Sword & Sorcery Authors to Check Out
Authors who’ve written Sword & Sorcery include Robert E. Howard, Carole McDonnell, Fritz Leiber, Milton J. Davis, Tanith Lee, Namina Forna, Dariel R.A. Quiogue, Jonathan Maberry. Samuel R. Delany, and Molly Tanzer. (Scroll down to find many more authors below!)
Want to meet some Sword & Sorcery writers?
The fantasy subgenre “Sword & Sorcery” zeroes in on a lone character on a personal mission, where the weapon is a manual device, and the magic is almost never trustworthy. These action-packed tales generally star a rugged (often cynical) protagonist—and the threat is never a world-ending. (Those problems are saved for Epic Fantasy stories.)
The category is credited as having been invented by Robert E. Howard. (Granted, he was influenced by earlier fiction that touched on similar elements. But we can talk about that later.)
Below, we’re working on a list with several authors who have explored their own takes on Sword & Sorcery fiction. Over time, we’ll be adding more info about each author, plus including links so you can dig deeper into each author’s worlds of fiction…
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Sword & Sorcery authors
A / Saladin Ahmed/ Poul Anderson / B / C / Ramsey Campbell / C. J. Cherryh / P. Djeli Clark / Glen Cook / D / Avram Davidson / Milton J. Davis/ Samuel R. Delany / David Drake /Diane Duane / E / James Enge / F / Jeffrey Ford / Namina Forna / G / Craig Shaw Gardner / H / Barbara Hambly / John C. Hocking / Robert E. Howard / I / J / John Jakes / Valjeanne Jeffers / Howard Andrew Jones / K / Paul S. Kemp / Caitlín R. Kiernan / Sophie Kim/ Katherine Kurtz / Rebecca McFarland Kyle / L/ Mercedes Lackey / John Langan / Tim Lebbon/ Tanith Lee/ Fritz Leiber / Nathan Long / James Lovegrove/ M / Jonathan Maberry/ George R. R. Martin / Carole McDonnell / C.L. Moore / Michael Moorcock/ N / Garth Nix / Andre Norton / O / P/ Tamora Pierce / Rachel Pollack /Q / Dariel R.A. Quiogue/ R / Jennifer Roberson / Joanna Russ /S / Charles R. Saunders / Michael Shea / Robert Silverberg / Gail Simone / David C. Smith / S.M. Stirling / Michael Swanwick / T / Molly Tanzer / G.W. Thomas/ U / V / Jack Vance / W / Karl Edward Wagner / Gene Wolfe / X / Y / Jane Yolen / Z / Roger Zelazny / Jim Zub /
(This page is a work in progress. Know any Sword & Sorcery authors you think should be added to this list? Feel free to name them in the comments below.)
A
A / Saladin Ahmed / Poul Anderson (1926-2001) /
Saladin Ahmed
Saladin Ahmed is a fantasy writer and writing teacher. His poems and short stories have been widely published and have received several fellowships and awards over the years.
His debut novel, the traditional sword & sorcery fantasy Throne of the Crescent Moon, is a murder mystery with an authentic middle-eastern spin. Winner of the Locus Award for Best First Novel, the book was also nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards.
“The entire time I wrote Throne, I knew I wanted it to have a real ending, and it does,” the author told Strange Horizons. “I think it’s a pretty good standalone fantasy novel, but it’s definitely a glimpse into a larger world that people have hoped to revisit.”
Ahmed’s fiction has also been published in anthologies and magazines like Strange Horizons, Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show, Clockwork Phoenix 2, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
Writing for Marvel Comics, Ahmed’s Black Bolt won the Will Eisner award. His Marvel credits also include Daredevil, Miles Morales: Spider-Man, The Magnificent Ms. Marvel, and Wolverine.
He is also the co-creator of the horror comic book Abbott and its sequels Abbott: 1973 and Abbott: 1979. Abbott was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award and was a Michigan Notable Book.
Find Saladin Ahmed online:
B /
C
C / Ramsey Campbell / C.J. Cherryh / P. Djeli Clark / Glen Cook /
P. Djeli Clark
“I write stories and build worlds. Usually the fantastic kind.”
