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The Cornerstones of High Fantasy: E. R. Eddison, J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen R. Donaldson, J. K. Rowling, and George R. R. Martin

The Cornerstones of High Fantasy: E. R. Eddison, J.R.R. Tolkien, Stephen R. Donaldson, J. K. Rowling, and George R. R. Martin

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The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King (Ballantine paperback editions, October & November 1965). Covers by Barbara Remington

I’ve defined Heroic Fantasy (HF) as a type of fiction in which a heroic (bigger than life) figures use a combination of physical strength and edged weapons (Swords, Axes, Spears) to face bigger than life foes. The hero may be either male or female, but the focus is primarily on personal conflict between the hero and various villains.

I divide Heroic Fantasy into four categories: Sword and Sorcery, Sword and Planet, High Fantasy, and Heroic Historical. I’ve previously discussed S&S, S&P, and Heroic Historical (HH). Today let’s check out High Fantasy.

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S. E. Lindberg is One of the most unique voices in Modern Sword & Sorcery

S. E. Lindberg is One of the most unique voices in Modern Sword & Sorcery

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Lords of Dyscrasia by S. E. Lindberg (IGNIS Publishing, July 7, 2011). Cover by S. E. Lindberg

One of the most unique voices working in Sword & Sorcery today is S. E. Lindberg. I met Seth a few years back and we’ve corresponded frequently as well as running into each other here at Black Gate, where he is the Managing Editor, and at Goodreads. Lindberg has put together a unique setting for what he calls Dyscrasia Fiction.

Dyscrasia means “a bad mixture of liquids,” which is related to the Greek concept of the four “humors” of Blood, Phlegm, Black Bile, and Yellow Bile. In Dyscrasia fiction, these humors are sources of magical power and often soul and body corrupting influences.

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Another Classic Sword & Sorcery Anthology: The Barbarian Swordsmen, edited by Sean Richards (AKA Peter Haining)

Another Classic Sword & Sorcery Anthology: The Barbarian Swordsmen, edited by Sean Richards (AKA Peter Haining)

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The Barbarian Swordsmen (Star, 1981). Cover by Gino D’Achille

The Barbarian Swordsmen, edited by Sean Richards, Star publishers, a British press, 1981, cool cover by Gino D’Achille. A collection of Sword & Sorcery (S&S) tales that likely wouldn’t exist except for Robert E. Howard.

I couldn’t find out much about Mr. Richards but Toby Hooper revealed to me that Richards has been reported as a pseudonym for Peter Haining and that appears to be true. His intro here doesn’t reveal anything.

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La Belle Dame sans Merci: Tam Lin by Pamela Dean

La Belle Dame sans Merci: Tam Lin by Pamela Dean

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Tam Lin (Tor Books paperback reprint edition, April 1992). Cover by Thomas Canty

There’s been a lot of genre fiction set at schools. Hogwarts is an obvious example, but such settings were around long before Harry Potter; Heinlein’s Space Cadet, The Uncanny X-Men, and Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea were all there first. Tam Lin is another early example, published six years before Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone made scholastic fantasy a best-selling subgenre.

But it has an important difference: Its setting, the fictional Blackstock College, doesn’t teach magic, or superheroic combat, or spaceflight, or anything else fantastic. It’s a fairly typical small liberal arts college (based on the real college where Pamela Dean did her undergraduate work) where the supernatural elements are hidden beneath the surface.

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The Mighty Sword & Sorcery Anthologies of Hans Stefan Santesson

The Mighty Sword & Sorcery Anthologies of Hans Stefan Santesson

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The Mighty Barbarians: Great Sword and Sorcery Heroes, edited by
Hans Stefan Santesson (Lancer Books, 1969). Cover by Jim Steranko

Hans Stefan Santesson (1914 – 1975) was born in France and lived in Sweden with his parents until 1923 when his mother immigrated to the US. She was a commercial artist and he soon became an editor for various mystery publications.

I likely would never have heard of him if not for two books of Sword & Sorcery he edited for Lancer Books. These were The Mighty Barbarians (1969) and The Mighty Swordsmen (1970), both with evocative covers by Jim Steranko.

