Until now i used a plugin for the site that fetched the book covers directly from amazon but they decided to mess with the way they stock images so i’m going to have to get them all and stock them locally.
In the meantime using the library you’ll see some broken links where covers should appear, It’s temporary, It’ll take a week or two to recover all of them as I’m doing this in my free time and there is now around 2500 novels/series on the site.
Spherical_dude
12 news stories featuring Remo Williams and Chiun!
Edited by Rich Harvey and published by Bold Adventure Press a small publisher specializing in new pulp fiction.
Stories by various authors including Molly Cochran (wife of Warren Murphy and ghostwriter for several of the originals) James Mullaney who wrote some of the later books, Gerald Welch (author of the eight books in the Legacy spin-off) and Will Muray (who’s written several of the new Doc Savage series)
With over 150 books and a movie (starring Fred Ward and Joel Grey) the original Destroyer series started in 1971 and tell the story of Remo, a Newark cop falsely accused of murder and executed. The execution is faked and he wakes up to become an assassin for a secret agency.
He is trained by Chiun, last master of Sinanju the first and deadliest martial art. But Sinanju is very different from karate or any other art. Through training Remo is transformed into a superhuman death machine, capable of impossible feats but unable to enjoy a simple steak, lest his fine-tuned body kill him.
With time he become the last heir to a house whose origin is lost to time immemorial. A house training only one assassin by generation, never using any weapon and selling its services to any emperor who can pay the price – only in pure gold. Thus every year a secret submarine braves the dangerous water around Korea in the middle of the Cold War to deliver its gold to a forgotten village. The safest place on earth as the Korean ruler knows better than anyone that Sinanju’s gold is not to be touched.
The series quickly abandons the classic threats like mafia bosses for more exotic pulp goodness. Remo faces an obsessive android, a biologist using her science to create a cult of cannibal mutants, a supercomputer hell-bent on making money and plenty of other bizarre things.
It’s also famous for its derisive tone, Remo the occidental and Smith the man to whom he is supposed to obey understands little at the beginning of the series of Chiun’s ancestral ways. And the very concept of democracy is equally lost to the old master who believe Smith secretly dream of ruling the U.S.A. But bit by bit Chiun will become a father figure for Remo until later the ex-cop become more an heir of Sinanju than a government assassin.
You can get the book on amazon here.
The originals are also on amazon if you are curious but it is better to start with book 3 or 4 as the first two are not really representative of the series.
Egypt was still a dream in the eye of Ra, the sun-god, when Bohun of Damzullah battled his way across a forgotten empire than spanned half the world…
Bohun, the hero of this collection first appeared in the 1st issue of Savage Realms Monthly, the magazine dedicated to sword and sorcery wich started in 2020 and has already 29 issue published.
Seven stories : The Festival of the Bull. The Horror from the Stars. By Darkness Enthroned. Intrigue in Aviene. Black Sunset in the Valley of Death. Red Trail of Vengeance. Harvest of the Blood-King
I have only read the first story in SRM but I think it’s really good so I’ll probably make a review of it soon.
You can get it here.
For more sword and sorcery goodness by the same author check here
Matthew John the host of the sword and sorcery focused podcast Rogue in the House also write short stories. They previously appeared in the pages of various magazines like Weirdbook, Whetstone, and Tales From the Magician’s Skull.
Collected in this book are eleven stories with the characters of Lachmannon and Maxus the Meddler four of which are news.
It also feature interior illustrations by Sandy Carruthers.
You can get it here.
One novel and a novella actually :
The first is the second book in the Scaleborn serie by John R. Fultz and come with a gorgeous cover and according to the author each book is a new entry point :
Long ago Lord Huto abandoned the City of Masters to live as a hermit atop a nameless mountain. Casting aside his royal lineage, he also abandoned his mastery of sorcery, leaving his brother to rule as Emperor of Yhorom. Yet Huto could not abandon the Thousand Year Bond that extends his natural life by ten centuries. Now, some 350 years later, an emissary from the great city brings news that Huto’s brother has been murdered. The chief suspect for this crime is the Emperor’s own wife, whose sorcery rivalled that of her husband. Huto doesn’t give a damn about politics, but he comes down from his lonely mountain for one reason: to expose and destroy his brother’s killer. However, it’s a long way back to Yhorom, and dark forces conspire to ensure that the hermit-prince never makes it home alive.
When rampaging soldiers destroy a small northern village, Umi loses her mother and her people in a single day. She flees into the depths of the Mossback Forest, where dangers and wonders abound. Adopted by a pack of wild forest spirits, she learns the secrets of earth magic, as well as how to track and kill those who despoil the forest. One day she will leave behind the wilderness and its vengeful spirits to walk the Dragon Road, which carries her all the way to ancient Yhorom, where the Old Masters rule by the twin virtues of steel and sorcery.
