I recommend the Four Pillars of Swords and Sorcery, in the order in which they were written -- Robert E. Howard's Conan stories (NOT the pastiches); Fritz Lieber's Nehwon/Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser; Jack Vance's Dying Earth series (they'll need a dictionary too, for his opulent vocabulary), and Michael Moorcock's Elric saga (also, "The Eternal Champion, The Silver Warriors, and The Dragon in the Sword are also excellent).
Swords and Sorcery pre-dates so-called "heroic fantasy" by a good 20 years. Swords and Sorcery is un-encumbered by simplistic black-and-white morality and squeaky-clean heroes. The protagonists of Swords and Sorcery are anti-heroes. While they may do good, it is incidental, in the course of demanding a say in their own fates. There is more nobility and humanity in Elric's ultimately futile struggle to remain free of the powers which would manipulate him than in all of the suffering endured by Frodo in Lord of the Rings.
Slashdot Mirror
I recommend the Four Pillars of Swords and Sorcery, in the order in which they were written -- Robert E. Howard's Conan stories (NOT the pastiches); Fritz Lieber's Nehwon/Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser; Jack Vance's Dying Earth series (they'll need a dictionary too, for his opulent vocabulary), and Michael Moorcock's Elric saga (also, "The Eternal Champion, The Silver Warriors, and The Dragon in the Sword are also excellent). Swords and Sorcery pre-dates so-called "heroic fantasy" by a good 20 years. Swords and Sorcery is un-encumbered by simplistic black-and-white morality and squeaky-clean heroes. The protagonists of Swords and Sorcery are anti-heroes. While they may do good, it is incidental, in the course of demanding a say in their own fates. There is more nobility and humanity in Elric's ultimately futile struggle to remain free of the powers which would manipulate him than in all of the suffering endured by Frodo in Lord of the Rings.