Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy" discussion

Authors or readers that wish to promote their book, should do so here.

Thanks for having a spot for authors to promote their books. Here's a bit about my series.

THEY KILLED THE KING. THEY PINNED IT ON TWO MEN. THEY CHOSE POORLY.
There's no ancient evil to defeat or orphan destined for greatness, just unlikely heroes and classic adventure. Royce Melborn, a skilled thief, and his mercenary partner, Hadrian Blackwater, are running for their lives when they're framed for the death of the king. Trapped in a conspiracy that goes beyond the overthrow of a tiny kingdom, their only hope is unraveling an ancient mystery before it's too late.





I wrote all six books before releasing the first and I'm considered an "indie success story" (I made io9's list of Most Successful Fantasy and Sci-fi Authors). In late 2010 I was signed by Orbit (fantasy imprint of big-six publisher Hachette Book Group), who has re-released The Riyria Revelations as a trilogy.

Thanks for the opportunity to tell you about my books. If you are an aspiring or indie author and ever want any advice - just send me a message.

Michael J. Sullivan
The Riyria Revelations: Theft of Swords | Rise of Empire | Heir of Novron
The Riyria Chronicles The Crown Tower (August 2013) | The Rose and Thorn (September 2013)

For the next 2 days, Rogue Blades Entertainment is offering the "Demons: A Clash of Steel Anthology" for free on amazon (kindle).

"The Viscount and the Witch", an introductory short story to, Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria series is also available freely on amazon (kindle).

Periklis wrote: "For the next 2 days, Rogue Blades Entertainment is offering the "Demons: A Clash of Steel Anthology" for free on amazon (kindle)."

Thanks for the heads-up...I just got it.

"Pulp fantasy for the horror fan" - Review copies of Lords of Dyscrasia available.

Beware, Lords of Dyscrasia is dark. How dark? Check out this review from a disturbed Goodreads reviewer: "...This is, without a doubt, the darkest book I've ever read. I don't have any problem with those sorts of things normally, but this was on a whole other level of twisted evilness. Murder, rape, cannibalism, drinking blood, necrophilia, necrophagia, demonic possession, and things involving children that I wish I had never read... You can try to compare it to Poe, who is dark, but not holy crap this is seriously effed up psycho dark….In summary, this is an amazingly intricate and unique story line which is totally psychotic and I will never read it again…"

Other reviews are more accepting: ForeWord Clarion Reviews gave 5 Stars for Lords of Dyscrasia (review link) : "...Outside of the works of Poe and Lovecraft, there are few, if any, novels comparable to [Lords of Dyscrasia]... Beowulf comes to mind both for its epic quality and bloody action... The pace is nearly breathless... Lindberg, who also created more than 50 illustrations and the cover for this book, makes the majority of current popular fantasy fiction read like recipes by comparison. Lords of Dyscrasia is highly recommended, though not for the faint of heart."


Free ePubs: Free ebooks are offered to any Sword and Sorcery buff willing to tromp through the Underworld and consider sharing feedback. Just reply with an email address and mention your preferred format, keeping in mind the file size (due to the 50+ illustrations): ePub (12MB); Kindle *.mobi (10MB); PDF (6MB). I truly welcome any feedback, public or private. Thanks for your interest,S.E.

S.E. Lindberg (Blog Link)
[email protected]


Lords of Dyscrasia explores the choices humans and their gods make as a disease corrupts their souls, shared blood and creative energies. Historically, dyscrasia referred to any imbalance of the four medicinal humors professed by the ancient Greeks to sustain life. Lords of Dyscrasia presents them as spiritual muses for artisans, sources of magical power, and contagions of a deadly disease.

Looking for a Guest Post or Review?
Thanks to Periklis for inviting me to the group. In addition to promoting Lords of Dyscrasia, I want to connect with other Sword & Sorcery illustrators/authors. So if you are looking for a sounding board or are on a blog tour, please consider touching base. I would gladly host a post/promotion and/or provide a review. Cheers, Seth
S.E. Lindberg (Blog Link)

As I mentioned in my intro, my series isn't classic S&S, but there's definitely some Leiber-esque inspiration in its genetics...



The Alchemist of Souls

When Tudor explorers returned from the New World, they brought back a name out of half-forgotten Viking legend: skraylings. Red-sailed ships followed in the explorers’ wake, bringing Native American goods--and a skrayling ambassador--to London. But what do these seemingly magical beings really want in Elizabeth I’s capital?

