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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.

Green & Deadly Things by Jenn Lyons

Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Tor Books (March 3, 2026)

Length: 368 pages

Author Information: Website

I enjoyed Jenn Lyons’ Sky on Fire, so when I heard she was returning with another standalone novel which sounds right up my alley, I was immediately intrigued. But while Green & Deadly Things is an undeniably entertaining “in the moment” kind of book, it’s also not one that’s easy to breeze through. Despite being packed with action and big ideas, it also somehow feels lighter and surface-level than expected, never quite digging deep enough to leave a lasting impression.

The story follows Mathaiik, a young novitiate training with the Idallik Knights, an order devoted to protecting the world from the lingering threat of necromancy. But though he has spent years preparing, Math still struggles to control the magic required to complete his training to become a full knight. At the same time, he’s hiding a secret related to his family’s past and his own strange connection to plants. In a world where nature itself has become increasingly dangerous, Math’s ability to tap into its powers is something that is viewed upon with suspicion.

Then, an unexpected attack throws the Idallik Knights into chaos, leaving Math in a position to help uncover the truth behind the sentient vegetation that has suddenly turned hostile. Subsequently, he finds himself magically linked to a mysterious woman he awakens from beneath the order’s fortress. A necromancer from the long-lost era of the Grim Lords, Kaiataris may hold the key to understanding and ultimately stopping the unchecked wild magic driving these cycles of destruction. From there, the two are forced into an uneasy alliance as they flee from the knights and into the unpredictable wilderness, where the enemy is the very landscape around them.

Necromancy. Ancient magic. Killer plants. There’s a lot to like here. Lyon’s creative talents are something to be admired for sure, especially when it comes to world-building and magic systems. The integration of botanical horror into the epic fantasy framework is genuinely cool, giving readers some vivid and occasionally unsettling imagery as the natural environment comes to life and IT IS PISSED. There’s also a quiet sense of dread lingering just beneath the surface, because I guess there’s just something deeply unsettling about the inevitability of cyclical destruction.

That said, my biggest issue with the book involves its pacing and its lack of depth, in that it never quite slows down enough to let all its ideas breathe and settle. The plot is relentless, throwing the characters into one crisis after the other. While this rapid-fire development is what kept the pages turning, paradoxically it also made it more difficult to stay fully invested as events started to blur together.

The characters fall into a similar pattern. Math is a likeable enough protagonist, but he’s also tragically bland, an earnest figure caught between loyalty, truth, and his own feelings, like any standard fantasy hero pulled from a template. Kaiataris, meanwhile, offers a slightly more intriguing dynamic as an ancient necromancer who challenges everything Math believes. However, rather than fully exploring that conflict, the story quickly steers them into a romance, and a rushed one at that. It’s frustrating and it’s disappointing, because one feels that both characters deserve far more than simply becoming a checkbox for a romantic subplot.

Still, that’s not to say the book isn’t enjoyable. Lyon’s writing is approachable and easy to get into. The characters’ banter has plenty of sass and humor to keep things from getting grim. I also love the fact that it’s a standalone. As it was with Sky on Fire, it felt refreshing to read Green & Deadly Things knowing you’ll get a complete story in one volume. These strengths go a long way toward counterbalancing the novel’s weaknesses, which mainly come down to parts of the narrative feeling predictable or too convenient, and the relationship between the characters relying too heavily on proximity and magic rather than more organic development. Still, all this, along with its accessible tone which sits comfortably in a crossover space between adult and YA, makes this book a strong “entry into fantasy” kind of read.

In the end, Green & Deadly Things is a fun, fast-moving fantasy with lots of cool concepts and an easy reading style, but while reading it, I also couldn’t help but feel a nagging sense that it’s reaching for something a little deeper, a little more. Regardless, it remains accessible and entertaining, a good standalone that will probably work best for readers looking for a lighter entry point into fantasy rather than something more complex or layered.

French publisher Monsieur Toussaint Louverture will publish their new two-volume translation of The Wolf’s Hour on May 22, 2026. They have not revealed the covers yet, but they have teased them. Monsieur Toussaint Louverture has previously published Boy’s Life and Swan Song.

Here’s their new Facebook post:

Après plusieurs tentatives, plusieurs directions, nous avons fini par trouver une forme de livre en mesure de correctement accueillir, aujourd’hui, les romans de Robert McCammon, qu’ils soient inédits ou non, qu’ils soient amples ou resserrés, qu’ils parlent de psychopathes ou de loups. Ces livres étaient pourtant sous notre nez (bouché, donc) depuis quelques années !

La Bibliothèque McCammon s’inscrit dans la continuité du geste esthétique engagé avec Michael McDowell et Pedro Oyarbide.

Une fabrication française, un format accessible, pour faire découvrir, simplement, l’un des plus grands conteurs contemporains.

L’Heure du loup, volumes 1 & 2, paraissent ensemble et l’histoire forme un tout. Le volume 2 inclut une nouvelle inédite consacrée à Michael Gallatin.

Précommandes la semaine prochaine. Sortie le 22 mai.

In English:

After several attempts and exploring various directions, we have finally found a book format capable of properly housing Robert McCammon’s novels today—whether previously unpublished or not, whether sprawling or compact, and whether they feature psychopaths or wolves. Yet, these books were right under our noses (stuffed-up noses, evidently!) for the past few years!

The McCammon Library continues the aesthetic vision first established with Michael McDowell and Pedro Oyarbide.

Produced in France and featuring an accessible format, this series offers a straightforward way to introduce readers to one of the greatest contemporary storytellers.

*The Hour of the Wolf*, Volumes 1 & 2, are being released simultaneously, forming a complete, cohesive story. Volume 2 includes a brand-new, previously unpublished short story centered on Michael Gallatin.

Pre-orders open next week. Release date: May 22.