Phenderson Djéli Clark is one of the authors who wrote Sword & Soul stories for the collections Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology and Griots: Sisters of the Spear.
Clark is the award-winning and Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, and World Fantasy-nominated author of the novels Abeni’s Song and A Master of Djinn, and the novellas The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, Ring Shout, The Black God’s Drums and The Haunting of Tram Car 015.
His stories have also appeared at Tor.com, Daily Science Fiction, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Apex, Lightspeed, Fireside Fiction, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and in print anthologies like Hidden Youth and Clockwork Cairo. He is a founding member of FIYAH Literary Magazine and an infrequent reviewer at Strange Horizons.
When so inclined, Clark “rambles on issues of speculative fiction, politics, and diversity at his aptly named blog” The Disgruntled Haradrim.
Find P. Djeli Clark online:
D
D / Avram Davidson (1923-1993) / Milton J. Davis / Samuel R. Delany / David Drake / Diane Duane
Milton J. Davis
A Black Speculative fiction writer and owner of MVmedia, Davis is responsible for more than 20 novels and short-story collections.
His Eda Blessed series (with three books and counting) stars Omari Ket, a man who gets by on his wits and skills—and the attentions of a god.
“I don’t read a lot of heroic fantasy these days, but a new Milton Davis can always pull me back in.” (Black Gate)
Davis also co-edited (with Charles R. Saunders) the anthologies Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology and Griots: Sisters of the Spear. These short-story collections launch the fantasy category “Sword & Soul,” with tales of mighty warriors and seductive sorceresses, seen through the lens of African storytelling.
“It finds its inspiration and its reason for being in the stories of Robert E. Howard, particularly those of his most well known hero, Conan,” Davis explains. “Sword & Soul is Sword & Sorcery and epic fantasy based on African history, culture and traditions.”
Davis has also written short fiction for collections like SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire.
The author shares the origins of Sword & Soul here A Sword and Soul Primer and also here Sword and Soul Revisited.
Find Milton J. Davis online:
E / James Enge /
F
F / Jeffrey Ford / Namina Forna /
Namina Forna
In Namina Forna’s West African-inspired sword & sorcery series The Gilded Ones, girls are outcasts by blood—and warriors by choice. These bold and immersive YA fantasies are for fans of Children of Blood and Bone and Black Panther.
When the first book in the series came out—seriously, a week after it was a published—it was announced the book was already optioned to become a movie. (Forna has even been signed to write the screenplay.)
Forna is also an accomplished public speaker. She speaks on feminism, storytelling and challenging dominant narratives.
Find Namina Forna online:
The Gilded series (Penguin Random House)
G / Craig Shaw Gardner
H
H / Barbara Hambly / John C. Hocking / Robert E. Howard /
John C. Hocking
Winner of the Harper’s Pen Award for sword & sorcery, John C. Hocking wrote the book Conan: City of the Dead—which features two epics in one book: His classic Conan and the Emerald Lotus and the new follow-up Conan and the Living Plague.
Hocking’s short fiction has appeared in Tales from the Magician’s Skull, Flashing Swords, Black Gate, Skelos, and Weirdbook.
In this video interview, Hocking shares the tale of his famous lost Conan novel of the 1990s—Conan and the Living Plague—and how it finally found its way into the new book Conan: City of Dead:
The Epic Conan Novel That Took 30 Years to Complete | Conan the Barbarian
More ways to find John C. Hocking online:
City of the Dead - John C. Hocking Isn’t Playing Around (Conan.com)
An interview with John C. Hocking (The Swords of Robert E. Howard)
Independent Author Spotlight: John C. Hocking (DMR Books)
Beautiful Plagues: An Interview with John C. Hocking (Black Gate Magazine)
Of pastiche and John C. Hocking’s Conan and the Living Plague (The Silver Key)
Robert E. Howard (1906-1936)
Robert E. Howard, of course, is most remembered for creating Conan the Barbarian—and generally credited with inventing the whole story category now known as “sword & sorcery” fiction.
