Download or read book J R R Tolkien Robert E Howard and the Birth of Modern Fantasy written by Deke Parsons and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-11-14 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The birth of modern fantasy in 1930s Britain and America saw the development of new literary and film genres. J.R.R. Tolkien created modern fantasy with The Lord of the Rings, set in a fictional world based upon his life in the early 20th century British Empire, and his love of language and medieval literature. In small-town Texas, Robert E. Howard pounded out his own fantasy realm in his Conan stories, published serially in the ephemeral pulp magazines he loved. Jerry Siegel created Superman with Joe Shuster, and laid the foundation for perhaps the most far-reaching fantasy worlds: the universe of DC and Marvel comics. The work of extraordinary people who lived in an extraordinary decade, this modern fantasy canon still provides source material for the most successful literary and film franchises of the 21st century. Modern fantasy speaks to the human experience and still shows its origins from the lives and times of its creators.

Download or read book Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers written by L. Sprague deCamp and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2014-06-30 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stories contained in this book: The Swords of Faerie Jack of all Arts: William Morris Two Men in One: Lord Dunsany Eldritch Yankee Gentleman: H. P. Lovecraft Superman in a Bowler: E. R. Eddison The Miscast Barbarian: Robert E. Howard Parallel Worlds: Fletcher Pratt Sierran Shaman: Clark Ashton Smith Merlin in Tweeds: J. R. R. Tolkien The Architect of Camelot: T. H. White Conan's Compeers

Download or read book The Valley of the Worm written by Robert E. Howard and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2021-04-11 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Valley of the Worm" by Robert E. Howard. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

Download or read book Robert E Howard Changed My Life Personal Essays about an Extraordinary Legacy written by Jason M. Waltz and published by . This book was released on 2021-06-09 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of intimate essays on the impact of Robert E. Howard and his characters as catalysts of personal change from 33 scholars, writers, artists, publishers, and fans who can say, "Because Howard lived I am a changed person."

Download or read book The Prehistory of European Society written by Vere Gordon Childe and published by Spokesman Books. This book was released on 2009 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book J R R Tolkien written by Tom Shippey and published by HMH. This book was released on 2014-02-21 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive Tolkien companion—an indispensable guide to The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and more, from the author of The Road to Middle-earth. This “highly erudite celebration and exploration of Tolkien’s works [is] enormous fun,” declared the Houston Chronicle, and Tom Shippey, a prominent medievalist and scholar of fantasy, “deepens your understanding” without “making you forget your initial, purely instinctive response to Middle-earth and hobbits.” In a clear and accessible style, Shippey offers a new approach to Tolkien, to fantasy, and to the importance of language in literature. He breaks down The Lord of the Rings as a linguistic feast for the senses and as a response to the human instinct for myth. Elsewhere, he examines The Hobbit’s counterintuitive relationship to the heroic world of Middle-earth; demonstrates the significance of The Silmarillion to Tolkien’s canon; and takes an illuminating look at lesser-known works in connection with Tolkien’s life. Furthermore, he ties all these strands together in a continuing tradition that traces its roots back through Grimms’ Fairy Tales to Beowulf. “Shippey’s commentary is the best so far in elucidating Tolkien’s lovely myth,” wrote Harper’s Magazine. J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century is “a triumph” (Chicago Sun-Times) that not only gives readers a deeper understanding of Tolkien and his work, but also serves as an entertaining introduction to some of the most influential novels ever written.

Download or read book Tolkien and the Study of His Sources written by Jason Fisher and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2011-09-07 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Source criticism--analysis of a writer's source material--has emerged as one of the most popular approaches in exploring the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. Since Tolkien drew from many disparate sources, an understanding of these sources, as well as how and why he incorporated them, can enhance readers' appreciation. This set of new essays by leading Tolkien scholars describes the theory and methodology for proper source criticism and provides practical demonstrations of the approach.

Download or read book The Hyborian Age written by Robert E. Howard and published by . This book was released on 2021-06-25 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Hyborian Age is an essay by Robert E. Howard pertaining to the Hyborian Age, the fictional setting of his stories about Conan the Cimmerian. It was written in the 1930s but not published during Howard's lifetime. Its purpose was to maintain consistency within his fictional setting. It sets out in detail the major events of the prehistorical period, before and after the time of the Conan stories. In describing the cataclysmic end of the Thurian Age, the period described in his Kull stories, Howard linked both sequences of stories into one shared universe. Other stories would establish links to real life as well - The Haunter of the Ring, set in the modern age, contains a Hyborian artifact, and Kings of the Night brings King Kull forward in time to fight the Roman legions. This essay also sets out the racial and geographical heritage of the fictional peoples and countries of the Age. For example, how the Gaels were descended from Howard's Cimmerians. Howard's only Conan novel, The Hour of the Dragon, expands upon the history of the world presented in this essay by introducing a new ancient empire called Acheron that had ruled the Hyborian kingdoms in the past.

