S.E. Lindberg's Blog, page 4

Besting the Beast and Other Fantasy Tales: Scott Forbes Crawford’s Weirdly Accessible Adventure

2024, Oct 27, Simulcast on Black Gate: Besting the Beast and Other Fantasy Tales: Scott Forbes Crawford’s Weirdly Accessible Adventure

Besting the Beast by Scott Forbes Crawford (2024, Kindle); Cover art by Ben Greaves

Besting the Beast is Grimm-like tales for Grimdarkreaders

Fantasy readers often seek escapism and encounters with theunknown, but those adventures can become too weird to be accessible. Shorterforms help. Incorporating some grounding in history or reality helps too. Oneof the most accessible styles is the fairy tale, and Scott Forbes Crawforddelivers five remarkable fun, and easy-to-read, adventures bridging the shortstory and fairy tale form in Bestingthe Beast (Aug 2024). All are rooted in Asian history/myth andfeature relatable human protagonists to lead the way.

The cover art by Ben Greaves is appropriately derived from“Recovering the Stolen Jewel from the Palace of the Dragon King” (1853) byUtagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861). Don't let the friendly style fool you. Thebeasts herein are pleasantly weird and gory. Excerpts from all the stories arebelow so you can get a flavor of the horrific creatures and antagonists you'llexperience. Sword & Sorcery and Grimdark fiction fans will enjoy these(indeed, Besting the Beast is Grimm-like fairy tales for Grimdarkreaders).

The contents of Besting the Beast have all been published before (in SNAFU:Holy War, Bards and Sages, Sword and Sorcery Magazine,and more). Also, expect more of these characters in future publications sinceCrawford has a few acceptances brewing for other Sword & Sorcery venues. Myfavorites are "The Carving of a Warrior" and "Half-bakedHero" since I am fascinated with weird art and human sculptures. I amthrilled that the character Janza from "Half-Baked Hero" has morestories penned in her honor.

Crawford's blending of weird adventure and globalhistory/myths is expressed in his other books like  Silk Road Centurion(which had an excerpt inside Besting the Beast) featuring a 53 B.C.Roman soldier Manius Titinius who is held captive by a warband of nomadicXiongnu, and The Phoenix and the Firebird that explores a realm of magicand monsters inspired by Chinese and Slavic folklore (The Han-Xiongnu War: 133BC–89 AD). What inspires Crawford? Well, he's been traveling the world duringhis life, including stints in Japan and China.

Don’t let the friendly, fairy tale style fool you.Crawford's beasts are pleasantly weird and goryBesting the Beast: Table of Contents &Excerpts

The Carving of a Warrior (first published in Bards andSages, 2020)

A young woman named Resh desires to be an artist when shegrows up but must cross a monster-infested forest to sculpt a new destiny.

More leaves crunched. Nearer now. Before Resh’s eyes grew ahulking, barely comprehensible form. Humanoid – vaguely – its bulbous torso wasa purple shade and it lumbered nearer on limbs of black chitin. Four tentaclesswelled from its chest in place of arms. Two organic tubes, the hue ofintestine, stemmed from its back and bent over its shoulders, belching a streamof the lavender gas. No features contoured its face; utterly flat, the headserved only to host a single mammoth eye, white but for some speckles of red,like blood-spattered milk...In a hollow of her mind, Resh sensed the Imps werenothing more than phantasms born of the gas. This demon, though, was all tooreal as it stood before her father and wreathed him in gas. The creature’stentacles embraced his head and chest. He dropped the spear without a fight,his empty hands savagely clawing air until they froze and he flopped beside theuseless weapon, his head pulped, a rotten melon.

Heart of a Samurai, (first published in Pulp Modern2019)

In the tradition of Japanese ghostly tales, a proud warrior,Kokoro Kenzo, learns the limits of his purity, courtesy of the cat Scrapper

...he spied a furry lump outside the first hut – what wasthat? He moved closer: a large, floppy-eared dog, torn into ragged, gorythirds. There, at the next hut – three more, and there, beside the well, sevenbodies of cats, sworn enemies, who had in death become brothers and sisters.Loosening his katana in its scabbard, Kokoro quickened his step – and then hefroze. A stack rose ahead of him, like of firewood. A stack so tidy andgeometrical and perplexing, Kokoro took a moment to recognize it was made ofmen. Children, grandmothers, sun-browned farmers. What had happened to theirchests?

