S&S Roundup #50
The Latest in Contemporary Sword & Sorcery
Quite the milestone - 50 roundups so far! Publishing this every 2 weeks is far more manageable than my original weekly send-outs. Posting a Swords & Heroes story on alternating weeks works well too. Thanks to all who regularly send encouraging notes about how much you enjoy this newsletter. Makes it worth it! Now on with the show.
A Few New/Contemporary S&S Series…
Someone on FB asked about some indie pubbed S&S series. Now these are just a few that I’m familiar with (Goodreads links), so be sure to add more in the comments!
Korvix the Axe Warrior Series by Matt Hilton.
Valengetrix Series by J R Cason.
Skarde: The Wandering Sword Series by Erik Waag.
The Saga of Ashonn the Slayer by Darin Calhoun.
War on Rome Series by Adrian Cole (plus his Elak series).
Also, check out the Contemporary Sword and Sorcery Wiki at Fandom!
Chad A.B. Wilson’s Brock of Falsea
Michael T. Burke’s Ahanu Foxcloud
Howard Andrew Jones’ Dabir and Asim
Scott Oden’s Grimnir
And many, many more! Here’s a list of more series characters by current writers. What’s cool, is if have an account, you can add to, edit, update, etc. When I have time, I’ll try to do that!
Additional New Projects, Stories, Etc.
+ Coming Soon - Red Sonja: Consumed by Gail Simone (Hachette, Nov 2024 )
+ Blade of the Wanderer (Scars of Magic Book 1) by Steven Raaymakers. “The chronological short stories of Esterra Stake. Tractwalker. Mercenary. Exile.” (Coming Feb 2025, pre-order available.)
+ The Ship of Ishtar Centennial Edition by Abraham Merrit from DMR Books. Review at GrogNardia.
+ At Paperback Warrior, a review of Island of the Dead by Brian Keene (2024).
+ Baubles From Bones: Issue 2 (Fall 2024)
+ JUST RELEASED! Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 9 e-book is live. Paperback coming soon. Here’s the UK link. And here’s the ToC.
The Cold Maiden by Eli Freysson
Assassin Eternal: The Memory Eaters by Andrew Darlington
To Raise the Shining Walls of Irem Once More by Tais Teng
Fulgin the Grim: Retribution by Ken Lizzi
Snow in Kadhal by Jaap Boekestein
Voyage to Vancienne by Gavin Chappell
A Pathway Forward by Lyndon Perry & David Bakke
The Left Eye of Phun Margat by Scott McCloskey
Sorcery in Nekharet by Steve Dilks
Artwork by award-winning artist Jim Pitts
+ Preorder Book 3 of the Viking Gael Saga: The Sea King by JTT Ryder, who writes: “My next book will be released November 28th! Get ready for a bloody, raid-filled adventure novel as Asgeir, the Viking Gael, traverses Iceland, and ravages the coasts of Scotland, England, and Ireland. I plan for at least two more Viking Gael novels, ideally coming out in 2025 and 2026!” Check out the whole series here.
Reviews and News
Special focus this week on Neither Beg Nor Yield edited by Jason M Waltz (see how it all began here at DMR blog).
A Review of Neither Beg Nor Yield from Vincent N. Darlage (Nov 4, SdC Fan)
Another Review of Neither Beg Nor Yield from Mark Kirby (Nov 7, SdC Fan)
Review: Neither Beg Nor Yield from Gary Romeo (March 6, SdC Fan)
Neither Beg Nor Yield: Stories With S&S Attitude from James Reasoner (Feb 12)
Review: Neither Beg Nor Yield from Fletcher Vredenburgh (Feb 9, Black Gate)
More Reviews, Interviews, and News…
+ The Savage Swords of Jim Steranko from Deuce Richardson (Nov 5, DMR)
+ Besting the Beast and Other Fantasy Tales: Scott Forbes Crawford’s Weirdly Accessible Adventure from SE Lindberg at Black Gate.
+ A Call to Help Howard Andrew Jones and His Family - over $50,000 raised!
+ Swords, Sorcery, and RPGs Too: Q&A w/ Matthew John at Side Quest.
+ Adrian Cole’s Dream Lords Celebrates 50 Years! News at Iron Age by Jacob Calta.
Taking Another Look…
Here are some projects from a few years back, but still contemporary!
+ Azieran Adventures Presents Artifacts and Relics: Extreme Sorcery with stories by David C. Smith, James Beamon, Joe Bonadonna, Bill Ward, Steve Goble, John M. Whalen, Colleen Anderson, David J. West, and Fred C. Adams.
