SWORD AND SORCERY IS ALIVE AND WELL

Just when you think the Sword & Sorcery genre has dulled its blade and succumbed to the wizard's poison mist for the last time, back it comes.

We have largely to thank Robert E. Howard's creation, Conan the Barbarian, for this. The character has been once more picked up by Marvel Comics and has a core title and any number of spinoffs. The Conan the Adventurer action figure is right around the corner. And now we have DMR Books, who specialize in S&S and heroic fantasy, who are poised to publish a collection of fiction.

"Renegade Swords" is due out in a week or so. One look at the contents and I won't have to tell you that anticipation is high for us barbarians and barbariennes.

From the DMR Books website:

DMR Books publishes fantasy, horror, and adventure fiction in the traditions of Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, H.P. Lovecraft, and other classic writers of the pulp era. We are dedicated to bringing you the latest cutting edge action/adventure fantasy fiction, as well as reprinting obscure gems from days past.

2019 was a landmark year for DMR Books, as we released nine titles—an unprecedented amount for us! We’ve come a long way from our early days of releasing one book per year, and we have no intentions of slowing down now.

We’ve officially been in business now for five years, as our first title, Swords of Steel, was released on this day in 2015. But rather than looking back, I want to talk about some of the releases that are looming on the horizon for 2020.

The biggest news is our next title, Renegade Swords. At DMR Books we’ve always prided ourselves on being sword-and-sorcery specialists, and now we’re publishing some of the masters and originators of the genre! The table of contents speaks for itself:

• “The House of Arabu” by Robert E. Howard
• “Necromancy in Naat” (unabridged version) by Clark Ashton Smith
• “The Woman of the Wood” (previously unpublished version) by A. Merritt
• “The Slaughter of the Gods” by Manly Wade Wellman
• “People of the Dragon” by Lin Carter
• “The Pillars of Hell” by Lin Carter
• “The Rune-Sword of Jotunheim” by Glenn Rahman and Richard L. Tierney
• “Princess of Chaos” by Bryce Walton

Paperback and digital editions of Renegade Swords will be available the first week of March. We’ll follow that up with another classic reprint collection, Swordsmen from the Stars, which will contain three of Poul Anderson’s sword-and-planet novellas from the early ‘50s. Originally appearing in Planet Stories, these classics of heroic science fantasy have never been collected in one book before! Look for it in April.

In May we’ll release a collection by one of the greatest new authors in the pulp fantasy/sci fi scene: Schuyler Hernstrom! The Eye of Sounnu will contain all of Sky’s stories that appeared in Cirsova Magazine over the past few years, along with a few that have never seen print before. Running the gamut from sword-and-sorcery to sci-fi, these heroic adventure stories will satisfy fans of Robert E. Howard and Jack Vance. At over 90,000 words, it’ll be one of our heftiest releases! The cover will be painted by Brian LeBlanc (the same artist who did Renegade Swords), so you won’t want to miss it.

That’s not all we have planned for 2020. Later in the year we’ll release a new book by J. Christopher Tarpey, whose story “Vengeance of the Insane God” was one of the most popular from the Swords of Steel series. Also in the works are two short story collections: one by Harry Piper, who appeared in Warlords, Warlocks & Witches, and another by a fine young talent named D.M. Ritzlin (who should need no introduction…)

The sword and sorcery revival is far from over! The battle rages on!