Lacking Natural Simplicity

In reading Flame & Crimson I was reminded that Ron Edwards of Adept Press published a supplement Sorcerer & Sword for his RPG Sorcerer (both copyrighted 2001) that has a chapter discussing Heroic Fantasy, as he calls Sword & Sorcery fiction. It's an interesting read that mentions some authors and books that Flame & Crimson doesn't. I've listed the authors and works from that chapter below, with check marks (✓) for the ones I've read. Edwards listed some things more specifically that I have listed more generally. He breaks it down into several eras:

• The originals: 1920s through 1950s

  • Robert E. Howard — The original Conan ✓ stories (Edwards has a specific list of stories, but I think that all the original R.E.H stories are worth reading), the Kull ✓ stories, the Bran Mak Morn ✓ stories, and the Solomon Kane ✓ stories, and Almuric ✓

  • C. L. Moore — Jirel of Joiry ✓

  • Clark Ashton Smith — Hyperborea, Zothique, Xiccarph, The Last Incantation

  • Fritz Leiber — The Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories ✓

  • Gardener Fox — The Kothar and Kyrik books (though he notes that these are at least 33% spoof)

  • Norvell W. Page — Flame Winds, Son of the Bear God

• The fans: 60s to early 70s

  • Michael Moorcock — The Elric ✓ stories and the Corum ✓ stories (Edwards specifies the earlier stories from the 60s; I think all of the Elric and Corum stories are worth reading)

  • Poul Anderson — The Broken Sword ✓, Hrolf Kraki's Saga

  • Andrew J. Offut — (editor) Swords against Darkness, vols. 1–5

  • Gerald W. Page (GWP1) & Hank Reinhardt — The Heroic Fantasy collection

  • Karl Edward Wagner — The Kane ✓ stories and novels

• Betrayal: somewhere in the late 70s and beyond

  (This is Edwards' name for the era; these authors are ones he considered as still writing good Sword & Sorcery.)

  • Jessica Amanda Salmonson — Tomoe Gozen ✓, The Golden Naginata ✓, Thousandshrine Warrior ✓ (TG); (editor) Heroic Visions, vols. 1–2; Amazons, vols. 1–2

  • Andrew J. Offutt and Richard Tierney – The Demon in the Mirror ✓, The Eyes of Sarsis ✓, Web of the Spider ✓

  • David Mason (DM) — The Sorcerer's Skull

  • David Drake — The Dragon Lord ✓, The Mantichore

  • David C. Smith — The Oron series, the Master of Evil trilogy, The Sorcerer's Shadow

  • Victoria Graham — The Witchstone

  • Tanith Lee — Kill the Dead ✓, Night's Master ✓ (The first of the Tales from the Flat Earth ✓), Cyrion ✓, Volkhaavar ✓, Companions of the Road

  • Michael Shea — Nift the Lean ✓

  • Tim Lukeman — Rajan ✓, Koren ✓

  • Gordon D. Shirreffs — Calgaich the Swordsman

  • Darrell Schweitzer — We Are All Legends

  • Charles R. Saunders — Imaro ✓, The Quest for Cush, The Trail of Bohu

  • Carl Sherrell — Raum ✓ (TKB adds: there's a sequel, Skraelings ✓)

  • Karl Edward Wagner — (editor) Echoes of Valor, vols. 1–3

  • Keith Taylor — Bard, Bard II

Also mentioned (sometimes for tone and mood rather than specific stories or books):

• M. John Harrison — The Pastel City ✓ and Viriconium Nights ✓ (TKB adds: the whole Viriconium series was republished in one volume, Viriconium ✓, and although the last two books are somewhat weird the first two are definitely Sword & Sorcery)

• Neal Barrett, Jr. — Kelwin

• David Jarrett — Witherwing ✓

• Jack Vance — Some of the grimmer tales from The Dying Earth ✓

• H. P. Lovecraft — the looming presence of Outer Dark horror

• T. Ligotti — “Masquerade of a Dead Sword” (TKB adds: this story is in Songs of a Dead Dreamer)