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San Francisco, 2:53 PM
Sun Nov 22
11 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Greatest Swashbuckling Heroes From 100+ Years Of SF Books

    The 6 Types Of Brains In Jars

    Larry Niven Helped Usher In Our Weird World

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Wookie1972 Wookie1972
    11/21/09

    In reply to Greatest Swashbuckling Heroes From 100+ Years Of SF Books
    If you're going to count comics, you've gotta count him.
     Reply
    Wookie1972 was starred Wookie1972 was unstarred
    Image of Wookie1972 Wookie1972
    11/20/09

    In reply to Greatest Swashbuckling Heroes From 100+ Years Of SF Books
    If we're going old school, what about Lemuel Gulliver or Baron Munchausen?
     Reply
    Wookie1972 was starred Wookie1972 was unstarred
    Image of Whitworthian Whitworthian
    11/20/09

    In reply to Greatest Swashbuckling Heroes From 100+ Years Of SF Books
    I really have a difficult time thinking of Cugel the Clever as a swashbuckler... he's more a dandy and rogue. There's little that's heroic or courageous about him. Few of your "D" words (other than dapper) actually apply.
     Reply
    Whitworthian was starred Whitworthian was unstarred
    Image of PostMarque PostMarque
    11/20/09

    In reply to Greatest Swashbuckling Heroes From 100+ Years Of SF Books
    i only read one book off the list, and knew of the second.

    i have failed in my sci-fi fan boy module installation.

    can i still wear my Captain Planet shirt?
     Reply
    PostMarque was starred PostMarque was unstarred
    Image of scroggzilla raids again scroggzilla raids again
    11/20/09

    In reply to Greatest Swashbuckling Heroes From 100+ Years Of SF Books

    Richard Corben's Den, as seen in the magazine and film Heavy Metal
     Reply
    scroggzilla raids again was starred scroggzilla raids again was unstarred
    Image of snarklenyc snarklenyc
    11/20/09

    In reply to Greatest Swashbuckling Heroes From 100+ Years Of SF Books
    Jonny Rico is kind of a pansy at the beginning of Starship Troopers, but I would still give him and the rest of the Roughnecks an honorable mention for fighting the Bugs to protect Heinlein's militaristic mankind in what might be one of my favorite books of all time.
     Reply
    snarklenyc was starred snarklenyc was unstarred
    Image of SJ_Edwards SJ_Edwards
    11/19/09

    In reply to Greatest Swashbuckling Heroes From 100+ Years Of SF Books
    For any landlubber inspired by this, to consider a late-stage career change to buckling their swash on the briny (whether on Earthball or frozen-topped, fish-filled, Europa) may I highly recommend Jacob Sager Weinstein [en.wikipedia.org] and Matthew David Brozik's essential The Government Manual for New Pirates [www.amazon.com] .

    I'm glad someone gave some love (@DoktorH: ) to the Beeblebrox ("Ooh look! The black light just lit up!"), as I got sidetracked from tweeting him in, by trying to remember the name of a (mid-eighties?) slice of space-opera that used the 'Dread Pirate Roberts' [en.wikipedia.org] trope from The Princess Bride (and Lee Falk's The Phantom) in a very effective way over a galactic backdrop and the name of the hero who eventually assumed the role.

    I don't quite recognise it from any of the descriptions yet.

    Any clue?
     Reply
    SJ_Edwards was starred SJ_Edwards was unstarred
    Image of blackoak blackoak
    11/19/09

    @SJ_Edwards: Check out Mike Resnick's "Santiago". I believe it the book you are thinking of. If it isn't, it still fits your description.

    And I don't even want to think about listing all of Mr. Resnick's characters that could fit the label of swashbuckler.
     Reply
    SJ_Edwards promoted this comment Edited by blackoak at 11/19/09 8:34 PM blackoak was starred blackoak was unstarred
    Image of SJ_Edwards SJ_Edwards
    11/19/09

    @blackoak: "That's it!"
    *sound of memory floodgates opening*
    "Thank you! Thank you!" :)
    *Mexican wave of appreciation*
     Reply
    SJ_Edwards was starred SJ_Edwards was unstarred
    Image of SJ_Edwards SJ_Edwards
    11/19/09


    @blackoak: And here he is!
    Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future [en.wikipedia.org]
    Mike Resnick [en.wikipedia.org]
     Reply
    SJ_Edwards was starred SJ_Edwards was unstarred
    Image of Chip Skylark of Space Chip Skylark of Space
    11/19/09

    In reply to Greatest Swashbuckling Heroes From 100+ Years Of SF Books
    Dumarest (EC Tubb's endless series of the guy looking for Earth) "Earth? Why you might as well call a planet Dirt!")

