{"product_id":"flame-and-crimson-a-history-of-sword-and-sorcery-9781683902447","title":"Flame and Crimson: A History of Sword-and-Sorcery","description":"The Many Children of Conan\u003cp\u003eLittle did then-obscure Texas writer Robert E. Howard know that with the 1929 publication of \"The Shadow Kingdom\" in the pulp magazine \u003ci\u003eWeird Tales\u003c\/i\u003e, he had given birth to a new and vibrant subgenre of fantasy fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSword-and-sorcery went from pulp obscurity to mass-market paperback popularity before suffering a spectacular publishing collapse in the 1980s. But it lives on in the broader culture and today enjoys a second life in popular role-playing games, music, and films, and helped give birth to a new literary subgenre known as grimdark, popularized by the likes of George R.R. Martin's \u003ci\u003eA Song of Ice and Fire\u003c\/i\u003e fantasy series.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eFlame and Crimson: A History of Sword-and-Sorcery\u003c\/i\u003e provides much-needed definitions and critical rigor to this misunderstood fantasy subgenre. It traces its origins in the likes of historical fiction, to its birth in the pages of \u003ci\u003eWeird Tales\u003c\/i\u003e, to its flowering in the Frank Frazetta-illustrated Lancer Conan Saga series in the 1960s. It covers its \"barbarian bust\" beneath a heap of second-rate pastiche, a pack of colorful and wildly entertaining and awful sword-and-sorcery films, and popular culture second life in the likes of \u003ci\u003eDungeons \u0026amp; Dragons\u003c\/i\u003e and the bombast of heavy metal music.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Pulp Hero Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50557374365970,"sku":"9781683902447","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_3b12581c-7bbf-4fce-81d5-b4cae1172435.jpg?v=1731780701","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/flame-and-crimson-a-history-of-sword-and-sorcery-9781683902447","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}