As we mentioned in December, Earthling Publications is producing a signed limited edition of MINE, the last Robert McCammon novel to receive the limited edition treatment. Copies were available as part of a bundle back in December, but the remaining copies will be going up for pre-order on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, at Noon ET. The book features art by Tomislav Tikulin. Three of the art pieces are shown below.

Full information and ordering details will be posted here on Tuesday!

Earthling’s MINE art by Tomislav Tikulin Earthling’s MINE art by Tomislav Tikulin Earthling’s MINE art by Tomislav Tikulin

A new Dresden short story hits the shelves soon in Paranormal Payback! This collection of urban fantasy stories holds an all new Dresden Files story featuring Goodman Grey. Paranormal Payback is available April 14th!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Yesterday, we read about Maggie going on tour and witnessed some of the excitement of being able to see Ilona and Gordon live.

But not all of us could be there to ask our questions and give them our love. So now we’re fixing that:

Maggie Zoom

Ilona and Gordon will be hosting a Zoom Q&A on Saturday, April 18th at 10 AM Central Time to chat with us about everything This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me and what comes next.

REGISTER FOR MAGGIE ZOOM

I have almost three hundred questions gathered for the Zoom list, so over the weekend I’ll be whittling them down into something manageable for our brave authors to tackle. To be fair to the Horde, they knew exactly what they were doing! Of course we barsaed all over it.

If you have more questions, please continue the discussion on the spoiler thread for now. Since the book is longer than usual, we need to protect our fellow readers who may still be making their way through it.

The Q&A will be posted on the Ilona Andrews Moderator YouTube channel a few days later, but if you want to interact with our IA live, please register as Zoom spots are limited.

The bit more

When is the Maggie sequel coming?

We wouldn’t be BDH if we hadn’t started asking this even before release day.

The good news is that House Andrews are hard at work on it, and it is shaping up to be a substantial draft. We like big books and we cannot lie, the other Hordes can’t deny, when a draft comes in with a wordcount high and a plot that won’t de…Ok, I hear you, Sir Modsalot out. 

As soon as the manuscript is ready to move to the next stage in the traditional publishing process (developmental edits), we will hear about it here first.

Ilona and Gordon have just come off an intense release cycle and tour and went straight back into writing the Maggie 2 draft and ongoing admin work. We’ll need to allow them a little breathing room so they can keep doing what they do best: telling us the stories we love.

To put to rest the conspiracies already cropping up thanks to my people, Team Facts be Damned: yes, this is a planned trilogy. No, there is no cruel joke at play intended to leave us with an unfinished series and just two novels like Maggie’s own situation. In over 20 years of publishing, House Andrews have never failed to deliver on a contract. The best thing we can do is wish them health, rest, and long creative lives so they can keep feeding the Horde for years to come.

And reread, just in case … If one day we wake up on the streets of Kair Toren we’ll need to know exactly which Duke to ask for help. (Jk, of course we would go to Clover.)

Audiobook news?

The traditional audiobook recording for Beast Business (Augustine’s Hidden Legacy novella) will begin soon – once it enters editing stage, we will be able to estimate a release date better and will announce it.

I’m very happy to share that the actor who was chosen for Augustine was such a perfect fit that he will also be recast as Pancakes Montgomery in the Graphic Audio dramatized adaptations of Catalina’s Hidden Legacy trilogy, which should make for a wonderfully consistent listening experience for us.

I also have a 70% off promotion for the Burn For Me dramatized Graphic Audio adaptation on Audiobooks.com, as a Friday treat.

I do not have any official news about the dramatized adaptation of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me, by Graphic Audio or otherwise. The traditional audiobook, narrated by the wonderful Kristen Sieh is available from all major retailers.

International editions of This Kingdom?

German readers in particular seem to be very worried – keine Sorge!

• The German edition of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me has already been announced by Cove Verlag and is scheduled for September 25, 2026
• The Spanish edition coming from Editorial Hidra is planned for June 2026
• The French edition, handled by Éditions Bookmark, will also release in June, and will come in three formats: boutique edition with reversible dust jacket (art by Luisa Preissler), bookstore edition and digital

That’s it for this Friday update. Thank you again for these past two weeks of discussion, theories, laughter, and sheer joy of seeing the Horde in full swing!

The post Maggie Zoom Q&A and a bit more first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

https://kriswrites.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Consecrated-Ground-Book-Trailer-Small-.mp4

Here’s the book trailer, specifically designed to feature the Kickstarter, for my noir novel, Consecrated Ground. This is the novel that I mentioned on Tuesday, the one that the original editor slapped an offensive title on (which stuck for nearly two decades). I’m using the original title.

This novel is historical through and through, although, like its compatriot in the Kickstarter, the novel straddles two different timelines. Memory and crime feature in both novels.

There’s also a short story collection in the Kickstarter, and it has some previously unpublished stories. Readers who are in my newsletter told me they wanted to see more short story collections, so I’m working diligently to give them what they asked for.

I hope the trailer interests you enough to send you to the Kickstarter. Consecrated Ground won’t be available anywhere but the Kickstarter for several months. So if you want to get a copy early, head on over now.

Today’s Women in SF&F Month guest is Veronica G. Henry! Her short fiction includes “Lessons in Virtual Reality for Wayward Women” in Many Worlds and “A Terminal Kind of Love” in FIYAH Literary Magazine. She is also the author of the historical fantasy novel Bacchanal, which was a Manly Wade Wellman Award finalist in 2022, and the near-future fantasy books in The Scorched Earth duology, which begins with The Canopy Keepers. Her latest novel is The People’s Library, a science […]

The post Women in SF&F Month: Veronica G. Henry first appeared on Fantasy Cafe.

SOLD OUT in 22 minutes after the official announcement! Please join the Wait List to be notified of any additional copies after we do our manual check of the available numbers against the orders we have received. Thank you! (You can also check out the retailers below.)

