Over on his Drums of Nyumbani blog, Charles R. Saunders has posted an entry entitled, “In Memoriam: Frank Frazetta.” Mr. Saunders reminisces about his discovery of Frazetta’s work, depictions of blacks in Frank’s art and also speculates about what a Frazetta cover for an Imaro novel might have looked like. CRS does an admirable job covering the latter two topics, but I have few more factoids and opinions to add. Feel free to click the link above, read the post and click back here.

I was happy to see Saunders make mention of  Fritz’s Edgar Rice Burroughs covers for Ace in the early ’60s. Frank was still honing his painting chops at that point, but several pieces, especially some of the Tarzan covers, are bonafide classics in my book. I find it strange that nobody has tried to claim that Frazetta “made” ERB’s career as they have in regard to Robert E. Howard’s. I know I’ll never think of Tarzan at the Earth’s Core without Frank’s savage and dynamic cover painting springing to mind. J. Allen St. John, for all his unquestioned talent, never matched that particular painting.

CRS then looks at sub-Saharan Africans that feature in Frazetta’s art. He brings up Frank’s “Masai Warrior,” a piece I’ve loved since I first saw it about ten years ago. Saunders also mentions “Lion Hunt,” which, like “Masai Warrior,” was featured in the Frazetta art books published by Underwood a few years ago. Charles couldn’t find a scan and my scanner’s down, so take our word for it that the painting is off the chain.

Saunders cites “Swamp Demon” as an example of Frank depicting a black woman in his art. Fritz painted that for John Jakes’ Witch of the Dark Gate. Reportedly, Jakes’ publisher sent Frank the title, Frazetta did the painting and then Jakes wrote the rest of the book to match it. I’d do the same thing to get a Frazetta cover on my book.

One Frazetta painting that CRS seems unaware of is a piece that Frank did for a Mandingo-style novel published around 1970 called Black Emperor. The protagonist on the cover looks much like how I have always envisioned Saunders’ iconic hero, Imaro: massive, brooding and unmistakeably black (as opposed to the silly first cover for Imaro). The painting by Frazetta (see a cropped version below), despite being rendered for a sub-standard piece of hack-work, still retains that trademark Frazetta power. Frank Frazetta, like Robert E. Howard, always gave one hundred percent, no matter what the job was.

Author Milton Davis has a new blog, Wagadu, dedicated to his Sword-and-Soul literary creations. It should come as no surprise to TC readers that the Godfather of Sword-and-Soul, Charles R. Saunders, stopped by Wagadu to write about Davis’ upcoming novel, Changa’s Safari.

In “A Different Safari,” CRS explores the world Changa adventures across; that world being the pre-colonial trans-Indian Ocean trade network. As Saunders points out, there was a thriving mercantile community that linked East (and Central) Africa with such far-flung ports-of-call as Calicut and Malacca. The arrival of the Portuguese disrupted that network. Such a rich, exotic milieu allows Davis plenty of opportunity to place his hero in harm’s way across a third of the globe.

Of course, Changa’s Safari isn’t the only iron Milton Davis has in the fire. As he announced in this blog entry, he’s running a special on his Sword-and-Soul novel, Meji Book One. To get an idea of what Davis’ world of Meji is all about, check out this previous post by yours truly.

It may have been noticed that no mention has yet been made of ancient America or ancient Africa, the South Seas, and Australia. That these areas may in fact be largely left out is due to a fact already stated: namely that the idea of monsters arises at a relatively late stage of cultural development. The ancient American civilizations do show some rudimentary–perhaps independent–composite forms, but these are for the most part ill-defined and it is often difficult to distinguish between monsters and human figures masked or disguised in animal skins. Ideas of magic, totemic customs, and animistic equation of different natural spheres may have led to some of the ideas underlying the shapes that interest us here. But it seems that these never brought about a true creation of new beings in a distinct visual form. For this reason, we shall have to leave out these areas of civilization if we want to keep to our subject, though in individual cases references will be made to possible connections. The observation that monsters were not created originally by the so-called ‘primitive’ peoples, as one might have expected, but are in fact to a large extent the product of highly developed civilizations is surprising enough.