But in his brief author career, REH typed out more than a hundred stories for many more pulp categories. This doesn’t just include sword & sorcery stories, but also fantasy, horror, boxing stories, cowboy stories, action and adventure, comedy, and more.
In addition to Conan, his characters also include sailor and boxer Steve Costigan (whose stories are hilarious—I’m reading them right now), Texas gunfighter El Borak, short-tempered sword woman Dark Agnes, somber Puritan Solomon Kane, the philosophical warrior Kull of Atlantis, police detective Steve Harrison, and Pict king Bran Mak Morn.
Worth noting—and somewhat surprising—is how the original versions of REH’s stories have only recently become available.
There are several official story collections from publisher Del Rey.
There are also a number of titles put together by the non-profit Robert E. Howard Foundation, which is dedicated to celebrating the life and work of the author. With their publishing arm, their goals include—working with other publishers—getting everything REH wrote into print. (We interviewed someone from REHF here!)
Also exciting is how Heroic Signatures (working with Titan Books and Titan Comics) is now adding exciting brand-new stories to that world. This includes original novels and comic books from authors revisiting the worlds of Robert E. Howard. (We have an interview coming soon from Heroic Signatures, too!)
Related articles:
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J
J / John Jakes (1932-2023) / Valjeanne Jeffers / Howard Andrew Jones (1968-2025) /
Valjeanne Jeffers (1959-2022)
The late Valjeanne Jeffers is one of the authors who wrote Sword & Soul stories for the collections Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology and Griots: Sisters of the Spear.
She was a speculative fiction author, screenwriter, and a member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA). The author of 10 books, her fiction also included the Immortal series and the Mona Livelong: Paranormal Detective series.
Her writing was also published in anthologies. Among other collections, her fiction was included in The City: A Cyberfunk Anthology; Steamfunk!; Genesis Science Fiction Magazine; The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South; Liberated Muse I: How I Freed My Soul; Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler; Sycorax’s Daughters; 100 Black Women in Horror; and SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire.
In Memoriam: Valjeanne Jeffers (Horror Writers Association)
Interview with Valjeanne Jeffers (African American Literature Book Club)
K
K / Paul S. Kemp / Caitlín R. Kiernan / Sophie Kim / Katherine Kurtz / Rebecca McFarland Kyle /
Sophie Kim
A bestselling author whose stories feature mythology, monsters, mystery, and magic—Sophie Kim’s work includes the YA sword & sorcery series the Talons. After the destruction of her entire Talon gang, 18-year-old Shin Lina—the Reaper of Sunpo—is forced to become a living, breathing weapon for the kingdom’s most-feared crime lord.
“In this debut YA fantasy, a teenage assassin braves a ruthless crime lord and powerful immortals to save her sister. A stellar, mythical hero whose prowess and tenacity could easily drive her own series.” (Kirkus Reviews)
Find Sophie Kim online:
Review: The God and the Gumiho by Sophie Kim (The British Fantasy Society)
L
L / Mercedes Lackey / John Langan / Tim Lebbon / Tanith Lee (1947-2015) / Fritz Leiber (1910-1992) / Nathan Long / James Lovegrove /
Mercedes Lackey
Mercedes Lackey has published a number of novels and short stories. This includes her tales with with Kethry and Tarma, a mage and a sword-sworn fighter who travel together as mercenaries, defending women in need of deliverance despite the personal peril they face.
“I’m a storyteller,” Lackey says. “My stories come out of my characters—how those characters would react to the given situation.”
In her worlds, magic is paid for, and the cost to the magician is frequently a high one. “I try to make all of my characters—even the ‘evil magicians’—something more than flat stereotypes. Even evil magicians get up in the night and look for cookies, sometimes.”
Lackey is also a professional lyricist. In fact, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly dozens of songs for Firebird Arts & Music, a small recording company specializing in science fiction folk music.
Find Mercedes Lackey online:
Twitter (we refuse to call it “X”)
Tim Lebbon
In the novel Conan: Songs of the Slain: When an old friend is attacked, Conan the Barbarian—now King of Aquilonia—picks up his sword again in search of vengeance. However, mysterious enemies assail the Cimmerian in this action-packed tale.
