Adrian Collins's Blog, page 14

INTERVIEW: Martina and Hansi from Nerdforge

Who is Nerdforge? If you’re anything like me and roughly 3.7 million other like-minded viewers, you’ve probably tuned in to their wildly popular YouTube channel to watch them bring jaw-dropping creations to life. From crafting a 14,000-page book to building a giant, hand-made set of Brandon Sanderson’s novels, Martina and Hansi spend each episode living the dream of every geeky maker out there. They were kind enough to answer a few of my questions about their builds, motivations, and what it’s like to be full-blown YouTube darlings. And if you haven’t tuned in before? Trust me—you will once you get to know them.

Martina and Hansi from Nerdforge

[GdM] Let’s start at the beginning. Your projects blend art, engineering, and storytelling. What experiences shaped your creative philosophy?

[Both] Most of our projects are heavily influenced by our interests. We don’t necessarily have one creative vision for our videos or projects, but we bounce around the subjects that interest us at a particular moment. Combine that with us having two very different skillsets it opens the door for quite a lot of fun and otherwise difficult projects. 

[GdM] What’s your process like from the initial idea to the finished video? Do you script, storyboard, or build as you go? Do you have a dedicated shooting schedule for each step? A la Monday, we storyboard, Tuesday we write scripts, etc. 

[Hansi] We have many different skillsets, but being organized is sadly not one of them, so things usually happen as they happen for each project. This works when we are a team of only two, but we are definitely working on having a bit more structure! We store our ideas in a project management system, where we write it all down, good or bad, and then we do multiple rounds of filtering before we have an idea to proceed with. 

[GdM] What has been the most technically challenging project you’ve ever done—and how did you push through? 

[Hansi] Our most technically challenging project is probably our Wizard Study build. Being a full scale set required a lot of planning and testing techniques to achieve different faux textured finishes on foam, plus the whole window is a virtual-reality position tracked realtime Unreal Engine simulation, which means that if we shift the camera angle, so does the background! Really fun stuff, but also quite tricky to set up. 

[GdM] You’ve built a huge community online—how do you think audience interaction has shaped Nerdforge over time? 

[Martina] Working together is great, but only being two people in our studio can make us feel isolated from the rest of the world, so sometimes it’s really nice to meet real people that watch our content, like we do at many of the maker conventions we attend (e.g. OpenSauce and Maker’s Central). All the people that show up to say hi really makes our day, and gives us a motivational boost to go back home and make even cooler stuff! 

[GdM] Have you ever made something just for yourself, no camera rolling? How did it feel, and what was it? 

[Hansi] We create stuff all the time without the camera rolling, but not in the same way like we do on our YouTube channel. Martina paints a lot, that’s her thing and she could do it all day, everyday! I am more inclined to text, and I like to work on worldbuilding. fictional writing, coding or game development. Needless to say, my interests fluctuate a lot. 

[GdM] If a fantasy or sci-fi character commissioned you to build something, who would it be—and what would you make? 

[Both] We’d love to help out on a home-renovation project in Hobbiton! 

[GdM] What do you think is the most useful tool you have in your shop, and why? 

[Martina] That’s a very difficult question to answer, as I think it really depends on the project. With the wide variety of things we make we also end up using a wide range of tools—but one tool I always use, no matter the project, is my sketchbook! Every project we do starts with a plan—pencil and paper, or an iPad sketch. It’s also something I keep coming back to during each project, sketching out changes, mechanisms, details, designs, etc. Maybe a bit of a “meta” tool, but it’s my most useful one for sure! 

[Hansi] One tool alone rarely gets the job done, but I’d say the 3D-printer is probably the one I get the most use out of. It can be used for so many things that would be impossible to do just a few years back. 

[GdM] Speaking of specific builds that are beloved, we have to discuss the glorious Brandon Sanderson build. Why Brandon Sanderson? Out of all the fantasy authors to draw from, what made his work the one you wanted to celebrate in such a big way? 

[Both] Brandon Sanderson is just a great guy and his team is fantastic, making that such an easy video collaboration. When we pitched the idea to the team at Dragonsteel they did everything they could to make it happen, they even got us the rights to reprint all the books from the publisher itself. Anyone who’s involved in the book industry knows that is not necessarily an easy task, especially with such a large publisher. Honestly, before we pitched the idea, we thought it would be impossible. Otherwise, the books are great and we love BIG BOOKS (which Brandon obviously does as well) so I think it was a natural fit. 

[GdM] You used a lot of detailed carving and lighting in this build—what part was the most fun, and which nearly broke your soul? 

[Martina] The most fun part for me was definitely stamping the leather and actually seeing that the design I had made on paper, worked in real life. But, making the stamps wasn’t a lot of fun, it was messy work as we used UV-resin to cure acrylic cutouts to a supporting backplate. And we had to make over 20 rather complex stamps…! But, it was worth it! 

[GdM] Were there any Easter eggs or references hidden in the piece that only a hardcore Sanderson fan would catch? 

[Martina] Yes! Both in the colors of the books and the symbols on the covers. 

[GdM] As someone who is obsessed with coffee, your coffee/computer build is the stuff of dreams. Did you have any moments of, “We should NOT be mixing hot liquids with expensive electronics,” when building the coffee computer or was that part of the fun? 

[Hansi] People mix liquids with computers all the time when water-cooling! The comment we get the most on this video is people being worried about cooling, as the coffee-machine obviously produces some heat when making coffee. To all the worriers out there, I will say: The machine makes coffee for around 60 seconds, it’s not running 24/7 (and the thermals don’t seem to be impacted either way, during the brewing). My biggest concern was the hot steam blowing over the components and leaving moisture on them. So we decided to have the computer ventilate out the front instead of back, pushing the steam out, instead of pulling it in and above the motherboard. Unconventional, but it works. 

[GdM] When you had your pinkie accident, was your first thought, “Okay, this is my chance to build a badass cyborg finger”? What was the process like in creating it—was it more difficult than you expected? Do you still use it? And have you heard from any viewers in the disabled community who connected with it or found it inspiring? 

[Martina] I had a lot of people reach out to me after the finger-build video that found it inspiring, which is very heartwarming. I will say, the finger is really cool, but the functionality is very limited, so maybe it’s time for an upgrade! I still use it from time to time, but only when it’s to complete a look. 

[GdM] For the future, what new medium do you want to try? Do you have any dream builds you’re planning that you can share? 

[Hansi]: Larger builds with a purpose are always more fun, e.g. bigatures that will be displayed somewhere, instead of collecting dust in our warehouse. More challenging set builds would be fun as well. The main issue in our studio is we are running out of space to build sets, we already have a Fallout kitchen and a Wizard Study!