Pre-order from Subterranean Press

From Lividian Publications:

Lividian Publications is proud to be publishing a deluxe signed, numbered, and slipcased Limited Edition hardcover of Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon, the first volume in his acclaimed Matthew Corbett series. Due to the massive size of the story, this deluxe special edition is split into two volumes, housed in a slipcase. Vincent Chong provided stunning color artwork for both of the dust jackets along with a full-color frontispiece and exclusive black and white illustrations for the interior.

This edition is designed to complement our Limited Editions of The King of Shadows, Seven Shades of Evil, and Leviathan, which were inspired by the editions published by Subterranean Press and Cemetery Dance for the previous books in the series. Speaks the Nightbird was originally published by a different small press and that edition doesn’t look and feel like the other Limited Editions and did not have Vincent Chong artwork. So, for someone making a complete set of the Matthew Corbett series, this new edition will match the rest of the series on the bookshelf.

Retail Price: $195
Publication Date: Fall 2026
Page Count: 888

Special Features:
• Full-color dust jacket artwork by Vincent Chong
• Full-color frontis artwork by Vincent Chong
• Black and white interior illustrations by Vincent Chong that are exclusive to the signed editions
• Includes a collectible bookmark

Deluxe Production Features:
• Offset printed on an acid-free archival quality paper stock
• A fine binding
• Hot foil stamping on the front cover and spine
• Smyth-sewn to create a more durable binding
• Twine head and tail bands
• High-quality endpapers
• Sewn-in satin ribbon page marker
• Custom-made slipcase stamped with hot foil and featuring a unique die-cut window
• Signed by Robert McCammon
• Limited to 750 signed and numbered copies

Here is a link to the product page to learn more or place your order while these limited supplies last.

Don’t forget that our books are also carried by some of our favorite small presses and retailers:

Bad Moon Books
Buchheim Verlag (Germany)
Camelot Books
Cracked and Spineless Books (Australia)
Jake’s Rare Books
Kathmandu Books
Midworld Press
Overlook Connection
Pat Cramer, Bookseller
SST Publications (UK)
Subterranean Press
Veryfinebooks
Ziesings

Thank you, as always, for your continuing support and enthusiasm. We have another very exciting announcement in the works for next week on April 10, so stay tuned.

In reply to Bill.

Yes, I’ll let you know. I did finally hear back from my editor this week, but unfortunately the edits still aren’t done. I’ll put up a post when I know more.

Thank you very much for this! Interesting stuff… I hope that progress with Book #5 continues apace!

I’m assuming that you’d tell us if the First Edits had been received?

Neil R. Jones

Neil R. Jones was born on May 29, 1909 in Fulton, New York, the youngest for four children. He has stated that the first science fiction novel he read, in 1918. Was Will N. Harben’s The Land of the Changing Sun, a lost world novel, which led him to the writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

His first published story, “Vengeance of the Ages” was published in his high school yearbook in 1926, with a second story, “The Meteor of Fate” appearing the following year.

“The Death Head Meteor,” was his first professional publication, published in the January 1930 issue of Air Wonder Stories and is believed to contain the first appearance of the word “astronaut.” He had previously sold the story “The Electrical Man,” but it didn’t appear until May of that year in Scientific Detective Monthly, earning him his first cover.

January 1930 Air Wonder Stories, Cover by Frank R. Paul

One of the stories he had submitted to Gernsback was “The Jameson Satellite,” which kicked off a series of stories about Professor Jameson. When his payment for “The Electrical Man” was less than expected because Gernsback declared he had charged Jones for editorial preparation, Jones decided to submit the revised story to T. Conor Sloane at Amazing Stories. The story introduced the cyborg Zoromes, who featured in subsequent Jones stories about Professor Jameson.

Another innovation Jones introduced was the idea of a planned out, reasonably coherent future history, focusing on the cult of Durna Rangue from the 24th through the 25th centuries and which also tie in to the stories about Professor Jameson, although those are set in the extremely far future. The Jameson story “Time’s Mausoleum,” however, includes time travel to the period of Durna Rangue and refers to events there and was published prior to most of those stories’ publication.

Between 1930 and 1942, Jones published 38 stories and a two part serial, with only about eight stories published after 1942. On May 2, 1942, Jones was drafted into the army as part of the war effort, becoming Corporal Neil R. Jones. He was deployed to North Africa, serving in Morocco and Algeria before participating in the invasion of Sicily. He was also part of the D-Day invasion.

Interplanetary board game

While in England during the war, Jones married Rita Rees on June 19, 1945 in London. The couple returned to the U.S. in the fall of that year and Jones was mustered out of the army in October. Having a wife to support now, he apparently found more traditional jobs working for the New York unemployment office and possibly other book keeping positions.  IN 1946, he also invented a board game called Interplanetary during this period, which he may have sold privately. Apparently only four copies are known to exist.

On September 29, 1964, Rita was found by a neighbor with her throat cut. She died in the hospital and an investigation declared it was  self-inflicted wound and that she had been suffering health issues. Although some of Jones’s stories were reprinted, he had few new stories published after this point. He retired from the New York unemployment office in 1973. Sometime in the late 1970s, he remarried, to Leona Tice, who survived him.

Jones died on February 15, 1988 and is buried in Mount Adnah Cemetery in Fulton, New York.

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: Paranornal Mystery
Length: 4 hours and 55 minutes
Publisher: Sittin’ on a Goldmine Productions LLC
Release Date: February 28, 2022
ASIN: B09TLF5FJ1
Stand Alone or Series: 4th book in the Mitzy Moon Mysteries series
Source: Bought on Audiobook
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Mitzy Moon’s clairvoyant abilities are growing, but she never predicted arson. After waking to a towering inferno and loading her mentor into an ambulance, she thought things couldn’t get worse. But when the sheriff links her father to the blaze, she’s forced to take the case.

