Bookish Brews Snapshot
To Root Somewhere Beautiful: An Anthology of Reclamation
Imagine a world in which nature has lost patience with humanity. The wild is done waiting for humans to change their ways. Nature is ready to take matters into her own hands... And she is angry. In this new anthology, twenty two diverse authors explore what nature's vengeance might be like, and how humanity could adapt and change, giving these stories of climate change and disasters a center of hope.
- Genre: Speculative Fiction
Bonus: What is Climate Fiction? 18 Sensational Cli-fi Books and Short Stories
Interview with Nicholas Perez
Amanda: Welcome! I’m so excited to talk to you about sword & sorcery today! But first, can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your writing?
Nicholas Perez: Hello, Amanda! I am a writer of Adult and YA SFF and horror. I recently published my first short story, a sci-fi first contact story, “The Boy Who Became An Entire Planet” in the anthology To Root Somewhere Beautiful: An Anthology of Reclamation from Outland Entertainment. I am currently writing stories in many subgenres, including sword and sorcery, and I hope you will see more of them someday.
Amanda: I’m sure we will! Can you give us a definition for the sword & sorcery genre? Is sword & sorcery a subgenre of a broader genre?
Nicholas: Sword and sorcery is a subgenre of fantasy, often overshadowed by its “big brother” high fantasy. To be as succinct as I can be, sword and sorcery is fantasy with lower stakes and focuses more on the personal goals of the hero/ine or anti-hero/ine that we follow.
Amanda: What is the difference between sword and sorcery and high fantasy?
Nicholas: The major difference between the two subgenres is that there is no “fate of the world” at stake in sword and sorcery. It is a more action-oriented subgenre, more morally gray, set in a pre-modern, pre-gunpowder world. You might have a big high fantasy-like world in sword and sorcery, but its vast history is not so important to the characters.
Amanda: Is sword and sorcery low magic?
Nicholas: Definitely. Rule of thumb: Magic exists, but no magic systems. In sword and sorcery, magic has mysterious origins, but our characters aren’t concerned with how exactly it works, just those it DOES work.
Amanda: What are some common elements of sword & sorcery stories?
Nicholas: Typically, it follows a hero/ine who is trying to get one specific thing done, and having to use both sword-skills and knowledge, if not outright usage, of magic. Getting from point A to point B as swiftly as they can. For example, in Michael Moorcock’s “The Dreaming City,” the main character Elric is trying to raid his home city to kill his cousin Yyrkoon and free his other cousin Cymoril, and that’s very much the focus and action of that story.
Amanda: What specifically draws you to the sword & sorcery genre? What is special about it to you?
Nicholas: I am drawn to it because of its simplicity in plot and structure, while still being thought-provoking without all the extra baggage. I’ll be forward: I love high fantasy, Lord of the Rings was latched into my veins at a young age; but high fantasy, especially these days, has got some really long and thick books. There are series I’m still interested in, but just reading some of those books sometimes feels less like an adventure and more like an ordeal.
A year or two ago, I read the entire Birthgrave sword and sorcery trilogy by Tanith Lee and it was amazing! The entire trilogy was a deconstruction of gender stereotypes in fantasy but with straightforward plots. Sometimes the pacing slowed down, but it never felt as long as typical high fantasy series. And that’s what I love about sword and sorcery, a fantastic journey that doesn’t overburden itself!
Amanda: What is the history behind the genre? Where did it come from or how did it emerge?
Nicholas: It’a generally accepted that the first sword and sorcery stories were written by Robert E. Howard in the early 1930s with his famous character Conan the Barbarian, first published in Weird Tales. Around the same time, and the same magazine, C. L. Moore gave us Jirel of Joirey, the first central woman protagonist of sword and sorcery, if not all of fantasy literature.
The subgenre was mostly influenced by historical fiction and adventure stories that preceded the 1930s and classical mythology. Sword and sorcery was mostly published in pulp magazines–like Weird Tales–up until the late 1960s when sci-fi and fantasy were just starting to get wider recognition.
From the 60s till about the late 80s, thanks to both the efforts of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers’ Guild of America and more women writing in the genre, sword and sorcery enjoyed a pleasant boom, getting themed anthologies and novels published. The boom even gave us the Arnold Schwarzenegger Conan the Barbarian film.
Amanda: What does the sword & sorcery space look like today? Is it still similar to how it was at the end of the 80s or has it evolved since then? Are there any major changes happening in the genre recently?
Nicholas: Sword and sorcery isn’t AS BIG as it was in the 80s, but there’s definitely been a renewed interest in it. One thing that has definitely changed is that there’s been some steady increase in BIPOC authors writing in the subgenre, mostly Black authors. Back in the late 70s and early 80s, Charles R. Saunders, who is the creator of sword and soul (Black sword and sorcery), was almost the sole contributor with his various short stories and Imaro series. There was also Samuel R. Delany’s Return to Nevèrÿon series, though I think that was his sole contribution.
