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Doomsday recon sequel is coming in a week, review of the first book

Doomsday recon is a military portal fantasy by Ryan Williamson and Jason Anspach.

Featuring a platoon of cavalry scout stationed in 1989 Noriega’s Panama when during a routine patrol in a storm they suddenly face a horde of decidedly not-human enemies.
After defeating the first wave they have to admit the evidence : they’re not in panama anymore.

From there they’ll have to recon their new environment and soon find themselves in conflict with the various creatures inhabiting the place, but also finding allies in the local tribes (human or not).
Because as we soon find they are not the first humans to be transported here by the very real Aztec god ruling this land

This is a very well-written book and the authors are good at conveying the feeling of a small unit lost in a strange world inspired by pre-Columbian south america.

It is action-packed from start to end and never lags in place for too long but where it really shine is in the characterization. Nephi Bennett and his platoon buddies are not some kind of indestructible spec-ops operators but rather a “normal” unit who behave in a believable way and have to deal with the fact that they are stuck here for the foreseeable future without supply or additional munitions.

The other very enjoyable aspect of this novel is in the secondary characters they encounter. Both the members of the human amazon woman tribe or a certain locale female who slowly end up feeling like an integral part of the unit despite her very alien way of thinking.
Eps is really the most endearing character I’ve read about in an action-oriented book recently.

You can find the first here on Amazon

and here the equally awesome cover of the next Death or Glory

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New Conan novel announced Conan: Cult of the Obsidian Moon

James Lovegrove the author who previously wrote the firefly tie-in series as well as the lovecraftian Sherlock Holmes story The Cthulhu Casebooks announced that he is working on a new Conan adventure.

The book will be a big novel: 304 pages and will be part of the Black Stone event currently being told in the new comic book series by Jim Zub Conan The Barbarian : Bound in Black Stone
However, knowledge of the comics storyline will only give readers some nice Easter eggs without being essential.

There is a lot of new Conan related things coming of late with the recent Heroic legends collection of short stories,
and the follow-up to Conan and the Emerald Lotus coming in June

In 2022 there was also Conan – Blood of the Serpent another 300 pages novel by S. M. Stirling

And if you want something else about everyone favorite barbarian I’ve made a post with all the conan novels by Howard and other authors available on kindle.

You can pre-order Conan: Cult of the Obsidian Moon here

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A new Bêlit short story (the pirate queen created by Robert E. Howard)

Part of a new serie of short stories also featuring 4 new Conan tales by modern authors

In this one, Bêlit is alone with her pirate crew when she ends up shipwrecked on a mysterious island after a storm

The story is ok if not particularly extraordinary but it’s an occasion to illustrate the site with an ivory-skinned shemite pirate queen ;)

you can find it here

or you can check the conan stories here

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After more than 20 year out of print the first Vampire : the masquerade novels are back on amazon

Vampire: the masquerade is a TTRPG by White Wolf Publishing set in the world of darkness universe and involving vampires divided into various clans hidden from the mortal world by strict rules scheming to influence events and against each other sometimes across a century timeframe

The earliest novel published by White Wolf for the RPG are from 1994 and they have been out of print since then.

Paradox Interactive (the current holder of the IP) has struck a deal with a small publisher to re-release a lot of them including the clan novels set in modern day as well as the dark age clan novels and the grail covenant trilogy set in medieval Europe after the fall of constantinople

Now they’re being republished by Crossroad Press with the 2 very first: Dark Prince and Prince of the City by Keith Herber already on kindle and paperback

links here

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Theft of fire review. A very fun hard sf space adventure by Devon Eriksen

Marcus Warnoc is a space miner who’s minding is own business when he come back to his ship to find it hijacked by a purple-eyed highborn lady. Not only that but this “genetwisted” aristocrat insist they are to go on a mission at the very edge of the solar system without deigning to even explain what she’s looking for here.

In this universe the kind of person who’s heir to a family owning a space megacorp are quasi royalty and shouldn’t have to lift a finger to get what she wants let alone board a ship with a simple commoner like him.

