What do you think?
Rate this book
The Maxus Cycle #1
To Walk on Worlds
From the Burning Isle to the hellish depths of Zanzara, beyond the demon-haunted planets circling the Black Rim, only Maxus the Meddler may walk on worlds…and woe to any other who tries.
Kings and generals are but pawns for the immortal sorcerer, as are the vengeful creatures from the stars. The machinations of Maxus require many cogs, and only one among them has ever risen beyond his station.
Lachmannon the Kael, a man born from the stony bones of the earth, becomes the meddler's most useful asset. But the Kaelish mercenary's head is as hard as his fists. When Maxus’ monomaniacal goal–to master the sorceries of every world and every age–becomes clear to him, will he remain an expendable tool?
Not bloody likely.
John’s tales of swords, sorcery, and subversion have previously appeared in the pages of Weirdbook, Whetstone, and Tales From the Magician’s Skull. To Walk on Worlds collects nearly a decade’s worth of sardonic dark fantasy, as well as a fistful of new stories printed here for the first time.
Kings and generals are but pawns for the immortal sorcerer, as are the vengeful creatures from the stars. The machinations of Maxus require many cogs, and only one among them has ever risen beyond his station.
Lachmannon the Kael, a man born from the stony bones of the earth, becomes the meddler's most useful asset. But the Kaelish mercenary's head is as hard as his fists. When Maxus’ monomaniacal goal–to master the sorceries of every world and every age–becomes clear to him, will he remain an expendable tool?
Not bloody likely.
John’s tales of swords, sorcery, and subversion have previously appeared in the pages of Weirdbook, Whetstone, and Tales From the Magician’s Skull. To Walk on Worlds collects nearly a decade’s worth of sardonic dark fantasy, as well as a fistful of new stories printed here for the first time.
258 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 24, 2024
27 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
About the author
Matthew John
24 books14 followersMatthew John is an English language arts teacher and employee of Monolith Games (Conan, Batman: Gotham City Chronicles). When time allows, he likes to write short fiction, waste time at the gaming table, and chat sword and sorcery on the Rogues in the House Podcast. His work has been published in Grimdark Magazine, Skelos (SkelosPress), Weirdbook (Wildside Press), and Robert E. Howard’s Conan the roleplaying game (Modiphius Games).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
September 18, 2024
This was one of the very best sword & sorcery collections (or “novel in stories”) I’ve read, filled with all the horror-tinged ingredients that most tickle my fancy when it comes to the genre: eldritch demon gods, mad sorcerers, cyclopean ancient alien architecture, nightmare hellscapes hidden in ruins beneath cities — all within a dying Earth setting where the line between magic and science is blurred. It had the strangeness and terror of Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, only written in crisp, clean modern-ish prose. Some may feel overwrought purple prose is part of the fun of these types of tales, but this maintained such a fast pace, and the “invisible” writing only helped me to become more fully absorbed in this universe.
The stories all take place in the same world (or worlds) over the course of a few hundred years, with some recurring characters throughout. The creativity on display was neverending, and even though many of the concepts have been done before, Matthew John provided a fresh take on things like world/dimension hopping, unknowable cosmic deities, Shoggoth-like drone entities, and all manner of abominations. There were even a couple moments of Ligottian “human puppet” horror that sent serious chills down my spine, despite the crazy over-the-top nature of the narratives. And plenty of humor as well.
The entire book was a blast, and I’m already looking forward to reading more about this world, especially barbarian Lachmannon and the unhinged “evil” magician (or “meddler”), Maxus, who are both fun, exceptionally well-written characters, even if the former is meant to be a bit of a Conan pastiche.
Recommended for S&S fans, especially those of Howard, Karl Wagner, Clark Ashton Smith, Michael Shea, C.L. Moore, and Darrell Schweitzer, as this has a similar blend of fantasy, horror, and weirdness, only cranked up a notch. It belongs on the shelf with those guys (and gal). Even though I started reading this through Kindle Unlimited, I immediately ordered the paperback upon finishing the first couple entries.
ETA: the physical version is mass-market sized, which is a major plus imo, and is illustrated with six or seven nice line drawings by Sandy Carruthers spread throughout.
The stories all take place in the same world (or worlds) over the course of a few hundred years, with some recurring characters throughout. The creativity on display was neverending, and even though many of the concepts have been done before, Matthew John provided a fresh take on things like world/dimension hopping, unknowable cosmic deities, Shoggoth-like drone entities, and all manner of abominations. There were even a couple moments of Ligottian “human puppet” horror that sent serious chills down my spine, despite the crazy over-the-top nature of the narratives. And plenty of humor as well.
The entire book was a blast, and I’m already looking forward to reading more about this world, especially barbarian Lachmannon and the unhinged “evil” magician (or “meddler”), Maxus, who are both fun, exceptionally well-written characters, even if the former is meant to be a bit of a Conan pastiche.
Recommended for S&S fans, especially those of Howard, Karl Wagner, Clark Ashton Smith, Michael Shea, C.L. Moore, and Darrell Schweitzer, as this has a similar blend of fantasy, horror, and weirdness, only cranked up a notch. It belongs on the shelf with those guys (and gal). Even though I started reading this through Kindle Unlimited, I immediately ordered the paperback upon finishing the first couple entries.
ETA: the physical version is mass-market sized, which is a major plus imo, and is illustrated with six or seven nice line drawings by Sandy Carruthers spread throughout.
May 17, 2025
This is an example of how good sword and sorcery can be for modern times. This book collects several previously published works (of which I have read 2) and new stories for this volume. Let’s start with the cover. I would have read it just for the cover art. A nice throwback to the 60’s and 70’s when sword and sorcery, sword and planet, and other less epic forms of fantasy dominated the shelves.
I’ve listened to a few of Matt’s podcasts and know enough about his background, so my love for this book was no surprise.
What we have here are stories that overlap in an interesting web of sword and sorcery, science fantasy, a touch of grimdark(which I loathe), but works here, and a lot of badassery. I enjoyed the recurring characters of Maxus the Meddler and the barbarian Lachmannon. Really interesting relationship between those two.
Some influences I noticed, or maybe it’s coincidence, are a little Robert E Howard, a little Jack Vance, some Karl Edward Wagner, a dash of Forgotten Realms, but it’s mostly a whole lot of Matt John. Matt’s gaming influence can be felt as several of these could be turned into D&D type modules. The only feedback I would give is there are two stories with multiple F bombs and other cuss words that could have had a few substitutions. That’s more of the grimdark side of things, but the stories were so well written that it comes off more trivial. The pacing was excellent. What else can I say? Highly recommend!
I’ve listened to a few of Matt’s podcasts and know enough about his background, so my love for this book was no surprise.
What we have here are stories that overlap in an interesting web of sword and sorcery, science fantasy, a touch of grimdark(which I loathe), but works here, and a lot of badassery. I enjoyed the recurring characters of Maxus the Meddler and the barbarian Lachmannon. Really interesting relationship between those two.
Some influences I noticed, or maybe it’s coincidence, are a little Robert E Howard, a little Jack Vance, some Karl Edward Wagner, a dash of Forgotten Realms, but it’s mostly a whole lot of Matt John. Matt’s gaming influence can be felt as several of these could be turned into D&D type modules. The only feedback I would give is there are two stories with multiple F bombs and other cuss words that could have had a few substitutions. That’s more of the grimdark side of things, but the stories were so well written that it comes off more trivial. The pacing was excellent. What else can I say? Highly recommend!
January 1, 2025
This was originally published here: https://spiraltowerpress.blogspot.com...
The word “puerile” comes from the Latin puerilis, meaning “boyish” or “childish.” In modern English, however, it has come to imply “immature” or “lacking in sophistication,” and it’s almost always deployed as an insult. Matt John’s new anthology, To Walk on Worlds, is indeed puerile, but I’d like to rescue the word from all its negative baggage.
When I was a kid, I simply found (and still do find) certain things just cool, rad, awesome—like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Super Mario Brothers, or Garbage Pail Kids—and I couldn’t tell you why. The coolness of these things was just a fact of my small universe. Although I would never have put it this way then, I was making an authentic, spontaneous, and “disinterested” aesthetic judgment. “Disinterestedness” in aesthetic judgment is essential, at least if you trust Immanuel Kant: in his Critique of Judgment (1790), he argues it’s a necessary precondition for any valid aesthetic judgment.
What does Kant mean by disinterestedness? Essentially, our judgments of beauty (or “pure judgments of taste”) must be free from personal interest, practical benefit, or moral considerations. If we praise a work solely because our friend made it, that’s personal interest. If we value it because it imparts historical knowledge, that’s a practical benefit. If we celebrate it for its moral lessons, that’s moral utility. None of these, Kant says, are purely aesthetic grounds.
In other words, for Kant, the only explanation you can really give for why something is beautiful or art-worthy is that it’s “cool.” By that logic, a little kid shrugging his shoulders and blurting out “I like it because it’s cool” is making one of the purest aesthetic judgments possible. That thought kept popping into my head while I read To Walk on Worlds. The anthology's key melody, if you will, is precisely this kind of puerile, no-nonsense love for the material.
To Walk on Worlds features a variety of stories that have been published elsewhere. I assume these stories have been revised and polished for this release, but beyond obvious cosmetic changes, they read the same as when I encountered them in their original venues. There are also stories published here for the first time.
On the one hand, the anthology is an eclectic, patchwork mix featuring a wide variety of characters and scenarios; on the other hand, there are recurring characters and themes running through the collection, so it is fair to call it cohesive and unified. In contemporary sword and sorcery, Matt John is a presence. He is one of the hosts of the Rogues in the House podcast, a contributor to Savage Sword of Conan and other official contemporary Conan-related properties (e.g., various versions of the Conan RPG). Matt’s oeuvre extends to organizing a vital Facebook group, the Conan Gaming Group. This isn’t the place to fully rehearse Matt’s nerd credentials: suffice it to say, he is a productive, active, and authentic fan, creator, and even influencer.