    Dominic Flandry, Agent of the Terran Empire by Poul Anderson. was known as a great swordsman, a great lady's man, and .

    The Gray Mouser (Lieber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series was tremendous. I haven't read any of those in 35 years. Does he not count because this is fantasy?
     Reply
    Chip Skylark of Space was starred Chip Skylark of Space was unstarred
    Image of Counterglow Counterglow
    11/19/09

    @Chip Skylark of Space: "Dominic Flandry ...was known as a great swordsman, a great lady's man..."

    Isn't that redundant?
     Reply
    Counterglow was starred Counterglow was unstarred
    Image of icelight icelight
    11/19/09

    @Counterglow: Seriously though, Flandry was one of the first characters I though of when someone mentioned Poul Anderson, although he's a little more of the behind-the-scenes superspy type.
     Reply
    icelight was starred icelight was unstarred
    Image of Counterglow Counterglow
    11/20/09

    @icelight: Agreed, though by the time you get to "A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows", the character has become something quite different. That's not a criticism, by the way, but I think it's worth mentioning that Flandry buckled most of his swash in the earlier books.
     Reply
    Chip Skylark of Space promoted this comment Counterglow was starred Counterglow was unstarred
    Image of Chip Skylark of Space Chip Skylark of Space
    11/20/09

    @Counterglow: My fave was THE REBEL WORLDS, where [SPOILER ALERT] he teamed up with the wife of a rebel who he was supposed to be chasing after, and they captured a vicious governor (who caused the rebellion), and slit his throat over a sink to crush the rebellion, just not in the way the Empire thought when they sent Dominic out.

    #calendar
     Reply
    Chip Skylark of Space was starred Chip Skylark of Space was unstarred
    Image of Counterglow Counterglow
    11/20/09

    @Chip Skylark of Space: Thanks for the memory...I'd forgotten that one. Anderson's an underrated writer, as proven by how much of his stuff stands the test of time.
     Reply
    Counterglow was starred Counterglow was unstarred
    Image of Mathmos Mathmos
    11/19/09

    In reply to Greatest Swashbuckling Heroes From 100+ Years Of SF Books
    Flandry of Terra
     Reply
    Mathmos was starred Mathmos was unstarred
    Image of Vulcan Has No Moon Vulcan Has No Moon
    11/19/09

    In reply to Greatest Swashbuckling Heroes From 100+ Years Of SF Books
    I notice as decades progress the lady and gentleman's clothing on the cover of Princess Of Mars seem to shrivel up until they vanish entirely.
     Reply
    Vulcan Has No Moon was starred Vulcan Has No Moon was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    11/19/09

    @Vulcan Has No Moon: That still doesn't match the original text within. everybody on Barsoom is totally buck nekkid.
     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of Vulcan Has No Moon Vulcan Has No Moon
    11/19/09

    @Grey_Area: Nudity would be better than ridiculous chain-mail bikinis and loincloths.
     Reply
    Vulcan Has No Moon was starred Vulcan Has No Moon was unstarred
    Image of tetracycloide tetracycloide
    11/19/09

    @Vulcan Has No Moon: a more astute observation there is not.
     Reply
    tetracycloide was starred tetracycloide was unstarred
    Image of KhaiJB KhaiJB
    11/19/09

    In reply to Greatest Swashbuckling Heroes From 100+ Years Of SF Books
    lets face it ladies and gents

    they're all good heroes and good at what they do.

    but they'd only notice their wallets, valuables, etc missing after Jim DiGriz had left.....
     Reply
    KhaiJB was starred KhaiJB was unstarred
    Image of tetracycloide tetracycloide
    11/19/09

    In reply to Greatest Swashbuckling Heroes From 100+ Years Of SF Books
    i feel it necessary to add takeshi kovacs to the growing cacophony of also-rans contributed by commenters. however, if you want to get technical, he's more of the anti-swashbuckler. then again, i wouldn't exactly consider jack half-a-prayer a 'swashbuckler' either.
     Reply
    tetracycloide was starred tetracycloide was unstarred
    Image of Grey_Area Grey_Area
    11/19/09

    @tetracycloide: Kovacs is more the two-fisted hard-boiled type, a gritty urban knight-errant who's always outgunned and never gets the girl.

