Is Sword and Sorcery a dead Genre?

Growing up reading was my escape, it was my outlet. I was always drawn to fantasy. Even as a little girl I was drawn to My Little Pony due to the Unicorns. And one of my favorite series was Dragonlance. I found the complete trilogy in this house my parents were fixing up. I fell absolutely in love with the world, the characters, and story. 

My favorite character was Raistlin, I begged my Mom for the Twins Trilogy. Which she got me for Christmas. I devoured these books, and pretty much all the ones with these character's. Thankfully my family is a bunch of book nerds and had most of the series all ready. As a teen I enjoyed D&D and fell hard down the Ravenloft rabbit hole. I loved these books about as much as Dragonlance. 

My Husband is also a huge fan of these type of books and recently we were talking and the question came up if sword and sorcery a dead genre? The question stemmed from the fact that Hubby was having a hard time finding the type of books he wanted. 

I haven't really seen any books out there that I would qualify as Sword and Sorcery. I've seen Epic Fantasy but that's really a different animal. While they have similar aspects I feel their very different genres. 

Picture that inspired Jessie's Dirty Little Secret

In my opinion classic sword and sorcery is has an action based plot. The thrill of the chase, the sense of danger, and the push to get to that big battle at the end. That is classic sword and sorcery. While epic fantasy is more character based, yes there is that sense of danger but it doesn't drive the story as much as seeing a character grow and flourish. I find both to be good in their own rights, yet I'm seeing less and less of that classic sword and sorcery from the 70's and 80's era. Which is actually a bit surprising given the resurgence in D&D and other fantasy based RPG's. My Husband is a big sword and sorcery fan and has bemoaned the fact he can't find good books to me more than once. 

Now you can find newer stuff in the series I mentioned, but it's taken on the epic fantasy tilt. Where the stories have gone from a fast paced action to a more mild pace character building. The actions still there, but not the focus of the plot. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me? If you know of any Sword and Sorcery books like I described let me know. 

Forced Menage

 

Recently I was in the mood for a good ménage et trois or poly- romance. I found a couple promising ones only to be sorely disappointed. They we're both historical based... I use the term loosely, and had an "innocent" type female main character. They had two - three alpha male types who "claim" the heroine. Now I don't have a problem with this per say, but when the heroine is the passive virginal type... 

When those alpha-males begin their seduction that verges on something a little taboo, I have to stop and say what a minute. Now I get that there are some people who enjoy things a little more forced, and sure it's ok when everything consensual. Yet these books had women who were clearly being dominated and not in the good way. 

The women were written in such a way to make them naïve to what the men wanted which honest made me feel icky. Especially since the first one I tried to read was with a 18 year old as the female main character. She was bought from her step-father and basically kept as a sex slave by two alpha were-wolves. I mean she was a well kept sex slave yet still, she was being kept against her will and bedded regularly. I couldn't keep reading it made me feel unpleasant. The other was a western and while the character was older, she was still utterly inexperienced with men. I just put the book aside with no intention of ever picking it back up. 

I don't have a problem with ménage or ploy relationships in books, I actually enjoy them when they're written right. But when you have a character who is naïve about everything and the guy(s) who are supposed to be her or even his love interest is over bearing and all alpha it just rubs me the wrong way. 

Alpha Males: Why do we love them?

I've been reading a lot of PNR (Paranormal Romance) lately and of course, most of the have alpha male heroes. I got thinking what makes alpha males so attractive?

I started reading romance when I was probably about 12 to 13ish. Like most novice readers of the genre, it was Harlequin, Avon, and the like. I was a sucker for Historical English and Scottish novels. Give me a dude in a kilt and... man, but I digress. Then, and now, I read for the escapism, back then I really wanted a Prince Charming to come and save me. Reading how the hunky Lord swept the heroine off her feet and bedded her with his pulsing manhood was tantalizing. Also, I was 12 and there was the thrill of reading a naughty book. Although my Mom never seemed to mind. Trying to read that now just leaves me in fits of giggles. I still enjoy romance although I've upped my game preferring the more erotic genre.

After reading a bunch of articles, including some not so savory ones geared directly toward men,  I formed a few of my own opinions on this. How I see this is that within the genre of romance, be it contemporary, historical, paranormal, etc, what is perceived as the alpha is not the same as what we perceive to be alpha in the real world.  

In books, our alpha is handsome, charismatic, confident, and while he might come across as an ass at first you discover he's sensitive if emotionally distant due to some past trauma or hurt. This is not always the case, but your typically alpha hero needs to have some base things to make him what he is.

• He needs to be a leader and/ or protector. I feel this goes back to our primal need to have a mate who can protect their family. 
• Confident. I mean this goes without saying.
• Handsome. This is relative, we all have our own varied opinion of beauty.
• Some sort of flaw. Our hero needs to have some sort of flaw, either physically, emotionally, has a past trauma or some deep dark secret. Basically, we need something to keep him from being perfect.

In my opinion, it's not really the alpha male in books that we love so much as the idea. Personally, I like the idea of having a strong man to protect, care, and love me. There are times when you'd like to have someone toss you over their shoulder carry you to the bedroom and have their way with you. Reading gives you that. It's the fantasy more than it's the fact that we actually want an alpha male. 

What's your opinion on the alphas in books? Do you want an alpha or are you content with just fantasizing?