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The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save For Sacnoth
"The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth" is a fantasy short story by Lord Dunsany, first published in his 1908 collection ''The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories''. It describes the hero Leothric's quest to free his people from bad dreams the evil sorcerer Gaznak has set on them, by first finding the sword Sacnoth and then venturing into Gaznak's fortress. The story has been described as one of Dunsany's best and a major influence on sword and sorcery fiction. Plot The story begins in the village of Allathurion, where the people are having bad dreams. Their wizard discovers that this is the work of the evil wizard Gaznak, who can only be defeated with the sword Sacnoth. He tells Leothric, the son of the local lord, that the sword is in the spine of the metal monster Tharagavverug. Leothric finds Tharagavverug and kills it by beating its soft lead nose every time it tries to eat, which makes it recoil in pain without eating. After three days it starves; a smith retriev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lord Dunsany
Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (; 24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957, usually Lord Dunsany) was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. Over 90 volumes of fiction, essays, poems and plays appeared in his lifetime.Lanham, Maryland, USA, 1993: Rowman & Littlefield; Joshi, S.T. and Schweitzer, Darrell; Lord Dunsany: A Comprehensive Bibliography (Studies in Supernatural Literature series). Material has continued to appear. He gained a name in the 1910s as a great writer in the English-speaking world. Best known today are the 1924 fantasy novel, ''The King of Elfland's Daughter'', and his first book, ''The Gods of Pegāna'', which depicts a fictional pantheon. Born in London as heir to an old Irish peerage, he was raised partly in Kent, but later lived mainly at Ireland's possibly longest-inhabited home, Dunsany Castle near Tara. He worked with W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory supporting the Abbey Theatre and some fellow writers. He was a chess and pistol champio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clark Ashton Smith
Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893 – August 14, 1961) was an American writer and artist. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Algernon Charles Swinburne, Swinburne. As a poet, Smith is grouped with the West Coast Romantics alongside Joaquin Miller, Sterling, and Nora May French and remembered as "The Last of the Great Romantics" and "The Bard of Auburn". Smith's work was praised by his contemporaries. H. P. Lovecraft stated that "in sheer daemonic strangeness and fertility of conception, Clark Ashton Smith is perhaps unexcelled", and Ray Bradbury said that Smith "filled my mind with incredible worlds, impossibly beautiful cities, and still more fantastic creatures". Smith was one of "the big three of ''Weird Tales'', with Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft", but some readers objected to his morbidness and violation of pulp traditions. The fantasy critic L. Sprague de Camp said of him th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1908 Short Stories
Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music * 19 (band), a Japanese pop music duo Albums * ''19'' (Adele album), 2008 * ''19'', a 2003 album by Alsou * ''19'', a 2006 album by Evan Yo * ''19'', a 2018 album by MHD * ''19'', one half of the double album ''63/19'' by Kool A.D. * ''Number Nineteen'', a 1971 album by American jazz pianist Mal Waldron * ''XIX'' (EP), a 2019 EP by 1the9 Songs * "19" (song), a 1985 song by British musician Paul Hardcastle. * "Nineteen", a song by Bad4Good from the 1992 album ''Refugee'' * "Nineteen", a song by Karma to Burn from the 2001 album ''Almost Heathen''. * "Nineteen" (song), a 2007 song by American singer Billy Ray Cyrus. * "Nineteen", a song by Tegan and Sara from the 2007 album '' The Con''. * "XIX" (song), a 2014 song by Slipknot. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has worked as an editor and is also a successful musician. He is best known for his novels about the character Elric of Melniboné, a seminal influence on the field of fantasy since the 1960s and '70s. As editor of the British science fiction magazine ''New Worlds'', from May 1964 until March 1971 and then again from 1976 to 1996, Moorcock fostered the development of the science fiction "New Wave" in the UK and indirectly in the United States, leading to the advent of cyberpunk. His publication of ''Bug Jack Barron'' (1969) by Norman Spinrad as a serial novel was notorious; in Parliament, some British MPs condemned the Arts Council of Great Britain for funding the magazine. He is also a recording musician, contributing to the bands Hawkwind, Blu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stormbringer
Stormbringer is a magic sword featured in a number of fantasy stories by the author Michael Moorcock. It is described as a huge, black sword covered with strange runes, created by the forces of Chaos with its own will. It is wielded by the doomed albino emperor Elric of Melniboné. Stormbringer makes its first appearance in the 1961 novella '' The Dreaming City''. In the four novellas collected in the 1965 book ''Stormbringer'', the sword's true nature is revealed. Description This powerful enchanted black blade is a member of a demon race that takes on the form of a sword, and as such is an agent of Chaos. Stormbringer's edge is capable of cutting through virtually any material not protected by potent sorcery, and it can drink the soul from (and thereby kill) any unprotected living creature upon delivering any wound, even a scratch. Its most distinctive features are that it has a mind and will of its own, and that it feeds upon the souls of those it kills. Elric loathes the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farmer Giles Of Ham
