Robert Adams (1932-1990)

Robert Adams is best known as the creator of one series, The Horseclans. Heavy on the action, these tales are set in the 27th Century when man has reverted to barbarism. The history of the brave horse-riders grew from the first tale of Milo Morai (written by Adams while in hospital) into a vast saga. Some novels feature big cats instead of horses. Adams also edited several anthologies of note, Magic in Ithkar with Andre Norton and Barbarians with his wife and Martin Greenberg.

The Horseclan Series

1. The Coming of the Horseclans (1975)
2. Swords of the Horseclans (1977)
3. Revenge of the Horseclans (1977)
4. A Cat of Silvery Hue (1979)
5. The Savage Mountains (1980)
6. The Patrimony (1980)
7. Horseclan Odyssey (1981)
8. The Death of a Legend (1981)
9. The Witch Goddess (1982)
10. Bili the Axe (1983)
11. Champion of the Last Battle (1983)
12. A Woman of the Horseclans (1983)
13. Horses of the North (1985)
14. Tales of the Horseclans (1985)–omnibus
15. A Man Called Milo Morai (1986)
16. The Memories of Milo Morai (1986)
17. Trumpets of War (1987)
18. Madman’s Army (1987)
19. The Clan of the Cats (1988)

Adams Edited Anthologies–with Pamela Crippen Adams

20. Friends of the Horseclans (1987)
21. Friends of the Horseclans II (1989)
 

Poul Anderson (1926 - )

Well-known sf writer, Poul Anderson all too rarely dips into his Scandinavian heritage to produce fantasies with power and meaning. Though not famous for one series, all of Anderson’s best S&S tales share a common world of Dark Age enchantment. His brilliant talent for historical writing adds a truth to his work. Three Hearts & Three Lions features Ogier the Dane from the tales of Charlemagne while The Broken Sword is probably the best fantasy novel written about Norse Mythology. The Demon of Scattery is an interesting collaboration, for Poul Anderson wrote all the section for Halldor, a Viking, while Mildred Downey Broxon wrote those of Brigit, the Celtic woman who is captured by the Norsemen.

1. Three Hearts & Three Lions (1954)
2. The Broken Sword (1954)
3. Hrolf Kraki’s Saga (1973)–British Fantasy Award Winner 1974
4. The Demon of Scattery (1979)–with Mildred Downey Broxon–Illustrated by Alicia  Austin
5. The Merman’s Children (1979)
6. Fantasy (1981)–contains the Cappan Varra stories

The Conan Series

1. Conan the Rebel (1980)
 
 

Clifford Ball (?)
Clifford Ball was one of the first Howard pastiche writers for Weird Tales. Using Conan as a model, he created Duar the Accursed in 1937. The stories are largely forgotten and have not been reprinted outside of a few Lin Carter collections. This is unfortunate because the Duar stories, though not highly original, contain a number of in-jokes which readers today may still find humorous.
 

Kenneth Bulmer (1921- )
Kenneth Bulmer holds the record as the most prolific writer in all of sf. Using several different pseudonyms, such as Alan Burt Akers and Manning Norvil, he has pastiched a number of successful authors. Under his own name is published two collections of “saucy” S&S tales about the Vorkuns, Torr and Tara, two Nordic barbarians who know how to have a good time.
The Vorkunsaga Series
1. Swords of the Barbarians (1970)
2. Naked as a Sword (1977)
 
 

Chris Carlsen–pseudonym of Robert Holdstock (1948 - )
This pseudonym of award-winning sf author Robert Holdstock (See Also: Richard Kirk) was used for one series only, The Berserker. A horn-helmeted killer, not unlike Frazetta’s Death Dealer, the Berserker books are much better written.

The Berserker Series
1. Berserker: Shadow of the Wolf (1977)
2. Berserker: The Bull Chief (1977)
3. Berserker: The Horned Warrior (1979)
 

Lin Carter (1930 - 1988)
Lin Carter has written enough fantasy and science fantasy to fill this entire book. Along with his non-fiction, editorials, science fiction and pastiches of Conan and Lovecraft, his resume reads like a catalogue of imaginative fiction. Perhaps thought of these days as de Camp’s collaborator, Lin Carter wrote many new Conan stories as well as the first movie novelization. He also edited and finished the single King Kull volume. The one Carter character who stands closest to Conan is a barbarian named Thongor of Valkarth. Thongor lived in the lost land of Lemuria, which, like Atlantis, sank millennia ago. Carter’s other S&S milieu is that of World’s End, a pastiche of Jack Vance’s Dying Earth. Of his many individual  novels, The Black Star is perhaps Carter’s best book.  The first volume of a trilogy, Dell never commissioned the sequels, leaving one of the finest traditional S&S series incomplete.

The Thongor Series
1. The Wizard of Lemuria (1965)
2. Thongor of Lemuria (1966)
3. Thongor Against the Gods (1967)
4. Thongor and the City of Magicians (1968)
5. Thongor at the End of Time (1968)
6. Thongor Fights the Pirates of Tarakus (1970)
7. Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria (1970)–revision of #1
8. Thongor and the Dragon City (1970)–revision of #2
9. Lost Worlds (1980)–contains 2 Thongor stories

The Conan Series
1. Conan (1967)–with Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp
2. Conan of the Isles (1968)–with L. Sprague de Camp
3. Conan the Wanderer (1968)–with Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp
4. Conan of Cimmeria (1969)–with Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp
5. Conan the Buccaneer (1971)–with L. Sprague de Camp
6. Conan of Aquilonia (1977)–with L. Sprague de Camp
7. Conan the Swordsman (1978)–with L. Sprague de Camp and Bjorn Nyberg
8. Conan the Liberator (1979)–with L. Sprague de Camp and Bjorn Nyberg
9. Conan the Barbarian (1982)–movie novelization–with L. Sprague de Camp

The Godwane Series
1. Giant of the World’s End (1969)
2. Warrior of World’s End (1974)
3. Enchantress of World’s End (1975)
4. Immortal of World’s End (1976)
5. Barbarian of World’s End (1977)
6. Pirate of World’s End (1978)

The Chronicles of Kylix
1. The Quest of Kadji (1971)
2. The Wizard of Zao (1978)

Single Volumes
King Kull (1967)–with Robert E. Howard
The Flame of Iridar (1967)
Beyond the Gate of Sleep (1968)–contains 1 Conan story
The Thief of Thoth (1968)
Tower at the Edge of Time (1968)
Lost World of Time (1969)
Tower of Medusa (1969)
The Black Star (1973)
Kellory the Warlock (1984)
 

Adrian Cole (1949 - )
Adrian Cole has written in many different genres including horror and straight fantasy. Only one of his series features a true S&S feel, the Dream Lords , featuring as dark and brooding a background as Lumley’s Primal Lands or Wagner’s Kane novels.

The Dream Lords Series
1. Dream Lords: A Plague of Nightmares (1975)
2.  Lords of Nightmares (1975)
3. Bane of Nightmares (1976)
 

Michael Crichton (1942 - )
Author of Jurassic Park and the Andromeda Strain, Crichton has penned one fantasy which is a retelling of Beowulf and is an example of a non-generic packaging of S&S. It was filmed as The Thirteenth Warrior with Antonio Banderas.

1. Eaters of the Dead (1976)–Illustrated by Ian Miller