The hermit prince and the daughter of spirits are destined to meet…but will it be as allies or enemies?
The answer to this question will change the course of history.
And the novella is the first print project (not available on kindle) of the online magazine Whetstone. It is the first in what they hope will be a series of experimental sword and sorcery novellas titled Keen Blades.
Wrote by Matt Holder who has previously been published in the sixth issue of Old Moon Quarterly
Hurled Headlong Flaming: The Bishop’s Tale is a dark fantasy novella by Matt Holder that follows a priest on a perilous quest to a hellish underworld to retrieve an ancient manuscript he believes can help prevent the apocalypse. Drawing from influences like Dante, Milton, and Robert E. Howard, and Lovecraftian dream-quest literature.
This bizarre tale sees the Bishop descend through a hidden city, forced to engage in infernal dialogues and navigate labyrinthine streets while pursued by demonic creatures. Grappling with questions of faith, truth, and the brutality of the Crusades, the Bishop’s harrowing journey examines the violence that often accompanies meaning-making in a world that resists interpretation. This first entry in the Keen Blades series from Spiral Tower Press aims to expand the boundaries of what sword and sorcery can be.
For more Sword and Sorcery don’t forget to check the library. I regularly add new stuff (also as i said in a previous post i’m aware some covers are missing, amazon messed with something and now i must get back all of them to stock them locally…and with more than 1500 it will take some time)
For those who don’t know issue No. 368 (!!) of Weirdtales magazine is out and it focuses exclusively on occult detective tales.
It is dedicated to Brian Lumley (known for his necroscope series as well as his lovecraftian fictions) who left us in january and feature 18 short stories including one from Lumley, one from Jonathan Maberry, the current editor. (who’s new novel: Necrotek comes the 28 this month) and one from Kevin J. Anderson (author of Death Warmed Over: The Cases of Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I.)
Weirdtales is the legendary magazine founded in 1922 best known for it’s pulp, swords & sorcery and cosmic horror that first published H. P. Lovecraft as well as stories from Abraham Merritt, Clark Ashton Smith and obviously Robert E. Howard Conan the Barbarian too.
It was brought back after several unsuccessful try to resurrect it in 2019 with Maberry as the editorial director
you can get it on amazon here
J. Manfred Weichsel who specialize in writing sexy humorous stories has launched a kickstarter for a new NSFW Sword and sorcery anthology. If you want to help it happen the price start at 4$ and it has until june 4 to reach the 2500 goal. It’s going to feature 12-16 stories and the open call for submission will come once the goal is reached, you can follow him on twitter too if you’re interested.
Here’s the description :
The title Sword & Scandal is a play on the popular Italian sword and sandal genre of epic films. These will be stories with traditional historical and mythological settings from heroic fantasy, but with more gore, nudity, and sex than what you usually see published. They will be subversive without becoming grimdark and will retain the sense of fun you would want from a pulp adventure, and the sense of wonder you would want from a weird tale.
If you have read my books, then you know that I am an experimental author who takes big risks with everything he does. Unlike other publishers who tend to play it safe with their selections, I will be looking for the wild, strange, and outrageous. I want to publish off-beat and off-the-wall stories that would never otherwise get to see the light of day.
Humor is also a big part of what I do. I will actively look for stories that incorporate a similar sense of humor as mine: dry, sardonic, and satirical. I enjoy humor that is character-driven, dark, and surreal. But I also like farce.
Sword & Scandal is not an anthology for genre purists. It is for thrill-seeking readers who want something new and different. The tales in this book will be adventures to scandalize. So, if you want to see such a new market open up to writers, and if you want to help bring such a book into existence, and if you want to hold such a book in your hands and read it, then contribute to Sword & Scandal now!
Back it here!
The Long Moonlight is a novella by Razorfist set in the fictional medieval fantasy city of Menuvia featuring Xerdes a thief who after a failed intrusion at the mansion of a crime boss find himself enlisted in a series of heists with a new accomplice : an outsider swordswoman from the north.
All the while Coggins, inspector of the city guard try to understand what is going on between the warring factions of Menuvia underworld and the corrupt elements of his side.
It’s a pulp noir fantasy, part of a series of 2 and as many have noted it also comes as something that would make a great scenario for a reboot of the old Thief video game.
Razorfist is known as a social media personality and youtuber who publishes videos ranging from political to media commentary. He often talks about his love for old pulp authors and it definitely show in his writing style.
