"Podcastle is very feminine"

[lowky]

Here's my blunt perspective--the same mix of stories, chosen by Steve, would excite no speculation as to the gendered nature of Podcastle.  My basis--the fact, as stated above, that stories chosen by Steve did excite such speculation when the audience thought Rachel had chosen them.

I think it's less that we even know who chose which stories and more the intro outros that color perceptions.  Just like deflective mentioned Alisdair's hosting of PP.  I am not saying remove Rachel or any such thing, but I think her intro/outros color perspectives, just like the other hosts color the perspectives of their podcasts.  I just don't care for it, just like with Norm there were many who didn't care for or did care for his hosting of EP.  I have mostly chosen to give up on PC.  Like Deflective said, it's just not providing what I want, I am sure it is providing exactly what others want.

As to "traditional" fantasy vs "modern" I think personally that there's a sort of type of fantasy that's in vogue right now, and of course it's easier for us to find work by current authors.  And as I said in an earlier post, it's hard to get work from older authors, or dead ones.  And Podcastle can only run stories that are either submitted, or that the editor finds (say, in years best anthos, or just reading magazines) and asks for--and that's assuming that those solicited authors are willing or able to grant permission.  This is a not inconsiderable impediment to bringing you old-fashioned spells & swords type stuff.

This is understandable.  From my perspective and desires in fantasy it's disappointing, but it's understandable. 

I know all the EA editors have said before, and I'll say here again, if you know of an author who you'd love to see on EP, or PP, or PC, contact them if you know how, and email the editor of the appropriate cast to suggest the story--it helps if you give not just a title and author, but where the story might be found, so the editor can read it.

Only speaking for myself, but with many Authors, I don't know what they have available that can be released.  If there is an author that I have read that I would like to see, I usually send them an email and bcc the appropriate editor, but to include a title along with where to find the story, I think that's a little harder for me, because of not knowing licensing/contract for stories.  I don't read as many magazine/anthologies.  Especially with Fantasy, because most of it is not the type of Fantasy stories I enjoy.  I usually try to see if the Author is aware of the podcast, link him to the submission guidelines, and as I said bcc the appropriate editor.  The editor then knows who/how an author has been contacted.  Not being involved in media publishing, there are too many aspects of licensing and contract law I just don't know.

[DKT]

pod castle seems unwilling to run more traditional pulp fantasy (the combat i remember was in stories about a woman wearing shrinking chainmail so she thought she was gaining weight, and an actress that gained a vampire slayer's powers.  both stories spent more time on the inner dialogues about their weight than the combat that occurred).  in the intros to the couple episodes i've downloaded over the past year it sounds like some sort rebranding is taking place (modern fantasy i think was the line) which helps to shape expectations but isn't really the direction i was hoping for.

Deflective, are you still listening to PC? (This isn't intended to be sarcastic, it's a completely honest question.) Have you listened to "The Olverung" yet? It's very much got a fantasy/adventure vibe running in it, but could almost have been on Pseudopod, too. "Heretic for Degress" is less swashbuckling, but still has an epic fantasy feel. "Captain Fantasy" if you like your pulp with a dose of superheroes. Those are just a few of the recent ones PC has run that might be more your thing.

Less pulpy and epic, but still made of awesome from the last year (or so) are "The Osteomancer's Son" and "Cup and Table." I mean, those are just the ones off the top of my head that I think of when I think of exciting stories on PC. I'm sure there are plenty more.

Of course, no matter what we do, you're never going to like every story PC runs. Which is expected, right? I mean, that's how I am for every podcast like this I listen to. But I hope there's enough stuff that does hit the sweet spot for you enough that you keep coming back.

[Talia]

pseudopod's recent success is mostly due to Alasdair's hosting but no small part is due to response to listener feedback.  we now hear Ben talking about the wide variety of stories available and the broad spectrum horror to pull from.  pod castle seems unwilling to run more traditional pulp fantasy (the combat i remember was in stories about a woman wearing shrinking chainmail so she thought she was gaining weight, and an actress that gained a vampire slayer's powers.  both stories spent more time on the inner dialogues about their weight than the combat that occurred).  in the intros to the couple episodes i've downloaded over the past year it sounds like some sort rebranding is taking place (modern fantasy i think was the line) which helps to shape expectations but isn't really the direction i was hoping for.

