Fantasy Books

Veronica Roth first came to my attention, as she did many others, I’m sure, with her Divergent series of novels (2011 – 2014), a dystopian science fiction series that seemed to be what readers of The Hunger Games (2008 – 10) wanted. More than a decade later, those Divergent readers have become adult, and so…

The Iron Tower Trilogy: The Dark Tide, Shadows of Doom, and The Darkest Day
(Signet, August 1985, September 1985, and October 1985). Covers by Alan Lee

I recently posted some of my thoughts about High Fantasy. I haven’t read a large amount from that field but I did read Dennis L. McKiernan’s first trilogy of books, the Iron Tower trilogy, which is definitely High Fantasy written very strongly in the Tolkien tradition.

Here’s my review of those three books, which I read in an omnibus edition.

Back covers for The Dark Tide, Shadows of Doom, and The Darkest Day

While laid up after a motorcycle accident for several months, Dennis L. McKiernan (1932 – ) began writing what he first intended to be a sequel to The Lord of the Rings. When that plan fell through, he changed some of the setting and produced his Iron Tower trilogy, which was published by Doubleday in 1984, although he started the work in 1977 after his accident.

I read the three in the omnibus edition shown below, but the three books are:

The Dark Tide (Signet, August 1985)
Shadows of Doom (Signet, September 1985)
The Darkest Day (Signet, October 1985)

The omnibus edition of the Iron Tower trilogy (Roc, 2000). Cover by Jerry Vanderstelt

These are McKiernan’s first books and show his inexperience, but he did produce some memorable characters and I generally enjoyed the books.

Perhaps because of how the work was initially conceived, as a sequel to Tolkien’s work, they bear a very close resemblance to Tolkien’s setting, characters, and overall story arcs, so much so that one might be forgiven for considering them pastiche Tolkien. From what I’ve heard, McKiernan went on to write much more original material later.

However, though I have a couple of his later books I’ve not read any of them. Anyone have a recommendation for something good from him?

Charles Gramlich administers The Swords & Planet League group on Facebook, where this post first appeared. His last article for us was a a review of the Bigfoot: Sword of the Earthman graphic novel by Josh S. Henaman, Andy Taylor, and Tamra Bonvillain. See all of his recent posts for Black Gate here.

Here are 7 Author Shoutouts for this week. Find your favorite author or discover an…

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I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Steel Gods by Richard Swan

Mogsy’s Rating: 2 of 5 stars

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Book 2 of The Great Silence

Publisher: Orbit (March 31, 2026)

Length: 448 pages

Author Information: Website

This review is probably going to be full of unpopular opinions, but the thing is, I don’t get it either. In recent years, I have become a big fan of Richard Swan, I also absolutely loved the first book of this series, and yet, Steel Gods ended up being a huge disappointment. While I devoured Grave Empire effortlessly, I spent most of this second novel struggling to stay interested and wondering when it was finally going to click, forcing myself to keep going because I genuinely believed it would eventually get better. Just stick with it, I told myself, and when you’re done, you’ll be glad you can roll straight into book three. But heck, by the end, I honestly wasn’t even sure I wanted to continue the series at all.

Picking up after the events of the previous novel, the world of The Great Silence continues devolving into more chaos as the boundaries between the mortal realm and the afterlife begin to break down. The big baddies, the Vorr, which are horrifying interdimensional beings that fed on souls, have breached the land of the dead and invaded the world of the living. Their influence spreads through the empire like a plague, inflicting mind rot upon their victims, turning them into soulless, hollowed-out husks like zombies.

But instead of working together to try to stop the infection, those with power begin looking for ways to exploit it. Among them is Count Lamprecht von Oldenburg, who uses thaumaturgy to turn the mindless horde into his own personal army. He’s also batshit insane. Meanwhile, Ambassador Renata Rainer is continuing her diplomatic mission, traveling to the heart of enemy territory in the hopes of recruiting new allies. Lieutenant Peter Kleist, on the other hand, has managed to survive the treacherous wilds, despite his youth and lack of experience being constantly tested along the way. Now he finds himself back in the haunted wilderness, compelled by the need for answers, even as the weight of everything he has already endured begins to catch up with him. Across the wider series arc, the story continues to unfold through multiple POVs scattered around a rapidly destabilizing world, each trying to prevent it from slipping into total collapse.

This sequel should have been a slam dunk, but what surprised me most was how different this book felt compared to Grave Empire. Same world, same continuity, many of the same characters, and yet for me, the energy was completely off. For one, the focus of the first book was much tighter, whereas this one felt sprawling in a way that diluted a lot of what originally hooked me. The character perspectives are diverging once more, introducing more threads but also more distance. It gave the book a disconnected quality, like everyone was wandering through separate stories instead of participating in the same one.

The pacing also dragged for me. Oh boy, did it really drag. Looking back, quite a lot actually happens, but very little of it feels impactful in the moment. Any reveals arrive with surprisingly little weight behind them, or maybe it was just my bored state of mind making major developments seem like they fizzled rather than explode. Entire sections feel bogged down in exposition without much payoff. Chapters would go by where I realized I had been reading for quite some time without feeling any real momentum carrying me forward. Honestly, if the first book hadn’t been so good, making me feel invested in this series, I probably would have DNFed this before the halfway mark.

Part of the issue may simply be that this installment feels much more transitional. It spends a lot of time repositioning the characters, which might explain why they didn’t work nearly as well for me this time around. Here, a lot of them felt strangely flattened or pushed aside in favor of laying down groundwork for future events, leading to less balance and more confusion. I’d thought I had a strong grasp of the characters’ motivations, but after this book, I don’t feel as confident anymore. Not because they suddenly changed, but because much of the book feels emotionally flat and they don’t really develop in particularly exciting ways.

To be fair, Swan still writes well on a technical level. The prose is polished, and the world-building is detailed. Here and there are flashes of genius like the political complexity or the grim atmosphere that reminded me why I loved the first book. But ultimately this sequel just never came alive for me. Whatever momentum Grave Empire had going for it, I simply didn’t feel it here.

In the end, if I had to boil it all down to one thing, I’d say that Steel Gods has a pretty serious case of middle book syndrome. The series began with a much stronger sense of tension and direction, so I know what it’s capable of, but this installment never really comes close to reaching those same heights. I’m now on the fence about whether I’ll continue with the series, but I suppose time will tell.

More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of Grave Empire (Book 1)

Other Titles by Nora Gaskin Along with Lammie Loves Cubby, we’re definitely adding these other…

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Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

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War, as it turns out, is a terrible place to discover you don’t want to be in a war.

Three brothers (Ethan, Mason, and Archie) have this revelation during the Battle of Shiloh and do the only sensible thing available to them: they run in the opposite direction of cannon fire. Sadly, the desertion results in navigating through mud, starvation, regret and the creeping realization that survival and morality don't always gel.

When they think, all's lost, they find the house. Now, in stories, a house in the woods is rarely just a house. It is, at minimum, a decision. This one comes with a beautiful woman named Sarafina, her son (or not), huge and dangerous dogs and a general atmosphere of wrongness. 

At first, it’s all very convenient, especially that the hist is welcoming, has food and is willing to share.  On top of that, no one is actively trying to shoot them. WooHoo.

Ethan, who narrates like someone trying very hard to believe his own version of events, starts to notice small things. Then larger, more theological things. Meanwhile, his brothers adjust and let their inner selves (angry, violent, corrupt) act openly. Not the best choice.