A Thief’s Work (first published in The Society ofMisft Stories, 2020)

A novelette of intrigue and conspiracy in a city enslaved tothe magical drug Sorcel (zombie-like drug addicts are called Droolers). Can aburglar recruited into the resistance free her people?

... a gauntlet closed around her throat and lifted her.Choking, she stared at the blank eyes of the Drooler, her mind flailing forsome action to take. The edges of her vision darkened. Another moment and thedark would swallow her. But an idea sparked. The Drooler hadn’t fully lockedher right arm. Slowly, she reached for his wrist and with fingers made cunningby years picking pockets, she untied the lacings which fastened the gauntlet tohis forearm. Her vision clouded and she felt consciousness dwindling away, butfinally she undid the last lacing. The gauntlet fell and she tumbled free,rolling as the Drooler tried sweeping her up. Shaking off a woozy head, sheleaped into the mill wheel, folding herself in the cramped hollow between thewheel’s blades as it swooshed her down and away.

Besting the Beast (first published in SNAFU: Holy War,2021)

The titular tale covers the aftermath of a demonic invasion;a bandit orphan Kai is one of the few survivors of a grand melee with wingeddemons. He seeks revenge for his lord and family in a confrontation with themother of evil gods.

On an impossibly long, spindly arm, a hand shot from thewater, snatched a Jomon trooper from the front rank and yanked him screaminginto the pool. A red cloud mottled the surface. Another arm whizzed out.Another. Long fingers raked in Guardians. Now the water swirled and frothed. Ahead broke the surface and swooped up on a lengthy, sinuous neck.

The whole of the chamber released a collective, ecstaticsigh. Kai reeled at what hovered above the water – a woman’s head, in somedemented fashion, with strings of blue-black hair. Eyes like moons filmed inthe hue of blood, a jumble of sharp teeth set in an outsized mouth. What formof body lurked beneath the surface?

Half-baked Hero (first published in Sword and SorceryMagazine, 2019)

When the female bodyguard Janza encounters an outlandishclient, she faces a choice between her past and future, vengeance and honor.

Kong parted his robe.

Waist up was immense flab, the flesh of his belly coarse,grainy, gloppy. Incongruously, his legs rippled with muscle. Kongbegan massaging his stomach and chanting ancient words. Cruel, bestialwords Janza had never heard, yet somehow, her blood recognized them, recognizedand feared them. Janza could only lie there, frozen and terrified, until thesorcerous, blood-thieving assassin had his final say.

Yet with every bead of sweat wetting Kong’s brow, moredisgusted heat blasted through her body. Rage warmed her. By inches her limbsbegan melting free.

Kong rubbed his paunch furiously . . . and he dug hisfingers in and tore away bloodless wads of paunch. These he piled on the floor.

Silk Road Centurion - Novel Excerpt (Published by CamphorPress., 2023)

The book chronicles a 53 B.C. Roman soldier making a life onthe ancient Chinese frontier. However, Manius Titinius falls captive to awarband of Xiongnu, nomadic horsemen who rule the seas of grass between theGobi Desert and the Mountains of Heaven.

Hooves pounded nearer. They were almost on top of Manius. Hesnatched the two pila javelins he kept on his horse, just as the enemy roundedthe bend. The lead rider now was a squat man wrapped in furs, not that giant.Judging his speed, Manius drew back a pilum, coiling his muscles like a tensedspring before whipping forward and launching. The javelin arced true, strikingthe horseman to the dirt.