I would also argue its difficult to do good "pulp" fantasy in short format. Epic battles are all well and good, but dont have much of a place in short fiction. And there's only so many times i care to read about a knight slaying a dragon (yawn).

I would suggest checking out Goblin Lullaby though (although its from just over a year ago). Its got some swords and elves and such. :p

[Swamp]

Have you listened to "The Olverung" yet? It's very much got a fantasy/adventure vibe running in it, but could almost have been on Pseudopod, too. "Heretic for Degress" is less swashbuckling, but still has an epic fantasy feel. "Captain Fantasy" if you like your pulp with a dose of superheroes. Those are just a few of the recent ones PC has run that might be more your thing.

Less pulpy and epic, but still made of awesome from the last year (or so) are "The Osteomancer's Son" and "Cup and Table." I mean, those are just the ones off the top of my head that I think of when I think of exciting stories on PC. I'm sure there are plenty more.

Castor on Troubled Waters is another great one for that!  The butter mines of Cowpoo.   It still makes me laugh.  And I still think the Castor stories should be a recurring feature.

[lowky]

pseudopod's recent success is mostly due to Alasdair's hosting but no small part is due to response to listener feedback.  we now hear Ben talking about the wide variety of stories available and the broad spectrum horror to pull from.  pod castle seems unwilling to run more traditional pulp fantasy (the combat i remember was in stories about a woman wearing shrinking chainmail so she thought she was gaining weight, and an actress that gained a vampire slayer's powers.  both stories spent more time on the inner dialogues about their weight than the combat that occurred).  in the intros to the couple episodes i've downloaded over the past year it sounds like some sort rebranding is taking place (modern fantasy i think was the line) which helps to shape expectations but isn't really the direction i was hoping for.

I would also argue its difficult to do good "pulp" fantasy in short format. Epic battles are all well and good, but dont have much of a place in short fiction. And there's only so many times i care to read about a knight slaying a dragon (yawn).

If this is true than what about all the pulps? Conan, Elric, Fafhard and the Grey Mouser?  The Thieves World anthologies?   I cant recall many dragon slayings in these. Wikipedia led me to http://www.blackgate.com/ and to http://www.flashingswords.com/

[gelee]

I have to say I'm with Lowky on this one.  My tastes run more toward adventure or swords and sorcery, or whatever you'd like to call it, in fantasy.
DKT, you are right, The Olverung and Heretic by Degrees are two of my favorite PC's of all time, but PC doesn't run many stories like those.  PC is running a lot of folktales and re-imagined fairy tales, plus a smattering of surrealist pieces, neither of which I care for.  Consequently, I don't get more than a 7 or 8 minutes into most PC episodes.  I don't bother to post feedback on a story that I don't like because of style preferences, but I do wish PC would run more stories in different styles.
Now, is PC more feminine that the other EA podcasts?  Absolutely.  Is it too feminine?  I doubt it.  Thing is, it's not terribly feminine over all, just more moreso that what we're used to. 

[Talia]

pseudopod's recent success is mostly due to Alasdair's hosting but no small part is due to response to listener feedback.  we now hear Ben talking about the wide variety of stories available and the broad spectrum horror to pull from.  pod castle seems unwilling to run more traditional pulp fantasy (the combat i remember was in stories about a woman wearing shrinking chainmail so she thought she was gaining weight, and an actress that gained a vampire slayer's powers.  both stories spent more time on the inner dialogues about their weight than the combat that occurred).  in the intros to the couple episodes i've downloaded over the past year it sounds like some sort rebranding is taking place (modern fantasy i think was the line) which helps to shape expectations but isn't really the direction i was hoping for.

I would also argue its difficult to do good "pulp" fantasy in short format. Epic battles are all well and good, but dont have much of a place in short fiction. And there's only so many times i care to read about a knight slaying a dragon (yawn).