I liked how Fracassi lures you in with something familiar (war is awful, men are flawed, there is a strange woman in a strange house) and then plays with it and rearranges pieces while you’re not looking. By the time you notice, you’re no longer in a war story. Or a haunted house story, for that matter. You’re somewhere worse. 

The brothers aren’t likable, which is rather the point. They are what happens when you mix violence, fear, and a lifetime of bad influences and then give it all time to ferment. Ethan tries to be better, but the book suggests that trying and succeeding are not the same thing.

There’s a middle stretch where you might think you’ve figured it out. You haven’t. 

In conclusion, if someone offers you food in a perfect little house in the middle of nowhere, you should at least consider the possibility that you are not the guest. Other than that, it's a great slow-burn horror story.

Good afterevenmorn, Readers!

This past Saturday, I headed out with a few of my martial arts students, past and present, to watch the second installment of the recent Mortal Kombat adaptations. I’m not going to lie, the draw for me was the involvement of Karl Urban as Johnny Cage. Cage was never a character I played, but the retired action movie star is a fun idea for this franchise, and I will generally support anything Karl Urban does. Even when it’s bad, he’s great in it. And sometimes when it’s bad, it’s good. Ask me about my love of the 2005 film Doom one day. I never said I had great taste.

The point is, I went and saw the movie, and the short review is, I loved it (see afore mentioned note about my tastes). Let’s dive in!

My entry into the Mortal Kombat universe was the original arcade game. I was, predictably, terrible at it. But it was a great time all the same. I credit Mortal Kombat, and shows like Xena: Warrior Princess, with pointing me to my long-term, much loved hobby of martial arts training (for those who don’t know, I train and teach Kickboxing and Northern Mantis Kung Fu).

It helped that the former had a character that shared my first name, albeit with a different spelling – Sonya. You bet I played her nearly exclusively. But the game also had a plethora of female characters who, importantly for little me, went toe-to-toe with male opponents. Their victory was not conditional to their gender (though a lot of the finishers were… I got very annoyed with Sonya’s finisher when they turned it into the ‘kiss of death.’ A kiss? Really? Anyway…), but on the skill of the person who had selected her as their avatar.

That’s my girl.

Oddly enough, I didn’t much like the first of the new Mortal Kombat films. There was something about them that just didn’t jive with me. I think, upon reflection, that the problem was that it took itself entirely too seriously for the ridiculousness of the premise. Perhaps? Not entirely sure. But I wasn’t a huge fan of the first of the most recent adaptations.

That was not the case for this one. Yes, this movie is so silly. It’s not a thinker. But what it is, is really, really fun (and gory). Don’t go if you’re looking for some deeper meaning into the human condition. You won’t find it. Do go if you’re looking for some excellent action, good laughs, and a lot of blood.

The story of Mortal Kombat II largely abandons Cole as the main character, relegating him to one of the crew. Enter Johnny Cage, a washed-up action hero from the age of really cheesy, badly choreographed action films of the kind we lost in the early 90s (making this film a little meta, as it is also a really cheesy (but much better choreographed) action flick, harkening back to the kind we lost in the early 90s). You know, when action movies were dumb and fun… or sometimes just dumb. Really dumb. I particularly enjoyed the really bad action scene from one of his movies we were subjected to as a character introduction. It was horrifically bad. And that was just awesome. A perfect way to set the tone for the character and the movie.

It was such a terrible sequence. And it showcased a particular character move from the games, too. So bad. So great.

I giggled my way through it.

For some reason, unseen by either his character or the audience, he has been selected as the replacement for Kung Lao as a defender of Earth Realm (Spoiler: Kung Lao was killed in the last movie); a call to adventure that he promptly rejects. Not that it does him much good. What I like about this is that Johnny Cage is not magically suddenly extremely good at martial arts when he is dragged into the Mortal Kombat arena. He was in his youth. But he is no longer young. And while he was a winning fighter as a young man, all of the hard work in his films were done by stunt doubles. And it shows. He doesn’t exactly perform well.

That’s all I’m going to say about it, because I don’t want to stray too far into spoiler territory.

I will say, however, that Karl Urban was very aware what kind of film this was, and very pleasingly hammed it up. So many of his scenes were flat out silly, and in it’s own self-aware way, hilarious.

To my surprise, however, that was not my greatest joy in this film. That honour once again belonged to Josh Lawson who reprised his role as Kano (he was in the trailer, so I don’t feel like this is too much of a spoiler). Kano was, to my mind, the best thing about the previous film. He also stood out here… but that might just be because of who I am and the fact that this time around he was so aggressively Australian that it very nearly killed me (I am much less aggressively Australian). I laughed hardest and loudest at his scenes. Even thinking about it now, I still giggle. It’s not often that Australia gets any kind of representation in films. In fact, the only other ensemble movie I can think of that had an explicitly Australian character was Pitch Black, and, well, he didn’t last long. To be fair, not too many characters did.

I am fairly sure that other folks of other backgrounds won’t take as much delight in Kano as I did, so I would not count on it to up the enjoyment of this film. But for me very specifically, it absolutely did.

Don’t let the poster fool you. He is a deeply unserious character.

Kano steals the show. Yet again.

The story itself is about what you’d expect for this franchise. Broadly, Earth is under threat, and heroes, under the tutelage of the lightning god Raiden, must overcome their personal limitations to rise against the foe in order to save Earthrealm from annexation. But even in this, through the figure of Johnny Cage, the film kind of makes fun of itself. Of course, the folks on the other side are up to shenanigans, and so they must be countered — both inside and outside the arena.

There are a lot of great fight scenes, a tonne of gore (which is to be expected, given the nature of the games), some unexpected deaths (no one is safe. No one. Side note: in my viewing, when one of the characters was killed someone in the front row exclaimed, “Nooooo!” quite loudly. Go see it with an audience, is what I’m saying. It was great.), and so, so many laughs. It was not deep, or profound, or even serious.

It was fun.

It evoked the old-school feeling action movies used to have: fun was the goal. I don’t know about you, but, given the state of well… everything, I desperately needed something fun. Mortal Kombat II perfectly scratched that itch. Definitely worth the cost of admission, silliness and all.

My goodness was it silly. What a good time in the cinema.

When S.M. Carrière isn’t brutally killing your favorite characters, she spends her time teaching martial arts, live streaming video games, and sometimes painting. In other words, she spends her time teaching others to kill, streaming her digital kills, and sometimes relaxing. Her most recent titles include Daughters of Britain, Skylark and Human. The Timbercreek Incident is free to read on Wattpad.

All Hail Chaos is the second installment of Sarah Rees Brennan’s A Time of Iron, a portal fantasy which finds a young woman named Rae swept into the world of the fantasy novels she and her sister Alice hold dear to their hearts. The first installment, Long Live Evil, saw Rae embrace the identity of…

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So, last week, I talked about ten movies that you can stream for free over on Tubi. I could easily list ten or twenty more. There’s a lot of good stuff there.

I’m also watching TV shows on Tubi. Of course, a multiple season show takes a lot longer to work through, than a single movie. It’s got some cool animated shows, like Pinky and the Brain, The Looney Tunes Show, and The Pirates of Darkwater. I’ll probably do a post like this on just cartoons.

But today we’ll talk about live-action shows. Now, PlutoTV is terrific for TV shows. Entire channels dedicated to Star Trek shows, mysteries, Westerns, etc.. And I’m leaning into RokuTV (also free). But let’s look at ten shows you can catch on Tubi. Some of the biggest hits are there, but I’ll try to focus on some others.

