Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 9 - update

 

Received my proof copy of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 9 yesterday but I wasn't 100% happy with the spine. A strip of the white encroached into the front cover, so I have made corrections and ordered a second proof copy. I know, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, but I can't go ahead until I am at least 90% happy. I've also made a couple of other minor alterations. The second proof should reach me by Monday at the latest. By then it should be ready for publishing. Hopefully paperbacks and kindle copies will be available to order by Wednesday the 13th.

In the meantime I have formatted the collection for kindle and that looks absolutely fine to me. This task seems to get easier the more often I do it.

Hope everyone likes the book when it's out there!

Two stories published today: The Demon from Another World and An Oddity

I have two stories just published in the States.

One is my sword and sorcery novelette The Demon from Another World in Anthology of the Damned: Necromoirrium.

The second is a reprint of my horror story An Oddity in the anthology Strange Aeon 2024 edited by M. Keaton. This was first published in the January 2024 issue of Schlock! Webzine.

The Demon from Another World is now out in Anthology of the Damned: Necromoirrium

My sword and sorcery novelette The Demon from Another World is now out in Anthology of the Damned: Necromoirrium as a paperback and kindle ebook from Treeshaker Books. 

This features a group of mercenaries, chief of whom is Horbeck, who has appeared in several other stories I've written. He first appears as a minor character in The Unhappy Inquisitor. Since then he has appeared as the main character in two sequels to The Demon from Another World: Lies and Treachery and The Mummified Demi-God, plus another I am still writing. 

Kickstarter for Welgar the Cursed, Path of the Swordsman, and The Eternal Assassin Chronicles is about to start

The kickstarter for Welgar the Cursed, Path of the Swordsman by Tim Hanlon and The Eternal Assassin Chronicles by Andrew Darlington is about to start. 

About my own collection, Welgar the Cursed, here are some details from my Introduction:

The six stories in this collection chronicle the gradual descent into darkness of the northern barbarian mercenary hero Welgar.

“Ossani the Healer and the Beautiful Homunculus" was the first story I wrote involving Welgar, though he is very much a secondary character in this tale after the rather bizarre sorcerer-cum-apothecary Ossani the Healer. In this novelette Welgar is a young mercenary, already distrustful of sorcery, who becomes embroiled against his will in thwarting an attempt to take over the city he has been employed to protect as a member of the city watch. By sheer chance he and Ossani meet in a prison where they and others have been incarcerated by a puritanical religious movement that is threatening to tear the city apart. Though disliking anything that even hints of sorcery he is gradually persuaded to see Ossani in a better light than others of his ilk and together they collaborate to save the city from the sinister plot to bring it down.

"The Dark Priestdom" (published in Savage Realms Monthly) sees an older, more mature Welgar who has moved northwards to the “wealthy but licentious” city of Oriaska in a bid to improve his fortunes. There he pitches in to help Nadrain the Storyteller, who he notices is being set up to take the blame for the abduction of the king of Oriaska's daughter, though there is an element of self interest in this, as Welgar sees it as an opportunity to gain the king's gratitude for helping save the princess. In pursuit of her abductors Welgar and Nadrain sail southwards to the benighted city of Agrypt where Welgar is tricked into being possessed by the spirit of a dark, Agryptian demon god. Although this demon god endows him with increased strength, speed and stamina it is at the expense of his appearance, which is transformed into a wizened, bleached, deathlike travesty, looking more like a corpse than a living being.

"Welgar the Cursed" (published in Swords & Heroes) sees Welgar realising how truly cursed he is, not only in becoming the image of an unwrapped mummy, but in the extreme bouts of insane violence the demon god that has possessed him makes him perform. Insatiable in its appetite for slaughter, there is little Welgar can do to prevent it.

An incident in "Mask of a Mad God" reveals to Welgar even more vividly how evil this curse truly is. The horrific events in this story are what lead Welgar to undertake the hazardous trek to the far north to "The Forbidden City of Cyramon" (published in Swords & Heroes). In the arctic wastes beyond the Jagged Mountains in which this demon-haunted city is situated he hopes either to be killed or to free himself from his curse, though what he encounters there is far from what he expects.