Manius readied his throw against the next man. No, only abeardless boy, unarmed. From his speeding horse he looked up at Manius andtheir eyes locked, the boy’s seeming to register in that split second his lifehad been spared. Around the bend came the giant. Manius sent his last javelinsoaring up and as it arced, he knew it had its victim’s scent. The barbarianseemed to freeze, gazing stupidly at the onrushing projectile, at his endforetold. ... Mouthing a curse, Manius clawed out his gladius, dashed at hissurprised foe and thrust for his ribs. In one fluid motion the giant drew hissword. There was a clang and a silvery flash as the barbarian’s curving steelbatted away the short, straight Roman sword. Manius was open now to a follow-onstrike and braced to receive the killing blow...

About the Author

Scott Forbes Crawford is the author of the historical novelSilk Road Centurion, the history book The Han-Xiongnu War 133 BC – 89 AD, andco-author, with his wife Alexis Kossiakoff, of the Middle-Grade historicalfantasy novel The Phoenix and the Firebird. His short stories and articles haveappeared in a range of magazines and anthologies. After spending many years inBeijing and Taipei, Crawford now lives in Japan with his wife anddaughter. You can learn more about Scott Forbes Crawford at the author's website, his Facebook page,or his newsletter site.

S.E. Lindberg is a Managing Editor at Black Gate, regularly reviewing booksand interviewingauthors on the topic of “Beauty & Art in Weird-Fantasy Fiction.”He is also the lead moderator of the GoodreadsSword & Sorcery Group and an intern for Tales from the Magician’s Skull magazine. Asfor crafting stories, he has contributed eight entries across PerseidPress’s Heroes in Hell and Heroika series,and has an entry in Weirdbook Annual #3: Zombies. Heindependently publishes novels under the banner DyscrasiaFiction; shortstories of Dyscrasia Fiction have appeared in Whetstone, Swords & Sorcery onlinemagazine, Rogues In the House Podcast’s A Book of Blades Vol I andVol II, DMR’s Terra Incognita, and the9th issue of Tales From the Magician’s Skull.

 

Mortal Dogs, Celebrate the Day of Might, this Oct 23rd

 

2021 Day of Might Video and Skull Speaks
Three years ago our Sword & Sorcery champion "the Skull" ordained Oct 23rd the Day of Might.
Trube believers and immolatible minions should go forth and drink beers of root and cheer for the ultimate adventure subgenre!
Howard Andrew Jones is more than the original Skull, he remains an outstanding role model in the fiction community. I recently captured my thoughts on this mentorship and friendship (blog) since he, sadly suffers from a real condition. Howard Andrew Jones is battling cancer in a very real way. Sorry to switch gears. If you haven't yet, please consider supporting the below Go Fund Me for him.  

Go Fund Me for Howard Andrew Jones  - Aid the Skull in his time of need (link)

Hi, friends. This is C. S. E. Cooney, John O'Neill, Sean CW Korsgaard, Greg Mele, James Enge, Mark Rigney, Scott Oden, and Seth Lindberg, representing the hordes of family, friends, fans, and followers of the marvelous writer, beautiful human, husband, father, mentor, editor, and friend Howard Andrew Jones.
In August, many of us received this update from Howard and his family:
"Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I have been diagnosed with brain cancer––multifocal glioblastoma. People I trust––my doctors and my family––inform me it will be fatal, and we are deciding now on a course of action to make the most of the time I have left.
Many of you have been reaching out with well wishes, and I am greatly appreciative. It’s heartening to know that so many people are cheering me on. I am surrounded by family and friends, and they’re taking good care of me.
For now, if you are looking for updates and details about my condition, you should contact John O’Neill, whom most of you know, or Mark Rigney, whose contact information is below. Between them, they will serve as a conduit to me and my wife, Shannon.
Thank you all for your support, not just now, but down the years, and I hope this message finds you well.
Howard"
Since this message, our community is gathering its loving might to help Howard and Shannon and the Jones family in this time of great stress and financial burden. This GoFundMe shall go to forthcoming medical bills in the months to come and any other funding the family might need.
Please, help if you can. Please spread the word, share this link, or buy Howard's wonderful books. We thank you: for Howard is a true wizard among dragons, and we love him very, very much.
Yours truly, C. S. E. Cooney (Claire)

Swords Together!

