This review originally appeared in New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine Issue #3, released on December 9, 2024.

Shared World

By Jonathan Ball, GMB Chomichuk, James Gillespie, Chadwick Ginther – Stranger Fiction Inc. – November 20, 2023

Review by Robin Marx

Released under the auspices of Jonathan Ball’s Stranger Fiction Inc., Shared World collects six short stories by four Canadian authors, all taking place within the same jointly created Sword & Sorcery setting. While the concept of a shared Sword & Sorcery world immediately summons to mind Robert Asprin’s enduring Thieves' World series, surprisingly no acknowledgment is made of this antecedent. Instead, Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s introduction hearkens back to the days of Weird Tales magazine, when names and motifs from H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos horror stories began cropping up in the more fantasy-oriented creations of his correspondents Robert E. Howard, C.L. Moore, and Clark Ashton Smith. The argument is that not only is there a long history of cross-fertilization between authors working in the pulp fantasy milieu, but that elements of Lovecraft’s Mythos in particular have had a strong presence in Sword & Sorcery fiction since the earliest days of the genre. Shared World is positioned as an heir to this literary tradition.

The setting of Shared World is a post-apocalyptic one. In the distant past, a great human civilization approached godhood. A mysterious calamity wiped out their kingdoms, however, leaving their monolithic ruins scattered across the shunned and monster-infested Once Lands. Various tribal societies keep to the less inhospitable margins of the wilderness, but one dominant metropolis has coalesced in the form of Khyber, a mighty city serving as a central gateway to three continents. Elements of the Cthulhu Mythos are prominent in Shared World, with several stories concerned with strange gods of the “dead but dreaming” persuasion. The tales are united by a central tension between characters striving to keep those ancient gods dormant and those seeking to hasten their return.

While the stories are presented in a mixed order for variety’s sake, each of the Shared World contributors has a particular focus. For example, both stories co-written by GMB Chomichuk and James Gillespie deal with members of the Vani, a tribal people, and begin with the same inciting incident: a Vani apparently driven mad by greed has slain the Spear King and sold his seven children into slavery. “Kaa-Rokaan,” the first story in this diptych, involves a Vani scout who ventures forth to rescue the enslaved tribesmen. Rokaan is assisted in his task by the totem spirit, or “Kaa,” of a crow. While he is initially disappointed in not being chosen by a more martial totem like Bear or Boar, Rokaan eventually comes to appreciate his spiritual ally’s strengths as he deals with the alien obstacles barring the path to his enslaved comrades. “Kaa-Shufa,” the second entry by Chomichuk and Gillespie, follows the Bear totem warrior woman tasked with pursuing Lothar, the traitor who killed the Spear King and sold his offspring. Shufa learns that Lothar’s heinous crime was motivated by desperation, and the two become uneasy allies in a quest that leads them deep underground, where yellow lichen-infected cultists attend to an alien god on the verge of an apocalyptic awakening. The Chomichuk/Gillespie stories are an intriguing blend of First Nations mythology and Lovecraftian horror, with resourceful heroes and their inscrutable spiritual allies pitted against eldritch threats.

Chadwick Ginther’s two contributions to the anthology are set in Khyber, a crowded and colorful metropolis pleasingly reminiscent of Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar, or Sanctuary of Thieves' World fame. In “When the Gods Send You Rats,” a heavily tattooed midwife (inscribed with songbirds for babies delivered and crows for enemy lives taken) is attacked by a humaniform swarm of rats bearing an enchanted crown. She joins forces with the Rat-King, one of Khyber’s ubiquitous Rat-Catchers, and the pair soon discover that the rodents of Khyber are attempting to summon an extradimensional entity that threatens to devour the entire city. “Red” is another excursion deep below Khyber. When her dissolute haberdasher brother Needle is abducted under mysterious circumstances, deadly swordswoman Redala visits a string of Diviners and disreputable underworld figures in an effort to pick up his trail. While we only get a small taste of the setting, both of Ginther’s stories present Khyber as a bustling and chaotic city filled with bizarre communities, each with their own social codes and mores—fertile ground for Sword & Sorcery adventures.

Jonathan Ball’s pair of stories return to the tribal side of the setting. Both tales feature Draxas, a beastlike woman cast out from the matriarchal Shaaraka cannibals for the heresy of atheism. In “There Were Once Words,” Draxas tracks a hooded sorcerer through blighted wildernesses, eager to learn about the sleeping gods he serves. She ends up with more than she bargained for in her final confrontation with the sorcerer. “Circle of Stones” is a sequel that deals with the fallout of her fateful encounter with the sorcerer. Half of the story is a flashback dealing with Draxas’ bloody expulsion from the Shaaraka, and the remainder centers on her newfound devotion to dark gods. Ball’s entries emphasize mood over plot, and Draxas is an interesting—if challenging—character. Clad in leather of human origin and messily slurping the marrow from women’s bones, it wasn’t until a few pages into her introduction that it became clear Draxas was intended to be human, rather than a ghoul or some other monster.

Despite its regrettably bland title, Shared World is a fascinating literary experiment. The anthology was released simultaneously with Khyber, a companion collection of stories by Ginther. Although they have not yet appeared at the time of this writing, Once Lands by Chomichuk & Gillespie has been announced, as well as Draxas by Ball. The Shared World project’s website has an open call for contributors, and it will be interesting to see if the Once Lands are adopted by writers outside of this initial circle. With plenty of space for further development, Shared World offers a tantalizing look at a Lovecraftian Sword & Sorcery setting boasting a lot of potential.

