The Fallible Fiend by L. Sprague de Camp (1973) originally appeared in Fantastic (December 1972 and February 1973). It is the first of the Novaria books but the only one featuring Zdim the fiend.
Zdim is a fiend who is sold into servitude to a wizard named Maldivius. Zdim is bound to the letter of the law on commands and eats the wizard’s apprentice then fails to stop the theft of a magical scrying stone that Maldivius was using to blackmail the city fathers. He has seen a terrible doom coming and wanted to get paid well for it. Maldivius sells Zdim’s contract to Bagardo the circus master. The fiend is put to work pretending to be a vicious monster in the sideshow. When he over does the act the patrons flee, costing Bagardo huge in lawsuits. Bagardo sells the contract to Madame Roska, who tells the city fathers about the invasion of cannibals that Maldivius saw. Zdim saves the kingdom and wins his freedom.
De Camp is working in the humorous Unknown Worlds mode again in this episodic novel, focusing on the contrast between human stupidity and the fiend’s misunderstanding of it. Original publication in magazine form won de Camp a British Fantasy Award for “Best Short Story”.
For the Witch of the Mists by David C. Smith & Richard L. Tierney (1978) was presented as the second sequel to Bran Mak Morn. Karl Edward Wagner’s The Legion From the Shadows (1976) was the first. The two sequels are quite different. Wagner’s book is dominated by H. P. Lovecraft and Howard’s Serpent Men.
Bran visits an ancient cave in Pictland and finds he will travel to Rome to give an ancient Atlantean necklace to a woman there. This woman would be the reincarnation of the Moon Goddess of Atlantis, Aeysla.
Bran is, of course, captured by Drusus, a high-ranking Roman officer and sorcerer. Bran ends up in a ludus for gladiators and finally fights in the Collosium. Sirena, a slave girl of the procurator proves to be the woman he is looking for. They escape along with Auctus, a slave who is Sirena’s lover but are followed by the procurator’s evil wife, Cornelia and Drusus, who are former lovers.
Auctus leaves them once he realizes he has no place with Sirena/Aeysla and Bran and Sirena sail back to Britain, go around Hadrian’s Wall with Cormac na Connacht’s help and make it back to the ancient cave just as the Romans are showing up. The Winds That Eats Men, ancient spirits of the forest, kill the attacking soldiers.
Drusus tries to use his demon-conjuring magic but it doesn’t work because Cornelia sabotaged his spell components in a moment of paranoia. Cornelia kills him with a lightning bolt spell, then tries to attack Aeysla. Cornelia dies in the attempt, her own magic draining her own life. Bran joins up with his now arriving army and the Picts route the Romans. Aeysla leaves everyone to go wander the world and worship the Moon Goddess.
One of the “pastiche” novels of the 1970s using Robert E. Howard characters. The novel is kind of dull, being more interested in movement about the world of Rome often than in pulse-pounding action or evil sorcery though there are moments of both. Bran’s battle in the arena is much too short and the rivalry between the two villain sorcerers in well done. The spirit of H. R. Haggard runs through this book with its Ayesha-like heroine.
For history buffs the Roman details are well done though I think they slowed the book down at times. I think Tierney’s Simon Magus stories are better Roman era Sword & Sorcery. The ACE 1982 reprint version is horribly marred by typos. I would have been happy with one really good monster.
Sword of the Nurlingas by Gerald Earl Bailey (1979) is the first of two books in the series.
Thorgrim’s parents are murdered by his half-uncle Jomenruk, which forces Thorgrim to flee south with the dwarf-made sword Lark. Visions by the half-dwarf Houlun tell him cryptically of a future that includes finding the mystical helm known as the Spaehelm which disappeared after a crusade.
Thorgrim joins up with some other young warriors headed south to join the Foederati, foreign guards to the king of the south. He runs into Jomenruk’s lieutenant Herejolf in Learg. They fight. Thorgrim manages to cut off his leg before passing out. The master of Learg fines the arrogant Herejolf and sets Thorgrim free.
In Learg the warriors hire a thief named Gorgus to be their tutor in foreign languages and customs. The warriors ship out on a trieme carrying the head of the church of Arda, the beautiful Lysenoe, who invites Thorgrim to her chambers and has sex with him, a virgin. The ship is captured by pirates from Midori, a crag-city protected by rocks. Thorgrim goes berserk but is captured along with his sidekick Gorgus. The two are semi-captives in Midori, tolerated because the pirates want them to join them. The chief pirate, Dankwart, takes Lysenoe for his lover while Thorgrim stews and waits. Dankwart expects a huge ransom for Lysenoe but what he gets is a coalition fleet bent on destroying Midori. The ships attack but fail. Wind magic is planned to destroy the fleet.
Thorgrim and Gorgus reclaim his sword, kill Dankwart and steal Lysenoe out of Midori. They make a desperate swim for the fleet and are rescued. The fleet escapes the magical storm. Thorgrim is a hero for saving both Lysenoe and the fleet. Lysenoe seems to abandon Thorgrim for a former lover, Duke Brachylles, but Thorgrim makes it to Bayan to become a Foederati and meets up with his old pals.
Forgotten Ages #21 said: “… Bailey has two novels about Thorgrim in a pseudo-Viking world. The thing I liked about SWORD OF THE NURLINGAS and the sequel, SWORD OF POYANA is they are restrained. Thorgrim doesn’t kill a monster or defeat a nomad horde every chapter. A shame Bailey didn’t continue writing fantasy.” I usually hate stories with prophecies in them, especially if they come true too easily. The sword prophecy is nicely vague and not over-done. Bailey spends a lot of time on detail and has thought out his world well. I could have used some monsters though.
There are many novels out there and some are quite familiar but the obscure ones always intrigue me more. Books like Quinn Reade’s Quest of the Dark Lady (1969) (very bad) or The Adventures of Alyx (1976) by Joanna Russ (very good) show the range. The Carters and Howards and Moorcocks are classics that define the genre but these kind of gems are short bursts of Sword & Sorcery fun.