Such are the views of Heinz Mode in Fabulous Beasts and Demons, a book on mythological and folkloric creatures. Even accounting for the state of the field at the time, it’s hard for me to imagine just how fundamentally mistaken Mode was. Since I was a lad, I was regaled with tales of monsters, beasts, demons and gods every bit as weird, terrifying, and imaginative as the denizens of classical mythology. Being no stranger to the subject, Charles R. Saunders has much to say on the things which haunt the Dark Continent.

The Nfezu-loi of the Luabala River

There are two parts to “Imaginary Africans”: the first including discussion of some of the amazing things which populate the legend of Africa. He discusses what would nowadays be considered “cryptids”–the bizarre chemosit, the savage dingonek, the great horned chepekwe, the dinosaurian nzefu-loi. One can imagine that the gargantuan snake that menace the Tigress in “Queen of the Black Coast” may have been a badagui, or one of its cousins.

The second part discusses the more overtly mythological beings, dwellers of ethereal planes, haunters of the shadowy realms beyond death, ravenous horrors lurking beyond the veil between worlds. There are counterparts to European mythical stalwarts: were-leopard irimu, the vampiric tyerkow and mwanga, the dwarfish kitunusi and utechekulu, the giant Rom and Sau. The elfin wakyambi make an interesting complement to Saunders’ “Blackelven” article. Then there are those that have no real counterpart… but I guess you’ll just have to wander over to find out more.

In addition, Saunders has updated his Recommended Reading section with Craig Spector’s Underground, a rather intriguing-sounding story full of racial tension, Confederate history, and unholy underworlds.

If only “highly developed civilizations” can create monsters, methinks that they are just a little better at hiding–in fact, as well as in folklore.

On SF Signal,  John DeNardo asked the questions below to ten science-fiction and fantasy writers and editors:

What are some of the best sword and sorcery stories? What makes them so good?

Martha Wells, Steven Brust, Mercedes Lackey, James Enge, Mary Robinette Kowal, Mark Chadbourn, P.C. Hodgell, Gail Z. Martin, Brandon Sanderson and Lou Anders have all replied. Unsurprisingly, tales by our favorite Texan author, Fritz Leiber and Michael Moorcock are among several authors’ favorites. Clark Ashton Smith, C.L. Moore and Leigh Brackett as well as TC‘s friend –and most excellent writer– Charles R. Saunders‘ stories are cited too.

As John O’Neill  put it over at the Black Gate blog, the list is well worth reading since “you’re sure to find more than a few good recommendations, whether you’re new to S&S or an old sword-brother.” That’s true, though one omission made me cringe: the ludicrous absence of the immense Karl Edward Wagner, who wasn’t listed by any writer and is only mentioned in the comments below the blog entry…

In welcome news, TC just learned that Charles R. Saunders has a fresh blog entry posted at Drums of Nyumbani, his website. The title of this post is “The First Ghana.” Much like his article, “The Epoch of Kush,” this piece by Saunders explores the rich history of sub-Saharan Africa. Another similarity betwixt the two is that both were written during the ’70s by CRS for one of the fantasy/S&S fanzines that proliferated during that decade. Fear not, Saunders’ scholarship still holds up.

Mr. Saunders reveals the history of the first Ghana (modern-day Ghana shares little but a name with its namesake). Called Aoukar by its own people, the kingdom was given its common name by Arab chroniclers, who derived it from one of the titles of the Ghanaian ruler (a situation similar to the one in which the “Inca” empire received its name from the Spanish). Reaching its height in the eleventh century AD, Ghana was a veritable sub-Saharan Klondike, exporting gold to Europe and Asia. Such riches invited envy and aggression. Eventually, Ghana succumbed.

Medieval Ghana was very likely the source of the name which REH bestowed upon the “Ghanatas” seen in the unfinished Conan yarn referred to as “The Tombalku Fragment.” Serious students of Conan the Cimmerian might also recall that he wielded a “Ghanata knife” when infiltrating black-walled Khemi in The Hour of the Dragon. Clues left by REH point to the Hyborian Age Ghanatas being a tribe situated somewhere betwixt Stygia and Tombalku, and that said tribe had notable iron-working skills. All things considered, that matches up fairly well with the Ghanatas’ (probable) historical inspiration.

