Nifft the Lean .Michael Shea. Panther Books ( 1985)

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Open Road Media are doing an Sword and Sorcery Genre Spotlight and the following links are well worth checking out.
A brand new mini documentary on Sword and Sorcery and Brak the Barbarian featuring amazing footage from old films. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqA_ydQhWSs.
A short story to read for free! http://www.scribd.com/doc/98228262/The-Girl-in-the-Gem-by-John-Jakes 
Vintage photos of the books that included cigarette ads! httpp://openroadmedia.tumblr.com/post/26724295135/can-you-imagine-this-happening-today-cigarette 
Tons of new infographics: http://openroadmedia.tumblr.com/swordandsorcery that explain what the genre is and who would like it
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This is a great set of stories about an adventurous thief. As benefits a master thief none of the exploits are simple smash and grabs or easy burglaries,they are involved and intricate.They require nerves of steel and a willingness to go to hell and back, literally, to achieve the goal. Michael Shea has created a wonderful world, full of sharp action with an forceful cast that grab the reader and do not let go.
The first story,Come Then,  Mortal - We Will Seek Her Soul is a blistering introduction and shows the strength of the book from the start. Nifft and his companion Haldar accept the task of bringing a living man to the Underworld in return for the key to a fabulous hoard.The details of the Underworld are smart and nasty and the conclusion very satisfying. The Pearls of the Vampire Queen is much more straightforward, a carefully wrought caper story. The Fishing of the Demon-Sea is a very smart story, set in the realm of demons, it has force and weight as well as a very black sting of humour. The final story The Goddess in Glass takes a slightly different approach and shows how greed has consequences, even if they are long delayed they can be brutal.
Michael Shaea takes a very typical swords & sorcery cliche, the master thief, and gives him force and personality within a beautifully crafted context. The world that Nifft moves in is fabulous and dangerous, it rings true at every touch. In particular the two other worlds that Nifft moves through, the underworld of the dead and the demon world are created with a telling detail and breath of invention that are a pleasure to read. Both are greatly aided by Michael Shea's restraint, he does not go for the grand phrase nor the purple prose so common in the genre. He is much quieter and more forceful and this gives his stories a sharper edge.
Nifft himself is a great character,indeed the entire cast are a full of energy and determination. One of the great pleasures of the book is Nifft's competence and capacity,he is a master thief and he proves how he is so by his actions. He is willing to take a risk for a reward as well as to think and plan to avoid stupid mistakes as well. This gives a different flavour to the stories, they are really semi-heroic fantasy where a sharp mind is as important as a sharp sword. This book is very well written, great fun and a happy reminder of the breath and depth of the genre.

The Emperor of Dreams. The Lost Worlds of Clark Ashton Smith. Gollancz (2002)

This is a collection of superb fantasy stories by Clark Ashton Smith, carefully crafted, beautifully written and drizzled with gallows humour they are a dark pleasure. The selection is thoughtful and inspired, the stories are uniformly excellent, still there are a handful of stand-outs. The Empire of the Necromancers uses one of Clark Ashton Smith's frequent themes, necromancy, magic used to revive the dead to slavery is a sharply satisfying way. Two necromancers use their magic to revive the long dead of an ancient empire in a deserted city, the arc of the story is a joy, it concludes with utterly satisfying brutality. On the other hand The Seven Geases has a undertow of wintry humour that gives force and bite to the story of the harsh results that come from interrupting a wizard. Humour is much more lighter and more significant in the The Theft of the Thirty-Nine Girdles which has a lot of fun with the old idea of a carefully planned robbery that does not quite go to plan. The best story in the collection, it has a depth and mournful compassion beyond the others, is Necromancy in Naat, a superbly crafted story that finishes with a melancholy fall that cuts to the heart.
The language used in these stories is very striking, Clark Ashton Smith has a marked preference for archaic and unusual versions of words, this does not disguise the meaning, it gives the stories an slight stiffness which serve them well. Atmosphere is of critical importance and the ornamental language adds greatly to it, it allows for a great range of suggestion and colour, to pile up description without overwhelming the story.
These are superbly structured short stories, they are tight and careful without ever seeming less than generous and complete. The action can be widespread or closely confined, in every case it has the required room to grow without ever wandering.The stories are bursting with telling and striking turns of phrase that set a scene or establish a character with precision and astonishing economy. Clark Ashton Smith has managed a remarkably difficult feat, he has written precisely overwrought fantasy stories and provided a luscious feast for the reader.

The Labyrinths of Echo Book 1: The Stranger. Max Frei (Writer), Polly Gannon (Translator). Gollancz (2009)

An exuberant and highly entertaining fantasy with a well thought out alternative world and a very engaging cast. Max Frei, an insomniac and self described classic loser, finds that his dreams have more substance than he imagined. In his dreams he meets Sir Juffin Hully, Most Venerable Head of the Minor Secret Investigative Force in the city of Echo. Sir Julian, recognising talents that Max does not realise he possesses, offers him a job as his Nocturnal Representative in Echo. Max travels across dimensions to Echo and takes up his post. His department investigate unusual crimes, activities that are likely to involve the illegal use of magic. Max has cases that range for mysterious deaths in a neighbours house to a haunted prison cell to a case where a cook is converted into a meal.
The book does not have an overarching plot, it is constructed as a progression of episodes that steadily reveal more about the city of Echo, Max's developing abilities and his fellow officers in the Minor Secret Investigative Force. The city of Echo is an nicely developed context, it sidesteps the frequent quasi-medieval stereotypes of a lot of fantasy, and manages to create a lively location for the action. The structure of the book means that the information about Echo is delivered steadily to the reader as Max himself finds it out, the city and its inhabitants emerge in a natural and intriguing way.
The cast are lively and hard working, Max himself is pleasantly calm and ready for adventure, he develops a willingness to become involved in his adopted home which brings the reader very much into the story. The rest of the investigators are given a chance to shine and develop across the episodes and they are strongly varied and vivid. Max's unsurprising romantic entanglement with one of his fellow investigators is given substance by the unexpected handling.
The writing is noticeably not Anglophone in origin, there is a slight formality to the book that suits it very well and marks it is coming from a different context. The episodes are cleverly constructed and enjoyable, the final one trails off a little, not so much as to injure the book, it tries a little too hard. Overall very good fun.

