Greets Peeps. Used to watch baseball when I was a kid. I’d still be watching if MLB still had this kind of passion! A few years ago, the Korean Dinos celebrated their championship win by lofting a huge sword. Yes, this picture is real. Excellent.
More News You Can Use
+ Five Unforgettable Norse Warriors in Historical Fiction and Fantasy from Reactor. BTW, Scott Oden’s Grimnir series makes this list! Congrats, Scott.
+ Waystation has launched. This is Jason Ray Carney’s platform for writers of amateur space opera. Issue #1 is free to download. Submissions are currently closed.
+ Download a copy of Crystal Lake Publishing’s full catalogue of horror novels, novellas, anthologies, and collections. Here’s their Twitter announcement.
+ Gen Con Indy - Aug 1-4. More about the Gen Con Writers Symposium at Seth Lindberg’s blog and his panel, “Sword and Sorcery for Contemporary Audiences.”
+ Robert E. Howard Days at the REH Museum in Cross Plains, Texas, will kick off this coming Thursday, June 6, but most of the action occurs June 7 & 8. Details here. Also, an update on Rusty Burke from DMR Blog.
Reviews & Interviews
+ Jason Ray Carney of Spiral Tower Press posted a YouTube interview with Matt Holder, author of Hurled Headlong Flaming.
+ At Black Gate from S. E. Lindberg - Horror and Beauty in Edgar Rice Burrough's Work: An Interview with Robert Allen Lupton.
+ At Castalia House, Morgan reviews Clashing Blades by Matt Hilton.
+ Some nice reviews at Goodreads about Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 8 from Jim Kuenzli and Richard Fisher.
+ Conan the Cimmerian - Fan Tribute by Alain Seguin on YouTube (45 seconds).
New to Read in S&S and Adjacent
+ Three new stories at Swords & Sorcery Magazine: “Away with the Fairies” by Rick Danforth; “Chasing the Adur Myth” by Dave Hangman; and “Pilgrims of the Swamp Waste” by Benjamin Sartison.
+ Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Q–60 features three stories: “City of Dreadful Light” by James Enge; “Death Upon the Turqiose Road” by Gregory Mele; and “Discordant Factions” by Howard Andrew Jones.
+ Story #1 from Swords & Heroes E-Zine, “A Hiss from the Mound” by B. Harlan Crawford. (‘Sword & Sorcery One Story at a Time’ - every two weeks!)
+ Now Available: Doom of the Dark Delta, a Snakehaven novel by James Reasoner at Rough Edges.
+ Literary Outlaw Issue #2 features new and classic tales, including “Dagon” by HPL. Issue #3 has HPL’s “The White Ship.” Check out the whole store.
More for Writers & Readers
Submissions for Witch House #4 are OPEN through 21 July 2024!
Schlock! is now open to all submissions. For guidelines, visit here.
Peasant Magazine - submission guidelines are here.
Swords & Sorcery Magazine - new guidelines page is here.
Swords & Heroes E-Zine open to subs through June. Then again in Oct.
Savage Realms Monthly has submission guidelines here. (send only first 3 pages)
BFS Horizons writers’ guidelines are here. (May open in July.)
Heroic Fantasy Quarterly will open for subs in July 2024.
Two More Roundups
Links of Steel from DMR Books (May 26)
Sensor Sweep from Castalia House (June 3)
S&S and Adjacent Podcasts
The Cromcast - Season 19 Episode 2: The Broken Sword, Part II (June 3)
Monsters, Madness and Magic Podcast - EP#261: Ride Of The Roughneck - An Interview With Michael Ironside (June 4)
Baen Free Radio Hour - BFRH 2024 05 31.
Rogues in the House - The Rogues React! (Part 2, March 28)
Dungeons & Damsels - “The Ghost House” S4E4 (May 16)
Strange Shadows - SS3 10 The Boiling Point (June 2)
The Worldshapers - Episode 171: Samantha Mills – The Wings Upon Her Back (June 2)
Conan Corner & the Pulps
+ Gary Romeo at Sprague de Camp Fan reviews “Terror From the Abyss” by Henry Herz (Heroic Legends series).
+ Conan Comics from Paperback Warrior, reviews of series from Dark Horse Comics and Curtis Magazines.
+ Book Review at PorPor Books Blog: Swords Against Darkness IV edited by Andrew J. Offutt (Zebra Books, 1979).
+ Lester Del Rey, born June 2, 1915. Comments at Adventures Fantastic.
+ The Day the Pulps Died, commentary by William Lampkin, editor at ThePulp.Net.
+ Conan: Cult of the Obsidian Moon by James Lovegrove [Hardcover – November 19, 2024 from Amazon] “A new chapter of the Titan comics & Heroic Signatures massive narrative event: The Battle of the Black Stone. A thrilling story about Conan the Barbarian facing incomprehensible Lovecraftian horrors written by New York Times Bestselling author James Lovegrove.”
Some Kickstarters
+ COMING SOON: Even More Tales From the Magicians Skull from Outland Publications - “A magazine of all-new swords & sorcery fiction in the classic pulp style! Issue 12 shipping soon and issue 13 is in the works!”
+ ONE DAY LEFT! Sword & Scandal - An anthology of NSFW heroic fantasy from J. Manfred Weichsel. Call for stories when the project funds.
+ HYPERBOREA: Modulistic Terror from Jeffrey Talanian - Three new adventure modules for HYPERBOREA. (7 days left.)
+ JUST LAUNCHED: Hero of Legend #1 - A Fantasy Adventure: “A fantasy comic for fans of The Legend of Zelda. What do you do in a world where the destined hero has failed?” From Reed Hinckley-Barnes.
+ Cthulhu FhCon: Short Stories Starring Cthulhu, Fans & Frenzy: “An insanely fun horror & dark humor short-story anthology featuring encounters between old gods and fans at a scifi-fantasy convention.” From Esther Jones.
+ Okay, totally not S&S and yes I’m pimping my own ride, lol. But if you like cozy mysteries, check out my campaign here.
Finally, a plug for a friend…
Hey all, I have a friend, L. S. King, who has a sword and planet fantasy series called Sword's Edge (Amazon link). She's just finished Book 4, The Reluctant King (which I edited and very much enjoyed) and is looking for a few serious ARC readers who can post an honest review. (You know how this self-publishing promo thing works. Reply only if truly interested.) She's a very good writer and storyteller.
The novel is 90k words, is character driven (so not S&S!), and has more than a few subplots and lots of players. Think epic fantasy but with a bit of SF tech. I consider it a standalone but definitely has a lot of backstory to it. Please message me or comment for more info or to volunteer. I think it'll go live end of June. Thanks.
Until next time, keep swinging!