Sorcery Fantasy
Minstrel love. 3 out of 5
Also a wizard and the odd knight. 3.5 out of 5
Desert no thing. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Bricks of Gelecek – Matthew Kressel
A short collection. Dragon’s Child : The Dragon’s Child – J. Kathleen Cheney Dragon’s Child : Early Winter Near Jen-Li Village – J. Kathleen Cheney Chosen wizard vessel. 3 out of 5 Two ghosts. 3 out of 5 2 out of 5
Continue reading about The Dragon’s Child Two Short Stories – J. Kathleen Cheney
Long wandering sorcerer, raith. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about The Dark One A Mythograph – A . A. Aatanasio
Sweeper mold. 3 out of 5
Escaping the Sorrowful Shaping with a dino sidekick. 4 out of 5
God Stalk is an interesting novel. A fantasy novel set in a city and with a ton of stuff thrown in. No interminable farmboy wanderings or 7 page descriptions of a pants leg. Jame, a little like Telzey Amberdon has that je ne sais quoi — and you certainly don’t know what she is going [...]
The second of this series is another breezy romp through this softboiled Nightside, again, as everyone’s favorite zombie detective gets involved in the middle of yet another conflict. Lords vs Lords, hew lot vs old lot. Any of that is not really good and preferably to be avoided. Especially with a pregnant vampire girlfriend and [...]
For the premise – cities being overrun by nasties, it is a bit on the bland side. Not breezy enough for light adventure fantasy with airships and not enough horror for the weird. Stuck in the middle with endothermic ammunition. Points for the actual gear of the place there. Not zero imagination brass and clockwork [...]
A young Southern Rigante man is a protege of an older rogue, warrior and cattle rustler. Not a fan of school, a bit of a hothead. A young woman of the nationality of the rulers is murdered because of her association with him. He takes lethal revenge and heads North, where the Rigante have more [...]
Garrett, a box, Dead Man. 3 out of 5
Just a 3.18 average here with one standout by Avery. The usual plethora of reviews etc. in this magathology. Including pointing out another sword and sorcery series from Warhammer called Brunner the Bounty Hunter. Black Gate 15 : A River Through Darkness and Light – John C. Hocking Black Gate 15 : The Oracle of [...]
Serving the right one for mum. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Cursing the Weather – Maria V. Snyder
Warrior trial. 3 out of 5
Necromancers and minions need killing. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about A Pound of Dead Flesh – Ronald Fraser
Blim discovery. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Lions Of Karthagar – Chris Willrich
A monkey half-god, a Princess. 3.5 out of 5
Skinless power. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about The Laws Of Chaos Left Us All In Disarray – S. Hutson Blount
“”I could use a man like you.” “If I fold, I die?” “I believe so.” “Then I’m forced to play.” “That’s the nature of a game with such stakes.” “No different then ruling a country,” Renue says. “Like the lives you’ve so callously taken over the years.” Mesmer scoffs. “What would you know? What inkling [...]
Wizard bottle. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Vintages of Dream – John R. Fultz
Need a new god. 3 out of 5
Lap sea monster. 3 out of 5
Death decision and Queen of Hell. 3.5 out of 5
Family return, bad taste. 3 out of 5
Climb tower, get rid of king. 2.5 out of 5
Stisele in charge. 4 out of 5
Continue reading about The War of the Wheat Berry Year – Sarah Avery
Black suit vs White suit. 3 out of 5 http://crossedgenres.com/archives/036-different/young-lions-by-zachary-jernigan/
Goblin food. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Groob’s Stupid Grubs – Jeremiah Tolbert
Lods of the Nephilim. 3 out of 5
Gods of heather, gods of lake, Bestial fiends of swamp and brake; White god riding on the moon, Jackal-jawed, with voice of loon; Serpent god whose scaly coils Grasp the Universe in toils; See the Unseen Sages sit; See thee council fires alit. See I stir thee glowing coals, Toss on manes of seven foals. [...]
Party trappish 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Shuttered Temple – Jonathan L. Howard
“The sun was going down by the time they decided to hang me. In fairness, they hadn’t rushed the decision. They’d been debating it for almost an hour since my capture and initial beating. One of the three was in favour of handing me over to an officer from amongst the regulars. The second had [...]
The marble statues tossed against the sky In gestures blind as though to rend and kill, Not one upon his pedestal was still. Stiff fingers clutched at winds that whispered by, And from the white lips rose a deathly cry: “Cursed be the hands that broke us from the hill! There slumber of unbirth was [...]