Some other Day of Might Links:2021 Skull Video linkSELindberg 2021 Day of Might2022 Goodman Games -12022 Goodman GamesSELindberg 2021 Day of Might - 2

Teaser Reveal - Interior art for a Collection of Tales in the Works: Grave's Daughters

Teaser Reveal

Samuel Dillon crafted this beauty, the most revealing portrait of Dr. Grave and his three daughters ever made.  It will be part of a collection called "Grave's Daughters" due out sometime in 2025.

In 2022, I was thrilled to have my short story "Orphan Maker" appear in Tales from the Magician's Skull #9.  It was granted two illustrations, one by Samuel Dillon depicting the skeletal Lord Lysis battle with his ax-wielding brother Brood. I purchased the original of that.

Book Blurb for B J Swann - Good vibes from reviews

I am currently reading Scott Crawford's Besting the Beast and Other Fantasy Tales which is a collection of grim fairy tales. 

Enjoying that, I recalled the uber-grim Crimson Crown tale by B J Swann [reviewed on Black Gate Fringe Grimdark: Crimson Crown by BJ Swann [2021], so I went to check out his collection [Aeon of Chaos which contains Crimson Crown] and was honored to see my review incorporated into the description.

Praise for B.J. Swann's The Crimson Crown

"The Crimson Crown is Intense, Emotive, Dark Fantasy; Equally Enjoyable and Discomforting." - S.E. Lindberg, author of Lords of Dyscrasia and Helen's Daimones

Grimnir personally insults S.E. Lindberg! Or perhaps just the Fat One is slandered

Cheers to Scott Oden (and his live-in companion, Grimnir)! I've reviewed his books over the years (see below) but those were all electronic versions. Having the chance to get signed copies from him (apparently known as the "fat one" by Griminir), I pleaded for Grimnir to contribute.... and the orcish bastard delivered.  I am proud to have been personally trolled by the brute. 

Scott Oden wished me "All the best!" but Grimnir expounded on that:

- "Nar! All the Best What? Wine? Women? The fat one [Oden]  makes no sense!"

- "Bah, You Wretched Kneeler! This is the good one! This will put hairs on your arse!"

- "Faugh! The fat one [Oden] said you wanted an insult!? Ha! Only an idiot would give good coin for this tripe!"

My reviews of Scott Oden's Grimnir Series:Goodreads A Gathering of Ravens - Grimnir #1  [April 2016]Black Gate The Doom of “Oden”: Twilight of the Gods (Grimnir #2) [April 2020]Black Gate Lord of a Shattered Land and The Doom of Odin: Howard Andrew Jones and Scott Oden Deliver High-octane, Euro-Mediterranean Adventure  [June 2024]

Gen Con 2024 Table of Contents

Here's a list of my Gen Con 2024 post-coverage (all are links):

Gen Con 2024 - Writers Symposium Behind the Scenes PhotosGen Con 2024 - Deep MadnessGen Con Panels 2024 - Sword and Sorcery, Pulp, & Horror (aka Beautiful Nasty stuff)Swords Together - Gen Con 2024 - Reflections of Sword & Sorcery with a focus on Howard Andrew Jones Gen Con 2024 Moderating 10 PanelsWriters Symposium Image Prompt Contest Winners

Chilling with brother Scott (who champions Free Market Kids board games and more) at St. Elmo's Steakhouse.

Swords Together - Gen Con 2024 - Reflections of Sword & Sorcery with a focus on Howard Andrew Jones

Click here for my Gen Con 2024 coverage table of contents.  

This post collects a bunch of Sword & Sorcery bonding at Gen Con 2024. The event was legendary and haunting, and this post collects some of my thoughts & experiences so I do not forget them.  

TOP: Howard Andrew Jones, Matt John, Jason Ray Carney, Gilles Plantin, Sean CW Korrsgaard, SE Lindberg BOTTOM: Seeking peace away from the chaos, we found a Mexican bar and was assaulted by a mariachi band!