#ReviewArchive #BookReview #Fantasy #SwordAndSorcery #SharedWorld #JonathanBall #GMBChomichuk #JamesGillespie #ChadwickGinther #NewEdgeSwordAndSorcery #NESS

This review originally appeared in Old Moon Quarterly Vol. 6, released on January 16, 2024.

Tales From The Magician’s Skull – No. 11

Edited by Howard Andrew Jones – Goodman Publications – August 18, 2013

Review by Robin Marx

Tales From The Magician’s Skull No. 11 collects eight new Sword & Sorcery stories curated by Howard Andrew Jones. It features cover artwork by fantasy paperback master Sanjulian, and each story is illustrated by artists including Jason Edwards, Tom Galambos, and Stefan Poag.

“Test of the Runeweavers,” by H. T. Grossen, receives the cover treatment for this issue. Young Frode, a member of the Viking-inspired Aegirvarg people, embarks on his first ocean voyage as an apprentice runerikr, or wielder of spoken rune-based magic. Investigating mysterious coastal raids, Frode and his fellows encounter strangers from a far-off land with their own potent ideograph-based magic. This brisk story covers a great deal of territory despite its slim page count, and the rune magic feels flashy and novel.

“Lady of the Frost” is the latest Shintaro Oba tale by C. L. Werner, a name that should be familiar to fans of Warhammer and Games Workshop’s Black Library imprint. As with previous installments, wandering samurai Oba comes into conflict with a supernatural threat from Japanese folklore. “Lady of the Frost” is a solid example of sword & sorcery adventure in an underrepresented setting.

Trespassing in temples devoted to bizarre and malign gods is a common (and exciting!) trope in sword & sorcery, but if this issue has a flaw, it’s the inclusion of three such stories in a single installment. Bill Pearce’s “The Eyes of Rath Kanon” is the first of this issue’s unadvertised evil temple trilogy. The twisty plot and shifting loyalties intrigued, but despite a strong start and conclusion it felt like the middle portion of this contribution lacked the propulsive momentum found in the other stories.

“Ghostwise” by Caias Ward was the highlight of the issue, and a story I suspect Old Moon Quarterly readers are especially predisposed to enjoy. Dark-skinned but with chalk-white hands, gun-slinging mystic Obba Babatunde is summoned to a king’s court to attend to a haunted princess with identical markings. Like Obba himself, Princess Jansynth exists simultaneously in both the realms of the living and the dead, making her vulnerable to constant ghostly attacks unless she can build up her own defenses. As she struggles to keep her soul intact, Jansynth learns a devastating truth about her spectral tormentor and her own heritage. Cleverly plotted, “Ghostwise” reminds me of the early Witcher short stories by Andrzej Sapkowski, where the true monster isn’t always obvious at first glance. Ward’s hero and his talents are worthy of further elaboration, and I hope to see more Obba stories in the future.

Set in Earth in ancient times rather than a secondary world, Mark Mellon’s “Melkart and the Whore of Babylon” masterfully transforms antiquity into a lush and decadent sword & sorcery setting. Envious of her influence on Babylon’s populace, King Belshazzar plots to use a religious ceremony as cover and assassinate Inanna, the priestess of Ishtar, replacing both her and the goddess she serves with a more amenable sect. Unwilling to participate in such a dastardly scheme, Belshazzar’s hired sword Melkart immediately reveals the conspiracy to Inanna, offering himself as her protector at great personal risk. Just as the odds seem insurmountable, “Melkart and the Whore of Babylon” concludes with a truly epic finale.

Dawn Vogel’s “Kick in the Door and Improvise” distinguishes itself from the other stories by virtue of its humor. Unable to infiltrate a castle due to the bright moon overhead, two thieves hired to steal a king’s crown seek magical assistance. A sorcerer offers to dim the moon to hide their approach, provided they can collect all the ingredients required for the spell on a tight schedule. The final heist itself ends up almost an afterthought; most of the story concerns itself with the hunt for an elusive black pearl. The wry, freewheeling tone and focus on spell components pleasantly reminded me of the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves film, and the story offered a refreshing change of pace from the uniformly serious tales composing the rest of the issue.

In “The Lens of Being,” by Daniel Amatiello, a pirate queen stumbles across a menacing cult lurking in a cliff-side temple complex on the coast of India. While the heretical Buddhist sect featured in the story had great potential, its aims and methods felt underdeveloped and the climactic monster too familiar. Not a bad story, but it suffers by appearing alongside two other temple raid stories.

The issue ends on a particularly strong note with “Bound in Brass and Iron,” by Matthew X. Gomez. When partially devoured bodies start turning up at the scene of a newly constructed temple, Liam the Black is hired to investigate. The trail leads him into a deeper temple, where a forgotten demon strains against its binding. This is the best of the issue’s unofficial evil temple trilogy, with a resourceful hero, fascinating spellcraft, and tense action.

