Posted on by robbose72

To Walk on Worlds

By Matthew John

An excellent collection of connected stories in the best Sword & Sorcery tradition. Matt has a solid voice, and the prose flows and carries you along through each tale, tossing in a mix of new and recurring characters and exotic locales.

It was great to see the fabulous cover by the esteemed Mike Hoffman and classic S&S interior art by Sandy Carruthers, and I loved the mass market sized paperback format, so rare these days.

I heartily recommend and can’t wait to see what Matt comes up with next.

Two Thumbs Up – Read This!

Matthew John is an English language arts teacher and employee of Monolith Games (Conan, Batman: Gotham City Chronicles). When time allows, he likes to write short fiction, waste time at the gaming table, and chat sword and sorcery on the Rogues in the House Podcast. His work has been published in Grimdark Magazine, Skelos (SkelosPress), Weirdbook (Wildside Press), and Robert E. Howard’s Conan the roleplaying game (Modiphius Games).

Publisher: Rogues in the House Presents

Genre: Sword and Sorcery

Posted on by robbose72

The Trees Melt Like Candles

By Peter Gutiérrez

How far would you go to eliminate evil if you discovered the metaphysical and physical aspects of evil could in fact be understood, mapped, and constrained? Would you dabble, brushing against the fringes as a scholar, or, as the narrator to this treatise, throw yourself wholly into the eternal struggle, certain that the ends justifies the means?

I believe it does, and we are carried along as the narrator plunges headfirst, sparing with the greatest of all adversaries – both within and without – in a fascinating journey that makes for a wild, slippery, and yes, totally weird ride.

Two Thumbs Up – Worth a Read

Peter Gutiérrez is a writer and poet who lives in New Jersey. His collection of macabre stories, From Bad to Worse, is available now from Anxiety Press.

Publisher: Translucent Eye Press

Posted on by robbose72 · 1 Comment

CVLT of CTHXS

By Bam Barrow

Bam Barrow’s follow up to Arcanum Fabulas has two of my favourite elements – a series of interconnected stories and a tightly integrated cosmic horror mythos that’s both familiar yet horribly original. I loved how various characters and places reappear both in the past and future, intertwined in strange and wondrous ways. There is a nice variety of story structures, with always tantalizing chapter introductions, and prose that brings to mind Robert E. Howard and Lovecraft, with shades of Ligotti in some and Laird Barron in others.

Not every story hits it out of the park, but overall it’s a solid work with stories like A Calamity at Croxton, The Eldritch Six, Outbreak at the Outpost, Black Maggots of the Urchin Church and Lady Void standing out for me.

Two Thumbs Up – Worth a Read

Bam Barrow is an East Anglian based writer of occult fiction with an unquenchable thirst for the dark, mysterious and extremes of human behaviour. Co-editor for Black Shadow Lit, Bam is also known for his photography, filmmaking and as a musician. His band Raining Colour have released their first album Realms available to download from all major streaming outlets.

Publisher: Translucent Eye Press