Hey Jude - Take a sad song and make it better

Howard Andrew Jones was struggling with serious symptoms (thought to be depression and/or acute leg nerve damage) and roomed with me (co-organizing the Writers Symposium granted me a downtown room in the Marriott). Within two weeks he later he was hospitalized and diagnosed with terminal brain cancer which he fights still.  Tributes and testimonials to his character are rightly being shared as the writing community digests his status. It is awe-inspiring to see how broadly he has inspired others. I've been reluctant to share my own perspective for a month now. 

I have been grateful to HAJ for many years, from being a fan of his S&S blogs and appearances at World Con 2010, to meeting him at Gen Con and having him coach me into volunteering at the Writers Symposium ~2017 (which grew into me chairing it in 2023), for bridging the connection to John ONeill to edit for Black Gate online magazine (~2019), and for being able to intern for his magazine Tales From the Magician's Skull as acquisition editor and for being a social media intern for the Skull (~2022).

HAJ has been likewise grateful to me for helping him with the internships, organizing Gen Con S&S events, and providing book reviews. On a whim, he sang "Hey Jude" on the piano near the green room (image), but he replaced the name "Jude" with "Seth". Co-event organizer Emily E.D.E. Bell swayed with me. He also played some Bad Finger ("Day After Day").  The memory of him playing at the piano is bittersweet and haunting now, knowing that his body was fighting itself as he sought to inspire me.

C L Moore Tour & PanelsThanks to Sean CW Korsgaard, (editor/author/S&S-aficionado) who also filmed a bunch of Gen Con 2024 panels, you can listen in on two of the panels I moderated (Link....including the S&S and Pulp Fiction panels). Sean also took a bunch of us on a meaningful tour of Indianapolis. Here's his Facebook post capturing a cool tour he took us on in Indy regarding the legendary C.L. Moore: 

"An exciting day at the GenCon Writers Symposium. Good fiction, great company, an evening among a literal "who's who" of modern sword-and-sorcery at the annual Heroic Signatures soirée... capped off with a walk to a little honored Indianapolis historical landmark.A short hike away from the Indianapolis Convention Center, and just across from the stunning Indiana State Soldiers and Sailors Monument, is the Fletcher Trust Building.Currently, serving as a Hilton Garden Inn, there are a few interesting facts about the building. It was finished in 1915. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It was briefly the tallest building in Indianapolis.And, in the 1930s, there was a stenographer and secretary employed at the Fletcher Trust bank by the name of Catherine Lucille Moore - better known as C.L. Moore. It was in this building that every word of fiction she wrote between 1933 to 1940, was produced, from "Shambleau" to "Black God's Kiss".Naturally, Howard Andrew Jones, Seth Lindberg, Jason Ray Carney, his wife, and I had to swing by to salute the First Lady of Fantasy, and see where some of her finest stories were penned.Fun Fact: Moore wrote under the pen name "C.L. Moore" not to hide that she was a woman, but to hide from her bosses at the bank that she was using company typewriters and the mail room to produce and send off her stories to Weird Tales Magazine or Analog Science Fiction & Fact, known as Astounding at the time." - Sean CW Korsgaard 2024

Howard Andrew Jones and Castlevania!

Over dinner one night (see the above picture of the non-peaceful mariachi band) we learned that HAJ once created video game guides, including for Castlevania! He related how Legacy of Darkness got to him via a few parties and without cheat codes. He had to diligently capture his own screenshots and remembered a difficult section [likely the Pit and Gondola] in which the protagonist navigated a thin bridge and died easily. Funny story, but the process of making a guide was not as enjoyable as one may predict.

Precious Magazine Cover - Lost and Found
I almost lost this galley proof [or is it simply an unfolded print copy?] of issue #12; the last print run of Tales from the Magician's Skull under the Goodman Games Publishing. Joseph Goodman had just gifted Howard several of these at the con, and HAJ passed along one to me for interning. When Gen Con ended, I drove home to Cincinnati to discover I had left that valuable print wrapped in cardboard in one of our Writer Symposium rooms. Over 8 hours after the event, I realized this while headed to bed. After some sleuthing over the phone with the chair of the Writers Symposium, Chris Bell, we determined the cleaning crew perceived it as recycle/trash. Desperate, I called the event staff late that Sunday hoping that they could help track it down. Amazingly, Jorge answered the call! He salvaged it from recycling! Since Chris Bell was still in the hotel (staying an extra night to tackle all sorts of logistics for wrapping up the con), Jorge delivered the print to him. Chris was able to send it to me, and I was able to confess to HAJ the ordeal days before his diagnosis.




