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Two Classic Fantasy Anthologies: Barbarians and Barbarians II, edited by Robert Adams

Two Classic Fantasy Anthologies: Barbarians and Barbarians II, edited by Robert Adams

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Barbarians, edited by Robert Adams and Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh, and
Barbarians II, edited by Pamela Crippen Adams, Robert Adams, and Martin H. Greenberg
(Signet New American Library, January 1986 and February 1988). Covers by Ken Kelly

Besides editing the Friends of the Horseclans books (discussed here last week), Robert Adams also edited — along with others — two thick anthologies from Signet entitled Barbarians (1985) and Barbarians II (1988). Covers by Ken Kelly. I bought these when they came out because they each have a Robert E. Howard story, and I was an REH completist at the time. I liked both of these collections, although the concept of “Barbarian” is stretched very broadly.

For example, in the initial volume you have a mostly SF story by Fred Saberhagen and a Witch World fantasy tale by Andre Norton. Both are good stories but have little to do with any concept I might have of barbarians. There’s a Fritz Leiber Fafhrd and Mouser story that fits the concept, and the truly excellent “Swordsman of Lost Terra” by Poul Anderson, which also has a lot of Sword & Planet elements.

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Two New Black Company Novels (Lies Weeping, and They Cry) on the Way!

Two New Black Company Novels (Lies Weeping, and They Cry) on the Way!

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Back in April, as part of an exclusive Q&A with sword and sorcery legend Glen Cook, Black Gate revealed that the author had already completed the next three novels in his seminal The Black Company series. He was working on a fourth, all part of an arc titled A Pitiless Rain – or, The Orphan’s Tale.

For several years now I have been working on A Pitiless Rain – or, The Orphan’s Tale. It’s a family Saga thing mainly revolving around the next generation kids from Glittering Stone, especially Soldiers Live. I have completed the first three volumes: Lies Weeping, They Cry, & Summer Grass. (I am) Halfway through Darkness Knows.

Tor has announced that Lies Weeping is finally coming. No release date yet, though Barnes and Noble is taking pre-orders, with a listed date of November 4, 2025. There is some info on the story (it’s like a cover spoiler – skip if you aren’t current on The Company):

The Black Company has retreated across the plain of glittering stone, toward a shadow gate that would let them trade the dangers of the plain for the questionable safety of the Company’s one-time haven on Hsien, a region in the world known as the Land of Unknown Shadows.

In Hsien, the company returns to their former base, An Abode of Ravens, where the Lady ages backwards in a return to force, shaking off the thrall, one breath at a time. Meanwhile, Croaker, ascended to godlike status as the Steadfast Guardian, has been left behind in the Nameless Fortress.

In their adopted father’s stead, Arkana and Shukrat have taken up the role of annalist for the Black Company. At first, life in Hsien appears quiet, even boring, but it is quickly apparent that strange goings on are more than what they seem, and it’s up to them to discover the truth hidden in the shadows of this strange land.

Glen also told me in an email today, that book two, They Cry, will be out in February of 2026!

No release date for book three, and he is still working on book four.

It’s a new era for The Black Company, and a joyful Christmas season for its fans!
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Lyrical, Mysterious, and Ingenious: The Tales and Poems of Clark Ashton Smith

Lyrical, Mysterious, and Ingenious: The Tales and Poems of Clark Ashton Smith

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The Last Oblivion: Best Fantastic Poems of Clark Ashton Smith (Hippocampus Press, January 13, 2021)

January 13 will mark the 132nd natal anniversary of the great Clark Ashton Smith, accomplished writer of weird fiction, horror, and poetry; visionary illustrator, painter, and sculptor. Smith’s tales of Averoigne, Atlantis, Hyperborea, and Zothique have fascinated me for years. Smith was incredibly gifted, writing tales fantasy, terror, science fiction, and the supernatural.

He also is considered one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. The Last Oblivion contains a wonderful selection of his poetic works. Smith’s exotic language and fertile imagination are unparalleled in these weird, supernatural, and otherworldly poems. I highly recommend it if you’re looking for something different yet evocative.

