Sword & Sorcery Bibliography: 1966

1966 would prove the last year (in the 20^th Century, at least) in which most of the published sword & sorcery tales, of whatever length, appeared in the magazines. Roger Zelazny added another Dilvish story to the series in Joseph Ross’ Fantastic he had started the previous year, while across the Atlantic, Kyril Bonfiglioli softened the hardline editorial stance against fantasy he’d set forth in his first issues editing Science Fantasy by publishing one of John Brunner’s Traveller in Black pieces in that magazine’s successor publication, Impulse. The May issue of Fantastic saw Avram Davidson debuting his Virgil character in a novella, The Phoenix and the Mirror, which we will see expanded to novel length in two years’ time. Edward L. Ferman, having taken the editorial reigns at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction from his father Joseph, threw the barn doors wide open for Jack Vance, publishing no fewer than four Cugel the Clever stories set in the future Grand Master’s seminal Dying Earth setting.

Vance would go on to collect those four Cugel stories listed below, along with the one that had been published in F&SF in December 1965 and one new tale, into a fixup novel from Ace Books titled The Eyes of the Overworld. The dating is unclear, so we do not know, at this point, whether he had used stories written specifically for the book in the fixup, or if he had placed the individual pieces as a sort of advertisement for The Eyes of the Overworld, the latter being a common practice of the time.

By way of contrast, just one original novel appeared, this being the second entry in Lin Carter’s publisher-hopping series featuring Thongor, perhaps the most famous of the so-called “Clonans.”

 

But the event that would have the most impact on the genre, and on the wider world of genre fiction publishing in general, was the appearance of a slim paperback featuring a striking cover that would go on to become one of the most famous images in the history of fantasy art. A grim, raven-haired warrior stands atop a pile of bodies and blades, the text beneath proclaiming him “The World’s Greatest Fantasy Hero.” The painting was by the great Frank Frazetta, whose career would be intertwined forever more with that hero, who was, of course, Robert E. Howard’s most remembered creation, Conan.

 

Conan the Adventurer was labelled “Volume One of the Complete Conan,” which has confused casual collectors for decades, because it would ultimately be numbered fifth in the legendary Lancer/Ace paperbacks collecting the Cimmerian’s adventures (not all of them by Howard, but certainly all of the good ones). The series would be released piecemeal, in an almost chaotic fashion that surely frustrated L. Sprague de Camp, the man who either rescued the character from relative obscurity or perpetrated literary manslaughter upon him, depending on whom one asks.

What is indisputable, though, is that a wind was rising that we’ll find blowing a gale in 1967. Hurricane Conan had turned to shore.

An earlier version of this post omitted listing The Eyes of the Overworld, by Jack Vance.

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1.     The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction [Volume 30 Number 2, February 1966] edited by Edward L. Ferman (50¢, 132pp, digest, cover by George Salter)

p. 102 • “The Mountains of Magnatz” [Cugel; Dying Earth] • Jack Vance • novelette

2.     Fantastic [Volume 15 Number 4, March 1966] edited by Joseph Ross (50¢, 164pp, digest, cover by Frank R. Paul)

p. 6 • “The Bells of Shoredan” [Dilvish] • Roger Zelazny • short story; illustrated by Gray Morrow

3.     Impulse [Volume 1 Number 2, April 1966] edited by Kyril Bonfiglioli (3/6, 160pp, pb, cover Keith Roberts)

p. 61 • “Break the Door of Hell” [Traveller in Black] • John Brunner • novelette

4.     The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction [Volume 30 Number 4, April 1966] edited by Edward L. Ferman (50¢, 132pp, digest, cover by Jack Gaughan illustrating “The Sorcerer Pharesm”)

p. 79 • “The Sorcerer Pharesm” [Cugel; Dying Earth] • Jack Vance • novelette

5.     Fantastic [Volume 15 Number 5, May 1966] edited by Joseph Ross (50¢, 164pp, digest, cover by Frank R. Paul)

p. 6 • The Phoenix and the Mirror [Virgil] • Avram Davidson • novella; illustrated by Gray Morrow

6.     The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction [Volume 30 Number 6, June 1966] edited by Edward L. Ferman (50¢, 132pp, digest, cover by H. Castellon)

p. 96 • “The Pilgrims” [Cugel; Dying Earth] • Jack Vance • novelette

 

7.     The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction [Volume 30, Number 1, July 1966] edited by Edward L. Ferman (50¢, 132pp, digest, cover by Chesley Bonestell)

p. 102 • “The Manse of Iucounu” [Cugel; Dying Earth] • Jack Vance · novelette

8. The Eyes of the Overworld [Cugel; Dying Earth] • Jack Vance • fixup novel [1st ed, Ace Books M-149, 1966] (¢45, 189pp, pb, cover artist Gray Morrow)

• “The Overworld” [Cugel; Dying Earth] • Jack Vance • novelette first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (Volume 29 Number 6, December 1965)   

• “The Cave in the Forest [Cugel; Dying Earth] • Jack Vance • short story

• See above for details of the other four stories in this volume

9.     Thongor of Lemuria [Thongor #2] • Lin Carter • novel • [1^st ed, Ace Books F-383, 1966] (¢40, 127 pp, pb, cover artist Gray Morrow)

10.     Conan the Adventurer [Lancer/Ace Conan #5] • Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp • collection [1^st thus, Lancer Books 73-526, 1966] (50¢, 224 pp, pb, cover artist Frank Frazetta)

p. 9 • Introduction • L. Sprague de Camp • essay

p. 13 • The People of the Black Circle [Conan] • Robert E. Howard • novella • first appeared in Weird Tales [Volume 24 Number 3, September 1934]

p. 103 • “The Slithering Shadow” [Conan] • Robert E. Howard • novelette • first appeared in Weird Tales [Volume 22 Number 3, September 1933]

p. 141 • “Drums of Tombalku” [Conan] • L. Sprague de Camp and Robert E. Howard • novelette • first appears here

p. 191 • “The Pool of the Black One” [Conan] • (1933) • Robert E. Howard • novelette • first appeared in Weird Tales [Volume 22 Number 4, October 1933]