[GdM] Martina and Hansi, the heart and soul of Nerdforge, aren’t just YouTube creators—they are magicians of imagination. They turn glue guns, LEDs, and their trusty 3D printer into full-blown nerd magic. Whether they’re building fantasy libraries, creating coffee-maker computers, painting incredible cyberpunk cities, or just inspiring the rest of us to look at our hot glue sticks with newfound interest, Nerdforge continues to inspire the makers, the dreamers, and the builders across the world. We watch, we learn, we make.

If you haven’t subscribed yet… what are you even doing? Go. Now. Build something weird.

This interview was first published in Grimdark Magazine Issue #43

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REVIEW: Anderson Versus Death

My first foray in the the off-screen world of Judge Dredd is the absolutely wild and very Anna Smith Spark Anderson Versus Death. I went in expecting a kind of brutal cyberpunk police procedural, landed in the head of a psi-judge, and witnessed the world and everything inside it burn over and over again.

And if that sounds wild, then buckle up because Anderson versus Death is—as I find myself saying every time I review one of Smith Spark’s books—an absolute experience.

In Anderson Versus Death Judge Anderson chases a criminal through a building. She reaches out to his mind to scan him and finds an absolute horror that enters her own mind and tries to take over so it can destroy the world through her body. And so starts a tale told almost entirely with the psychic mind of Anderson, as she battles Judge Death to stop him from turning Mega City One and everything else on the planet into the Deadworld he, Judge Mortis, Judge Fear, and Judge Fire so desire.

The story is a psychedelic roller coaster as Anderson wages mental war on Death—a losing battle when Death cannot be killed. We move through city scape after city scape, sometimes with people dying, sometimes with all the people already dead, sometimes with a colleague, and sometimes with a new lost friend. Always, the ever marching Dark Judges try to get Anderson to surrender—to give up so they can take over.

As a book set in an established IP, there is definitely some nuances that flew right over my head—as my exposure to that world is limited to two awesome movies and one comic I think I remember reading when I was 15—that I’m sure fans of the wider franchise would pick up on and probably love. As always with Smith Spark’s work, there is a level of her books that are accessible to everyone, but there are always multiple layers under that you can pick up on if you care or dare to look.

Overall if you were to ask what would any SFF IP look like if Anna Smith Spark were to put her undeniably recognisable stamp on it—then this would be exactly it. Worlds dying. Epic scope and a feeling of being small against the scale of the story. Brutal. Brutal. Brutal. Drowning in blood and bodies. Deep moral questions and characters taken beyond their breaking point throughout. Desperate need for a drink, or a cuppa, or a popcorn read to reset immediately after.

Anderson Versus Death is a wild ride. You should get on your Lawmaster and go check it out.

Read Anderson Versus Death by Anna Smith Spark

Read on Amazon

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A new GdM short story on YouTube: All the Lovely Brides by Kelly Sandoval (narrated by Laura Brent)

After the success of our first short story reading by Black Sails actor Luke Arnold, we are back with another Grimdark Magazine short story brought to life on YouTube! This time, Australian actor Laura Brent (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Mortal Kombat, Winchester) breathes new creative life into author Kelly Sandoval’s grimdark fantasy short story from Issue #3, All the Lovely Brides. Laura’s regal and haunting delivery brings this story of a desperate will to live in the face of death to the screen.

Check it out in the player below, or head on over to our YouTube channel.

Haven’t caught wind of what we’re doing?

That’s okay. It’s a big ol’ internet and it’s almost impossible to catch everything cool hitting the screen. Even when we wipe our entire channel and start over.

Let me catch you up.

At the start of the year, the Grimdark Magazine team and I decided we had two options with our YouTube channel. We could (a) continue putting out pretty epic interviews (with people like Patrick Rothfuss, Anna Smith Spark, Steven Erikson, Brandon Sanderson, etc), book reviews delivered in my monotone with the screen presence of a potato, and some excerpt readings, or we could go with (b) swing for the fucking fences.

And if you know us and what we do here at Grimdark Magazine, you know there was only one option we were going to go for.

We wiped our channel and started over with a new idea. We are working with screen actors to breathe new life into the short story market by doing readings on our YouTube channel.

Go on, check it out. With some hard work and a slice of luck or three, we think we can build something really cool that elevates short stories off the page.

If you’re picking up what we’re putting down, head over to the channel and give us a subscribe so we can keep making more of these videos.

The post A new GdM short story on YouTube: All the Lovely Brides by Kelly Sandoval (narrated by Laura Brent) appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

First look at Casthen Gain by Essa Hansen: read the entire first chapter!

With only a few weeks to go until Casthen Gain by Essa Hansen hits the shelves, it’s time to get a look inside for a bit of a sci-fantasy entree before the main course hits on the 28th of July 2025. I am so excited for this book to hit the shelves–available in ebook, paperback, and hardcover–and I can’t wait to see what our reader community thinks of this non-stop action romp through the most dangerous planet in the solar system.

In Casthen Gain, a wayward culinarian investigates the wrong secret and finds himself dropped on the strangest and most dangerous planet in the multiverse. He’s here alongside murderers, exiles, and adrenaline-seekers to participate in a battle royale race, forced to hunt for an eons-buried mystery or die trying. The prize? Being allowed to live…and join the cruel organization that put them all here, which might just mean the creative freedom Sentace has craved all his life.

1Rough Crowd

Head swaddled in sensory deprivation veils, body in aggressive multi-species restraints, and crammed in a prisoner dropship with… he could smell at least twelve others despite the veil… this wasn’t the worst outcome Sentace Ketch had imagined after being taken captive. He hadn’t been tortured or murdered yet, and he hadn’t found Evi dead before he could fake her death himself.

Upside: he was finally free of his attending “team” whose imbecility had gotten him captured in the first place, and whose oversight had meant he’d have to assassinate Evi for real. Everything would be easier now, alone, if he survived whatever this was.

The ship hit atmosphere. A blast of resistance gripped the vessel. Wailing tones transferred to Sentace’s skull through the restraints, barely dulled by the material of the veils. The rumbling juddered his teeth. His brain hit a panic switch: stomach acid rose to the base of his throat, urgently swallowed before it reached his tongue. Planetary arrivals and departures were yet another new experience for him, coming from a backwater homeworld galaxies away. This re-entry wasn’t helped by the fact that the dropship felt extremely budget, a cacophony of rattles, buzzes, and engine strain.

Eventually the descent evened out and velocity waned. Sentace’s stomach continued to argue. He summoned calm. Endure, be patient. His kitchen had taught him patience: dough rising, stock simmering, meat marinating, egg whites stiffening. A rhythm of action and waiting.

In a swift motion, everyone’s sensory veils were husked off.

The prisoners exploded into reactions as intense as the restraints allowed. Sentace flinched, his extra-keen human senses assaulted by growling and argument and groaning steel and stomps and one creature wailing what was either despair or a war cry. Sentace was familiar with many species—dining patrons, tourists—but the immense diversity in the multiverse beyond his little planet had shown him just how small his life experience truly was.

