A few more Hugo nominees:
Michael Swanwick "The Dead"
Robert Reed "Decency"
John Crowley "Gone"
Michael Swanwick "Radiant Doors"
Robert Reed "Whiptail"
Michael Swanwick "Walking Out"
Poul Anderson "Marque and Reprisal"
Pat Cadigan "Angel"
Kim Stanley Robinson "Ridge Running"
Steven Gould "Rory"
Mike Resnick "Mwalimu in the Squared Circle"
Some Sword & Sorcery short stories:
Draco, Draco by Tanith Lee
The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams by Michael Moorcock
The Adventuress by Joanna Russ
Thunder in the Dawn by Henry Kuttner
Beyond the Phoenix by Henry Kuttner
Gimmile’s Songs by Charles R. Saunders
Undertow by Karl Edward Wagner
The Stages of the God by Ramsey Campbell (writing as Montgomery Comfort)
Epistle from Lebanoi by Michael Shea
Imprint of Chaos by John Brunner
Become a Warrior by Jane Yolen
Beyond the Phoenix by Henry Kuttner
The Red Guild by Rachel Pollack
Six from Atlantis by Gene Wolfe
The Howling Tower by Fritz Lieber
The Cloud of Hate by Fritz Lieber
The Sea Troll’s Daughter by Caitlín R. Kiernan
The Sword of Welleran by Lord Dunsany
The Coral Heart by Jeffrey Ford
Path of the Dragon by George R. R. Martin
The Spawn of Dagon by Henry Kuttner
The Scarlet Citadel by Robert E. Howard
The People of the Black Circle by Robert E. Howard
The Tower of the Elephant by Robert E. Howard (reread)
The Phoenix on the Sword by Robert E. Howard (reread)
Beyond the Black River by Robert E. Howard (reread)
The God in the Bowl by Robert E. Howard
Rogues in the House by Robert E. Howard
The Frost-Giant's Daughter by Robert E. Howard (reread)
Cursed Be The City by Henry Kuttner
The Citadel of Darkness by Henry Kuttner
The Lesser Evil by Andrzej Sapkowski
Wings in the Night by Robert E. Howard
Black God's Shadow by C.L. Moore
The House of Arabu by Robert E. Howard
While the God's Laugh - Michael Moorcock
Conan:
"The Scarlet Citadel" is the best Conan story I've read so far.
"The People of the Black Circle" is also pretty good. They knock my previous favorite "The Tower of the Elephant" down to the number three slot. The serialized novel "The Hour of the Dragon" is supposed to incorporate a lot of story elements of "The Scarlet Citadel" so I'm very interested in reading that one to compare the two.
Elak:
I mentioned recently that I enjoyed Henry Kuttner's
"Dragon Moon" so I was looking forward to reading his three other Elak of Atlantis stories. They weren't as good as Dragon Moon, but "The Spawn of Dagon" was worth a read at least. I think the characters of Elak and his sidekick, Lycon, had potential. Unfortunately, Kuttner dropped these characters for his last two S&S stories and replaced them with a bland character called Prince Raynor. The first Raynor tale is called
"Cursed Be the City" and it's actually pretty good. I can't help but think it would have been better with Elak and Lycon though.
It's nice to see a hero who isn't invincible, but Kuttner takes things too far occasionally. Both Elak and Raynor have a tendency to be too ineffectual in some of the weaker stories.
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
Lieber does a
fantastic job of coming up with cool monster concepts and none of the stories I've read have been bad. But none of them have really grabbed me either. It just feels like the heroes stumble into a random (awesome) conflict, stab the bad guys, and then move on. The stories are like candy - tasty but unsatisfying. Still, they have all been run reads.
The House of Arabu:
This is a Robert E. Howard story about a barbarian who is almost Conan but not quite. A pretty good story that seems to end abruptly at first, but kind of works due to the personality of the main character.
The rest:
"Draco, Draco" by Tanith Lee and "Gimmile’s Songs" by Charles R. Saunders are the only other non Howard/Lieber/Kuttner stories here that I think are worth reading. Both are just ok.