Sword & Sorcery Roundup – February 2023

I’d like to introduce a new feature that’ll pop up every three or four months on the blog: Sword & Sorcery Roundup. It’ll be an article on the goings on in the world of S&S literature mainly and the occasional movie talk. I’ll focus for the most part on indie/amateur S&S magazines and audiobooks as well as my own fiction writings.

First off, I’d like to shine the spotlight on my favourite S&S magazine, Savage Realms Monthly. Every issue features three tales from up-and-coming to more established writers in the genre. This is old school S&S done right in the tradition of Robert E. Howard’s Conan and Karl Edward Wagner’s Kane. Every issue is available in print, digital, and Audible audiobook, much to my delight since audiobooks are my preferred way of consuming fiction. I ran an Audiobook Showcase on SRM back in January as part of my Sword & Sorcery Audiobook Mondays columns. You can check it out here. I’ll be reviewing issues 4 and 5 (which came out last week) sometime next weekend. The audio version still has a way to go to catch up to the print version which just saw the release of issue 18 (13 issues left to go). But SRM narrator extraordinaire Moose Matson is hard at work weaving Audible spells so I’m sure they’ll be a plethora of them coming our way. Check it out at the links below.

Savage Realms Monthly’s Website: https://www.literaryrebel.com/savage-submissions/

Savage Realms Monthly on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SRM_Monthly

Second, The Cromcast, a podcast focusing on the works of Robert E. Howard, his pop culture legacy, and other weird fiction puts out a fantastic FREE digital magazine once a year in December titled The Cromcast Chronicle. Their latest issue, number 3, was published last December. The magazine features short stories, articles, and reviews related to the genre of Sword & Sorcery. Check it out and pick up the latest issue at the links below.

The Cromcast’s Website: http://thecromcast.blogspot.com/

The Cromcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCromcast

Third, Whetstone S&S Mag is a bi-annual FREE digital magazine published in June and December. The latest issue is number 6 from last December. Every issue is chock-full of great fiction short stories from up-and-coming to more seasoned writers. Check it out and pick up the latest issue at the links below.

Whetstone S&S Mag’s Website: https://whetstonemag.blogspot.com/

Whetstone S&S Mag on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SorceryWs

Fourth, New Edge Sword & Sorcery’s magazine features new Sword & Sorcery short stories as well as intriguing non-fiction related to the genre’s past, present, and future. Issue number 0 is available as a FREE digital download, but also in print on Amazon. The magazine’s future issues are funded via Kickstarter and you can visit their Website for all the details if you’d like to support and contribute to the magazine. A crowdfunding campaign is under way for issues 1 and 2 at the moment which will see the light of day in fall/winter 2023. Head over to the links below for all the details and to peruse issue 0.

New Edge Sword & Sorcery’s Website: https://newedgeswordandsorcery.com/

New Edge Sword & Sorcery on Twitter: https://twitter.com/newedgeswordmag

Next up, if you’re into S&S then you’ve most likely heard/seen that there’s a new Dungeons & Dragons theatrical movie coming out March 31^st titled D&D: Honor Among Thieves starring Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez among many others. I’m looking forward to it and I’ll have a review of the film upon its release. Also, to get ourselves in the mood for the new movie, there’ll be a couple of books/audiobooks published to tie-in with the release, one of which is titled D&D: The Road to Neverwinter that serves as a prequel to the film. It will be published on Feb. 28^th and I’ll be doing an Audiobook Showcase on it sometime in March, so keep an eye out for that.

As I was looking at the release schedule for upcoming S&S audiobooks on Audible, a novel from a military science-fiction writer by the name of Ryan W. Aslesen caught my attention. It’s a standalone (maybe the first in a new series?) book titled Raknar: The Northman which I’ve seen described as a cross between Conan, Spartacus, and Game of Thrones. That sounds awesome! The print/digital version of the book came out in July 2022, but the audiobook version is set to be released on March 21^st, so you can expect an Audiobook Showcase from me on Raknar sometime in April.

Last but not least, for those who’ve been following the blog, you know that I’ve been a fiction writer for about 17 years now, writing under the pen names Alan Draven/Neal Vandar, mainly in the horror/supernatural thriller genres. I called it a career last October with the release of my final novel, Once Upon a Time in Bitternest, but you know what they say about retiring from anything, right? It usually never lasts for very long. Anyhow, I’m done writing novels, that’s for sure. I’ve climbed Mount Everest enough times already and have no desire to do it again. I’m also done writing horror and dark fiction; I’ve outgrown those genres over the years. BUT I’ve just finished the first draft of my very first Sword & Sorcery tale yesterday and I am stoked about it! It’s roughly 10,000 words in length and features a Conan-type character who will be my focus for at least ten stories. I will create a mythology for him in short stories ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 words. Once I’ll have about ten tales written, I’ll publish a book in print/digital/audiobook collecting all of them. Until then, the stories will be published individually as I write them in PDF and Kindle. I’ll have more details on this new project in another blog post sometime tomorrow. So, stay tuned for that!

Alan Draven’s Writer Blog: http://bitternest.blogspot.com/

And that’s all she wrote, folks! This has been the first edition of Sword & Sorcery Roundup. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and that you find something to your liking in terms of reading material. Subscribe to this blog and follow me on Twitter to keep up with all the cool content about Sword & Sorcery, audiobooks, and all things Metal/Doom music that will be coming your way throughout 2023.