I’ve enjoyed reading Fred Saberhagen’s books of Swords (and the followup Lost Swords).
It’s clear that there is prehistory to this world. The God(?) Draffut is stated as having arisen from a normal dog. There are references to John Omnimor and historic empires.
So are there any books set in these previous times?
Over to you, Dopers!
Yup—Look for a book called Empire of the East, which is a collection of three short novels set in the world that the Swords world arose out of.
I’ve never read any of these, mind you, but that was a factoid that’d stuck
Fenris
Empire of the East is, IMHO, the best. Better than the Swords. The story of Chup. Get it. Read it. Tell us what you think.
It’s already on order - thanks for your help + advice! 
I am now reading the first page of the book.
Less than 48 hours after posting. :eek:
Dopers are wonderful. 
Amazon is wonderful. 
Birds are singing in the trees, the sun is shining and all is well with the World.
Agreed: Saberhagen did not improve with age. Empire of the East is superior, by far, to the Lost Swords.
Not being much of a sci-fi fan myself, I have never read anything by Saberhagen. In fact, I’d never heard of him until I went to college, where his incredibly sweet daughter Jill was my sister’s roommate. I promised her once or twice that I’d get around to reading some of his works, and seeing this thread has prompted me fulfill that. Finally.
So what would be the best place to start? Any recommendations?
I would recommend Empire of the East, his Beserker series, and some of his short story collections.
The Swords series starts out okay, but the longer it goes on, the more tedious it gets, IMO. Stop after the first (and originally only) three. Empire of the East is superior to the whole lot of Swords books and definitely a wothwhile read.
The early Berserker books. Like everything else he writes, Saberhagen gets worse with these the longer he stays with them.
I like his vampire books e.g. An old friend of the family; Dominion.