If this is true than what about all the pulps? Conan, Elric, Fafhard and the Grey Mouser?  The Thieves World anthologies?   I cant recall many dragon slayings in these. Wikipedia led me to http://www.blackgate.com/ and to http://www.flashingswords.com/

Eh? I thought those were all longer stories, if not novels, not short stories.
and I can't tell for certain on the webpages, but the illustration on that flashing swords one makes me promptly disinterested in ever reading anything they put out. ;P

[eytanz]

pseudopod's recent success is mostly due to Alasdair's hosting but no small part is due to response to listener feedback.  we now hear Ben talking about the wide variety of stories available and the broad spectrum horror to pull from.  pod castle seems unwilling to run more traditional pulp fantasy (the combat i remember was in stories about a woman wearing shrinking chainmail so she thought she was gaining weight, and an actress that gained a vampire slayer's powers.  both stories spent more time on the inner dialogues about their weight than the combat that occurred).  in the intros to the couple episodes i've downloaded over the past year it sounds like some sort rebranding is taking place (modern fantasy i think was the line) which helps to shape expectations but isn't really the direction i was hoping for.

I would also argue its difficult to do good "pulp" fantasy in short format. Epic battles are all well and good, but dont have much of a place in short fiction. And there's only so many times i care to read about a knight slaying a dragon (yawn).

If this is true than what about all the pulps? Conan, Elric, Fafhard and the Grey Mouser?  The Thieves World anthologies?   I cant recall many dragon slayings in these. Wikipedia led me to http://www.blackgate.com/ and to http://www.flashingswords.com/

Eh? I thought those were all longer stories, if not novels, not short stories.

They are all collections of interconnected short stories and novellas that were collected into omnibus "novels". This is definitely true for the Elric stories and the Fafhard and Grey Mouser stories - I haven't read Conan, and I think that one has been muddled by the fact that multiple authors continued the series, in differing formats.

I should point out that both Elric and Fafhard/Grey Mouser are considerably better written and deeper than their covers indicate, and both series firmly deserve their status as classics. As I said, I haven't read any Conan, so I can't comment on that.

The problem, I think, is not at all that the (sub-)genre isn't suited to the format - but rather that very few people write this sort of stories anymore, and even fewer do it as well as Moorcock or Leiber. And frankly, while an occasional classic story is fun, I prefer that the EA podcasts focus on contemporary writing - which means that yet, they are somewhat limited by what is out there.

[Ben Phillips]

For the record, to me this is a complete no-brainer.  Here's a breakdown of Pseudopod protagonists (nearly always matching the author's gender AFAIK) out of the last 32 stories that have gone live -- just eyeballing it for you real quick here:

Male: 25
Female: 4
Indeterminate: 3

One of the "indeterminate" stories was "The Undoing", to which I assigned a female narrator (and hence by the power of suggestion, a female protag) just because I COULD.  In case you're wondering whether I have a bias, the answer is yes, I do -- I love it when women write horror stories.  They just don't send me nearly as many submissions, and the solicitation habit hasn't kicked in with me to nearly the extent it has with the other editors -- although even that might not help very much unless I really aim to make it do so.  If any of that changes in the future and the gender numbers start approaching 50/50 like PodCastle's, you'll probably get the impression Pseudopod has become "more feminine" by contrast with what you're used to seeing and hearing.  No great mysteries here.

[lowky]

I would also argue its difficult to do good "pulp" fantasy in short format. Epic battles are all well and good, but dont have much of a place in short fiction. And there's only so many times i care to read about a knight slaying a dragon (yawn).

If this is true than what about all the pulps? Conan, Elric, Fafhard and the Grey Mouser?  The Thieves World anthologies?   I cant recall many dragon slayings in these. Wikipedia led me to http://www.blackgate.com/ and to http://www.flashingswords.com/

[/quote]

Eh? I thought those were all longer stories, if not novels, not short stories.
and I can't tell for certain on the webpages, but the illustration on that flashing swords one makes me promptly disinterested in ever reading anything they put out. ;P


[/quote]

While some are novels, a lot of them are a collection of short stories, esp the Leiber stuff.  Same for Thieves world, they were anthologies.  Remember that Leiber and Howard were both writing for the pulps before their stuff was collected as novels...