Download or read book Race and Popular Fantasy Literature written by Helen Young and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-08-11 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book illuminates the racialized nature of twenty-first century Western popular culture by exploring how discourses of race circulate in the Fantasy genre. It examines not only major texts in the genre, but also the impact of franchises, industry, editorial and authorial practices, and fan engagements on race and representation. Approaching Fantasy as a significant element of popular culture, it visits the struggles over race, racism, and white privilege that are enacted within creative works across media and the communities which revolve around them. While scholars of Science Fiction have explored the genre’s racialized constructs of possible futures, this book is the first examination of Fantasy to take up the topic of race in depth. The book’s interdisciplinary approach, drawing on Literary, Cultural, Fan, and Whiteness Studies, offers a cultural history of the anxieties which haunt Western popular culture in a century eager to declare itself post-race. The beginnings of the Fantasy genre’s habits of whiteness in the twentieth century are examined, with an exploration of the continuing impact of older problematic works through franchising, adaptation, and imitation. Young also discusses the major twenty-first century sub-genres which both re-use and subvert Fantasy conventions. The final chapter explores debates and anti-racist praxis in authorial and fan communities. With its multi-pronged approach and innovative methodology, this book is an important and original contribution to studies of race, Fantasy, and twenty-first century popular culture.

Download or read book Fantasy written by Richard Mathews and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-01-29 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using a broad definition of fantasy to include myth, folklore, legend and fairy tale, this survey of the genre will entice as well as inform any student interested in the mysterious, mystical or magical. Beloved authors like J. R. R. Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guin, William Morris and Robert E. Howard are examined closely.

Download or read book Conan the Cimmerian written by Robert Ervin Howard and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2024-04-15 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conan is a warrior, adventurer, thief and pirate, who comes from Cimmeria in the high north and finally becomes King of Aquilonia. His main attributes are his physical strengh, his courage and his barbaric code of honor. Conan was the first hero of the Sword and Sorcery. He is an iconic figure of the modern Fantasy, whose deeds got the basis of cinematic movies, comics and new stories.

Download or read book The Big Book of Classic Fantasy written by Ann Vandermeer and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2019-07-02 with total page 864 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A FINALIST FOR THE 2020 WORLD FANTASY AWARD Unearth the enchanting origins of fantasy fiction with a collection of tales as vast as the tallest tower and as mysterious as the dark depths of the forest. Fantasy stories have always been with us. They illuminate the odd and the uncanny, the wondrous and the fantastic: all the things we know are lurking just out of sight—on the other side of the looking-glass, beyond the music of the impossibly haunting violin, through the twisted trees of the ancient woods. Other worlds, talking animals, fairies, goblins, demons, tricksters, and mystics: these are the elements that populate a rich literary tradition that spans the globe. A work composed both of careful scholarship and fantastic fun, The Big Book of Classic Fantasy is essential reading for anyone who’s never forgotten the stories that first inspired feelings of astonishment and wonder. INCLUDING: *Stories by pillars of the genre like the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Mary Shelley, Christina Rossetti, L. Frank Baum, Robert E. Howard, and J. R. R. Tolkien *Fantastical offerings from literary giants including Edith Wharton, Leo Tolstoy, Willa Cather, Zora Neale Hurston, Vladimir Nabokov, Hermann Hesse, and W.E.B. Du Bois *Rare treasures from Asian, Eastern European, Scandinavian, and Native American traditions *New translations, including fourteen stories never before in English PLUS: *Beautifully Bizarre Creatures! *Strange New Worlds Just Beyond the Garden Path! *Fairy Folk and Their Dark Mischief! *Seriously Be Careful—Do Not Trust Those Fairies!