Sillier Odds and EndsAt the Writers Symposium Dinner Reception I sat with Michael A. Stackpole and Bryan Young (Battletech/Catalyst). Amazing to be able to talk informally about writing while downing some pasta.

LEFT: Richard Lee Byers signs my copy of his book Arrival. I had interviewed him in 2018 after meeting him at Gen Con.
RIGHT: Matt John [Rogues in the House podcast, Monotlith Conan writer] feeling my sinews! LolFrom writing Forewords, contributing stories to the Books of Blade anthologies, and writing reviews...I've been bonding with Rogues in the House for years.

Archiving the King’s Blade Champion: An Interview with John C. Hocking

 Archiving the King’s Blade Champion: An Interview withJohn C. Hocking

Originally posted Feb 4, 2022 on Goodman-Games website

Written by S.E. Lindberg

Archiving the King’s Blade Champion: An Interview withJohn C. Hocking  by Seth Lindberg

John C. Hocking is a nigh-obsessed reader and writer oflurid pulp fiction, the author of Conan and the Emerald Lotus,“Black Starlight” serial, and their time-lost companion, Conan and theLiving Plague, as well as an obedient thrall of Tales From theMagician’s Skull. Recently Black Gate reviewed John C. Hocking’s Conan Pastiche; then they cornered him to learn more abouthis pastiche and weird fiction muses in an interview. That post is a companionwith this interview and we hope you’ll brave the Black Gate and check it out.

Here we focus on Hocking’s original Archivist and King’sBlade series — now to the interview!

You’ve had six [now seven! — ed.] Benhus tales (TheKing’s Blade series) that appeared in each of the Tales From the Magician Skullmagazines. The first one appeared in 2019, and is called “The Crystal Sickle’sHarvest: From the World of the Archivist.”. Tell us more about the Archivistseries and how it informs the King’s Blade.

John C. Hocking: The Archivist stories takeplace in the same world, the same city, as those about Benhus. They just occur12 or 15 years later. The Archivist sprang from my desire to keep writing swordand sorcery but step away from using a mythic warrior character like Conan.

Hocking’s King’s Blade Series in Tales From theMagician’s Skull by issue number:

I. “The Crystal Sickle’s Harvest”

II. “Trial by Scarab”

III. Tyrant’s Bane”

IV. “Guardian of the Broken Gem”

V. “In the Corridors of the Crow” *read the preview*

VI. “Calicask’s Woman”

VII. “The Gift of a Poison Necklace” *read the preview*

The Archivist series these seem difficult to trackdown. Any comment about readers with OCD/completionism that desire to readthese?

JCH: Right now, there are 8 stories about theArchivist and his friend Lucella:

‘A Night in the Archives’ appeared in the Flashing Swords ezine Vol1-#2. available online

‘Web of Pale Venom’ appeared in Flashing Swords #3 and was recently reprinted in Goodman Games ‘Cubicles of the Skull’. available online

‘The Lost Path Between the Worlds’ appeared in the Flashing Swords ezine #4 . available online

‘A River Through Darkness & Light’ appeared in Black Gate #15 (last print issue of BG).

‘Vestments of Pestilence’ was featured, and available for reading on Black Gate.

‘Pawns in a House of Ghosts’ appeared in Skelos #3.

‘With a Poet’s Eyes’ appeared in Weirdbook #38.

“From a Prison of Blackened Bone’ is awaiting publication by Weirdbook.

I imagine I’ll eventually try to assemble a collection ofall the Archivist yarns. I’d like to add a few more entries before then,though. I outlined a novel about the character but can’t say if I’ll ever writeit.

Can you compare/contrast the Archivist with Lucella& Benhus?

