S&S Roundup #32

Happy New Year! Well, it’s still January, at least. Our last roundup was right before Thanksgiving, so welcome back. Hope to be more consistent in 2024 - let’s shoot for rounding up a variety of contemporary S&S links every 2 weeks, shall we? :-)

+ In the meantime, feel free to send me some of your discoveries. Or tell me about your latest project - like this one from Matt Hilton: “I’ve recently published a collection of my sword and sorcery and heroic fantasy short fiction…Clashing Blades. It includes eight stories, four featuring my axe-wielding adventurer, Korvix.” BTW, Matt has another Korvix tale in an upcoming Savage Realms Monthly. Check it out!

+ Want more S&S deliciousness? Then catch up with Jason M Waltz’s latest, Neither Beg Nor Steal. [Update: That should be “yield” - Neither Beg Nor Yield, lol.] Now that the Kickstarter is over, this HUGE antho - 20 all-new stories, 180,000+ words, 464 pages print - is available to the general public. Kindle as of Jan 26! (620 pages according to Amazon!). Physical copies coming soon. Among the many reviews and promos on the web, here’s one from Speculative Fiction Showcase.

Then, there are these other S&S Roundups to explore…

• Links of Steel from DMR Books (Jan 28)

• Sensor Sweep from Castalia House (Jan 29)

And Some Podcasts of Interest

• The Cromcast - Season 18 Episode Zubteen: Jim Zub Returns to talk Conan Comics (Jan 27).

• Rogues in the House - A New Edge for Jirel (Jan 15).

• Dungeons & Damsels - Samples of Scenes & Characters from Season 3 (Jan 25).

• Baen Free Radio Hour - (No recent podcasts as far as I can tell.)

• The Worldshapers - Episode 153 (Jan 28) - Mark Morton – The Headmasters

• Discovered Wordsmiths - Episode 182 (Dec 22) – J Thorn – A.I.

• Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff - Episode 583 (Jan 26) - Marge the Druid is Feeling Rejected

• Strange Shadows hosted by Tim Mendees and Rob Poyton. SS3-02 (Jan 27) - The Holliness of Azédarac

• Monsters, Madness and Magic Podcast hosted by Justin Young. EP#237 (Jan 25) - Horror in the House of Hope - An Interview with Andrew Wincott

• YouTube: Jay Requard, Fantasy Author & Podcaster. Latest episode is Pondering the Orb Season 2 Finale. 30 minutes, went live yesterday.

• YouTube: Echoes of Crom Records. New to this list! Check out the latest episode: Top Ten Sword and Sorcery Novels. Just over 10 minutes, premiered Jan 28, hosted by Howie Bentley, heavy metal artist.

Pulp & Conan Corner

+ Happy belated birthday to Robert E. Howard, Jan 22, 1906 - from Gary Romeo.

+ REH’s Conan short “The Devil in Iron” from Paperback Warrior.

+ Robert E. Howard's fictional characters at REH World.

+ Conan (1967) The Thing in the Crypt from G.W. Thomas at Dark Worlds Quarterly.

+ The Saga of Swain the Viking, Vol. 1: Swain’s Vengeance by Brian Murphy at DMR Books Blog.

S&S Zines & Markets

+ Schlock! Webzine’s latest is online with a review by Gavin Chappell of Conan: Lord of the Mount by Stephen Graham Jones.

+ Heroic Fantasy Quarterly - Issue 58 (Nov 2023)

+ S E Lindberg shares about the first two issues of New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine.

+ Old Moon Quarterly submission window closes today.

+ Swords and Sorcery Magazine, December 2023 issue 131 is up.

+ Crimson Quill Quarterly Volume 1 is now available.

+ Whetstone Issue #8 is free on their website as a PDF download.

More Links of Interest

+ Discover the Ravenglass Universe by Jon Cronshaw, “a realm of magic, epic sagas, elemental forces, and heroic journeys.”

+ Do you like pulp magazines and novels from a bygone era? You might to keep up with the reviews at Rough Edges from James Reasoner.

+ D&D - 50 Years Ago, Dungeons & Dragons Debuted, from Grognardia.

+ Gaming - Barbarian Kingdoms: a game of conquest and bluff set in the 5th century.

+ The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimmer – An Audio Book Review at Swords & Spectres.

+ New Stuff from Baen Books. New e-books from Baen listed here.

+ How Brian Murphy organizes his bookshelves, at The Silver Key.

+ And some Substacks to check out: Rediscovered Realms and The Charlotte Pendragon Diaries and Talking Pulp Press and The Obelisk and many more. What do you read on a regular basis?

A Few Kickstarters

+ Jim Breyfogle’s A Bad Case of Dead is Live (from retrovirusrecords). “A Victorian Fairytale Romance about Necromancers, Dragons, Mermaids, Vampires, Zombies, and Adventure on the High Seas!”

+ Chronicles of the Dawnblade: “The adventure of Willow, the humour of Shrek and the banter of Buffy all come together in this sword & sorcery novel series!” from Andrew Claydon.

+ Coming Soon: Quest #1-3: Swords & Sorcery Action in a Magical Realm! from Scott Harris. “Left for dead, the paladin Vhess fights from beyond the grave to save her friends... and the world!”

+ Do you now of any more that need some love and attention? Send links my way.

New S&S and Adjacent Projects

+ Erick Waag's second Skarde is up for pre-order: Weird of the Skull Totem. I read the first one and really enjoyed it. Here’s my review of Citadel of Seven Swords on GR.

Okay, dang, I’ve run out of room for this issue of S&S Roundup. So…

Until Next Time!

Thanks for reading! If you want to show your support for this endeavor, feel free to grab your copy of Michael T. Burke’s Fragments of a Greater Darkness, which I’ve had the privilege of publishing. Here’s the Amazon link - e-book and pocket-sized paperback formats (also in KU).

“Reminiscent of Saunders’ character Imaro and hints of Howard’s Conan adventures makes Burke’s first collection of Ahanu Foxcloud's tales a must-read of current S&S writings.” - Review by Jason M Waltz. More reviews on Goodreads.

Ahanu Foxcloud, expatriate of the Mahkah people, seeks answers to his past while forging his own future. The amber-eyed barbarian warrior ventures into the ruthless, fantastic world of Symbra. Enter with him now, in this collection of sword and sorcery adventures.

A creature of legend stalks the nighted woods. The promise of treasure leads the unwary to a horrible realization. Terror holds sway in a dark house looming on a lonely plain. These and other more weird and thrilling tales are all but...Fragments of a Greater Darkness!

Chat with you soon, Lyn Perry