Sword and sorcery (S&S) is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tales, though dramatic, focus on personal battles rather than world-endangering matters. Sword and sorcery commonly overlaps with heroic fantasy.
Zerah or Zérach refers to several different people in the Hebrew Bible.
Cush or Kush was the oldest son of Ham and a grandson of Noah. He was the brother of Canaan, Mizraim and Phut. Cush was the father of Nimrod, a king called the “first heroic warrior on earth“.
The Sword and the Sorcerer is a 1982 American sword and sorcery fantasy film co-written and directed by Albert Pyun, and starring Lee Horsley, Kathleen Beller, Simon MacCorkindale, George Maharis, Richard Lynch and Richard Moll. The plot concerns a mercenary with a three-bladed sword who rediscovers his royal heritage when he is recruited to help a princess foil the designs of a brutal tyrant, and a powerful sorcerer, in conquering the land.
Imaro is a sword and sorcery novel written by Charles R. Saunders, and published by DAW Books in 1981. It may have been one of the first forays into the sword and sorcery genre by a black author. Saunders wrote and had published two more books in the series, The Quest for Cush in 1984 and The Trail of Bohu in 1985. In 2009, Saunders released The Naama War, the fourth and latest Imaro novel, through Lulu.
Charles Robert Saunders was an African-American author and journalist, a pioneer of the "sword and soul" literary genre with his Imaro novels. During his long career, he wrote novels, non-fiction, screenplays and radio plays.
The Quest for Cush also known as Imaro II: The Quest for Cush is a sword and sorcery novel written by Charles R. Saunders, and published by DAW Books in 1984. The Quest for Cush was the second book in the original Imaro Trilogy. The novel is a collection of four short stories which were originally published in Dark Fantasy, a fanzine published by Canadian comic book artist Gene Day during the 1970s.
The Eternal Champion is a fantasy novel by Michael Moorcock. First published in 1970, it is an expanded version of a novella of the same title that introduced the hero known as both John Daker and Erekosë. The novella was first published in the anthology magazine Science Fantasy #53 in 1962. Along with expanding the original story, the novel make some minor changes to narration and scenes, and also includes references to other short stories by Michael Moorcock. The Eternal Champion is the first in a trilogy of novels known as the Erekosë series. The sequel novels are Phoenix in Obsidian (1970), also published as The Silver Warriors, and The Dragon in the Sword (1987).
The Crimson Shadow series is a fantasy novel series created by R. A. Salvatore. It consists of three books:
Sword Song is the fourth historical novel in The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell, published in 2007. Uhtred leads battles against the Danes, as King Alfred strengthens the defences of his kingdom of Wessex.
Young Samurai: The Way of the Sword is a children's historical novel by Chris Bradford, published in 2009. It is the second in a series of action-adventure stories set in 17th century Japan following the exploits of an English boy, Jack Fletcher, as he strives to be the first gaijin samurai.
The Naama War is a fantasy novel written by Charles R. Saunders, and published independently in 2009 by Sword & Soul Media via the online press Lulu.
The Riyria Revelations is a series of six high fantasy novels written by Michael J. Sullivan and published by Orbit Books in 2011 and 2012. The series consists of three original titles, Theft of Swords, Rise of Empire, and Heir of Novron. The books were previously self-published as a six-volume series selling 90,000 copies
1356 is the fourth novel in The Grail Quest series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 2012. It is set in 1356, nearly a decade after the original trilogy, and culminates with the Battle of Poitiers. Intertwined in the plot is the quest to find La Malice, a fabled sword of Saint Peter and Christian relic which may turn the tide of the long war for France. It is Cornwell's fiftieth novel.
The Broken Empire Trilogy is a trilogy of fantasy novels written by American-British author Mark Lawrence. The first volume, Prince of Thorns, was published on August 2, 2011. The second, King of Thorns, was published on August 7, 2012. The third and final volume, Emperor of Thorns, was published on August 6, 2013.
Erekosë is a heroic warrior in different fantasy adventure stories by Michael Moorcock. The character repeatedly assumes different forms and identities during adventures across Moorcock's multiverse. He first appeared in the 1962 novella The Eternal Champion, which was later expanded into a novel of the same title in 1970. The book became the first of the Erekosë book series, which includes the novels Phoenix in Obsidian and The Dragon in the Sword. The Erekosë canon The Swords of Heaven, the Flowers of Hell, is a graphic novel plotted by Moorcock that was scripted and illustrated by Howard Chaykin. In Moorcock's novels The Vanishing Tower and The King of the Swords, Erekosë is described as a man with "jet black skin", often wearing a bear-skin cloak.
Cursed is an American fantasy drama streaming television series that premiered on Netflix on July 17, 2020. It is based on the illustrated novel of the same name by Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler. The set location of the series is the United Kingdom. In July 2021, the series was canceled after one season.
The Mighty Warriors is an anthology of fantasy short stories in the sword and sorcery subgenre, edited by Robert M. Price. It was first published in trade paperback and ebook by Ulthar Press in May 2018, and was a homage to the similar early sword and sorcery anthologies The Mighty Barbarians (1969) and The Mighty Swordsmen (1970) edited by Hans Stefan Santesson.
The Scorpion King: Book of Souls is a 2018 direct-to-video fantasy film released on October 23, 2018. It is the fifth and final installment in the original The Scorpion King series, and a sequel to The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power.