[deflective]

Here's my blunt perspective--the same mix of stories, chosen by Steve, would excite no speculation as to the gendered nature of Podcastle.  My basis--the fact, as stated above, that stories chosen by Steve did excite such speculation when the audience thought Rachel had chosen them.

As to "traditional" fantasy vs "modern" I think personally that there's a sort of type of fantasy that's in vogue right now, and of course it's easier for us to find work by current authors.

i haven't been shy pointing out the editorial trends in the other podcasts, Steve seemed uncomfortable when i mentioned that he was including a lot of sex last summer, but there is definitely some hypocrisy when i focus on gender oriented trends in the podcast that is mathematically most balanced.

it's disappointing that the submission pool doesn't cover the full spectrum of fantasy.  for what it's worth, pod castle continues to carry my favourite types of fantasy and i listen to episodes that stand out on the forums.

there is also little doubt that everything that's mentioned as a problem by one listener will be a selling point to other listeners.  i consider all the escape artist podcasts to be at the forefront of their genres and like to see a fully representative selection of stories from them, but if that isn't possible then it'll be interesting to see what niche is found.

[stePH]

For the record, to me this is a complete no-brainer.  Here's a breakdown of Pseudopod protagonists (nearly always matching the author's gender AFAIK) out of the last 32 stories that have gone live -- just eyeballing it for you real quick here:

Male: 25
Female: 4
Indeterminate: 3

One of the "indeterminate" stories was "The Undoing", to which I assigned a female narrator (and hence by the power of suggestion, a female protag) just because I COULD.  In case you're wondering whether I have a bias, the answer is yes, I do -- I love it when women write horror stories.  They just don't send me nearly as many submissions, and the solicitation habit hasn't kicked in with me to nearly the extent it has with the other editors -- although even that might not help very much unless I really aim to make it do so.  If any of that changes in the future and the gender numbers start approaching 50/50 like PodCastle's, you'll probably get the impression Pseudopod has become "more feminine" by contrast with what you're used to seeing and hearing.  No great mysteries here.

If Pseudopod were a woman ... I'd stay the hell away from that crazy bitch. 

[lowky]

but the crazy ones are always best in bed, even if they do try to kill you later for some imagined slight.

[jrderego]

I would also argue its difficult to do good "pulp" fantasy in short format. Epic battles are all well and good, but dont have much of a place in short fiction. And there's only so many times i care to read about a knight slaying a dragon (yawn).
If this is true than what about all the pulps? Conan, Elric, Fafhard and the Grey Mouser?  The Thieves World anthologies?   I cant recall many dragon slayings in these. Wikipedia led me to http://www.blackgate.com/ and to http://www.flashingswords.com/

I landed a story at Flashing Swords, when they were still doing swashbuckling historicals, but the editor moved on before I received the contract and the magazine went into metamorphosis for a while and my story was dropped. They do a whole lot of punny-swashbuckling-adventure stuff.

Eh? I thought those were all longer stories, if not novels, not short stories.
and I can't tell for certain on the webpages, but the illustration on that flashing swords one makes me promptly disinterested in ever reading anything they put out. ;P

Howard's Conan, Kull, Bran Mak Morn, and Solomon Kane stories were all under 5000 words. His Joe Costigan boxing stories are all shorts too (and are very good). There is a nice anthology of Howard's original Conan stories that presents them in publication order called "The Coming of Conan". Some of the Kull, and other miscellaneous shorts were edited after his death to become Conan stories too. There aren't as good as his originals though and suffer from poor pacing and confusing locations (as the Conan stories take place in a fictional prehistoric Europe while the Kull stories and Pict stories don't). You can also spot original Howard stories by the poetic descriptions, even in his more modern stories like the Costigan boxing stories, he has a way that makes even the mundane very beautiful and exotic. L Sprague De Camp, while due credit for re-igniting the Sword and Sorcery genre with Howard's work also muddied Howard's history by editing, adding to, and reorganizing the stories and timelines within the stories.

As a side note, why complain about the cover art of Flashing Swords? It's clearly art in the style of Frank Frazetta, the name most associated with pulp fantasy, the man who's Conan anthology covers brought Howard's writing back into the paperback mainstream in the 1960s and who influenced myriad of fantasy and science fiction painters and illustrators. I'm just curious what in that cover drives you away and why?