The final story, "Emerging from Their Twilit Realms", reveals the full extent of Agrypt's insane ambitions to create a dark empire, which will cause ruin, mayhem and death around the Azure Sea. Despite his desire to lead a normal life once more, Welgar is forced to oppose the Agryptian forces that head north in a way that only he can manage, reuniting him once more with Ossani the Healer in an apocalyptic tale of terror, death and destruction.

All of these stories chronologically detail Welgar's transformation from a carefree mercenary more interested in the quality of the local beer to an obsessed and cursed pawn in the kinds of sorcerous machinations he hates, distrusts and quite rightfully fears.

The Complete World of Horror Volume 2 from Confessions Press

https://www.facebook.com/100002067187340/videos/567020006014845/ 

I received my copy of The Complete World of Horror Volume 2 today from Confessions Press, which includes a facsimile of my early horror story Terror on the Moors, illustrated by Jim Pitts from issue 6 of that magazine in 1975.

New sword and sorcery story finished - The Mummified Demi-God

One week after I finished my last sword and sorcery story involving Horbeck and his mercenary comrades, Brud and Asnar, I have now completed another involving their misadventures: The Mummified Demi-God.

This makes four stories in which Horbeck appears: The Unhappy Inquisitor, The Demon from Another World, Lies and Treachery, and now The Mummified Demi-God. Of these only The Demon from Another World is scheduled to be published at the moment. It will appear later this month in Anthology of the Damned, Necromoirrium from Treeshaker Books.

From its opening paragraphs:

The three mercenaries rode leisurely down the winding, hard-packed road, their camels and packhorses burdened with sacks of gold, payment from a particularly rewarding job. Despite their nonchalant appearance, though, all three kept their eyes alert on the surrounding woodlands, bushes and small hillocks, wary of bandits.

Their erstwhile leader, Horbeck, was a huge northerner with a sun-bleached beard and long, dust-filled hair, his rugged chainmail only partially covered by what remained of his leather jerkin, scored so often it was all but rags. His fellow northerner, Brud, was slightly shorter but no less robust in appearance, a well-used battleaxe hanging from the saddle of his camel from which, in the north, he would have hung the heads of his enemies, a habit he had been persuaded to forgo in the civilised south. The only non-northerner in this trio was Asnar, a black-bearded Josanian archer. Like his comrades, his clothes had seen better days. His lacquered leather breastplate had all but lost whatever colouring was scrolled across it when he first set out as a mercenary years ago. Over one shoulder hung an unstrung bow of surpassing power and accuracy, though he also had a scimitar sheathed across his back in a gaudy scabbard. All normally wore steel helmets, plain, serviceable and much dented; these now hung from straps beside them as the sun beat down on their heads. Two wore straw hats to keep it off. Asnar preferred a felt cap.

In the distance they glimpsed the gleaming towers of a large city, though none of them knew its name, having lost track of where they were many months ago when they were pursued across the Great Desert by their enemies.

Welgar the Cursed - cover reveal

Cover artwork by Rizky Nugraha

It is with great pleasure I can reveal the front cover for my collection of Welgar stories: Welgar the Cursed, which will be published later this year.

As an appetiser I am including below the Introduction I have written for it. 

The book will be published in the States by Tule Fog Press. 

INTRODUCTION

 The six stories in this collection chronicle the gradual descent into darkness of the northern barbarian mercenary hero Welgar.

“Ossani the Healer and the Beautiful Homunculus" was the first story I wrote involving Welgar, though he is very much a secondary character in this tale after the rather bizarre sorcerer-cum-apothecary Ossani the Healer. In this novelette Welgar is a young mercenary, already distrustful of sorcery, who becomes embroiled against his will in thwarting an attempt to take over the city he has been employed to protect as a member of the city watch. By sheer chance he and Ossani meet in a prison where they and others have been incarcerated by a puritanical religious movement that is threatening to tear the city apart. Though disliking anything that even hints of sorcery he is gradually persuaded to see Ossani in a better light than others of his ilk and together they collaborate to save the city from the sinister plot to bring it down.