Some prisoners recognized one another. A gigantic chketin erupted in uncontrollable laughter while barking out the words, “In here with the scum and scraps, eh, Molinar!”

The chketin’s spittle crossed the way to an elderly woman with dark, leathery skin and classical beauty, whose expression remained completely unbothered. Golden jewelry wound her head and neck, and metallic paint sketched expensive flowers around her eyes. High-ranking; someone for whom this capture was a humiliation. Perhaps, in her case, being marked as an expendable utility was the worst possible punishment. All damned, what had Sentace been hurtled into?

Another creature said through a voice box, “Oi, I know you, scrap! Second time caught, eh!” The untranslated language was chemical, wafting into Sentace’s nostrils in a cadence of sour prickles and rot-sweet slides.

Face scrunching, he held his breath and tuned out his fellows’ overreactions. There were fourteen others, a mix of xenids—he’d nearly guessed right. Hybrid organic-mechanical restraints served as passenger cradles, holding everyone upright and immobile on both ship walls. None looked to have been disarmed or disrobed, though the restraints made attack impossible. Sentace noted that his bandolier of seasonings still looped his chest, and he hoped his chef’s vari-knife remained strapped on his thigh.

He tried to catalogue all fourteen potential allies or opponents. A human girl hid behind a curtain of dull blonde hair, her body dewy with drug-sweat, and a glaze of trauma over her fish-pale eyes. The chketin: a species that always looked like charred meat to Sentace, with rough, hairless skin wrapping a thick, muscular frame. Next to a human man with two augmented legs and one hundred percent criminal vibes was a fully mechanical, semi-humanoid exoskeleton with no original body inside. The brain-pan contained a small, squid-like organism that must have been controlling the frame. Beside them was a bipedal xenid, a confusing mass of bone and cartilage.

All in all, the majority of the crowd were humans, though Sentace had come to understand that “human” was an almost uselessly broad term encapsulating such variety it was pointless to attempt to group them properly. Sentace bet his Trowan phenotype was distinct enough to recognize—maybe even by his eyes alone—given how isolated and xenophobic his culture was.

As the most worldly Trowan citizen, and transuniversal specialist, Sentace had convinced the administration to choose him for the assassination job, and gained a rare ticket off-world. Upon leaving his planet’s confines, he’d discovered how laughably limited his knowledge actually was of multiversal economy, immensity, and key factions… such as the vast and infamous Casthen organization who now had his life in their grip. They and their mysterious leader, Çydanza, were applauded by some and despised by others. Their ethics were fluid. With one hand, they enslaved and monopolized and destroyed, and with another, they rehabilitated, cultivated, and reversed extinctions. Sentace scanned for clues about which of those hands had grabbed him.

“Ou, big ‘uy,” said a strange little creature in the cradle beside his. The words squished in their wide, froggy mouth. “You w’ the weird eys. I c’n smell wha’ you’re. The spiiiicies.” Besides a bandit strip of pink skin around their ink-drop eyes, and adorable parabola ears, they were all downy white fur. “I know wha’ comes next. Wanna team up w’ Chiidi? I love t’ eat.”

Before Sentace could respond, the bottom of the ship folded apart to reveal sky beneath everyone’s feet. After hours of sensory deprivation, the view was a door to a dream.

Several prisoners shrieked. Sentace’s calm dropped away with the floor. A flare of acrophobia spun his heart rate higher, and his restraints proved unnecessary as his muscles locked up anyway. It was a newfound fear since there weren’t many heights on his planet and he’d never gone up to its orbital station. That had been the sole job of Evi Omai, their only pilot. If she really had sought asylum with the Casthen, was she now flying dropships like this? More rote routine, enslaved to another institution. He hoped she was sent out on multiversal missions, allowed all the freedom she’d incinerated a world to have.

He forced himself to look down. It wasn’t a view he’d expected, and a low whistle of astonishment passed his lips when his breath returned.

The night side of this planet was skinned entirely in dark megastructure, with emerald and gold pleochroism rippling across the surface. A web of lines and window lights scored it. There were enough Casthen emblems and colors to mark this as the faction’s headquarters; the most closely guarded secret in the entire multiverse, impossible to reach. No wonder he’d been unconscious and veiled for the trip. This was a place that no one who saw could leave and live to tell about it. Lucky him.

The dropship banked, showing a ring of twilight ahead and the dawn of a distant, languid sun. Sentace choked down another urge to hurl.

“Nine crimes,” someone swore, voice pitched high by terror. “Hundreds?”

“We’re meat,” barked the man with augmented legs. “Experiments.”

“Now, now, be agreeable,” said the xenid encased in the brainpan of the mechanical skeleton. A vocal emitter parsed its speech into hollow units. The leggy creature splayed against the glass of its container. “Panic aids none but our captors.”

Nice to know some of this crowd was reasonable. Sentace braved another look down to find out what was terrifying criminals as sordid and bloodthirsty as these. Twilight illuminated the planet’s most surprising feature, one that Sentace’s homeworld shared: the surface was blistered with variously sized bubble universes. Some universes scooped into the planet itself, transforming chunks of it, others hovered over the surface like dewdrops, and many stuck together into foam clusters. More must have been buried or encapsulated by the megastructures and ruins. A few universes were skewered by scaffolding and walkways and tunnels. Others, dangerous, were left well alone.

Every universe—whose sizes here ranged from fist-size to small moons—was a space that differed from others with unique changes in physics, as if stepping into a slightly different version of the world. The rinds that separated universe spaces were energy membranes allowing anything to pass through… though not always safely.

Someone quavered, “What in mercy are those?”

Another chortled at them. “Oh, baby thing, you are in for a treat.”

Sentace’s heart skipped. This planet spelled death for anyone unfamiliar with universe bubbles. His home planet had thousands more universes on and around it than any comparable area of space he had learned of until this moment. This Casthen world had what looked like a hundred times more universes on it than Trow. With access to such a wealth of physical conditions, no wonder the Casthen were the heart of economic production, trade, and research in the multiverse, however profit-driven and immoral. And no wonder this Casthen stronghold’s whereabouts were so sensitive a secret that even a whisper of curiosity voiced at the edge of a galaxy could bring soldiers swarming in, as they’d done to him.

There was clearly more environment than the Casthen could explore or use. Occupied megastructure had dominated the dark side of the planet, while out here in the light, ancient architecture was devoured by jungle and sea, giant mountain ranges, distant hurricanes, and plains of building-tall fungal growth. A morbid fascination bubbled over Sentace’s fears, and even the dizzying height felt surreally interesting. A bird’s view of nature reborn from moldering civilizations.

The crowd’s reactions ranged from awe to dread. At the row’s end, a musical voice sang, “Bringing us out here… must be a research project too gruesome to house with other operations. Rare physics translation tests, or the like.”

