Thursday 24 January 2013

C.L. Moore, 102

Today marks C.L. Moore's 102nd birthday. Her contributions to the Sword-and-Sorcery genre have been acknowledged at Resources for Science Fiction Writers, Adventures Fantastic, and Swords & Sorcery: a blog. For me, I'll just repost my Cimmerian tribute.

I recently reread Paizo's Black God's Kiss anthology, which is pretty excellent if you bypass Suzy McKee Charnas' dreadful introduction - instead go to Ryan Harvey's splendid piece at Black Gate, which provides most of the necessary information without throwing Moore's literary contemporaries under the bus - and I heartily recommend it.


The only other problem I have is the cover. Now, it's a gorgeously rendered cover, no doubt about that: I adore the evocative, noirish lighting and the sense of weirdness it portrays. Unfortuantely, Jirel's pose is veering slightly towards the sort of sultry pose that would make it a target for Jim C. Hines or the Hawkeye Initiative, and the armour is... well, it sure isn't what Moore described:

She smiled to herself as she slipped a fresh shirt of doeskin over her tousled red head and donned a brief tunic of link-mail. On her legs she buckled the greaves of some forgotten legionary, relic of the not long past days when Rome still ruled the world. She thrust a dagger through her belt and took her own long two-handed sword barebladed in her grip.

We already have plenty of not-safe-for-work Jirel cheesecake that has her borrowing from Red Sonja's wardrobe (even the ones with full or at least decent armour have problematic breast cups, to say nothing of the ever-dependably pulptastic Margaret Brundage's contributions): in this day and age, art of Jirel in the armour she was originally described to be wearing would actually be refreshing. Not to mention she, like Dark Agnes, is frequently given a mane of fiery red hair rather than the shorter cut described (long enough to become tousled and to be able to obscure her face, but short enough to be described as "short upon high, defiant head") Still, at least the bare thighs are in the text, right? And in any case, what's important is that even given her rather fetishy armour, Jirel looks strong and powerful: she has sufficient mass and muscularity to believably heft that (one-handed, argh) sword, and the environment is mysterious and evocative.

This piece by Michael John Morris is probably the most accurate I've seen,
though it falls prey to the long hair trap.

Even so, Paizo produced a fine collection of one of Moore's best creations, I'd encourage anyone interested in Sword-and-Sorcery to seek them out. Even if it doesn't end up your cup of tea, they deserve to be included in the annals of S&S.

6 comments:

  1. enthralling posts Taranaich = VMP

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  2. Hero of the Federation26 January 2013 at 21:17

    would you like to know more?

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  3. Tangentially related, but still: I know you dislike Doom Metal Al, but this might pique your musical taste buds:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMg2SDmAmIM

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    1. Dislike's perhaps too strong a word: I'm just not a big fan. That was quite a good wee track!

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  4. Illustrations aside I have always enjoyed C. L. Moore's works. I first came across her when I was about 11. I found a book SAVAGE HEROES while I was on holiday. I wanted it, of course, for the Howard Cormac Mac Art story but there were some other greats in there too. Of those that stick out in my memory were "Spwan of Dagon" by Henry Kuttner and of course his future wife's "Jirel meets magic" by a then Miss Moore.All three were good but Moore's had an ethereal, dream like quality I was to find much later in the works of A. Merritt, who was obviously an influence. I like the Jirel stories.They have some vivid power. Her Northwest Smith novellas are also highly recommended. "Scarlet dream" is one of my faves. Be warned though, They make for heavy reading in a collection. Best savoured individually.

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    1. Awesome recollections, Steve. I do agree that her work is best enjoyed in moderation, like Smith or Merritt (I think it's pretty clear he was a deep influence too).

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