JCH: The Archivist is an unlikely hero, a morecerebral and self-absorbed character than most you’d see in Sword &Sorcery. His ability to fill a heroic role in the dangerous environment of aS&S tale is boosted by his connection to the lady soldier, Lucella.Although the Archivist is unselfconsciously brave when the occasion calls forit and can throw a mean dagger, Lucella is the real fighter of the two. Odd asit may sound, Lucella’s attitude toward violence, and how fighting affects her,are as realistic as anything in my work, as I patterned it after the onlypeople I’ve known who really, truly loved a serious fight. The Archivist is wryand often pre-occupied, but a thoroughly decent fellow with a strong sense ofjustice. Lucella is more pragmatic but tends to follow his lead. I find therelationship between the Archivist and Lucella more satisfying than much of mywork. The two basically combine to form one functional hero.

The Benhus character is an attempt to create a Sword &Sorcery character in the mold of hardboiled crime fiction. He lacks theexperience, knowledge, skill set and sense of justice that the Archivist andLucella bring to the table. Benhus is very young, but tough, determined andpossessed of few scruples, especially when it comes to self-preservation. Hisoccasionally callous behavior can be alienating to readers not expecting it.The fact that the guy is in so far over his head, is so isolated from any substantialassistance or understanding, that he is surrounded by people vastly morepowerful and better informed than he is, that he must watch his every step toavoid losing his position or his life—I hope all this leads readers to identifywith the guy, even if they might find him a less than delightful dinnercompanion.

Juxtaposing the Archivist and Lucella with Benhus was greatfun. For anyone who might care to know, the Archivist encounters an older andmore seasoned Benhus in ‘Pawns in a House of Ghosts’.

Let’s focus on Benhus now. In the TFTMS 2021Kickstarter updates & interviews, you revealed that his name was a tributeto Ben Haas. He was a writer who wrote westerns under severalpseudonyms [(1926 – 1977) aka John Benteen, Thorne Douglas, RichardMeade)]. Please expand on Ben Haas, and how Benhus may embody some aspect ofhis writing/characters?

JCH: I admire the work of Benjamin Leopold Haasas one of the most polished and seemingly effortless pulp writers of the1970’s. He spun formula men’s adventure fiction into gold over and over andover again. If I’ve tried to adopt anything from his writing style it would bea ceaseless forward movement and a steady, zero-padding approach tostorytelling. But one of the things I admire most about his work is the one Iwill never even be able to approach—his remarkable coupling of prolificity andsolid, satisfying storytelling.

Each of the TFTMS issues come with illustrations. Canyou comment on these depictions?

I. Jennel Jaquays: I wrote a whole essay for the first Tales from the Magician’s Skull Kickstarter about how happy I was to have Jaquays illustrate one of my stories. That is one elegant image.

II. Russ Nicholson: This one explodes off the page. One of the most spectacular single page monster images I’ve seen, and I was delighted to have it attached to my story.

III. Matthew Ray: I loved the tight depiction of the three main characters (four if you include their undead foe). That’s a particularly good King Numar Flavius right there.

IV. Samuel Dillon: Lushly detailed, almost pointillist, illustration captures a good likeness of Benhus.

V. Doug Kovacs: This one startled me because it’s such a serious attempt to illustrate a specific scene from the story and do so with as much accurate detail as possible. The artist even gets Zehra’s tattered hand restraints.

VI. Jennel Jaquays: Lucky me—a second Jaquays illustration. I worked hard to make the creatures in the Wall of Demons as nasty as I could. The artist made them nastier than I imagined. That white eel/serpent horror is ingeniously disgusting.

And each story, true to TFTMS form, comes with DCCstats (thanks to Terry Olson). What are your thoughts on gamifying your world?Have you had the pleasure of reenacting a story?