The book was written by Tim Lebbon, who talked with Conan.com about writing the book:
“Conan’s first few experiences back in the wild trouble him a little, because he can see and sense that he’s lost his feel of the warrior’s touch. And he makes mistakes, gets injured, and has to weather the results of those injuries. But it doesn’t last for long.”
Remarked SFBook Reviews:
“As close to another outing in the classic series as you can get, in a modern voice,” “I would gladly read more Lebbon written Conan.”
Of course, the author has written about lots of other characters, too. More than forty of his novels have been published—with more books due soon.
His novel The Silence is a Netflix Movie starring Stanley Tucci and Kiernan Shipka. BTW, Lebbon was also in the movie—as a bloodied corpse. (Apparently, you have to hit the pause button in time to even see him.)
His novella Pay The Ghost was adapted and starred Nicolas Cage.
Lebbon has won two British Fantasy awards, a Bram Stoker award, and a Tombstone award—and was a finalist for International Horror Guild and World Fantasy awards.
Find Tim Lebbon online:
Nathan Long
The classic sword & sorcery characters Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser have returned for new stories—written by Nathan Long for the magazine Tales From The Magician’s Skull. The stories are authorized by the estate of the characters’ creator, Fritz Leiber.
Long says that it was Leiber who instilled in him his love of sword & sorcery fiction. More than Robert E. Howard. More than Michael Moorcock. More than any other writer.
In fact, Long says that Leiber’s delight in wordplay, whimsy, and wit has shaped his own writing.
“I consider him one of the true immortals of the field,” Long says. “I can only hope that my story is received in the spirit it was written, not as an addition to the canon, but as a tribute to it—a love letter to my first and fondest inspiration, Fritz Leiber.”
Tales From the Magician’s Skull is a good fit for these stories. The fantasy magazine is dedicated to presenting all-new sword-and-sorcery fiction—crammed with sword-swinging action, dark sorceries, dread, and ferocious monsters—all hurtling forward at a headlong pace.
The first story in these new adventures for Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser appeared in issue #6 of Tales From The Magician’s Skull. The second story appeared in issue #9. (There’s another one already on the way.)
Of course, Nathan Long has written his own characters, too. A champion crafter of heroic fantasy tales, he is also known for his Gotrek and Felix novels. He has written a wide selection of Warhammer fantasy novels, including the Blackhearts trilogy and the adventures of Ulrika the vampire.
Find Nathan Long info online:
Nathan Long | Official Publisher Page (Simon & Schuster)
Nathan Long (Black Library)
James Lovegrove
British-born author James Lovegrove has written more than 70 books and more than 60 short stories. The books includes some Sherlock Holmes novels that mash up the fictional worlds of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with H.P. Lovecraft. And a couple of novels set in the Marvel universe, one with Doctor Strange and the other with the Fantastic Four. And some novels set in the universe of the Firefly TV show and follow-up movie.
Of course, this is our Sword & Sorcery page—so what we really want to talk about is Lovegrove’s novel Conan: Cult of the Obsidian Moon. Starring Robert E. Howard’s famous pulp-fiction barbarian hero, the novel is a standalone adventure with links to the Black Stone storyline in the Conan comics from Titan Publishing.
In fact, Lovegrove shared on his website how writing a Conan novel was a dream come true.
“When I was eleven or twelve,” he says, “my grandmother gave me a book token which I promptly blew on the first six Sphere paperbacks of Conan’s adventures—you know, with the Frank Frazetta cover paintings.”
He was hooked.
“I’ve been a happy Conan fan—and more broadly, Robert E Howard fan—ever since. When offered the chance to write some of the Cimmerian’s adventures myself, I jumped at it.”
Of course, having written so many other books and stories, there’s more on Lovegrove’s list:
Like his Pantheon novels, military-SF adventures combining high-tech weaponry and ancient gods;
His satire on consumerism, Days, that was shortlisted for the 1998 Arthur C. Clarke Award;
His short stories have been published in a number of magazines and anthologies over the years—including two collections, Imagined Slights and Diversifications;
One of his short stories, “Carry The Moon In My Pocket,” won an award—Japan’s Seiun Award in 2011 for Best Foreign Short Story.
