Roland Green (1944 - )

Green has made a career writing as the most recent Jeffrey Lord, author of the Richard Blade novels (sf’s poorest example of “product” publishing) but occasionally writes S&S under his own name. His Wandor series is traditional Conan pastiche with few surprises. Perhaps Green’s best effort has been his recent Conan novels. After years of copying Howard’s barbarian, he finally got to write the real thing.

The Wandor Series
1. Wandor’s Ride (1973)
2. Wandor’s Journey (1975)
3. Wandor’s Voyage (1979)
4. Wandor’s Flight (1981)

The Conan Series
1. Conan the Valiant (1988)
2. Conan the Guardian (1991)
3. Conan the Relentless (1992)
 
 

M. John Harrison (1945– )

Largely a horror writer now, Harrison began his career with a fantasy novel and later a series of short stories set in the same world. The Virconium stories are not traditonal
hack-and-slash but colorful and inventive.

Virconium Nights Series
1. The Pastel City (1971)
2. A Storm of Wings(1980)
3. In Viriconium (1982)
4. The Floating Gods (1983)
5. Viriconium Nights (1984)
6. Viriconium (1988) - omnibus
 

Robert E. Howard (1906-1936)

The original item! Howard’s Hyboria is our world in the centuries before recorded history and perhaps the first important fantasy creation of this century (the other being Tolkien’s Middle Earth). Sword-play fills Howard’s work while dark and brooding atmosphere hangs over the action. Many of the later Conan stories were not as Howard had planned them. Through the editorship of L. Sprague de Camp, some were polished, others finished, and some non-Conan stories were converted. These later works and pastiches by other writers are often disparaged by Howard purists, but still may be worth a read. Of Howard’s other characters—Kull, Bran Mac Morn and Solomon Kane—though fewer in numbers, these books are often the ones that long-time Howard fans tout as his best. While Conan is fun, he tends to rely on his brawn, rather than his brain. Kull shows more intelligence as well starring in the wonderful Atlantean backdrop. Bran Mac Morn dwells in a dark, Celtic world which is surprisingly engrossing, considering the scanty number of tales. Solomon Kane, a Puritan, hacks his way across Europe in the first volume The Skulls in the Stars then wanders through Africa in The Hills of the Dead. Of the other single volumes of Howard’s, all are filled with bite and power and none ever disappoints the true S&S fan.

The Conan Series
1. Conan the Conqueror (1950)
2. Conan: The Flame Knife (1955) a: Tales of Conan–with L. Sprague de Camp
3. Conan the Adventurer (1966)
4. Conan the Warrior (1967)
5. Conan the Usurper (1967)
6. Conan (1968)
7. Conan the Freebooter (1968)
8. Conan the Wanderer (1968)
9. Conan of Cimmeria (1969)
10. The Treasures of Tranicos (1980)–with L. Sprague de Camp

The Bran Mak Morn Series
1. The Worms of the Earth (1969)–illustrated by David Ireland

The Cormac Mac Art Series
1. The Tigers of the Sea (1976)—with Richard L. Tierney
2. The Hawk of Outremer (1979)

The Solomon Kane Series
1. Solomon Kane: The Skulls in the Stars (1978)–with Ramsey Campbell
2. Solomon Kane: The Hills of the Dead (1979)–with Ramsey Campbell

Single Collections
Skullface and Others (1946)
The Dark Man (1963) a: Pigeons From Hell
King Kull (1967)–with Lin Carter
Wolfshead (1968)
The Marchers of Valhalla (1972)
The Book of Robert E. Howard (1976)–Illustrated by Jeff Jones
The Second Book of Robert E. Howard (1976)
The Gods of Bal-Sagoth (1979)
Robert E. Howard’s World of Heroes (1989)
The Robert E. Howard Library Volume 1: Bran Mak Morn (1995)–edited by David A. Drake
The Robert E. Howard Library Volume 2:King Kull (1995)–edited by David A. Drake

Eric Iverson–Pseudonym of Harry Turtledove (1949 - )

Harry Turtledove has made a name for himself as a writer of history and sf as well as straight fantasy. Writing as Eric Iverson, he created an S&S world inhabited by blood-sucking lycanthropes, which Geran the Fox and his cohorts battle with blade and ax. A debt to Leiber’s Swords of Lankhmar hangs over these two novels.

The Wereblood Series
1. Wereblood (1979)
2. Werenight (1979)
3. Wereblood–a single volume under the name Harry Turtledove