Scar Night. Volume One of The Deepgate Codex. Alan Campbell. Tor (2006)

This is an excellent fantasy story with a great setting, a sinuous plot and an outstanding cast. The city of Deepgate is suspended both on great chains over a bottomless abyss and in a war between Heaven and exiled angles who live in the abyss. Dill, last of the battle angles who protected Depgate is about to assume his duties, Rachel, a Temple assassin is assigned to tutor him. The city is haunted by a rouge angel, Carnival, who kills once a month on Scar Night. All three become caught up in a plot started to protect the city but which threatens its final destruction. The reveals smart and fast, the action is superbly staged and the cast busting with life.
The twin pillars of the city of chains and the theology that created it and sustain it are developed with great confidence and clever, unexpected detail. Both have numerous surprises in store and they are revealed in a very entertaining fashion. The cast are very much grounded in the physical and supernatural realities of the city and its surroundings, the plot uses the details with relish. The cast are revealed and develop through action, they are constantly in motion with just enough time and information to grapple with the immediate problems and never enough time to think about the bigger problems they have.The shifting narrative means that the reader is just barely ahead of the cast in knowing what is going on, the plot grips tightly, the twists and turns never undermine its credibility.
Dill is a little of a blank slate, which given his carefully structured upbringing is unsurprising. Rachel is sharply etched, confident and capable as well as feeling isolated and unsure. The rest of the cast emerge with force and determination as they struggle to shape events that are running ahead of them. This superb fantasy adventure is gripping, thoughtful, constantly surprising and hugely enjoyable, a treat.

Brak the Barbarian. John Jakes. Tandem (1976)

A Conan the Barbarian clone that stands firmly on its own feet and an excellent example of the genre. I bought this book long before I had ever heard of Conan, either in the comics or the original stories by Robert E. Howard and it has been a favourite of mine since I first read it thirty odd years ago. I was reminded of it while reading the reprints from Dark Horse of the various Marvel Conan comics from the 1970s. It has stood the test of time very well, re-reading it does provide a sharp antidote to nostalgia, the stories retain their flavour and strength. The opening story, The Unspeakable Shrine, sets the stage for the rest of the stories and introduces the key characters. Brak, a barbarian from the northern wastes has been exiled for mocking his peoples gods to much and has decided to make his way to Khurdisan the Golden, the richest kingdom in the world where the sun shines on beautiful women and easy plunder. In the first town he encounters, Brak is kidnapped to become a living sacrifice to the Dark One, Yob-Haggoth along with two others. Brak attracts the attention of Ariane, the daughter of Septegundus, the High Priest of Yob-Haggoth. Brak fights for his life on the alter of Yob-Haggoth with literally explosive results and gains the undying enmity of both Septegundus and Ariane. The rest of the stories are more adventures of Brak as he continues on the road to Khurdisan.

In any genre, originality is not at a premium, they key to success if how effectively the writer works within the constrains of the form. John Jakes delivers great sword and sorcery stories, they fit exactly into the mould, they are as predictable as they should be and mightily satisfying for the fan of the genre. They are a very precious thing, excellent sword and sorcery stories, the prose is loud and purple in the extreme, evil is vivid and horrible to see, a savage is more civilised than most city dwellers, more honourable in his dealings and ultimately has the courage to fight when it counts. This is high quality modern pulp and worth getting if you should come across it lurking in the depths of a second-hand bookshop.

Baltimore, or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire. Mike Mignola & Christopher Golden. Bantam (2007)

A very striking vampire story that uses the Hans Christian Andersen story , The Steadfast Tin Soldier as a counterpoint to the action of the narrative. Mike Mignola illustrates the story with very atmospheric pictures that capture and extend the mood of the book. The violent actions of World War 1 have called forth vampires, they have been awakened by the noise and death, Captain Henry Baltimore sees the vampires as they first emerge and become a plague in the world. Baltimore become a fighter against the vampires, seeking them and and killing them where he can. He has asked three people, stranger to each other but with Baltimore in common to meet him in a tavern in a city in the grip of the plague. Each of the three recount how they met with Baltimore and the experiences they have had that convince them that the plague is not natural. When Baltimore himself arrives they become involved in a confrontation that Baltimore wanted them to witness.

This is hugely enjoyable book, the language is luxurious and takes it time, it has lovely weight and texture. The narrative is unhurried and gives space to each of the voices of of the major character. The story moves to the climatic confrontation as Baltimore finally finds his true quarry only to find that endings are also beginnings. This is a contemplative vampire story where the vampires themselves are mostly on the margins of the story, the impact they have on the rest of the world is what is critical. A Gothic treat.