Coming up empty on love and leads pushes Mitzy to unnecessary risks. Now her otherworldly helpers, a nosy Ghost-ma and a fiendish feline, are the only ones who can save her bacon. But with break-ins, Bingo, and big storms stalling out her investigation, she may not be able to keep her dad out of jail.

Can Mitzy dig up the right clues, or will she fall for a sinister plot that puts her six feet under?”

Series Info/Source: This is the 4th book in the Mitzy Moon Mysteries series. I bought this for audiobook.

Thoughts: This was a well written book in the Mitzy Moon Mysteries. I do think that this book is better written than the previous books were. Mitzy is starting to really grow on me as a character and I enjoy many of the side characters as well. The mysteries are well done, and the supernatural elements are subtle but getting more intriguing with each book.

Mitzy wakes up to find the building next to the bookshop on fire and a dead body is found in the blaze. Of course, Mitzy’s father is linked to the incident. Mitzy must work double time and use all of the illegal scrabble facts she learned from her Ghost-ma to solve the mystery and make sure the truth is known.

While this series is a bit too fluffy for me at times, I am growing to enjoy it. I originally picked up the first three book set for audiobook because I was looking for a 4-5 hour audiobook I could read on my monthly road trips for work, which are about 4hrs total (there and back). This whole series has been a easy, quick listen that I don’t have to focus on too hard.

Initially I was not a fan of Mitzy, but she is rapidly maturing and growing as the series continues. She’s learning from her mistakes and really starting to put her newfound fortune to great use. I still enjoy some of the side characters a bit more than Mitzy but I am starting to really like Mitzy as well. We learn a bit more about her background in each book and she starts to show a bit more emotion and vulnerability as well.

There is a well-done mystery here. You have the main mystery with the building that burned down and the body found there, which I enjoyed. However, the side stories around Rory coming to town and Mitzy’s powers growing also both make progress as well. I love a good mystery that has a contained story and progresses a larger story that spans multiple books as well.

The narration for this is well done. There are a couple of small incidents where the narrator seems to confuse voices for a moment or two, but overall, this is easy to listen to and is done well.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I thought this was the most enjoyable book of the series so far. I am really growing the love Mitzy and continue to enjoy all the side characters. I like the shorter mysteries in each book but enjoy that the broader story behind Mitzy’s powers is making progress as well. I look forward to the next book in this series, “Charms and Firearms”.

In reply to Bill.

Hi Bill,
Benedict said it be out in November for book 4

Arcane Arts and Cold Steel (Pulp Hero Press, December 24, 2025)

From History to Writing Sword and Sorcery, Pulp Hero Press has us covered

In 2019, Pulp Hero Press published Brian Murphy’s Flame and Crimson: A History of Sword-and-Sorcery, which was notably covered by David C. Smith (link to review) and John O’Neill (link) on Black Gate. O’Neill highlighted that Brian Murphy was one of the earliest contributors to Black Gate, from way back in 2012! Six years have passed since the publication of Flame and Crimson; whereas the subtitle and focus of that was a history of Sword & Sorcery (S&S), Pulp Hero Press just followed with a sequel focused on writing it, penned by David C. Smith with a foreword by John O’Neill.

This post covers the complementary book Arcane Arts and Cold Steel: Writing Sword-and-Sorcery Fiction (Pulp Hero Press 2025, 298 pages).  Greg Mele recently posted a Black Gate article on how this book is The Literary Sorcerer’s Toolkit; read that to learn more about the author.

The Red Sonja series by David C. Smith and Richard L. Tierney (Ace Books, December 1981-May 1983). Covers by Boris Vallejo

In short, David C. Smith (Wikipedia page) is a writer of horror, historical, and suspense fiction, and is also a medical editor and essayist. He is best known for his heroic fantasy novels (i.e., Oron and the Attluma books), including his collaborations with Richard L. Tierney featuring Robert E. Howard’s Red Sonja heroine. He has written plenty of nonfiction, too, and won the 2018 Atlantean Award from the Robert E. Howard Foundation for Outstanding Achievement, Book, for Robert E. Howard: A Literary Biography.

Read this to learn the contents of the Arcane Arts and Cold Steel in more detail.

Frankly, it feels like John O’Neill has been moderating a panel on Sword & Sorcery since 2019, Brian Murphy covered the history of S&S, while David C. Smith covered writing perspectives, and Pulp Hero Press captured the transcript in book form.

Let us quickly recap some of Flame and Crimson to set up Arcane Arts and Cold Steel content.

What Sword-and-Sorcery is, and What it is Not

Brian Murphy opened with a chapter defining “What is Sword-and-Sorcery” before following with eight chapters on the linear history of it. He quoted David C. Smith from the very beginning!

We can give you clues to what it is — and what it is not. It is not high fantasy. High fantasy dresses up life and offers comfort; it is romantic. Our fiction is dark, often very dark, in the same way that unsettling dreams are never far from nightmares, and not at all comforting.
– David C. Smith, “Introduction,” Swords of Steel

Murphy’s Base S&S Elements (general, historic expectations of S&S):

• Men (and women) of action
• Dark and dangerous magic
• Personal and/or mercenary motivations
• Horror/Lovecraftian influence
• Short episodic stories
• Inspired by history
• Outsider heroes

David C. Smith reviewed Flame  & Crimson

At long last, we have a history of the sword-and-sorcery genre, and a very welcome and erudite study it is. Brian Murphy is to be commended for his honest appreciation of our frequently dismissed and often mocked genre. He intelligently surveys the expanse of the sword-and-sorcery field warts and all, low points and high, putting the genre into its proper literary perspective.