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Goth Chick News: The Dead of Winter by Sarah Clegg is the Perfect December Read

Goth Chick News: The Dead of Winter by Sarah Clegg is the Perfect December Read

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One of my earliest holiday memories is watching Reginald Owen in the 1938 black and white classic A Christmas Carol on the local Chicago channel, at 6pm on Christmas Eve. It was (and still is) one of my favorite traditions, and to my young self, it felt patently unfair that you had to be a grouchy old man to be visited by ghosts on Christmas – well those first few, at least.

Being of first-generation Swedish descent, the stories that were told at my family gatherings in the cold of winter always had a bit of darkness about them. I remember Grandma telling me about the Julbock (the Yule Goat) who kept an eye on me for Kris Kringle. She had a large one made from straw which she moved around her house like an Elf on the Shelf, and which today is the holiday centerpiece on my own dining room table. To the Swedes, the Yule Goat represented the thin boundary between life and death during the long, dark nights of winter.

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Play’s the Thing: Playground by Richard Powers

Play’s the Thing: Playground by Richard Powers

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Playground (W. W. Norton & Company, September 24, 2024)

The ocean covers approximately 70% of Earth’s surface. It’s the largest livable space on our planet, and there’s more life there than anywhere else on Earth…Despite its importance, the majority of our ocean is largely unknown…Scientists estimate there may be between 700,000 and 1 million species in the ocean (mostly animals and excluding most microorganisms, of which there are millions). Roughly two-thirds of these species, possibly more, have yet to be discovered or officially described.

— NOAA Ocean Exploration

The capacity to play began evolving millions of years ago; it appears to exist in animals dating back 500 million years.  As evolution created ever more complex animals, play capabilities expanded too; humans are the most complex and the most playful of all species.

— The National Institute for Play

In The Overstory, Richard Powers depicted the concentric connections of the world’s forests and the human tampering with, if you’ll pardon the pun, “roots” of the natural world.  In his latest novel, Playground, Powers explores the interrelations among life below and above the sea,  as well as the effects of AI on both. But the overstory, if you will, is about the importance and effects of play.

The titular playground is actually several playgrounds and types of play. Rafi Young, a Black scholarship kid, and Todd Keane, a white nepo baby, first meet at a prestigious Chicago high school, bonding first over chess and then over Go, an ancient Chinese board game of strategy played with stones.

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Gary Gygax’s 17 Steps to Role-Playing Mastery (Steps 6 to 10)

Gary Gygax’s 17 Steps to Role-Playing Mastery (Steps 6 to 10)

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So, if you are reading this post right now (and you’d have to be, to see these words), this is Part Two of a look at Gary Gygax’ 17 Steps to Role-Playing Mastery. It would make sense to go read Part One, before reading this. Like, a LOT of sense. But if you’re here and you’re determined to plow ahead, below is the first part of the intro to last week’s post, so you understand the deal. Then you can move right on to Step Six.

Though you really should go back and read Part One afterwards. There’s more to come next week.

My Dungeons and Dragon s roots don’t go back to the very beginning, but I didn’t miss it by much. I remember going to our Friendly Local Gaming Store with my buddy. He would buy a shiny TSR module and I would get a cool Judges Guild supplement.

And I remember how D&D was the center of the RPG world in those pre-PC/video game playing days. And Gary Gygax was IT. It all centered around him. So, I read with interest a book that he put out in 1987, less than twelve months after he had severed all ties with TSR.

Role Playing Mastery is his very serious look at RPGing. He included the 17 steps he identified to becoming a Role Playing Master.

If you’re reading this post, you probably know that Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson co-created Dungeons and Dragons circa 1973-1974. Unfortunately, it was not a long-lasting partnership and lawsuits would ensue. While both were instrumental in creating D&D, it is Gygax who is remembered as the Father of Role Playing.