A reminder: I talked here about how I was finally fed up with all the streaming apps I needed to watch stuff. So, except for Prime (the family orders a lot of stuff from Amazon), I cut the chord on all of them. I’m missing Daredevil, and didn’t watch a single Pittsburgh Penguins playoff game (I did listen to all of them). But it’s going fine.

1 – SIMON AND SIMON

I caught an episode of this here and there over the years, but had never watched it through. I’ve always liked it, and it hasn’t lost its charm. Two brothers barely make a living as private eyes in San Diego. This is the show that launched Gerald McRaney.

It’s definitely a little cheesy, but this is a fun buddy PI show. And love the two theme songs. Hardcastle and McCormick, and Riptide, and T.J. Hooker, are three favorites I’m going to re-watch on Tubi. But I’ll plug Simon and Simon here.

2 – RESCUE ME

I was aware that this was a popular and critically praised show in the early 2000s. I didn’t like Leary much, and I never watched it. But I’m going to give season one of this fire-fighting drama, a try. Leary’s latest show, Going Dutch, just got canceled last week. It had its ups and downs, but I saw every episode.

3 – THE TICK

I loved the animated show. And Amazon’s series was very good. But I was disappointed with Patrick Warburton’s short-lived series when it came out. I decided to give it a re-watch. It’s still my least favorite Tick, but I did like it this time around. I just had to get in the right frame of mind and accept it for what it was. Not how I would have done it, but it’s not a bad watch.

4 – BLUE RIDGE: THE SERIES

I liked the movie that started this off, and I liked season one of the streaming show which followed. It is now on Tubi. It stars Johnathon Schaech, who was the arrogant Jimmy in one of my favorite ‘under-the-radar’ movies, That Thing You Do!.

He’s a kick-ass ex-Green Beret, now sheriff in the Blue Ridge Mountains. A second season dropped last month, and I’m gonna try to find it. Go read my prior post – and you should start with the movie, if you can. But this is a cool show.

5 – DOC MARTIN

I am a big fan of Best Medicine, which had its first season earlier this year. It’s an American version of Doc Martin, a British show featuring Martin Clunes. Clunes actually appeared as Martin Best’s father, in the new show.

I like the new show, and I like the original. Doc Martin is socially awkward, and he’s kind of a butthead. Not in the Dr. Gregory House vein, but he can be difficult to root for sometimes. I recommend both Doc Martin, and Best Medicine.

6 – SHERLOCK HOLMES (JEREMY BRETT)

You may know that my first three years at Black Gate, my column was called The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes. I love me some Holmes. And as I wrote in this three part series, Jeremy Brett is the definitive screen Holmes. They have a bunch (though not all) of Brett’s episodes. HIGHLY recommended.

Tubi has a ton of television and movie Holmes. Even one from 2011 I’d never heard of. I’ll probably do a Ten Things on Tubi Holmes. But Jeremy Brett is a treat.

7 – COLUMBO/MURDOCH MYSTERIES

I am a HUUUUGE Columbo fan. I’m still trying to get together a multi-contributor Columbo series here at Black Gate. I did write about the lieutenant, here. I have the entire series on DVD (no commercials), but I’d be remiss not to point out you can watch it free on Tubi. Possibly the greatest mystery series of all time.

Murdoch Mysteries has my vote as the greatest Canadian mystery series of all time.

8 -SOAP

I saw a little of Soap during its run, but I was only 10 years old when it started. And I didn’t like it. Obviously, I didn’t understand much of it, as well. I do remember I regularly watched the spin-off, Benson. Robert Guillaume and Rene Auberjonois were terrific in that. But Soap was a critically acclaimed ‘adult’ comedy. I should probably check it out now.

9 – C.P.O SHARKEY

Don Rickles was in his prime before my time. But he was still around as I was a kid in the 70s. He was a comb of Archie Bunker and the yet-to-come Dennis Leary. I don’t watch him, but this is a very nineteen seventies sitcom.

10 – ROUTE 66

I never saw this sixties show. I know the song from the King Cole Trio about Route 66. But only when I came across this on Tubi, did I realize it starred Martin Milner, who would later be on Adam-12. And he was the murder victim in the first episode of Columbo. Apparently it’s kind of a spin-off from The Naked City – another show I’ve heard of but not seen.

MORE

When you browse, you’ll probably say more than once, “Oh yeah. I should watch that again. There’s Perfect Strangers, Barney Miller, The Drew Carey Show, Major Dad, Dead Like Me, Saved by the Bell, and so many more shows from your past.

I definitely think I’ll do a post on animated shows – it’s a treasure trove for that.

I just added close to ten Bowery Boys movies to my Tubi list. It’s definitely filling the paid streaming gap.

Some previous entries on things to watch:

Ten Things: Tubi Movies
The Hudsucker Proxy
Let’s Go to the Movies:1996
Firefly – The Animated Reboot
What I’ve Been Watching – February 2026 (The Night Manager, SS-GB, Best Medicine)
What I’ve Been Watching – October 2026 (Return to Paradise, Lynley, Expend4bles, and more)
What I’ve Been Watching – August 2025 (Ballard, Resident Alien, Twisted Metal, and more)
What I’ve Been Watching – May 2025 (County Line, The Bondsman, Bosch: Legacy)
What I’ve Been Watching – October 2024 (What We Do in the Shadows, The Bay, Murder in a Small Town)
What I’m Watching – November 2023 (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, A Haunting in Venice)
What I’m Watching – April 2023 (Florida Man, Picard – season three, The Mandalorian)
The Pale Blue Eye, and The Glass Onion: Knives Out
Tony Hillerman’s Dark Winds
The Rings of Power (Series I wrote on this show – all links at this one post)
What I’m Watching – December 2022 (Frontier, Leverage: Redemption)
What I’m Watching – November 2022 (Tulsa King, Andor, Fire Country, and more)
What I’m Watching – September 2022 (Galavant, Firefly, She-Hulk, and more)
What I’m Watching- April 2022 (Outer Range, Halo, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans, and more)
When USA Network was Kicking Major Butt (Monk, Psych, Burn Notice)
You Should be Streaming These Shows (Corba Kai, The Expanse, Bosch, and more)
What I’m BritBoxing – December 2021 (Death in Paradise, Shakespeare & Hathaway, The Blake Mysteries, and more)
To Boldly Go – Star Treking – (Various Star Trek incarnations)
What I’ve Been Watching – August 2021 (Monk, The Tomorrow War, In Plain Sight, and more)
What I’m Watching – June 2021 (Get Shorty, Con Man, Thunder in Paradise, and more)
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
What I’ve Been Watching – June 2021 (Relic Hunter, Burn Notice, Space Force, and more)
Appaloosa
Psych of the Dead
The Mandalorian
What I’m Watching: 2020 – Part Two (My Name is Bruce, Sword of Sherwood Forest, Isle of Fury, and more)
What I’m Watching 2020: Part One (The Adventures of Brisco County Jr, Poirot, Burn Notice, and more)
Philip Marlowe: Private Eye
Leverage
Nero Wolfe – The Lost Pilot
David Suchet’s ‘Poirot’
Sherlock Holmes (over two dozen TV shows and movies)

Bob Byrne’s ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ made its Black Gate debut in 2018 and has returned every summer since.

His ‘The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes’ column ran every Monday morning at Black Gate from March, 2014 through March, 2017. And he irregularly posts on Rex Stout’s gargantuan detective in ‘Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone.’ He is a member of the Praed Street Irregulars, and founded www.SolarPons.com (the only website dedicated to the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street’).

