124 replies to this topic

[Almuric]

There's Conan, Kane, Elric, Thongor and Brak. But what about the others? Some characters have slipped through the cracks, either by virtue of few appearances or being downright forgettable.

The first one I'd like to bring up is Glaeken. Created by horror writer F. Paul Wilson, Glaeken has some surprising S&S roots. Most people who've read Wilson's work assume Glaeken's first appearance was in his 1981 novel The Keep (dedicated to Howard, Lovecraft and Smith), but this is not true. Glaeken first appeared in the DAW anthology Heroic Fantasy in 1979, in a story titled "Demonsong".

First some spoilers for Wilson's work.
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Okay. Glaeken is a swordsman hero type who lives in the First Age of Man, thousands of years before recorded history. He's olive-skinned, with red hair and blue eyes. Two great powers, Light and Chaos, are doing battle for world domination. Glaeken is chosen by Light (which is not always Good, but opposed to Chaos) to its champion. He is given a sword with which to do battle with Rasalom, a sorcerer who serves Chaos. To this end, Glaeken is made immortal, while Rasalom is immortal by virtue of his vampiric life-draining abilities. When the clash between their powers ends the First Age, the two champions live on, doing battle down through the ages, until the 1940s. Glaeken serves Light, but he doesn't always like it, and sometimes puts his own desires ahead of his mission. I don't want to give much away about the plots of "Demonsong" and The Keep, but I'd like to say these are definately worth reading. There's not much sword-swinging, but the mood and the imaginative twists on traditional fantasy and horror ideas.

Glaeken also appears --- much older and bereft of immortality --- in the novels Reborn, Reprisal and Nightworld. These books are also linked to Wilson's Repairman Jack novels. I've read somewhere that Wilson might turn "Demonsong" into a proper novel, which means that we haven't seen the last of this character.

Anyone have some obscurities of their own?

[korak]

Some other old Frazetta paperbacks-- Jongor, Kavin.

And once I had a rare off brand paperback called Thundar, several years before the cartoon swiped the name.

[edgerat]

There's Conan, Kane, Elric, Thongor and Brak. But what about the others?

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How 'bout Ken Bulmer's KANDAR? I think just one appearance in a 1969 paperback. Not sure I've read this though I've owned it for untold millenia.

[Kortoso]

The was one L Sprague de Camp novel A Fallable Fiend with a demon named Zdim. De Camp used a lot of early English words like "swink" that sent me to the big dictionary.

[Winterghost]

The was one L Sprague de Camp novel A Fallable Fiend with a demon named Zdim. De Camp used a lot of early English words like "swink" that sent me to the big dictionary.

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He wrote another good trilogy called The Unbehheaded King. The main character was a Conanish type, though a lighter version, and there was an enjoyable amount of humor to it.

[PainBrush]

H.Rider Haggards norseman Eric Brighteyes (-yeah, I know sounds fruity at first , but it was a good book) & his character who I can't remember the name from "the Wanderers Necklace" - HEY, I got an obscurer one .........what was the heroes name from "The Jabberwocky" ???? BandySnatch - haven't read that since I was about 12 or 13 .

[Strom]

I'm still looking for some Daur the Barbarian by Clifford Ball. He was the first barbarian post Conan in Weird Tales I believe and is supposedly very "Howardesque". Also, while I was looking for some Conan swag I ran across Gardner F. Fox's Kyrik on eBay. Have a look:

Ebay Kyrik


I believe this is the same Gardner Fox that created the Green Lantern for DC comics.


EDIT: Correction - Fox created the Flash and the Justice Society of America.

Edited by Strom, 06 December 2005 - 01:31 AM.

[daknight]

H.Rider Haggards norseman Eric Brighteyes (-yeah, I know sounds fruity at first , but it was a good book) & his character who I can't remember the name from "the Wanderers Necklace" - HEY, I got an obscurer one .........what was the heroes name from "The Jabberwocky" ???? BandySnatch - haven't read that since I was about 12 or 13 .

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Yeah, Painbrush, Eric Brighteyes is a good mention. Not only could he be considered a forgotten hero sort, but the book could also be considered a minor classic of literature.

[daknight]

For my pick, I am going to mention the warrior-woman, Tiana Highrider of Reme, from Demon In The Mirror, by Andrew Offut and Richard Lyon.

[Primeval]

I remember enjoying David C. Smith's "Oron" series, and Gardner Fox had Kothar as well as Kyrik.

[Strom]

A great anthology book of obscure Sword & Sorcery stories and characters is Heroic Fantasy from Daw Books circa 1979.

Heroic Fantasy ed. Gerald W. Page & Hank Reinhardt (DAW 0-87997-455-9, Apr ?79,   
11 ? Sand Sister [Witch World] ? Andre Norton 
58 ? The Valley of the Sorrows ? Galad Elflandsson 
69 ? Ghoul?s-Head ? Donald J. Walsh, Jr. 
81 ? Commentary on Swords and Swordplay ? Hank Reinhardt ? 
86 ? Astral Stray [Voidal] ? Adrian Cole 
105 ? Blood in the Mist ? E. C. Tubb 
134 ? Commentary on Armor ? Hank Reinhardt 
138 ? The Murderous Dove [Cyrion] ? Tanith Lee 
153 ? Death in Jukun ? Charles R. Saunders 
169 ? The De Pertriche Ring ? H. Warner Munn
206 ? Commentary on Courage and Heroism ? Hank Reinhardt    211 ? The Hero Who Returned ? Gerald W. Page 
235 ? The Riddle of the Horn [Julian] ? Darrell Schweitzer 
251 ? The Age of the Warrior ? Hank Reinhardt 
266 ? The Mistaken Oracle ? A. E. Silas 
280 ? Demonsong ? F. Paul Wilson 
      299 ? The Seeker in the Fortress ? Manly Wade Wellman 

I tried to find a cover scan but was unsuccessful. Manly Wade Wellman's character Kardios is the last survivor of Atlantis and I really enjoyed his story "The Seeker in the Fortress". Apparently there are more Kardios stories in the Andrew Offutt's "Swords Against Darkness" anthologies but I haven't been able to find those books yet.

