April 2022 Reviews

Before I get started with discussion of April’s stories, let me note two things about standalones. First, I missed discussing “Twelve Nooses” and “The Tear of Chronos,” both from February and both as by Cora Buhlert and Richard Blakemore. I’ll pick those up soon. Second, I have yet to determine whether any of the four pieces in Kirk A. Johnson’s collection The Obanaax are new to 2022 or are reprints. I’ve reached out to the author and cover those (or not) once I’ve heard back from him. [edited to add: they are all new and will be discussed in a subsequent post.]

 

So, first up for April I’ll cover Savage Realms Monthly #11 (Amazon paperback • Amazon Kindle • Kindle Unlimited), which featured three stories. “A Gentleman of Blades” by Matthew Gomez appears to be the first part of a serial following the adventures of a sort of gangster lord named Reynaud, him being the title character. It’s an able enough introduction to a new setting and set of characters, with the highlight of the piece coming at the very end, with Reynaud’s encounter with the person who serves as his Moriarty turning into something quite a bit more interesting than a faceoff. Jeff Shelnutt’s “The Spider’s Eyes” boils down to a pair of thieves who closely resemble Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser engaging in a robbery very reminiscent of that described in Robert E. Howard’s “The Tower of the Elephant.” It’s entertaining, though the humor often fell flat for me. Finally, there’s “Stone Figures” by Chad A.B. Wilson. In the accompanying author interview, Wilson flat out states that this is inspired by a specific monster as it is presented in Dungeons & Dragons. The story is hampered by the overwhelming number of characters and place names in so brief a piece. The names of six people and two towns appear on the very first page, not all of whom/which actually appear in the story. Unlike the other two, this doesn’t feature a classic sword and sorcery outsider hero, the protagonist being a commander and hero in a queen’s army. 

Swords and Sorcery Magazine issue #122 featured three stories. Mario Carić is present with a tale involving a blind soldier and a pair of shapeshifters, “The Hunter and the Hunted.” “Nara’s Story,” by Ross Hightower, shades into young adult territory but does so most effectively. The title can be read in two ways, as the apprentice sorceress Nara is both the protagonist of this piece and herself a teller of tales. Her connection to spirits makes the magic in this story stand out, and the concluding battle is harrowing in its stakes. The highlight of the issue for me was Phillip Yeatman’s piece, “The Death of Rovanmoshon.” Solid worldbuilding and smooth prose make this story well worth your time, though only some swordplay at the end squeaks it into being sword and sorcery. It’s really a meditation on identity, and how we disguise our true identities from both others and ourselves. Here’s a great line: “He hadn’t been trained to think; the point of training was that he did not have to.”

 

The weekly Sword and Sorcery Newsletter produced an anthology of sorts in April with Thews You Can Use: A Sword and Sorcery Sampler. I haven’t yet been able to full determine which of the nine pieces here are a new for 2022 and which are reprints, though I’ve heard from the editor and around half the authors. The two I can say with confidence are new are flash pieces by the writing team of Angeline B. Adams and Remco van Straten and by Mario Carić, whom I believe is the only author so far this year whose shown up twice in one month! Both pieces are entertaining and take about two minutes each to read. Adams’ and van Straten’s “Across the River” is a twist ending piece, while Carić’s “Darkness Dreamer” briefly relates the fate of a mercenary wizard. Note that not all of the pieces in this sampler are flash fiction.

 

J.T.T. Ryder offered a standalone novella with Tomb of the Blue Demons (Amazon Kindle • Kindle Unlimited) this month that serves as a prequel a duology of novels set around 200 B.C. While it’s really more historical fantasy than sword and sorcery, both swords and sorcery are very much present in this story of a druid from the Isle of Skye traveling to Italia during the time of the Carthaginian wars. It meets most of the standards for being considered sword and sorcery outlined by Brian Murphy, with demons, dragons, magic, and clashing weapons aplenty. It’s skillfully rendered and serves to do what its author no doubt wishes of the piece: it makes me want to read the novels.

 

Finally, what’s certainly the story of the month for me and will no doubt be in the running for story of the year. Anne VanderMeer acquired “Sword & Spore” by Dominica Phettepace for genre fiction’s top marked, tor.com, and it was published there on the 6^th of April. This is an absolute tour de force. An outsider, illiterate boy figures in the opening and an outsider, illiterate girl in the closing of this lengthy piece about outer gods coming to govern a world that’s only the latest of the “Universes” they have inhabited. Told from several points of view and bringing in some Mythos elements with much talk of fungi. There are gods, zombies, witches, and magic swords here rendered in prose that manages to be simultaneously subtle and breathtaking throughout. I can’t recommend this story highly enough.

 

The stories I most highly recommend this month are: “The Death of Rovanmoshon” by Phillip Yeatman; Tomb of the Blue Demons by J.T.T. Ryder; and “Sword and Spore” by Dominica Phettepace.