He organized Black Gate’s award-nominated ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series, as well as the award-winning ‘Hither Came Conan’ series. Which is now part of THE Definitive guide to Conan. He also organized 2023’s ‘Talking Tolkien.’

He has contributed stories to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories — Parts III, IV, V, VI, XXI, and XXXIII.

He has written introductions for Steeger Books, and appeared in several magazines, including Black Mask, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Sherlock Magazine.

You can definitely ‘experience the Bobness’ at Jason Waltz’s ’24? in 42′ podcast.

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Marcus Kliewer is a writer and stop-motion animator. His debut novel We Used to Live Here began life as a serialized short story on Reddit, where it won the Scariest Story of 2021 Award on the NoSleep forum (eighteen million members). Film rights were snapped up by Netflix, and it was acquired for publication even before it had been extended into a full-length novel. His second novel, The Caretaker, is coming in Spring 2026. Marcus Kliewer lives in Vancouver, Canada.
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books/12:01 Books (April 21, 2026) Page count: 320 Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback 

I checked out The Caretaker because horror subreddit kept hyping it up as one of the best horror releases of the year. That usually goes one of two ways for me: either I find a new favorite, or I spend 300 - 400 pages wondering if we all read the same book. Thankfully, this one absolutely delivered. It’s pretty awesome and unnerving.

Macy takes a weird caretaker job in the middle of nowhere because she’s broke, exhausted, and trying to keep herself and her younger sister afloat. Naturally, this turns into the worst employment experience imaginable. Forget toxic management. This house may literally doom humanity.

Kliewer knows how to build the suffocating sense of dread so that even ordinary things start to feel wrong. Lights. Doors. Phone calls. Written instructions. A rabbit. Especially the rabbit. 

Macy makes the horror effective. At first, her narration almost tricks you into lowering your guard. She’s self-deprecating, awkward, traumatized, and kind of funny in a very tired way. Like, her life is already a disaster anyway. There’s humor in the narration, and she has enough distance from her own misery that the book initially feels lighter than I expected. Then the paranoia starts creeping in. Slowly, carefully, the story pushes her closer and closer to the edge of a complete breakdown, and I loved how convincingly Kliewer handled that spiral.

A lot of horror protagonists make dumb decisions because the plot needs them to. Macy makes bad decisions because she’s mentally and emotionally wrecked. That difference matters. She’s grieving, desperate, isolated, sleep deprived, and clinging to the hope that following the rites might somehow keep everything together. The horror here is less about shocking reveals and more about endurance and trying to hold onto reality while reality keeps slipping sideways.

The middle and final sections especially hit hard for me. The paranoia becomes relentless. Every interaction feels poisoned with doubt. You never fully know what’s real, who can be trusted, or whether Macy herself can still trust her own mind. Kliewer does an excellent job making the reader feel trapped inside that unraveling headspace.

I also appreciated how the book plays with rules. The rites feel absurd right up until they don’t. There’s almost an OCD-like rhythm to them, this terrifying idea that if you fail one tiny ritual, catastrophe follows. It creates this constant tension where even flipping a light switch feels loaded with existential dread.

And that ending. Brutal. I'll definitely remember it even if I'm not sure if I actually liked what just happened to me. 

I’ve seen some readers get frustrated with Macy or with how chaotic the second half becomes, and I get it. This book absolutely wants you to feel anxious, helpless, and stuck in a downward spiral. For me, that’s exactly why it worked so well. Marcus Kliewer knows how to weaponize uncertainty better than most horror writers I’ve read recently.

By the end, I felt like I’d experienced something and I’ll take that over cheap shocks any day.

Gor (The Cannon Group, May 9, 1987)

A veritable cornucopia of dodgy barbarian and barbarian-adjacent movies that I have never watched before, and will probably never watch again. Enjoy Part One here.

Gor (1987) – USA/Italy

Another nail in the Cannon coffin lid, this effort to start a franchise based on the uncomfortable series of novels by John Norman spawned one sequel, and then went belly up before things could get worse.

It follows the same basic plot of the books; dull physics prof Tarl Cabot (Urbano Barbarini — dull as a dish cloth) owns a family heirloom macguffin that transports him to the barbaric planet of Gor, where he must right some wrongs and show the locals that human is best — so far, so very Barsoomy.

Urbano Barbarini and Rebecca Ferratti in Gor

Cabot falls in with a village being ransacked by tyrannical despot and maniacal giggler, Sarm (Oliver ‘I’ll get the beers in’ Reed, having a wonderful time). After a run in with some ne’er-do-wells, Cabot is nursed back to health by semi-clad princess Talena (Rebecca ‘more hairspray’ Ferratti) and soon they are off to reclaim another macguffin in order for Cabot to return home. It isn’t long before the landscape is strewn with bodies, slave girls, and partially covered bum cheeks, and it all culminates in a fiery showdown with Olly Reed.

John Norman’s series justifiably has its critics regarding his depiction of women — specifically the slavery and sexual abuse, which becomes a lot darker and pornographic as the books continued to be rolled out. Some (but not all) of the overt misogyny is glossed over however, and the film just serves as another one of the dime-a-dozen S&S videos to decorate your local Blockbuster in the mid-80s. I’m adding a point for Oliver Reed.

5/10

Outlaw of Gor (Cannon International, March 21, 1988) Outlaw of Gor (1988) – USA/Italy

Hot on the sandal heels of the previous plod-a-thon came this one, not based on Norman’s 1967 novel of the same name, but featuring most of the same characters and actors, and a misguided determination to get some more female slaves on screen.

This time the plank masquerading as a physics prof, Cabot, is tossed back onto Gor following a car crash, but this time he’s not alone. He is joined by an annoying co-worker (Russel Savadier) who has been sandal-horned into the plot in an attempt to distract us from Jack Palance’s hats. Yes, Jack Palance, who had one of the top billings in the last film (he was on screen for 3 mins), has taken over the Olly Reed role, but he is having far less fun with it, and in fact is usurped by evil queen Lara (Donna Denton), who frames Cabot for Talena’s dad’s murder and send him on the run.

Cabot, along with his diminutive, white-haired chum, Hup (Nigel Chipps), wander around in the desert for a bit, stumble into a slave trader camp, free a slave girl, and generally cause a kerfuffle. Unfortunately, Lara has sent a hunter after them and he soon catches them and brings them back to the palace to face the music. Cue fights, wrongs being righted, and another generous sprinkling of sand-blasted flesh.

They upped the humour in this one, to no great effect, and Palance really doesn’t get to do much at all. At least Cabot gets to stay on Gor this time, thus saving his class from another boring physics lecture.

4/10

The New Barbarians (Titanus, April 7, 1983) The New Barbarians (1983) – USA/Italy

Barbarians of the future this time (AKA Warriors of the Wasteland), as humanity has descended into Road Warrior style chaos, stealing much of the other film’s plot too. The rest of the story concerns a lone warrior, Mad Ma… sorry, ‘Scorpion’ (Giancarlo Preti), a former soldier of a quasi-religious bunch of nutters called the Templars.

These Templars, led by a cookie-cutter villain called ‘One’ (George Eastman), are determined to judge and exterminate all other survivors in order to purify the world or something. When they set their sights on a group of peaceniks, it’s up to Scorpion to save the day, but not before he has forced himself on several women, and then been raped himself by One in a scene that springs out of nowhere and sours an already less-than-sweet film. Director Enzo G. Castellari and his production team found a lovely quarry just outside Rome, and chose to never leave it, hurtling their cybertruck-lite buggies around the rocks with wild abandon.