I’ve been studying sub-Saharan Africa for more than twenty-five years and CRS’ post still taught me a few things. As I stated earlier, Saunders’ scholarship (like his fiction) has stood the test of time.

As for any inner meaning or ‘message,’ it has in the intention of the author none. It is neither allegorical nor topical… I cordially dislike allegory, and have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence… I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse ‘applicability’ with ‘allegory’; but one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other resides in the purposed domination of the author.

–J.R.R. Tolkien

Reading Saunders’ review of Leonard Carpenter’s Conan the Hero, namely the myriad thinly-veiled Vietnam allegory that makes the bulk of the plot, put me in mind of the above Tolkien quotation. Naturally, it made me also think of how Robert E. Howard is one of those authors whose every work is heaving with such applicability, and how much a disservice Carpenter does to Howard as a result.

One of my favourite passages from The Hour of the Dragon was Tarascus’ rallying of Nemedia for war:

Such a wave of enthusiasm and rejoicing as swept the land is frequently the signal for a war of conquest. So no one was surprized when it was announced that King Tarascus had declared the truce made by the late king with their western neighbors void, and was gathering his hosts to invade Aquilonia. His reason was candid; his motives, loudly proclaimed, gilded his actions with something of the glamor of a crusade. He espoused the cause of Valerius, “rightful heir to the throne”; he came, he proclaimed, not as an enemy of Aquilonia, but as a friend, to free the people from the tyranny of a usurper and a foreigner.

If this was a Tor pastiche written in 2003, I’m sure some would view it as a painfully unsubtle allegory of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. All the hallmarks of the anti-war lobby’s argument are there: claims to free the people from tyranny, the glamor of a crusade rousing the patriotism and energy of the invaders, espousing a righteous cause. As is obviously the case, Howard did not write his only Conan novel in reaction to the 2003 invasion of Iraq: he wasn’t writing in response to anything. The idea of an invader disguising an invasion as a noble cause (as critics of the Iraq invasion assert) is nothing new to history, since any nation acting as aggressor in a conflict will obviously portray their reasons in a light palatable to the populace regardless of veracity: Tarascus’ Nemedia was no different. Yet that’s one of the intrinsic truths inherent to Howard’s writing: the power of applicability.

Another example appears in “Beyond the Black River”:

“The best land near Thunder River is already taken,” grunted the slayer. “Plenty of good land between Scalp Creek  you crossed it a few miles back  and the fort, but that’s getting too devilish close to the river. The Picts steal over to burn and murder  like that one did. They don’t always come singly. Some day they’ll try to sweep the settlers out of Conajohara. And they may succeed. Probably will succeed. This colonization business is mad, anyway. There’s plenty of good land east of the Bossonian marches. If the Aquilonians would cut up some of the big estates of their barons, and plant wheat where now only deer are hunted, they wouldn’t have to cross the border and take the land of the Picts away from them.”

This is frequently seen as an allusion to the Colonial period of American history, and given Howard’s love of that period in history and the very evocative milieu of “Beyond the Black River,” it’s easy to see why. However, that’s not to say that the story is only about the plight of American settlers, Manifest Destiny, colonists-and-injuns, and other such tropes of Western literature: it could also be applied to the heaving Roman Empire’s expansion into dark Germanic territory, or Spain’s conquest of Mexico, or even the Vikings’ struggles with the Skrælings. “Beyond the Black River” is more universal, and deeper, than a mere “Conan of the Mohicans” escapade.

In contrast, we have Conan the Hero. Applicability is replaced with straight allegory, and it suffers as a result. There’s no ambiguity: the Council of Seers is U.S. Intelligence, Turan is the U.S., Venjipur is Vietnam, the Hwong are the Viet Cong, the Red Garottes are the Green Berets. I guess that makes Conan into John Rambo. It stops being the Hyborian Age, and starts being a fable, where message overrides narrative, and individuals give way to avatars.

