Nadrain the Storyteller

One of my recurring sword and sorcery characters is Nadrain the Storyteller, who sometimes narrates his own adventures (which he hates having) and of people he meets, which enable me to write in the first person for a change.

Nadrain's own adventures feature in The Storyteller of Koss (Summer of Sci-Fi & Fantasy 1, 2022 and Schlock! Webzine, October, 2024) and in The Dark Priestdom (Savage Realms Monthly #19, 2023 and in the next few weeks in the collection Welgar the Cursed, Tule Fog Press).

Additionally, he has retold the tales of the unfortunate snake charmer from In the Temple of the Snake (Crimson Quill Quarterly #3, 2024) and of the artist Essayan in Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War (Crimson Quill Quarterly #5, 2025).

I have also used quotes from him at the start of several stories involving Welgar so as to set the scene and provide a few background details.

 

 

Crimson Quill Quarterly #5 now available as a paperback and ebook

My sword and sorcery tale, Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War, is in the latest issue of Crimson Quill Quarterly, which is available as a paperback and ebook.

amazon.co.uk 

amazon.com

 

Two more sword and sorcery tales accepted for publication

I have just received word that two more of my sword and sorcery tales have been accepted for publication this year.

The stories are The Moneylender of Oriaska and Ossani's Apprentice. My almost tame sorcerer-cum-apothecary, Ossani and his girl apprentice appear in both tales. The Moneylender of Oriaska will be published online first (probably in April) then both will be included in the print and ebook anthology Swords & Heroes 2 during the summer. 

That makes the total of new sword and sorcery stories to be published this year as follows:

Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War (Crimson Quill Quarterly #5)

Lies and Treachery (Crimson Quill Quarterly #6 and #7)

The Moneylender of Oriaska (Swords & Heroes online and Swords & Heroes Vol 2)

Ossani's Apprentice (Swords & Heroes Vol 2)

Mask of a Mad God (Welgar the Cursed)

Emerging from Their Twilit Realms (Welgar the Cursed)

 

Plus these reprints:

Ossani the Healer and the Beautiful Homunculus (Welgar the Cursed)

The Dark Priestdom (Welgar the Cursed)

Welgar the Cursed (Welgar the Cursed)

The Forbidden City of Cyramon (Welgar the Cursed)

The God in the Keep (Schlock! Webzine August issue) 

First new stories to be published in 2025: Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War and Visit Fungosia

It now looks like the first new stories of mine to be published in the New Year will be a dark fantasy called Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War in Crimson Quill Quarterly #5 and a humorous science fiction yarn I wrote a few years back called Visit Fungosia, which will be in 4Star Stories #30. 

I do already have a third story lined up to be serialised in two parts later in the year, Lies and Treachery, which is a sword and sorcery tale involving three recurring characters Horbeck, Brud and Asner, who first appeared in The Demon from Another World (Anthology of the Damned: Necromoirrium).

My only other story so far scheduled for 2025 is a reprint of one that originally appeared in the online Sword & Sorcery Magazine in 2021. This is a tale called The God in the Keep and will be in the August issue of Schlock! Webzine.

Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War will be in Crimson Quill Quarterly issue 5 in January 2025

I am pleased to see a second story of mine will appear in Crimson Quill Quarterly. My fantasy story Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War will appear in issue 5 in January and will be my first brand new story to appear in the New Year.

Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War

My next new sword and sorcery story, Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War will be published next month. I just had the edits for it earlier today. Very light edits, mainly just the addition of a few commas, about which I must admit to being a bit mean.

More about this soon. 

Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War accepted for publication

My ninth story accepted this year for publication is Essayan's Terrible Machineries of War, a sword and sorcery story. This will be published in January next year.

This features in a minor role my recurring character Nadrain the Storyteller.

More details later.