Full disclosure: I consider Matt my friend (which is why I am using "Matt" rather than the more formal "Mr. John"), have gamed with him, have been on panels with him at GenCon and Robert E. Howard Days, and have sometimes moonlighted on his podcast as an anxious, stuttering guest. But the credentials and compliments enumerated above aren’t mere flexing and flattery. I believe they are part of the appeal of Matt’s anthology. How so? As stated above, there is a palpable love of the material, the worlds, the characters, and the themes treated in this anthology that saturates every page. I dare say that enthusiasm and joy like Matt’s cannot be faked. It shines through in every story, and, through some Meddler’s dark magic, it is contagious, infects you, compels you onward.
Let me briefly touch on some of the stories.
“To Walk on Worlds” is an interesting tale about Maxus, the world-jumping and body-jumping sorcerer who plots and schemes against a king. Maxus is organizing his worldly affairs before becoming extra-worldly. The character Maxus will return again and again throughout the anthology. He is a fascinating force in the story, an archetypical nasty evil sorcerer who you kind of grow to love and hate: a little Skeletor, a little Mumm-Ra, spiced with the surprising Pinhead vibes. Strangely, Maxus’s sorcerous potency, knowledge, and intractability reminded me of—excuse the analogy—a sword and sorcery version of Rick from Rick and Morty.
“A Simple Errand” introduces Matt’s barbarian warrior, Lachmannon the Kael, who gets wrapped up in the schemes and machinations of Maxus. Lachmannon is the terra firma to Maxus’s cosmicism. The barbarian’s relationship to the sorcerer is intriguing and often hilarious: Maxus needs help with this or that cosmic challenge beyond the ken of the humble Kael, and Lachmannon provides the necessary brawn while observing how bizarre things are, often cursing about the bizarrerie of it all. In this way, Lachmannon is something of an ocular stand-in for the reader, giving us distance from the sorcerous and cosmic doings. He’s the Morty to Maxus’s Rick.
“The Gift of Gallah” is where Matt gets more literary and flexes his prose-style credentials. This is a tragic story about a man searching for the eponymous Gift of Gallah, but getting what he wants isn’t what he expected. There were some compelling and beautiful passages in this story. I would even go so far as to suggest this story treats some of the themes of toxic masculinity, specifically regarding emotional dissociation during the grieving process.
“Cries from a Sleeping City” was quite horrific. It features Lachmannon plumbing the depths of a haunted city as a mercenary. There are elements of cosmic horror, Dungeons & Dragons, and Gothicism. I was even reminded of Karl Edward Wagner’s tales, specifically his masterpiece “Raven’s Eyrie.” There is a lot of worldbuilding in this one, and you get the sense that the world Lachmannon occupies is fully realized—a Bronze Age or early medieval Eurasia haunted (literally and figuratively) by antiquity.
“Man of Xerus” was one of my favorite stories, definitely horror-focused. It reminded me of scenes in Hellraiser 2, where the victims of the Cenobites venture into an Escher-like hellscape. In this story, the protagonist is enthralled by a hideous world and the dark pleasures it offers, and thus is terribly punished for their morbid curiosity. Once again, this story features Maxus, the alien puppet-master sorcerer who serves to remind the reader that all these tales are part of a larger tableau.
“A Final Errand” brings Lachmannon and Maxus together once again. Maxus has dragged Lachmannon out of a quasi-retirement and needs his slaying skills once more. There are a lot of worldbuilding reveals here that I won’t spoil. What sticks with you is how the relationship between Maxus and Lachmannon develops and matures. Matt also lands the ending here. Perhaps I was just in a sentimental mood when reading this, but I discovered tears in my eyes at the surprising conclusion.
“The Meddler” shifts the focus from the cosmic to the local: two ordinary people are pulled into the machinations of a sorcerer (I don’t think this sorcerer is Maxus, but I could be wrong). This story was really intriguing in how it shows the tension between ordinary lives and the dehumanizing effects of a sorcerer’s cosmic enterprises. The sorcerer character comes off as fully anti-human, preying on the ordinary person—a perennial sword and sorcery theme.
“A Fate Worse than Exile” is a great story featuring a Kael similar to Lachmannon and a rogue-rascal who becomes his temporary travel companion. The trope of the sword and sorcery duo, akin to Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, is deployed here to interesting effect. There is one monologue by the barbarian Kael, describing his distrust of the “civilized,” that gets at a core theme of the sword and sorcery genre. This story ends on a haunting note.
“A Chance Burden,” originally published in Spiral Tower Press’s amateur zine, Whetstone, follows up on a previous character. It is an interesting meditation on the awkwardness of being a caregiver or parent.
The last entry is more of a vignette—an outré—and it really works: it ends with Maxus in all of his alienness, warning a humble farmer to steer clear of him.
This review is running long, so let me conclude with some comments about technique. John’s prose is very readable and polished. It’s paced wonderfully: full of momentum, balanced action, character building, a dash of introspection, and good plot structure. It would be wrong to say that Matt’s work isn’t artistically ambitious—his seriousness as a prose stylist is on display here—but there is a noir, minimalist quality to his storytelling technique, and that isn’t a bad thing (i.e. a literary touchstone might be Raymond Carver). Perhaps this is the kind of writing that will develop into further complexity in the future, but it doesn't need to, and I could imagine reading along with Matt in a novel-length narrative. Currently, Matt is, without a doubt, one of the best writers of contemporary sword and sorcery. His writing is unpretentious, and the genre is unpretentious, yet the lack of prose ornamentation doesn’t mean a lack of depth or feeling. Quite the opposite,
In my view, these stories deliver some of the perennial themes of the genre—tension between civilization and barbarism, the way extreme intelligence can become alien, the power of familial bonds in the face of danger, and the brutality of the civilized world—all while remaining fun. You can tell, as you read, that Matt is having fun, and you can’t help but be caught up in it. Because of this, I can honestly say, To Walk on Worlds is cool, man!
The word “puerile” comes from the Latin puerilis, meaning “boyish” or “childish.” In modern English, however, it has come to imply “immature” or “lacking in sophistication,” and it’s almost always deployed as an insult. Matt John’s new anthology, To Walk on Worlds, is indeed puerile, but I’d like to rescue the word from all its negative baggage.
When I was a kid, I simply found (and still do find) certain things just cool, rad, awesome—like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Super Mario Brothers, or Garbage Pail Kids—and I couldn’t tell you why. The coolness of these things was just a fact of my small universe. Although I would never have put it this way then, I was making an authentic, spontaneous, and “disinterested” aesthetic judgment. “Disinterestedness” in aesthetic judgment is essential, at least if you trust Immanuel Kant: in his Critique of Judgment (1790), he argues it’s a necessary precondition for any valid aesthetic judgment.
What does Kant mean by disinterestedness? Essentially, our judgments of beauty (or “pure judgments of taste”) must be free from personal interest, practical benefit, or moral considerations. If we praise a work solely because our friend made it, that’s personal interest. If we value it because it imparts historical knowledge, that’s a practical benefit. If we celebrate it for its moral lessons, that’s moral utility. None of these, Kant says, are purely aesthetic grounds.
In other words, for Kant, the only explanation you can really give for why something is beautiful or art-worthy is that it’s “cool.” By that logic, a little kid shrugging his shoulders and blurting out “I like it because it’s cool” is making one of the purest aesthetic judgments possible. That thought kept popping into my head while I read To Walk on Worlds. The anthology's key melody, if you will, is precisely this kind of puerile, no-nonsense love for the material.
To Walk on Worlds features a variety of stories that have been published elsewhere. I assume these stories have been revised and polished for this release, but beyond obvious cosmetic changes, they read the same as when I encountered them in their original venues. There are also stories published here for the first time.
On the one hand, the anthology is an eclectic, patchwork mix featuring a wide variety of characters and scenarios; on the other hand, there are recurring characters and themes running through the collection, so it is fair to call it cohesive and unified. In contemporary sword and sorcery, Matt John is a presence. He is one of the hosts of the Rogues in the House podcast, a contributor to Savage Sword of Conan and other official contemporary Conan-related properties (e.g., various versions of the Conan RPG). Matt’s oeuvre extends to organizing a vital Facebook group, the Conan Gaming Group. This isn’t the place to fully rehearse Matt’s nerd credentials: suffice it to say, he is a productive, active, and authentic fan, creator, and even influencer.
Full disclosure: I consider Matt my friend (which is why I am using "Matt" rather than the more formal "Mr. John"), have gamed with him, have been on panels with him at GenCon and Robert E. Howard Days, and have sometimes moonlighted on his podcast as an anxious, stuttering guest. But the credentials and compliments enumerated above aren’t mere flexing and flattery. I believe they are part of the appeal of Matt’s anthology. How so? As stated above, there is a palpable love of the material, the worlds, the characters, and the themes treated in this anthology that saturates every page. I dare say that enthusiasm and joy like Matt’s cannot be faked. It shines through in every story, and, through some Meddler’s dark magic, it is contagious, infects you, compels you onward.
Let me briefly touch on some of the stories.
“To Walk on Worlds” is an interesting tale about Maxus, the world-jumping and body-jumping sorcerer who plots and schemes against a king. Maxus is organizing his worldly affairs before becoming extra-worldly. The character Maxus will return again and again throughout the anthology. He is a fascinating force in the story, an archetypical nasty evil sorcerer who you kind of grow to love and hate: a little Skeletor, a little Mumm-Ra, spiced with the surprising Pinhead vibes. Strangely, Maxus’s sorcerous potency, knowledge, and intractability reminded me of—excuse the analogy—a sword and sorcery version of Rick from Rick and Morty.