Find James Lovegrove online:
M
M / Jonathan Maberry / George R. R. Martin / Carole McDonnell / C.L. Moore (1911-1987) / Michael Moorcock /
Jonathan Maberry
An author who has written LOTS of fiction (in different categories), Jonathan Maberry’s dark fantasy series Kagen the Damned has been described as The Witcher meets Game of Thrones. And the books have received endorsements from the likes of Michael Moorcock, Kevin J. Anderson, Seanan McGuire, and James Rollins.
Of course, there’s a reason that stories with swords and / or sorcery means so much to Maberry.
“The very first book I ever bought with my own money [was] Conan The Wanderer,” the author told Atomic Geekdom. “1968. 60 cents. Lancer books. I read all the Conan stuff. I read all the Kull and Bran Mak Morn. And his other stories. And everything I could find that was [Sword & Sorcery] I read.”
In the years since then, Maberry has been busy writing. The winner of an Inkpot, plus five Bram Stoker Awards, he’s been writing fiction for different media. And in several genres—including horror, thriller, dark fantasy, epic fantasy, urban fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction, mysteries, and westerns.
He’s also written quite a lot for his own characters, as well as many others. Maybe you saw his stories with Black Panther, Wolverine, or The Avengers. Or Godzilla. Or X-Files. (Or for that matter, Hellboy, Sherlock Holmes, Aliens, Predator, Planet of the Apes, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, True Blood AKA Sookie Stackhouse, or The Wizard of Oz.)
Maberry has also edited lots of short story collections. This includes recent issues of Weird Tales magazine, plus anthologies like The Big Bad Book of Kaiju, Shadows & Verse, Joe Ledger, Aliens: Bug Hunt, Baker Street Irregulars, Hardboiled Horror, and many more.
As for his Kagen the Damned series, those books include Kagen the Damned (#1), Son of the Poison Rose (#2), and The Dragon in Winter (#3). There is also the standalone title I Say Your Name in the Dark Nights: A Story of Kagen the Damned.
More Jonathan Maberry online:
Twitter (we never call it “X”)
Oh, and he’s also shown up a few times here on Monster Complex®:
George R. R. Martin
The bestselling author of many novels, George R. R. Martin’s books include those of the acclaimed series A Song of Ice and Fire. Kicking off with A Game of Thrones, what started as a planned trilogy became—well, more books than thsat. (And still counting.)
The original Ice and Fire books led to at least three TV shows—including Game of Thrones, followed by the prequel series House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
Martin’s swordplay fiction can be seen as riding the lines dividing Sword & Sorcery from Epic Fantasy. On the one hand, his expansive worlds include multiple viewpoints and large-scale, political stakes. On the other hand, his stories can also involve grounded violence, low magic, and singular—even self-centered—character motivations.
That said, Martin was one of the authors included in The Sword & Sorcery Anthology. (Just saying.)
Martin’s projects also includes overseeing the multi-author Wild Cards series. The books—which feature stories in a shared universe—follows the results when humans gain superpowers (for better or for worse) from an extraterrestrial virus.
In 2005, Time called Martin “the American Tolkien.” In 2011, Martin was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.
As a writer-producer, Martin has worked on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and pilots that were never made.
Find more George R.R. Martin online:
Carole McDonnell
Carole McDonnell is one of the authors who appeared in both of the Sword & Soul collections Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology and Griots: Sisters of the Spear.
Actually, she writes in several different genres. And in a number of categories—in addition to fiction, McDonnell also writes devotionals, poetry, reviews, and essays.
“I’ve written for as long as I can remember,” the author shares in her bio. “My Jamaican family was always telling stories and mother had memorized the opening chapters from several books, such as Ivanhoe, A Tale of Two Cities, etc.”
She says that, as a little girl, she started “adapting” those works to her own, well, cultural views. “Somehow, I felt the stories I had inherited from the European tradition—stuff we learned in school or watched on TV—always needed to be tweaked to include (subtly) matters that were important to a little Jamaican girl growing up in a Jewish-neighborhood in Brooklyn.”
