From SF classics to modern stories from independent writers; if it's got action, adventure, swords, and sorcery, I'll be covering it! This is Secret Fire Books - book reviews for the Iron Age of entertainment!
Agreed about Hawkmoon as a character. I've read Elric and Erekosë. Hawkmoon is least appealing of the characters. All Moorcock's heroes seem somewhat reluctant heroes, but Hawkmoon was a bit too reluctant. I intentionally left Corum for later. I'm going by rough release order now. First four Hawkmoons in the late 60s. Now reading a few Erekosë novels from 1970. After those it'll be Corum stuff from early 70's. After that it'll be Count Brass sequence of Hawkmoon. Hopefully I'll get to see evolution of the author as I do this. But gotta read something else too lest I burn out on this very enjoyable author.
Huon's throne is also very similar to the time machine that Karl Glogauer uses in Moorcock's "Behold the Man" and then the same design (or time machine) is used by Jherek Carnelian at the End of Time. Glogauer and Carnelian are both incarnations of the Eternal Champion :)
Funny how protective GW are about their intellectual rights, when you consider at the start they lifted and grafted an inordinate amount of 70/80's sci fi/fantasy into their backstories. It never really stopped, look at Guants Ghosts and the similarity with Sven Hassell's novels and characters, surely Cain is really a sci fi version of Flashman, Space Hulk and Aliens, the list goes on and on
I found it quite boring. Conan wasn't huge and bigger than life in this book. Didn't even kick much ass. John C. Hocking's new one is far superior. John Maddox Roberts is far better. Scott Oden is the best REH writer, and S. M. Sterling.
S. M. Sterling Conan novel was much more in line of REH'S writing, and his Conan is bigger than life as he should be. Dixon's Conan read like any typical fantasy hero - not animalistic and savage smart.
Nick's been talking about those for a while. I binged every 007 movie last year and have been going through pulpy spy-thriller withdrawal ever since. Hoping this fills the void a little.
Haha! Just knowing that HH was waiting like a snake at the bottom made this extra enjoyable. Assignment Series is my favorite spy series, so I figured it would be a good one to start with if you're ever inclined.
I will definitely get around to it soon. Sounds like all kinds of cool! As for the HH...I'm not sure I'm willing to keep it on my shelf with the other books...
Btw,before i forget it.I started reading Barbarians of the Storm now.And have to say,man im thankful for that recommendation. Enjoying the Hell out of it,great fun to read.Also like the pacing and how it is written
It can be certain that lack of polish or even quality to a degree, is simply due a talent Moorcock may well be the world literary emperor of...speed. He banged out of a typewriter at least one of those Hawkmoon novels IN A WEEKEND. Authors spend months & more often, years on novels. Early Moorcock was magic worked in mere DAYS OR WEEKS. It's crazy!
I loves me my Moorcock yes, I read them, in the 80's, borrowed from a friend, but they were hard to come across by comparison to other works, including the Count Brass series
I got a great collection of westerns pulps Max Brand Louis Lamour Paul Evan Lehman Burt and Bud Arthur Nelson Nye Ray Hoogan Will Henry and Ernest Haycox. I also have some Raymond Chandler and Robert A Heinlein and Arthur C Clark and Phillip K Dick. Ballantine publishing also did these old WWII book series I got like 2 dozen of them they are beautiful. Awesome Channel great content
Have you by chance read the The Forgotten Warrior Saga by Larry Corriea? Imagine on the second book so far, and I gotta say I quite like it. Might be up your alley.
OK, first... you have now become one of my absolute favorite BooKTubers (alongside Brian Lee Durfee and a couple of others). Your insight into fantasy stories and storytelling is far beyond your years. This will do you well in your own writing. Keep it up! Now secondly... you've hit the nail on the head with modern storytelling (and culture) -- it's obsessed with darkness, violence, and pain... but never moves on... never overcomes that pain to accomplish something positive. In essence, our morally grey society can't tell stories about overcoming evil because they no longer understand how to overcome evil... and this lack of understanding has led to them questioning good (ie Star Wars The Acolyte). "Maybe good and evil are just constructs (thus is the gateway to evil... the Devil)?" IMHO this is the reason A Song of Ice and Fire has a great beginning and middle but will probably end terribly. Why? Because Martin has yearned to create a humanist anti-Tolkien... a world devoid of true spiritual or moral purpose where the divine outcome -- spurred by heroic sacrifice (ie Luke Skywalker getting help via ObiWan's "ghost" / The Force to blow up the death Star) -- doesn't truly exist. It can work for some (ie Dune is another humanist exercise) but I would argue the window of passion for that type of storytelling is short... and is closing. I'm not saying every successful fantasy story has to have a metaphysical "truth" atop heroic sacrifice, but I do believe that most of the longest lasting do just that... and... morally there's a lot to learn from those stories.... and fantasy and "children's stories" of the past. In fact I'd argue our adults of the now need to heed the moral lessons of older "children's stories." I just picked up The Prydain Chronicles and the Chronicles of Narnia myself.
@@kaipacifica1289 Glad you're enjoying the videos. It is sad that modern sensibilities have taken such a grim turn - especially fantasy, of all things! I think a lot of kids fiction from the previous century is a lot more intelligent than people tend to think, and there is still a lot to learn from that stuff. Thanks for sharing and tuning in; I've got plenty of other classic fantasy reviews in the works! 👍
It is quite bothersome when the illustrations don’t match the scene. When that happens, I remind myself, at least it’s not as bad as the original covers of Witcher. 😂
Hey! Love that you're highlighting older and forgotten fantasy books! I first read this series when i found it in my elementary school library back in the 80's. Fell in love with it and i reread it every couple years or so. My kids have read them and love them too. Truly a timeless classic fantasy series!
Sounds similar to "The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe where the world is far into the future with high tech that falls into a dark age where the old tech seems like magic.
Hey, I THANK YOU!! For this upload. Very good presentation! You have helped me break some of my own conditioning at the hands of some powerful imperialists who have gone so far as to imbed within my mandible something called the BLUETOOTH!
yea the art detail especially the opening scenes are so detailed. great stuff. yea, i too have a box of these in plastic...pure gold! i played the pbm game too! a script game, was kool! i played asgard lol.
I was an avid reader of the Savage Sword of Conan magazines when I was a teenager. Interestingly, I remember spotting some plagiarized art work in the magazine. I was also an avid reader of the old "Prince Valiant" comics by Hal Foster, and I saw in some issues of Conan that the artist had clearly copied entire battle scenes from the old "Prince Valiant" comics and merely changed some of the details of the clothing/armor. I don't recall the issues of the magazines involved, but maybe someday I'll try to dig out my old magazines to search for them.
@@secretfirebooks7894 Yes. I remember also how I was disappointed that in the first Hulk comic that introduced the villain The Abomination that Gil Kane had copied some fight panels from Jack Kirby's classic fight between the Hulk and the Thing from years before. I wish that artists wouldn't be so lazy, even if they perhaps feel pressure to meet deadlines.