Sentace was willing to bet on that. The prisoners hadn’t been killed outright, so they were headed into forced labor or to be used as a material.

“Translation?” said the fluffy white xenid named Chiidi, beside him. They gaped at the view. Poor thing must be unfamiliar with how universes worked.

The ship slowed over a landscape of cratered hills, close enough to make out herds of animals fleeing through orange copses of scrub brush and quartz pillars. Sentace tried to relax his tense muscles before the restraints pinched circulation. Lightheadedness blurred the view. The hopeful part of this predicament was that, for now, he was still on Evi’s trail, since she’d been headed to the Casthen and might be on this same planet’s dark side. Once he sent home proof of her death—the Trowan administration wouldn’t know if it was faked—he’d be liberated from his old government for good and able to disappear and start a new life.

A fully armored Casthen soldier entered from a door at the end of the bay. Their armor was strangely and intimidatingly mismatched, as if they’d torn the best off of everything, and instead of looking ramshackle they looked optimized. A smooth and mostly featureless mask in dark blue drew his eye up in ways he didn’t want.

Sentace inhaled deep to raise his voice and lie that he was with Evi Omai and this was all a misunderstanding, but the crowd began babbling at the same time.

“Shut it,” the soldier called, louder than the rabble. A material in their mask both amplified and deadened their voice.

Half the group quieted down.

“There’s an energy anomaly, out ‘ere, somewhere. We want it tracked.” The soldier held up a finger-length device like a rod of faceted diamond. “You all’ve been given a touchstone. It’ll glow the closer you get, and activates a beacon once completely charged. Set off the beacon and you’ve won. Winner gets to live. Winning’s the only way off this planet.”

Sentace glanced at the canyons passing below, dizzied by his fraying nerves. He breathed as deep as the chest bands allowed.

Winner gets to live.

The crowd rioted with fresh objections, to which the soldier added, “There can be only one winner, so don’t get friendly.”

The elder woman named Molinar hissed, “Asinine. Do you sincerely have no budget to find this anomaly yourself?”

Another, out of sight: “Nah, the anomaly’s a lie. They wanna watch us kill each other.”

More dissent heaped on. Most prisoners assumed they were going to be free-roaming test subjects. Sentace couldn’t argue with that… he wasn’t buying the setup of an anomaly interesting enough to seek out yet so uninteresting they would only use expendable resources to find it. He’d learned that the Casthen valued utility, could be heartless, that their operations often had little oversight from their leader Çydanza, and that they were rumored to engage in all manner of grotesque experimentation, treating bodies as raw substance.

Chiidi next to him stared at the forest below while wringing their tiny, spidery pink fingers. They murmured repeatedly, “My fur canno get wet.”

The poor creature didn’t fit with the rest of this trash. Neither did Sentace—he wasn’t morally gleaming, but Trowan life was so tightly controlled, it had no room for crime. He asked, “How’d you end up here?”

Their ears flared and their fur puffed on end. “Blew it up,” they squeaked happily. “Blew a lot of ’em up.”

A tiny saboteur, this Chiidi. The likes of Evi, able to take radical action. Sentace warmed to them immediately. There was a whiff of smoke in their fur, the scent burned into his memory along with the fiery silhouette of Evi Omai. She stood atop the steps of administration, still wearing a pilot’s neural halo around her head. She’d torn off her Trowan uniform, down to her undergarments, like shedding an old skin. Her hair was tied high in a long tail that reached her thighs, the mandated style for a woman of her age and position. She held it by the end, straight out to the side. A knife gleamed in her other hand as it sawed the tail short. If you’re going to rebel, do it all the way, eh? Wind full of fire sparks caught the liberated strands and whisked them away along with the years of history they contained, the legacy of Trow up in flames.

The dropship pulled down to a lush green lowland. Flocks of birds exploded off patches of berry canes, filling the air with wings.

Chiidi asked in turn, “Wha’s a chef doin’ ‘ere?”

As Sentace opened his mouth to reply, the passenger’s restraints at the head of his row disengaged and the person plummeted out the open belly of the ship. Their scream dopplered as they swept past.

Oh. Oh shit, they were being dropped dropped off.

Sentace shut his eyes but that let the vertigo loose. Everything spun, which was worse, so he gritted his teeth and stared straight down, letting his vision soften into a blear of colorful texture. As gorgeous universe bubbles and clusters passed by, Sentace tried to convince himself this was like home. This was his element. He pushed panic to the bottom of his mind and hushed it under a swell of confidence.

Some distance from the first, a second competitor was released. They flailed, which made their body whip end over end. The fall was a couple hundred meters at least.

One passenger was hooting, psyched up, loving this. Another raced through prayers at the top of their lungs. The skull-containered xenid with the mechanical body plumped a shock-absorbing material throughout its frame. Lucky.

Another release. They were going down the rows in order. Was it better to anticipate his turn, or not?

The next individual to fall was fully armored, but hit the domed membrane of a universe and incinerated while passing through, incompatible with the laws of physics inside.

No. Definitely better not to anticipate. Sentace’s heart jumped, pulse throttling his neck. He unfocused his eyes again and breathed. The unlucky person’s armor scattered to the swamp below. There was going to be a lot of luck involved from here on.

Poor Chiidi was next. They blinked a nictitating membrane over their eyes and trembled. The cradle opened with a snap. Chiidi’s long, skinny arms flared out. Their clawed hands hooked onto Sentace’s boots.

“Hey!” he cried while the xenid flapped beneath him, fur slicked smooth by wind.

Boom. Sentace’s release was detonation. Metal ruptured around his limbs. All sense of the ship ripped away as Sentace entered free fall.

Pre-order Casthen Gain (releases 28th July 2025)Read on Amazon

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REVIEW: A Knight’s War

In A Knight’s War, an indie dark fantasy from director Matthew Ninaber, a knight is betrayed by his brother and enlists the help of a demon to track down the chosen one—a fiery haired young woman the entire kingdom has been trying to burn.

The first thing I’ll say about this production–that I think grimdark fans will really like–is that A Knight’s War has a brilliant gritty feel. The arms and armour are epic. the scenery gritty and gnarly. The movement between scenes and places, a fever dream of locales used to deliver the story. For the spectacle, alone, I tip my glass to Ninaber for the production quality–never an easy thing to achieve in such an ambitious indie fantasy film.

I also need to send some crisp high fives to A Knight’s War‘s costume and makeup design teams. The suits of armour are beefy. The demon characters, in particular, are utterly gorgeous.

The acting in A Knight’s War is pretty good for an indie film, but I do need to give a particular shout out to those behind the demon characters. They were absolutely amazing, and worth the price of admission alone. They are slick, and creepy, and powerful, and the costume, actors, and lighting delivers everything the CGI cannot.