A general of competence but ambition wants to score the campaign with the most kudos as his command for the next season. The Prince who is his sponsor suggests a way to do this via an old law which draws him in to an Empire spitting political conflict, with ambitions growing ever greater. The non-Roman [...]
Moonlight and shadows barred the land; Night breathed like some great living thing. The Seeker rested chin in hand And heard the night wind’s whispering. He heard like songs of vanished men The waving branches answer then. “Lords of the seas of silence, old as the word of God, We are the ancient people, haters [...]
Continue reading about Moonlight And Shadows Barred The Land – Robert E. Howard
The great black tower rose to split the stars In all the world below there was no light, But other towers fringed the sky line spars To mark that silent city of the night. On one high altar nearest to the cold Hard pallid moon that broke the velvet sky, With waving plumes and mask [...]
From the dim red dawn of Creation, From the fogs of timeless time Came we, the first great nation, First on the upward climb. Savage, untaught, unknowing, Groping through primitive night, Yet faintly catching the glowing, The hint of the coming Light. Ranging the lands untraveled, Building our land-marks of stone. Vaguely grasping at glory, [...]
Continue reading about Men Of The Shadows – Robert E. Howard
I set my soul to a wild lute And taught my feet to dance. I float, a broken straw, Upon the Sea of Chance. 3 out of 5 http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Libertine
Orchid, jasmine and heliotrope Scent the gloom where the dead men grope. Silver, ruby-eyed leopards crouch At the carven ends of the silken couch. A purple mist of a perfume rare Billows and sways, and weights the air. The pale blue domes of the ceiling rise Gemmed and carved like opium skies— Golden serpents with [...]
Need for young. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Birth of Water Cities – Angela Rega
Innkeeper pray. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about When the Bone Men Come – Peter Cooper
Long ere Priapus pranced through groves Arcadian sunlight kissed The gods of Easter Island were born out of the mist. Before the Elder deities from Egypt’s fogs were born The gods of Easter Island stood up to greet the morn. Before Mylitta knew the light or ever Bel had birth The gods of Easter Island [...]
Continue reading about The Gods of Easter Island – Robert E. Howard
There is a cavern in the deep Beyond the sea-winds brawl; Where the hills of the sea slope high and steep, And dragons sleep And serpents creep There is a cavern in the deep Where strange sea-creatures crawl. 3.5 out of 5 http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Deeps
Against the blood red moon a tower stands; An everlasting silence haunts the place. It was not reared by any human hands, The silent symbol of a shadowy race. There, long ago, I stole through ancient night My footsteps woke strange echoes through the hour; Strange specters walked with me through mazy light. I left [...]
Continue reading about Against the blood red moon a tower stands – Robert E. Howard
Eons before Atlantean days in the time of the world’s black dawn, Strange were the kings and grim the deeds that the pallid moon looked on. When the great black cities split the stars and strange prows broke the tide, And smoke went up from ghastly shrines where writhing victims died. Black magic raised its [...]
Dragon, Doc. 3 out of 5
Dim and grey was the silent sea, Dim was the crescent moon; From the jungle back of the shadowed lea Came a tom-tom’s eerie croon When we glutted the waves with a hundred slaves From a Jekra barracoon. Our way to bar, a man of war Was sailing with canvas full; So the doomed men [...]
Continue reading about The Dead Slaver’s Tale – Robert E. Howard
The dusk was on the mountain And the stars were dim and frail When the bats came flying, flying From the river and the vale To wheel against the twilight And sing their witchy tale. “We were kings of old!” they chanted, “Rulers of a world enchanted; “Every nation of creation “Owned our lordship over [...]
Continue reading about The Song of the Bats – Robert E. Howard
Eight thousand years ago a man I slew; I lay in wait beside a sparkling rill There in an upland valley green and still. The white stream gurgled where the rushes grew; The hills were veiled in dreamy hazes blue. He came along the trail; with savage skill My spear leaped like a snake to [...]
Golden goats on a hillside black, Silken hose on a wharf-side trull, Naked girl on a silver rack— What are dreams in a shadowed skull? I stood at a shrine and Chiron died, A woman laughed from the bawdy roofs, And he burned and lived and rose in his pride And shattered the tiles with [...]
Continue reading about Moonlight On A Skull – Robert E. Howard
I walked in Tara’s wood one summer night, And saw, amid the still, star-haunted skies, A slender moon in silver mist arise, And hover on the hill as if in fright. Burning, I seized her veil and held her tight: An instant all her glow was in my eyes; Then she was gone, swift as [...]
