This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on August 15, 2026.

Cormac Mac Art: Isle of Swords

By Matthew John – Titan Books – July 28, 2026

Review by Robin Marx

As Isle of Swords begins, Gaelic reaver Cormac Mac Art awakens on the shore of a corpse-strewn beach, greeted by the sound of his Danish comrade Wulfere (appropriately nicknamed the “Skull-splitter”) braining shipwrecked Saxons with a rock. The two are the only survivors of a raiding crew swept away along with their Saxon foemen by a rogue wave during a bloody boarding action. Upon realizing that they have washed up on their original destination, the Isle of Swords, rumored to house a lost trove of Roman gold guarded by hostile Pictish tribesfolk, the pair elect to press on with the search for the treasure despite the overwhelming odds against them. In addition to brutal Saxons and baleful Picts, before long Cormac and Wulfere encounter menacing sorcery and the uncanny influence of a tribal icon called the Dark Man.

Cormac Mac Art: Isle of Swords is part of Titan Books’ HEROIC LEGENDS line of digital short stories featuring the characters of Weird Tales veteran pulp author and Conan the Barbarian creator Robert E. Howard. While Conan himself has inevitably received the lion’s share of attention given his name recognition, HEROIC LEGENDS has also allowed modern authors to revive some of the lesser-known heroes from Howard’s body of work. Cormac Mac Art is one such character, having only appeared in a pair of finished stories and two further incomplete fragments, none of which were published during Howard’s lifetime. Indeed, Cormac Mac Art remains somewhat of a Howard “deep cut” character even today, with only a handful of pastiche fiction and comic appearances. Despite being the 24th installment in the line, Isle of Swords is the first HEROIC LEGENDS story dedicated to Cormac.

While this is (occasional Grimdark Magazine contributor) Matthew John’s first piece involving Cormac Mac Art, he is no stranger to the realms of Robert E. Howard and Sword & Sorcery fantasy in general. In addition to extensive work on Monolith Board Games’ Conan tabletop and roleplaying games, John has penned stories starring the barbarian for The Savage Sword of Conan. Readers familiar with his previous fiction, either through his Conan work or To Walk on Worlds, have a good idea of what to expect from Cormac Mac Art: Isle of Swords: muscular, kinetic prose and bone-crunching violence. John keeps the pace brisk and the bodies dropping. Unlike John’s previous work, however, the supernatural elements of the story are kept low-key; eerie, but with an air of plausible deniability about them. While readers accustomed to Conan and King Kull may miss the lack of fireworks and monsters, this restraint is wholly appropriate for Cormac Mac Art, whose original exploits as related by Howard (barring one) were grounded historical adventures. On the other hand, the true identity of the Dark Man is a fun Easter egg sure to be appreciated by fans of Howard’s more sorcery-infused stories.

Cormac Mac Art: Isle of Swords is a fast-paced and gritty adventure involving one of Robert E. Howard’s more underutilized characters. Readers in the mood for monsters and magical mayhem are better directed to other entries in the HEROIC LEGENDS line, but grimdark fans in particular are likely to appreciate the mud-caked melees and dirty tactics Matthew John delivers.

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This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on November 28, 2023.

Conan: Lord of the Mount

By Stephen Graham Jones – Titan Books – September 26, 2022

Review by Robin Marx

Lord of the Mount opens with Conan as the last survivor of a vanquished raiding party. Surrounded by the dead, as the battered barbarian’s consciousness returns the first shapes that come into view are that of a small group of cattle and their herder. The eyes of both the cows and the man tending them have a strange purple tinge to them, hinting at long term use of the intoxicating powder of the black lotus. Wary of the shifty lotus addict, Conan nevertheless accepts a meal of wine and steak—carved directly from the flanks of the passive, drugged cattle—from the man. Known as Jen Ro, the herdsman tells Conan of his destination: the village of Trinnecerl, where ale and women are plentiful. He warns that the mountain pass leading to the village is guarded by a fearsome monster, however, the so-called Lord of the Mount. With no better destination in mind, the rootless barbarian wanderer elects to accompany Jen Ro, hoping to indulge himself in the pleasures Trinnecerl has to offer and see this Lord of the Mount for himself. Conan soon finds himself fighting for his life against a foe unlike any he has faced before.

Lord of the Mount is the first installment in the Heroic Legends series of monthly digital short stories starring Conan the Barbarian and other pulp fiction heroes created by Robert E. Howard. While not the first piece of new Conan fiction produced via the partnership between Titan Books and Howard franchise owner Heroic Signatures (that would be the Conan – Blood of the Serpent novel by S. M. Stirling), news of the Heroic Legends series was welcomed by Conan and Howard fans for a number of reasons. One was that the Conan stories and the sword & sorcery subgenre of fantasy as a whole originated as short stories and still tend to be most at home in that format. Another reason was the roster of authors listed with the series announcement. Experienced and reliable Conan authors such as John C. Hocking and Scott Oden were present and accounted for, yes, but there were also unexpected curve-balls like Laird Barron and V. Castro. Of the latter group, Stephen Graham Jones was a particularly anticipated contributor, as not only is his star currently ascendant within the horror genre (a field with considerable overlap with sword & sorcery), but his 2021 autobiographical Texas Monthly essay My Life With Conan the Barbarian had already fostered a sense of kinship among many sword & sorcery fans. Jones gets it, he’s one of us. We wanted to see what he could do with the character.

The strong points of Lord of the Mount are its minimalist premise and brisk pace. No time is wasted getting to the good stuff. The scene is set, Conan hits the road, and a knock-down, drag-out battle with the Lord of the Mount follows.

Unfortunately, Lord of the Mount is not entirely successful. Unlike many Conan pastiche writers, Jones made little effort to emulate Howard’s writing style. But he also didn’t seem to write in the colloquial, almost folksy voice Jones used in other works like The Only Good Indians. The result is sort of a hybrid, neither fish nor foul. Dissimilar to Howard, but also not quite Jones’ natural narrative voice.

The portrayal of Conan also felt off in parts. During his battle with the Lord of the Mount, in multiple instances Conan is described as “screaming.” Conan has never struck me as much of a screamer, but even if he had occasion to scream at least some of these screams should have been changed to “bellows” or “roars” for variety’s sake. Also, when Conan reunites with Jen Ro in the story’s denouement he reacts as if he has been subjected to a betrayal worthy of violent retribution. However, at the beginning of the story Jen Ro is pretty forthright when describing the danger of the Lord of the Mount and the means he uses to evade it, making Conan’s rage feel excessive and unwarranted.

While I expected more from a Stephen Graham Jones take on Conan, Lord of the Mount is still worth the small price of admission. I appreciate Titan Books’ willingness to go beyond safe and expected Conan writers, giving readers a chance to see a variety of different interpretations and portrayals of a familiar character.

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