Conan the Valorous by John Maddox Roberts

Conan the Valorous
by John Maddox Roberts
1985 Tor

Broke, drunk, and down to his loincloth, Conan agrees to travel to his homeland of Cimmeria to complete a spell at the mountain shrine of Crom. Meanwhile, competing sorcerers make their way to the shrine, carving a scar of blood as they go.

In the middle, Conan finds time to rescue a tribal chief and her daughter and fight a giant bull. The highlight is when the evil sorcerers from not-India use dark magic to double-double-cross pirates, using their blood to summon and ancient evil from the depths.

This one leans into the Cthulu-esque elements of Conan, with horrible creatures and Elder Gods lurking behind dimensional barriers, and Conan rescuing villagers from an underground cave filled with torturing monsters.

Conan's homecoming was fun, like a Cimmerian kitchen sink drama - "Sleeping on a pillow of snow, are ya? Rocks not good enough for the fancy lad what been to the South, eh?" Meanwhile, Conan's acting like a Midwest college student who just came back from a semester in Europe.

I suspected I would like the later Conan pastiches more than Howard's originals, and so far I was right. Bit rushed at the end, and purist may have issues with the characterization, but great action, plenty of monsters, and a touch of horror.

Paperback from Amazon

Thongor and the Dragon City by Lin Carter

Thongor 2
Thongor and the Dragon City 
by Lin Carter
1966 Ace

Thongor, the princess Sumia, and the other guy fly back from their adventures of the first novel. They crash land in the jungle, get captured, fight cannibals and man-eating plants, escape, get captured, escape, find the airship again, get captured by a vampire scientist, escape, defeat an army and evil druids, and became king of everything.

This one started out feeling more juvenile than the first, and the ending kind of lost the thread with Thongor and company barely participating.

Kindle ebook from Amazon

Series Showdown: Fantasy/Sword and Sorcery - Thongor vs Kothar

Two barbarians fight it out in the Sword and Sorcery match in the Fantasy division.

Had to write this quick, as I'm already beginning to confuse the two barbarians who both get magic swords from sorcerers and go on quests.  Fox's prose was better and his stories had a bit more of an edge to them, but (odd coming from me) the pieces were under written.  While epic fantasy takes too long to get from point A to point B, here I had some problems following what little story there was.

Carter's prose was a titch immature, though not always a bad thing for this kind of story.  His action scenes were more blow for blow than Fox's and the novel format benefited the series of scenes which could have been disjointed short stories.

I would say Kothar was better written, but Thongor was more fun to read.  Thongor moves up in the Fantasy division!

Kothar - Barbarian Swordsman by Gardner F. Fox

Kothar - Barbarian Swordsman
by Gardner F. Fox
1969 Belmont

Three short stories: Barbarian Kothar gets a magic sword from an undead Lich in exchange for rescuing a sorcerer.  The sorcerer has been flayed alive, kept skinless through malevolent magic, so Kothar has to fight a sea serpent to gain his magical cloak.  In another he fights a minotaur in an enchanted labyrinth, in the last he fights otherworldly warlocks to get a strand of hair to free a witch.

Leans into the horror aspect of Sword and Sorcery more than most I've read, with hints of cosmic horror, though not specifically Lovecraftian.  This is the direct source of the lich in Dungeons & Dragons.

Kindle ebook from Amazon

Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria by Lin Carter

 Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria

by Lin Carter

1969 Berkley

Thongor is a young barbarian in ancient Lemuria.  He kills an officer in a bar fight, is arrested, escapes,  steals an airship, is attacked by flying reptile birds, crashes, and is rescued by a sorcerer.  The sorcerer has a quest - to forge a sword from a fallen star to defeat the ritual of sorcerers descended from dinosaurs.  Along the way he gets captured and escapes at least four times, picking up another fighter and a princess as companions.

A fun read, lots of adventure and action, plenty of monsters, though the pulpy pace leaves out a lot of  descriptions, leaving you guessing what a lot of these monsters look like.  Unlike Conan, Thongor is explicitly decked out in Frazetta fashion, with a loincloth and leather harness.  He wakes up naked after being dropped in a giant reptile-eagle nest, so I can only assume he was naked through the rest of the book.

A fun, short read that probably covers as much ground as a 800 page epic fantasy.  Somehow, the first version of this from 1966 was even shorter.

Kindle ebook from Amazon.

1980s Sword and Sorcery Films

1980
Hawk the Slayer

1981
The Archer and the Sorcerer aka The Archer: Fugitive from the Empire
Dragonslayer
Excalibur

1982
Ator the Fighting Eagle
Beastmaster
Conan the Barbarian
Gunan, King of the Barbarians
Hero
Sangraal - Barbarian Master
Sorceress
The Sword and the Sorceror
Sword of the Barbarians

1983
Deathstalker
Fire and Ice
Hearts and Armor
Hundra
Ironmaster
Krull
Thor the Conqueror
Throne of Fire

1984
The Blade Master aka Cave Dwellers
Conan the Destroyer
Sword of the Valiant
Tunka el Guerrero
The Warrior and the Sorceress

1985
Barbarian Queen
Legend
Red Sonya
Wizards of the Lost Kingdom

1986
Amazons

1987
The Barbarians
Deathstalker II
Gor
Iron Warrior
Stormquest

1988
Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell
Outlaw of Gor
Willow

1989
Avalon
Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II

1990
Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back
Quest for the Mighty Sword
Time Barbarians

1991
Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time
Deathstalker IV: Match of Titans

Not included are similar films set in the Iron Age or after the apocalypse, as well as any kids' movies.

Deathstalker (1983)

Deathstalker (1983)

The boobiest, rapiest adventure of them all.

Deathstalker goes on a quest to gain three enchanted items to defeat the wizard Munkar and become the power.

Mud wrestling, topless swordfights, gender swapping spells, chain mail half shirts, buffalo shots, pig-headed men, and Hee Haw Honey Barbi Benton.

The was the first of a series of films Roger Corman produced in Argentina.