[Almuric]

Funny you should mention Kardios, he was the next hero I was going to post about!

Kardios is a curious guy. For someone who caused (albeit inadvertantly) the extinction of an entire people, he's very angst-free. He's also a singer, and he carries a harp as well as the obligatory sword, this one made from part of a crashed spaceship. The stories I've read are pretty good, but if they have a flaw it's the worldbuilding. I don't need pages of geneologies, but Kardios' time is strangely lacking in history. Atlantis existed, then it sank, and there's some smaller city-states on the mainland too. Howard always had some backstory, even if much of it remained in the pages of the Hyborian Age essay. Still, not bad.

Does anyone know how many there were? I've read three in Swords Against Darkness and there's the one in Heroic Fantasy, but were those all?

[kansasbarbarian]

Hadon of Anient Opar and Flight to Opar by P.J. Farmer were decent. The character of Kwasin(Hadons cousin) was based on Hercules with an evil twist and was my favorite.
Calgaich the Swordsman was another good tale of British tribes and Picts against Rome. It was from Playboy Press so it had the obligatory sexual scenes but it was good, any time the barbarians kick Romes ass makes me happy.
Tark and the Golden Horde wasn't bad iirc, of course I read it once abot 27 years ago and don't remember alot about it.
Hakkon series is also decent. Vikings, Irish, and Native Americans,oh yeah!

Edited by kansasbarbarian, 06 December 2005 - 06:14 PM.

[PaulMc]

You all might want to check out Andy Beau's articles at SwordAndSorcery.org

He writes about forgotten s-and-s books. (many of which have already been mentioned)

http://www.swordands...g/forgotten.asp

[Taranaich]

Don't forget Jirel of Joiry, the first lady of S&S along with Dark Agnes

[raggedyman]

Henry Kuttner created Elak Of Atlantis . The first story "Thunder In The Dawn" came out in Wierd Tales in 1938 which was just a couple of years after Howard died. He only wrote three more stories , "The Spawn Of Dagon", "Beyond The Phoenix" and "Dragon Moon'. He also wrote some stories about prince Raynor which I have never read.

[daknight]

A great anthology book of obscure Sword & Sorcery stories and characters is Heroic Fantasy from Daw Books circa 1979. 

Heroic Fantasy ed. Gerald W. Page & Hank Reinhardt (DAW 0-87997-455-9, Apr ?79,? ? 
11 ? Sand Sister [Witch World] ? Andre Norton?
58 ? The Valley of the Sorrows ? Galad Elflandsson?
69 ? Ghoul?s-Head ? Donald J. Walsh, Jr.?
81 ? Commentary on Swords and Swordplay ? Hank Reinhardt ??
86 ? Astral Stray [Voidal] ? Adrian Cole?
105 ? Blood in the Mist ? E. C. Tubb?
134 ? Commentary on Armor ? Hank Reinhardt?
138 ? The Murderous Dove [Cyrion] ? Tanith Lee?
153 ? Death in Jukun ? Charles R. Saunders?
169 ? The De Pertriche Ring ? H. Warner Munn
206 ? Commentary on Courage and Heroism ? Hank Reinhardt? ? 211 ? The Hero Who Returned ? Gerald W. Page?
235 ? The Riddle of the Horn [Julian] ? Darrell Schweitzer?
251 ? The Age of the Warrior ? Hank Reinhardt?
266 ? The Mistaken Oracle ? A. E. Silas?
280 ? Demonsong ? F. Paul Wilson?
? ? ?  299 ? The Seeker in the Fortress ? Manly Wade Wellman?

I tried to find a cover scan but was unsuccessful. Manly Wade Wellman's character Kardios is the last survivor of Atlantis and I really enjoyed his story "The Seeker in the Fortress". Apparently there are more Kardios stories in the Andrew Offutt's "Swords Against Darkness" anthologies but I haven't been able to find those books yet.

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Hi Strom. I only have SWORDS AGAINST DARKNESS Volume 1, (Zebra) but the Wellman story in there is "Straggler From Atlantis" and it does feature Kardios. Offut says, in part, in the intro to the story: "... some fella named Howard got a lock on the Atlantean board and no one wanted Wellman's Atlantean tales back then. Actually Kardios is rather a better, more likeable and thoughtful fellow than Howard's Kull." This story was apparently newly written at ed. Offut's invitation for the anthology.

[Almuric]

Those Elak stories are fiendishly hard to find. I know what anthologies carry them, but the anthologies are fiendishly hard to find too. Since I have a soft spot in my heart for Atlantis, I'd like to read them at some point.

[Swiftsteel]

Anyone remember Eric Neilson's Haakon series??? There were four books:

The Golden Ax
The Viking's Revenge
Haakon's Iron Hand
War God

Also there was a series written in the 60's-70's about a - for lack of a better descriptive - 'black Conan'-type character set in a sort of Hyborean Age-inspired pseudo-historical Africa. For the life of me I can't recall either the character's name, nor that of the author who created him.

[PaulMc]

Also there was a series written in the 60's-70's about a - for lack of a better descriptive - 'black Conan'-type character set in a sort of Hyborean Age-inspired pseudo-historical Africa. For the life of me I can't recall either the character's name, nor that of the author who created him.

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Imaro by Charles Saunders