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 28th 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.
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