Find Carole McDonnell online:
Indie Spotlight: Carole McDonnell (FIYAH Literary Magazine)
Review: The Constant Tower by Carole McDonnell (Black Gate)
Carole McDonnell - Carole’s Bio, Credits, Awards, and more (Stage 32)
Carol McDonnell Books (Wildside Press)
N / Garth Nix / Andre Norton (1912-2005) /
O /
P
P / Tamora Pierce / Rachel Pollack /
Tamora Pierce
Author Tamora Pierce has written a great number of books—including the Song of the Lioness quartet, the Immortals quartet, the Circle of Magic series, the Protector of the Small books, the Circle Opens series, the Trickster duet, the Circle Reforged books, and the Beka Cooper series.
‘I got into this to write about girls who kick butt. My female warriors are not muscle-bound tanks who go one-for-one. Alanna, my first hero, is five-foot-four and stocky. She puts her strength in her stamina, her speed, the ability to go the distance.” (Locus)
Pierce’s Song of the Lioness and The Protector of the Small quartets garnered her a Margaret A. Edwards Award, honoring significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.
Find Tamora Pierce online:
Q
Q / Dariel R.A. Quiogue /
Dariel R.A. Quiogue
A writer-photographer from the Philippines, in 1977, Dariel R. A. Quiogue was simultaneously exposed to Star Wars, Herodotus, Homer, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Robert E. Howard—and his brain has never been the same since. He now writes fantasy and science fiction in his spare time, flavored by his fascination for history, science, the sea, and the richness and diversity of Asian cultures.
His creative motto is “Simple stories, powerfully told.”
“In a way my very first Sword & Sorcery read was Homer’s Odyssey—in an abridged prose version, of course. I was an asthmatic bookworm as a kid, and when I found our family copy of that I devoured it. Exposure to Conan—first through the pastiches of de Camp, Carter and Nyberg—merely sharpened the taste I’d already acquired through The Odyssey and Ray Harryhausen movies for swashbuckling adventure in faraway lands.” (Grimdark)
Quiogue’s fiction has appeared in Walls of Shira Yulun, Futures That Never Were (Broadswords and Blasters #13), Die By the Sword, The Best of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Volume I, the Philippine Speculative Fiction Annual Volume 7, and Rakehell Magazine.
Find Dariel R.A. Quiogue online:
R
R / Jennifer Roberson /Joanna Russ (1937-2011) /
Jennifer Roberson
Writing and marketing her first novel at the age of 14, Jennifer Roberson received her first rejection slips. She was 29 (and 2 days) old when her first novel was acquired: A 15-year overnight success!
With a writing career that’s now spanned more than 40 years, Roberson’s fiction is comprised primarily of fantasy series. These include the Sword-Dancer saga, the Chronicles of the Cheysuli, the Karavans universe, and the urban fantasy series Blood & Bone.
In an interview, Roberson talked about how the Sword-Dancer series started with a subtext:
“While I wrote Del as a feminist, mostly I wanted her character to prove that women could be equally competent as men in the same jobs. As the series continued, this subtext became less overt because Del had proved herself and Tiger accepted her skill. They continued squabbling about various beliefs and differences between men and women, but it became banter as opposed to verbal confrontation. Also, I wanted to entertain the reader with adventures, not bog them down in continual discussions of sexism.” (Paul Semel)
The author’s other works include historicals based on the Robin Hood legend, Lady of the Forest and Lady of Sherwood; the Scottish historical Lady of the Glen, featuring the documented Massacre of Glencoe in 1692; the short story collection, Guinevere's Truth and Other Tales; the Highlander TV series media tie-in Scotland the Brave; and other genre titles. In 1997, The Golden Key (a collaboration with Melanie Rawn and Kate Elliott) was short-listed for the World Fantasy Award.