"The Dark Priestdom" (published in Savage Realms Monthly) sees an older, more mature Welgar who has moved northwards to the “wealthy but licentious” city of Oriaska in a bid to improve his fortunes. There he pitches in to help Nadrain the Storyteller, who he notices is being set up to take the blame for the abduction of the king of Oriaska's daughter, though there is an element of self interest in this, as Welgar sees it as an opportunity to gain the king's gratitude for helping save the princess. In pursuit of her abductors Welgar and Nadrain sail southwards to the benighted city of Agrypt where Welgar is tricked into being possessed by the spirit of a dark, Agryptian demon god. Although this demon god endows him with increased strength, speed and stamina it is at the expense of his appearance, which is transformed into a wizened, bleached, deathlike travesty, looking more like a corpse than a living being.

"Welgar the Cursed" (published in Swords & Heroes) sees Welgar realising how truly cursed he is, not only in becoming the image of an unwrapped mummy, but in the extreme bouts of insane violence the demon god that has possessed him makes him perform. Insatiable in its appetite for slaughter, there is little Welgar can do to prevent it.

An incident in "Mask of a Mad God" reveals to Welgar even more vividly how evil this curse truly is. The horrific events in this story are what lead Welgar to undertake the hazardous trek to the far north to "The Forbidden City of Cyramon" (published in Swords & Heroes). In the arctic wastes beyond the Jagged Mountains in which this demon-haunted city is situated he hopes either to be killed or to free himself from his curse, though what he encounters there is far from what he expects.  

The final story, "Emerging from Their Twilit Realms", reveals the full extent of Agrypt's insane ambitions to create a dark empire, which will cause ruin, mayhem and death around the Azure Sea. Despite his desire to lead a normal life once more, Welgar is forced to oppose the Agryptian forces that head north in a way that only he can manage, reuniting him once more with Ossani the Healer in an apocalyptic tale of terror, death and destruction.

All of these stories chronologically detail Welgar's transformation from a carefree mercenary more interested in the quality of the local beer to an obsessed and cursed pawn in the kinds of sorcerous machinations he hates, distrusts and quite rightfully fears.

David A. Riley, Oswaldtwistle, UK, 2024

Welgar the Cursed

Illustration by Rizky Nugraha

Publication of my collection of Welgar stories is getting closer, with drafts of the cover and its artwork already in the pipeline.

The collection includes six stories in chronological order. The first, "Ossani the Healer and the Beautiful Homunculus" sees Welgar as a young mercenary, already distrustful of sorcery, who becomes embroiled against his will in thwarting an attempt to take over the city he has been employed to protect as a member of the city watch. "The Dark Priestdom" (published in Savage Realms Monthly) sees a slightly older, more mature Welgar pitch in to help Nadrain the Storyteller, who is being set up to take the blame for the abduction of the king of Oriaska's daughter, though there is an element of self interest in this, as Welgar sees it as an opportunity to gain the king's gratitude for helping to save the princess. Welgar and Nadrain sail to the benighted city of Agrypt where Welgar unwittingly earns the nickname of Welgar the Cursed when he is possessed by the spirit of a dark, Agryptian demon god. "Welgar the Cursed" (published in Swords & Heroes) sees Welgar realising for the first time how truly cursed he is, not only in becoming the image of an unwrapped mummy, but in the occasional violence the demon god that has possessed him will make him perform. "Mask of a Mad God" reveals even more to Welgar how truly evil this curse is, and leads to "The Forbidden City of Cyramon" (published in Swords & Heroes) where Welgar travels to the arctic north in a desperate bid to rid himself of his curse. The final story, "Emerging from Their Twilit Realms", reveals the full extent of Agrypt's insane ambitions to create a dark empire, which Welgar is forced to oppose. The stories detail Welgar's transformation from a carefree mercenary more interested in the quality of the local beer to an obsessed and cursed pawn in machinations he hates and distrusts.

The illustration above is from Swords & Heroes by Rizky Nugraha.