Sword and sorcery (S&S) or heroic fantasy 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. The genre originated from the early-1930s works of Robert E. Howard. The term "sword and sorcery" was coined by Fritz Leiber in the 6 April 1961 issue of the fantasy fanzine Ancalagon, to describe Howard and the stories that were influenced by his works. In parallel with "sword and sorcery", the term "heroic fantasy" is used, although it is a more loosely defined genre.
Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. is a fantasy and science fiction small press publisher in New Hampshire that was founded in 1964. It is notable for publishing fantasy and horror novels with lavish illustrations, most notably Stephen King's The Dark Tower series and the King/Peter Straub novel The Talisman.
Bran Mak Morn is a hero of five pulp fiction short stories by Robert E. Howard. In the stories, most of which were first published in Weird Tales, Bran is the last king of Howard's romanticized version of the tribal race of Picts.
"Worms of the Earth" is a short story by American fantasy fiction writer Robert E. Howard. It was originally published in the magazine Weird Tales in November 1932, then again in 1975 in a collection of Howard's short stories, Worms of the Earth. The story features one of Howard's recurring protagonists, Bran Mak Morn, a legendary king of the Picts.
Gnome Press was an American small-press publishing company primarily known for publishing many science fiction classics. Gnome was one of the most eminent of the fan publishers of SF, producing 86 titles in its lifespan — many considered classic works of SF and Fantasy today. Gnome was important in the transitional period between Genre SF as a magazine phenomenon and its arrival in mass-market book publishing, but proved too underfunded to make the leap from fan-based publishing to the professional level. The company existed for just over a decade, ultimately failing due to inability to compete with major publishers who also started to publish science fiction. In its heyday, Gnome published many of the major SF authors, and in some cases, as with Robert E. Howard's Conan series and Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, was responsible for the manner in which their stories were collected into book form.
"The Twilight of the Grey Gods", also known as "The Grey God Passes", is a short story by American writer Robert E. Howard that blends history and fantasy. Published posthumously in 1962, the first appearance of the story was in a collection titled Dark Mind, Dark Heart, edited by August Derleth. The tale is a fictionalized version of the Battle of Clontarf (1014) recast in Howard's views, with doomful visions and weird fantasy elements. While the historical facts of the battle are accurate, they are not the most important parts of the story. The protagonist is Conn the Thrall, who fights alongside Turlogh Dubh O'Brien, a recurring character of Howard's who is an outcast from Brian Boru's clan.
The Conan Grimoire is a 1972 collection of essays, poetry and fiction edited by L. Sprague de Camp and George H. Scithers, published in hardcover by Mirage Press. The essays were originally published as articles in Scithers' fanzine Amra. The book is a companion to Mirage’s previous two volumes of material from Amra, The Conan Reader (1968) and The Conan Swordbook (1969). Most of the material in the three volumes, together with some additional material, was later reprinted in two de Camp-edited paperback anthologies from Ace Books; The Blade of Conan (1979) and The Spell of Conan (1980).
Skull-Face and Others is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by American writer Robert E. Howard. It was the author's third book and was published by Arkham House in 1946 in an edition of 3,004 copies.
Rogues in the House is a 1976 collection of two fantasy short stories written by Robert E. Howard featuring his sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. The book was published in 1976 by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. as volume VI of their deluxe Conan set. The title story originally appeared in the magazine Weird Tales in 1934.
The Devil in Iron is a 1976 collection of two fantasy short stories written by Robert E. Howard featuring his sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. The book was published in 1976 by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. as volume V of their deluxe Conan set. The stories both originally appeared in the magazine Weird Tales.
Jewels of Gwahlur is a 1979 collection of two fantasy short stories written by Robert E. Howard featuring his sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. The book was published in 1979 by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. as volume VIII of their deluxe Conan set. The title story originally appeared in the magazine Weird Tales. "The Snout in the Dark" is the original fragment of a story that Howard never completed. It first appeared, completed by L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, in the collection Conan of Cimmeria.
Black Colossus is a 1979 collection of two fantasy short stories written by Robert E. Howard featuring his sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. The book was published in 1979 by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. as volume IX of their deluxe Conan set. The stories originally appeared in the magazine Weird Tales.
The Pool of the Black One is a collection of two fantasy short stories written by Robert E. Howard featuring his sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian. The book was published in 1986 by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. as volume X of their deluxe Conan set. The title story originally appeared in the magazine Weird Tales. "Drums of Tombalku" is the original fragment of a story that Howard never completed. It first appeared, completed by L. Sprague de Camp, in the collection Conan the Adventurer.
Fedogan & Bremer is a weird fiction specialty publishing house founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1985 by Philip Rahman and Dennis Weiler. The name comes from the nicknames of the two founders when they were in college.
Triplanetary is a science fiction novel and space opera by American writer E. E. Smith. It was first serialized in the magazine Amazing Stories in 1934. After the original four novels of the Lensman series were published, Smith expanded and reworked Triplanetary into the first of two prequels for the series. The fix-up novel Triplanetary was published in book form in 1948 by Fantasy Press. The second prequel, First Lensman, was a new original novel published in 1950 by Fantasy Press.
The Radio Man is a science fiction novel by American writer Ralph Milne Farley. It is the first book in Farley's Radio Man series. The novel was originally serialized from the June 28, 1924 issue of Argosy. It was first published in book form in 1948 by Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc. in an edition of 1,000 copies. Modern publishers often release The Radio Man under the title An Earth Man on Venus.
Almuric is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert E. Howard. It was originally serialized in three parts in the magazine Weird Tales beginning in May 1939. The novel was first published in book form in 1964 by Ace Books.
Heroes in the Wind: From Kull to Conan; the Best of Robert E. Howard is a 2009 collection of dark fantasy and horror short stories written by Robert E. Howard, selected and with an introduction by John Clute. Most of the stories were originally published in various fantasy magazines and feature Howard's heroes Kull, Bran Mak Morn and Conan, among others. It was first published in paperback in September 2009 by Penguin Books in its Penguin Modern Classics series.
Serpent Men are a fictional race created by Robert E. Howard for his King Kull tales. They first appeared in "The Shadow Kingdom", published in Weird Tales in August 1929.
Nameless Cults: The Cthulhu Mythos Fiction of Robert E. Howard is a collection of Cthulhu Mythos short stories by Robert E. Howard. It was first published in the US in 2001 by Chaosium Press. All of these stories had been published previously, between 1929 and 1985, in Weird Tales, From Beyond the Dark Gateway, Strange Tales, Weirdbook, Fantasy Crosswinds, Coven, Fantasy Book, Dark Things, and The Fantasy Magazine.