+ Demons: A Clash of Steel Anthology, edited by Jason M Waltz with stories by Frederick Tor, Rob Mancebo, TW Williams, Steve Goble, Christopher Heath, Trista Robichaud, Jonathan Moeller with Johnney Perkins (illustrations), foreword by Armand Rosamilia.
Are there any other anthologies from 10 or so years ago that need some love?
Kickstarters & Such…
+ 3 Days to Go: Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling, Lamplighter, Factotum. “Join us for the revival of D.M. Cornish’s award-winning dark fantasy series in print, digital, plus exclusive Half-Continent calendar.” From Richard Monson-Haefel at Noble Beast.
+ 2 Weeks to Go! The Fall of Ingway: A Fantasy Audio Drama and Deluxe Script by Justin Rose. “High Fantasy Graphic Audio Drama with Illustrated Special Edition Hardcover. An adventure full of myth and magic telling a tale of gods.”
+ Late Pledge Available: Conan: The Hyborian Age - The Roleplaying Game. Take part in days of high adventure in this glorious and official Conan tabletop RPG via Monolith.
+ At Fund My Comic: A Saga of Sunsets - “A gritty fantasy Viking adventure filled with orcs, flying longships, magic & family.” From A.C. Pritchard, with art by Luke Stone.
+ Launching Soon: Zorann: The Star Warrior -- Sword and Sorcery -- Remastered! A Conan-style barbarian warrior on a prehistoric alien world battles monstrous beasts and evil magic astride his telepathic pterodactyl from Drew D. Lenhart/SnowyWorks.
+ Launching Next Week: Three New Sword & Sorcery Collections! Brand new projects by David A. Riley, Tim Hanlon, and Andrew Darlington featuring tales of dark fantasy and heroic adventure. From Tule Fog Press, edited by yours truly. Click the “notify me” button to get the updates.
Pulp and Such
+ The Day of the Dragon from G. W. Thomas at Dark Worlds Quarterly.
+ The First Wave of the Walking Dead: “Long before the current zombie boom, reanimated horrors lurked in the pulps.” Article by Jeffrey Shanks (thepulp.net)
+ A Rough Edges Rerun Review: King of the World's Edge by H. Warner Munn (1939).
+ Review: “The Tree of Life” by C. L. Moore, 1936. (Marzaat.com)
For Writers
Crimson Quill Quarterly sub window closes November 15.
Swords & Sorcery Magazine is open to subs.
Savage Realms Monthly submission guidelines here. (send first 3 pages)
BFS Horizons writers’ guidelines are here.
Schlock! is open to submissions.
Peasant Magazine - submission guidelines are here.
Iron Age Media open to contributions.
Raconteur Press - Open Calls for 2025.
FB page: Open Submission Calls for Horror/Paranormal/Mystery/SciFi Writers.
Swords & Heroes (my bi-weekly project) and if your story doesn’t quite fit, I sometimes suggest my more general spec-fic zine, Residential Aliens. In fact, a few regular S&S writers are featured in the most recent issue with stories by Ben Crawford, Bryan Martin, Geoffrey Hart, and illustrations by Jasiah Witkofsky, including Jasiah's essay on the history and evolution of fantasy.
It’s not S&S, but next year I’m going to Kickstart a series of 4 Space Opera volumes. Here’s the lowdown and submission guidelines. All writers welcome to submit. The 4 tropes are: First Contact, Alien Invasion, Generation Ship, and Colony World.
More Roundups, Podcasts, & Video Shows
Sensor Sweep from Castalia House (Nov 4)
Just the Axe, Ma’am from Kevin Beckett (#15, Oct 31)
Rediscovered Realms monthly Phantasy Snitch (Oct)
Podcasts…
Monsters, Madness and Magic Podcast - EP#282: In Chains and Shadows - An Interview with Mina Walkure (Nov 6)
Strange Shadows - SS Bonus 09 - Six Poems (Oct 27)
New Listing! Paperback Warrior Podcast (Ep 108, Oct 28)
Baen Free Radio Hour - Latest episode is Nov 8.
The Cromcast - S21 E1: The Wind and the Lion and the Eagle! (Oct 8)
Rogues in the House - Love, Revenge, Metal: Panos Cosmatos’ ‘Mandy” (Oct 30)
Dungeons & Damsels - “Soldier, Arrow, Horse” (Part 3, Oct 25)
YouTube Shows…
Rogue Blade Presents “24 in 42” - with Jonathan Olfert.
Michael K. Vaughan is a little obsessed with Dracula.
Erik Waag - Home of Old School Sword and Sorcery. Iron Age guy.
Skallagrim - Revisiting Riddick's Knives - Practical in Real Life?
Jay Requard - Pondering The Orb’s Season 3 Finale.
That’s about it! As always, feel free to comment with additional news and reviews, additional S&S projects and writing ops. Until next time, keep swinging!