January 2022 Reviews

 Special Note: These reviews become more comprehensive over time. January was my first month reading contemporary sword and sorcery.

I’ve just finished reading all six or seven of the short Sword and Sorcery stories published in January of this year (2022) that I’ve been able to track down. That was one from Beneath Ceaseless Skies #346 (this is the “or seven,” see below) and three each from Savage Realms Monthly #9 (Amazon paperback • Amazon Kindle • Kindle Unlimited • Audible) and Swords and Sorcery Magazine #119. (Note that this is actually the December 2021 issue, due to an error in sequencing, the issues of S&S will be lagging by a month through November.)

 

My favorite was the Beneath Ceaseless Skies story, “Redfin Spine,” (text • audio) which was posted on the first day of the year. It may be seen by some as associational, because the only combat in the story is rendered via reportage instead of being “on the page.” It’s by Jonathan Olfert and makes excellent use of themes and imagery from Arctic mythologies.

As for the rest, there’s interesting work to be found in the January issues of both the dedicated magazines. Tim Gerstmar’s “The Glass Crypt” has a classic setup and some nice characterization in Savage Realms Monthly. In Swords and Sorcery, Lin Carter’s literary executor, Robert M. Price, offers another entry in his series of stories recounting the further adventures of Carter’s Thongor of Lemuria character, “The Monster on the Mount.” In the same issue, Caledonia Krieger reverses the status quo in "Beneath the Earth," a story of a pair of adventurers exploring the lair of a witch, in which all of the characters are women!

 

Speaking of women, to judge by bylines, interviews and the provided “about the author information, they make up two of January’s seven writers, with Krieger being joined by Morgan Kane, with her story “Exiles” in Savage Realms Monthly.

Next up, February, where I count 23 stories to read in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Swords and Sorcery Magazine, and the third Libri Valoris anthology, Keen Edge of Valor. That last one has a Glen Cook story of the Black Company I’m particularly looking forward to.