u/JohnPathfinder

Most people who have been on this subreddit for a decent amount of time know the core components of sword and sorcery: Personal stakes, action oriented stories, dangerous magic, etc. What are some of your favorite sword and sorcery works that aren't afraid to push that definition?

For me personally, one of them is the Kane series. With its villain protagonist, forays in to epic scope, and Wagner's love for dark complexity, it has a tendency to push what one might consider sword and sorcery and as a result has an interesting place in the subgenre.

"Wait a minute!" I hear you say behind your screen (yes, I hear you, be afraid) "This isn't sword and sorcery!" You would be right, except that this is a dramatization of a memoir about the father of sword and sorcery himself, Robert E Howard. Even though it is filtered through the lens of of Novalyne Price (nothing wrong with that, but still a bias to consider) I found the movie a great way to understand Howard's life and writing and especially the ideas behind the character of Conan. I also consider it a must see as a piece of sword and sorcery nonfiction.

What are your thoughts?

Sword and sorcery has quite a lengthy past, and as a result there is a lot of it in the public domain. Please use this thread to share it. This not to build a comprehensive "canon" and I do recommend that people still read newer works than what people share here, but if there are any works of sword and sorcery in the public domain from any country, please feel free to share.

I'll start with one myself. Here is Phoenix on the Sword by Robert E Howard:
https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0600811h.html

Also, please only share public domain content, not piracy links. I would like to have this subreddit to continue to be active.

Be sure to head down to your local comic book store and pick up the free Conan comic from Titan. I'll give you all my thoughts on it on a comment on this thread once I've read it.

I have lived a varied life but never gave
Quarter to any man, nor been a slave
Made many journeys from my homeland
Now, across the border of death I stand

Lightning strikes!
Biting through mist and shadow, Raven's wings!
Beat darkly in the gloom, Grim corpses!
Surround him on his iron throne
A heavy hand! Hammers down my doom!

On Crom's Mountain!

I was a mere boy, when as a man I stood
To repel invaders from our land of woods
I cleaved many a skull, before my sixteenth year
A long and bloody path has brought me here

YE SHALL BE JUDGED MORTALS!

I grant thee a boon now warrior stand,
To rejoin the world of men,
To venture forth in the realm beyond,
To reap more souls for Mount Crom.

Your passion be fire, and your will be ice
I give you your strength and that will suffice
Trust not women, nor wizards, nor gods
Never give up, whatever the odds

CROM HAS SPOKEN

And so, I was born again, born on the battlefield, son of a blacksmith!

So Crom did grant my fate to the Steadfast Ones
Eternal Lord of Mist
To have my name bound in their iron book
Was yet to be my heritage
I'm Alive!