Book Review - Savage Realms Monthly: Tales of Swords and Sorcery May 2024 Issue

SAVAGE REALMS MONTHLY: Tales of Swords and Sorcery

May 2024 # 28

Edited by Willard Black

Literary Rebel LLC, 2024

109 pages

Savage Realms Monthly is now up to its 28^th issue. Each issue publishes three stories, often by new writers. This month’s features the return of Steve Dilks, who has the distinction of having had a story in the very first issue. He returns with his popular character, Bohun, a huge black mercenary whose adventures feature frequently in Steve’s stories. Red Trail of Vengeance brings Bohun into contact with a desperate and violent gang of cutthroats who ambush him and, after inflicting him with some sadist tortures, leave him for dead. Which is a big mistake as Bohun is not so easily killed. Even before he has fully recovered from his injuries, Bohun sets out for the bloody vengeance of the title, which takes him to the tyrannically run city of Dhamur from where the cutthroats sprang. When reading sword and sorcery stories I must admit to preferring long stories in which the writer can all but weave a yarn with an involved plot. Which is exactly what Dilks gives us here. Without a doubt Red Trail of Vengeance is the standout story in this issue, with some great fight scenes and finely woven twists and turns and vividly drawn characters. Not that Matthew McConkey’s Last Sigh of the Sea is not brilliant in itself, with a story that edges close to being a fable, as the ruthless King Aelfydd extorts enormous powers by torture from a sorceress which he uses to fulfil his own insatiable ambitions, despite dire warnings of the catastrophic fate he risks by doing so. A well told tale with an increasingly more ominous climax. The final story is John DeLaughter’s Last of the Star-Crossed Wizards, an involved tale of intrigue and double-dealings by powerful beings with whom it is dangerous for mere humans to become involved, laced with some dark humour.

All in all another excellent issue, proving that Savage Realms Monthly is a reliable cornerstone of the current resurgence of interest in the sword and sorcery genre.

Sherlock & Friends edited by Lyndon Perry is now available - contains my story The Adventure of the Mouldy Book

I am pleased to announce that Sherlock & Friends: Eldritch Investigations is now available as a hardcover and paperback. This anthology, edited by Lyndon Perry, contains my Max Carrados story The Adventure of the Mouldy Book, which is my first attempt at a pastiche.

Nine tales of mystery and suspense featuring friends and rivals of Sherlock Holmes pitting their investigative skills against Lovecraftian horrors. Enter the halls of madness as each of our contributors ‘channel the spirits’ of Victorian and Edwardian age detectives who graced the dime novels and pulp magazines of that golden era.

Novelets by Derrick Belanger, Gustavo Bondoni, Mike Chinn, Vonnie Winslow Crist, Steve Doyle, Elana Gomel, Stephen Herczeg, Naching T. Kassa, and David A. Riley. Interior illustrations by Gilead the Artist accompany each story. Edited by Lyndon Perry and published by Tule Fog Press.

It's available here:

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com

Elak, Warrior of Atlantis by Adrian Cole is now available as a paperback or Kindle eBook from Parallel Universe Publications

 

We are pleased to announce that the first volume of Adrian Cole's Elak of Atlantis trilogy, Elak, Warrior of Atlantis, is now available as a paperback and Kindle eBook.

It's 320 pages contain the following stories:

A SONG OF PICTISH KINGS, first published in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Magazine, no 49, 2021

DEMONS OF THE DEEP, first published in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Magazine, no 40, 2019

ON DEATH SEED ISLAND, first published in Tales from the Magician’s Skull, no 4, 2020

TOWER IN THE CRIMSON MIST, first published in Savage Scrolls 1, edited by Jason R Carney, Pulp Hero Press (USA) 2020

A DREAM OF LOST VALUSIA, first published (as Dreams of a Sunken Realm) in Tales from the Magician’s Skull, no 5, 2020

SAILING ON THE THIEVES’ TIDE, first published in Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy vol 3, edited by David A. Riley, Parallel Universe Publications (UK) 2021

THE SINGERS IN THE STONES Published here for the first time.

 

Artwork on the cover and inside is by Jim Pitts. 

 

The Introduction is by David C. Smith. 

Below are two quick links to amazon.com and amazon.co.uk:

 

Amazon.com - paperback $16; ebook $3.70

 

Amazon.co.uk - paperback £12.99; ebook £2.99 

 

Volume Two, Elak, King of Atlantis, will be published next month. 

My sword & sorcery tale In the Temple of the Snake to be published in Crimson Quill Quarterly #3

I am very pleased to be able to reveal that my 8700 word sword and sorcery tale In the Temple of the Snake will be in the third issue of Crimson Quill Quarterly. This will feature another appearance by Nadrain the Storyteller, though not in a central role this time. 

Nadrain previously appeared in The Storyteller of Koss (Summer of Sci-Fi & Fantasy), The Dark Priestdom (Savage Realms Monthly - #19) and Welgar the Cursed (Swords & Heroes).

An Oddity to be reprinted in the States

My Medusa-themed story An Oddity, which appeared in the January issue of Schlock! Webzine, is now scheduled to be reprinted in an American anthology. More details later. 

 

An Oddity was first published here in January 2024. I was especially pleased with the cover illustration of the Gorgon, painted by the brilliant Sixteenth Century Italian artist Caravaggio.