While some are novels, a lot of them are a collection of short stories, esp the Leiber stuff.  Same for Thieves world, they were anthologies.  Remember that Leiber and Howard were both writing for the pulps before their stuff was collected as novels...

Howard died a short story writer. Post Oaks and Sand Roughs, his only novel, was not published until after his death.

[Talia]

Howard's Conan, Kull, Bran Mak Morn, and Solomon Kane stories were all under 5000 words. His Joe Costigan boxing stories are all shorts too (and are very good). There is a nice anthology of Howard's original Conan stories that presents them in publication order called "The Coming of Conan". Some of the Kull, and other miscellaneous shorts were edited after his death to become Conan stories too. There aren't as good as his originals though and suffer from poor pacing and confusing locations (as the Conan stories take place in a fictional prehistoric Europe while the Kull stories and Pict stories don't). You can also spot original Howard stories by the poetic descriptions, even in his more modern stories like the Costigan boxing stories, he has a way that makes even the mundane very beautiful and exotic. L Sprague De Camp, while due credit for re-igniting the Sword and Sorcery genre with Howard's work also muddied Howard's history by editing, adding to, and reorganizing the stories and timelines within the stories.

As a side note, why complain about the cover art of Flashing Swords? It's clearly art in the style of Frank Frazetta, the name most associated with pulp fantasy, the man who's Conan anthology covers brought Howard's writing back into the paperback mainstream in the 1960s and who influenced myriad of fantasy and science fiction painters and illustrators. I'm just curious what in that cover drives you away and why?

Hmm, ok. I guess I'm just not familiar with that part of the genre at all (obviously). I have less than zero interest in reading any Conan story, but obviously thats some weird prejudice on my part since I've never so much as looked at one. I think Arnie ruined the very concept for me.

As for the cover art, the art itself is fine, I just get turned off by scantily clad women on covers. Although she's not even that scantily clad looking at it again. Hmm, I donno. I can see little to justify my previous reaction.

[jrderego]

Howard's Conan, Kull, Bran Mak Morn, and Solomon Kane stories were all under 5000 words. His Joe Costigan boxing stories are all shorts too (and are very good). There is a nice anthology of Howard's original Conan stories that presents them in publication order called "The Coming of Conan". Some of the Kull, and other miscellaneous shorts were edited after his death to become Conan stories too. There aren't as good as his originals though and suffer from poor pacing and confusing locations (as the Conan stories take place in a fictional prehistoric Europe while the Kull stories and Pict stories don't). You can also spot original Howard stories by the poetic descriptions, even in his more modern stories like the Costigan boxing stories, he has a way that makes even the mundane very beautiful and exotic. L Sprague De Camp, while due credit for re-igniting the Sword and Sorcery genre with Howard's work also muddied Howard's history by editing, adding to, and reorganizing the stories and timelines within the stories.

As a side note, why complain about the cover art of Flashing Swords? It's clearly art in the style of Frank Frazetta, the name most associated with pulp fantasy, the man who's Conan anthology covers brought Howard's writing back into the paperback mainstream in the 1960s and who influenced myriad of fantasy and science fiction painters and illustrators. I'm just curious what in that cover drives you away and why?

Hmm, ok. I guess I'm just not familiar with that part of the genre at all (obviously). I have less than zero interest in reading any Conan story, but obviously thats some weird prejudice on my part since I've never so much as looked at one. I think Arnie ruined the very concept for me.

As for the cover art, the art itself is fine, I just get turned off by scantily clad women on covers. Although she's not even that scantily clad looking at it again. Hmm, I donno. I can see little to justify my previous reaction.

I will say that the film "Conan the Barbarian" was not bad for the middle period Conan stories. John Milius had great respect for Howard's stories (plot devices of several appear in the film) and captured some of Howard's rich vision of the Hyborian Age. Middle Period meaning the stories where he was a thief.

