quite crude, to say the least, but fun if that's what you're after.

If you're willing to mix fantasy with SF, then check out Leigh Brackett's stuff. Masterful world-building and an arresting mix of melancholic weirdness and brute barbarism. There are three novels (the Skaith series) and a smattering of short stories. Planet Stories recently re-released these so they're not too hard to find. If you like Conan then these will be right up your alley.

The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson is a furiously dark and doom-laden adventure set in the Viking era, blending history with myth and magic. Fabulous stuff, and still relatively easy to get hold of. Some familiarity with the Norse sagas is recommended, if only to appraciate the rhythm and manner in which Anderson tells his tale.

Michael Moorcock wrote quite a bit of dark fantasy that you might like to check out. Elric is his most well-known series, though I find it very uneven in quality. Better, I feel, are his Corum stories, especially the second Corum trilogy which has a consistency of tone lacking in some of his other work.

Henry Kuttner's The Dark World is a great little novel, a key influence on Roger Zelazny's Amber series (which I also recommend). Again this one was recently re-relased under the Planet Stories label.

Charles Saunders' Imaro is an S&S series set in an alternate version of Africa. Quite a few of these stories were re-written and re-released under the Nightshade label not too long ago, though the series is to date, incomplete. Nonetheless worth tracking down, since a large number of the stories are self-contained and can be enjoyed on their own. Quite Conan-esque in places, though the tone in general is more sedate.

If you enjoy the slightly more whimsical stuff then I'd point you to the popular Lankhmar series by Fritz Leiber. Try also Jack Vance's Cugel's Saga and The Eyes of the Overworld, a surreal, fanciful and picaresque series of tales set at the end of time with the sun guttering and about to go out. Niift the Lean by Robert Shea is equally strong and some of the best of this type that I've ever read (though it's hardly ever talked about, more's the pity).

 

[Hilarious Joke]

I'd also recommend Tigana and/or The Lions of Al'Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay.

For anti-hero: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson.

And The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, just because it's so awesome.

 

[drosdelnoch]

Yeah Pat was a good read, plus it helps that the second in the series (Wise Man's Fear) is out next month.

And I can definitely back the Peter Brett nomination, a cracking couple of books there.

As to Sam Sykes, I wasn't that impressed with the book (Tome of the Undergates) as the characters infighting just got on my wick.

 

[Connavar]

Most of the really raw, no holds barred S&S is currently out of print, so you'll need to hunt around for second hand copies. The Kane series by Karl Edward Wagner is probably the best of the bunch. There are three novels and a couple of short story collections (with some overlap), though Nightshade realeased an omnibus collection a few years back. Very dark, very violent. Oron by David C Smith is similarly bloody and brutal. There are a couple of books in the series, though I've only read the first. Quite crude, to say the least, but fun if that's what you're after.

If you're willing to mix fantasy with SF, then check out Leigh Brackett's stuff. Masterful world-building and an arresting mix of melancholic weirdness and brute barbarism. There are three novels (the Skaith series) and a smattering of short stories. Planet Stories recently re-released these so they're not too hard to find. If you like Conan then these will be right up your alley.

The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson is a furiously dark and doom-laden adventure set in the Viking era, blending history with myth and magic. Fabulous stuff, and still relatively easy to get hold of. Some familiarity with the Norse sagas is recommended, if only to appraciate the rhythm and manner in which Anderson tells his tale.

Michael Moorcock wrote quite a bit of dark fantasy that you might like to check out. Elric is his most well-known series, though I find it very uneven in quality. Better, I feel, are his Corum stories, especially the second Corum trilogy which has a consistency of tone lacking in some of his other work.

Henry Kuttner's The Dark World is a great little novel, a key influence on Roger Zelazny's Amber series (which I also recommend). Again this one was recently re-relased under the Planet Stories label.

Charles Saunders' Imaro is an S&S series set in an alternate version of Africa. Quite a few of these stories were re-written and re-released under the Nightshade label not too long ago, though the series is to date, incomplete. Nonetheless worth tracking down, since a large number of the stories are self-contained and can be enjoyed on their own. Quite Conan-esque in places, though the tone in general is more sedate.

If you enjoy the slightly more whimsical stuff then I'd point you to the popular Lankhmar series by Fritz Leiber. Try also Jack Vance's Cugel's Saga and The Eyes of the Overworld, a surreal, fanciful and picaresque series of tales set at the end of time with the sun guttering and about to go out. Niift the Lean by Robert Shea is equally strong and some of the best of this type that I've ever read (though it's hardly ever talked about, more's the pity).

Your taste in S&S is so like mine and very good recommendations.

I didnt recommend Sword and planet novels like Brackett only because i wasnt sure if they fit in here. Her Stark hero,stories are like Howard in space. I admire her work greatly.

 

[nomadman]

Your taste in S&S is so like mine and very good recommendations.

I didnt recommend Sword and planet novels like Brackett only because i wasnt sure if they fit in here. Her Stark hero,stories are like Howard in space. I admire her work greatly.

I tend not to make much of a distinction between S&S and S&P. The genres are too similar really to warrant it, and in Brackett's case the SF element is very much a background element, no more pronounced than the occasional intrusion of extra-cosmic forces in the Conan stories for instance.

Very good stuff at any rate.