Amanda: What do you hope to see more of in the future of sword & sorcery? Is there anything that we’re doing right right now that we should continue to push for?
Nicholas: I hope that sword and sorcery gets the love from traditional publishing that it once widely had. Most books and stories in the subgenre are independently published and while they’re utterly fantastic, the authors don’t always get the attention they deserve. The simplest solution is for readers to buy and read these authors’ works.
The other is to rock the boat: Point out that current popular fantasy series are actually sword and sorcery, as Melissa Grace Burlock did in a Black Nerd Problems article for Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone. Modern fantasy is currently having a bit of an identity crisis (or crises) trying to define certain limits for each subgenre. What is high fantasy versus low fantasy? What is cozy fantasy? And one that greatly irks me, what is romantasy versus fantasy romance?
So many books that are considered low fantasy are probably sword and sorcery, but either people don’t know it or have a reluctance to label it as such. For me personally, I think Traci Chee’s Kindling, Marlon James’ Black Leopard, Red Wolf, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s The Return of the Sorceress are definitely sword and sorcery. If you know the definition of sword and sorcery and have read them, you’ll understand. Stand on your soapbox and make a hot take! Hell, there’s even some manga series like Claymore that would definitely count.
Amanda: Can you tell us a bit about some of the influential writers that are writing and publishing in this space today?
Nicholas: Michael Moorcock is still going strong with his Elric of Melniboné books; most of the stories have been republished into nice omnibuses and he recently published a prequel short story with New Edge Sword and Sorcery—they too are leading the charge with the subgenre too.
For sword and soul, Milton J. Davis, Sarah A. Macklin, Kirk A. Johnson, and Enock I. Simbaya are definitely worth checking out. In general, I would check out MVmedia, LLC which publishes their works and other Black-centric genres such as Afrofuturism and Steamfunk. Filipino author Dariel R. A. Quiogue is, as far as I know, the most prominent author of Asian-inspired sword and sorcery, what he calls sword and silk, but Delilah Waan’s recent debut Petition shows much promise. Definitely check his books out on Amazon!
Howard Andrew Jones’ The Chronicles of Sword and Sand and Chronicles of Hanuvar made quite some splashes when they were published, quite enjoyable series! I would argue that Gail Simone’s 2013 run of the Red Sonja comic book was a great reminder that women still write in the subgenre, even if at the time of its publication some of the greatest women writers of sword and sorcery had passed or were no longer writing in it.
Also, keep an eye out for Simone’s novel Red Sonja: Consumed, coming out later this year from Orbit AND for issues three of New Edge Sword and Sorcery where Molly Tanzer will be publishing the first Jirel of Joiry story in eighty plus years! Bryn Hammond is another woman author whose Amgalant stories revolve around the setting of 12th and 13th century Eurasian Steppes.
But hands down, if you want to read any sword and sorcery, you should check out Frolic on the Amaranthyn by Chase A. Folmar, a Bonnie and Clyde story with some of the most beautiful prose I’ve ever read. Definitely a callback to the writing styles of Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith.
Amanda: How has the recent industry wide push for diversity impacted the sword & sorcery genre? (whether the push for diversity has been successful or not is another topic)
Nicholas: Yes! Sword and sorcery is getting more and more diverse. I know I’ve been plugging them relentlessly, but do check out New Edge Sword and Sorcery, as they have authors from various cultural backgrounds in each issue, something the main editor makes as a requirement. That’s a complete turnaround from the earliest days of sword and sorcery which was almost exclusively white male authors (barring C. L. Moore and, arguably, Gertrude Hall). In general, I think that most fantasy subgenres are moving toward diversity, but it’s not been a simple and clean move, nor a fast one, unfortunately.
Amanda: What would you say to someone who’s thinking about writing a sword & sorcery story?
Nicholas: Take whatever you know about all the traditional high fantasy you’ve been reading and throw it out the window. The logics and frameworks of The Lord of the Rings, The Stormlight Archives, The Roots of Chaos, or The Earthsea Cycle cannot be applied here. Read actual sword and sorcery stories and books to get an idea of what authors are doing. Focus on your characters’ personal goal primarily.
If you find yourself overexplaining too much about the world, history, or magic, you’ve gone down the wrong path. Having your characters be scantily clad like all those 70s and 80s covers is not required.
Amanda: Thank you so much for joining us today! Before you go, is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Nicholas: My very first sword and sorcery short story (flash fiction) will come out next month in a zine with Spiral Tower Press. I hope you look forward to it! And if you’re still confused as to what happens in a sword and sorcery story, allow me to paraphrase a post about Conan the Barbarian in an answer to “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”: “Conan the Barbarian strides into Omelas, frees the child easily, and carries him out while the town burns down behind him.”