Allegory works well when handled with skill, but it’s rarely a good idea to do it in an established universe. When one brings allegory into, say, The Lord of the Rings, one stops thinking about the characters themselves, but about what they represent. If we equate Sauron with Hitler, we cannot think of Sauron as a character in his own right, but as a “stand-in” for a historical figure. Then you start applying it everywhere–the One Ring as the Atomic Bomb, the Valar as the non-interventionist United States, Tom Bombadil as the spirit of the British Empire–and when that happens, you might as well just be talking about the Second World War.

In the same way, the Vietnam allegory of Conan the Hero destroys not only the suspension of disbelief, but the independent actuality of the characters. Most damning of all is how it wreaks havoc with Howard’s setting and characters: how could the warlike, imperialist Turan have an “anti-war” movement when they’ve been conquering half the east without incident? If Turan had a “Council of Seers” who could control armies like they were playing Command & Conquer, why do we never see or hear of them before or since? Considering its apparent importance in eastern politics, how come we never hear about “Venjipur” in “The People of the Black Circle” or the other Turanian stories? All changes made to accommodate the Vietnam allegory, rather than complementing Howard’s Hyborian Age.

Still, it doesn’t sound nearly as bad as Conan of Venarium, but I don’t think anything could usurp Turtledove’s monsterpiece.

Lots of interesting news regarding our brothers in swords and souls recently. Along with fellow blogger Deuce, I’ve long maintained that exploration and appreciation of settings beyond the stale “Medieval Europe” standard for so many fantasy worlds is a great way to bring freshness and excitement to the fantasy genre, and the rich, exotic history and cultures of Africa makes for ideal inspiration. First-Spear of Sword-and-Soul Charles R. Saunders is preeminent among those authors who embraced this, and through his site, he names some others deserving of our attention.

First of all, in the recommended reading section, he writes about Alex Bledsoe’s Blood Groove, suggested to him by our own Steve Tompkins. I’d like to make special mention of the delicious double-entendre of the title, which Saunders also notices: evocative not only of the sanguinary channels of Aztecan altars, but of the more rhythmic association. The inclusion of a Blacula poster only sweetens the deal: I always was a sucker for blaxploitation–sorry, sorry, I guess it really is hard to avoid puns when vampires are involved.

Second is a more sobering piece, a tribute to fallen comrade Janet Fox. I’ve only read one Fox tale, “Morrien’s Bitch,” which was her contribution to Jessica Amanda Salmondson’s essential anthology Amazons! I purchased Amazons! not just because I greatly relish stories of women warriors, but because it had a Dossouye yarn. Saunders was one of only two male authors to have stories included, and this was one of many occasions where he and Fox were “anthology buddies.” I think I’ll dig out my copy of Amazons! and give “Morrien’s Bitch” another read.

Rounding out the news is a lengthy and comprehensive interview with Winston Blakely, a comic artist and writer whose Immortal Fantasy looks to be another fascinating entry into the Sword-and-Sorcery graphic novel library. Inspired by E. E. Smith, Michael Moorcock, Robert E. Howard, EC Comics and others, Blakely likens Immortal Fantasy to Heavy Metal in a graphic novel format. Reading about some of the characters — the shape-shifting alien king Kotas the Dragon, Pozitron the techno-warrior — my interest is already piqued.

In addition to his association with Saunders (who graces Immortal Fantasy with an introduction), Blakely has done work for another Sword-and-Soul spear-bearer: Milton S. Davis, providing art for his Meji and Changa milieus, with examples of his work shown here. Wanting to find out more about Blakely, I posed a few questions.

On his friend Charles R. Saunders:

Charles is someone that I’ve admired for a long time, ever since I found out about Imaro. I struck up a friendship with him online when I joined this site called BlackScienceFictionSociety.com. I asked him if I could do my interpretation of Imaro and he told me to go for it.

Of course, it was pleasure to find out that he enjoyed the piece that I did. After that I started sharing my upcoming projects with him and then I inquire if Charles would do an introduction to my anthology–Immortal Fantasy. Fortunately for me, he thought it was a great idea and we even discuss the inclusion of an interview about me on his site. I’m still sending him samples of my work, since I plan on another title after Immortal Fantasy which would have an African based woman warrior and other characters that I’m fleshing out before I begin to put them to paper.