Each issue of Tales From The Magician’s Skull concludes with a brief appendix called “The Monster Pit,” featuring game statistics of the monsters appearing in the various stories for use with publisher Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics roleplaying game. It’s a gimmick, but a fun one that hopefully encourages tabletop gamers to engage more with the literary roots of their hobby.

Since launching in 2018, Tales From The Magician’s Skull quickly established itself as a quality venue for fantasy tales written in the pulp adventure tradition, and both the fiction and the artwork in this issue maintains that high level of excellence. Tales From The Magician’s Skull benefits from a tight focus on sword & sorcery, making it a one-stop venue for fast-paced fantasy action.

#ReviewArchive #BookReview #Fantasy #SwordAndSorcery #HowardAndrewJones #TalesFromTheMagiciansSkull #OldMoonQuarterly

This review originally appeared in New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine Issue #1, released on November 30, 2023.

Woman of the Woods

By Milton J. Davis – MVmedia, LLC – June 13, 2013

Review by Robin Marx

While Charles R. Saunders may have founded the “Sword and Soul” sub-genre of fantasy, Milton Davis has quickly become one of the field's most indefatigable contributors and promoters. Through his publishing house MVmedia and via collaborations with other creators (including Saunders himself, prior to his 2020 passing), Davis continuously works to create and lend a platform to African- and African diaspora-inspired fantasy and science fiction literature.

Set in the world of Uhuru, which previously appeared in Milton's Meji series, Woman of the Woods follows the adventures of Sadatina. Born to a member of the Shosa, an elite corp of spiritually-imbued fighting women who are forbidden from possessing families of their own, Sadatina is bequeathed to a warm but humble farming family. Even separated from her birth mother, Sadatina distinguishes herself from her adopted family with her superior athletic and hunting ability.

Tragedy strikes, however, when at the tender age of 13 she finds herself drawn into an inter-generational conflict between her people—the Adamu—and the Mosele. Driven from their lands by the encroachment of the Adamu, the Mosele have submitted to the dark god Karan. While the Mosele's counter-invasion was barely fended off long ago, ever since the Adamu have been plagued by sporadic attacks from Karan's servitors: demonic creatures called nyoka (“serpent” in Swahili). One such raid claims the lives of Sadatina's family. She vows revenge, making a home in the wilderness and hunting the nyoka with the assistance of her inborn martial ability and her loyal “sisters”: a pair of orphaned lionesses Sadatina has raised since they were cubs. Viewed with both awe and fear by the people of surrounding settlements, she becomes known as the “Woman of the Woods.”

Her solitary battle does not last long, however. Word of her nyoka-slaying prowess spreads as attacks intensify, and she is sought out by the Shosa as a potential recruit. Sadatina is suspicious of urban society and hierarchy, but the threat of Karan's nyoka grows by the day. Her own quest for vengeance and the needs of her people inevitably push her into assuming a central role in the conflict. Over time she gains new skills and weapons, but also heavy responsibilities and nagging doubts.

Gender is handled in a nuanced fashion in Woman of the Woods. The Shosa warrior women are an accepted and valued part of society, but they are also a breed apart. One must be chosen by the god Cha to join their ranks, and—while Sadatina is allowed an uncommon degree of autonomy—refusing to join is generally not an option for the average villager. They are the symbolic wives of the Adamu people's leader and, while celibacy is not required, bearing children is forbidden and harshly punished. Non-Shosa girls and women appear expected to adhere to traditional gender roles. As presented in Woman of the Woods, Uhuru is neither an egalitarian utopia nor a setting where only the heroine is allowed to occupy a place outside marriage and childbearing.

Religion also plays a central role in Woman of the Woods. The Adamu follow Cha, who is framed as a benevolent but demanding and occasionally distant god. The Mosele worship Karan, a malicious being of stone and magma. The Adamu deride Karan as a demon with delusions of grandeur, but where Cha is content to guide his people through ambiguous visions the divine aid Karan grants his supplicants is frighteningly concrete. His baboon-like ginanga nyoka act as terrifying shock troopers, while the cunning jackal-headed washaka strike under the cover of stealth. Karan’s most devoted human servants gradually gain physical aspects of their god, becoming the stone-skinned mjibwe.

While the story delivers exciting Sword and Soul combat in abundance, at times the war between the Adamu and Mosele is portrayed in an unusual light for such an action-oriented story. Milton makes it clear early in the book that the Mosele were already present in the river valley to which Cha is said to have led the Adamu. The two peoples coexisted for a time, until friction developed between the agrarian Adamu and the cattle-herding Mosele, as burgeoning farms absorbed grazing lands formerly used by the Mosele. While it is left unclear who sparked the original conflict, the Adamu certainly finished it, driving the Mosele out of their ancestral home and across a parched desert and into the mountains, ironically pushing them into the arms of the dark god Karan. As the Mosele return to the Adamu-occupied valley, bringing nyoka with them, the Shosa remain vigilant for Karan’s corruption.

The uneasy moral ambiguity at the heart of the conflict is highlighted by a point in the book where Sadatina herself leads a war band to an Adamu settlement showing signs of Mosele influence. She says “You will kill anyone or anything that approaches you. This is not a rescue. This is a cleansing.” This chilling passage and the massacre that follows seem to make the subtext text: this war is ethnic cleansing and the “heroes” are enthusiastic participants. While it appeared Davis was about to boldly grapple with ethnic cleansing in an Africa-inspired setting, this daring element of the plot is quickly and frustratingly dropped and the story returns to the fantasy genre’s more conventional human versus supernatural struggle.