I. Crystal Sickle Wraith (creature) & Nobleman’s Comfort (wand)

II. Great mud scarab…knockout powder, message vial= (magic item)

III. Blind sight (spell), nobleman’s comfort (more wand abilities), Silver risen (a spell?), Tyrantsbane dagger (weapon)

IV. Nobleman’s Comfort (wand, even more abilities) and Scimitar Nemesis (creature weapon)

V. Carapaced Mauler (creature)

VI. Gray Umbra Guardian (creature)

JCH: I haven’t been in a real RPG in 20 years,so I’m not really qualified to comment intelligently on the stats. But I’mdelighted with the idea that fragments of the stories appearing in TheSkull might find their way into gamers’ adventures. I wish the Skullhad a space where anyone who saw any of our statted creations showing up in agame could tell us how it went.

Generally, S&S spawned in the short story form,and characters did not necessarily develop (i.e., as much as they may in anovel). The Benhus short stories are stand-alone episodes, but there isdefinite progression of character (especially with the titular “king” of theKing’s Blade branding, issues #3 and #5 ramped up the relationship). Do youhave a long-term vision for a collection/novel?

JCH: Yes and no. I want to keep telling anunspooling, chronological series of stories about Benhus. I have plenty ofideas for what happens to the character and how it affects him and those aroundhim. In his near future I’ve plotted a story that could probably be presentedas a novel but will more likely be broken into shorter narratives that I’llsubmit piecemeal to Tales From the Magician’s Skull. Writing anovel is such a difficult, sustained and uncertain effort that I’m morecomfortable wrestling with short fiction these days.

Be sure to check out the companion interview on Black Gate to learn more aboutHocking’s Conan pastiche and weird fiction influences. And for the the lateststory in the King’s Blade series, be sure to pre-order a copy of (the soon to be released) TalesFrom the Magician’s Skull Issue 7!

What is Helen's Daimones all about? A 6min conversation

What is Helen's Daimones all about? A 6min conversation.
Art born from darkness...

 

Gen Con 2024 Moderating 10 Panels

 Moderated 7 Panels on "new books and new releases":

New Book! New Games! New Release Panels with S.E.

Join our panel of authors as writer and host S.E. Lindberg asks each about the inspirations and challenges behind their new books, games, and works. This fun experience back from last year by request! 

(Session E)

   Friday12:00 PM EDT E.D.E. Bell, Gregory A. Wilson, Jesse J. Holland

(Session C)

   Thursday2:00 PM EDT   Howard Andrew Jones, J. B. Garner, Matt Forbeck

(Session F)

  Friday1:00 PM EDT Anthony W. Eichenlaub, Bryan Young, Jennifer Brozek 

(Session A) Thurs 12:00 PM EDT Annye Driscoll (Maker Fishmeal), Briana Lawrence, Gini Koch 

(Session D)

  Thursday3:00 PM EDT  Karen Menzel, Dedren Snead, Sarah Hans

(Session G)

  Friday2:00 PM EDT Cat Rambo, Erin M. Evans, Kwame Mbalia

(Session B)

  Thursday 1:00 PM EDT   J.D. Blackrose, Lyndsie Manusos, Chris A. Jackson

3x Panels on Genre FictionThe three below were focused on Sword & Sorcery, Pulp Fiction, and HorrorThose have videos and audio shared on another post.

Writing the Beautiful Nasty

      Saturday 3:00 PM EDT

[this feeds into my BlackGate/com interview series on "Beauty in Weird/Horror Fiction"]. Join our panel of experts as they explore writing scary or repulsive matters in attractive and beautiful ways within the complex realms of horror. Featuring: S.E. Lindberg, Akis Linardos, C. S. E. Cooney, Jason Ray Carney, Jeri "Red" Shepherd 

Sword & Sorcery for Contemporary Audiences   Friday10:00 AM EDT

Join our panel of writers as they discuss Sword & Sorcery for a modern world: what does it look like, what could it look like, and what's out there to devour.  Featuring: S.E. Lindberg, Dedren Snead, Howard Andrew Jones, Jason Ray Carney, Sarah Sharp

Pulp Fiction for Contemporary Audiences

    Friday 11:00 AM EDT

Join our panel of writers as they discuss pulp fiction for a modern world: what does it look like, what could it look like, and what's out there to devour. Featuring: S.E. Lindberg, Gini Koch, Howard Andrew Jones, Jason Ray Carney, Richard Lee Byers