There are, like, three ages of Conan stories, the ones where he's King of Aquillonia and dealing with the mundane nature of rule like "The Phoenix on the Sword" (the first Conan story and my favorite of them) and "The Scarlet Citadel". Meanwhile there are the "Conan as Mercenary stories" before he is king like "The Frost Giant's Daughter", and "Queen of the Black Coast" . The third age are the stories where he's a thief, before becoming a mercenary general like "The Tower of the Elephant".

Howard wrote them in no specific order, as if the timeline was sort of irrelevant, or some phrase or idea in one story such as his reflection on his life before taking the crown of Aquillonia, seeded the plot of another story like "Xuthal of the Dark" or "The Queen of the Black Coast".

A lot of the tropes of modern fantasy are directly traceable to Howard's Conan stories including very strong woman characters. While you may have no real interest in reading them, I would be remiss in not recommending "The Phoenix on the Sword". Howard's writing so amazingly transcends whatever preconceptions you have based on the films. He predates Tolkein, C.S. Lewis, and so many others who have achieved near godlike reputations (for, in my opinion, much inferior storytelling and writing skill) that to see the impetus of their work in his is a revelation.

As for the scantily clad covers, those are a fantasy trope too, also attributable to Robert Howard (posthumously). It was the L Sprague De Camp anthologies of Conan stories, with cover and occasional illustrations by Frank Frazetta that started the boom in modern fantasy and created the fantasy audience. Other publishers bought other, otherwise out of print, pulp sword and sorcery stories, hired Frank Frazetta to make covers, for them, and flooded the marketplace. Once those stories were gone, and living writers saw that they could make moneyg/get published writing similarly themed stuff, the boom was on. Frazetta was a comic artist before moving to paint and other media. 

[gelee]

I will say that the film "Conan the Barbarian" was not bad for the middle period Conan stories. John Milius had great respect for Howard's stories (plot devices of several appear in the film) and captured some of Howard's rich vision of the Hyborian Age. Middle Period meaning the stories where he was a thief.

Dude, if you weren't already, you'd be my hero.  I probably like that movie a lot more than you do, but it's never gotten the credit it deserved.
That said, you're spot on.  You can go back to Dunsany, if you like, as the roots for Howard's work, but there is no comparison in style.  You can draw a stright line from Howard to Leiber, then from Leiber to everybody else writing in the S&S style. 
One of the failings of a lot of older S&S is the lack of strong female characters.  The good news is that most of the writers working in that sub-genre in the last 20 years know it and have acted accordingly.  I'm pretty sure chain mail bikinis have gotten a bit scarce.

[jrderego]

I will say that the film "Conan the Barbarian" was not bad for the middle period Conan stories. John Milius had great respect for Howard's stories (plot devices of several appear in the film) and captured some of Howard's rich vision of the Hyborian Age. Middle Period meaning the stories where he was a thief.

Dude, if you weren't already, you'd be my hero.  I probably like that movie a lot more than you do, but it's never gotten the credit it deserved.
That said, you're spot on.  You can go back to Dunsany, if you like, as the roots for Howard's work, but there is no comparison in style.  You can draw a stright line from Howard to Leiber, then from Leiber to everybody else writing in the S&S style. 
One of the failings of a lot of older S&S is the lack of strong female characters.  The good news is that most of the writers working in that sub-genre in the last 20 years know it and have acted accordingly.  I'm pretty sure chain mail bikinis have gotten a bit scarce.

I dunno if we can compare the amount of like for a movie ... I can say, however, that it was one of the more important cinematic experiences that shaped the kind of reader and writer I'd grow up to become. I think it's sort of looked down on because it has one foot in the old Hercules/Machiste films of the 60's/70s, being that it starred Arnold who is very Herclulean in look, and was shot in Spain where most of the Machiste films were shot by an Italian producer, D'laurentis etc...

It really did set the bar for sword fight movies, and unfortunately the films that followed it were either terrible sequels (Conan the Destroyer), or horrific knock offs Albert Pyun's "Sword and Sorcery" that killed the genre.

[gelee]

Don't forget "Fire and Ice."  Holy crap that was bad.  "Beastmaster," oddly, seemed to be better than it actually was.  Also, Krull did not completely suck, but, yeah, that whole genre seemed to just die in the mid 80's before it even got rolling.  Maybe Tarantino will do an S&S flick.