Then blow me down, just as I was starting to tire of the whole debacle, who should turn up but Fred Williamson, playing a bad-ass dude called Nadir. Suddenly I was all in, and the film must have realized what an ace it was holding, because it ramped up the violence (sooo many exploding heads) and the hilarity (Nadir uses a bow with explosive-tipped arrows, but he takes an unbelievably long time to attach the tips to the shafts, while the people he is trying to save are getting the snot kicked out of them).

Ultimately though it’s a bit of a silly slog, but I’m sticking a couple of extra points onto this for Fred Williamson and exploding body parts.

6/10

Iron Warrior (Continental Motion Pictures, January 1, 1987) Iron Warrior (1987) – USA/Italy

For a fleeting moment I was intrigued by this one. The opening scene of a pair of young brothers playing with a ball among some ruins was rather nicely shot, with some interesting framing and editing decisions, and I thought I might have stumbled onto a decent one. I could even forgive the clearly stolen James Horner strains from various Star Treks.

Oh, how I laughed when I realised my mistake three minutes later when it all plummeted into nonsense. One of the boys is kidnapped by a witch, Phoedra (Elisabeth Kaza), who encases him in a formidable suit of iron and turns him into her enforcer.

Flash forward several years and the unsullied brother, Ator, lurches onto the scene, all muscles, tragic hair and cheekbones to cut diamonds on. Ator then proceeds to protect various kingdoms from Phoedra, all the while coming closer to the final showdown with (shock!) his brother. Ator is played by Miles O’Keeffe, whom I remembered from the awful Tarzan movie he made with Bo Derek, released in 1981. This bloke, pretty as he is, gives planks a bad name as he vogues his way from one lackluster sword fight to the next.

I had no idea that I was watching the third film in a series of Ator movies, but it didn’t really matter, and following this one I had no desire to seek out the others. Feel free to comment if this was a mistake and I’ve actually missed some classics (but I won’t hold my breath).

4/10

The Dungeonmaster (Empire Pictures, August 24, 1984) The Dungeonmaster (1984) – USA

AKA Rage War: The Challenges of Excalibrate AKA Digital Knights.

Jeffrey Byron plays a computer nerd called Paul, who has an unhealthy attachment to his A.I. assistant X-CaliBR8, predicting Richard Dawkins’ confusion 42 years ago. His long-suffering girlfriend, Gwen (Leslie Wing), has finally had enough of her digital rival, but before she can do anything about it, they are both whisked away to a fantastical land by a demonic sorcerer called Mestema (Richard Moll), who has been searching for a worthy challenger for some reason, and has decided a nerd and his Siri are it.

Also, he fancies Gwen. Paul has a ‘pipboy’ style version of X-CaliBR8 (Cali for short, thank God), on his wrist, and this thing can do bloody anything, which is useful as Memesta is about to hurl a bunch of different challenges at Paul that have no real connection to anything, and seem extraordinarily easy to beat. Challenges are met, monsters are squashed, demonic sorcerers are defeated, and Paul and Gwen get to go back to their unholy love triangle in their apartment.

Now, I love me a good anthology movie, and this ain’t it. The challenges consist of seven story segments, made by seven directors to varying degrees of competence, ranging from almost interesting to crap. John Carl Buechler got to direct one, and I’ve always loved his films (Ghoulies, anyone?), but his effort was rubbish. Dave Allen, stop-motion maestro, also made one, but that was rubbish too. However, neither of these were as rubbish as the other five, and one of them featured heavy metal lads WASP — go figure.

Nothing made any sense, the wrist-mounted Cali developed super laser powers that I’m pretty sure Paul didn’t program, and the whole shebang is a ludicrous mess.

Recommended.

5/10

Previous Murky Movie surveys from Neil Baker include:

Fauxnan the Barbarian, Part One
Probing Questions
My Top Thirty Films
The Star Warses
Just When You Thought It Was Safe
Tech Tok
The Weyland-Yutaniverse
Foreign Bodies
Mummy Issues
Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
Monster Mayhem

See all of Neil Baker’s Black Gate film reviews here. Neil spends his days watching dodgy movies, most of them terrible, in the hope that you might be inspired to watch them too. He is often asked why he doesn’t watch ‘proper’ films, and he honestly doesn’t have a good answer. He is an author, illustrator, teacher, and sculptor of turtle exhibits.

The Vanishing Tower (DAW Books, June 1977). Cover by Michael Whelan

Here’s another in my series of reviews of “mostly obscure” 1970s/1980s books — the last one was of Evangeline Walton’s The Children of Llyr. That book was published in 1971, and so was the original edition of The Vanishing Tower (first titled The Sleeping Sorceress.)

And already I can hear people asking “Obscure? Obscure?! Evangeline Walton’s Mabinogion retellings were not really obscure, and Michael Moorcock’s Elric novels are not remotely obscure!”

And I apologize — because you’re right. This novel in particular is part of one of the major sword and sorcery series of all time. Yet — as with the The Children of Llyr — it’s a book I myself didn’t read until just now, over 50 years after it first appeared.

Science Fantasy 47, June 1961, containing Michael Moorcock’s “The Dreaming City.” Cover by Brian Lewis

I’m going to delve into the publishing history not just of this book but of all the Elric books, because it gets a bit complicated. The first Elric story, “The Dreaming City,” appeared in the classic British magazine Science Fantasy in June 1961 (shown above). Over the next few years, several more stories appeared there and in Fantastic Stories.

Some of these stories formed a fairly coherent narrative that fundamentally ended with the 1964 story “Doomed Lord’s Passing,” though the publication order of the stories and the internal chronology don’t match at all. The first Elric book, The Stealer of Souls (1963), included mostly stories set somewhat early in the internal chronology, while the second, Stormbringer (1965), included four of the latest stories in internal chronology.

The Stealer of Souls (Lancer Books, 1967). Cover by Jack Gaughan

Beginning in 1970 Moorcock began to expand and reorganize his Elric sequence — first with a collection, The Singing Citadel, that included four of his earlier stories, and then in 1971 with some new work, that eventually included stories set before any of the earlier pieces, as well as stories set at various times in between the already published works.

Later books would include new stories and also stories from the first and third collections reshuffled — though Stormbringer remains the capstone of the whole series. (This chaotic chronology is actually quite appropriate for the themes of the whole series.)

The six-volume Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock (DAW Books). Covers by Michael Whelan

In 1976 and 1977 DAW published a set of six volumes, in internal chronological order, serving at that time as more or less the complete official Elric series, with restored texts and titles preferred by Moorcock. Three more books have been added in the subsequent decades, most recently The Citadel of Forgotten Myths in 2022.

The Vanishing Tower was fourth in the DAW set, and is sixth in the current chronology. It was first published by the New English Library in the UK as The Sleeping Sorceress in 1971, and by Lancer Books in the US in 1972. The DAW edition, from 1977, was the first to use The Vanishing Tower as the title.

The early collection The Singing Citadel, containing the Elric tales
“The Singing Citadel” and “Master of Chaos,” and the Eternal Champion tale
“To Rescue Tanelorn” (Berkley Medallion, August 1970). Cover by Gail Burwen

The novel comprises three closely linked “books,” all concerning Elric attempting to find and kill the evil sorcerer Theleb K’aarna. The first “book,” here called “The Torment of the Last Lord,” was published separately as “The Sleeping Sorceress” in the UK anthology Warlocks and Warriors, also in 1971, and reprinted in the February 1972 issue of Fantastic Stories in the US.