Mal Catlyn, a down-at-heel swordsman, is seconded to the ambassador's bodyguard, but assassination attempts are the least of his problems. What he learns about the skraylings and their unholy powers could cost England her new ally--and Mal his soul.

Out now worldwide in paperback, ebook and audiobook!

The Merchant of Dreams

Exiled from the court of Queen Elizabeth for accusing a powerful nobleman of treason, swordsman-turned-spy Mal Catlyn has been living in France with his young valet Coby Hendricks for the past year.

But Mal harbours a darker secret: he and his twin brother share a soul that once belonged to a skrayling, one of the mystical creatures from the New World.

When Mal’s dream about a skrayling shipwreck in the Mediterranean proves reality, it sets him on a path to the beautiful, treacherous city of Venice – and a conflict of loyalties that will place him and his friends in greater danger than ever.

Out worldwide in paperback, ebook and audiobook - 18 December (UK paperback 3 January)

Miserere: An Autumn Tale is dark fantasy with an edge. Author Ilona Andrews says that "Miserere reads like Ladyhawke had a baby in purgatory and Meljean Brook delivered it."

I can't do any better than that.

Teresa wrote: "Miserere: An Autumn Tale is dark fantasy with an edge. Author Ilona Andrews says that "Miserere reads like Ladyhawke had a baby in purgatory and Meljean Brook delivered it."

I can't do any better ..."

That's a very intriguing quote. I also noticed an interesting contest on your blog, regarding genre preconceptions in literature:

"Tell us, based on the prose, whether the scene was written by a man or a woman. At the end, I want to tabulate the results and see if readers can really tell the difference. If you want to, you may say why you feel a particular scene was written by a man or woman, but you don't have to."

And the prize:

"You have a chance to win free books. [...] Currently, I have six authors who are committed to this project and a few more that will get me their samples after the holidays. I will throw in a copy of Miserere, so the grand prize winner will be eligible to win at least seven books at this time. [...] The contest is open internationally."

Yes! We are having a contest, which I thought wouldn't be that big of a deal, but now there are LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of people interested in it. Thanks for putting here, Periklis!

It's just something that I have been thinking about all year, and Myke Cole got a bunch of great authors involved. It's going to prove absolutely nothing, but we'll have some fun doing it. ;-)

Thanks again!

*The Rail City will be free, and available March 1st! However, everyone who marks it as to-read before then will also receive a free copy of the sequel, Westwind.*



Sura wakes as something slips into his room and kneels by the bed. “Sura, wake up. Listen to me.” His father's eyes are like hawk's eyes, and teeth like wolf's teeth. He says,
“I'll take it back from you someday,"
and disappears. Twelve years later Sura is the captain of Rail City and the leading scholar of Demonkind: the world's only chance for salvation from an empire that approaches from both East and West, and all-consuming storms expanding in the South. So Sura bonds a demon with the stars to see the future, and tell him what to do. But his wife disappears, an oddly familiar man appears, and the demon begins to show signs of free will. With the world closing in on Rail City, Sura must choose between it, his wife, or himself. But time is running out.

Thanks for having a space to promote books! My novel can be found on both Amazon Kindle and Smashwords; it is my first.



http://amzn.to/SsmuFT or here http://bit.ly/THMUBP

Klondaeg The Monster Hunter is boisterous, comedic Swords & Sorcery novella.

Klondaeg is a simple Dwarf with a simple plan: rid the world of monsters. When he was a boy, his parents were killed by unidentified monsters, and he swore revenge against all of them. Armed with a talking battle axe with two personalities, Klondaeg travels the countryside, slaying everything from tiny werewolves to gold-devouring demons. He negates prophecies, disproves history, and even comes face to face with Acerbus, the god of darkness himself. But will he ever find the thing that killed his parents?

Cloaks of Vermin and Fish is the first of the misadventures of Italo and Vincenzo.

Twins, thieves, and idiots, Italo and Vincenzo are drawn into a complex web of intrigue that would befuddle smarter men, but not these twins! Follow Italo and Vincenzo as they stumble on to a dark, fish-god-worshipping cult bent on destroying Renaissance Venice and find themselves in the middle of a feud between Venice’s Assassins’ and Thieves’ guild. Italo's not-very-clever plans and Vincenzo's mangling of language are on full display as they ply their . . . skills? . . . prowess? No, their dumb luck, to solving the mystery of this strange cult and the elusive artifact that everyone seems to want, but no one can seem to find, The Bottle of Eyes. Will dumb luck, piscomancy, and the boys' blades be enough to save the city? Find out for yourself, in "Cloaks of Vermin and Fish"!

