The Best of Sword-and-Sorcery from The Bride of Cyclops Con Panel Discussion Back in October Goodman Games held a weekend-long virtual convention, The Bride of Cyclops Con! Tales From the Magician’s Skull was of course in attendance, taking part in several round table discussions from writers, editors, critics, and fans that ran the gamut of topics in fantasy fiction and publishing. And, thanks to the Skull’s potent command of certain eldritch technologies, we bring you The Best of Sword-and-Sorcery, a panel featuring Jason Ray Carney, Jeff Goad, Howard Andrew Jones, Brian Murphy, and Bill Ward: And that’s just the tip of the blade when it comes to sword-and-sorcery related discussions. For more from Bride of Cyclops Con you should have a look at Getting Sword-and-Sorcery into Your RPGs as well as Finding the New Edge for Fiction Writers. And definitely don’t overlook the Sword-and-Sorcery of Appendix N discussion from back in June. Now, as with any freewheeling conversation condensing the entire history of a literary sub-genre into two and a half hours, things may have gotten slightly tricky to follow for those of you playing along at home. Which is why the infinitely-just-and-keenly-perspicacious Skull has commanded that a reading list of all the books and stories mentioned in this discussion be compiled and offered for your edification. Furthermore, on pain of even-more-pain, our panelists have been induced to give their top three reading recommendations, based on whatever criteria they choose, out of the many tales brought up over the course of the evening.  Jason Ray Carney’s Recommendations I think Howard Andrew Jones’ The Desert of Souls needs to be mentioned because Howard is not just an expert on sword and sorcery literature but also one of its great practitioners. This first novel of Asim and Dabir takes place in a Arabian Nights version of Medieval Baghdad and evokes some of the similar sword and sorcery duo dynamics of Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. The prose is crystal clear, the plotting is tight, and the action scenes are enthralling. Finally, the villain, the Sorcerer Firouz, is quite memorable, a true archetype for the genre. Brian Murphy’s Flame and Crimson is a gift, a long needed history of the genre that gives cohesive shape to the tradition: it begins with its origins, proceeds through its development in pulp fiction, analyzes...