Elric, the tall, gaunt, albino warrior, long since exiled from his home Melniboné, and his sidekick Moonglum, come to the kingdom Lormyr, near the World’s Edge, where they believe they can find Theleb K’aarna.

Fantastic, February 1972, containing the Elric novella “The Sleeping Sorceress. ” Cover by Mike Kaluta

After some travails they happen on an isolated castle — and in it they find a beautiful woman in an enchanted sleep. This is Myshella, and she is another enemy of K’aarna. She, even as she is enchanted, reveals to Elric that Theleb K’aarna has allied with a certain Prince Umbda to attack her castle. If Elric can find a certain pouch Myshella may be able to wake and help Elric and Moonglum in a battle against Prince Umbda and the sorcerer.

Of course they succeed, but only partly, and in the second episode Theleb K’aarna, having miraculously escaped certain death, has come to Nadsokor, the City of Beggars. He has a proposition for the Beggar King, Urish, about the destruction of Elric, for Elric had previously stolen (or reclaimed) something from Urish.

The first two volumes of The Elric Saga omnibus editions from Saga Press: Elric of Melniboné
(February 15, 2022, cover by Brom) and Stormbringer (April 12, 2022, cover by Michael Whelan)

Meanwhile Elric and Moonglum, believing Theleb K’aarna to be dead, plan to go to the eternal city Tanelorn for some rest. But on the way, Elric loses the Ring of Kings to a thief — and soon realizes that the ring is on the way to Nadsokor. And — you guessed it — after some more adventures and perils, Elric and Moonglum are successful — except that Theleb K’aarna escapes again.

The final episode involves another encounter with Theleb K’aarna, who now threatens Tanelorn (and thus many of Elric’s friends.) This is in some ways one of the most interesting parts of the book, for Elric meets some avatars of — himself; which explicitly links this series to Moorcock’s overarching Eternal Champion series, and his “multiverse,” along with characters with the initials JC (and with the Three Who Are One!) There are journeys to other Planes, and a battle alongside Corum and Erekosë, and a bitter reunion with Myshella.

The first US release of The Vanishing Tower, first published as The Sleeping Sorceress
(Lancer Books, September 1972). Cover by Charles Moll

So, what did I think?

I don’t really think this is likely the best place to start with Elric. There are good points — Moorcock’s imagination is fecund, and the character of Elric is a worthwhile counter to traditional Sword and Sorcery heroes like Conan. But on the whole the novel doesn’t do a whole lot. The writing seems hurried — the prose isn’t terrible but it’s a bit slapdash. The action scenes seem run of the mill S&S — there isn’t a lot of suspense, just superhuman swordplay.

It’s not bad stuff, but it’s not special. I can see via the outlines of the entire series why this is a key part of fantasy history. But for me, the Moorcock I want to stick with is stuff like The Dancers at the End of Time — or like the novel up next, Mother London.

Rich Horton’s last article for us was a review of The Children of Llyr by Evangeline Walton. His website is Strange at Ecbatan. Rich has written over 200 articles for Black Gate, see them all here.

These novels, story collections, and works of nonfiction by Asian American and Pacific Islander authors…

The post Celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month with 7 Great Books appeared first on LitStack.

R J Barker’s latest fantasy novel goes into the Grimdark – a murder mystery story of steampunkish machinery, death, political manoeuvrings and corruption in a grimy, unpleasant world. Irody Hasp is a Mortedant, a cleric tasked with reading the last thoughts of the dead—though no one thanks him for it. No Mortedant is popular –…

MIles (Miloslav) J. Breuer

Miles J. Breuer was born in Chicago on January 3, 1889, but the family moved to Crete, Nebraska when he was four years old so his father could attend medical school. He attended the University of Texas and went on to medical school at Rush Medical Center. He worked as an internist, specializing in tuberculosis at Lincoln General Hospital in Nebraska. He often bylined his work with his credentials as an M.D.

In 1916, he married Julia Strejc and they had three children, Rosalie, Stanley (who died at 18 when he fell from St. Isabel Glacier), and Mildred. During World War I, he served in France and achieved the rank of first lieutenant in the Medical Corps. Upon his return to the U.S., he joined his father’s medical practice and began publishing medical articles in Czech language newspapers and a monthly medical column in a Czech-language agricultural magazine. He published the Index of Physiotherapeutic Technic in 1925, outlining physical therapy practices.

His first English language science fiction story, “The Man with the Strange Head” appeared in the January 1927 issue of Amazing Stories, however, it was previously published as “Muž se zvláštní hlavou” in a Czech language almanac published in Chicago. He also appears to have published “The Man without an Appetite” in the Czech magazine Bratrský věstník in 1916, although it didn’t see English publication until 1963. His Czech stories tended to be published under the name Miloslav J. Breuer, and he continued to publish in Czech throughout his early writing career.

Amazing Stories, 1/27, Cover by Frank R. Paul

The majority of his work, more than two dozen stories, were published within a five year period, with only half that number appearing in the following decade. While his fiction included gadgets and other standard tropes of science fiction of the time, Breuer tended to look at how those things impacted humans rather than focus on the cool gizmos. His earlier works tended to be stronger stories and better written than works he published later in his career.  One of his most famous stories was 1930’s “The Gostak and the Doshes,” whose seemingly nonsensical title became a catch phrase in early fandom.

Breuer collaborated with Jack Williamson on the story “The Girl from Mars” and novel The Birth of a New Republic. The idea for the novel was Breuer’s, with Williamson doing the majority of the writing. He also collaborated with Clare Winger Harris on the story “A Baby on Neptune.”

The majority of Breuer’s fiction was published in either Amazing Stories or Amazing Stories Quarterly, but he did publish “The Problem of Communication” in Astounding, “Mars Colonizes” in Marvel Tales, “The Disappearing Pages” in Future Fiction, and “The Oversight” in Comet.

In 1942, Breuer suffered a nervous breakdown and moved to Los Angeles as a means of giving himself a fresh start, setting up a medical practice there. Breuer died on October 14, 1945 in Los Angeles and is buried in the Los Angeles National Cemetery. His father died the following year.

In 2025, Jaroslav Olsa, Jr. published Dreaming of Autonomous Vehicles: Miroslav (Miles) J. Breuer: Czech-American Writer and the Birth of Science Fiction.

Steven H Silver is a twenty-one-time Hugo Award nominee and was the publisher of the Hugo-nominated fanzine Argentus as well as the editor and publisher of ISFiC Press for eight years. He has also edited books for DAW, NESFA Press, and ZNB. His most recent anthology is Alternate Peace and his novel After Hastings was published in 2020. Steven has chaired the first Midwest Construction, Windycon three times, and the SFWA Nebula Conference numerous times. He was programming chair for Chicon 2000 and Vice Chair of Chicon 7.

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
Length: 5 hours and 10 minutes
Publisher: Sittin’ on a Goldmine Productions LLC
Release Date: October 26, 2021
ASIN: B09KDGTDDS
Stand Alone or Series: 5th book in the Mitzy Moon Mysteries series
Source: Bought on Audiobook
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Mitzy Moon plans to take a break from snooping and learns to ski. And after receiving a mysterious gift from her travel companion, she feels light as a feather, but her heart goes stiff as a board when she faceplants into a corpse.

Racing back to the bookshop to consult her otherworldly helpers, Mitzy is horrified to discover her meddling Ghost-ma is missing. Her spoiled feline seems to ignore her pleas, and her alchemist attorney isn’t answering either. She can’t decide if she’s lost her powers or her mind….