The story has some … interesting choices, some pretty corny one liners, and a ham fisted ending but, again, for an indie film, as far as I’m concerned it kicks the kinds of goals I was hoping for. There are some nice twists and turns, and I was more than happy with my AU$6.99 price of admission.

There’s something that I love so much about indie projects, where people are just doing the thing they’re passionate about for the love of it—to build something awesome with every cent and skill and favour they can pour into it.

Gorgeously produced with demons that alone are worth the price of admission, A Knight’s War is a brutal tale of magic and trickery and betrayal that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Watch A Knight’s WarRead on Amazon

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REVIEW: The Gryphon King by Sara Omer

Fantasy is mad, isn’t it. Take The Gryphon King, the first instalment in the new dark epic fantasy trilogy ‘The Chaos Constellation’, out from Titan on July 8. Only in such a genre can you go from reading about a blade-wielding princess on a carnivorous pegasus—in essence a flying murder horse—to being embroiled in the kind of intriguing court politics and plotting that requires 44 entries in the character glossary (I counted).

With this new series, debut author Sara Omer, on record as being inspired by previous epics such as George R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books and Samantha Shannan’s Roots of Chaos duology, has decided she wants it all: the monsters, the myths, the court politics, the bi/sapphic/poly slow burn, the battles, the lengthy meal descriptions. But rather than collapsing under its own heady ambitions, The Gryphon King soars into the air like one of its murder horses, offering one of the most original and exhilarating fantasy experiences you’ll have this year.

The plot, heavily inspired by both the myths and history of Southwest Asia, particularly its Turkic peoples, concerns Bataar, known as the Gryphon King, so named after his unlikely defeat of a terrifying gryphon as a teenager which is described in a terrifically tense opening scene. In adult form he is an unstoppable conqueror whose armies expand across the continent, from the Red Steppe of his home to the mighty Ottoman-flavoured eastern kingdom of Dumakra. Despite his successful invasion of its capital, he must now contend with the harpy knights, the irrepressible daughters and attack guard of the previous ruler who ride the pegasuses you met in my opening paragraph. Nohra in particular seeks to get revenge on Bataar for her father’s death, but when monsters and plotters attack the kingdom, she must work together with her enemy while dealing with her mixed feelings for him.

One of the many impressive things about The Gryphon King is how the mix of monster-fighting action with royal court shenanigans is never jarring and balanced well. The monster scenes are electric and written with a kinetic sense of tension and violence any time the gryphons descend from the skies (other monsters of a demonic and seafaring nature also appear, thrillingly) and battle scenes are well-choregraphed awe-inducing spectacles—how can they not be with harpy knights on pegasuses swooping down with sickle blades on the infantry below?

The court scenes, meanwhile, are fascinating, particularly as this is not your old Western royal court but one inspired by the Ottoman harems, i.e. the Sultan’s royal family that included not just his multiple wives and their children but also his concubines and their children. These scenes are also enhanced by an admirable dedication to building the visual sense of an extravagant court life. A good example being one obsessively described meal featuring “cubes of jelly flavoured like roses and pomegranate […] covered in powdery sugar”, “orange yolks glistening in bread bowls full of melted cheese”, “cuts of lamb in a gingery sauce”, and “scoops of ice cream in copper bowls topped with chopped pistachio and drizzles of honey”, and… [okay Ed, we get it, you were hungry when you read that scene]. It’s not just food though; there is a rich tapestry of lore, inspired by Islamic and pre-Islamic mythology and religion. This is immersive epic fantasy.

But the characters in The Gryphon King are a success, too, thanks to a pleasing sense of moral ambiguity immersed with sensuality. Take the two POVs. Bataar is spurred on by the injustices meted out to his people and the wish for peace and a better world. But as usual with such world-conquering figures, bloodshed follows him, and his POV is a tantalising mix of kindness and intelligence with ruthless calculation. Pegasus-riding Nohra meanwhile is vengeance personified, an unstoppable force, yet Omer breaks down her barriers in brief but electric scenes of sapphic tension between her and Bataar’s wife Qaira, a slow burn plotline which will surely explode in book 2 and raises the possibility of an f/f/m poly situation, and if you’re confused at this point I have no doubt Omer is here to educate you. Sexuality is fluid, reflecting not just the historical reality of the empires that inspired this series—being straight, historically, is very late—but a desire to use these relationships to build character and subtlety and give us warmth amongst the darkness.

Overall, The Gryphon King is a majestic melting pot of monsters, Machiavellian moves, moral murkiness, and mouthwatering meals that is a fantastic advert for the power of immersive epic fantasy. A showstopping debut.

This article was first published in Grimdark Magazine Issue #43

Read The Gryphon King by Sara Omer

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The post REVIEW: The Gryphon King by Sara Omer appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

12 Book Recommendations for the Video Game Lover

Last Updated on July 11, 2025

I’ve been a nerd since I was born, and I’ve always been called to stories. They come in all shapes and facets: movies, shows, books, songs, video-games, and more. It’s a long, long list, but if I spent my life consuming these stories, it’d be a good one. Books and video-games are always the two that have called just a bit louder than the rest, however.

Sometimes after finishing a video-game I’ll think “damn, that ruled. I wish I could have more of that vibe, but in a different flavor.” That’s what this post is about. Below are twelve book recommendations based on four different video-games.

Assassin’s Creed

A series revolving around a man reliving the memories of his assassin ancestors, Assassin’s Creed involves hidden blades, obscured faces, and, well, assassins.

Heroes Die

In my mind, Heroes Die by Matthew Stover is THE recommendation. It centers around a man entering his own animus-esque device, going to another world, another time, and using a combination of brutal assassination and clever espionage to get to his targets. To tie it all together, Stover has the best action I’ve ever read.

Read on Amazon

Prince of Thorns

Another unique blend of sci-fi and fantasy, Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence is a dark work with a kill count that rivals Ezio’s. With a raised cowl, brandished sword, and combination of glitchy images while blades bite into necks, Prince of Thorns is a great pick for Assassin’s Creed.

Read on Amazon

The Way of Shadows

The start of one of the most famous assassin series fantasy has to offer, Brent Weeks’ Way of Shadows shows us poisons, knives, and darkness are the supreme killers. Kills by the dozens and some interesting political machinations and conspiracies, another nice fit for Assassin’s Creed.

Read on Amazon

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

A dark fantasy game that left a monumental mark on videogames as a whole, The Witcher 3 is brooding, monster-laden, gritty triumph.

 

Blood of Elves

In a shock to everyone, I’m going to recommend the books that inspired the game series as a whole. While the games are set after the events that happen during the books, the characters, themes, lore, and story that make The Witcher 3 work so well work just as well in the books.

Read on Amazon

Blood Song

Anthony Ryan’s Blood Song features an MC that shares a lot of similarities with Geralt: cynical brooding, low magic, and hunting intelligent enemies that slither in the dark. Add in some training/school segments that remind us of Ciri’s time learning the ropes–as well as Blood Song being an all around fantastic book–Anthony Ryan’s work is a great pick-up for fans of The Witcher 3.