But are they really alone on this quest? Turn out she might have brought with her a third passenger…

I really enjoyed the adventures of Marcus and Miranda the characters are well-fleshed and Miranda the entitled heiress of an immensely wealthy family quickly grow on you as you get to see more of her human side beyond her (very) unusual gene-engineered beauty.

It’s a space adventure with a hard sf edge in that the near future technologies used are believable and not waved away as just some kind of sf phlebotinum based things but you don’t get pages of technical explications either it’s all flowing gently with the story.

The solar system the characters inhabit is devoid of central government and seems ruled by contracts with corporations, a cartel of the biggest ones having a monopoly on important technology like space propulsion.
This and the objective Marcus end up pursuing had me classify it under the libertarian sf tag (not that the author bothers you with any politics)

All in all I can’t wait to read the next book it’s one of the best sf I’ve read lately.

Book synopsis and link here

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1000! I just added the 1000th book to the library

Given that about half of them are the start of a trilogy/series it means that

The dudesbooks library has now at least 2500+ books !

Along the journey the type of works added has expanded a little from the pure pulp adventures genre I was focusing on at the beginning and now includes a sizeable collection of things like grimdark fantasy, hard sf, historical fictions, military fiction and thriller.

For the curious the 1000th book is A Feast of Ambrosia: The Adventures of Bingor and Donalbain by Glenn Rahman published in 2023. (available on kindle unlimited)
Before that Glenn had among other things collaborated on Sorcery Against Caesar with Richard L. Tierney a collection of stories that were one of the inspirations for the Cthulhu Invictus campaign for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game by Chaosium and mixing sword and sorcery, weird fiction in Roman times.

So that mean I still find plenty of new pulpish novels to add :)

The 999th was Theft of Fire: by Devon Eriksen a new selfpublished hard sf release I discovered on twitter, got a lot of nice reviews and is going to be my next read

I keep adding old stuff too : the next is Northwest Smith by C.L. Moore about the adventures of a space outlaw who “could be Han Solo’s grandfather” written by the author of the famous Jirel of Joiry the red-haired female warrior whose adventures appeared alongside those of Conan in weird tales magazine in the 1930s decades before red sonja.

If you know interesting new (or old) authors/books don’t hesitate to share them on the forum.

Spherical_Dude

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5 recents sword and sorcery novels by new authors

There are not that many indie authors working in this genre here is a list of 5 novels published recently
four of them are the beginning of a series.

first probably the most well-known one

Praised by Glen Cook,Mark Lawrence and David Drake

Howard Andrew Jones as been described as the “leading Sword & Sorcery author of the 21st Century” by John O’Neill, Publisher of Black Gate magazine

A vast empire’s greatest foe. A conquered people’s last hope. His name is Hanuvar, and he will set his people free!

The Dervan Empire has at last triumphed over Volanus, putting the great city to the torch, its treasures looted, temples defiled, and fields sown with salt. What little remains of Volanus is scattered across the empire, its treasures plundered and its survivors sold into slavery. It is an absolute victory for the Dervans in every way but one.

Hanuvar, last and greatest general of Volanus, still lives. He now travels the length of the Dervan Empire that conquered his homeland, driven by a singular purpose—to find what remains of his people who were carried into slavery across the empire, and free them from subjugation by any means necessary.

A new 2 books serie with the second coming January 31, 2024

Skarde desires only to be free, yet his mighty sword arm, quick thinking, and daring seem only to keep him one step ahead… of the grave!

Trapped on a savage volcanic island, Skarde clashes with an antediluvian wizard, an army of warrior-cultists, and a hidden monstrosity just to live another day. Along the way he finds unexpected friends, mysteries, a curse, and enemies both bold and shadowy.

Skarde, brash mercenary from the far North, travels the boundless world to sate his wanderlust and his desire for coin. Discover the unknown, the dangerous and the wondrous in this first volume of Skarde’s adventures.