Hinged in the brooding west a black sun hung, And Titan shadows barred the dying world. The blind black oceans groped—their tendrils curled, And writhed and fell in feathered spray and clung, Climbing the granite ladders, rung by rung, Which held them from the tribes whose death-cries skirled. Above unholy fires red wings unfurled— Gray [...]
These are the gates of Nineveh: here Sargon came when his wars were won Gazed at the turrets looming clear Boldly etched in the morning sun Down from his chariot Sargon came Tossed his helmet upon the sand Dropped his sword with its blade like flame Stroked his beard with his empty hand “Towers are [...]
Continue reading about The Gates of Nineveh – Robert E. Howard
There came to me a Man one summer night, When all the world lay silent in the stars, And moonlight crossed my room with ghostly bars. He whispered hints of weird, unhallowed sight; I followed – then in waves of spectral light Mounted the shimmery ladders of my soul Where moon-pale spiders, huge as dragons, [...]
I swam below the surface of a lake And found myself within a curious hall, Lined with bronze columns, somber-black and tall; On them I heard the evil gray waves break. Sudden the granite floor began to shake; A monster strode from out an iron stall; Before his gryphon feet I reeled, to fall As [...]
At birth a witch laid on me monstrous spells, And I have trod strange highroads all my days, Turning my feet to gray, unholy ways. I grope for stems of broken asphodels; HIgh on the rims of bare, fiend-haunted fells, I follow cloven tracks that lie ablaze; And ghosts have led me through the moonlight’s [...]
Continue reading about The Singer In the Mist – Robert E. Howard
I have not heard lutes beckon me, nor the brazen bugles call, But once in the dim of a haunted lea I heard the silence fall. I have not heard the regal drum, nor seen the flags unfurled, But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world. I have not seen the horsemen [...]
Hinged in the brooding west a black sun hung, And Titan shadows barred the dying world. The blind black oceans groped; their tendrils curled And writhed and fell in feathered spray, and clung, Climbing the granite ladders, rung by rung, Which held them from the tribes whose death-cries skirled. Above, unholy fires red wings unfurled— [...]
“Nix and Egil had pulped a score of the undead creatures – onetime temple guards animated to unlife by the wizard-king’s priests – on their way through the tomb.” 3 out of 5 http://paulskemp.com/blog/meet-egil-and-nix-from-the-hammer-and-the-blade/
Continue reading about The Hammer and the Blade 1 – Paul S. Kemp
The ghost kings are marching; the midnight knows their tread, From the distant, stealthy planets of the dim, unstable dead; There are whisperings on the night-winds and the shuddering stars have fled. A ghostly trumpet echoes from a barren mountainhead; Through the fen the wandering witch-lights gleam like phantom arrows sped; There is silence in [...]
Beauty sop. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about By Plucking Her Petals – Sarah L. Edwards
Not bloody her. 3 out of 5 http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/summer-2011/fiction-the-fox-by-malinda-lo/
Here’s a fantasy gladiator story, set in the same Sunja world as the Troll Hunter it would appear. The story revolving around the yearly festival tournament and the rivalries and skullduggeries (and gambling) surrounding several schools of gladiators. This is complicated by the existence of Free Trained gladiators – not slaves or criminals – but [...]
“Baylus stood in a white tunnel, long and bare, leading upward to a thick portcullis. A gatekeeper stood a few paces in front of him checking his fingernails for dirt. A lever protruded from the wall over his left shoulder. Baylus ignored the gatekeeper and regarded the bench to his right. There for support, he [...]
Inheritance deal. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Duke of Riverside – Ellen Kushner
Shiggeloth Sprawle. 3 out of 5
Dead, with scarecrows. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about The Shadow On The City Of My Sky – Robert Hoge
Thrall finish. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Spark A Romance In Four Acts – Sean Williams
A daughter. 3 out of 5
Dodgy jousts and the usual plots. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about The Mystery Knight – George R. R. Martin
Seeking with a fondness for goats. 2.5 out of 5
Guild magic fighting. 2.5 out of 5
Hopefully not dying. 3 out of 5
Passing on the Blacksmith tradition is a gut stabbing experience. 3.5 out of 5 http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/story.php?s=157
Continue reading about My Father’s Wounds – Ferret Steinmetz
A good anthology of flaming big lizard stories at 3.44 with serveral standouts by McCaffrey, Bear, Murphy, Lynn, Dickson, Shepard and Reed. Wings of Fire : The Rule of Names – Ursula K. Le Guin Wings of Fire : The Ice Dragon – George R. R. Martin Wings of Fire : Sobek – Holly Black [...]