Can Mitzy solve a murder without her extrasensory perceptions, or will one misstep put her in the killer’s crosshairs?”

Series Info/Source: This is the 5th book in the Mitzy Moon Mysteries series. I bought this for audiobook.

Thoughts: This was an entertaining and well-done installment in the Mitzy Moon series. While these books don’t really “wow” me, they are fun little diversions. I originally started this series because I wanted an audiobook to listen to during a regular 6 hr (round trip) car trip I need to do monthly. These are the perfect length to get done during that commute.

In this book Rory wins a vacation at a nearby ski resort and asks Mitzy to accompany him. Of course the first thing Mitzy does on her virgin ski run is to face plant into a corpse. Oddly Mitzy is struggling to use the very powers she thought she was finally gaining control of. Now Mitzy is on the case and is uncovering things both about this ski resort and about Rory she wish she never knew.

All of our favorite characters are in the story along with a few new ones. I enjoyed the mystery here and enjoyed watching Mitzy mature a bit more and open her eyes to some of the manipulations happening around her. I have complained in previous books that Mitzy seems a bit naive for her upbringing, and she makes progress in being a bit more savvy in this book. I hope at some point she will learn that when her cat, Piwackett, brings her clues she needs to listen!

I listened to this on audiobook and it is well done. The narrator does character voices well and consistently, and it’s fun to listen to.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I thought this was a very solid addition to the Mitzy Moon series. I enjoy the town of Pincherry Harbor and really enjoy the quirky characters here too. It was fun to see Mitzy grow more as a character and become a bit more savvy. I am excited to see what happens in book 6. If you are looking for a novella paranormal mystery series, this is a decent one. It takes a few books to get moving, but once it does, it is a lot of fun.

In August 2025, we hailed the emergence of a second Chain Story project championed by Michael A. Stackpole. This is a Sword & Sorcery-focused, contagious set of connected (“chained”) stories.

Each is:

• A standalone tale
• Readable in any order
• Free to read!
• Interconnected via a theme involving a Crown

We round up groups every several weeks, but check the Chain Story website. for the latest. Here we highlight the latest set of five, Episodes 19-23:

• 19 Of Crowns & Consequences  by Jason M. Waltz
• 20 The Hunt For Violet Shatterwing by Bryan Young
• 21 Into The Badlands by Alina Lee
• 22  Abhartach’s Castle by Aaron Canton
• 23   A Feast For Pan by James D. Mills

Previous Black Gate posts have chronicled groups of the growing chain:

• The Chain Story 2 – Sword and Sorcery – Episodes 1 – 3 (Aug 2025)
• The Chain Story 2 – Sword and Sorcery – Episodes 4 – 8  (Oct 2025)
• The Chain Story 2 – Sword and Sorcery – Episodes 9 – 13 (Nov 2025)
• The Chain Story 2 — Sword & Sorcery – Episodes 14 – 18 (Feb 2026)

 

Entry Chain Post (Link on Chain site) Story (Link to Free version) Author Abstract 23 March 25, 2026 A Feast For Pan James D. Mills IN THE WASTES, ALL ARE FODDER FOR PAN. In a return to the world of SOIL and Ashen Rider, Hromgir and Arvid of Clan Sparrow are on the run after a raid gone wrong. Braving the frozen wastes of the northern coast, they must reach the mountain pass to escape the Wystran riders close on their heels. Hiding from the riders, they take shelter in the depths of a strange cave, unearthing otherworldly horrors better left buried…. 22 March 11, 2026 Abhartach’s Castle Aaron Canton A trio of student witches head off on a dangerous adventure to obtain a powerful artifact—aiming to retrieve it and keep it out of the hands of sinister forces.
Unexpectedly they meet opposition in the form of a classmate they’d once all considered a friend, but who has become a most dangerous foe. 21 February 25, 2026 Into The Badlands Alina Lee Rowan Grim’s world is one which is long on places you don’t want to travel to, and few people return from. But what is out there draws her, and she willingly embraces the challenges which have devoured so many others. 20 February 9, 2026 The Hunt For Violet Shatterwing Bryan Young Now returned to Nightfall Forest, and in the company of the fox bard Ashley, Pip finds the hamlet of Riveroak ablaze. The mouse knight, his war cat, and companion race to quench the fires and hunt the leader of the crow cult, intent on putting an end to her evil. 19 January 28, 2026 Of Crowns & Consequences Jason M. Waltz Direk, wielder of the magickal sword Retribution, has been dispatched to destroy an old enemy at the behest of his King. In his pursuit he encounters a newly awakened power which challenges his knowledge of the world, and threatens to up end all he knows to be true. 18 January 19, 2026 The Sapphire and the Sorceress Bryan Young As with all good heroes, Pip does not shrink from danger and adventure. Still, there are times when it would be good to relax at home. But Pip is far from home, and is searching for a powerful sorceress who can help him on his way. 17 January 14, 2026 Terror Above Icehenge Malcolm T. North To reach her, however, he’ll have to venture through the Chaos Realm and, as every true hero knows if you undertake that journey lightly, it will end quickly. But Pip has no choice, and therein our adventure begins. 16 December 31, 2025 Demonfire: A Tale of Shintaro Oba  C. L. Werner A forbidden ritual conducted in secret, bathed in blood and death enables a demon to grasp unimaginable power—the power to destroy all enemies and raise himself above all others. 15 December 24, 2025 In The Land of the Giants, Bryan Young A Samurai, whose duty calls for him to hunt down such a creature. A destiny he must pursue even as the world burns around him. 14 December 10, 2025 Blight Katherine Monasterio Forest Ranger Hazel Boncliff is a Green Speaker, a person with the magical ability to commune with plants. When the king summons Hazel and her assistant to the capital to heal the strange blight affecting his hunting grounds, she’s reluctant to help—least of all because he’s insisting his inexperienced secretary go along for the journey. But with a reward she can’t refuse and the blight’s effects more harrowing by the moment, she’ll take all the help she can get. 13 November 26, 2025 Ice Hawk’s Aerie, Bryan Young A chance meeting in the dark forest. A tale of woe and injustice.
Pip Strongpaw, the last of the fabled Great Catriders, must once again wield the runed-sword Feathersbane, to end the chilling menace threatening to destroy the hamlet of Riveroak. A menace of sorcerous origins against which even the bravest of heroes may not prevail. 12 November 12, 2025 Blood for the River Michael Stackpole Chased into a swamp by homicidal cultists, Kellach and Serinna encounter a fire mage who saves their lives, and then leads them on an adventure that is sure to get them killed. 11 October 14, 2025 Of Nightmares & Jewels Robert Greenberger Something drew the mage onward, always toward the northwest, through restless evenings and dark dreams of ill portent. Yet when Jareth’s traveling companion, the swordswoman Talin, asks him why, he has no idea.
And then they reached a tiny town at the edge of nowhere, wherein lurked an evil with roots sunk deep in times beyond remembering; an evil that has chosen their visit as a time to awaken. 10 October 14, 2025 The Cursed Cuff Aaron Rosenberg She came to them spinning a tale of woe. An army of undead lay siege to the Manor she called home. She had barely escaped and sough adventurers brave enough to free her people.
But to do that Birr Blackjaw and his companions would have to wrest an ancient artifact from the hands of a cult leader who had his own army, and a hellish pet none could hope to defeat. 9 October 1, 2025 The Monastery Plot Bryan Young Shield Maiden and legendary sleuth Sister Agatha, accompanied by her faithful initiate, Brother Dominguez, sought to enjoy peace and quiet at  the Monastery of St. Maryam.Despite their desires, they soon find themselves investigating twin murders. Murders which become all that much more bizarre when the name Tarru-Syn turns up, and their search leads them into the very bowels of the earth, to face a foe from beyond their reality. 8 September 24, 2025 On Memories Michael Stackpole Dancillius Hrekt is fairly new to the world of Monster Fighting. All he wants to do is to make a good impression with his peers.  And all they want is for  him and his best friend to die. 7 September 10, 2025 The Village of Morvoss Thomas Grayfson In this new Kavion adventure, our tormented knight clings to the last threads of family and sanity as he navigates the mysterious Village of Morvoss. Haunted by fractured memories, he must confront the darkness around him—and within. 6 August 27, 2025 Fragment of a Sorcerous Crown Joan Marie Verba In this tale from the Chronicles of the Library of Sorcery, the sorcerers investigate a dangerous magical artifact of mysterious origin. Can the sorcerers uncover the truth?Sorcerer Serena is called to investigate an enormous, carnivorous plant. She finds that a mysterious magical artifact is behind the phenomenon. To find out where the artifact came from and what its properties might be, she consults the Library of Sorcery, where she uncovers the answers, but not on the Library shelves. Can the artifact be banished from the sorcerous regions before it becomes a more deathly threat? 5 August 13, 2025 Grave’s Brood S.E. Lindberg Doktor Grave sends Brood to recover a crown from the Red Orchard, only for Brood to find it is the source of a bloody plague caused by Grave’s experiments. Facing vampiric plants and their loyal clan, Brood must confront his past and question whether he can trust Grave or escape the nightmare himself. 4 July 28, 2025 Shard of Song Rigel Ailur Two wizards search desperately for a way to stave off a vicious magical-musical attack before the dragons succumb.  A powerful relic ancient beyond memory calls to them, but do they dare use it? 3 July 16, 2025 Forest of the Fallen Colossus Bryan Young A dying robber hands Laila and Zaki a mysterious artifact in the middle of a fae-haunted wood. “Danger,” the robber manages before dying. Suddenly sister and brother find themselves safeguarding an unwanted gift—on the run for their lives in the Forest of the Fallen Colossus. 2 July 3, 2025 Death Grip Michael Stackpole The man hadn’t died easily.A smoking hole sat where his heart should have been. Terror twisted his features, and he clutched an emerald reeking of magick as if would somehow save him. Neryon and Magistrate-Martial Logan find themselves in a race to find the killer before he has a chance to harvest more victims. But, with the amount of power used on his first target, there was a big gulf between finding and stopping; and no guarantee he wouldn’t kill them, too. 1 July 3, 2025 Blade of the Storm Witch Robert E. Vardeman Her vengeance became elemental! The Conqueror-King’s minion murdered her pirate husband.  The Lady Rennata was condemned to follow him into a watery grave—until wind and wave swept her to a magical blade that commands all of Nature.