While the story is exciting and the cover artwork by Chase Conley (director and storyboard artist at Marvel Studios) stunning, the book itself could have used some tighter editing. Words are occasionally omitted, and the early chapters of the Kindle edition include footnotes that appear to be editorial comments addressed to the author.

Editing issues and Davis’ apparent change of heart regarding the ethnic cleansing theme aside, Woman of the Woods is a worthy contribution to the Sword and Soul movement. I also appreciated his dedication to Saunders (“Dossouye has a sister now”), an acknowledgment of his mentor’s own groundbreaking woman warrior. Strong Black women remain a lamentable rarity in Sword & Sorcery fiction decades after Dossouye’s 1979 arrival, but Sadatina makes for a compelling African-inspired warrior, boasting courage, faith, and an indomitable spirit.

#ReviewArchive #BookReview #Fantasy #SwordAndSorcery #SwordAndSoul #WomanOfTheWoods #MiltonJDavis #NewEdgeSwordAndSorcery #NESS

This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on July 4, 2025.

Old Moon Quarterly: Volume 7, Summer 2024

By Old Moon Publishing – December 19, 2024

Review by Robin Marx

The seventh volume of Old Moon Quarterly delivers more of the high quality dark fantasy readers of the magazine have come to expect. In addition to genre titans like Michael Moorcock, Tanith Lee, and Glen Cook, the editors of Old Moon Quarterly have been outspoken about their enthusiasm for contemporary media touchstones like Berserk, Bloodborne, and the Dark Souls video games, aesthetics that visibly impact the periodical’s editorial direction. Unlike earlier issues, Old Moon Quarterly Volume 7 and 8 were crowdfunded via a Kickstarter campaign. Not only did the crowdfunding campaign allow OMQ to maintain pro rates for contributors, it allowed an extended page count and the addition of internal illustrations (including work by Morgan King of The Spine of Night fame).

Volume 7 opens with an intriguing look at intelligent enchanted weapons, here referred to as the “speaking sword” trope. Elric of Melniboné’s malignantly manipulative blade Stormbringer is one example that readily comes to mind (and the cover artwork provided by Simon Underwood suggests an Elric homage), but the Introduction also includes a wide range of other examples from Finnish mythology to J.R.R Tolkien’s legendarium to Warhammer. The Introduction adds welcome context for the second story in the issue, “Stolen by Moonlight, Betrothed by Sun” by E. Catherine Tobler.

Before the speaking sword makes its appearance, however, readers are treated to a new Morlock Ambrosius tale by returning contributor and World Fantasy Award nominee James Enge. “The Ember Eyed” sees Morlock, son of Merlin, trudging down to the southernmost reaches of the world, a land of eternal fire, on a mission to obtain liquid sunlight. A nearly fatal encounter with the massive guardian spider Usli forces Morlock to reconsider his approach, however. In one of the most thrilling scenes in the story, Morlock sets to work like some sort of sorcerous MacGyver, using his ingenuity and spellcraft to equip himself for the task ahead. While it felt like Morlock was uncharacteristically relegated to the passenger seat in the finale, “The Ember Eyed” features clever storytelling and over-the-top magic. While prior experience with Morlock Ambrosius is not required to enjoy this story, the callback to the events of “Evil Honey” (published in Old Moon Quarterly Vol. 3) was delightful and welcome.

Catherine Tobler’s “Stolen by Moonlight, Betrothed by Sun” is told from the perspective of a 300-year-old sword; an estoc to be precise. Told in a non-linear fashion, the sword relates its initial encounters with its beloved owner, a formidable and rakish woman named Elisabeth Duguay-Trouin. The sword and its mistress are inevitably parted, and the estoc finds itself in the possession of a succession of different owners, some worthier than others. In contrast to the mostly doom-bringing intelligent swords mentioned in the Introduction, the one starring here was a steadfast companion, and the narrative is written in an intriguingly wistful and almost romantic fashion.

“The Torrent of Souls” by H.R. Laurence opens with the protagonist, a mercenary named Heoric, bleeding out on a tavern floor after a pointless, alcohol-fueled knife fight. The defiant recklessness with which Heoric spent his life brings him to the attention of a strangely fey woman named Aetia. In exchange for her healing ministrations, Aetia presses Heoric into service, pitting him against an avaricious sorcerer who guards the secret of immortality. One of the standout stories of this issue, “The Torrent of Souls” boasts both dreamlike imagery and gritty, violent action.

Continuing a tradition established with OMQ Volume 5, this issue also includes some poetry. Calie Voorhis’ “Footnotes on ‘Only Forever,’ The Grey Witch’s Last Poem” pairs a prose poem with extensive faux academic footnotes. This combination feels like it was designed in a laboratory to leave me cold. “In Her Waters, Raging” by Lora Gray is the other poem included in Volume 7. It’s a less tedious read than “Footnotes,” but doesn’t contribute much to the issue as a whole. While I find the OMQ editors’ fiction selections to be remarkably on point, whatever spark they’re seeing in their published poems has, thus far, eluded me.