[Swamp]

Hey, I think all this talk of Sword and Sorcery and wanting more of it on PodCastle is great.  Hopefully it will inspire the authors and/or wannabe writers (like me) on the forums to write some good S&S stories and submit them to PodCastle.  There's no garuntee they will be selected, but it is worth a shot.

[Alasdair5000]

It's certainly inspired me to, cautiously, check some out.  Aside form the early Dragonlance books the closest I've ever come to it is the movie version of Conan the Destroyer which is three hours of my life I will never get back.  Which is, in turn, quite an achievement given it's only 90 minutes long:)

[jrderego]

Don't forget "Fire and Ice."  Holy crap that was bad.  "Beastmaster," oddly, seemed to be better than it actually was.  Also, Krull did not completely suck, but, yeah, that whole genre seemed to just die in the mid 80's before it even got rolling.  Maybe Tarantino will do an S&S flick.

Fire and Ice was an interesting project, the art director and cowriter/codirector of that film was Frank Frazetta. It was directed by Ralph Bakshi, one of Frazetta's old neighborhood pals as a way to bring his work to the motion picture rather than just the poster. In that respect it sort of succeeded, and thought I never was a fan of Rotoscoping, the "actor" who did almost all of the running and fighting in that film was also, Frank Frazetta, who was in hid mid-50s at the time.

Beastmaster was notable for the introduction of Marc Singer to filmdom. It wasn't bad, but it was wicked long and borrowed a hell of a lot more from Star Wars than it did from Conan. The reason the film genre sort of died, I think, is because they were relatively cheap to make and therefore were made relatively cheaply. Even "modern" S&S films like Kull suffered from cheap TV like sets and, while I do like Kevin Sorbo, inappropriate casting. Plus, the genre tends to be too intentionally self deprecating.

[jrderego]

Hey, I think all this talk of Sword and Sorcery and wanting more of it on PodCastle is great.  Hopefully it will inspire the authors and/or wannabe writers (like me) on the forums to write some good S&S stories and submit them to PodCastle.  There's no garuntee they will be selected, but it is worth a shot.

Perhaps I'll send one of my Kintaro Koboyashi stories along and see if they bite.

[DKT]

It's certainly inspired me to, cautiously, check some out.  Aside form the early Dragonlance books the closest I've ever come to it is the movie version of Conan the Destroyer which is three hours of my life I will never get back.  Which is, in turn, quite an achievement given it's only 90 minutes long:)

Ditto. I have a Solomon Kane collection at home I haven't yet touched. But I'm also quite curious about Fritz Leiber's stuff. (I remember there being a version of them with Mike Mignola covers that I have resisted. That B&N gift card I received just may have found some use...)

Hey, there's always that Dungeons and Dragons movie...

That said, I'm curious as to how much current S&S stuff there is out there. I remember reading something by R. Garcia y Robertson years ago in a F&SF issue that felt very S&S to me, and was fun. *Goes off to research*

[jrderego]

It's certainly inspired me to, cautiously, check some out.  Aside form the early Dragonlance books the closest I've ever come to it is the movie version of Conan the Destroyer which is three hours of my life I will never get back.  Which is, in turn, quite an achievement given it's only 90 minutes long:)

Ditto. I have a Solomon Kane collection at home I haven't yet touched. But I'm also quite curious about Fritz Leiber's stuff. (I remember there being a version of them with Mike Mignola covers that I have resisted. That B&N gift card I received just may have found some use...)

Hey, there's always that Dungeons and Dragons movie...

That said, I'm curious as to how much current S&S stuff there is out there. I remember reading something by R. Garcia y Robertson years ago in a F&SF issue that felt very S&S to me, and was fun. *Goes off to research*

Solomon Kane is less sword and sorcery though as he's a 16th century Pilgrim avenger who wields two pistols and a magic staff (that he gets in a later story) and dispenses God's justice to the demonic (who bear lots of similarities to some of the monsters in H.P. Lovecraft stuff as they were contemporaries and friends and pen pals). The Solomon Kane tales are good fun too, a little more grim though, than the S&S ones. But I like them quite a bit.