“A Simple Errand” introduces Matt’s barbarian warrior, Lachmannon the Kael, who gets wrapped up in the schemes and machinations of Maxus. Lachmannon is the terra firma to Maxus’s cosmicism. The barbarian’s relationship to the sorcerer is intriguing and often hilarious: Maxus needs help with this or that cosmic challenge beyond the ken of the humble Kael, and Lachmannon provides the necessary brawn while observing how bizarre things are, often cursing about the bizarrerie of it all. In this way, Lachmannon is something of an ocular stand-in for the reader, giving us distance from the sorcerous and cosmic doings. He’s the Morty to Maxus’s Rick.
“The Gift of Gallah” is where Matt gets more literary and flexes his prose-style credentials. This is a tragic story about a man searching for the eponymous Gift of Gallah, but getting what he wants isn’t what he expected. There were some compelling and beautiful passages in this story. I would even go so far as to suggest this story treats some of the themes of toxic masculinity, specifically regarding emotional dissociation during the grieving process.
“Cries from a Sleeping City” was quite horrific. It features Lachmannon plumbing the depths of a haunted city as a mercenary. There are elements of cosmic horror, Dungeons & Dragons, and Gothicism. I was even reminded of Karl Edward Wagner’s tales, specifically his masterpiece “Raven’s Eyrie.” There is a lot of worldbuilding in this one, and you get the sense that the world Lachmannon occupies is fully realized—a Bronze Age or early medieval Eurasia haunted (literally and figuratively) by antiquity.
“Man of Xerus” was one of my favorite stories, definitely horror-focused. It reminded me of scenes in Hellraiser 2, where the victims of the Cenobites venture into an Escher-like hellscape. In this story, the protagonist is enthralled by a hideous world and the dark pleasures it offers, and thus is terribly punished for their morbid curiosity. Once again, this story features Maxus, the alien puppet-master sorcerer who serves to remind the reader that all these tales are part of a larger tableau.
“A Final Errand” brings Lachmannon and Maxus together once again. Maxus has dragged Lachmannon out of a quasi-retirement and needs his slaying skills once more. There are a lot of worldbuilding reveals here that I won’t spoil. What sticks with you is how the relationship between Maxus and Lachmannon develops and matures. Matt also lands the ending here. Perhaps I was just in a sentimental mood when reading this, but I discovered tears in my eyes at the surprising conclusion.
“The Meddler” shifts the focus from the cosmic to the local: two ordinary people are pulled into the machinations of a sorcerer (I don’t think this sorcerer is Maxus, but I could be wrong). This story was really intriguing in how it shows the tension between ordinary lives and the dehumanizing effects of a sorcerer’s cosmic enterprises. The sorcerer character comes off as fully anti-human, preying on the ordinary person—a perennial sword and sorcery theme.
“A Fate Worse than Exile” is a great story featuring a Kael similar to Lachmannon and a rogue-rascal who becomes his temporary travel companion. The trope of the sword and sorcery duo, akin to Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, is deployed here to interesting effect. There is one monologue by the barbarian Kael, describing his distrust of the “civilized,” that gets at a core theme of the sword and sorcery genre. This story ends on a haunting note.
“A Chance Burden,” originally published in Spiral Tower Press’s amateur zine, Whetstone, follows up on a previous character. It is an interesting meditation on the awkwardness of being a caregiver or parent.
The last entry is more of a vignette—an outré—and it really works: it ends with Maxus in all of his alienness, warning a humble farmer to steer clear of him.
This review is running long, so let me conclude with some comments about technique. John’s prose is very readable and polished. It’s paced wonderfully: full of momentum, balanced action, character building, a dash of introspection, and good plot structure. It would be wrong to say that Matt’s work isn’t artistically ambitious—his seriousness as a prose stylist is on display here—but there is a noir, minimalist quality to his storytelling technique, and that isn’t a bad thing (i.e. a literary touchstone might be Raymond Carver). Perhaps this is the kind of writing that will develop into further complexity in the future, but it doesn't need to, and I could imagine reading along with Matt in a novel-length narrative. Currently, Matt is, without a doubt, one of the best writers of contemporary sword and sorcery. His writing is unpretentious, and the genre is unpretentious, yet the lack of prose ornamentation doesn’t mean a lack of depth or feeling. Quite the opposite,
In my view, these stories deliver some of the perennial themes of the genre—tension between civilization and barbarism, the way extreme intelligence can become alien, the power of familial bonds in the face of danger, and the brutality of the civilized world—all while remaining fun. You can tell, as you read, that Matt is having fun, and you can’t help but be caught up in it. Because of this, I can honestly say, To Walk on Worlds is cool, man!
September 5, 2024
3.5 stars. Very interesting worldbuilding, and some interesting characters for sure, but I felt the writing was a bit slapdash.
Want to read
June 28, 2024Hopefully the cover for the paperback can be added soon. Mike Hoffman is practically the new Frank Frazetta.
August 20, 2024
It mixes the new and the old: the cover art evokes Panther or Centaur or Zebra Books with the Catherine Jones art and the stories certainly have the straightforward economy. But the telling sprinkles worldbuilding concepts uncommon to that period and an unflinching willingness to let the bad guy win and to have no uncompromised protagonist.
I liked every single story.
I liked every single story.
August 25, 2025
Matthew John’s To Walk on Worlds is an impressive feat of sword-and-sorcery worldbuilding. The stories share a setting and recurring figures — especially Maxus the Meddler and the Kaelish fighter Lachmannon — and together they sketch out a world that feels wide, dangerous, and lived in. Many of the pieces first appeared in genre magazines before being collected here, and the continuity between them gives the sense of a larger mythos taking shape.
The catch is that this isn’t a novel. As the first volume of The Maxus Cycle, it connects and echoes across stories, but it doesn’t build a single clear arc if you read it straight through. A few of the tales — “A Chance Burden,” “A Simple Errand,” “The Meddler” — read like perfect opening chapters of a longer book, but the collection as a whole is more of a mosaic than a continuous narrative. The best way to approach it is as a strong set of sword-and-sorcery stories that hint at something bigger, not as one unified story.
I first came across John through his fantastic Conan short in Titan Comic’s recent revamping of Savage Sword. His piece is one of the best I’ve read in the short run and this is an author I will be following.
Bottom line: If you go in for brutal, weird, dimension-hopping S&S with a proper mythos, this is absolutely worth your time—just read it like stories, not chapters. Side note: cool images on the inside by Sandy Carruthers.
Read on an Amazon self-published paperback.
The catch is that this isn’t a novel. As the first volume of The Maxus Cycle, it connects and echoes across stories, but it doesn’t build a single clear arc if you read it straight through. A few of the tales — “A Chance Burden,” “A Simple Errand,” “The Meddler” — read like perfect opening chapters of a longer book, but the collection as a whole is more of a mosaic than a continuous narrative. The best way to approach it is as a strong set of sword-and-sorcery stories that hint at something bigger, not as one unified story.
I first came across John through his fantastic Conan short in Titan Comic’s recent revamping of Savage Sword. His piece is one of the best I’ve read in the short run and this is an author I will be following.
Bottom line: If you go in for brutal, weird, dimension-hopping S&S with a proper mythos, this is absolutely worth your time—just read it like stories, not chapters. Side note: cool images on the inside by Sandy Carruthers.
Read on an Amazon self-published paperback.
July 16, 2024
To Walk on Worlds
Rogues in the House Podcast, 2024, 188pages); Cover art by
Mike Hoffman
Black Gate highlighted Rogues in the House (RitH) podcast in 2022, and in a few years, that crew rapidly expanded with Sword & Sorcery publications that include: A Book of Blades (2022) and A Book of Blades Vol. II (2023), and a collection of John R. Fultz's stories in The Revelations of Zang (2024) This post reviews the newest collection of stories from RitH's own Matthew John released this June: To Walk on Worlds is available now in eBook and paperback. Matthew John is fascinated with adventure fiction and moonlights as a writer and game designer for Monolith in addition to his podcast responsibilities. This post reviews To Walk on Worlds with excerpts.
If Gandalf was an a**hole, then we'd call him a "Meddler" instead of an "Istar"The back cover indicates Lachmannon may be the protagonist of focus, and this Northman of Kaelta displays clear, Conan-like vibes while featuring in many of the stories as the key barbarian. He rocks, but the everpresent, and more unique character (anti-hero?) across the book is Maxus the Meddler. A "meddler" is a sorcerer, and Maxus gains the god-like power to move (and exploit and dominate) multiple realms; the titular phrase 'To Talk on Worlds' emphasizes that readers will experience Maxus's exploration and machinations. Interior illustrations by Sandy Carruthers feature Maxus most, and he appears physically like Gandalf. So Maxus is phenotypically a wizard, but he is otherwise a bonafide a** hole. In the rare instances Maxus requires assistance from other beings, he does not form a fellowship. He may lure in rogue champions, like Lachmannon, to aid him but he would never consider them a partner. Maxus the Meddler is a splendid character, and it is super fun to witness him gain power and exploit other characters.
The table of contents (below) reveals eleven stories, seven of which were published in popular S&S venues. They read even better together, with four additional stories helping flesh out the land containing the capital city of Pathra, Keal, Vescivius, Spatha, and the Burning Isle. Oddly, perhaps on purpose, every story has an abundance of grinning characters. Matthew Johns's writing style is very accessible, moving at the fast pace one would expect from pulpy fiction.
