August Reviews

 August saw the release of new issues of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Savage Realms Monthly, and the ever-reliable Swords and Sorcery Magazine. I’m also covering two stories I overlooked in last month’s Book of Blades anthology.

Starting with Heroic Fantasy Quarterly’s Issue #53, I’ll first consider Mike Adamson’s “Crown of Azt’nyr.” This is, frankly, a bit of a disappointment. A standard warrior-rescues-the-princess story somewhat redeemed by the fact that the princess turns out to be—crucially—magically adept at the end, this is over-written and under-edited.

 

Better is Gregory Mele’s “The Path of Two Entwined, A Tale of Azatlán,” which is at least

the third in a series. This piece makes use of cultural and historical motifs from the historic Southwestern United States and from Meso-America. For all that the accompanying illustration suggests that the invading “Tall People” in the story resembled something like Greek hoplites, they are Meso-American analogues. Our principal protagonist, on the other hand, is part of a confederation of tribes being suborned by a bad actor of a chief and a worse acting wise woman. There’s plenty of action here, and creditable worldbuilding, with only some slight distraction from a bit of unnecessary point of view shifts. But trust me when I say that’s slight. This is a good story. 

 

Finally, D.H. Rowe makes a welcome debut with “The Waking Gods,” a story that mines the rich mythic traditions of the Maori and South Pacific Islanders, complete with a swift sailing, loud boasting culture hero and a bevy of symbols and creatures nicely integrated into what is, at its bottom, the story of a warrior assaulting the strong place of a malevolent god. What’s more sword and sorcery than that? The hero, Hekili, is simultaneously obnoxious and charming, clever and thick, and Rowe (no relation) maneuvers character and plot towards a twist ending that I found very satisfying.

Savage Realms Monthly published their 14^th issue this month (Amazon softcover • Amazon Kindle • Kindle Plus) with three new stories.

 

Alexander Hay gives us “A Walk in the Garden,” a story which may not meet strict definitions of the subgenre, but which has an interesting conceit at its heart. A wizard, Ashford, is the victim of a metastasizing cancer caused by his own magic and has chosen to spend his final days combatting a similar toxic growth in a sacred garden built millennia ago by “the First People.” That’s an excellent idea, and there are some very good lines in this piece. Unfortunately, it suffers from an undisciplined approach to structure, moving back and forth in time in a way that it’s clear the author doesn’t have control of—a pattern exists but when it’s subverted, it isn’t to good effect. There are also some distracting copyediting oversights.

 

Also disappointing, almost, it seems, by intention, is Richard Toogood’s failed attempt at satire, “Bellico and the Brain Predator.” The title lands with an intentional thud, but I doubt Toogood wants to lose readers as quickly as he lost me. This is thinly disguised reactionary stuff, delivered with the lack of panache and paucity of wit typical of such exercises in the flexing of non-existent authorial muscles.

 

Luckily, the issue is somewhat redeemed by the presence of debut author Simon Waltho, who gives us “A Hungry Season,” the story of an exciting incident in the life of an 11^th century Saxon swordswoman named Ælfrith. We start with our heroine awakening on a remote hillock in the fens, just managing to remember being assaulted by someone she took to be a “Cornishman.” Events proceed at a swift pace as Ælfrith escapes her bonds, tracks her foe to his lair, discovers the corpse of an apparent witch, and uncovers a tremendous treasure in silver. The appearance of a genuinely original shapeshifting swamp hag lends spark to this piece, which is somewhat marred by its abrupt ending and brevity. A promising new author, here.

  

Swords and Sorcery Magazine has three stories to consider this time around.

 

Stephen C. Curro offers “After the Adventure,” very much a “told tale.” There are some wonderful lines here,  such as: “Mira ate stories, breathed them, wrapped herself in them like a snug blanket.” But the lack of action makes this a stretch to be considered sword and sorcery.

 

“A Tree With Rotting Roots” by Jamie Lackey includes some genuinely frightening sorcery in the form a wood hag who has, essentially, offered asylum to a young woman who lashed out against an abusive nobleman with deadly effect. The knight sent to bring her to justice learns about the injustices prevalent in his society and the story takes a hard turn into something unexpected. This piece is somewhat marred by a rushed ending, but is worth your time.

 

Joshua Turner is a good line-by-line writer, as is evidenced in his story this month, “The Fishmonger.” I must admit to having a personal prejudice against dialect rendered phonetically instead of through the use of diction and context, so the “old salt” dialogue here threw me out of the story. Many readers won’t have that problem, though. This story does not benefit from being part of a series, depending too much on knowledge of previous entries. Here, a nobleman and his sorceress companion undertake a supernatural investigation that involves the disappearances of some fishermen and the possible appearance of a local god. 

 

I can make no excuses for having missed two stories when I reviewed A Book of Blades in my coverage of July.

 

The first, “How They Fall” by the writing team of Angeline B. Adams and Remco van Straten, I simply overlooked. It’s listed in my notes as one to read, but I didn’t read it then, apologies. This is a brief but satisfying story set in the aftermath of a bloody clash between medieval-era armed forces. A veteran is in a celebratory mood for having again survived battle, and takes another surviving warrior, a young woman named Kaila, under his wing, simultaneously offering her advice and the permission to be glad to be alive. This is told with these authors’ usual combination of straightforward prose with flashes of poetry.

 

Much longer, and much more complex, is “The Blood of Old Shard” by John Fultz, which I mistakenly believed to be a reprint. This piece is divided into three sections, telling the story of a mighty general, Gnori, who finds himself captured by the necromantic enemies of his latest employer, the nation of Old Shard. Beginning with the protagonist in chains, the story starts moving steadily and, with flashes of brilliant action and meditative contemplation (the former closer to the beginning, the latter closer to the end), never stops. An exciting shipboard battle is turns from the expected to the horrific when a sea monster quite unlike any other I’ve read of intervenes. But the meat of this story takes place after Gnori’s escape and his subsequent life, along with a companion, on a deserted island. This is a very good story, but I cannot help but think it would have benefitted from being much longer, with more time spent on the island between Gnori and his companion washing ashore and the decision that is forced on Gnori at the end. 

 

My top stories for July 2022: “The Waking Gods” by D.H. Rowe and “The Blood of Old Shard” by John Fultz.