Reminiscent of Clark Ashton Smith in terms of atmosphere if not verbiage, “The Last Gift” by Jason Mills tells the story of a group of travelers being stalked by an implacable djinn. Left destitute deep in the desert by bandits, each of the travelers shares their best quality with the others—be it words of wisdom, a treasure, or even a martial arts technique—so that if any single member makes it back to civilization they will carry something valuable from their fallen comrades. While the shape-shifting djinn proves to be a cruel and relentless threat, each of the travelers’ personal qualities prove instrumental in ultimately defeating the demon. “The Last Gift” is both clever and one of the more beautifully told stories of the issue.

Occasional Grimdark Magazine contributor Matthew John has become increasingly ubiquitous in the modern Sword & Sorcery revival, with appearances in Tales From the Magician’s Skull, The Savage Sword of Conan, and his well-received debut collection To Walk on Worlds. An appearance in Old Moon Quarterly felt almost inevitable, and John marks a strong OMQ debut with “Last Day on the Farm.” While the bulk of Volume 7’s stories include dark and unsettling elements, “Last Day on the Farm” ramps the horror up to eleven. An isolated farmer finds himself confronted with the otherworldly when a caravan crew is massacred by parasites and necromancy on his doorstep. Only Lachmannon the Kael, John’s recurring barbarian hero, can help Maric see the morning. The gory violence, grim tone, and body horror are to be expected in a Matthew John story, but he still surprised me by revealing a heretofore unseen side to Lachmannon as a character. “Last Day on the Farm” could have concluded in a variety of ways, but John chose a supremely satisfying ending.

The grimdark persists with “Bleed Me in the Water,” by Bram Stoker Award-winner Hailey Piper. For reasons that remain obscure until late in the tale, the murderess Demi takes it upon herself to lead her fellow villagers into a lethal trap within the caverns beneath her isolated island home. Along the way Demi and her victims experience a terrifying encounter with the divine. Deliciously nasty, “Bleed Me in the Water” is a story that lingers with the reader.

The hot streak continues with “Of Decadence a Child,” by David Costa. Holy warrior Beoric, He Without Sin, is sent into the vulgar world to slay a monster preying on the sinful wretches outside the Divine Church’s cloistered sanctuary. While the narrative itself is fairly straightforward, it is enhanced by the heavy, portentous atmosphere. Everything is viewed through the lens of Beoric’s religion, with the characters surrounding him instantly branded with one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Masochistic suffering is esteemed within Beoric’s faith; his armor is literally pinned to his chest, he wears boots filled with jagged pebbles, and the hilt of his sword is shrouded in spikes, “for the consequence of violence is violence itself.” Readers who enjoyed the grimdark knights of “The Feast of Saint Ottmer” (Old Moon Quarterly Volume 3) and Contra Amatores Mundi, both by OMQ editor Graham Thomas Wilcox, are especially likely to appreciate “Of Decadence a Child.” It is the epitome of the “Soulsborne” fantasy Old Moon Quarterly prides itself on delivering.

“Lessons from Aulis” by Monica Joyce Evans also deals with religion, in this case Greek mythology. Back from the battlefield, Agamemnon prepares for his bath, only to be murdered by his wife Clytemnestra. The moment repeats over and over, with both Agamemnon and Clytemnestra acting and reacting slightly differently, trapped in this single moment in time. Other perspectives are incorporated, and the reader gets a sense of the greater mythic elements in play. “Lessons from Aulis” is a tad on the cryptic side, but as far as this reader is concerned it’s a more successful literary experiment than this issue’s poetry.

Finally, the issue concludes with a Graham Thomas Wilcox’s review of The Worm Ouroboros, the 1922 fantasy epic by E.R. Eddison. Much like the Old Moon Quarterly Introductions, the review meanders a bit, but it is both detailed and feels like a fair appraisal, and the writer’s enthusiasm for the novel is apparent. I would enjoy seeing Wilcox take on The Night Land (1912) by William Hope Hodgson, another early fantasy classic legendary for its archaic and challenging prose.

Old Moon Quarterly Volume 7 is another strong installment of one of the best dark fantasy fiction magazines around. With high quality stories, an extended page count, and the addition of interior artwork, the benefits of their original Kickstarter campaign are visible on the page.

At the time of this posting, Old Moon Quarterly is holding a Backerkit campaign to fund two further issues, with one of them focusing on dark Arthuriana. Returning contributors include James Enge, E. Catherine Tobler, and John Langan.

#ReviewArchive #BookReview #Fantasy #SwordAndSorcery #DarkFantasy #Grimdark #OldMoonQuarterly #GrimdarkMagazine #GdM

This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on February 22, 2025.

Red Sonja: Consumed

By Gail Simone – Orbit – November 19, 2024

Review by Robin Marx

Red Sonja: Consumed by Gail Simone opens with the titular redheaded “She-Devil with a Sword” dealing with the tricky aftermath of a successful heist. After seducing Ysidra, barbarian queen of a nomadic tribe, Red Sonja absconded with a priceless golden armband called the Hunter’s Asp. Not only does she find herself pursued by Ysidra’s tireless Wolf Pack, but an equally implacable assassin is also sent after Sonja when she stiffs the treasure’s prospective buyer and keeps the Asp for herself. And although she views herself as rootless and living only for the present, circumstances conspire to drive her back to her devastated homeland of Hyrkania, where a traumatic reckoning awaits with both her own personal history and that of her people.