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Horror and Gothic, Magic and Witchcraft: The Dark of the Soul, edited by Don Ward

Horror and Gothic, Magic and Witchcraft: The Dark of the Soul, edited by Don Ward

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The Dark of the Soul (Tower Books, 1970)

Here’s another anthology I picked up because it had a Robert E. Howard story in it.

The Dark of the Soul, edited by Don Ward, A Tower book, 1970. Cover artist unknown. It contains a short story by Robert E. Howard called “The Horror from the Mound.” It’s a good story, although not one of Howard’s best.

This collection is more horror and gothic, magic and witchcraft, and not Sword & Sorcery (S&S). The stories are atmospheric but maybe slow for modern audiences. Here are my thoughts.

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What’s For Dinner? The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw

What’s For Dinner? The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw

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Art by Vladimir Logos

I’ve lost count of novels that involve some sort of magical college featuring adolescent misfits plucked from humdrum daily existence thrust into contests between good and evil, not to mention raging hormones.

Blame Harry Potter, though Rowling was building on the trope, not inventing it (c.f., in particular, A Wizard of Earthsea). She just got wildly successful with it. So why shouldn’t others also build on that success?

Granted there is nothing new under the sun; no one is irked that Maggie O’Farrell did yet another riff on a Shakespeare play with Hamnet. Even so, not to knock the whole dark academia thing, I can understand how some might sneer at yet another mystical schoolyard fantasy.

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Dark Muse News: Reviewing Arcane Arts and Cold Steel by David C. Smith

Dark Muse News: Reviewing Arcane Arts and Cold Steel by David C. Smith

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Arcane Arts and Cold Steel (Pulp Hero Press, December 24, 2025)

From History to Writing Sword and Sorcery, Pulp Hero Press has us covered

In 2019, Pulp Hero Press published Brian Murphy’s Flame and Crimson: A History of Sword-and-Sorcery, which was notably covered by David C. Smith (link to review) and John O’Neill (link) on Black Gate. O’Neill highlighted that Brian Murphy was one of the earliest contributors to Black Gate, from way back in 2012! Six years have passed since the publication of Flame and Crimson; whereas the subtitle and focus of that was a history of Sword & Sorcery (S&S), Pulp Hero Press just followed with a sequel focused on writing it, penned by David C. Smith with a foreword by John O’Neill.

This post covers the complementary book Arcane Arts and Cold Steel: Writing Sword-and-Sorcery Fiction (Pulp Hero Press 2025, 298 pages).  Greg Mele recently posted a Black Gate article on how this book is The Literary Sorcerer’s Toolkit; read that to learn more about the author.

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Swords & Sorcery and The Fantastic Swordsmen, edited by L. Sprague de Camp

Swords & Sorcery and The Fantastic Swordsmen, edited by L. Sprague de Camp

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Swords and Sorcery: Stories of Heroic Fantasy, edited by L. Sprague de Camp
(Pyramid Books, December 1963). Cover by Virgil Finlay

Here are two more Sword & Sorcery anthologies edited by L. Sprague de Camp. Both are from Pyramid Books. Swords & Sorcery is 1963, with interior illustrations by Virgil Finlay. ISFDB indicates the cover is by Finlay as well, although it looks to me very much in the cover style of the second book, The Fantastic Swordsmen (1967), where the cover is attributed to Jack Gaughan. Some of the experts who visit this page probably know the truth.

1. Swords & Sorcery is a nice collection. It contains “Shadows in the Moonlight” (Conan) by Robert E. Howard, and stories by Poul Anderson (the excellent “Valor of Cappen Varra”), Fritz Leiber (Fafhrd, Gray Mouser), Kuttner (Prince Raynor), Lord Dunsany, C. L. Moore (Jirel), Clark Ashton Smith, and Lovecraft (“The Doom that Came to Sarnath”). The introduction on “Heroic Fantasy” by de Camp tends to piss some people off that I know, although I’m not one of those particularly. It suggests that S&S is purely escapist reading. I think it does make for a good escape from life’s mundanities but there’s more to it than just that.

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