Gardner Francis Fox Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman Books

Publication Order of Collections

Gardner Francis Fox was an American comic and pulp fiction author from Brooklyn, New York. He was born in Brooklyn in 1911 and got interested in books when he was gifted the “Mars” books by Edgar Rice Burroughs for his eleventh birthday. Similar to many of his contemporaries, reading those books was the turning point in his life as he became a devoted fan of fantasy and avid reader. As a teenager, he went to St. John’s University to study the law before he was admitted to the New York bar in 1935. While most of the Great Depression was over, the United States was still to experience a double-dip. Luckily, comic books were just coming of age and with a wide audience and very few writers he decided to become one. By 1937, he was writing comics for DC Comics and over the next forty years, his works would appear not only in “DC Comics” but also in “Eclipse Comics,” “Warren Publications,” and “Marvel Comics.” It has been said that he was knowledgeable in a vast array of arcane subjects and that his reference library of files and books was legendary.

In 1940, Francis was responsible for creating the “Justice Society of America” in addition to the first “Superhero” team. During this time and throughout the 1960s, he got busy reviving many of the beloved superheroes of a bygone era and creating new ones such as “Adam Strange” and “The Atom.” He also began publishing fantasy and science fiction in non-graphic form making his debut with “The Weirds of the Woodcarver,” which was published in the 1944 published collection, “Weird Tales.” Since he wrote in all manner of genres, he also used a lot of pseudonyms so as not to confuse his audience. Some of the names he used during this period include James Kendricks, Jeffrey Gardner, and Jefferson Cooper. He also wrote historical romance as Gardner F Fox under which he made quite a reputation for the likes of “The Borgia Blade,” which he published in 1953. As a science fiction author, he would either write as Gardner Francis or under his other pseudonyms such as Bart Somers, Simon Majors, and Rod Gray until he fictionalized “Five Weeks in a Balloon” by Jules Verne in 1962.

In a career that spanned more than fifty years, Gardner Francis wrote more than 4,000 comic book stories and 160 novels as well as hybrid Western romance pulps, Weird Tales, Western pulps, Planet Stories, sports pulps, and Amazing Stories. According to some sources, Fox authored at least one novel every year between 1944 and 1982. He averaged three novels every year and in 1974 he authored twelve novels which was quite an astonishing feat. Gardner was the creator and co-creator or at least he helped to revive or develop comics and characters such as “The Atom,” “The Flash,” “Sandman,” “Hawkman,” “Batgyro,” “Batarang,” and “Batman’s utility Belt” in addition to “Adam Strange.” When heroic fantasy became very popular during the 1960s, Gardner took advantage of the mania to write the “Kothak” and “Kyrik” series of novels. He also authored the lady from L.U.S.T and became one of the most prolific authors of his generations to write in so many genres and forms of media. Gardner died in Jamesburg, New Jersey on Christmas Eve of 1986 aged seventy-five. While it has been more than three decades since his death, his comic books and science fiction novels are still very popular.

Gardner Francis Fox’s “Kothar: Barbarian Swordsman” is an intriguing fantasy fiction story that introduces Kothar, a man from the past, from the world beyond. He comes from the most violent recesses of collective memory, a barbarian who walks with a confident gait and in his all-conquering hand an enchanted sword nicknamed Frostfire. Just like Conan the Barbarian, Kothar is a masterful, hot-blooded, and lustful man who is not afraid of anything whether they be spirits or men. It is a dangerous world in which he lives, as he suddenly has to deal with warlocks, wizards, warlocks, witches, and a lot of magic. There are enemies to be dealt with wield swords that can withstand cantraips and spells and the men of mighty strength who wield them. While he faces seemingly unbeatable odds, he stands brave and strong like a colossus fearing no one. He makes and unmakes queens and kings, steals to satisfy his belly when it is empty, and becomes a a warrior when he needs to be to protect himself and the people he loves.

“Kothar of the Magic Sword” by Gardner Francis Fox opens to Kothar the lead protagonist having stolen from the fat Emperor of Avalonia. She had woken up to find her helix gone and Kothar asserts that he had to steal the helix as he needed it to fight the Great Eagle of Nirvalla. The eagle had taken his Frostfire magic sword and only magic of similar or greater power could help retrieve it. However, his theft of the helix got Kothar embroiled in even more bizarre adventures. It comes out that a spooky creature known as an “ice being,” which is strange even for Kothar’s uncanny world had made use of the helix for some nefarious purpose. He is dealing with all these, even as he tries to put the beautiful Laella out of his thoughts. She had been forced to leave town by Red Lori the witch and Kothar was made to agree to a contract to bring another lovely girl that he was to obtain from the followers of a strange god. Even with the help of a magic sword, it is going to be a blood-chilling weird, and very bloody adventure.

Gardner Francis Fox’s “Kothar and the Demon Queen” is a thrilling story that continues to follow the life and times of Kothar the Barbarian. At the opening of the story, Demon Queen asks the magnificent barbarian to retrieve Xixthur the mysterious god who is the source of eternal youth. He is imprisoned in the city of Urgal under the clutches of Tor Domnus, who had kidnapped him a few months past. What they do not know is that it was the mighty Mindos Omthol who had been responsible for engineering the kidnapping. He also has some nefarious plans for the Demon Queen and the god Xixthur. It is a fun and retrograde book that stands heads and shoulders above many fantasy novels of today.