Howard, appeared in Weird Tales in December of 1932. The first Conan story, written by pulp pop star Robert E. He’s smart, he’s crafty, but most of all, he is muscular, virile, and potent, signifying the urges and desires of the true Alpha male. The pulp magazines of the 20s and on drew even further upon the supernatural, incorporating it as an integral part of the story, primarily starting with the magazine Weird Tales and the land of Cimmeria, where we meet Conan the Barbarian for the first time.Ĭonan was a born on a battlefield, the son of the village blacksmith, a barbarian through and through. The books would also feature Thuvia, Maid of Mars, and her suitor, Carthoris (son of John Carter and Dejah Thoris) beginning with the spot-on title of Thuvia, Maid of Mars, which started in serial in 1916. A Princess of Mars is the first Barsoomian novel (of which there would go on to be seven) featuring the adventures of John Carter and his quest for the hand of the incomparable Thuvite Princess of Mars, Dejah Thoris. In 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs brought Jirel and Joiry closer to existence, with the publication of A Princess of Mars (which is not quite sword and sorcery, but is definitely science fantasy). (Although generally in these stories, the supernatural turns out to be the equivalent of a Scooby Doo villain, or is anthropomorphized, such as Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, 1894.)įrom the lands of the adventure stories, we follow Jirel to Mars, of all places. Haggard (the Allan Quartermain series, starting in 1885), and the Baroness Orczy ( The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1905), which in turn drew upon the recently translated Arabian Nights (Sir Richard Burton, 1885) and Gothic to include the pretense of supernatural elements.

Sword and sorcery drew, as a genre, from the adventure stories that preceded it, such as those by Alexander Dumas (starting in 1838), H.R. Our first stop is the land of adventure fiction, the birthplace of Jirel’s grandparents.

Jirel, arrogant, beautiful, and skilled, has a wide background in defeating demons while looking impeccable, and will be assuming the leadership position as we traverse the mysteries of Joiry and the evolution of sword and sorcery. Today we shall gird our swords and prepare our spells as we journey through vengeful and vindictively verdant forests effused with purple passions under the tutelage of the most seductive, skilled, and practically perfect leader of the land of Joiry, none other than Jirel herself.