May-June 2018 Groupread Poll

The Sword & Sorcery Group on Goodreads invites you to join us this May-June and read...well, read a topic that we are voting on!  

Poll

Topics for May-June 2018 Groupreads. Usually, top two topics are accepted. Your help is needed to populate this poll, vote, and revote later. This poll will start with just two options, but please write-in more... and check back frequently to revote as new options as they roll in from other members.

Tales from the Magician's Skull #1 Robert E. Howard's Weird Works Volume 1: Shadow Kingdoms Brak the Barbarian Versus the Sorceress series by John Jakes Film Novelizations Clash of the TitansConan the Barbarian Dragonslayer

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A Guide to Dyscrasia Fiction

Here's a guide to Dyscrasia Fiction.

A fourth book is in the works (working title "Helen's Storm")

New to the series? Start with Helen's journey in Helen's Daimones. 

The Literate Thief - Review By SE

Literate Thief by Walter Rhein
S.E. rating: 5 of 5 stars

Highly recommended dystopian reading; intellectual heroic fantasy that unfolds fast furious .

"Never let a lesser person hold dominion over your sense of worth. If you doubt your own logic, you become vulnerable to oppression, violation, and control"- scholar Adam Lockhart


Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark inspired this Slaves of Erafor series (a dark muse for sure). When and how should passive intellectuals fight back against blind oppression? It is a timely philosophical question for many, especially in a day in which faux news is eroding our confidence in society's collective intelligence. At what point is violent revolution warranted? Rhein offers an entertaining adventure that invites us to consider such dilemmas. Don't worry, it reads as fun escapism--not a manifesto.

This is a stunning sequel to the The Reader of Acheron, which introduced us to Kikkan (an educated brute, a freed slave--he's the pipe-wielding dude on the cover) and the duo of Cole & Quillion (nuanced mercenaries). The three men go on a mission, inspired by a rare scholar named Lockhart: find a teacher, a literate thief, in Edentown. They are continuously dogged by an oppressive, illiterate government. Acheron was ambitious and rewarding, introducing us to a future in which reading is prohibited; Thief is even better.

Stylistically, the Literate Thief is very realistic (no mythological monsters or contraptions exist) but it does "feel like" Steampunk Fantasy. Its tone is more Grim than Hopeful, but that reflects the daunting conflict our heroes face. Its faces several humans against (a) organized authoritarian government, (b) a drugged, apathetic populace, and (c) an impoverished ruined city-scape. There are several instances you will hope that they can escape into the infested, haunted subway for relative safety from the dangers above.

Walter Rhein mixed up just the right number of opposing & cooperative players and places. As much as the Literate Thief fleshes out the World of Erafor, it opens up new vistas into weird science (futuristic alchemy & drug use) while exposing more mysteries. One the one hand, the geography crystallized: places like: San Borja, San Aryan, Brinewater, and Edentown all became distinctive characters unto themselves; on the other hand, characters like Quillion, Cole, and Kikkan demonstrate wild heroics while revealing more about themselves... and new people (i.e., the antagonists Orion and Janus, and the roving library-scholar) offer up an atlas full of new stories. There is a thief of course: Simyon, a friend of the seductive archer Valeria; they make a great pair. But is Simyon the titular Thief?

Drugs play a prominent role. First there is Bliss, that is voluntary, and involuntary, imbibed by the abundant, lower classes; these addicts become so consumed they resemble mindless, cannibalistic demons. There is also an unnamed steroid-like substance the governing brutes consume, which may be harvested from the humans they torment.

The Slaves of Erafor is an unfinished series, so don't expect all mysteries to be explained. I haven't felt the giddy need to read the next book (in progress) since I was a teenager devouring series like Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar or Margaret Weis's Dragonlance.

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Books for Beverage Program

Another dyscrasia victim! 

After listening to the audio book of Spawn of Dyscrasia, Matt earned a Starbuck's Blonde Roast as part of the Book-for-Beverage program: buy any version of Dyscrasia Fiction book [eBook, Paperback, or Audible] and I'll buy you a drink [tea, coffee, smoothy, shake, beer, whatever].