As a character, Red Sonja has a long and involved history. While working on Conan the Barbarian for Marvel Comics, writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith came up with the character as a female foil to Conan. They looked to original Conan creator Robert E. Howard for inspiration, taking the swashbuckling heroine “Red” Sonya (note the Y, not J) of Rogatine from Howard’s 1934 historical adventure “The Shadow of the Vulture,” transplanting her in heavily modified form from 16th century Vienna to Conan’s Hyborian Age. Given a revealing costume (albeit not initially the armored bikini with which the character would later become indelibly associated) and dramatic origin story, Red Sonja became an instant hit after her introduction in 1973. In addition to numerous appearances within the pages of Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonja went on to star in her own comic titles, first at Marvel and currently at Dynamite Entertainment.

While a handful of Red Sonja prose novels exist, Red Sonja: Consumed is the first to be published since 1983. This novel is also notable for its author: Gail Simone. Not only is Simone an experienced Red Sonja writer, her 2013 19-issue Dynamite Entertainment run with the character is one of the most acclaimed in the character’s multi-decade history. And while various authors have had many different portrayals of the character, in this reviewer’s opinion, Simone’s is the most fun. Sexual assault is often a part of Red Sonja’s backstory, as an inciting incident that (along with some divine intervention in the form of a sympathetic goddess) leads her to become an indomitable swordswoman. Sonja is often depicted as adhering to a vow of chastity, refusing to be bedded by any man unless he bests her in combat. Both in her tenure on the comic and in this novel, Simone dispenses with all of that. No rape-based origin story, no goddess, no vow of chastity. Simone retains Sonja’s fearlessness and deadly allure, but she’s no longer a warrior nun. Simone’s Sonja is earthy. She still wears the trademark bikini, but one gets the sense that she wears it for herself, not to titillate every alehouse yokel. She’s brave and capable, but occasionally surly, spiteful, and flippant. She doesn’t always have the best hygiene or odor about her. Her carousing sometimes gets her in trouble. Far from chaste, she’s both pansexual and voracious (regrettably absent from the novel, “I’m Red Sonja, I’m everybody’s type” is a memorable quote from Simone’s comic run). Simone allows her to be an imperfect mercenary swordswoman with both admirable qualities and flaws, who enjoys the full spectrum of pleasures permitted by her freewheeling lifestyle. Happily, the heroine presented in Red Sonja: Consumed is the same one we know from Simone’s reign on the comic.

Appealing characterization aside, perhaps inevitably, Red Sonja: Consumed reads like a first novel from an established comic book creator. The pace remains speedy throughout, but the plot wanders before tightening up in the last third of the book. While infrequent, there are jarring instances of “head hopping,” where the perspective wanders between multiple characters within a single scene. Betrayed queen Ysidra and the psychotic assassin Sylus are compelling characters, but they disappear for long stretches of the narrative, to the story’s detriment. The setting of the novel—still the same Hyborian Age inhabited by Conan, even though the characters have different ownership today—is somewhat vaguely rendered, but that seems a perennial issue with the Red Sonja comics as well.

On the positive side of the ledger, however, Simone’s background as a comic writer results in intensely vivid visuals. Throughout the novel I found myself effortlessly imagining various events as full-page comic spreads. Combat scenes are frequent, graphic, and vicious. Sonja brutally dismantles her opponents, going the extra mile to make sure they stay down permanently. The supernatural threat that reveals itself late in the book is also presented in a deliciously creepy manner.

While there are some rough edges, Red Sonja: Consumed is a fast-paced and entertaining dark Sword & Sorcery novel. The book is an easy recommendation to existing fans of Simone’s work on the Red Sonja comic book, but no prior experience with the character is necessary. Readers with a strong emotional investment in the more classic depiction of the character, with the assault survivor and vow of chastity elements intact, might balk somewhat at the messier heroine Simone presents us with, however. Feisty fantasy heroines are more common now than in decades past, but Red Sonja remains one of the best. While I enjoy and respect the work of earlier creators like Roy Thomas and Frank Thorne, Gail Simone’s rendition is the most modern and fun.

#ReviewArchive #BookReview #Fantasy #SwordAndSorcery #RedSonja #RedSonjaConsumed #GailSimone #GrimdarkMagazine #GdM

This review originally appeared at the New Edge Sword & Sorcery blog on July 8, 2024.

Hurled Headlong Flaming

By Matt Holder – Spiral Tower Press – April 29, 2024

Review by Robin Marx

It is the year 1291 and the coastal Mediterranean city-state of Acre is under siege. After cutting a bloody swath through the Levant, the tide has turned against the European Crusaders. They find themselves surrounded by the Mamluk Sultanate and losing their foothold on the Holy Land. Traumatized by the insanity of the times and desperate to intervene, an unnamed Bishop begs the assistance of Islamic scholar and mapmaker Yaqut al-Hamawi. The cataclysm foretold in the Book of Revelation appears to be rapidly approaching, and the Bishop seeks sacred texts that may help humanity better cope with the tumult to come. To reach the otherworldly library housing the sacred texts, the Bishop must embark on a harrowing–in both the conventional and theological senses of the word–journey into the mythic underworld, risking both his body and soul.

