Review: Swords of Plunder - Fred Blosser

Fred Blosser is one of my favorite scholars of Robert E. Howard’s life and work. I’ve been enjoying his informative and entertaining articles about REH for decades. As it turns out, when it comes to writing fiction, he’s pretty darned good at spinning yarns himself. The latest thing I’ve read by him is a sword and sorcery novella called SWORDS OF PLUNDER, which is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book editions.

This story finds a barbarian warrior from the north, who’s in command of a pirate ship, coming across two old rivals, a beautiful blond female pirate and a red-bearded brigand who has come close to crossing swords with our hero several times in the past. The barbarian pulls the two of them from the sea, where they’re clinging to some wreckage from a sunken ship. They have an intriguing tale to tell, too, about a fabulous treasure hidden on a lost island, and only the blonde knows how to get there. So the three of them form an uneasy partnership to go after the loot, but of course, when they reach their destination they find more danger waiting for them than they expected.

The barbarian’s name is Cronn, by the way, and I know what you’re thinking. I would have been, too, if I hadn’t happened to know that SWORDS OF PLUNDER is based on unused parts of an outline Blosser wrote for THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN many years ago, during the era in which I first encountered his work. As he explains in a very entertaining and informative afterword to this story, he was writing articles about Robert E. Howard for SSOC when editor Roy Thomas asked him to plot some of the new stories featuring the Cimmerian. This story grew out of one of those outlines, with the serial numbers filed off, as they say.

And it’s a really good yarn, too, no matter what the protagonist is called. Well-written, fast-moving, with plenty of action and some genuinely creepy scenes where our heroes have to face deadly perils in a cave on a lost island. This is pure pulp done the way I like it. I give SWORDS OF PLUNDER a high recommendation and plan to read more by Fred Blosser very soon.