''Farmer Giles of Ham'' is a comic medieval fable written by J. R. R. Tolkien in 1937 and published in 1949. The story describes the encounters between Farmer Giles and a wily dragon named Chrysophylax, and how Giles manages to use these to rise from humble beginnings to rival the king of the land. It is cheerfully anachronistic and light-hearted, set in Britain in an imaginary period of the Dark Ages, and featuring mythical creatures, medieval knights, and primitive firearms. It is only tangentially connected with the author's Middle-earth legendarium: both were originally intended as essays in "English mythology". The book was originally illustrated by Pauline Baynes. The story has appeared with other works by Tolkien in omnibus editions, including ''The Tolkien Reader'' and ''Tales from the Perilous Realm''. Tolkien dedicated ''Farmer Giles of Ham'' to Cyril Hackett Wilkinson (1888–1960), a don he knew at Oxford University. Tolkien gives the reason for this dedication ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conan The Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and '' Conan the Destroyer''), television programs (animated and live-action), video games, and role-playing games. Robert E. Howard created the character in 1932 for a series of fantasy stories published in ''Weird Tales'' magazine. Thought to be the earliest known appearance of Robert E. Howard’s character was that of a black-haired barbarian with heroic attributes named Conan in the 1931 short story "People of the Dark". By 1932, Howard had officially conceptualised Conan and in his lifetime wrote 21 stories. Over the years many other writers have written works featuring Conan. Many Conan the Barbarian stories feature Conan embarking on heroic adventures filled with common fantasy elements such as princesses and wizards. Howard's mythopoeia has the stories se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
In The Land Of Time, And Other Fantasy Tales
''In the Land of Time and Other Fantasy Tales'' is a posthumous collection of short stories by the writer Lord Dunsany in the Penguin Classics series. Edited and with an introduction by S. T. Joshi, it assembles material from across Dunsany's long career. The cover illustration is a colourised version of a classic illustration for an early Dunsany story by his preferred artist, Sidney Sime. Contents The collection includes several of Dunsany's most famous stories. It is grouped in themed sections by the editor, and the contents are: * ''Introduction'' (S. T. Joshi) * ''Suggestions for Further Reading'' (S. T. Joshi) * ''A Note on the Text'' (S. T. Joshi) * ''Section I: Pegana and Environs'' ** ''The Gods of Pegāna'' (entire text) ** ''Time and the Gods'' ("The Lament of the Gods for Sardathrion") ** "The Legend of the Dawn" ** "In the Land of Time" ** "The Relenting of Sarnidac" ** "The Fall of Babbulkund" * ''Section II: Tales of Wonder'' ** "The Sword of Welleran" ** "The Kith ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Encyclopedia Of Fantasy
''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' is a 1997 reference work concerning fantasy fiction, edited by John Clute and John Grant. Other contributors include Mike Ashley, Neil Gaiman, Diana Wynne Jones, David Langford, Sam J. Lundwall, Michael Scott Rohan, Brian Stableford and Lisa Tuttle. The book was well-received on publication. During 1998, it received the Hugo Award, World Fantasy Award, and Locus Award. The industry publication ''Library Journal'' described ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' as "the first of its kind". Since November 2012, the full text of ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' is available on-line, as a companion to the on-line edition of ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction''. The editors of ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' have stated that there are not any plans to update ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'', at least for the foreseeable future, although some death dates post-1997 have been added. However, author and theme entries in ''The Encyclopedia of Science ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Vance
John Holbrook Vance (August 28, 1916 – May 26, 2013) was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. Though most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance, he also wrote several mystery novels under pen names. Vance won the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1984, and he was a Guest of Honor at the 1992 World Science Fiction Convention in Orlando, Florida. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America made him its 15th SFWA Grand Master, Grand Master in 1997, and the EMP Museum#Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted him in 2001, its sixth class of two deceased and two living writers. His most notable awards included Hugo Awards in 1963 for ''The Dragon Masters'', in 1967 for ''The Last Castle (novella), The Last Castle'', and in 2010 for his memoir ''This Is Me, Jack Vance!''; the Nebula Award in 1966, also for ''The Last Castle''; the Jupiter Award (science fiction award), Jupiter Award in 1975 and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fritz Leiber
Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theater and films, playwright, and chess expert. With writers such as Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock, Leiber is one of the fathers of sword and sorcery and coined the term. Life Fritz Leiber was born December 24, 1910, in Chicago, Illinois, to the actors Fritz Leiber and Virginia Bronson Leiber. For a time, he seemed inclined to follow in his parents' footsteps; the theater and actors feature in his fiction. He spent 1928 touring with his parents' Shakespeare company (Fritz Leiber & Co.) before entering the University of Chicago, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and received an undergraduate Ph.B. degree in psychology and physiology or biology with honors in 1932. From 1932 to 1933, he worked as a lay reader and studied as a candidate for the ministry, without taking a degree, at the General Theolog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