    Jack Half-a-Prayer might fit in that Scarlet Pimpernel/Zorro kinda way but one has to overlook the monstrous bug bits. Can Rev. Syn, the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh be considered a swashbuckler? Or Furnace-Breath nick and Oliver Brooks in the recent novels by Stephen Hunt? How about The Shadow?

    All of these anti-heroes do that masked-dark-avenger thing -- proto Batmen, if you will. They rely on being more scary than charming.
     Reply
    Grey_Area was starred Grey_Area was unstarred
    Image of Rasselas Rasselas
    11/19/09

    @tetracycloide: Kovacs is kind of a wet blanket, especially in the second and third books: "Boo hoo! I enjoy killing people left and right, but disapprove of religious people who kill people left and right!"
     Reply
    Rasselas was starred Rasselas was unstarred
    Image of tetracycloide tetracycloide
    11/19/09

    @Grey_Area: considering the copious amounts of gratuitous sex in his novels i beg to differ on the 'get the girl' point. other than that i agree, like i said, more of an anti-swashbuckler. then again, i think he's as good a fit as at least a few that did make the list, half-a-prayer among them.

    @Rasselas: i think he's less of a wet blanket and more of a curmudgen. honeslty i cannot rememer the last thing he actually enjoyed, not even the sex. unless maybe it was the tetrameth.
     Reply
    Edited by tetracycloide at 11/19/09 7:47 PM tetracycloide was starred tetracycloide was unstarred
    Image of tetracycloide tetracycloide
    11/19/09

    @Grey_Area: in other news i now have more books to read. thanks a lot grey area, as usual.
     Reply
    tetracycloide was starred tetracycloide was unstarred
    Image of Rasselas Rasselas
    11/19/09

    In reply to Greatest Swashbuckling Heroes From 100+ Years Of SF Books
    Leigh Brackett's Eric John Stark? Northwest Smith? Matt Carse?
     Reply
    Rasselas was starred Rasselas was unstarred
    Image of gorehound gorehound
    11/19/09

    @Rasselas: awesome.another fan of older scifi who knows his obscurities.
    i own all those stories from pulps,1st ed.hardcovers,and avon fantasy readers.great stuff folks should read this stuff.
     Reply
    gorehound was starred gorehound was unstarred
    Image of Rasselas Rasselas
    11/19/09

    @gorehound: Paizo's "Planet Stories" reprints are pretty great.
     Reply
    Rasselas was starred Rasselas was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    11/19/09

    In reply to Greatest Swashbuckling Heroes From 100+ Years Of SF Books
    Your average Poul Anderson could swash a buckle like nobody's business. Like Manse Everard of the Time Patrol, who was trained in all weapons and fighting techniques from the Stone Age to the far future.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of AmishJohn AmishJohn
    11/19/09

    In reply to Greatest Swashbuckling Heroes From 100+ Years Of SF Books
    The Never-Born appeared as Cyrano de Bergerac, because the Guardian pulled the imagery from Oscar. Same with the rats & such, as well as the other nightmare sequences in the Tower.
     Reply
    AmishJohn was starred AmishJohn was unstarred
    Image of EugeniaBSG EugeniaBSG
    11/19/09

    @AmishJohn: Cyrano de Bergerac (the real one) is also credited with being the first author to describe a trip to the moon by rocket in The Other World: The Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon (1657).

    The fictional Cyrano (in the 1898 play by Rostand) also refers to this rocket when he delays the Comte de Guiche.

    So I think Cyrano himself belongs on this list.
     Reply
    AmishJohn promoted this comment EugeniaBSG was starred EugeniaBSG was unstarred
    Image of AmishJohn AmishJohn
    11/19/09

    @EugeniaBSG: So do I, but he's a touch obscure. We'd be opening the floodgates for scores of pulp heroes.
     Reply
    AmishJohn was starred AmishJohn was unstarred
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