To present a linear history of the sword-and-sorcery genre is, in fact, to dissect a Yggdrasil of many branches, which is precisely what Murphy has done here…

He bookends his study with two important chapters, with his initial question “What is Sword-and-Sorcery?” ultimately addressed in the final chapter, “Why Sword-and-Sorcery?” In between, he takes us on a journey beginning with the roots of what is to come

Pulp Hero Press books. Flame and Crimson: A History of Sword-and-Sorcery by Brian Murphy (2019). Arcane Arts and Cold Steel: Writing Sword-and-Sorcery Fiction, David C Smith (2025). Arcane Arts and Cold Steel Motivated to Write, and Lie!

John O’Neill’s introduction to Arcane Arts and Cold Steel clarifies our loves of lies! He covers humans’ need for storytelling, converging from 17,000-year-old cave paintings summarizing wild hunting expeditions, to 5,000-year-old astronomical myths guiding the evolution of civilizations, to general fiction, and our need for heroic myths. To paraphrase, “there is potential inside us to accomplish things we can hardly dream of” and heroic myths fuel our fire.

O’Neill writes:

What tools do we have to teach [our children] to resist in the face of a terrible, implacable, or unexpected foe? You already know the answer. The answer is myth. Story. Fiction. Lies.

Expect a review of writing approaches, not a step-by-step S&S writing workshop

Arcana Arts and Cold Steel is about writing, but it is not a stringent workbook for the reader to follow. It is more of a compendium of reviews, collections of excerpts and quotes, and even reviews of other reviews. It is a free-form cookbook that simultaneously showcases over a hundred writers’ and reviewers’ work while categorizing examples for the writer to model. If you do not intend to write, you will walk away with a detailed survey of S&S literature and its fan base, and expand your perspectives of what S&S literature has become (and what it can be). Writers will gain access to countless examples of characters, plots, milieus, practical applications, and styles.

Over three years ago, I had the chance to peruse a draft of Arcana Arts and Cold Steel, and I encouraged David Smith to consider a more direct step-by-step guide. He replied kindly to me via email about that approach: “Who has the right to tell someone how to be their own writer?” Well, he had the credentials for that, but not the ego. Yet he was still driven to compose a book about writing S&S. In the end, the book is a splendid mix of David Smith’s insight blended with so many representations from the broader S&S community that it feels like an encyclopedic love letter to the entire fan base.  The Appendix Author Interview relates his development and approach toward the book.

Tales of Attluma by David C. Smith (Pulp Hero Press,‎ December 24, 2025). Cover by Tom Barber

You initially had the idea of having this be a book on how to write sword-and-sorcery stories.

I did. Who am I to tell anyone how to write? You sit down, you start, you learn by doing while referring to writers you like by dissecting how they’ve done what they’ve done. But my friends kept calling it Dave’s “how-to write sword-and-sorcery” book and made the case that offering guidance or ideas to readers would be helpful. Why write a book called “Writing Sword-and-sorcery Fiction” without giving people some ideas about actually writing sword-and-sorcery fiction? They were right. So I added the section doing that to complement the material in the main text.

I’d already come up with the ideas years ago on creating characters. Wrote it for an online writing group. So I had that, and when I reviewed it, I found some good common sense ideas in there. It wasn’t strictly prescriptive. I have a think skin whenever I hear a voice that sounds even vaguely imperative or prescriptive. Don’t tell me what to do! But when I thought of it as giving helpful advice or suggestions, I was fine with it. Started typing and went to town with a lot of ideas. So I hope those pages are worthwhile.

David C. Smith — Page 260-261

Arcane Arts and Cold Steel Contents 1. Sword & Sorcery Fiction: What it is and what it is not (pages 1-72)

This is a 70-page, condensed (and less chronological) version of Flame and Crimson‘s history that sets the stage for writing S&S.

2. Story Structure (pages 73-186)

• Character and Setting
• Must a protagonist be human?
• Flat and round characters
• Plots and scenes
• Style, voice, and tone
• Theme

3. The New Edge: Current Sword-and-Sorcery Fiction (187-229)

In this section, David Smith surveys the rapidly diverging contemporary flavors of Sword & Sorcery. Howard Andrew Jones (HAJ, our beloved champion of S&S and its fan base, who passed in January 2025) coined the term “New Edge” to capture a rebirth of sword and sorcery. In 2008, as Managing Editor at Black Gate, HAJ posted his ‘manifesto’ regarding a resurgence brewing in Sword & Sorcery fiction: Honing A New Edge Part 1 & Part 2  (these originally appeared in the introductory editorials  Issue 3 & 4 as “The New Edge”).

This sentiment resonated with many authors and editors, and a decade after its posting, directly inspired the creation of New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine (though editor Oliver Brackenbury has a slightly different definition than that of HAJ, read Oliver’s interview at BG for more).

4. Final Words

• Appendix I: Writing Sword-and-Sorcery  Fiction (p231-252)
• Appendix II: Recommended Reading (p253-256)
• Interview with the Author (p257-264)

More David C. Smith on Writing S&S

As complete as Arcane Arts and Cold Steel is, there is more in David Smith’s head to tap. As an editor and literature guru, he has keen takes on syntax, which he sprinkles throughout the book. I privately hoped for a reprint, or relook, of his “The Writer’s Style: Sound and Syntax in Howard’s Sentences” (published in The Dark Man, February 2013). That essay, like many of The Dark Man (The Journal of Robert E. Howard Studies)‘s articles, delved into Robert E. Howard’s writing. Reading Smith’s Arcane Arts and Cold Steel motivated me to reread Smith’s article which dissects the Father of S&S’s syntax:

• Natural Order of Sentences and Plain Style
• Alliterative Devices, Conventional Phrases, archaic Flourishes, and Diction (poetic
• Color
• Use of Present Tense (mixed with past)

“You sit down, you start, you learn by doing while referring to writers you like by dissecting how they’ve done what they’ve done.”
— David C. Smith

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. 