Matt Holder’s HURLED HEADLONG FLAMING is the debut release from Spiral Tower Press’ newly established Keen Blades imprint. The publisher of WHETSTONE: AMATEUR MAGAZINE OF SWORD AND SORCERY, Spiral Tower Press also seeks to use Keen Blades to release new and original works of briskly paced fantasy adventure, specifically focusing on novella-length tales “that test the boundaries of what sword and sorcery can be.” In his introduction, editor Jason Ray Carney cites the “psychocartographic” nature of HURLED HEADLONG FLAMING as one of the novella’s core attractions. Like John Milton’s PARADISE LOST and Dante Alighieri’s DIVINE COMEDY before it, HURLED HEADLONG FLAMING blends a spiritual journey with a tour of various otherworldly locales. Unlike with a more conventional fantasy travelogue, these places are not to be taken merely at face value; they are often laden with additional significance, either imbued with allegory or providing object lessons for the pilgrim.

While the prelude and coda take place in the human realm, the underworld journey at the heart of the novella is divided into three distinct parts. During “Part I – The Matter of War,” the Bishop undergoes a symbolic rebirth, emerging naked and scorched into the underworld. Before long he is pulled into brutal conflict with a variety of opponents of vastly differing physiques, some human in form, others unmistakably demonic in nature. Recalling al-Hamawi’s advice, the Bishop must fight until he is “fluent,” shedding enough blood to attract the attention of powerful demons able to aid him in his quest. This first section of the book is visceral and relentless, showing a man of the cloth demolishing every obstacle in his path. Despite this section’s relatively brief page count, Holder delivers an epic, operatic montage-style depiction of the chaos of war.

Abandoning the limited third-person perspective of Part I, “Part II – The Matter of Truth” abruptly shifts to a Socratic dialogue-style format. Having successfully gained an audience with powerful demons, the Bishop must prove himself worthy of admission into the infernal city that houses the library he seeks. Three demons compel the Bishop to give a persuasive lecture on the nature of authority and truth. While conducted in a more genteel manner than the previous blood-drenched section, Holder gives the sense that this is merely a battle of a different sort.

“Part III – The Matter of Taking” marks another drastic transition in prose style, this time adopting a first-person epistolary presentation in the form of pages from the Bishop’s journal. Plunged into an infernal city of obelisks and blackened glass, a “churning cauldron of flesh” populated by both human souls and demons alike, the Bishop must orient himself and find a path to the library. “This place will not let you leave until you have completed your labors,” the Bishop is admonished, and he is forced to endure more hardship and despair en route to the library.

The extreme shifts in tone and prose style across the three parts of the underworld journey are disorienting, but this feels intentional. Even with the benefit of his initial coaching from al-Hamawi, the Bishop is constantly forced to react to unexpected developments and threats. Swiftly moving from gritty war epic to philosophical debate to claustrophobic horror, each presented with a different perspective, also cleverly serves to keep the reader on the back foot.

For what is ostensibly a spiritual journey, HURLED HEADLONG FLAMING is profoundly concerned with the flesh. The Bishop is not allowed to cleanly and luminously flit from scene to allegorical scene as an incorporeal soul. No, the Bishop is very much confined to his physical form. Over the course of his journey he is scraped, burned, pierced, torn, raked, abraded, bruised, lanced, and gouged. His corpus is constantly soiled with blood, sweat, dust, filth, and other distasteful stains. Although the underground imbues him with supernatural resilience, every footstep of progress he makes is nevertheless paid for in blood and perspiration. While he is still preoccupied with questions of sin and spiritual salvation, both the Bishop and the reader are constantly reminded of the fleshly vehicle he uses to navigate the underworld. This felt like a calculated rejection of philosophical dualism. Holder seems to suggest that the body and the soul cannot be separated, you carry your body and its weight with you. Even in Hell, a twisted ankle is a setback.

HURLED HEADLONG FLAMING succeeds in fulfilling Keen Blades’ stated objective of pushing the boundaries of Sword & Sorcery. The battle mayhem of Part I and the bizarre cityscape of Part III showcase deliver the kind of exciting martial action and phantasmagorical imagery present in much of the best Sword & Sorcery fiction. But the novella also demonstrates a pensiveness uncommon in the subgenre, however. Michael Moorcock’s stories often toy with philosophical themes, but it’s difficult to imagine him dedicating a third of a book to a Socratic dialogue. Otherworldly journeys figure prominently in C.L. Moore’s Jirel of Joiry tales, but without the Middle Ages-flavored religiosity of HURLED HEADLONG FLAMING. Rather than core Sword & Sorcery fans, I would be quicker to recommend this book to readers who enjoyed the grimdark medieval horror of Christopher Buehlman’s BETWEEN TWO FIRES. HURLED HEADLONG FLAMING may sit uneasily in the Sword & Sorcery category, but the grit, fast pace, propulsive action, and hallucinatory imagery are likely to appeal to S&S fans, nonetheless.

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This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on December 28, 2024.

Contra Amatores Mundi: A Gothic Fantasy

By Graham Thomas Wilcox – Old Moon Publishing – October 31, 2024

Review by Robin Marx

Contra Amatores Mundi: A Gothic Fantasy is a medieval grimdark novella by Graham Thomas Wilcox, one of the editors behind the “Soulsborne” dark fantasy fiction showcase Old Moon Quarterly. The title is Latin for “against the lovers of the world,” quoted from a sermon by 14th century religious writer Richard Rolle, and true to the name, the novella features a pair of lovers separated by epic circumstances.

