Type: Short story collection

Swordplay

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Swordplay
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Thirteen Tales of Sword & Sorcery!

Mixing classic with unconventional approaches, SWORDPLAY collects into a single volume a group of tales like you’ve never experienced, while retaining a familiar feel all fans of the genre will recognize.

Lending their considerable talents toward tales of blades, battles, necromancers, sorceresses and lethal creatures, thirteen writers celebrate the genre while enhancing and expanding the range and scope of Sword & Sorcery.

Featuring original tales by:

CLIFF BIGGERS- DAN BRERETON- CULLEN BUNN- MICHAEL BURKE- RICHARD DANSKY- CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN- STEVEN GRANT- TONIA LAIRD- BRACKEN MACLEOD- JAMES A. MOORE- ALLISON PANG- LINDA ROBERTSON REINHARDT- CHARLES R. RUTLEDGE

Zothique: The Final Cycle

Zothique: The Final Cycle
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Zothique, a mythical land of the far future, is Clark Ashton Smith’s most carefully worked out fantasy realm, and many of his most celebrated stories are set in this evocative world of languid decadence, strangeness, and sexuality. Beginning with “The Empire of the Necromancers” (1932) and extending all the way to the short play The Dead Will Cuckold You (1956), Smith fashioned Zothique in tale after tale, each adding new elements to the locale.

As we read the Zothique tales, we see how the imminent extinguishing of the sun has caused civilization to collapse. Paradoxically, society has reverted to a kind of primitivism with the return of royalty, superstition, and sorcery. This scenario allowed Smith to engage in tongue-in-cheek archaism of both langauge and setting. Some of the most poignant stories he ever wrote—stories that fused fantasy and the supernatural with a sense of aching loss and tragedy—are set in Zothique, including “The Dark Eidolon” and “Xeethra.”

Other tales, such as “The Weaver of the Vault” and “Necromancy in Naat,” focus morbidly on death. Eroticism is the focus of “The Witchcraft of Ulua” and “Morthylla,” while “The Voyage of King Euvoran” is grimly humorous. And “The Last Hieroglyph” is a fitting capstone to the series in its depiction of the ultimate destruction of the realm.

Of all his story cycles, Zothique allowed Clark Ashton Smith the widest scope for his imagination. This volume presents his expression of that imagination in prose fiction, drama, and poetry. All the texts have been scrupulously edited by leading Smith scholar Ron Hilger, and the book features a new introduction by Donald Sidney-Fryer.

Interplanetaries: The Complete Interplanetary Tales of Clark Ashton Smith

Interplanetaries: The Complete Interplanetary Tales of Clark Ashton Smith
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Clark Ashton Smith (1893–1961) is best known for creating exotic worlds of fantasy, such as the lost continent Zothique, set in the far future, the arctic realm of Hyperborea, and the medieval domain of Averoigne. It is less widely known that Smith was a pioneer in science fiction, as his tales appeared extensively in such pulp magazines as Wonder Stories and Amazing Stories and had a marked influence on the science fiction of his day.

Mars was a favored locale for several significant tales, including the cosmic horror masterpiece “The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis.” “Seedling of Mars” is one of several tales in this volume that broaches the distinctive subgenre of “green horror”—horror that results from deadly animated plants. This motif first found expression in Smith’s early prose poem “The Flower-Devil,” and he utilized it in such tales as “Vulthoom,” “The Demon of the Flower,” and others.

The remote planet Xiccarph is the setting for two tales, “The Maze of the Enchanter” and “The Flower-Women.” One of Smith’s most expansive tales, “The Monster of the Prophecy,” is set on Antares, while the late story “Phoenix” is grimly apocalyptic in its setting in the far future, with most of the Earth’s inhabitants killed off.

Clark Ashton Smith’s mastery of a prose-poetic idiom lends a distinctive flavor to his interplanetary tales. Far from being naively optimistic adventures into the depths of space, they exhibit a rueful doubt as to the place of human beings in an immense and hostile universe.

This volume, edited by leading Clark Ashton Smith scholar Ronald S. Hilger, contains an illuminating preface by Nathan Ballingrud.

The King Must Fall (grimdark magazine anthologies)

The King Must Fall (grimdark magazine anthologies)
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When the mighty and cruel must be brought low, it’s the killers and the schemers who emerge from the shadows. As plans twist and change, and our protagonists are foiled and beaten, one thing remains true: no matter the cost, the king must fall.

The King Must Fall is a dark fantasy anthology featuring 19 titans of the dark and grimdark fantasy genres writing about rogues, assassins, mages, blackguards, and warriors on quests to kill their kings, rulers, captains, and leaders.