On his Brooklyn upbringing, and how his work as a teacher contributed to his art and writing:

Growing up in 2 to 3 family house in Brooklyn is memory that I treasure always. We had a beautiful backyard and I use to ride my bicycle pretending it was a horse as I played Zorro and ate grapes of the vineyard we had. My imagination was always active and being a teacher did not affect it at all. To entertain and teach art appreciation I did drawings of Mortal Kombat heroes for my students to color and briefly show how I constructed the figures. At the same time I was working at Valiant Comics and got free books to offer them if they behave themselves in my class. It was a good bribe.

Interesting enough, plenty of comics and graphic novels were available as Valiant had an comic book exchange program with Marvel, DC and Image, plus any other independent comic publisher. Needless to say, I had a field day with this and remember it well.

On the future, and possible and desired collaborations:

It’s a pipe dream of mine to collaborate with Steve Ditko and Jim Starlin. I admired them both. Seeing Starlin do Adam Warlock and Thanos inspired me to create some of the characters that are in Immortal Fantasy. Ditko helped established my sense of storytelling from his amazing Spider-Man art and the mysterious Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts. I do like Alan Moore, Michael Moorcock as writers, but I was hoping that maybe someday Charles would  come up with a character that I could collaborate with him on. Hey, you never know.

Immortal Fantasy is out now, with details on how to order it here.

Innsmouth Free Press is a fun site, running stories of a mythos slant from a “metafictional” perspective, blurring the distinction between fact and fiction (much like a few British tabloids I could mention.)

This week, Charles R. Saunders strode into that little town of Essex County. There, the local press engaged the First-Spear of Sword & Soul in an interview. The interview is an illuminating read, particularly in regards to the Lovecraftian influence and inspiration in Saunders’ work, and his wider views on matters of diversity and imagination in fantasy fiction. Here’s a taster:

IFP: What are your thoughts on the future of sword-and-sorcery?

CS: The future of the genre is in good hands, particularly those of Joe Abercrombie, author of The First Law trilogy. Paul Kearney and the late David Gemmell kept the genre alive during the lull that followed the waning of the Howard boom of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Also, the line between heroic fantasy and epic fantasy is blurring. The multi-volume series of writers like Scott Bakker and Steven Erickson are as epic in scope as the oeuvre of J.R.R. Tolkein and Robert Jordan. Yet, they’re packed with the kind of slam-bang action a sword-and-sorcery buff craves.

Go over to Innsmouth Free Press for the rest.

A couple of months back, I wrote a blog entry regarding Sword-and-Sorcery author, Milton Davis, and his current and forthcoming projects. I thought that TC readers might like an update.

As some frequenters of The Cimmerian may already know, Mr. Davis writes within the “Sword-and-Soul” tradition pioneered by the legendary Charles R. Saunders. CRS has already bestowed his imprimatur upon Davis’ efforts over at his own blog. In the months since I blogged about Milton’s projects back in November, he has been on the move, as usual.

The two pics above display the covers for Davis’ Meji duology, which is set within the fantasy continent of Uhuru. Below is the map of Uhuru as rendered by Winston Blakely.

An upcoming series from Davis features his hero Changa. The stories are set during the decades before Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. A map, once again crafted by Winston Blakely, is below.

Davis also has some prequels in mind for the Changa saga. The War-Goddess, as envisioned by Kris Mosby, features in one such tale.

Further off on the literary horizon, Davis is cooking up a series about a woman-warrior named Sadatina. Here’s what he had to say about her:

Sadatina is the main character of an upcoming novel, The Face In The Temple. Sadatina is a priestess who leads an all-female warrior unit that specializes in fighting kindokis, demons of the sorcerer Karan. Her nemesis is a powerful kindoki, Rashadu, who has broken away from Karan in search of a temple that may hold the secret of his origin. This is my ahosi story just as Dossouye is Charles’ ahosi tale.

Milton Davis’ website can be found here.

Friend of The Cimmerian Charles R. Saunders has a new blog entry detailing the writing and long-delayed publication of Imaro: The Naama War. It’s also a tribute to the important figures whose involvement made the book possible, including our own Steve Tompkins, whom Saunders considered “perhaps Imaro’s greatest champion.” The final words are most tantalizing… but you’ll have to go read it to find out what they are.

*Sketches of Imaro by mase0ne.