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Study 048 - Amudu's Bargain (Patreon)

Published:
2023-06-28 18:46:03
Imported:
2026-06
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We're taking a swing at the Sword & Soul genre with Amudu's Bargain by Charles R. Saunders!

Special thanks to reader Osahon Orchard!

This story is available in The Mighty Warriors - you can read Saunders' thoughts on the anthology here.

And here is the interview with Saunders from The Zone.

Coming Friday: MANIMAL

Comments

Jason Thompson

So happy that you covered this but sad that, of course, you couldn’t cover this until Saunders was dead. RIP.

Briar Ripley Page

You guys should *definitely* check out the works of Samuel "Chip" Delany! You won't be able to cover him on the show yet, though, as he's still very much alive (and on twitter). : )

The Spider Incident

You said Osahan doesn't have anything to promote...but maybe she should! She was a great reader. I enjoyed this episode. It's been nice hearing about works from authors other than white men.

Sweatin' to the Great Oldies

Now this I found far, far better than any Conan covered so far. All the badassery without the noclassery.

Jim Cannon

There were reprints of Saunders' novels available in 2006... just when I was starting grad school and pinching pennies. But he's been on my shortlist of authors to look for when I visit used bookstores for a long time. Oh, I wonder if the library might have them.

Jim Cannon

So yes, Africa is home to the greatest linguistic and genetic diversity on the planet. Just a couple clues that humans are African by origin, even if you wanted to ignore all the fossil evidence. And that would just be nutty! Its the second largest continent, with an incredibly diverse range of biomes. Popular culture imagines its one big jungle, but thats a tiny part. Its probably mostly desert, in fact, just because the Sahara is so dang big.

Ben Gilbert

Samuel Delany won 4 Nebulas and 2 Hugos. Some of his short stories are ‘Driftglass’, ‘Aye, and Gomorrah’, ‘Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones’, and several novels. He also wrote Sword and Sorcery in the Return to Nevèrÿon series.

Elisheba

I really enjoyed Delaney’s ‘Time considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious stones’ and vote for you guys to cover it on the show

KateSherrod

Everybody who loved this, you would definitely also love Balogun Ojetade's ONCE UPON A TIME IN AFRIKA, which features a warrior princess who could kick Xena's ass (but Xena would fall in love with her first), a student of Afrikan martial arts who seeks to be worthy of her hand, a jerk of a prince and the most bizarre sorcerer I've ever encountered! Ojetade has the Sword & Soul goods, and writes beautifully, too.

KateSherrod

(P.S. I second the praise for Chip Delaney. I wonder if he wouldn't even be a guest on the show. He seems like the kind of guy who would. He'd be a good guy to cover in June because of Pride Month. His books are very LGBTQIA+ positive, and sex positive in general) Also, another African speculative fiction writer for fans of this episode to check out is Dilman Dila, who has a few novels and short story collections out in the world, and also makes incredible lo-fi sci-fi short films that he posts to his YouTube channel.

KateSherrod

Also, one more, now that Brian Catling is no more (sob!), his incredibly strange and imaginative body of work, some of the weirdest weird fiction I've ever read, should be on our Horror Daddies' radar for the show. He's got some cool short novels out there but his Vorrh Trilogy is his literary triumph. What if there was a forest in Africa that hid the Garden of Eden in its depths, was inhabited by failed angels and other even weirder beings... and was being logged by European colonists, who tend to lose what sanity they have of they enter The Vorrh. It's gross and bizarre and creepy and challenging and will give you very vivid dreams. I'm pretty sure I got high on those books.

KateSherrod

Oh, one more - if you are an Audible member, Charles R. Saunders' IMARO is a freebie, and the second one is on sale for less than a sawbuck!!! The narrator, Mirron Willis, is very good, though he's no Osa 8)

Hayden Orr

All these recent drive by’s on dog cookery by Chad are making me think he recently had a bad dining experience at the pound.

Jourik De Vetter

Great story and awesome reading. Kudos to Osahon!

Victor Badger

Imaro has been on my radar for a while, and I recall being bummed out to see that Charles Saunders had passed back when it happened. Glad you gentlemen covered this on the show.

Jason of the K

I think you guys got poor Amudu all wrong. He made a bad bargain with a demon and it cost him his daughter. Now he is trapped making pretty things for the demons private collection, praying for salvation in the form of the demons death. But those soft handed artist fops coming in weren't going to cut it, but when IMARO shows up, he thought he was saved! Then Imaro says he is done killing demons and stuff, so Amudu had to use his keen human insight to realize that Imaro might not kill on request, but WOULD if he was baited by a damsel in distress rescue mission instead. So he concocted the tale and sent Imaro on, hoping for the sweet release of death.

Ben A

Glad you all found the Sword and Soul Store, two doors down from the Zothique Boutique in the Strange Stores section of the Mythos Mall. I heard a rumor that Curious Goods is moving into the mall sometime soon. To echo others here, you absolutely should read more Imaro stories, whether for the podcast or just for yourselves. The first Imaro book consists of a few (I think five or six) short stories and would make a great Saunders month, kinda like when you did the Sword and Sorcery tales of Howard back in '15. Saunders is more than the anti-Howard, though, as he brought a lot of complexity to Imaro's backstory, which you only learn in small pieces across all his tales, especially in the Quest for Cush and the epic Trail of Bohu. I read these a couple decades ago, and they still remain among my favorite of the broader Sword & Sorcery genre. And if you like those, check out his broader Nyumbani universe tales, especially The Silent Ghosts. I'd also recommend that you look into tales published in Gene Day's Dark Fantasy Zine from the '70s and very early '80s. Saunders was the most notable of the many interesting authors to publish there, including George Diezel (who wrote stories involving Ithaqua). For those looking for a list of the issues and their contents, here's a link: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?33657

Karlandos

I had no idea such stories or even a hero like Imaru existed. I always imagined the prospect of a Conan-esque hero being derived from other cultural influences was a more modern thing not that I could point to any poignant examples. Just to say if has a sort of feel like I would imagine a more contemporary author to make but I suppose that details how fresh it is to see something like this.

Beanz

Amudu could have used that story to send sacrifices off to the demon in the past but he acknowledged that Imaru was different. So I think sending /him/ to the demon was motivated by the hope that he would finally be freed. I can't imagine he was surprised in that moment of death.

David Aloy

Not terrible but Howard is better.

ESTY

I was both delighted to learn about this Canadian dynamo of fantasy fiction, and dismayed to learn of his recent passing. This is right up my alley, and I will definitely be on the hunt for printed copies of all his works!

James Anthony

This episode reminded me that Imaro is in my TBR. Was listed as part of a trilogy iirc, but definitely needs to move up in rotation