Best of
Sword-And-Sorcery

1973

Death Angel's Shadow


Karl Edward Wagner - 1973
    Kane knew he'd lost his strength, and perhaps his soul, when he entered the erotic web of the vampire. . . .

Poseidonis


Clark Ashton Smith - 1973
    - H.P. LovecraftTable of Contents: "The Magic of Atlantis: An Introduction" (Editor)Poseidonis * Editor's Note * "The Muse of Atlantis" (prose poem) * "The Last Incantation" * "The Death of Malygris" * "Tolometh" (poem) * "The Double Shadow" * "A Voyage to SfanomoĆ«" * "A Vintage from Atlantis" * "Atlantis: a poem" (poem)Lemuria * Editor's Note * In Lemuria (poem) * An Offering to the Moon * The Uncharted Isle * Lemurienne (poem)Ptolemides * Editor's Note * The Epiphany of DeathOther Realms * Editor's Note * In Cocaigne (prose poem) * Symposium of the Gorgon * The Venus of Azombeii * The Isle of Saturn (poem) * The Root of Ampoi * The Invisible City * Amithaine (poem) * The Willow Landscape * The Shadows (prose poem)Cover art by Gervasio Gallardo

The Sowers of the Thunder


Robert E. Howard - 1973
    He is well known for having created the character Conan the Cimmerian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond. Voracious reading, along with a natural talent for prose writing and the encouragement of teachers, conspired to create in Howard an interest in becoming a professional writer. One by one he discovered the authors that would influence his later work: Jack London and Rudyard Kipling. It's clear from Howard's earliest writings and the recollections of his friends that he suffered from severe depression from an early age. Friends recall him defending the act of suicide as a valid alternative as early as eighteen years old, while many of his stories and poems have a suicidal gloom and intensity that seem prescient in hindsight, describing such an end not as a tragedy but as a release from hell on earth.