Check out the excerpts that convey (1) weird foes, (2) desperate melee, and (3) vile sorcery!
Interior Illustration of Maxus: Sandy Carruthers
Cover Blurb Table of Contents “To Walk on Worlds” copyright © 2024 by Matthew John. First appeared in Death’s Sting Where Art Thou, February 2020. “A Simple Errand” copyright © by Matthew John. First appeared in Tales From the Magician’s Skull #10, April 2024. “The Circle” copyright © by Matthew John. First appeared in Weirdbook #40, April 2019. “Gift of Gallah” copyright © by Matthew John. First appeared in A Book of Blades, July 2022. “Cries From a Sleeping City” copyright © by Matthew John. First appeared in A Book of Blades Volume II, July 2023. “Man of Xerus” copyright © by Matthew John. Published here for the first time. “A Final Errand” copyright © by Matthew John. Published here for the first time. “The Meddler” copyright © by Matthew John. First appeared in Weirdbook Annual: Zombies, October 2021. “A Fate Worse than Exile” copyright © by Matthew John. Published here for the first time. “A Chance Burden” copyright © by Matthew John. First appeared in Whetstone Amateur Magazine of Sword and Sorcery issue 4, December 2021. “Black Harvest” copyright © by Matthew John. Published here for the first time. Excerpts Weird FoesFrom the Burning Isle to the hellish depths of Zanzara, beyond the demon-haunted planets circling the Black Rim, only Maxus the Meddler may walk on worlds…and woe to any other who tries.
Kings and generals are but pawns for the immortal sorcerer, as are the vengeful creatures from the stars. The machinations of Maxus require many cogs, and only one among them has ever risen beyond his station.
Lachmannon the Kael, a man born from the stony bones of the earth, becomes the meddler's most useful asset. But the Kaelish mercenary's head is as hard as his fists. When Maxus’ monomaniacal goal–to master the sorceries of every world and every age–becomes clear to him, will he remain an expendable tool?
Not bloody likely.
John’s tales of swords, sorcery, and subversion have previously appeared in the pages of Weirdbook, Whetstone, and Tales From the Magician’s Skull. To Walk on Worlds collects nearly a decade’s worth of sardonic dark fantasy, as well as a fistful of new stories printed here for the first time.
Desperate Melee...Lachmannon struck again, cleaving off a portion of Marick’s head. His remaining ear clung tenuously to a sagging flap of his scalp.
The guard stepped back in horror, but for Marick it was as if the blow hadn't landed.
“It’s inevitable, Kael,” he said, grinning as blood streamed past his lips. “She’s already here.” As he spoke, a dark liquid erupted from the wound in his scalp. After a thick, oily gout, tiny worms spilled out, sloughing from his head to the floor where they writhed in chaotic black clusters.
Lachmannon’s next blow severed Marick’s head. Blood fountained from his neck, spraying down the remaining guard.
Marick’s meaty frame tumbled bonelessly to the floor with a wet thud. Black ichor oozed from the wound, crawling with tiny, human-faced worms...
Vile SorceryThe blood rain ceased as the scralek dropped the bowl and hopped down from the cage. Then he picked up a shit-coated stick and began jamming it between the bars of bleached bone, trying to further humiliate Quent. When he proved too quick and agile for the game, the fiend moved on to the northman. A few pokes landed before the giant acknowledged the slight. Then—in a blur of motion—he snatched the prod from his torturer and thrust it back through the bars. The jagged stick pierced the scralek’s crude chest piece, punching through the armor on his back. A gurgle escaped his lips as he crumpled to the red sands.
A nearby cluster of scraleks began shouting what might have been war cries or tributes to their grim gods; others laughed and pounded their drums in faster succession. The northern giant returned to his slumped position, brushing the blood and shit from his hands.
"....Szrak!” The final word burst from his lips. His arm shot forward, twice the span of its natural length, striking like a whip. The talisman pierced the breast of Plyxtra and the alien’s inhuman wail pealed through the chamber. Seconds later the beast exploded into violet flames.
For this last spell to work, Vulka had dispelled his wards. Without their protection he took the full brunt of the blast. His robes burst into flames, and he dropped to the floor. He rolled and screamed out the Words of Winter’s Breath. A swell of snow and ice blasted the dais, smothering the fire and blanketing man and demon with a chilling pall.
Despite the spell, Vulka’s flesh was screaming agony, covered in patches of angry red flesh. His hair and beard were all but burned away, his robes reduced to blackened wisps. Hot licks of pain tried to steal his focus, yet his chest heaved with maniacal laughter. He was nearly cooked, but he was whole. He’d done it! He’d slain a demon and the one man he’d hated all his life. All the treasures—all the powers of Xerus—were his. He needed only to peel himself off the tiles and—
[
Interior Illustration of Maxus: Sandy Carruthers
About Matthew John Matthew John is an English language arts teacher and employee of Monolith Games (Conan, Batman: Gotham City Chronicles). He lives with his wife, two children, and countless cats and dogs in Nova Scotia, Canada. When time allows, he likes to write short fiction, waste time at the gaming table, and chat sword and sorcery on the Rogues in the House Podcast. His work has been published in Grimdark Magazine, Tales from the Magician's Skull, Skelos (SkelosPress), Weirdbook (Wildside Press), and Robert E. Howard’s Conan the roleplaying game (Modiphius Games).
August 1, 2024
To Walk on Worlds provides 11 enjoyable Sword and Sorcery stories. The prose style is very direct and contemporary and many of the stories weave their way in and out across the boundaries between Sword and Sorcery and grimdark.
The opening two stories are particularly compelling. The self-titled To Walk on Worlds is widely imaginative, with a dark sense of humor and an almost science fiction setting.
A Simple Errand (which originally appeared in Tales From the Magician’s Skull) is an amazing story. It has an absolutely amazing psychedelic setting, with elements of Sword and Planet intermixed. Overall, it’s just a shining example of great Sword and Sorcery.
Many of these stories feature the recurring characters Maxus and Lachammon.
Maxus is a darkly compelling and sometimes humorous character. He’s a sonuvabitch but a captivating sonovabitch.
Lachammon feels very much like a Clonan(in a good way) but with a contemporary focus on having him be a bit more rough around the edges and flawed. Less archetypal than the genre defining Cimmerian.
Another recurring theme is the setting blurring sci-fi and S&S. Many of the monsters and references to other worlds feel like gritty homages to Alien, Starship Troopers, etc. The book really makes insects unsettling again. It’s a very cool setting and I’d love to read more in it.
Overall, I like this collection quite a bit. I have to admit, personally, I prefer the more purple prose than this contemporary style, and I don’t particularly care for the grimdark “warts and all.” I’m too much of a romantic for that kind of storytelling (usually) and a sucker for archetypal characters that just do what you like ramped up to eleven.
All that being said this book won me over completely. I also think it’s a great entry point for your friend who’s into Joe Abercrombie or something more modern that you’re trying to get into the old school Sword and Sorcery genre. It’s a good bridge and a good step forward for the genre.
Check it out!
The opening two stories are particularly compelling. The self-titled To Walk on Worlds is widely imaginative, with a dark sense of humor and an almost science fiction setting.
A Simple Errand (which originally appeared in Tales From the Magician’s Skull) is an amazing story. It has an absolutely amazing psychedelic setting, with elements of Sword and Planet intermixed. Overall, it’s just a shining example of great Sword and Sorcery.
Many of these stories feature the recurring characters Maxus and Lachammon.
Maxus is a darkly compelling and sometimes humorous character. He’s a sonuvabitch but a captivating sonovabitch.
Lachammon feels very much like a Clonan(in a good way) but with a contemporary focus on having him be a bit more rough around the edges and flawed. Less archetypal than the genre defining Cimmerian.
Another recurring theme is the setting blurring sci-fi and S&S. Many of the monsters and references to other worlds feel like gritty homages to Alien, Starship Troopers, etc. The book really makes insects unsettling again. It’s a very cool setting and I’d love to read more in it.
Overall, I like this collection quite a bit. I have to admit, personally, I prefer the more purple prose than this contemporary style, and I don’t particularly care for the grimdark “warts and all.” I’m too much of a romantic for that kind of storytelling (usually) and a sucker for archetypal characters that just do what you like ramped up to eleven.
All that being said this book won me over completely. I also think it’s a great entry point for your friend who’s into Joe Abercrombie or something more modern that you’re trying to get into the old school Sword and Sorcery genre. It’s a good bridge and a good step forward for the genre.
Check it out!
June 29, 2025
It's not fair to call TO WALK ON WORLDS just a collection of short stories. Each story contained herein is part of a larger narrative, all weaving together to tell a larger tale about a wizard, sorcerer, and body thief—referred to as a "meddler" in this world—who is both villain and living legend. All know him as Maxus.
Unlike most short story collections, which typically have a dud here or there, every story in this book is a treasure that carries the legend of Maxus forward. The first story hooked me instantly and each that followed would not let me go. Vivid characters are introduced and reintroduced in stories that read like chapters of a larger narrative that paints a picture of Maxus and his rise to infamy.
I don't say this lightly: This is the best sword and sorcery book I've ever read.
Unlike most short story collections, which typically have a dud here or there, every story in this book is a treasure that carries the legend of Maxus forward. The first story hooked me instantly and each that followed would not let me go. Vivid characters are introduced and reintroduced in stories that read like chapters of a larger narrative that paints a picture of Maxus and his rise to infamy.
I don't say this lightly: This is the best sword and sorcery book I've ever read.