Read on Amazon

The Justice of Kings

Richard Swan’s The Justice of Kings involves a powerful, brooding man travelling around the country while doing an important job that causes people around him to hate him. While travelling, he and his party begin to uncover a conspiracy, as well as face extremely tough morality situations in a grey world. If that doesn’t sell you, then how about the fact that it’s fantastic?

Read on Amazon

Elden Ring

Trippy, stark visuals, and a land plagued by beautiful nightmares, Elden Ring is famous for not only its difficulty but its atmosphere and lore.

Gardens of the Moon

I try not to be the “READ MALAZAN” guy, but my hands are tied here. Starting on page one of Gardens of the Moon, Steven Erikson throws you into the chaos and says “figure it out.” With gods mingling and causing chaos and the way the world-building is only learned by piecing together mysteries, Gardens should delight Elden Ring fans.

Read on Amazon

A Sword of Bronze and Ashes

Anna Smith Spark has the best prose in the world and her talent is on shining display here. We have a mother doing the absolute best she can to protect her family against nightmares she thought she had left behind. If you liked the atmosphere of Elden Ring, as well as the horrific monsters, A Sword of Bronze and Ashes is a dead-ringer.

Read on Amazon

Blackwing

Blackwing by Ed McDonald features a setting that feels directly out of Elden Ring. Gods run amok, power is dangerous, and death is always a breath away. The characters cling on, just like the Tarnished One, and claw their way to survival. A great pick for Elden Ring.

Read on Amazon

Baldur’s Gate 3

Stunning in its scope and level of polish, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a testament to what videogames can be. While the world and details are its selling point, the heart of the game is its characters.

The Blade Itself

Baldur’s Gate 3 may be my favorite game, and Joe Abercrombie’s First Law is my favorite series. Maybe it’s the dialogue and the character work prevalent in both, maybe it’s just because both are peak. Whatever the cause is, Durge fans in particular will find a lot to love in The Blade Itself, as well as fans of characters like Astarion, Shadowheart, and more.

Read on Amazon

Hyperion

One of the finest crafted books I’ve ever read, Dan Simmons’ Hyperion captures an utterly unique and large world, as well as a finely developed cast of characters. If you liked getting to know each member of the party in Baldur’s Gate 3, then I implore you to pick up

Read on Amazon

The Steel Remains

Featuring a LTBTQ MC with his own flavor of trauma and moral grayness, Richard K Morgan’s The Steel Remains is a dark book that captures a lot of the motifs Baldur’s Gate 3 hits on. Whether that be a hyper intelligent threat like the illithids, arguing between party members and nobility, or just generally well-crafted worlds, The Steel Remains is a worthy book for fans of Baldur’s Gate 3.

Read on Amazon

The post 12 Book Recommendations for the Video Game Lover appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

12 book recommendations for the video game lover

I’ve been a nerd since I was born, and I’ve always been called to stories. They come in all shapes and facets: movies, shows, books, songs, video-games, and more. It’s a long, long list, but if I spent my life consuming these stories, it’d be a good one. Books and video-games are always the two that have called just a bit louder than the rest, however.

Sometimes after finishing a video-game I’ll think “damn, that ruled. I wish I could have more of that vibe, but in a different flavor.” That’s what this post is about. Below are twelve book recommendations based on four different video-games.

Assassin’s Creed

A series revolving around a man reliving the memories of his assassin ancestors, Assassin’s Creed involves hidden blades, obscured faces, and, well, assassins.

Heroes Die

In my mind, Heroes Die by Matthew Stover is THE recommendation. It centers around a man entering his own animus-esque device, going to another world, another time, and using a combination of brutal assassination and clever espionage to get to his targets. To tie it all together, Stover has the best action I’ve ever read.

Read on Amazon

Prince of Thorns

Another unique blend of sci-fi and fantasy, Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence is a dark work with a kill count that rivals Ezio’s. With a raised cowl, brandished sword, and combination of glitchy images while blades bite into necks, Prince of Thorns is a great pick for Assassin’s Creed.

Read on Amazon

The Way of Shadows

The start of one of the most famous assassin series fantasy has to offer, Brent Weeks’ Way of Shadows shows us poisons, knives, and darkness are the supreme killers. Kills by the dozens and some interesting political machinations and conspiracies, another nice fit for Assassin’s Creed.

Read on Amazon

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

A dark fantasy game that left a monumental mark on videogames as a whole, The Witcher 3 is brooding, monster-laden, gritty triumph.

Blood of Elves

In a shock to everyone, I’m going to recommend the books that inspired the game series as a whole. While the games are set after the events that happen during the books, the characters, themes, lore, and story that make The Witcher 3 work so well work just as well in the books.

Read on Amazon

Blood Song

Anthony Ryan’s Blood Song features an MC that shares a lot of similarities with Geralt: cynical brooding, low magic, and hunting intelligent enemies that slither in the dark. Add in some training/school segments that remind us of Ciri’s time learning the ropes–as well as Blood Song being an all around fantastic book–Anthony Ryan’s work is a great pick-up for fans of The Witcher 3.

Read on Amazon

The Justice of Kings

Richard Swan’s The Justice of Kings involves a powerful, brooding man travelling around the country while doing an important job that causes people around him to hate him. While travelling, he and his party begin to uncover a conspiracy, as well as face extremely tough morality situations in a grey world. If that doesn’t sell you, then how about the fact that it’s fantastic?

Read on Amazon

Elden Ring

Trippy, stark visuals, and a land plagued by beautiful nightmares, Elden Ring is famous for not only its difficulty but its atmosphere and lore.

Gardens of the Moon

I try not to be the “READ MALAZAN” guy, but my hands are tied here. Starting on page one of Gardens of the Moon, Steven Erikson throws you into the chaos and says “figure it out.” With gods mingling and causing chaos and the way the world-building is only learned by piecing together mysteries, Gardens should delight Elden Ring fans.

Read on Amazon

A Sword of Bronze and Ashes

Anna Smith Spark has the best prose in the world and her talent is on shining display here. We have a mother doing the absolute best she can to protect her family against nightmares she thought she had left behind. If you liked the atmosphere of Elden Ring, as well as the horrific monsters, A Sword of Bronze and Ashes is a dead-ringer.

Read on Amazon

Blackwing

Blackwing by Ed McDonald features a setting that feels directly out of Elden Ring. Gods run amok, power is dangerous, and death is always a breath away. The characters cling on, just like the Tarnished One, and claw their way to survival. A great pick for Elden Ring.

Read on Amazon

Baldur’s Gate 3

Stunning in its scope and level of polish, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a testament to what videogames can be. While the world and details are its selling point, the heart of the game is its characters.