Contra Amatores Mundi begins with Hieronymus of Tsorn and Prospero of Luchetti, two knights of the chivalric Order of the Dragon, at sea. As they dispatch their enemy, the Knight of Foxes, he drags both knights overboard as his dying act. The last thing Hieronymus sees as he is claimed by the depths is Walpurga, his beloved nun (who has one flesh hand and one skeletal hand for unexplained—but undeniably metal—reasons). When Hieronymus and Prospero awaken, they find themselves in a strange world beneath the sea. With only each other to rely upon in a bizarre land swarming with hostile monsters, the two knights set out across the wilderness, searching for a way home. Through the use of a relic claimed from the corpse of their first opponent, Hieronymus witnesses visions of his distant love Walpurga. Alternately comforting and distressing, on some occasions he sees Walpurga doing her utmost to be reunited with Hieronymus, at other times he sees her committing infidelities or moving on with her life. Just as the vicissitudes of their journey tests his body, the visions challenge his resolve and love for his woman.

Contra Amatores Mundi bears some kinship with an earlier work by Wilcox, sharing the setting and some characters from “The Feast of Saint Ottmer,” my favorite of the stories published in Old Moon Quarterly Volume 3. In my review of “The Feast of Saint Ottmer,” I wrote that “It overshoots Arthurian romance, ending up closer to the opening scenes of Vlad Dracula as armored warrior in the Francis Ford Coppola film Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992).” To my amusement, Wilcox later admitted that he was indeed a big fan of that particular Coppola sequence, and the same bombastic, operatic feel is captured in Contra Amatores Mundi as well.

Wilcox cites Cormac McCarthy, Gene Wolfe, and Chretien de Troyes as influences on Contra Amatores Mundi. While I lack firsthand experience with Chretien, I can say that the novella does pair the brutality of something like McCarthy’s The Road with the ornate prose and archaic diction of Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun. Intriguing vocabulary choices abound, and the style of passages like the following effectively evoke an atmosphere where flowery, cultured speech collides with the grim butchery of the knights’ trade.

“…violence never authored its writ upon a man more firmly than it did upon dread Prospero. Blood, fire and death had scrawled him all over, such that by the very ink of his eye and curl of his mouth, one branded him at once a son of Cain.”

Hieronymus and Prospero’s odyssey is a bloody, arduous one. At every turn they are confronted by giants, animate skeletons, serpent-headed creatures and worse. Their nightmarish journey is accompanied by frequent meditations upon the nature of their vocation. These knights fight in the name of the Christian God (presented here as a more martial and bloodthirsty icon than some might expect), and Hieronymus is simultaneously devoted to the darkly alluring Walpurga. But the reader is also given the impression that these two warriors relish the taking and giving of blood. They are compatible with no other lifestyle; killing is their business and business is good. And trapped as they are in another realm with only a faint glimmer of hope, they have effectively become suicide commandos.

While readers may trip over the occasional unfamiliar word (likely armor-related jargon) or pause to reread a particularly florid turn of phrase, the pace of the novella is brisk and propulsive. The ending arrives abruptly. So sudden, in fact, that I wondered if my copy was missing a page or two. Upon further reflection, however, Wilcox gives us enough indication of the two knights’ ultimate fate, allowing readers to fill in the final moments themselves.

The McCarthy and Wolfe influences are clearly present, but this novella is also recommended for fans of Christopher Buehlman’s Between Two Fires, Matt Holder’s Hurled Headlong Flaming, and the Games Workshop Warhammer tie-in fiction published by Black Library. (Indeed, one of Wilcox’s previous releases is the Warhammer: Age of Sigmar short story “Grimnirsson.”) Contra Amatores Mundi: A Gothic Fantasy is a gory grimdark opera with style and spectacle.

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on December 16, 2021.

Lady of the Lake

By Andrzej Sapkowski, David French (Translator) – Orbit – March 14, 2017

Review by Robin Marx

A satisfying and epic conclusion to one of the best fantasy series I’ve read in quite some time. The climax comes fairly early and the last third of the book is denouement, but it feels earned rather than indulgent. Sad to see it end.

★★★★☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on November 19, 2021.

The Tower of Swallows

By Andrzej Sapkowski, David French (Translator) – Orbit – May 17, 2016

Review by Robin Marx

To be honest, much of this book felt like it was treading water. The main characters are still all separated and on their various drawn-out journeys. There are interminable flashbacks and more minor characters than seem entirely necessary. But the excitement really ramps up in the last quarter of the book, and that ended up salvaging it for me. I usually like to space out entries in a series by reading books from other authors, but the finale to this intrigued me enough that I plan to head directly into the next volume.

★★★☆☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on September 13, 2021.

Baptism of Fire

By Andrzej Sapkowski, David French (Translator) – Orbit – June 24, 2014

Review by Robin Marx

Ciri is still missing and Geralt is still searching for her. He meets people along the way and things happen. The sorceresses are Up to Something.

Fun characters, fun setting, but this book suffers from being the middle book in the series. I imagine the next book will be more eventful.

★★★☆☆

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