 

 

 

The tour began on March 31 at BN in Arboretum at 5:00 pm. We came in a little early, were led to the back room, and shortly after they brought us out. We follow the nice bookseller to the signing space and see 200 people. And they all go, “Yay!” except that there is 200 of them and it sounds more like, “Rawr!”

We have a short Q&A, we got to signing, and we sign until 10:30 or so. Author math: 1 new book plus 3 books from home = 4 signatures x 200 = 800 signatures. 500 signatures is about 3 hours. We have an awesome time, and then the readers leave and we stay and sign stock. And more stock. And more stock.

We finally get through it and call our Uber, and it takes us home. We land, eat something – I am very proud of myself for ordering takeout to be delivered with perfect timing – it was left by the door by the time we arrived but it did not sit long enough for racoons to steal it. We eat, finish packing in a tired stupor, and pass out for about 4 hours.

We get up at 5:00 am, and by 5:30 am we are on the way to the airport with our bags and our airline apps. We get there, check in the bags, go through TSA Precheck and they send me right back. My TSA precheck is not there. It turned out that there was a typo in my KTN, the frequent flier number. Now that I know about it, I manually fix it everywhere.

We grab some kind of weird breakfast – airport food is always a little sus – and get on a plane. We land in Minneapolis at 12:30 pm. We get to the hotel, which is amazing. It’s called the Graduate and it is straight out of a Dark Academia novel. It’s right by University of Minnesota and there are lounge spaces and long, ancient looking tables everywhere. The students use it as a secondary Student Center. I stole pictures for you from their website.

It would be an amazing event space. Like I want to write a dark academia novel so we can have the book release party there.

We drop our bags off and get an Uber to Tropes and Trifles. The city is under siege. Every house and business along the road has signs ICE OUT and WE LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS. Minneapolis’ community game is strong. Deepest respect.

I will say that if you would like to visit, do not hesitate. We felt safe, and Tropes and Trifles takes great care of their visitors.

We arrive to the store about 2:45 pm and we are shown to the table filled with books. We keep signing but somehow the boxes keep coming.

We also meet a very good boy.

We presign the books until about 5:00 pm, when we get a little break to grab a bite. The only options around Tropes and Trifles were a BBQ restaurant and a bakery, so we grab an uber back to the hotel and eat at their restaurant. Nothing wrong with a BBQ, but for a signing event, you want something light.

We eat quickly, grab an uber, and arrive to the signing venue, which takes place in this amazing church. Except that there is no table. Usually there is a table, but this time, there are only chairs.

I have a pantsuit that only looks good when I am standing or half hidden behind the table. Had I know this, I would’ve worn a dress. I went with the suit because an ice storm was coming and it was cold. More on that later.

The signing starts and again, there are many people. We do a short Q&A and at some point, I do a Vanna White impression with a giant cover. Except I am not quite that fabulous, hehe. The session goes well, we switch to the signing, and we sign. And sign. Tropes and Trifles has a 6 book limit, so the presigned hardcover plus up to 6 books from home.

It takes a little bit, and we get everyone through, and arrive to the hotel around 11:00 pm. We grab a little sleep, get up at 5:00 am, and by 6:20 am, we are at the airport. We are due to fly to Chicago, where we need to catch a connecting flight to Lexington.

Remember the ice storm? It is spreading across the Midwest. Chicago is not accepting planes. The flight is delayed. We sit. We wait. We board. We sit. We wait. We deplane with our bags. We sit. We wait.

At this point I call Jocelyn, who is Tor’s publicist, and explain that there is no way we are connecting in Chicago. She magically manages to rebook us on a later flight. We should be getting into Charlotte at 5:00 pm now. The signing is at 7:00 pm. Plenty of time.

We sit. We wait.

We board. The plane is de-iced. We wait. We wait.

We finally take off.

We land in Chicago, speed march to the right gate, and stop. The domino effect is in full force. Our connecting flight is now delayed by two hours.

More texting to Jocelyn, who connects to Joseph-Beth, and the store graciously agrees to move the event to 8:30 pm. We had an unprecedented level of support for this. Thank you so much to everyone involved.

I check the email, and see a message from Mod R, which says, “Everything is fine,” which is usually a code for “The sky has fallen, but Mod R picked it up and put it back.” The website had crashed, and she had to contact the host support, who got it fixed in record time. I thank her and ask her to post the delay announcement.

We sit. We wait. We talk to other people who are sitting and waiting. We look for some place to charge things. We sit.

Finally we board and fly to Lexington. We land at 8:10 pm, grab our bags, and call an Uber, except the uber driver is 12 miles away. What? So, we cancel the uber and grab a taxi, and it takes us to Joseph-Beth. We are reasonably sure that everyone has likely left by now.

We make it to the store at 8:30 pm. Joseph-Beth – a beautiful store, by the way, and if you have a chance, you absolutely should visit – has two floors of books. As we are riding the escalator up in our travel clothes with our bags, we hear the “Yay-Rawr!”

Nobody left. We go straight into Q&A, and there are pictures of us with readers where Gordon looks amazing, because he always does, and I am wearing upscale sweatpants and a T-shirt that says “Easily Distracted By Dogs.” Sorry. It couldn’t be helped.

We get through the line – one person flew in from Germany, omg – and by that point it’s 11:30 pm and there is a lot of stock. The store graciously offers to stay with us until we sign it all, but we feel bad about keeping everyone late, so we agree to come back in the morning.

We get to Origin hotel, which is also gorgeous, fall on our faces, and fall asleep.

We are up at 6:00 am, we grab breakfast. Breakfast at the Origin in Lexington is a religious experience. Like it is so delicious, and it looks like one of those highly edited food shots. It was perfect. By 7:30 am we are in an uber and on the way to the store.

We get there, we are let in, and we sign stock. And we sign. And we sign. At 9:15 am, we had to leave for the airport, but we got through all of This Kingdom stock and we will be sending bookplates to Joseph-Beth for the rest.