The Blade Itself

Baldur’s Gate 3 may be my favorite game, and Joe Abercrombie’s First Law is my favorite series. Maybe it’s the dialogue and the character work prevalent in both, maybe it’s just because both are peak. Whatever the cause is, Durge fans in particular will find a lot to love in The Blade Itself, as well as fans of characters like Astarion, Shadowheart, and more.

Read on Amazon

Hyperion

One of the finest crafted books I’ve ever read, Dan Simmons’ Hyperion captures an utterly unique and large world, as well as a finely developed cast of characters. If you liked getting to know each member of the party in Baldur’s Gate 3, then I implore you to pick up

Read on Amazon

The Steel Remains

Featuring a LTBTQ MC with his own flavor of trauma and moral grayness, Richard K Morgan’s The Steel Remains is a dark book that captures a lot of the motifs Baldur’s Gate 3 hits on. Whether that be a hyper intelligent threat like the illithids, arguing between party members and nobility, or just generally well-crafted worlds, The Steel Remains is a worthy book for fans of Baldur’s Gate 3.

Read on Amazon

The post 12 book recommendations for the video game lover appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

REVIEW: While Darkness Gathers by Philip Chase

Last Updated on July 9, 2025

Philip Chase welcomes us back to Eormenlond in While Darkness Gathers, the sequel to his Edan Trilogy set sixteen years after the conclusion of Return to Edan. For fans of the Edan Trilogy, While Darkness Gathers feels like coming home after a long journey, with quiet nostalgia for a past that has slowly faded away.

While Darkness Gathers introduces us to Riall, a young sorceress with the compassion and altruistic instinct of a healer. Riall is only beginning to discover her powers, which may be key in saving the world from the return of an ancient evil. Although While Darkness Gathers employs a chosen one trope, Chase takes it in a very different and more subdued direction compared to the main Edan Trilogy.

Philip Chase draws inspiration from J.R.R. Tolkien with his intricately detailed fantasy world and its complex lore and history. One of the most fascinating features of Eormenlond is its elvish race. Chase diverges dramatically from the noble elvish race of Tolkien’s Middle-earth: the elves of Eormenlond are utterly elusive and in possession of terrifying power. The origin of the elvish race and their supreme power play a pivotal role in Chase’s sequel.

While Darkness Gathers is a slimmer volume and less ambitious in scope compared to the three main novels of the Edan Trilogy. Although it doesn’t have the philosophical depth of The Prophet of Edan or Return to Edan, Chase’s writing is every bit as nuanced and beautiful. While Darkness Gathers shines most brightly in its well-drawn characters and their familial relationships, as Chase explores themes of found family and martyrdom.

Although readers new to Philip Chase’s work could, in principle, begin with While Darkness Gathers, I recommend starting with the first book of the Edan Trilogy, The Way of Edan. One of my favorite characters from the Edan Trilogy, Sequara, features prominently in While Darkness Gathers. My enjoyment of this sequel was greatly enhanced for having already read the main trilogy.

In the end, While Darkness Gathers resonates with a gentle melancholy of lamentation overlaid with an optimism for a brighter future.

Read While Darkness Gathers by Philip Chase

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An Interview with David C. Smith

David C. Smith is the author or coauthor of 22 published novels, primarily in the sword-and-sorcery, horror, and suspense genres. Ten of his novels from the 1970s and 1980s are now being revised to be republished by Borgo Press/Wildside Press; the first three—which form the epic fantasy trilogy The Fall of the First World—are now available. They will be followed by Magicians and The Eyes of Night—two modern occult novels featuring the sorcerer David Trevisan—and five sword-and-sorcery novels featuring the character Oron.

In addition, Smith is the author of the screenplay Seasons of the Moon, based on his novel; has coauthored the play Coven House (with , author of the Jeff Award­–winning play A Steady Rain); and coauthored the screenplay Magicians (with Joe Bonadonna, author of Mad Shadows and Three Against the Stars), based on the David Trevisan novels.

Smith is also author of the postsecondary English grammar textbook Understanding English: How Sentences Work.

Aside from writing fiction, Smith has worked as an advertising copyeditor and English teacher and for more than twenty years as a scholarly medical editor. He has served on the staff of Neurology, was the editorial production manager of the American Journal of Ophthalmology, and for more than ten years has been the managing editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Check out our review of Smith’s latest novel, Sometime Lofty Towers, here. As of this interview, Sometime Lofty Towers is currently crowdfunding.

[GdM] Sometime Lofty Towers is very much a sword & sorcery novel, what with its bloody fights and grounded characters. You’re also no stranger to the genre, having written countless stories and novels within the space. What drew you to S&S initially and what makes you come back to it again and again?

[David C. Smith] Originally, I wanted to write adventure stories, and actually put down notes for a pirate novel and then a novel about the battle of Teutoborg Forest in 9 AD. But I was restless and got bogged down in doing the required research. I loved history, though, and read quite a bit, and really liked the Conan stories, which had just come out in the Lancer editions. So I began imitating Robert E. Howard, with quite a bit of Jack London and historical fiction writers of the 1950s and 1960s thrown into the mix, and submitted them to the fanzine markets in the very early 1970s while I was in college. I’d write an S&S story, then a horror story, and switch back and forth. Gordon Linzner at Space & Time magazine, particularly, liked my stories and took many of them.

The more of these stories that I wrote—and write—the more I can see that the genre can be taken in many interesting directions, particularly, for me, in terms of characters, as well as the sense of antiquity, bringing alive elements of very deep time and mysteries about that. Atlantis, lost civilizations, archaeological discoveries—I thought when I was in junior high school that I might try to attend the University of Chicago just so I could study the ancient Sumerians and Hittites!

[GdM] Are there any lessons from your previous forays into S&S fiction that you took into Towers?

[David C. Smith] The strength of characterization. How stories are scenes, and scenes are the characters. The ideas you have that come through those characters and their situations, whether or not they create those situations. So going as far back as when I wrote Oron, my first novel, I was very aware that the characters carry everything. There’s the plot, but it doesn’t need to be mechanical. It’s driven by the characters.

In high school, I fell in love with cinema and especially silent movies, so that rhythm we get from drama has a lot to do with how I write, too. Sometimes I’ll just start typing dialogue; that can get the story going, give us insight into characters and their backgrounds. No doubt that’s why Sometime Lofty Towers opens with dialogue. You’re instantly inside the story with those people.

[GdM] What was the initial idea for Towers? What was the writing process like?

[David C. Smith] Believe it or not, the first impulse came from an old made-for-TV movie called The Over-the-Hill Gang, about a bunch of aging cowboys. That and The Wild Bunch. That quickly settled into the idea of two comrades-in-arms who fought in campaigns together before going their separate ways. It didn’t take too long to imagine the setting being one like the taking of the American frontier. The idea sat there for years until my father became very sick with asbestosis, which eventually killed him. The idea came back to me then full force, and I immediately saw him as the character Hanlin. But it took me years, off and on, to finish the story. It was emotional for me.