Download or read book The Hour of the Dragon written by Robert Howard and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-12-28 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Hour of the Dragon, also known as Conan the Conqueror, is a 1935 fantasy novel written by Robert E. Howard featuring his seminal sword and sorcery hero Conan the Cimmerian. It was the last Conan story published before Howard's suicide although not the last to be written. The plot is a loosely based melange of motifs from previous Conan short stories, most notably "The Scarlet Citadel," with which it shares an almost identical storyline. It takes place when Conan is about forty-five, during his reign as King of Aquilonia, and follows a plot by a group of conspirators to depose him in favor of Valerius, heir to Conan's predecessor Numedides, whom he had slain to gain the throne. Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906 - June 11, 1936) was a classic American pulp writer of fantasy, horror, historical adventure, boxing, western, and detective fiction. Howard wrote "over three-hundred stories and seven-hundred poems of raw power and unbridled emotion" and is especially noted for his memorable depictions of "a sombre universe of swashbuckling adventure and darkling horror." He is well known for having created - in the pages of the legendary Depression-era pulp magazine Weird Tales - the character Conan the Cimmerian, a.k.a. Conan the Barbarian, a literary icon whose pop-culture imprint can be compared to such icons as Tarzan of the Apes, Sherlock Holmes, and James Bond. Between Conan and his other heroes Howard created the genre now known as sword-and-sorcery in the late 1920s and early 1930s, spawning a wide swath of imitators and giving him an influence in the fantasy field rivaled only by J.R.R. Tolkien and Tolkien's similarly inspired creation of the modern genre of High Fantasy. There is no evidence that Tolkien was influenced by the earlier author, however. A full century after his birth, Howard remains a seminal figure, with his best work endlessly reprinted. He has been compared to other American masters of the weird, gloomy, and spectral, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Jack London.

Download or read book The Weird Tales of Conan the Barbarian written by Robert E. Howard and published by Courier Dover Publications. This book was released on 2016-06-20 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reprinted as they originally appeared in the legendary pulp magazine Weird Tales from 1934 to 1936, this ferocious anthology gathers many of the barbarian's most famous adventures: "Red Nails," "The Hour of the Dragon," and three others.

Download or read book Swords Dark Magic written by Jonathan Strahan and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2010-06-08 with total page 549 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An anthology of seventeen original tales of sword and sorcery penned by masters old and new. Elric . . . the Black Company . . . Majipoor. For years, these have been some of the names that have captured the hearts of generations of readers and embodied the sword and sorcery genre. And now some of the most beloved and bestselling fantasy writers working today deliver stunning all-new sword and sorcery stories in an anthology of small stakes but high action, grim humor mixed with gritty violence, fierce monsters and fabulous treasures, and, of course, swordplay. Don’t miss the adventure of the decade! Featuring: Goats of Glory by Steven Erikson Tides Elba: A Tale of the Black Company by Glen Cook Bloodsport by Gene Wolfe The Singing Spear by James Enge A Wizard in Wiscezan by C.J. Cherryh A Rich Full Week by K.J. Parker A Suitable Present for a Sorcerous Puppet by Garth Nix Red Pearls: An Elric Story by Michael Moorcock The Deification of Dal Bamore: A Tale from Echo City by Tim Lebbon Dark Times at the Midnight Market by Robert Silverberg The Undefiled by Greg Keyes Hew the Tintmaster by Michael Shea In the Stacks by Scott Lynch Two Lions, a Witch, and the War-Robe by Tanith Lee The Sea Troll’s Daughter by Caitlín R. Kiernan Thieves of Daring by Bill Willingham The Fool Jobs by Joe Abercrombie “[Strahan and Anders] present seventeen original stories that recall the classic works of Robert E. Howard and Fritz Leiber. . . . Fans of the classics will appreciate the tie-ins to familiar series by Michael Moorcock, Glen Cook, and Robert Silverberg, plus a fully authorized Cugel the Clever cameo by Michael Shea.” —Publishers Weekly

Download or read book Modern Classics of Fantasy written by Gardner R. Dozois and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 1997 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A huge collection featuring the best of fantasy fiction from the 1940s to the present day.

Download or read book Inklings and King Arthur written by Sorina Higgins and published by . This book was released on 2017-12-22 with total page 566 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the midst of war-torn Britain, King Arthur returned in the writings of the Oxford Inklings. Learn how Tolkien, Lewis, Williams, and Barfield brought hope to their times and our own in their Arthurian literature. Although studies of the "Oxford Inklings" abound, astonishingly enough, none has yet examined their great body of Arthurian work. Yet each of these major writers tackled serious and relevant questions about government, gender, violence, imperialism, secularism, and spirituality through their stories of the Quest for the Holy Grail. This rigorous and sophisticated volume studies does so for the first time. "This serious and substantial volume addresses a complex subject that scholars have for too long overlooked. The contributors show how, in the legends of King Arthur, the Inklings found material not only for escape and consolation, but also, and more importantly, for exploring moral and spiritual questions of pressing contemporary concern." --Michael Ward, Fellow of Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, and co-editor of C.S. Lewis at Poets' Corner "This volume follows Arthurian leylines in geographies of myth, history, gender, and culture, uncovering Inklings lodestones and way markers throughout. A must read for students of the Inklings." --Aren Roukema, Birkbeck, University of London