We get to the airport, and the plane is delayed. We wait, we wait, we wait, we we board the plane, and then we are finally in Baltimore. As we are going to get our bags, Jeaniene Frost, who is co-signing with us, is texting me wanting to know if we are alive. I confirm that we are alive and we agree to meet for dinner. It is Gordon’s birthday.

We end up at a Brazilian steakhouse. But this point I am so tired of eating highly fried and rich food, that I find some marinated eggplant on the salad bar and I eat it like there is no tomorrow. Midway through dinner, a woman comes over and gives us this hesitant look.

Me: Hello.

She: ILOVEYOURBOOKS.

We took lovely pictures, chatted, and it was a very cute moment. She couldn’t get a ticket to the signing because it was sold out and ended up at the restaurant by pure chance. Serendipity. On tour all of our time belongs to the readers and book stores, and all of us are very glad that we were able to meet her.

The next day, we make a quick excursion to Collector Corner and Black Sheep Yarn Store, where I buy yarn I do not need. Black Sheep Yarn store is lovely and they tried very hard to explain their return policy to me. Returning yarn. Heh.

We meet with Jeaniene and her sister for a quick brunch, get back to the hotel, change clothes and arrive to the BN. We are welcomed, led to the back room, and then brought out.

No table. Oh, and it’s worse. It’s not chairs. It’s tall bar stools. Note to self: dresses next time.

We have a ton of people again, everyone is asking questions, I scroll through Maggie 2 to prove that it existed. Jeaniene Frost is MC’ing like there is no tomorrow, and then we all transition to the signing.

There were some heavy moments at this signing and some happy moments. At one point someone accidentally grabbed my phone instead of theirs, and somehow took a bunch of pictures – I must’ve happened to unlock it just before – and then apologized profusely. I texted the pictures back and took a photo for posterity. Hehe.

We signed until just after 9:00 pm, and as soon as we finished, the lights went out, and we had to go. We got back to the hotel, fell on our faces, and slept until 4:00 am, at which point the uber came to pick us up so we can be at the airport in time. We got there at 5:00, gave them our bags, somehow dragged ourselves through the security and to our gate, waited again, got on a plane, flew, landed, ubered, and at noon walked through the door of our house.

We put the bags aside, changed clothes, sat on the couch, and fell asleep until 4:00 pm, when it was time to pick up the dogs from boarding.

It was an amazing tour! We got to meet so many people. Thank you for all of the smiles and the old, well-loved books. It was our privilege to spend time with you!

And now I have the grand announcement. Ta-da!

Here we go:

• #9 New York Times Bestseller in Hardcover and Ebook
• #10 New Times Bestseller in Hardcover
• #14 USA Today Bestseller (We have #14 bestselling book out all books in US)
• #2 Sunday Times Bestseller in UK – huge thank you to Waterstones
• #6 Independent Books Store Bestseller

And we have regional lists:

• #13 North California Independent Bookstore Alliance
• #14 Southern Independent Bookstore Alliance
• #7 Mountains and Plains Independent Bookseller Association
• #8 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association
• #9 Great Lakes Independent Bookseller Association

We haven’t had a true hardcover edition since Magic Triumphs. Hidden Legacy had very tiny hardcover runs, primarily aimed at libraries. We are coming back from an almost 4 year traditional hiatus (Ruby Fever came out in 08/2022.)

I love Maggie, but I also understand that it is a dense book with a lot of worldbuilding. It is not a YA/NA, it is not that spicy, and it is in a genre largely unknown to Western audiences. Books like that don’t usually hit the lists unless they have a film or TV tie ins. Tor had gone above and beyond to promote it, but between the long break in our publishing career, the hardcover price, and writing in a different genre, I didn’t expect any fireworks.

This is unbelievably amazing. I was shocked. Absolutely shocked. How did this even happen?

We worked so hard on this book, and right now all of it seems worth it.

Thank you.

You are the best.

The post The Tour and the Lists first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

LitStack Spots We’ve spotted a few other titles we want to add to our TBR…

The post Spotlight on “Homebound” by Portia Elan appeared first on LitStack.

 

The Wonder Engine (Clocktaur War #2)by T. Kingfisher
What is it about:Pull three people out of prison--a disgraced paladin, a convicted forger, and a heartless assassin. Give them weapons, carnivorous tattoos, and each other. Point them at the enemy.
What could possibly go wrong?
In the sequel to CLOCKWORK BOYS, Slate, Brenner, Caliban and Learned Edmund have arrived in Anuket City, the source of the mysterious Clockwork Boys. But the secrets they're keeping could well destroy them, before the city even gets the chance...
What did I think of it:This was an entertaining read and a mostly cool conclusion to this duology.
I absolutely loved Grimehug, the gnole who joined Slate and her team in The Clockwork Boys. He and the other gnoles are my favorite of the creatures in the Clocktaur world.I also really liked Learned Edmund and Brenner.The story was fun and exciting as well. I was eager to find out how our band of misfits would deal with their predicaments and how they would complete their mission.
But the Romance...
I loved Slate, but Caliban...I know which Knight Commander inspired Caliban, and I can say that Caliban is just as annoying as I find that particular Knight Commander, so well done, I say.And mostly the romance is cute and sweet, and I might even have been satisfied with it, but near the end of the book something happens that for me would have meant the end of the relationship or should have had at least a different aftermath then it got. Now the Romance to me ended with a lopsided relationship that I don't think will last.
All that said: the overall story was still tons of fun, so this book will be added to my growing T. Kingfisher collection.
Why should you read it:It's a really fun and entertaining Fantasy read.

