My TOP 10 CLASSIC FANTASY (Sword & Sorcery) Novels, Series & Authors

I’m a big heavy metal fan and actually discovered Conan and Elric through the music I listen to. I grew to love the S&S genre as a whole over the years. I’m 27 and almost everyone I know my age doesn’t even know what sword and sorcery is, I wish it got more attention and appreciation. For those that love Elric, I would recommend the other Eternal Champion stories as well. Corum is awesome and Erekose does a good job of explaining how the inner workings of the multiverse function. I would also recommend Kane by Karl Edward Wagner Warrior Witch of Hel by Asa Drake Thongor by Lin Carter Tiger and Del by Jennifer Roberson Elak of Atlantis by Henry Kuttner Death Dealer by James Silke

As a crusty old bloke, I approve this video.

I'm a young lady who loves sf and I have been craving your recommendations ! Thank you

Thanks for the recommendations. I’m 23 (maybe I count as one of your younger viewers lol), but originally I was very invested in Lovecraft’s work because of how influential he is today and decided to do a deep dive into his work. Imagine my surprise when I went down a rabbit hole and found out about his friends Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard and sword and sorcery as a whole. I feel like this is the type of genre I’ve been looking for my whole life, so it’s a great pleasure to have found this video and gotten your wonderful recommendations and descriptions of these works. Can’t wait to get into them.

This is rapidly becoming one of my favourite channels on the tube. Your breadth and depth of knowledge is remarkable. Thank you.

A great "Best of the Best" list, with historical overview as well. Thank you! It was very helpful. I picked up Leiber's "Swords against..." 1 & 2 as soon as it was done. Lots of info-treasure in this piece to mine!

I would definitely say that the Zothique stories by Clark Ashton Smith had a influence on Jack Vance's Dying Earth. The Dying Earth stories are brilliant.

Epic video. So many books to read.

I always remember reading Elric.... Stormbringer on a school trip coach journey in the 80s. I just about finished the entire book within the journey. I love the artwork associated with moorcock and agree the titles are so inspiring. What a refreshing change from six months plodding through the shire....

My first Conan story I read was the Tower of the Elephant and I was astonished how imaginative Robert was. It's immensely tragic that he never got to see how much his work influenced people.

Loved this. Will be working my way through these as and when I need to scratch the fantasy itch. Great insight to the books and authors rather than the tedious retelling of the plot you see elsewhere - loving your work. Cheers.

Being a complete 'beginner' to this genre a great video thanks for sharing your knowledge, thoughts and considerations.

Excellent video, lots to chew on. Thank you!

One of my favourite pre-Tolkien fantasy books is Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique collection of short stories. CAS is, to me, the perfect balance of Howard and Lovecraft (with whom he was associated, of course).

"A thief, a slayer, a reaver."

So pleased you started with R.E. Howard. His lively Conan stories were what ignited my lifelong love of reading. They had a breezy yet visceral style and tone that was thrilling to experience - very different from modern-day high fantasy. There was also an element of the occult/horror which actually felt menacing and gave the plots an edge of suspense. By the way I really enjoy and appreciate the relaxed pace you take on this channel. It's nice to hear some historical and thematic context behind the works you discuss. Looking forward to trying the other authors I may have missed.

A truly inspiring video. Great insights. Helpful advice. Beautiful books. Thank you. I wish I'd had this advice 30 years ago but there you go. I found my way to some of these through trial and error. Now I'm going to read the ones I missed.

Appendix N has gotten me reading a ton of books lately. I've read the first 2 books in the Lankhmar series, the first 2 Barsoon books, The first Elric story, and the first Corum book. That's in the last few months.

Thank you for your work. Superb stuff. My favourite channel on YouTube.

I absolutely love this video. Your talk of the history of the pulps and all these books is great. Make more like this!