 

One of the two anthologies edited by Grimdark Magazine (Evil is a Matter of Perspective is the other) featuring story by well known authors of the genre like R. Scott Bakker | Adrian Tchaikovsky | Michael R. Fletcher | Marc Turner | Bradley P. Beaulieu | Matthew Ward | Mark Alder Luke Scull and Anna Smith Spark

Evil is a Matter of Perspective: An Anthology of Antagonists (grimdark magazine anthologies)

Evil is a Matter of Perspective: An Anthology of Antagonists (grimdark magazine anthologies)
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Experience your favourite fantasy worlds in this 2017 r/fantasy Stabby Award winning anthology, featuring some of the most fearsome, devious, and brutal antagonists in fantasy.

Villains take centre stage in nineteen dark and magical stories that will have you cheering for all the wrong heroes as they perform savage deeds towards wicked ends. And why not? They are the champions of their own stories—evil is a matter of perspective.

One of the two anthologies edited by Grimdark Magazine (The King Must Fall is the other) featuring story by well known authors of the genre like R. Scott Bakker | Adrian Tchaikovsky | Michael R. Fletcher | Marc Turner | Bradley P. Beaulieu | Matthew Ward | Mark Alder Luke Scull and Anna Smith Spark

Asian Pulp

Asian Pulp
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Following in the tradition of the best-selling Black Pulp, from today’s best authors and up and coming writers comes Pro Se Productions’ Asian Pulp—a collection of stories featuring characters of Asian origin or descent in stories that run the gamut of genre fiction!

Asian Pulp includes works from Don Lee, Naomi Hirahara, Kimberly Richardson, Percival Constantine, William F. Wu, Gary Phillips, Calvin McMillin, Mark Finn, Dale Furutani, Steph Cha, Henry Chang, Sean Taylor, Gigi Pandian, Louise Herring-Jones, Alan J. Porter, and David C. Smith. The anthology opens with an introduction from Leonard Chang, novelist and writer and co-producer of the TV crime drama Justified.

Mysteries, westerns, stories of crime and noir, and more, all with Asian characters in the lead! Between these covers are 17 tales of action, adventure, and thrills featuring heroes and heroines of a different shade that will appeal to audiences everywhere! Asian Pulp! From Pro Se Productions!

Black Pulp

Black Pulp
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From Today’s Best Authors and up and coming writers comes BLACK PULP from Pro Se Productions! BLACK PULP is a collection of stories featuring characters of African origin, or descent, in stories that run the gamut of genre fiction!

A concept developed by noted crime novelist Gary Phillips, BLACK PULP brings bestselling authors Walter Mosley and Joe R. Lansdale, Gary Phillips, Charles R. Saunders, Derrick Ferguson, D. Alan Lewis, Christopher Chambers, Mel Odom, Kimberly Richardson, Ron Fortier, Michael A. Gonzales, Gar Anthony Haywood, and Tommy Hancock together to craft adventure tales, mysteries, and more, all with black characters at the forefront! “Literature for the masses kindled the imagination and used our reading skills so that we could regale ourselves in the cold chambers of alienation and poverty. We could become Doc Savage or The Shadow, Conan the Barbarian or the brooding King Kull and make a difference in a world definitely gone wrong.”–Walter Mosley from his introduction.

Between these covers are 12 tales of action, adventure, and thrills featuring heroes and heroines of darker hues that will appeal to audiences everywhere! BLACK PULP! From Pro Se Productions!

Out of Tune

Out of Tune
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Out of Tune is calling.

A song half-heard. The murmur of a voice singing in the dark. There it is again…a few words set to an old melody filled with mystery, heartbreak and horror.

Out of Tune gathers a collection of original dark fantasy tales inspired by folk ballads. Here you’ll find stories of strange creatures and strangers humans, treachery and love, murder and monsters.

Out of Tune brings together some of today’s most talented writers and sets them loose in that swirling darkness at the edge of town. NY Times bestselling author and editor Jonathan Maberry unleashes his own brand of dark forces with a line-up of bestsellers and award winners. Kelley Armstrong, Jack Ketchum, Simon R. Green, Seanan McGuire, Christopher Golden, David Liss, Gregory Frost, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Jeff Strand, Lisa Morton, Jeff Mariotte & Marsheila Rockwell, Nancy Holder, Del Howison, and Gary Braunbeck. With commentary on each source ballad by folklorist Nancy Keim Comley.

Now get ready to dance to the music of the night.

The Waters of Eternity

The Waters of Eternity
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Dabir and Asim return! From acclaimed historical fantasy writer Howard Andrew Jones comes this collection of the short adventures that launched his career. Venture into the time of the Arabian Nights with stalwart Captain Asim and the brilliant Dabir as they hunt an unseen killer that craves only the eyes of his victims, and pursue a dark entity haunting the halls of an opulent mansion. Ride with them on a desperate journey to preserve a terrible weapon from Byzantine agents, and seek the waters of eternity to save a dying girl’s life. In six tales brimming with mystery and sword-slinging action Dabir and Asim stride forward into adventure. With nothing to shield them but Asim’s sword arm and Dabir’s wit, the two heroes must unravel sinister puzzles, confront dark wizards, rescue fair maidens, and battle the terrifying monsters of legend.

Includes four chapter preview of the first Dabir and Asim novel, The Desert of Souls.