Mar-Apr Groupreads

All are welcome to join the

 Sword & Sorcery Group on Goodreads

Our March-April 2018 Groupread Topics are:

A) Ursula K. Le Guin: Link to Ursula K. Le Guin groupread
Honor her passing by reading and discussing anything by her, like A Wizard of Earthsea or The Left Hand of Darkness

B) Thieves: Link to groupread on "thieves": Books like: The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble's Braids, The Legend of Eli Monpress, Broken Blade, The Hammer and the Blade

Banner Credits:
2018 Charles Vess illustrations for forthcoming Earthsea omnibus
1979 Walter Velez's Cover for Thieves World
2015 Arman Akopian Cover for Blackguards: Tales of Assassins, Mercenaries, and Rogues


  

Mar-April Groupread Topic Poll open - Sword and Sorcery Group

Sword and Sorcery Group - Poll for Nov-Dec (link)

Vote for the Mar-Apr Groupread topics: 

Poll

Mar-April Groupread Topic Poll. Two months, two topics, probably. Thanks to Jack, Cindy, Jordan, Al, and Richard for ideas.

Graphic Novels: like Slaine The Wanderer, Chronicles of Hate,
The Complete Marvel Conan the Barbarian, Vol. 5

Elves like The Legend of Drizzt: The Collected Stories or Doom of the Elves or Defenders of Ulthuan
Ursula K. Le Guin - anything by her: A Wizard of EarthseaThe Left Hand of Darkness

Dwarves: The Dwarves or Gotrek & Felix: The First Omnibus ,

Thieves The Thief Who Pulled on Trouble's Braids, The Legend of Eli MonpressBroken BladeThe Hammer and the Blade
Vampires:Bloodborn or Vampire Wars The Von Carstein TrilogyWay of the Wolf or Necroscope

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Challenge! Discovery reviewed by S.E.

Challenge! Discovery by Jason M. Waltz
S.E. rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rogue Blades Entertainment has a great track record for delivering anthologies (Return of the Sword, Writing Fantasy Heroes,Rage of the Behemoth, and more). Challenge! Discovery is the 2017 edition, which posed a challenge: look at the cover, and write a story about it. The illustration features a scantily clad female warrior and a panther emerge from jungle ruins.

The concept is cool, but the entries range in quality, and I disagree with the judges. Apparently the last two won 1st and 2nd place by the judges, but if I were to rate by (a) inspiration from cover and (b) storytelling (good pacing, show not tell, etc.) then I would have chosen 2 of the below:
- "Inner Nature" by JOHN KILIAN
- "Someplace Cool and Dark" by FREDERIC S. DURBIN
- "Witch with Bronze Teeth brushed" by KEITH J. TAYLOR

1) "Witch with Bronze Teeth brushed" by KEITH J. TAYLOR: 5-star blend of military Warhammer-esque battle and zombie horror

2) "Fire Eye Gem" by Richard Berrigan: 3-star; too corny for me; features a do-good Kimmeriorian barbarian named ‘Jack’?. ugh

3) "Inner Nature" by JOHN KILIAN 5-star, started ok and but ramped-up very satisfyingly

4) "The Ash-Wood of Celestial Flame" by GABE DYBING; nice fairy tale elements

5) "Someplace Cool and Dark" by FREDERIC S. DURBIN: 5-star, it is first person, weird funny and dark.... and I heard this exact story before! It took me a while to figure it out, but I heard him read this at the World Fantasy Convention 2016. A bonus essay on the writing of this story is added and is as engaging as the story

6)"World inside the Walls" by Frederick Tor : 3-star. Nice inspiration from the cover, but delivery style was dry narrative

7) "In the Ruins of the Panther People" by DANIEL R. ROBICHAUD: 4-star. Started slow and has cheesy romance lines, but ends with a huge bang, science-sorcery Meat Stamp! Loved the Meat Stamp!

8) "The Serpent’s Root by DAVID J. WEST, young adult pacing, but fun. 3.5; not obviously connected the cover as the other stories.

9) "A Fire in Shandria" by FREDERIC S. DURBIN; 4-star. Decent Amazon warrior story with a dragon (not sure why there was a dragon and not a panther)

10) "Cat’s in the Cradle NICHOLAS OZMENT (awarded 2nd place): 3-star Inspired by the cover for sure, but for a short story most of its pages are dedicated to non pertinent content. Pacing off.

11) "Attaberia" by HENRY RAM - (awarded 1st place): 4-star. Viking story with nice concept; starts as a 5 and ends as 3 (there is a disconnect between the tension & remoteness of a mysterious island and the inhabitants).

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