 

S.E. Lindberg is a Managing Editor at Black Gate, regularly reviewing books and interviewing authors on the topic of “Beauty & Art in Weird-Fantasy Fiction.” He has taken lead roles organizing the Gen Con Writers’ Symposium (chairing it in 2023), is the lead moderator of the Goodreads Sword & Sorcery Group, and was an intern for Tales from the Magician’s Skull magazine. As for crafting stories, he has contributed eight entries across Perseid Press’s Heroes in Hell and Heroika series, and has an entry in Weirdbook Annual #3: Zombies. He independently publishes novels under the banner Dyscrasia Fiction; short stories of Dyscrasia Fiction have appeared in Whetstone Amateur S&S Magazine, Swords & Sorcery online magazine, Rogues In the House Podcast’s A Book of Blades Vol I & II, DMR’s Terra Incognita, the 9th issue of Tales From the Magician’s Skull, Savage Realms Magazine, and Michael Stackpole’s S&S Chain Story 2 Project. 

LitStack Spots by Maggie O’Farrell We’ve also spotted these titles by Maggie O’Farrell that we…

The post Spotlight on “Land” by Maggie O’Farrell appeared first on LitStack.

 

Buy The Last Contract of Isako
FORMAT/INFO: The Last Contract of Isako was published on May 5th, 2026. It is available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: When Isako's boss unexpectedly retires, she knows she's at the end of her career. Afterall, what is a longkniveswoman without a contract? But an expected offer comes in from a rival executive for one last job - one that will allow her to retire on her own terms. The contract: successfully find dirt on one of the most powerful executives at the Company and stop him from joining the Board of Directors. But as soon as Isako starts poking around, she starts finding a bigger conspiracy than she anticipated - and all roads lead back to Martim, the last person Isako ever took on as an apprentice.

The Last Contract of Isako is an atmospheric mystery set in a bleak, harsh world that offers little comfort to the reader or those who live in it. By far the highlight of this story is the world-building. The author has created a pressure cooker of a city, where everyone's value is determined by whether or not they're deemed useful to society. Every element of this world boils down to the fact that it is a resource scarce colony. If you aren't contributing to the colony's survival, then you're a drain on resources. But of course, the people who determine what is useful are the elite who will almost never have to face the consequences of the society they've created. And like the frog in the slowly boiling water, the rest of society doesn't realize it's already cooked.

I've found myself calling this a cybernoir book. There's elements of cyberpunk, with one giant corporation controlling everyone's lives, technology integrated into bodies, and a big disparity between the haves and the have nots. That melds nicely with the noir aspects, where the world is hugely weighted against you unless you have stacked the deck yourself and solving a mystery doesn't necessarily mean justice is achieved.

Enter Isako, a woman in her fifties who has been working in corporate life for decades. Her job is something of a cross between a consigliere and a bodyguard; she helps plan her boss's corporate strategy and she also defends his life. Isako understands she's a cog in a system; she has a role to play and she does it well, even if it means sometimes doing terrible things. Her life is dedicated to serving her Principal, and that means following their orders. But now, faced with the end of her career, Isako is also facing that big existential question: in the grand scheme of things, what did her work and her life mean? What legacy will she leave behind?

I understand some of the misgivings of people looking for the next GREEN BONE SAGA. I've seen a few comments that people missed having a sprawling cast of complex characters. But bear in mind this isn't a grand sweeping trilogy with 1500 pages at its disposal. This is a standalone (if still a hefty one) that is getting through a complex story. There's only time to build out a few characters with true depth. You'll get to know a few people really well, and some you'll only see the surface of, but that doesn't detract from the overall story.

I will admit, there were times when I wasn't sure how I was going to ultimately feel about this book. It is broken into three parts, and after spending the first half of the book getting to know and root for Isako, it's jarring to switch to following a different character. But after Isako uncovers the what of the mystery, this new character perspective offers the WHY of the mystery, and that's the thread that ties everything together. It's what makes the finale really land when the last chunk of the book switches to resolving the conspiracy that's been exposed.

As a result, the ending is a quiet gut punch. Jade Legacy may have left me a bawling mess, but The Last Contract of Isako had me just staring into middle distance, unpacking everything that happened in the last 50 pages and what that meant for the characters. It's an ending that somehow manages to be both tragic and hopeful and not at all where I thought things would end when I started the journey.

The Last Contract of Isako is not here to fill you with sunshine and it's not quite here to stomp on your heart. Instead it leads you through a world that is completely unbalanced, slowly filling you with existential dread. Surely society can't be this uneven, surely there's a way out. Surely a life will have meaning when all is said and done. But if you're looking for those reassurances, The Last Contract of Isako is not here to offer them.