Conference noted::sf

To kick things off, I'll propose the following fantasy
novels:
	"Dwellers in the Mirage" by A. Merritt
	"The Dark World" by Henry Kuttner
	"Falcons of Narabedla" by Marion Zimmer Bradley

All of them involve a modern man as the protagonist who
has a latent personality of an ancient hero in another
civilization's mythology.  The hero also has to choose
between an idealized virginal heroine who is a demi-goddess
to a race of oppressed under-people and an earthy sorceress
type who is on the side of the oppressors.  The hero in all
cases has the magical ability (through his alter ego) to
summon the evil deity of the mythical civilization to a
sacrificial rite.

    	How about all those STAR WARS - Fantasy clones.
    
    	Larry
    

Aren't all the Dray Prescott books clones of Burroughs' John Carter 
of Mars series?  They both have an Earthman transported to some 
distant planet where he hews his way through the populace and 
marries a princess.  For that matter, Lin Carter wrote a similar 
series where the locale was Ganymede.  Must be dozens of other imitators.

Ditto for the Conan books.  This loner-barbarian-chopping-up-sorcerors
theme is so popular that it makes one politically uneasy.  Norman 
Spinrad thought that these books appealed to a deep fascist streak in 
people,  and wrote a wonderful parody of them called "The Iron Dream".
It's supposedly a heroic fantasy written by Adolf Hitler, who came to 
America in the 20's after a failed coup in Germany.  It contains a 
book within the book called "Lords of the Swastika" wherein a tall blonde
hero ("Feric Jaggar") rouses the submissive Aryans to throw off the 
shackles of the wizened, large-nosed magicians (the Dominators).
Spinrad laid it on pretty thick, and I wouldn't go so far as to label 
every heroic fantasy fan a Nazi, but it is funny.

/jlr

    My impression is that Carter means to be quite public about his
    imitation of Burroughs.  Likewise most of the Conan-cloners.  Notice,
    by the way, that if enough people clone something, they create a
    sub-genre.
    
    I have heard that "Sword of Shanarah" is a Tolkein-clone.  Doesn't
    he had several others, too?
    
    Earl Wajenberg

There's another Tolkien clone by Dennis Kiernan, a series 
collectively titled "The Iron Tower".  The author is on sf-lovers,
and said that he had originally intended to set the books in Middle 
Earth.  He wanted to write more stories about the dwarves, but the 
publishers made him change all the names.  Other people on sf-lovers 
have said that this is the worst fantasy they have ever read, so I've 
never picked them up myself.

/jlr

Actually, Howard "cloned" a couple of his own stories.  Even within
the "Conan" series, "The Scarlet Citadel" and "The Hour of the Dragon"
are pretty much the same plot with different character names.  Plus I
think one of his "King Kull" stories also used that same plot.

I've forgotten a lot of my Edgar Rice Burroughs, but I believe another
writer named Otis Adelbert Kline had several "near-clones" of Burroughs
stories.

And yes, "The Sword of ShaNaNa" is definitely a clone!!

And Lovecraft had another story (whose name I forget) that seemed to
be a clone of his own "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward".

    Lovecraft himself inspired a few clones -- more like disciples I
    think.  August Derleth wrote in that vein sometimes.  So did the
    author of the Zothique stories (whose name escapes me -- maybe it
    was Derleth) though not when he was writing Zothique.  The Zothique
    stories, in turn, are heroic fantasy set in the remote future and
    were in the *tradition* of Howard's stuff, if not really clones.
    And Zothique almost undoubtedly helped inspire Jack Vance's "Dying
    Earth" stories.
    
    LeGuin once remarked that, when people ask SF writers "Where do
    you get your ideas?" they can mean several things, including (1)
    Are your ideas based on real science? [Partly.] (2) Have you lived
    through experiences like those of your characters? [Heaven forbid.]
    or (3) Do SF writers steal ideas from each other? [Constantly.]
    
    She also remarks that rampant theft is a common and healthy feature
    of any vigorous genre of any art.
    
    Earl Wajenberg

    Another author similar to Burroughs is John Norman who wrote the
    GOR series.  The first three novels especially are quite the same.
    But what the hey!  I enjoy reading all kinds of Burroughs style
    of writing.  Especially since he's not around anymore.
    Mike_L 

    	How about all those variations on the post-nuclear war society?
    
    	Larry
    

    re:.7
    
    ZOTHIQUE's author was Clark Ashton Smith.
    
    --- jerry