Madog Glasog shape. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Gwydion and the Dragon – C. J. Cherryh
Sacrifice snack. 3.5 out of 5
Artos reading. 3.5 out of 5
Count Winkle Bork King. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about The Bully And The Beast – Orson Scott Card
Wormspoor cold. 3.5 out of 5
Continue reading about The Harrowing Of The Dragon Of Hoarsbreath – Patricia A. McKillip
Ghost stop. 3 out of 5
Continue reading about Braiding the Ghosts – C. S. E. Cooney
Audra-rora defense. 2.5 out of 5
Continue reading about The Magician And The Maid And Other Stories – Christie Yant
Charm knot. 3 out of 5 http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/fiction/holdfast/
“A man does not need Visions to know you’re making a mistake, the Black King had said. We need a rest. We’re no longer ready to fight. So you have seen nothing, Rugar had said. Nothing at all. Rugar took a deep breath. Rain dripped off his nose onto his lips. The water was cool [...]
Continue reading about The Sacrifice 1-3 – Kristine Kathryn Rusch
“There was no mistake, Lutaar was most definitely dead. Most of his blood was on the floor, for a start. With a growl, Ullsaard pulled the former king from the throne and pushed the body to the floor. Kneading his temples, Ullsaard sat down. He was tired, that was the obvious explanation for the voice [...]
Continue reading about The Crown of the Conqueror 1 – Gav Thorpe
Some more of the same. Bayaz the wizard has again been manoeuvring people – and this time we have yet another conflict between North and South. Black Dow’s army and Marshal Kroy’s. Looked at in multiple strands via an aging named man, a teenager who thinks he wants to be a warrior, an ambitious colonel’s [...]
The final Elric collection in this series contains a new story, a novel, a screenplay, an article, a couple of intros and a reader’s guide to Elric at the end. Which is an odd place to put it – they want you to get all of these books first before you find out where you [...]
When you have a low tech society with religious cults – well, you get murderous power struggles and assassinations. In this case, our protagonist pretty much loses her whole organisation (and god type) and has to attempt to work out why the hell this happened. There are hints of technology in buildings and devices in [...]
Out of magic water bramble overload son execution rescue. 3.5 out of 5 http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/spring-2011/fiction-the-fall-of-alacan-by-tobias-s-buckell/
Continue reading about The Fall of Alacan – Tobias S. Buckell
Music prison. 2.5 out of 5 http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/winter-2011/fiction-a-small-price-to-pay-for-birdsong-by-k-j-parker/
Continue reading about A Small Price To Pay For Birdsong – K. J. Parker
Minigod tales. 2.5 out of 5 http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/ness_06_11/
A nice parody :- Roll a D6 from Connor Anderson on Vimeo.
Berry discard, Schmendrick. 2 out of 5 http://www.fantasy-magazine.com/new/new-fiction/the-woman-who-married-the-man-in-the-moon/
Continue reading about The Woman Who Married the Man In the Moon – Peter S. Beagle
Lizard-lion, God. 2.5 out of 5 http://freesf.strandedinoz.com/wordpress/2011/04/the-animated-pinup-lewis-parker/
“The man was round and short, with large hands and stubby fingers, and though the high boots of a huntsman flashed from beneath his robe, his waddling stride made it clear they were an affectation rather than his customary dress. Probably he was a merchant of some kind when he was not serving his state [...]
Continue reading about The Walkers from the Crypt 4 The Pendant – Howard Andrew Jones
“”I can still sense it,” he said in his cold, lonely voice. “You, wizard, might be able to feel its power if you extended yourself. It must lie where my body lies. Only a magical weapon can destroy the pendant, for I shielded the thing against harm.” Arcil glanced over to Elyana before speaking. “It [...]
Continue reading about The Walkers from the Crypt 3 Bones of the Fallen – Howard Andrew Jones
““Attempting to eviscerate the ocean?” She tapped the head of an arrow against her chin thoughtfully. “That’s something insane, maybe. You’re just going to open your stitches doing that.” Her ears twitched, as though they could hear the sinewy threads stretching in his leg. “How is your wound, anyway?”” 3 out of 5 http://www.tor.com/stories/2011/03/black-halo-excerpt?start=3
Wyrm hunting problems. 2.5 out of 5 http://www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com/?p=439
Whipped boiled dragon rejection not so tasty. 3.5 out of 5