Another recent 3 books serie :

In the savage realm of Auropia, lurks a ghost in the form of a man. Valengetrix, exiled from his mysterious homeland, seeks redemption in the eyes of his people as he sets out to retrieve lost relics of the once renowned empire of Aratania. Accompanied by a sentient blade, forged from the soul of an ancient warrior of his race, Valengetrix begins to understand that the price for returning home must be paid in blood and treasure.

Exotic lands, dreadful foes and untold secrets abound in the world of Auropia. Explore them all in this short story series set nearly two millennia before the events in the Legends of Atlameria: Harbinger of World’s End novel.

“Dragons and kings, wizards and rings, who needs them?”

So says sword-for-hire Vetravincus as he prowls the market looking for coin to pay for his next meal. Little does he know the trouble to come getting mixed up with an upstart apprentice and a gambling rogue.

The apprentice wants revenge on the Mages who stripped him of his powers. The gambler is out for spoils should they succeed in disrupting the Order of Mages and securing the fabled Flame of Eros.

But such simple missions are things of fantasy. The gods have something else planned…

From the mesmeric love traps of a sorceress to the clutches of the Ravenclaw outlaws, Vetra and his friends must save their skins and prevent their homeland from falling to a sorceress’s tyrannical rule…

And finally for the last : did you know a new conan novel released in 2022?

At more than 450 page it’s a big one.

Conan the Barbarian, the world’s most famous fantasy hero, returns in an all-new novel tied directly to the famous works by his legendary creator, Robert E. Howard.
 
Set early in his life, Conan has left his northern homeland to cut a bloody swath across the legendary Hyborian Age. A mercenary, a soldier, a thief, and a pirate, he faces conquering armies, malicious sorcerers, and monstrous creatures—against which he wields only the sword held in his powerful grasp.

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Just found 2 unknown (to me at least) new sword and sorcery series

Thurvok and kurval by Cora Buhlert

Thurvok :

11 short stories collected here

On his way to Krysh, a city of fabled riches, the sellsword Thurvok must first pass through the Valley of the Accursed Blood.

Traditionally, those travelling to Krysh make offerings at the temple at the entrance of the valley in exchange for protection on their journey. But Thurvok scoffs at such superstition and decides to continue his journey without any divine protection. His refusal to make an offering infuriates the temple priest Alberon who promptly curses Thurvok.

Thurvok is not much bothered by this – he does not believe in curses. However, the valley holds dangers that don’t particularly care whether Thurvok believes in them or not.

and Kurval :

8 short stories :

Long before Kurval became King of Azakoria, he was a guard captain in service to the tyrannical King Talgat of the land Temirzhan beyond the sea.

One day, Talgat orders Kurval to escort the condemned witch Aelisia to the Plains of Shadow and behead her, so her blood may feed the dark gods who dwell there.

Kurval does not want to execute the sentence, once he learns that Aelisia is innocent of the crimes of which she has been accused.

But if he lets Aelisia go free, Kurval will not only have to face the wrath of Talgat but also the fury of the dark gods who dwell upon the Plains of Shadow.

The new sword and sorcery adventure by two-time Hugo finalist Cora Buhlert and her occasional alter ego, 1930s pulp writer Richard Blakemore. This is a novelette of 9800 words or approx. 33 print pages in the Kurval sword and sorcery series, but may be read as a standalone. Includes an introduction and afterword.

The author also write a pulp serie about a crimefighter set in the 1930, you can find it here

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Anna Smith Spark and Michael R. Fletcher will publish a novel together in mars 2024

 Anna Smith Spark sometimes nicknamed the queen of grimdark being one of the rare (only? comment if you know of another one) women writing in this genre and Michael R. Fletcher are collaborating on a new book coming in Mars this year :

In the Shadow of their Dying

The third best assassin. A second rate mercenary crew. One terrifying demon.

As Sharaam crumbles under siege, a mercenary crew hires an assassin to kill the king. For Tash, it’s a chance at glory—to be the best blade in the dark Sharaam has ever known. For Pitt, it’s a way to get his cutthroat crew past the Tsarii siege and out of this hellhole, maybe even with some gold to their name. For Iananr the Bound One, it’s a dream of shadows and human blood.

Link