Sword & Sorcery Roundup – January 2024

Time to get the year rolling with a Sword & Sorcery Roundup focusing on a bunch of cool stuff that’s either been recently published or will see the light of day within the next six months. There are plenty of amazing books, audiobooks, and comic books about to be released in the near-future in the realm of S&S. Let’s have a chronological look at it, shall we?

First, our friends over at Whetstone, the Amateur Magazine of Pulp Sword and Sorcery, released issue 8 of their fantastic S&S magazine back in December of 2023. They publish two issues a year and it’s absolutely free! Sadly, the good folks at Spiral Tower Press who publish the mag will be putting Whetstone on hold for a while, at least for the entirety of 2024. The magazine’s first issue was published in the summer of 2020. This last issue (for now) and all previous issues are still available for download on their blog. This one serves up a dozen short stories jam-packed into an 84-page PDF. The authors featured are R.M. Gulaya, J.D. Harlock, Marcos Miotti, Michael Burke, B. Harlan Crawford, K.T. Booker, Robert Webb, Mitchell Hyde, Rab Foster, Liam Q.D. Hall, Shephard McIlveen, and Jim Reddy. If you missed it, just head over to their blog and download your copy today.

Second, frequent visitors of the blog are aware of my love for Savage Realms Monthly, especially the Audible version of their awesome magazine. Almost every month, they deliver a solid book featuring three different authors who pen old school Sword & Sorcery tales in the tradition of Robert E. Howard, Karl Edward Wagner, and Lin Carter. On the audiobook side, Moose Matson plays the role of S&S Cryptkeeper of sorts, handling narrative duties with panache. There aren’t any new Audible SRM issues out per se, but I have it on good authority that there are two issues coming our way very soon. In the meantime, you can browse through the dozen audiobooks (reviewed by yours truly) that they’ve already released up to now. They also publish Kindle and print versions of the book, of course. The latest book, SRM #25, was the Holiday issue published earlier in January this year. It features the talents of Matthew X. Gomez, Mark Mellon, and Rab Foster. You can pick it up on Amazon.

Third, what will most likely be the biggest Sword & Sorcery anthology of 2024 is about to be published on January 26^th for the eBook versions and just in time for Valentine’s Day for its print counterpart. I’m talking about a gorgeous book titled Neither Beg Nor Yield: Stories with S&S Attitude from the fine folks at Rogue Blades Entertainment. The book is edited by Jason M. Waltz and features a stellar lineup of some of the best writers writing today. Here’s the list of scribes who contribute a total of 20 tales to the book: Eadwine Brown, Adrian Cole, Glen Cook, Steve Dilks, Chuck Dixon, Phil Emery, Steven Erikson, John R. Fultz, Steve Goble, John C. Hocking, Howard Andrew Jones, William King, Joe R. Lansdale, David C. Smith, Jeff Stewart, Keith J. Taylor, Eric Turowski, Frederick Tor & Bill Ward, Lawrence A. Weinstein, and C.L. Werner. This is a massive book at almost 500 pages in length; I’ve had the pleasure of perusing an ARC and it is a thing of beauty! It showcases a diverse crop of S&S tales and every story has its own gorgeous illustration. I can’t wait to dig into it. I’ll do a proper review of it once I get around to reading the whole thing, time-permitting, with the hectic couple of months I have ahead of me, but hopefully some time this spring. In the meantime, head over to Rogue Blades’ Website and pre-order your copy today!

Fourth, Titan Comics hit it out of the park in 2023 with their new monthly Conan comic book series. In 2024, they’re bringing back The Savage Sword of Conan in its original black-and-white magazine format. Issue #1 features a new Conan epic from John Arcudi and Max Von Fafner, the rousing return of Solomon Kane written and drawn by Patch Zircher, an electric prose story from Jim Zub, spectacular art pin-ups, and more. It will be published on February 28^th. You can pick it up at your local comic book shop or at Titan Comics’ Website.

Fifth, a new D&D novel series begins on March 5^th with the publication of Dungeons & Dragons: The Fallbacks: Bound for Ruin by Jaleigh Johnson. She’s no stranger to D&D, having penned the excellent D&D: Honor Among Thieves prequel novel The Road to Neverwinter last year. I, for one, am eager to read the adventures of this new batch of heroes. It’ll be available as a hardback, Kindle, and to my delight, as an audiobook on Audible. Head over to Amazon’s page for the book to read the synopsis and pre-order your copy today. Of course, I’ll have a review of the audiobook shortly after its release.

Sixth, Conan will also return in novel-length adventures in the highly-anticipated Conan: City of the Dead by John C. Hocking, courtesy of Titan Books. The book combines the classic Conan and the Emerald Lotus initially published in 1995, with the all-new, original Conan and the Living Plague. The latter is the long-awaited follow-up to the former, also written by Hocking. It will be published as a hardcover and on Kindle, but I’m bummed out that there doesn’t seem to be an audiobook planned for this one. What gives, Titan Books? Us folks with poor vision and eye conditions who love a good audiobook demand a release on Audible! Anyhow, the book will be published on June 18^th and you can pre-order this bad boy over at Amazon.

Seventh and last for now, fan-favourite Red Sonja comic book scribe Gail Simone returns to the title in novel form this time around. Red Sonja: Consumed is slated to be published on July 16^th through Orbit Books. This will be a massive 480-page book where Red Sonja, the iconic, fiery, she-devil with a sword, is reinvented for a new generation of readers in an action-packed epic fantasy. I’ve loved the Red Sonja character ever since I watched the Brigitte Nielsen and Arnold Schwarzenegger movie back in 1985. I’ve read some of Ms. Simone’s Red Sonja comics and enjoyed them greatly, so I look forward to going along for a ride with the red-headed warrior. The novel will be published in hardcover, Kindle, and, yes, on Audible (thank you Orbit!). You can pre-order a copy in the format of your choice over at Amazon.

There you have it, folks! Another edition of Sword & Sorcery Roundup is in the books. I hope you’ll find some S&S material to your liking here. Drop by again for more news and reviews of Sword & Sorcery stuff right here on the Harbinger of D.O.O.M. Blog. Until next time, happy reading!