Sword & Sorcery can show up in some odd places. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when I find heroic fantasy in the pages of any late 60s or early 70s horror magazine. Still, I often do. Coven 13 (September 1969-March 1970) is a perfectly good example. Most of the covers feature freaky looking wizards or witches. The intended market was obviously those who like horror tales featuring sorcerous types. So why the Sword & Sorcery?
Ancestors and Precursors
Don’t forget Weird Tales. Sword & Sorcery came out of that premiere Horror magazine. When Robert E. Howard stumbled upon the formula for all things Conan and Kull, it was for Farnsworth Wright and his magazine that always required a horror edge. You could write any kind of genre story as long as it had a strong weird element.
Also don’t forget James Warren and his batch of horror comics. While the first Coven 13 was being put together, Warren was publishing Sword & Sorcery comics. Again, each requiring a horror element. Archie Goodwin and great artists like Steve Ditko, Wally Wood, Reed Crandall and Jeff Jones were experimenting with S&S style horror comics before Marvel had even heard of Barry Windsor Smith.
Let There Be Magic!
This doesn’t really explain why the Sword & Sorcery should be there at all. There was a boom in horror anthologies in the 1960s. Any editor could have stayed right away from the Fantasy stuff. In this case, that would have been entirely against the point. For the heroic fantasy in Coven 13 was written by the editor, Arthur H. Landis.
The editorials (September 1969 and November 1969) by Landis gives us a hint of why S&S would find a home here. He explains from the get-go that Coven 13 is an attempt to revive the spirit of Weird Tales. He wants a home for future Lovecrafts and Seabury Quinns. He also writes:
We shall also do, from time to time, a bit of quasi-science-fantasy. Witness our serialized novel, Let There Be Magic. This most delightful story is written in the style of Unknown Worlds, a very well-received magazine, that died in World War II as a result of the paper shortage–or so twas said.
Let There Be Magic, a Fantasy novel, part Sword & Sorcery, part Edgar Rice Burroughs first-person adventure, by James R. Keaveny was a four part serial that ran through the entire Coven 13 run. The novel was actually written by Landis, not Keaveney. It was retitled A World Called Camelot (1976) and followed by sequels, Camelot in Orbit (1978) and The Magick of Camelot (1981), all published by DAW Books.
Landis makes it clear in his editorial that his inspiration is the Science-Fantasy of Unknown Worlds. Like Christopher Stasheff’s Warlock in Spite of Himself series, this means Earthmen come in a spaceship to a planet that is Medieval in development to fight out some galactic war. Landis’s world is Flegis-Camelot. The hero assumes the role of a folk-hero in an attempt to lead the good guys against the bad (who are backed by the enemy from space). There is sword fighting, dragons (called a Vuun), wizards and in many ways the story could have been told without SF elements. But it isn’t because this is Fantasy ala John W. Campbell. Like Jack Williamson’s Reign of Wizardry (1940), Poul Anderson’s Three Hearts & Three Lions (1953) or Robert A. Heinlein’s Glory Road (1963), we get a Fantasy tale with a Science Fiction prop. Not everybody’s cup-of-tea (not mine) but it did keep heroic fantasy alive through the 1950s.
William Stout, Illustrator
Of note to S&S fans is the early work of William Stout that illustrates the stories in the run of Coven 13. (He will be missed later when the magazine changes hands, but having art by Jeff Jones and Tim Kirk make up for it a little.) Stout would go on to the iconic Wizards poster in 1977 and a portfolio called Dragon Slayers in 1979. His dinosaur work of late is equally wonderful.
Other Stories
“The Little People” by Robert E. Howard (January 1970) is a lost fragment that was rewritten into better stories like “People of the Dark”. It was inspired by Arthur Machen’s “The Shining Pyramid” and other tales of degenerate lurkers. The 1970s was known for publishing every scrap of REH work available. (For which fans like myself are always grateful.) For more on this story, go here.
“The Bidderfrost Dragon” by Buddy Saunders (March 1970) is a strange mix of Sword & Sorcery and modern warfare. Dragons and tanks, it will appeal to fans of Wizards. A sorceress fools a squad of tank soldiers into doing her bidding. I was surprised to see Buddy Saunders’ name because I thought he only wrote comic strips. (He has written a few fiction pieces, I see, usually with his pal, Howard Waldrop.) He was one of the better scribes at Eerie and Vampirella. This story appeared before he began at Warren. For more on Buddy Saunders’ comic book S&S, go here.
Conclusion
The mixed bag of Horror fiction (and there was plenty that I did not mention) with some heroic fantasy may not have sold well even in 1970. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard were both big so it should have been a winner but the magazine only went four issues. The publisher will change editors and format with the first issue of Witchcraft & Sorcery in the months to follow.
Next time…Gerald W. Page!