December 17, 2024
“To Walk on Worlds” is the first story in the book. His first paragraph has me intrigued. This is a good start. Reminds me of Clark Ashton Smith, actually. Also, and this may say more about me than about the writing, but that first page was AWESOME. I love mysterious tomes and books. I assume Matt John does too, because someone who doesn’t love mysterious books and tomes couldn’t have written that. I had to stop reading and just sit there and love that page, that scene, those words. Those first three paragraphs have me hooked. All in all, I like how Maxus is set up. I am presuming he is the villain of the book, since he’s a manipulating bully, with all the psychological faults of a bully. The arrow part was confusing, and I am still not sure what happened there, other than an arrow came out of nowhere, from a guy whose job it was to shoot, but is yelled at because he shot. Other than the one scene with the archer, I really liked this story. It’s compelling, and psychologically interesting. Maxus makes really dumb mistakes, but they are exactly the kinds of mistakes a bully would make.
***
“A Simple Errand” is the second story. It introduces a character named Lachmannon, which sounds Gaelic. But he’s not a Gael, he’s a Kael. So it’s a Kaelic name. Lachmannon’s personality becomes clearer as I move through the story. First, he’s contentious. Well, his not just contentious. He is aggressively contentious. He will absolutely try to start an argument when none are needed. Second, he is extremely violent. His reactions to everything are prone toward violence, even his reactions toward comments that aren’t insulting in the least. Third, Lachmannon would rather be the leader. He is clearly uncomfortable being subordinate to the meddler, even though it’s to his advantage. He hates not being in charge, not being in the know, and not being the main driver of the action.
All in all, this was a good story. I liked it. I love how the author captures a character’s personality so well in just a few pages. This is a real writing strength. He’s not afraid to make the character’s strengths to be flaws in equal measure. Maxus is a bully, and it helps him achieve his goals, but it also leads him to stupid mistakes that only bullies make. Lachmannon is so aggressively contentious that it gets him in trouble, but it also makes him resolute and unbreakable. So far, he doesn’t have characters that have a characteristic that is unilaterally a strength and another, completely separate characteristic to function as a flaw, but he makes each characteristic function as both a strength and a flaw. I also thought it was interesting that out of seven grins and smiles described in the story, nearly half of them were described in violent terms (splitting or cutting a grin). Super appropriate for the characters in this story. The ending was exciting and mystifying. It really felt like swords & sorcery, and it never felt like D&D magic. It had compelling characters and a great otherworldly atmosphere. Top marks.
***
“The Circle” is the third story. This one has an excellent start. A man is being hunted and he is almost out of ammo and is missing a boot. Seriously, Louis L’amour (one of my favorite authors) has started books and stories like this and I love it. Already I feel the stakes. I feel his pain. I feel his panic. This story was a gift. I loved it. I’m not going to detail its plot at all. Read it. I liked this one a lot. It’s haunting, and I think this one will stick with me for a while.
I want to do a whole analysis of this story, but it would give too much away for readers. This story is PHENOMENAL. Absolute highlight of the novel so far.
***
“The Gift of Gallah” is the fourth story. I didn’t care for this one. It was just hard to get into, hard to visualize, and hard to care. I had no reason to care for anyone in this story. None of the characters were likeable or entertaining. I finished the story without knowing if it was a tragedy or a justice. Everything in this story was vague.
***
“Cries from a Sleeping City” is the fifth story. Lachmannon is back! I am left with questions. He had enough money from his adventure with Maxus to buy a keep and land and retainers. Has power changed him? This story would have been a good place for some commentary or thoughts on the nature of power and wealth and how it changes people. Good story, regardless. I probably shouldn’t review a book on things that aren’t there, but I can’t help feeling that if this story added just a bit of reflection, a bit of insight or philosophy, it would have been elevated.
***
“Man of Xerus” is the sixth story. This story is published in this book for the first time. We have a character named Vulka who magically builds himself on a new world and prides himself for getting there before Maxus. Maxus should have just attacked Vulka right off, but true to the character of the bully, Maxus has to rub his accomplishments in. He must brag and exult himself. I like that Matt John keeps these characteristics so constant in his characters. It was a weird story, with no one to root for or really care about. But I liked it. Maxus is a pretty cool character, bully that he is. Maxus is very ambitious, but his ambition doesn’t seem to get him anywhere. He’s spinning his wheels and getting stuck places.
***
“A Final Errand” is the seventh story, published here for the first time. Matt John’s aggressively contentious protagonist is back! And he is with Maxus! I really liked the twist in this story. And the description on the top of page 159 was masterful. The change in character for Maxus is a little unexpected, but since he does respect Lachmannon, that makes the difference. He’s quite brutal to the spiders. Lachmannon is still argumentative even when he doesn’t need to be (especially when he doesn’t need to be), which continues to amuse the heck out of me. I still don’t know if wealth has changed Lachmannon or what Maxus’ ultimate goal is.
***
“The Meddler” is the eighth story, and I liked this one a lot. I loved Matt John’s description of the meddler, from the rotten teeth to his eyes. All of this paints a picture that is indelible. She goes to the tower, and Matt John offered a description that I loved. I lingered over it and just thought it was magnificent. “Like a black sword, it seemed to threaten the very sky.” For me, that was evocative. I could picture it. Beautiful. But I’ve always been drawn toward wizard’s towers. I’m very excited about her exploration of one. Then the protagonist, who is wearing a scarf, finds another scarf. I really liked this moment. Wow, the connections that clicked as soon as she found it. This meddler is no good. I loved this moment. She finds something unexpected in the tower, and steals something she wasn’t there to take. Also, I think I mentioned that I am always drawn to sorcerer’s towers, and the descriptions of this tower do not disappoint.
This is a well-written tale with some wonderful descriptions and tense moments. The discovery of the scarf and how that hits the reader as an “OMG” moment was so well done. This plot felt new and interesting, and I genuinely cared for the fates of these two kiddos. This meddler (whether it was Maxus or not) was frightening and felt powerful and manipulative. But he didn’t bully the kids, which again makes me wonder if it was Maxus or not. I guess it doesn’t matter. It was a well-realized character. I loved his description, and his menace. Even though Lachmannon wasn’t in it, I really enjoyed this story.
***
“A Fate Worse than Exile” is the ninth story. I have to say, I LOVED the first three paragraphs of this story. Each word was chosen wonderfully. They all conveyed a mood and the character. Again, this is something Matt John excels at. It doesn’t take much for him to be able to convey character. The fifth paragraph, also. Wow. I love his descriptive talents. One of the characters is a Kael who acts EXACTLY like Lachmannon, who I expected it to be, but no, it is a generic Kael named Manus. That revelation took all the air out of the story, made something that started out so strongly just kind of feel like, "meh." It also made me wonder if Lachmannon wasn't so special after all - maybe this is just how Matt John writes warriors.
***
“A Chance Burden” is the tenth story. This one starts off with the girl from “The Meddler,” just 26 years later. She’s basically drunk, and finds a child in the arms of a dead mother. She takes the child and finds out the child is being hunted. She can’t fight the grinning rogues, though. She fights the rogues, aided by a pack of wolves. This one was short and nothing unexpected happened. Of course, the wolves helped her. Of course, the baby can communicate with animals. No real character development either. Yeah, she’s mopey and regrets the things she did wrong to survive, but so what? This one didn't feel like sword & sorcery - it felt like high fantasy. It also felt like a prologue, not a short story. There was no character arc, no anything but a predictable combat scene with predictable help for an outmatched protagonist. She wasn't clever or anything. She didn't live up to the promise of her first appearance, where she was quite clever.
***
“Black Harvest” is the final story of the book. This one takes place like 200 or so years before the one before it. It takes place two years before the first story. Melvyn the Farmer is questioned by a dark-swathed stranger. Melvyn finds the stranger’s questions invasive, so the farmer keeps looking at a graveyard for some reason. Not sure of the point of this story other than to show that Maxus causes famine, which we already knew from the first story. I didn't understand why this one was included. It didn't add anything.
***
I LOVE the cover. Mark Hoffman did a very Frazetta/Jeff Jones style cover, and I love that. Yes, I know, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” but if something reminds me of the Ace/Lancer and Zebra paperback books where I cut my Sword & Sorcery teeth, I am going to be positively inclined toward it.
I enjoyed most of the stories. The ones up front were the strongest. The first three are phenomenal. Loved them. The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth were also really strong. The ninth started strong, then disappointed at the end. The last two are alright, but don't add anything to the saga of Maxus or Lachmannon. “The Gift of Gallah” is the only one I truly disliked from start to finish.
I like how Matt John can convey character quickly. Many of the background images were stellar and easily conveyed what should be seen. There were many passages or phrases that I simply relished, and read them over and over just to appreciate them. My only complaint about the writing itself (other than the disappointing revelation of Manus as the Kael in one of the stories) is that his characters are constantly grinning, often at each other or at their foes, and they usually split into grins, which is a weird way to constantly and consistently refer to the act. They grin at each other every few pages, and sometimes multiple times on a page.
***
“A Simple Errand” is the second story. It introduces a character named Lachmannon, which sounds Gaelic. But he’s not a Gael, he’s a Kael. So it’s a Kaelic name. Lachmannon’s personality becomes clearer as I move through the story. First, he’s contentious. Well, his not just contentious. He is aggressively contentious. He will absolutely try to start an argument when none are needed. Second, he is extremely violent. His reactions to everything are prone toward violence, even his reactions toward comments that aren’t insulting in the least. Third, Lachmannon would rather be the leader. He is clearly uncomfortable being subordinate to the meddler, even though it’s to his advantage. He hates not being in charge, not being in the know, and not being the main driver of the action.