 

Buy The Fake Divination Offense

FORMAT/INFO: The Fake Divination Offense will release on May 19th, 2026 from Bramble Romance. It is 336 pages and available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: It's time for a new chapter in Orok's life. He's starting the rawball season on a new team, and ready to make a clean break with the Church of Uzroth (patron god of aggression). But when Orok protects cheerleader Alexo at a bar, the Church of Uzorth approaches Orok and Alexo with a proposal: be part of a fake relationship for the season to give the Church a needed PR boost, and they'll sponsor Alexo off the bench and onto the main cheerleading squad. Orok's already attracted to Alexo and he can see how much the sponsorship would mean to the man, so he agrees to the deal. But while genuine sparks fly between Orok and Alexo, Alexo has dangerous secrets in his past - ones that threaten much more than a simple sponsorship.

The Fake Divination Offense is an adventure-filled fantasy sports romance that's about all kinds of love: self-love, platonic love, and yes, romantic love. Main character Orok is a half-giant, raised in a church that believes its followers should resolve all conflict through physical violence and posturing, and should always be the alpha in the room. (Quick Note: Although Orok struggles with his church in this book, this is a queernorm world, and none of his struggles have the slightest thing to do with homophobia.) While Orok doesn't follow his church's tenets, he also wrestles with his own belief that relying on his friends just drags them down. He shouldn't bother them with his problems, he should be strong enough to deal with them on his own. Learning to accept his friends' help is just one journey this quiet giant goes on.

What's nice about this romance is that although it's a fake-dating story, from the jump Orok makes it clear to Alexo that he's interested in a real relationship. There's no dancing around what's pretend and what's real; the two have frank conversations about their feelings and what their boundaries are. That doesn't mean there aren't secrets or that their relationship is perfect. But as someone who hates when miscommunication is used, it was nice to not have to deal with "is any of this real?" type story-lines.

Speaking of not-perfect, Orok is a possessive person by nature. While he is constantly checking in on Alexo and his wants and boundaries, Orok is also the kind of person who sees the person he loves and thinks "this person is MINE, I will protect them at all costs." Naturally, Alexo has been written as the kind of love interest who is fine with this dynamic, but if possessiveness isn't your cup of tea, you might bounce a little on this. But as Alex is in a certain amount of danger throughout the story from nefarious individuals, it's a dynamic that does make sense, as Orok will do whatever it takes to keep his love safe, whether it's sucking up to people he doesn't like or physically defending Alexo from a villain.

I did also enjoy the fantasy sports aspect of the storyline. Orok plays a fantasy sport called rawball (the name is a play on a D&D term) that vaguely resembles football if magic was allowed. The rules of the sport aren't important; what IS important is Orok's journey to integrating with his new team. After a bad experience with his previous team, Orok is constantly looking for his teammates to undercut him, ignore him, or outright attack him. Learning to let go of past social traumas and to open up to his teammates is part of Orok's own growth, and a story I really enjoyed watching.

The Fake Divination Offense is another lovely story of love, healing, and acceptance from Sara Raasch. I've really enjoyed this romance duology and look forward to checking out more of her work in the future!

 

Swords and Sorcery: Stories of Heroic Fantasy, edited by L. Sprague de Camp
(Pyramid Books, December 1963). Cover by Virgil Finlay

Here are two more Sword & Sorcery anthologies edited by L. Sprague de Camp. Both are from Pyramid Books. Swords & Sorcery is 1963, with interior illustrations by Virgil Finlay. ISFDB indicates the cover is by Finlay as well, although it looks to me very much in the cover style of the second book, The Fantastic Swordsmen (1967), where the cover is attributed to Jack Gaughan. Some of the experts who visit this page probably know the truth.

1. Swords & Sorcery is a nice collection. It contains “Shadows in the Moonlight” (Conan) by Robert E. Howard, and stories by Poul Anderson (the excellent “Valor of Cappen Varra”), Fritz Leiber (Fafhrd, Gray Mouser), Kuttner (Prince Raynor), Lord Dunsany, C. L. Moore (Jirel), Clark Ashton Smith, and Lovecraft (“The Doom that Came to Sarnath”). The introduction on “Heroic Fantasy” by de Camp tends to piss some people off that I know, although I’m not one of those particularly. It suggests that S&S is purely escapist reading. I think it does make for a good escape from life’s mundanities but there’s more to it than just that.

The Fantastic Swordsmen , edited by L. Sprague de Camp (Pyramid Books, May 1967). Cover by Jack Gaughan

2. The Fantastic Swordsmen is also a pretty good collection, with stories about Conan, Elak, Brak, and Elric, along with a few new items. The cover shows us Brak. The Conan story is one that de Camp finished from a Howard outline and isn’t terribly strong. There’s also a very early story by Robert Bloch, which, while well written, shows his lack of storytelling experience at the time.

Fantastic Swordsmen also contains:

“Tellers of Tales” an intro by L. Sprague de Camp
“Black Lotus” by Robert Bloch
“The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth” by Lord Dunsany
“Drums of Tombalku” by REH and L. Sprague de Camp
“The Girl in the Gem” by John Jakes (Brak)
“Dragon Moon ” by Henry Kuttner (Elak of Atlantis)
“The Other Gods” by H.P. Lovecraft
“The Singing Citadel” by Michael Moorcock (Elric & Moonglum)
“The Tower” by Luigi De Pascalis, who also wrote an Afterword

Charles Gramlich administers The Swords & Planet League group on Facebook, where this post first appeared. His last article for us was a review of The Imaro Saga by Charles Saunders. See all of his recent posts for Black Gate here.

Today’s Women in SF&F Month guest is Shay Kauwe! The Killing Spell, her upcoming novel that follows a young Hawaiian woman in a future with language magic, will be released on April 14 in the US and April 23 in the UK. Her book has received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly, which called it a “smart and satisfying urban fantasy debut [that] combines gripping mystery, tantalizing romance, and sharp cultural critique.” I’m delighted she’s here today to discuss […]

The post Women in SF&F Month: Shay Kauwe first appeared on Fantasy Cafe.