Said writing is i think one of the big selling point of the novel, if it might sound a bit strange to modern readers not used to flamboyant prose it contribute greatly to the book not feeling short despite the only 140 pages and does a great job at giving a feeling of discovery of a new universe to get immersed in
While the action unravels entirely in the city the author manages to make you feel that there is a world outside of it with several footnotes and comments that made me want to see more of this world which taken from the blurb of the sequel is exactly what I’ll get when picking the next book of the series (unfortunately there is only two books for now and I haven’t heard of a third coming anytime soon)
The setting is low fantasy, don’t expect elves, orcs or magic here it’s at heart a heist and later revenge story about a thief caught between the schemings of two crimelords in a gritty city reminiscent of medieval Europe. The plot is moving fast as expected with a short pulpish book and the characters are appealing. Xerdes don’t spend time brooding on his condition or the world around him.
Overall i really liked this short adventure and I hope he finds time despite his other projects (including a western graphic novel that I’ll review once I’m done putting up a comic category for the site) to write a third at some point as it really stands out among the indie publishing scene.
Speaking of graphic novels the book also comes with some little sketch after certain chapters which is nice.
first all the 18 older ones are in a collection on amazon but not in order of publication :
starting with deathmasques in 1993 we have :
From 2003 to 2007, Black Flame published official 2000 AD novels, including a new run of Judge Dredd novels. After Black Flame closed in 2007, Rebellion picked up the rights to their “2000 AD” titles in 2011, and began republishing them as e-books. Their nine Judge Dredd books are:
CLICK IMAGES FOR AMAZON LINKS
Deathmasques :
“The keesh-eater collapsed into a nerveless heap, smearing a thin trail of blood down the pillar. Armitage watched him until he was sure he wouldn’t move, then rounded, scowling, on the uniformed Judges. ‘You think you can clean this up noe, or do I have to do everything?'”
Travelling to Brit-Cit on the trail of a bloodthirsty, body-hopping alien, Judge Dredd is forced to work with Detective Judge Armitage. Dredd is a one man army who puts the law above everything, even his own humanity; Armitage is thoughtful, cultured, a maverick who seldom goes by the book. It’s hate at first sight.
For once, Dredd may be out of his depth.
Then in 2012 Rebellion Rebellion announced a new series of e-books under the series title Judge Dredd: Year One, focusing on Dredd early years as a judge followed by year two and three each consisting of a trilogy of short novella.
Judge Dredd Year One: City Fathers :
THE MAKING OF THE LAWMAN…
Mega-City One, 2080. It is Joe Dredd’s first year as a full-eagle Judge – he may have been created from the genes of Eustace Fargo, the ‘Father of Justice’, and thus part of an illustrious lineage, but right now Dredd is not long graduated from the Academy, and yet to establish himself as the metropolis’s toughest, greatest cop. His reputation will be moulded in the years ahead, but at the moment he’s a young lawman, fresh on the streets.
The brutal murder of a Justice Department-sanctioned spy sparks an investigation that will see Dredd trawl the criminal underworld in the hunt for the killer – and he will discover that all is not what it seems in the sector’s murky black market. Something new has entered the system, and unless Dredd can stop it, chaos will be unleashed…
This is an ebook exclusive novella from Matthew Smith, editor of 2000 AD and author of the novels, Judge Dredd: The Final Cut and Tomes of the Dead: Words of Their Roaring.
Judge Dredd: Year Two Omnibus :
ROOKIE YEAR’S OVER
Mega-City One, 2081. Judge Joe Dredd’s been on the beat for a year. He’s made tough calls, tackled hardbitten perps, and seen the consequences of his choices come back to bite him.
But he’s not done learning yet. Dredd’s second year on the sked will see him back out in the Cursed Earth, where right and wrong are questions that go beyond the easy answers of the Law; he’ll tackle an apparent serial killer—or more than one?—targeting journalists; and he’ll take his first real beat down, leaving him bent and broken with only his badge and his conviction to protect him…
Including stories by Matt Smith, Michael Carroll and Cavan Scott, Judge Dredd: Year Two puts the city’s greatest lawman to the test.
Judge Dredd Year Three :
Judge Joseph Dredd has tackled hardened killers and would-be revolutionaries, he’s taken beat-downs and bounced back, he’s even arrested his own brother.
In his third year, he’ll become embroiled in the growing anti-robot movement; he’ll head back out to the Cursed Earth; and he’ll fall afoul of the secretive SJS – and not for the last time…
And in 2020 a collection of short stories by various authors :
Judge Fear’s Big Day Out And Other Stories :
FROM THE PAGES OF THE JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE
A shopping mall where droids sell organs harvested from street trash…
A murderous imaginary friend…
A psychotic composer drafting music from pain…
All in a day’s work for the Lawman of the Future.