All in all, this was a good story. I liked it. I love how the author captures a character’s personality so well in just a few pages. This is a real writing strength. He’s not afraid to make the character’s strengths to be flaws in equal measure. Maxus is a bully, and it helps him achieve his goals, but it also leads him to stupid mistakes that only bullies make. Lachmannon is so aggressively contentious that it gets him in trouble, but it also makes him resolute and unbreakable. So far, he doesn’t have characters that have a characteristic that is unilaterally a strength and another, completely separate characteristic to function as a flaw, but he makes each characteristic function as both a strength and a flaw. I also thought it was interesting that out of seven grins and smiles described in the story, nearly half of them were described in violent terms (splitting or cutting a grin). Super appropriate for the characters in this story. The ending was exciting and mystifying. It really felt like swords & sorcery, and it never felt like D&D magic. It had compelling characters and a great otherworldly atmosphere. Top marks.
***
“The Circle” is the third story. This one has an excellent start. A man is being hunted and he is almost out of ammo and is missing a boot. Seriously, Louis L’amour (one of my favorite authors) has started books and stories like this and I love it. Already I feel the stakes. I feel his pain. I feel his panic. This story was a gift. I loved it. I’m not going to detail its plot at all. Read it. I liked this one a lot. It’s haunting, and I think this one will stick with me for a while.
I want to do a whole analysis of this story, but it would give too much away for readers. This story is PHENOMENAL. Absolute highlight of the novel so far.
***
“The Gift of Gallah” is the fourth story. I didn’t care for this one. It was just hard to get into, hard to visualize, and hard to care. I had no reason to care for anyone in this story. None of the characters were likeable or entertaining. I finished the story without knowing if it was a tragedy or a justice. Everything in this story was vague.
***
“Cries from a Sleeping City” is the fifth story. Lachmannon is back! I am left with questions. He had enough money from his adventure with Maxus to buy a keep and land and retainers. Has power changed him? This story would have been a good place for some commentary or thoughts on the nature of power and wealth and how it changes people. Good story, regardless. I probably shouldn’t review a book on things that aren’t there, but I can’t help feeling that if this story added just a bit of reflection, a bit of insight or philosophy, it would have been elevated.
***
“Man of Xerus” is the sixth story. This story is published in this book for the first time. We have a character named Vulka who magically builds himself on a new world and prides himself for getting there before Maxus. Maxus should have just attacked Vulka right off, but true to the character of the bully, Maxus has to rub his accomplishments in. He must brag and exult himself. I like that Matt John keeps these characteristics so constant in his characters. It was a weird story, with no one to root for or really care about. But I liked it. Maxus is a pretty cool character, bully that he is. Maxus is very ambitious, but his ambition doesn’t seem to get him anywhere. He’s spinning his wheels and getting stuck places.
***
“A Final Errand” is the seventh story, published here for the first time. Matt John’s aggressively contentious protagonist is back! And he is with Maxus! I really liked the twist in this story. And the description on the top of page 159 was masterful. The change in character for Maxus is a little unexpected, but since he does respect Lachmannon, that makes the difference. He’s quite brutal to the spiders. Lachmannon is still argumentative even when he doesn’t need to be (especially when he doesn’t need to be), which continues to amuse the heck out of me. I still don’t know if wealth has changed Lachmannon or what Maxus’ ultimate goal is.
***
“The Meddler” is the eighth story, and I liked this one a lot. I loved Matt John’s description of the meddler, from the rotten teeth to his eyes. All of this paints a picture that is indelible. She goes to the tower, and Matt John offered a description that I loved. I lingered over it and just thought it was magnificent. “Like a black sword, it seemed to threaten the very sky.” For me, that was evocative. I could picture it. Beautiful. But I’ve always been drawn toward wizard’s towers. I’m very excited about her exploration of one. Then the protagonist, who is wearing a scarf, finds another scarf. I really liked this moment. Wow, the connections that clicked as soon as she found it. This meddler is no good. I loved this moment. She finds something unexpected in the tower, and steals something she wasn’t there to take. Also, I think I mentioned that I am always drawn to sorcerer’s towers, and the descriptions of this tower do not disappoint.
This is a well-written tale with some wonderful descriptions and tense moments. The discovery of the scarf and how that hits the reader as an “OMG” moment was so well done. This plot felt new and interesting, and I genuinely cared for the fates of these two kiddos. This meddler (whether it was Maxus or not) was frightening and felt powerful and manipulative. But he didn’t bully the kids, which again makes me wonder if it was Maxus or not. I guess it doesn’t matter. It was a well-realized character. I loved his description, and his menace. Even though Lachmannon wasn’t in it, I really enjoyed this story.
***
“A Fate Worse than Exile” is the ninth story. I have to say, I LOVED the first three paragraphs of this story. Each word was chosen wonderfully. They all conveyed a mood and the character. Again, this is something Matt John excels at. It doesn’t take much for him to be able to convey character. The fifth paragraph, also. Wow. I love his descriptive talents. One of the characters is a Kael who acts EXACTLY like Lachmannon, who I expected it to be, but no, it is a generic Kael named Manus. That revelation took all the air out of the story, made something that started out so strongly just kind of feel like, "meh." It also made me wonder if Lachmannon wasn't so special after all - maybe this is just how Matt John writes warriors.
***
“A Chance Burden” is the tenth story. This one starts off with the girl from “The Meddler,” just 26 years later. She’s basically drunk, and finds a child in the arms of a dead mother. She takes the child and finds out the child is being hunted. She can’t fight the grinning rogues, though. She fights the rogues, aided by a pack of wolves. This one was short and nothing unexpected happened. Of course, the wolves helped her. Of course, the baby can communicate with animals. No real character development either. Yeah, she’s mopey and regrets the things she did wrong to survive, but so what? This one didn't feel like sword & sorcery - it felt like high fantasy. It also felt like a prologue, not a short story. There was no character arc, no anything but a predictable combat scene with predictable help for an outmatched protagonist. She wasn't clever or anything. She didn't live up to the promise of her first appearance, where she was quite clever.
***
“Black Harvest” is the final story of the book. This one takes place like 200 or so years before the one before it. It takes place two years before the first story. Melvyn the Farmer is questioned by a dark-swathed stranger. Melvyn finds the stranger’s questions invasive, so the farmer keeps looking at a graveyard for some reason. Not sure of the point of this story other than to show that Maxus causes famine, which we already knew from the first story. I didn't understand why this one was included. It didn't add anything.
***
I LOVE the cover. Mark Hoffman did a very Frazetta/Jeff Jones style cover, and I love that. Yes, I know, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” but if something reminds me of the Ace/Lancer and Zebra paperback books where I cut my Sword & Sorcery teeth, I am going to be positively inclined toward it.
I enjoyed most of the stories. The ones up front were the strongest. The first three are phenomenal. Loved them. The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth were also really strong. The ninth started strong, then disappointed at the end. The last two are alright, but don't add anything to the saga of Maxus or Lachmannon. “The Gift of Gallah” is the only one I truly disliked from start to finish.
I like how Matt John can convey character quickly. Many of the background images were stellar and easily conveyed what should be seen. There were many passages or phrases that I simply relished, and read them over and over just to appreciate them. My only complaint about the writing itself (other than the disappointing revelation of Manus as the Kael in one of the stories) is that his characters are constantly grinning, often at each other or at their foes, and they usually split into grins, which is a weird way to constantly and consistently refer to the act. They grin at each other every few pages, and sometimes multiple times on a page.
December 24, 2024
A fascinating series of loosely related tales about a vicious, heartless wizard who discovers the power to move between different planets and dimensions. From those he gathers power to do even more astounding feats. The stories are very fantastic and eerie, often very lovecraftian or dark in tone. Its creative and unique and ought to be better known.
This book feels old in some ways, a throwback to pulp fantasy, but is very recent and I recommend it.
This book feels old in some ways, a throwback to pulp fantasy, but is very recent and I recommend it.
September 7, 2025
The best modern sword and sorcery
The best modern Sword and Sorcery I have found. Very creative and atmospheric, pulsing with dark and dangerous magic and characters. I really like the way the overarching story is told through separate stories. It's a great way to plant interesting seeds in your imagination and move on to the next discovery without losing momentum. As you are drawn into the next story, these previously planted seeds continue to grow in the back of your mind, like vines weaving through each other and together to form a truly rich and magical world. This format of storytelling seems especially fit for sword and sorcery, and I hope the author keeps going in that direction. If you like Karl Edward Wagner, Tanith Lee, and Robert E. Howard, but want something new, you are going to love these stories too.
The best modern Sword and Sorcery I have found. Very creative and atmospheric, pulsing with dark and dangerous magic and characters. I really like the way the overarching story is told through separate stories. It's a great way to plant interesting seeds in your imagination and move on to the next discovery without losing momentum. As you are drawn into the next story, these previously planted seeds continue to grow in the back of your mind, like vines weaving through each other and together to form a truly rich and magical world. This format of storytelling seems especially fit for sword and sorcery, and I hope the author keeps going in that direction. If you like Karl Edward Wagner, Tanith Lee, and Robert E. Howard, but want something new, you are going to love these stories too.
November 3, 2024
This book marks a personal first in that I'd never before read a book based on the author's opinions of and love for the genre. Matthew John, co-host of the "Rogues in the House" sword & sorcery podcast, makes good on his oft-proclaimed belief that the best sword and sorcery tales have more than a dash of horror in them. Folks, it's a gamble that paid off!
While most of the protagonists of this collection's shorts are rough-n-tumble sellswords of the Robert E. Howard variety, they often find themselves overwhelmed by unfathomable adversaries beyond their ken -- not unlike your average Lovecraftian New England antiquarian. (Indeed, by the fourth time a protagonist fainted and regained his senses elsewhere, I was starting to think it was an intentional running gag.)