Find Jennifer Roberson online:
S
S / Charles R. Saunders (1946-2020) / Michael Shea (1946-2014) / Robert Silverberg / Gail Simone / David C. Smith / S.M. Stirling / Michael Swanwick /
Charles R. Saunders
Author and journalist Charles R. Saunders (1946-2020) wrote lots of different kinds of things. A civil servant and a teacher, he was also a columnist who wrote novels, non-fiction, screenplays and radio plays.
Saunders pioneered the “Sword & Soul” literary category with his Imaro novels. The books show the author matching up the action and adventure of traditional sword & sorcery with African myth, history and culture.
“Saunders’ novel [Imaro] fuses the narrative style of fantasy fiction with a pre-colonial, alternate Africa,” notes Skyhorse Publishing. “Inspired by and directly addresses the alienation of growing up an African American fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy, which to this day remains a very ethnically homogonous genre.”
So how did Sword & Soul get started? Publisher and author Milton J. Davis explains what inspired Saunders to explore the idea:
“Charles was a fan of Howard’s Conan,” Davis says, “but as an enlightened Black man of the seventies he was disappointed with Howard’s handling of Black people in his works. So he decided to put his skills to use to create a character that in his own words ‘could kick Conan’s ass.’ The result was Imaro, an Illyasai warrior who roamed the world of Nyumbani battling various foes as he sought his true identity.”
“I consider [the Imaro books] terrific works of sword-and-sorcery,” notes Brian Murphy, the author behind the reference book Flame and Crimson: A History of Sword-and-Sorcery. “They rank up there with Henry Kuttner, Karl Edward Wagner, David Drake, and many other fine authors. His stuff absolutely deserves a bigger following.”
For the anthologies Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology and Griots: Sisters of the Spear, Saunders and Davis worked together to collect stories from a number of authors. This included Carole McDonnell, Valjeanne Jeffers, and P. Djeli Clark.
More about Charles R. Saunders online:
Remembering Charles R. Saunders—the father of “Sword & Soul” (Monster Complex)
Sword and Soul Revisited (Black Gate)
Charles R. Saunders, Father of Sword and Soul (Sverre C.O. Tidemand)
Remembering Charles R. Saunders, A Local Fantasy Fiction Legend (Halifax Libraries)
Gail Simone
Gail Simone’s debut novel is Red Sonja: Consumed. (And we’ve heard that another book is on the way.) But then, Simone already had a history with writing Red Sonja, so this was a great idea.
Years earlier, when the rights for Red Sonja moved to Dynamite Comics, they pitched the series to Simone—a legendary comic book writer known for such comics as Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey, and Deadpool. (Among other titles.)
In Simone’s Red Sonja comic book series, the lead stopped being just a sex symbol. And became more of an actual character.
Funny thing is: Simone only started writing the Red Sonja comic book because her mom told her to. But she quickly found that she liked what she was writing.
“I was having a blast. I had a lot of freedom with where to take her story-wise so that really allowed me to get in and tell the stories I wanted to tell with this character. And I’ve been a fan of strong female characters and pulp and fantasy and all of that forever, and this just kind of fit it all into one for me. Plus, she’s very fun to write.”
With the novel, Red Sonja: Consumed, Simone has enjoyed the chance to write more about the character than she could before.
“With the novel, we get to get so much deeper into her world and feelings and motivations and why she does the things she does, that we don’t have time to get to in the comics. And so I think being able to really try to relate and understand her is something that was really rewarding, I think, to get a chance to do.”
Find Gail Simone online:
Twitter (which we refuse to call “X”)
T
T / Molly Tanzer / G.W. Thomas /
Molly Tanzer
Since launching In 2023, New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine has been on a mission to showcase S&S fiction with brand-new characters—while also revisiting classic characters. One of those classics has been Jirel of Joiry—who, invented back in the 1930s, New Edge announced her return as being “like Alice in Wonderland with a big f***ing sword.”
Writing some brand-new Jirel stories for New Edge, SF&F and horror author Molly Tanzer’s credentials include the very-on-target anthology Swords v. Cthulhu—plus nominations for the Locus Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the Wonderland Book Award. Her work adapting manga for English-speaking audiences has been nominated for the American Manga Awards. Her critically acclaimed short fiction can be found in The Big Book of Cyberpunk, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror.