I just returned a contract to publish "Demons, Within and Without," a new Faceless Sons sword -and- sorcery tale, in Swords and Sorcery ezine. Link should go live soon, and I will share here when it does. Thanks for encouraging me to submit his, y'all.

Cool Steve, Congrats!

Thanks, Charles.

Steve wrote: "I just returned a contract to publish "Demons, Within and Without," a new Faceless Sons sword -and- sorcery tale, in Swords and Sorcery ezine. Link should go live soon, and I will share here when i..."

Awesome news! Looking forward to reading it.

The third book in my "Legend of Fergus" saga, "The Bards Will Sing" is now live on Kindle!
Book one, "The Bridge at Ardendale" has been getting some pretty good reviews, and I am pleased it has been so well recieved.

I'll promote my longish fantasy short story "Harvest of War" here. It's only 99 cents on Amazon. Originally this was to be part of an invited anthology of stories about orcs but the antho fell through and I ended up self publishing it. It's garnered some great reviews though and most people seem to like it a lot. You can always use the look inside feature to read the first page or so to see if it seems like something you might like. I'm pretty proud of it. The link is below:

http://www.amazon.com/Harvest-of-War-...

Charles wrote: "I'll promote my longish fantasy short story "Harvest of War" here. It's only 99 cents on Amazon...."

I really enjoyed Harvest of War, and recommend it to all here. 5 star review - link.

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned my heroic fantasy collection on here. It’s called Bitter Steel, and it collects all of my Thal Kyrin stories, as well as a number of other Sword and Sorcery tales. The book is dedicated to REH and I talk a lot about him in the introduction. There’s an opening poem called “Recompense Reprise,” which is based on Howard’s “Recompense,” my favorite of his poems. The book also ends with “Cross Plains Conjure Man,” an original poem about REH.

Anyway, the book is available in print and as an ebook from both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Here’s the Amazon link, if anyone is interested.

http://www.amazon.com/Bitter-Steel-Ta...

“The wind came up dry and hot from the northwest, pushing dust and a gray rider before it.”

Three poems of mine are up at Beat to a Pulp today. The last one, Season of Rust, is a prose poem, and fits into the heroic fantasy genre. If you know the story of the Wild Hunt, you'll recognize some references from that poem.

http://beattoapulp.com/pulp.htm

I took the bait. After being lured into 3 other enjoyable Gramlich works ... I just downloaded Bitter Steel.

S.E. wrote: "I took the bait. After being lured into 3 other enjoyable Gramlich works ... I just downloaded Bitter Steel."

Thanks, S.E. I appreciate it. Hope you enjoy!

Charles, I took S. E.'s advice and read "Harvest of War". Great story, man. I really enjoyed it. When I get some time I will have to check out some of your other stuff.

Paul wrote: "Charles, I took S. E.'s advice and read "Harvest of War". Great story, man. I really enjoyed it. When I get some time I will have to check out some of your other stuff."

Paul, I appreciate that. That one took quite a bit of work but I was pretty happy with the result.

Damn, that Bitter Steel enticed me too! I don't know when I'll be able to fit in the read, but I picked it up!

Thanks, Michael. Hope you enjoy. I know what you mean about finding reading time. And soon school will be in session again and I'll be teaching. Who knows when I'll be able to do more reading then.

No problem. I'll let you know what I think; only got a few pages in so far. Might get a chance this weekend.

Thanks.

Since I now know this awesome group isn't dead, having discovered that I'm bad at setting up notifications properly, I shall reintroduce myself — David Alastair Hayden — via promotion. My most popular books are YA fantasy adventure, but I have two sword & sorcery novels and a short novelette. And just between you and me, my best novel is one of my s&s books.

David wrote: "Since I now know this awesome group isn't dead, having discovered that I'm bad at setting up notifications properly, I shall reintroduce myself — David Alastair Hayden — via promotion. My most popu..."

Welcome David, thank you for joining us. I'm guilty of leaving my copy of Wrath of the White Tigress: A Tale of Pawan Kor unread for so long...

Periklis wrote: "David wrote: "Since I now know this awesome group isn't dead, having discovered that I'm bad at setting up notifications properly, I shall reintroduce myself — David Alastair Hayden — via promotion..."

Too many books not and enough time. Life can be cruel.

Hello, my name is Thomas Cardin and I have a heroic fantasy trilogy to promote. The trilogy is called Gifts of Vorallon and includes The Final Warden, City of Thunder, and Lord of Vengeance.