John's influences range from Wagner's Kane in the epoch-spanning sorcerer antihero Maxus, to Jack Vance's Dying Earth with the preponderance of ancient technology. Unlike Vance though, the prose is lean, punchy and muscular rather than comically florid*. What humor might be present in these dark tales, comes from the occasional wry observation its cynical heroes make.
I'm dropping a lot of names here, but To Walk on Worlds is actually completely accessible for someone who isn't a big S&S nerd - the stories are all stand-alone, packed with incident, character and end in twisty/tragic denouements. Taken all together, they do weave a tale across time and space, and the short "Black Harvest" coda seems to imply a sequel is planned, but this is absolutely a low barrier entry-point for those that identify as thew-curious.
As for me, I definitely drank the Kool-Aid (or puffed the Shaper-pipe, if you will), and will be tuning in to see what new bullshit will befall Maxus, Lachmannon, Shel, and Quent.
*No disrespect to Vance obvs, one of my dream projects would be the Coen Bros making a Dying Earth movie; an O Brother Where Art Thou by way of Weird Tales.
While most of the protagonists of this collection's shorts are rough-n-tumble sellswords of the Robert E. Howard variety, they often find themselves overwhelmed by unfathomable adversaries beyond their ken -- not unlike your average Lovecraftian New England antiquarian. (Indeed, by the fourth time a protagonist fainted and regained his senses elsewhere, I was starting to think it was an intentional running gag.)
John's influences range from Wagner's Kane in the epoch-spanning sorcerer antihero Maxus, to Jack Vance's Dying Earth with the preponderance of ancient technology. Unlike Vance though, the prose is lean, punchy and muscular rather than comically florid*. What humor might be present in these dark tales, comes from the occasional wry observation its cynical heroes make.
I'm dropping a lot of names here, but To Walk on Worlds is actually completely accessible for someone who isn't a big S&S nerd - the stories are all stand-alone, packed with incident, character and end in twisty/tragic denouements. Taken all together, they do weave a tale across time and space, and the short "Black Harvest" coda seems to imply a sequel is planned, but this is absolutely a low barrier entry-point for those that identify as thew-curious.
As for me, I definitely drank the Kool-Aid (or puffed the Shaper-pipe, if you will), and will be tuning in to see what new bullshit will befall Maxus, Lachmannon, Shel, and Quent.
*No disrespect to Vance obvs, one of my dream projects would be the Coen Bros making a Dying Earth movie; an O Brother Where Art Thou by way of Weird Tales.
July 27, 2024
To Walk on Wolds is an sword-and-sorcery tale presented in a vintage paperback format, as all such stories should be published.
Mr. Johns is my favorite rogue from the Rogues in the House podcast - the premier podcast of sword-and-sorcery fandom. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I heard he had written a novel out, but I knew I had to check it out. I figured it would be entertaining, but it was way more than expected.
Mr. Johns must be channeling the old weird/pulp masters because it gives off Jack Vance or Tanya Huff vibes to me. Along with the classic pocket paperback format and the painted cover of a barbarian warrior and scantly clad maiden -who is most likely a witch or enchantress- To Walk on Worlds strikes all the nostalgic cords for old sword-and-sorcery readers like me. ( I felt like an 80’s teenager again, just leaving the mall book store.) But worry not, fore there is plenty of all the things anyone new to this genre, will enjoy too.
To Walk on Worlds is a collection of stories that range from cosmic weird horror, to fantastic, and adventure.
If you’re like this reader, you probably will come to this book to read exploits of the barbarian mercenary, Lachmannon, but it’s the dark sorcerer, Maxus that steals the show, as he takes backwards and forwards through ages and from one strange world to another. Maxus is what Gandalf would be if Gandalf was narcissistic @$$hole whose only goal is to, well, become a god. (Gotta have a goal, man.)
If sword-and-sorcery, weird pulp, and cosmic horror are your jam, then To Walk on Worlds is a book for you.
Mr. Johns is my favorite rogue from the Rogues in the House podcast - the premier podcast of sword-and-sorcery fandom. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I heard he had written a novel out, but I knew I had to check it out. I figured it would be entertaining, but it was way more than expected.
Mr. Johns must be channeling the old weird/pulp masters because it gives off Jack Vance or Tanya Huff vibes to me. Along with the classic pocket paperback format and the painted cover of a barbarian warrior and scantly clad maiden -who is most likely a witch or enchantress- To Walk on Worlds strikes all the nostalgic cords for old sword-and-sorcery readers like me. ( I felt like an 80’s teenager again, just leaving the mall book store.) But worry not, fore there is plenty of all the things anyone new to this genre, will enjoy too.
To Walk on Worlds is a collection of stories that range from cosmic weird horror, to fantastic, and adventure.
If you’re like this reader, you probably will come to this book to read exploits of the barbarian mercenary, Lachmannon, but it’s the dark sorcerer, Maxus that steals the show, as he takes backwards and forwards through ages and from one strange world to another. Maxus is what Gandalf would be if Gandalf was narcissistic @$$hole whose only goal is to, well, become a god. (Gotta have a goal, man.)
If sword-and-sorcery, weird pulp, and cosmic horror are your jam, then To Walk on Worlds is a book for you.
July 14, 2024
This was an excellent anthology of stories. I really enjoyed the otherworldly alien feel of some of the settings, and the incredible nail-biting action. All the elements of fantastic Sword & Sorcery were woven fantastically into every story. I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of classic and modern Sword & Sorcery!
August 26, 2024
Matthew John’s work is becoming a frequent sight in the top sword & sorcery and weird fantasy-oriented periodicals, but To Walk on Worlds bundles it together in one convenient package, where the connections and references between the stories can more easily be appreciated. The stories in To Walk on Worlds are grim, brutal, horrific, and bleak but also contain flashes of wonder and even humor. As strong a debut collection as this is, To Walk on Worlds also gives readers a sense that Matthew John is just getting started. Just remember: wizards are dicks.
Read my full review at Grimdark Magazine!
Read my full review at Grimdark Magazine!
November 5, 2025
Rating: 2.75 stars out of 5. I wanted to like these more, but I just didn't like the character of Maxus. He doesn't feel like he has any personality or interesting goals, and at times it seems like he's a sadist for no reason. If you're a fan of sword and sorcery, I would not recommend. Rating and describing each story:
1. To Walk on Worlds: 3.5/5. One of the two best stories. The only story in which Maxus doesn't feel overpowered and he doesn't just shrug off anything.
2. A Simple Errand: 3/5. Sort of plain, not terrible. The only memorable things were that the names sounded Robert E. Howard-esque in their derivation from what I think are real Celtic names.
3. The Circle: 2.75/5. Felt like a story meant to convey a concept, but didn't fully deliver something to me as a reader.
4. Gift of Gallah: 2.5/5. This story felt too vague. Is the hooded person controlling Gallah at the end now? How is the hooded person controlling anything? Why was this specific person chosen?
5. Cries from a Sleeping City: 2.75/5. The ended seemed odd. At the end something (being vague to avoid a spoiler) appears, but it seemed pretty vague how the action done in the story lead tot he person appearing.
6. Man of Xerus: 2.5/5. This just felt like something that was happening that we are watching, and not something to feel engaged with. My thought at the end was, "How did he prep everything except what he was going to say?"
7. A Final Errand: 2.5/5. A follow-up to a previous story, and some personality with characters showed through, but it felt too thin.
8. The Meddler: 2.5/5. These felt like the first characters with personality. As usual, the motivations for Maxus doing what he does in the story feel unclear. Especially sad in that it seemed clear at the start, but then a twist comes that feels like there should be something there but it just feels vague again. Ar this point I'm thinking that the author may not actually have any idea for what Maxus wants or why he does anything.
9. A Fate Worse than Exile: 3.5/5. Good characters with personality. I liked their trek together and bringing in dinosaurs as "dragons". I'd rate it higher if Maxus wasn't in the story.
10. A Chance Burden: 2.5/5. Another sequel to a previous story. It boils down to be just a fight scene with a hook at the end. This felt like it was an excerpt from a bigger story.
11. Black Harvest: 2/5. Short and pointless. Why is Maxus nice here? He's not nice in any other story. In "Man of Xerxus" he highlights this by telling Vulka that he (Maxus) commits "unspeakable deeds".
1. To Walk on Worlds: 3.5/5. One of the two best stories. The only story in which Maxus doesn't feel overpowered and he doesn't just shrug off anything.
2. A Simple Errand: 3/5. Sort of plain, not terrible. The only memorable things were that the names sounded Robert E. Howard-esque in their derivation from what I think are real Celtic names.
3. The Circle: 2.75/5. Felt like a story meant to convey a concept, but didn't fully deliver something to me as a reader.
4. Gift of Gallah: 2.5/5. This story felt too vague. Is the hooded person controlling Gallah at the end now? How is the hooded person controlling anything? Why was this specific person chosen?
5. Cries from a Sleeping City: 2.75/5. The ended seemed odd. At the end something (being vague to avoid a spoiler) appears, but it seemed pretty vague how the action done in the story lead tot he person appearing.
6. Man of Xerus: 2.5/5. This just felt like something that was happening that we are watching, and not something to feel engaged with. My thought at the end was, "How did he prep everything except what he was going to say?"
7. A Final Errand: 2.5/5. A follow-up to a previous story, and some personality with characters showed through, but it felt too thin.
8. The Meddler: 2.5/5. These felt like the first characters with personality. As usual, the motivations for Maxus doing what he does in the story feel unclear. Especially sad in that it seemed clear at the start, but then a twist comes that feels like there should be something there but it just feels vague again. Ar this point I'm thinking that the author may not actually have any idea for what Maxus wants or why he does anything.