Edited by and with an introduction by Dredd veteran Michael Carroll, Judge Fear’s Big Day Out and Other Stories gathers the very best short stories from more than a decade of the Judge Dredd Megazine, including stories by legends Alan Grant, Gordon Rennie and Simon Spurrier, among countless others…
Then in 2014 a trilogy about Dredd’s brother, Rico Dredd titled Rico Dredd: The Titan Years
Rico Dredd: The Titan Years :
You know about me. I’m Rico Dredd, Joe Dredd’s big brother. I’m the clone that went bad, that brought shame on Judge Fargo’s legacy.
I was a Judge, the best the Academy of Law ever turned out. The very best. But after less than a year on the streets of Mega-City One, I was brought down, taken in. It was Little Joe who caught me; second-best Judge there’s been.
Broken, sentenced, stripped of office, I was shipped out to the brutal moon Titan, to do my twenty years’ hard labour. Yeah, you know about Rico Dredd.
But do you know what really happened? Why I did it? What it was like, out there on the edge of space, doing time in the Bronze?
Truth is, mister, you know stomm about me.
After that in 2018 a serie of novella set 60 year before the comics about the first generation of judges in 2033
JUDGES: The Avalanche :
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2033 A.D.
In a time of widespread poverty, inequality and political unrest, Special Prosecutor Eustace Fargo’s controversial new justice laws have come into effect.
Protests and violence meet the first Judges as they hit the street to enforce the Law; the cure, it’s clear, is far worse than the disease.
Is this a sign of things to come?
In 2019 a trilogy about the Dark Judges, The Fall of Deadworld, was written by 2000 AD’s editor, Matt Smith
The Fall of Deadworld Omnibus :
“A brand-new omnibus collection featuring three new novellas set in the world of Judge Dredd’s iconic villains, The Dark Judges.
COMETH THE HOUR, COMETH THE FALL
In time, the whole world will be a graveyard, a charnel pit for billions. In time, a tiny few will be all that remains, fighting back against the terrible, rotting “greys” until none are left. In time, the Dark Judges will rule unquestioned over an empty world.
But before the end of Deadworld must come the fall…”
And finally in 2022 a trilogy of novellas called The Apocalypse War written by John Ware,
The Apocalypse War: Pack Instinct :
MEGA-CITY ONE: A POWDER KEG WAITING TO BLOW
There isn’t a moment when tensions aren’t running high and the City isn’t ready to crack. But there’s something new going on, something bad. It’s open war in the streets, block vs block. It’s a Block war.
It’s Block Mania, and no one is immune, not even the Judges.
In 2006 Black flame published 3 novels featuring Judge Anderson
Anderson PSI Division :
She knows what you’re thinking…
In a bleak future overrun with crime, Psi-Judge Cassandra Anderson and the PSI Division utilise their extraordinary abilities to protect the city from dangerous psychic criminals.
Six felons have died in Sector House 12 – burned to death in the holding-cubes in mysterious circumstances. Called in to psychically read the crime scene, Psi-Judge Anderson encounters ever-increasing signs that a malignant psychic presence is at work. As her investigation unfolds, something dark prepares to strike from the shadows.
Prepare yourself for a tense and intriguing investigation that will blow your mind.
Also available in this series: Red Shadows, Sins of the Father.
And in 2014 3 novella collected in
Judge Anderson: Year One (The Early Years) :
“YOU READY, ROOKIE?”
In years to come, Cassandra Anderson will be a living legend, Psi-Division’s most famous Judge. But for now it’s 2100, and a young Judge Anderson is fresh out of the Academy, the Eagle still gleaming on her shoulder. It’s time to put her training—and her judgement—to the test.
Tackling a love-obsessed telepathic killer at a Valentine’s Day parade, plunging into the depths of madness in a huge new psychiatric prison, and probing the boundaries of reality itself as she hunts a psychic virus to its roots, Cass will be forged in the fires of Justice, emerging as something extraordinary.
Finally in 2018 year two :
Judge Anderson: Year Two :
FROM THE PAGES OF THE JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE
A shopping mall where droids sell organs harvested from street trash…
A murderous imaginary friend…
A psychotic composer drafting music from pain…
All in a day’s work for the Lawman of the Future.
Edited by and with an introduction by Dredd veteran Michael Carroll, Judge Fear’s Big Day Out and Other Stories gathers the very best short stories from more than a decade of the Judge Dredd Megazine, including stories by legends Alan Grant, Gordon Rennie and Simon Spurrier, among countless others…
With a lot of indies having published or working on new comics i’ve decided to create a section for this.
Like with the books i’m going to try and put in the same place all the olds good stuff and the recent indies in the same place and make it searchable by tags.
It will take time but hopefully it will help some people discover new talented artists.