[GdM] Hanlin is an older character, someone who has led a very long, very violent life. He’s trying to change that, but, damn it, things keep getting in the way, and he’s got to commit violence in order to attain peace. What makes those types of characters interesting? Why did you choose that sort of narrative for Hanlin?

[David C. Smith] Characters caught up in circumstances not of their own making are always interesting, especially if those circumstances are dangerous or troubling. Then you have that person with some miles on him who has to make choices based on what he’s done and where he is now. Any one of us at any given moment is the product of choices we’ve made or did not make, and the things that have happened to us, and in an environment often not of our choosing. What parts of us are called into action when we confront the results of those choices? That’s how we find out what we’re made of.

There’s a line that comes along late in Oron—I come back to that book because I learned a lot about writing by toughing it out, writing that book—where, as strong and capable as he is, Oron realizes that the sorcerer has turned the tables on him and he admits, “I feel weak in my strength.” There’s his tragic flaw. What he’s relied on his own life has failed him. It would be frightening to confront that about oneself.

It’s not dissimilar to the situation my father found himself in. He’d fought in the Second World War, married his high school sweetheart, had the family he wanted and had settled into the career that fit him perfectly, so he’d done everything right, the way the mid-twentieth century measured it, and he still ends up being betrayed by that very system because he worked with asbestos, which the manufacturers had known since the 1920s would slowly kill you. He and the other men he knew who worked in construction, they all died from the effects of that mineral. And most of them lost most of the money they’d saved up paying either for medical care or for lawyers to fight their cases for them. There were no happy endings.

[GdM] One thing I especially enjoyed about your writing was your fight scenes. These scenes feel very surgical, very precise. The wounds inflicted during these battles aren’t superficial: they’re detailed descriptions about which muscles and tendons are damaged. What goals are you trying to accomplish when writing fight scenes like this?

[David C. Smith] That comes from my appreciation of the Iliad, and also many years spent editing orthopaedic trauma articles! I was a medical editor for decades, most of them spent with orthopaedic surgery articles. So that’s where the appreciation for detail comes from. The idea is to make the reader feel those events as deeply and realistically as they feel the other story details, the dialogue and emotions and thoughts. You know, in this type of story, these characters live rough lives, they’ve been in bloody combat and military engagements, and their weapons are edged and pointed. This is their world. It has to be presented in this way. I try to give the reader just enough of it so that, even if it’s jarring or shocking, you feel it as the protagonist does, and it explains a lot about that protagonist.

[GdM] How did you develop the kirangee? How do you go about research? They felt like a deep and well-thought out culture.

[David C. Smith] I depended on what I knew about certain American Indian cultures, both in the East and out West. Where I grew up, in Trumbull County in northeast Ohio, my friends and I could pretty easily find arrowheads and spearheads, just going out and digging. This area was the home primarily of the Iroquois and Wyandot. My dad liked the history of the Revolutionary War period. As a family, we made the trip, at least couple of times when I was young, to Fort Necessity in western Pennsylvania, in Fayette County. The battle there took place early in the French and Indian Wars. Washington lost that one to the Frech and the Huron, the Algonquin—there were a number of tribes. Anyhow, that instilled in me great respect for the indigenous peoples of this country, and I carried around a lot of the research I’d picked up over the years in regard to them, not just in the East but the Plains tribes and the Comanche and Apache.

When the story was finished, I asked a friend of mine, Michael Araujo, to read it through and give me his reaction to how I’d presented the kirangee. He’s a native of New Mexico and has a degree in Anthropology. I’d met him at Howard Days in 2019, and we hit it off. I respect his expertise. He said I did well in creating this culture.

Also, some of their culture reflects that of the early Tibetans. Much of that got lost as I worked on the story, but there’s a bit of the early Tibetan Bon religion in there. The prayer stones that are mentioned come from this influence.

In general, I have great respect for religions or beliefs that respect Nature and find it harder and harder, as I get older, to feel that way about revealed religions, at least as practiced by most people.

[GdM] We grew up in similar hometowns. Does being from the Rust Belt have any impact or influence on your writing?

[David C. Smith] A very great impact I think, yes. If nothing else, I learned to respect people who work hard because everyone in that region seems to  be involved in some necessary trade or other. The practical, hands-on livelihoods. I’m not that way, so I respect people like that. But once I graduated college—Youngstown State University—there wasn’t a lot for me to do around there, as I eventually learned, although I regret not going on for my Master’s degree.

The part that hits hardest, of course, is when the mills closed in the late 1970s. One of my uncles, who worked at Sheet and Tube, had to take a job in Cleveland when that plant closed. The effects were devastating. Everyone else in my family has done all right, but the area isn’t at all what it was. There was an identity to that area, there still is, and I think it comes from people who are alert to what could happen at any minute. It was a shock to the system. But the self-awareness and the attitude of people in the Mahoning Valley—that’s definitely part of Hanlin.

Plus, there was the mob. Plenty of interesting stories there!

[GdM] What are you reading now?

[David C. Smith] Just finished lots of sword-and-sorcery short fiction for examples of style, characterization, etc., to use in my upcoming book Cold Thrones and Arcane Arts: Writing Sword-and-Sorcery Fiction. Otherwise, in nonfiction, Humanly Possible by Sarah Bakewell, a history of humanism, and rereading some old stories of M.R. James and Arthur Machen.

[GdM] What fills your time other than writing?

[David C. Smith] Our daughter, Lily, is home from her first year at college, so we have some time now to spend with her. We’re planning day trips to little towns, especially any that have bookstores! And I do have a stack of books I need to get to. More books than time to read them, as usual.

[GdM] What’s next for you? Do you have any projects that you’re working on now or are being published soon?

[David C. Smith] I’m just about finished with a book I’m calling Cold Thrones and Arcane Arts: Writing Sword-and-Sorcery Fiction. It will be coming out from Pulp Hero Press before the end of the year. It’s a review of the elements of storytelling as they’re reflected in stories from the current boom in S&S. Character, style, all of that, but I wanted to emphasize the writers working now. We know all about Howard and Wagner and Leiber. With all due respect, let’s start paying attention to the talent that’s out there today. They’re breaking new ground.

I also have to finish reviewing the pages of The Shadow of Sorcery—the proper title of that book—which Wildside will be releasing.

And my Howard biography, Robert E. Howard: A Literary Biography, is being released soon from Pulp Hero Press, in both soft cover and a hardcover edition for libraries. I revised parts of it to clear up some errors in light of recent information and to add a bit to some of the notes in the back.

Then I really want to start work on some short stories, horror stories! Plus somewhere around here I have the synopsis for a possible new Oron novel.

The post An Interview with David C. Smith appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.