It is a deconstructed tale of a mythic hero chosen by the gods to save the world. What do I mean by deconstructed? Well, its the behind the scenes detail. How far will the gods go in their manipulations of men's fate to see the success of one hero? When that hero doesn't agree with the direction his destiny takes, can he fight against the will of the gods?

It is the story of a different kind of hero, armed with a unique weapon. Lorace is the man chosen to save the world of Vorallon, and he has paid a devastating price to be placed in that position. Failure will mean death for him and the world, success will mean life, but at a horrible cost. The gods mean for Lorace to be bound to a fate of their choosing for all of eternity to come.

Vorallon is a young world imbued with a living, sentient spirit. What will his role be in the effort to insure his survival against life's opposite, the God of Undeath?

Hero for Hire is a mythic fantasy with swords, sorcery, and a sense of humor. It's the first in a projected 5 book series.

While the Gods have eyes only for the Trojan War, a rising evil casts a shadow over Ancient Greece. When Eno the Thracian, a cut-price hero, takes on a seemingly easy job, he learns he's the only one who can stop Hekate, Witch-Queen of the Underworld, and her army of the dead.

In honor of Dragon-Con, I've dropped the price to .99 cents. I'm a long-time member of Author's Guild and Novelists Inc.

I'm offering a Goodreads giveaway forA Road of Blood and Slaughter.

But I'd like to give a couple of copies (paperbacks) away to members of this group. If you're interested, send me a PM and I'll see what I can do. Absolutely no strings but there'll only be 2-3 to give away for group members. EDIT: one on its way to Canada and one to Greece, so one remains up for grabs.

You can also download my short story The Berserk and his Wife (set in the same world As A Road of Blood and Slaughter and featuring two of the characters in cameo roles) from Smashwords for free using this code: TL47K, valid until the end of the month.

Cool. I just downloaded The Berserk. Hope to get around to reading soon.

Great. The proper title would be (and will be when Blood-swan Songs is complete), Headho and his Wife but that didn't seem to work so well as a stand alone title.

When they took away my freedom. When they hunted down my friends. When the gods broke with faith. When all that's left is an arrow. Then I will nock.

The Marksmith, a new 5-Star Fantasy S&S novel by Goodreads author C.V. Dreesman has just published! Take an adventure none were meant to make.

Discover the story at: amazon.com/gp/product/B00EX909JQ/

Every choice carries a consequence...


The Marksmith

My Sword and Soul books are on sale this month in celebration of Black Speculative Fiction Month! Stop by and take a look!
http://www.mvmediaatl.com/

Milton wrote: "My Sword and Soul books are on sale this month in celebration of Black Speculative Fiction Month! Stop by and take a look!
http://www.mvmediaatl.com/"

Thanks! I'm looking forward to reading Griots in the foreseeable future.
Also, feel free to add more titles to the group's Sword & Soul Bookshelf.

Okay, so my first novel is going on sale next week on October 29th!

Here's the cover art:



A link to the back cover synopsis:

Book Synopsis

And a link to my write-up on why you should be interested in the series:

Series Write-Up

If that has anyone's interest, I have a sample chapter up on my website along with assorted news on the book and the release here:

Michael Thorn Website

Thanks for giving me the space to promote, and I hope you'll check out the book!

Michael wrote: "Okay, so my first novel is going on sale next week on October 29th!"

Congrats on getting it to market! In time for Halloween no less.

Thank you! That was the idea since it's a horror-themed book. ;)

I haven't been on here much lately, due to too little time to read and that time mostly being devoted to non-fiction, but I thought people might be interested in the latest blog post, which is a short musing on epic fantasy and sword & sorcery, genres, subgenres, and the desire for everything to be labelled now. I figured I'd better stick this under promotions, though, as it's centred mostly on Blackdog and The Leopard and what they are. http://thewildforest.wordpress.com/20...The Leopard

Michael wrote: "Okay, so my first novel is going on sale next week on October 29..."

Good luck with the release! I hope everything goes well.

A.R. wrote: "Michael wrote: "Okay, so my first novel is going on sale next week on October 29..."

Good luck with the release! I hope everything goes well."

Thank you, sir! Fingers crossed!

I'm proud to announce that The Relentless Ones and the House of Shadows is now live on Amazon and Barnes and Noble!

House of Shadows Print Edition

House of Shadows Kindle Edition

House of Shadows Nook Edition

The book is also available using Amazon's MatchBook feature, meaning if you buy the print book through Amazon, you get the Kindle version for free!