“My journey with writing the new Jirel stories began when Oliver Brackenbury of Brackenbury Books and New Edge Sword & Sorcery magazine asked if I’d be interested in doing so! Oliver got my name from a few people, as I’d co-edited an anthology called Swords v. Cthulhu many years ago, and am an outspoken fan of the genre. I even have a Conan the Barbarian tattoo: the “wheel of pain” from the ’82 movie, on my left shoulder.”
While Tanzer had never really done any “IP” writing before, she was honored to be asked and jumped at the chance to be part of Jirel’s story.
“New Edge S&S is all about their mission of having classic S&S vibes paired with an ‘inclusive, boundary-pushing approach’ to the subject matter. From the get-go, I’ve felt very comfortable giving Jirel—for example—an LGBTQ+ sidekick, and playing with her legacy of being an unhinged, dangerous swordswoman, hater of wizards, and determined explorer of the unknown... while also being a libido-fueled disaster.”
Find Molly Tanzer online:
Molly Tanzer: Reviving the first heroine of Sword & Sorcery (Monster Complex)
Author Spotlight: Molly Tanzer (Nightmare Magazine)
G.W. Thomas
Owner of the SF / fantasy / horror website Dark Worlds Quarterly and publisher at RAGE machine Books, author G.W. Thomas’s career as an author goes back to his co-writing Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game scenario “The City in the Sea” for Cthulhu Now (co-written with Lynn Willis).
Thomas edited and wrote for The Devil’s Defile: Weird Tales from Devil’s Gulch, the Swords of Fire anthology series, and the Monster: From the Pages of Dark Worlds Quarterly essay collections.
Thomas’ writing has also appeared in The Armchair Detective, The Mystery Review, Black October Magazine,Writer’s Digest, and The Writer. In 1999 he received an Honorable Mention from Years’ Best Fantasy & Horror for “Waking Dream” (Flesh & Blood #4, June 1999). Currently he’s writing Mythos Noir with his Book Collector series, as well as sword and sorcery fiction.
Find G.W. Thomas online:
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Jim Zub
Canadian writer, artist, and art instructor Jim Zub writes the current Conan the Barbarian comic book adventures of Robert E. Howard’s legendary sword & sorcery hero.
“I’ve been fortunate to write stories for some iconic characters—Spider-Man, Batman, Iron Man, The Avengers, and quite a few others,” Zub told the Before We Go blog. “In every case it all starts with research. Even if I think I know the character well it’s important to drill back down and read as many classic and current stories as possible to remind myself what is at the core of that character and what I like about them.”
In the case of Conan, it was all about Zub going back to re-reading the original Robert E. Howard pulp stories from Weird Tales magazine.
“All the Conan ones, of course,” he says, “but a lot of other ones too, to try and tap into the foundational material that kicked off the sword & sorcery genre.”
Zub suggests that reading for research is different from reading for pleasure.
“I have a notepad close at hand to jot down key text—names, phrases, and questions—everything that catches my attention as I read. From there I dug into essays from Robert E. Howard scholars and the classic 70’s comics as well. All that material helped form key ideas around the character, his world, and ways we might be able to keep a classic feel even as we pushed the narrative out into places I hadn’t quite seen before.”
By the way, Zub has also worked for a number of publishing, movie and video game clients. These include Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Disney, Capcom, Hasbro, Cartoon Network, Bandai-Namco, and UDON Entertainment.
Find Jim Zub online:
Related links:
Remembering Robert E. Howard: Creator of Sword & Sorcery (Monster Complex)
New Thundarr the Barbarian comic book: Conan meets Star Wars! (Monster Complex)
A Brief History of Sword & Sorcery (Dark Worlds Quarterly)
Brian Murphy: Why I Wrote Flame and Crimson: A History of Sword-and-Sorcery (DMR Books)
Sword-and-Sorcery and the Problem of Genre (Black Gate Magazine)
Want to meet some Sword & Sorcery writers? We’re working on a list with several authors who have explored their own takes on Sword & Sorcery fiction.