Manor Books was the bottom of the barrel in the late 1970s. Ballantine, ACE, later DAW were the prime markets for Sword & Sorcery in the tradition of Robert E. Howard & J.R R. Tolkien, with Lancer, Zebra and Belmont/Tower being less so. Then there was Manor. The company began as a reprinter of material purchased from the MacFadden Corporation that left paperback publishing in the 1970s. A. E. van Vogt and Philip K. Dick got new editions while the majority of the new books were men’s adventure, women’s Gothic romance, biographies and Horror with a witchcraft slant. Towards the end, the company tried some new authors in Science Fiction. Have you ever heard of H. Walter Whyte, James W. Lammp or J. M. Johnston? Of course not.
Mike Sirota
Their success with Sword & Sorcery and Edgar Rice Burroughs type adventure was better. Mike Sirota got his start at Manor with the Dannus series. Part ERB and part REH, it is a five novel series set in Reglathium. (The five books were actually one novel but cut into five parts.) The author considers these Sword & Planet since Reglathium is a distant world and not on Earth. He has re-edited the series here.
Sirota followed this up with what was supposed to be a trilogy, but only two of the novels appeared, Berbora and Flight From Berbora. From the back cover: A thousand years ago, in the rose-red dawn of Time, the fair city of Berbora was young and strong, then fell away to ruins, its people dead or scattered by the plague. The hero Tyron slipped back through the corridors of Time to save the city….. Clearly more Sword & Sorcery. Sirota has revised these here. He never got around to that third one… All seven of Mike’s books appeared in 1978. Sirota sold his later books to Zebra.
After Mike Sirota’s sagas, we get single novels.
Victor Besaw
The Sword of Shandar (1978) by Victor Besaw has this on the back cover: Krimpal – the terror that is more God than man reappears from the ‘between’ worlds in grotesque shapes bearing even more hideous power. Shogun Shandar’s quest is to rid the planet Villar of this demon power. Trained in sorcery under the mighty magician Zhwarr, Shandar is the only being capable of uttering ‘The Master Word’ without being totally destroyed. But can the power of the word match that of the gods, the gods who have all of nature and more at their command? A power they will use to rid Villar of their most dangerous adversary: Man. The mention of planet Villar makes it sound Sword & Planet but the rest sounds like fantasy. Someday I will locate a copy and find out.
Brenda Gates Spielman
Stalker Lord (1979) by Brenda Gates Spielman has hunters called “Stalkers” of which Karzz is the best. He is set on a quest to save his world of hunters, fairies and clans. The back cover: The clans were being destroyed, villages smashed to ruins, and none knew the enemy. The warriors had failed, magic had failed, and so, in desperation, a hero was sent to win the aid of the Master of Creatures. A stalker of proven ability, kill trophies on his belt, Karzz the Stalker Lord was filled with a fierce, eager longing aroused by the Fairie magicians, and he desired this quest more than he had desired any of his adventures. In the last battle, Karzz stood alone amid the obscene trophies of the enemy, armed only with hiss word and his will to win. Spielman was no one-hit wonder, but sold other novels as well as stories to Fantasy Book and The Dragon.
Neil K. Newell
The Reluctant Wizard (1979) by Neil K. Newell says right there on the cover: “In the great Tolkien tradition! An earth man’s journey through a fantasy land of dwarfs, fire-breathing monsters and beautiful maidens.” That says portal fantasy to me. Feldon Greaves is a tax accountant who is propelled into the underground city of Ur-Vanith. He is declared the Great New Wizard and sets off on a quest with two dwarves to stop the evil Hargs from destroying the world. Shades of L. Sprague de Camp and Christopher Stasheff’s The Warlock In Spite of Himself (1969) here. Tolkien is a bit of a stretch.
Conclusion
There is one other book that I’d like to mention, not because it is Sword & Sorcery but because it isn’t. The Living Stone (1980) by Howell Roland Jr. was garnered with this cover that I immediately recognized as David Innes facing off against Jubal the Ugly One from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ At the Earth’s Core (1914). I found a copy and read it and was horribly disappointed to find it wasn’t ERB-like or even Sword & Sorcery. I spoke with the author, who told a common story of a company putting whatever cover art they like on a book. (Steve Dilks pointed out that this was recycled art from another Manor Book, FEAST OF FEAR (edited by Vic Ghidalia.) The actual novel is Science Fiction with a hint of Frank Herbert’s Dune in it. Not a bad book, but not as the cover advertised. Roland did not write any others unfortunately. Manor Books gave up the publishing ghost shortly thereafter.
None of these books is a masterpiece, all being derivative examples of 1970s Sword & Sorcery and Planet. That being said, none of them is unreadable. For the Burroughs fan, Mike Sirota’s books are enjoyable adventure and available on his website. Brenda Gates Spielman’s Stalker Lord has elements we will see in The Predator series of films, with its hunters and their trophies. If you are like me, these are actually small treasures to be found in used book stores and garage sales, to be carried off to the hissed cries of “Precious!”