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G.W. Thomas on Fred Saberhagen’s Berserkers

G.W. Thomas on Fred Saberhagen’s Berserkers

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Three collections in Fred Saberhagen’s Berserker Saga: Berserker, Brother Assassin, and The Ultimate Enemy
(Ace Books, September 1978, December 1978, and September 1979). Covers: Boris Vallejo and Michael Whelan

Ace SF blogger G.W. Thomas, working atop a demon-haunted tower in Alberta, has been digging deep into a lot of my favorite old SF paperbacks, including C. L. Moore & Henry Kuttner’s Earth’s Last Citadel, Murray Leinster’s Get Off My World!, and Space Operas You May Have Missed.

But I think my favorite recent piece was his two-part series on a writer who’s largely forgotten today: Fred Saberhagen, author of The Book of Swords, Empire of the East, and The Dracula Tape, and his most enduring creation: the galaxy-roving Berserkers. which appeared in some seventeen volumes.

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Robert Adams was a Master of Narrative Drive

Robert Adams was a Master of Narrative Drive

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The first ten novels in the Horseclans series by Robert Adams (Signet/
New American Library editions, 1979-1983). Cover art by Ken Kelly

Franklin Robert Adams (1933 – 1990) only used his middle and last name on his books. He wrote twenty-six of them, in three different series, and edited nearly a dozen more.

His first and most famous series is called Horseclans. It’s set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, after a nuclear war, and begins on America’s great plains with tribal groups organized along Native American lines. Later, it moves toward a more feudal society with city states and knights in armor. There’s a fairly elaborate back story about how the modern societies were built from the remnants of American survivors and some of the invaders.

The first book was called The Coming of the Horseclans and published in 1975. The last one published was #18, The Clan of the Cats, and it appeared in 1988, two years before Adams’ death. The series may be post-apocalyptic, but it’s long after Earth’s recovery has begun so it really feels more like standard Sword & Sorcery. There is some magic with undying heroes, telepathy, and “Witch” men. It’s definitely not Sword & Planet but most folks who like S&P like these pretty well.

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Gary Gygax’s 17 Steps to Role-Playing Mastery (Steps 1 to 5)

Gary Gygax’s 17 Steps to Role-Playing Mastery (Steps 1 to 5)

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Role Playing Mastery by Gary Gygax (Perigee Trade, August 3, 1987)

My Dungeons and Dragons roots don’t go back to the very beginning, but I didn’t miss it by much. I remember going to our Friendly Local Gaming Store with my buddy. He would buy a shiny TSR module and I would get a cool Judges Guild supplement.

And I remember how D&D was the center of the RPG world in those pre-PC/video game playing days. And Gary Gygax was IT. It all centered around him. So, I read with interest a book that he put out in 1987, less than twelve months after he had severed all ties with TSR.

Role Playing Mastery is his very serious look at RPGing. He included the 17 steps he identified to becoming a Role Playing Master.

If you’re reading this post, you probably know that Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson co-created Dungeons and Dragons circa 1973-1974. Unfortunately, it was not a long-lasting partnership and lawsuits would ensue. While both were instrumental in creating D&D, it is Gygax who is remembered as the Father of Role Playing.

In 1987, Gary Gygax put out a book entitled Role-Playing Mastery, which gave guidelines on how to excel as a player in role-playing games. At that time, there were essentially two versions of Dungeons and Dragons. The Original, or ‘Basic’ game, had evolved under Tom Moldvay’s rules development.

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Folk Horror edited by Paul Kane & Marie O’Reagan

Folk Horror edited by Paul Kane & Marie O’Reagan

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Folk Horror (Flame Tree Publishing, August 27, 2024)

Folk Horror is one of those terms that’s never quite fashionable or unfashionable.

To me there’s only either good or bad horror fiction, and that’s what really matters to the readers.

This anthology — part of the Beyond & Within series from Flame Tree Publishing — fortunately is very good, regardless of labels. So kudos to the editors (excellent horror writers themselves) for assembling such an amount of creepy and entertaining material.

To be precise the book includes two little poems and fifteen stories.

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