9. A Fate Worse than Exile: 3.5/5. Good characters with personality. I liked their trek together and bringing in dinosaurs as "dragons". I'd rate it higher if Maxus wasn't in the story.
10. A Chance Burden: 2.5/5. Another sequel to a previous story. It boils down to be just a fight scene with a hook at the end. This felt like it was an excerpt from a bigger story.
11. Black Harvest: 2/5. Short and pointless. Why is Maxus nice here? He's not nice in any other story. In "Man of Xerxus" he highlights this by telling Vulka that he (Maxus) commits "unspeakable deeds".
October 17, 2024
Unashamedly inspired by Robert Howard in both story and writing style, this is an entertaining read for any sword and sorcery fan. A set of short stories, all in the same setting though some more closely connected than others. The barbarian hero Lachmannon is inspired by Conan as a northern barbarian but also an intelligent and cunning warrior who left his homeland to see the world. An ambition that over-reaches itself as he gets to walk on other worlds in his adventures. This brings in many elements of another Howard character, Kull of Atlantis. The opportunity to walk on other worlds is provided by another character who is a part of every story in this collection and is my favourite character - the 'meddler' Maxus. He may be an evil wizard yet he is portrayed as far more than a two dimensional black-hearted villain.
The stories themselves all share a setting that is sketched in sufficient detail to provide a vivid background yet we are never overloaded with exposition. Everything is about action and emotion in these stories.
The writing flows well, giving a high intensity feeling with sparse yet vivid description. Again there's a clear Howard influence (and perhaps also some of C.L. Moore and the Jirel stories or even Michael Moorcock) in the almost hallucinatory landscapes of the other worlds) in style and word choice. There's an occasional clunkiness, odd choice of word or over-use of some words but the sheer enthusiasm and "barbaric vitality" carries the reader past such civilised values! I did lose count of how many times our hero, Lachmannon, goes unconscious or falls into darkness as a device to move things along but this just adds to his character and likeability.
Overall, a highly enjoyable collection of sword and sorcery stories that are clearly inspired by Sword and Sorcery stories and newer Grimdark fiction, with a barbarian vitality that overwhelms more civilised literary sensibilities. Enjoy the opportunity to not only tread the jeweled thrones of the earth but to walk on worlds.
The stories themselves all share a setting that is sketched in sufficient detail to provide a vivid background yet we are never overloaded with exposition. Everything is about action and emotion in these stories.
The writing flows well, giving a high intensity feeling with sparse yet vivid description. Again there's a clear Howard influence (and perhaps also some of C.L. Moore and the Jirel stories or even Michael Moorcock) in the almost hallucinatory landscapes of the other worlds) in style and word choice. There's an occasional clunkiness, odd choice of word or over-use of some words but the sheer enthusiasm and "barbaric vitality" carries the reader past such civilised values! I did lose count of how many times our hero, Lachmannon, goes unconscious or falls into darkness as a device to move things along but this just adds to his character and likeability.
Overall, a highly enjoyable collection of sword and sorcery stories that are clearly inspired by Sword and Sorcery stories and newer Grimdark fiction, with a barbarian vitality that overwhelms more civilised literary sensibilities. Enjoy the opportunity to not only tread the jeweled thrones of the earth but to walk on worlds.
January 25, 2026
Never trust a meddler.
To Walk on Worlds was not the book I thought it would be, and I mean that as a huge compliment.
This book is brutality, gallows humor, and some of the wildest and weirdest sword-and-sorcery I've come across in a long while. It has echoes of Howard's Conan, Moorcock's Elric, Abercrombie's Logan Ninefingers plus an even more unhinged Bayaz - and so much more that it feels like a disservice comparing John's prose to others. It feels utterly unique. The book balances violence, wit, and atmosphere with remarkable control, never losing sight of character amid the chaos, with dashes of original magic-making that I can't help but be jealous of.
Standout pieces for me include "The Circle," "A Simple Errand," and "The Meddler." I've already grabbed the follow-up and am excited to be appalled and fascinated by Maxus yet again.
(Bonus points for the interior illustrations and mass market paperback size. I've missed being able to slip books into my back pocket while on the go.)
To Walk on Worlds was not the book I thought it would be, and I mean that as a huge compliment.
This book is brutality, gallows humor, and some of the wildest and weirdest sword-and-sorcery I've come across in a long while. It has echoes of Howard's Conan, Moorcock's Elric, Abercrombie's Logan Ninefingers plus an even more unhinged Bayaz - and so much more that it feels like a disservice comparing John's prose to others. It feels utterly unique. The book balances violence, wit, and atmosphere with remarkable control, never losing sight of character amid the chaos, with dashes of original magic-making that I can't help but be jealous of.
Standout pieces for me include "The Circle," "A Simple Errand," and "The Meddler." I've already grabbed the follow-up and am excited to be appalled and fascinated by Maxus yet again.
(Bonus points for the interior illustrations and mass market paperback size. I've missed being able to slip books into my back pocket while on the go.)
August 5, 2024
This is a great collection of writing, the stories can be consumed as stand alones or read in sequence to flesh out a story arc that is vivid in its telling and imagination.
Manuscript and Quent - A Fate Worse Than Exile was probably my favourite story, would love a collection based around those characters at some point.
Highly recommended Sword and Sorcery with a decent dose of Sword and Planet as well. Moorcock and Howard influences are there to see but it’s an homage and playing in their yard rather than a facsimile
Manuscript and Quent - A Fate Worse Than Exile was probably my favourite story, would love a collection based around those characters at some point.
Highly recommended Sword and Sorcery with a decent dose of Sword and Planet as well. Moorcock and Howard influences are there to see but it’s an homage and playing in their yard rather than a facsimile
March 20, 2025
An excellent collection of connected stories in the best Sword & Sorcery tradition. Matt has a solid voice, and the prose flows and carries you along through each tale, tossing in a mix of new and recurring characters and exotic locales.
It was great to see the fabulous cover by the esteemed Mike Hoffman and classic S&S interior art by Sandy Carruthers, and I loved the mass market sized paperback format, so rare these days.
I heartily recommend and can’t wait to see what Matt comes up with next.
It was great to see the fabulous cover by the esteemed Mike Hoffman and classic S&S interior art by Sandy Carruthers, and I loved the mass market sized paperback format, so rare these days.
I heartily recommend and can’t wait to see what Matt comes up with next.
August 3, 2024
The first thing to surprise me about TO WALK ON WORLDS are the two distinct styles on display. One is contemporary, gritty, warts and all, while the other is more stylistic and prosaic.
The stories themselves are mostly 20/30 pages long which made them easy for me to read whenever I got a spare moment.
John's background in the gaming side of things serve him well in 'Cries From a Sleeping City' which reminded me of the sort of thing William King used to write in his days at WARHAMMER. In fact, this would have been a perfect fit for the magazine, TALES FROM THE MAGICIAN'S SKULL, and I was surprised to see it wasn't originally published there although one of the other Lachmannon/Maxus stories was.
'Gift of Gallah' is just excellent. Brilliantly written, this is the one that surprised me the most with its lush hypnotic style and paen to bone crunching violence.
'Man of Xerus' reminds of Jack Vance. Again, some beautiful imagery and a nice twisted pay off.
'A Fate Worse Than Exile' starts off brilliantly. Matt knows how to draw a reader in and grab you by the throat so you keep turning the pages. Great ending and again some fantastic evocative imagery.
Of the rest, I enjoyed 'The Meddler' and the afore mentioned 'Cries From a Sleeping City' the most. A couple of the minor stories feel like the introductions to other as yet unwritten works but overall don't think there are any bad stories in this. Of the three standouts that I mention though, I would say this book is worth the purchase alone.
The stories themselves are mostly 20/30 pages long which made them easy for me to read whenever I got a spare moment.
John's background in the gaming side of things serve him well in 'Cries From a Sleeping City' which reminded me of the sort of thing William King used to write in his days at WARHAMMER. In fact, this would have been a perfect fit for the magazine, TALES FROM THE MAGICIAN'S SKULL, and I was surprised to see it wasn't originally published there although one of the other Lachmannon/Maxus stories was.
'Gift of Gallah' is just excellent. Brilliantly written, this is the one that surprised me the most with its lush hypnotic style and paen to bone crunching violence.
'Man of Xerus' reminds of Jack Vance. Again, some beautiful imagery and a nice twisted pay off.
'A Fate Worse Than Exile' starts off brilliantly. Matt knows how to draw a reader in and grab you by the throat so you keep turning the pages. Great ending and again some fantastic evocative imagery.
Of the rest, I enjoyed 'The Meddler' and the afore mentioned 'Cries From a Sleeping City' the most. A couple of the minor stories feel like the introductions to other as yet unwritten works but overall don't think there are any bad stories in this. Of the three standouts that I mention though, I would say this book is worth the purchase alone.
January 8, 2025
Very Jack Vance / Robert E. Howardish
February 25, 2025
A set of rollicking stories with an abundance of verve; stylistically reminiscent of the S&S classics with an eye towards a modern reader. Heartily recommended.
September 11, 2025
When you are in the mood for kick-ass sword and sorcery that respects the genre, but recognizes what it needs to be relevant today, pick up this opening salvo of the Maxus Cycle. The stories are quick and punchy, filled with fantasy and more than a touch of cosmic horror. It has compelling characters and vivid action. If you're like me, you'll immediately buy the second volume.
January 14, 2026
Something and Sorcery
This book is somewhere between an anthology of short stories and a "fix-up" - a collection of stories either re-edited from their original publication or with additional material sewn loosely together to form a single narrative. As an anthology, it doesn't really take off. Much of what appears to be newly-added material is far more like chapters in a larger work rather than individual narratives. As a fix-up, it's only marginally more successful, to the extent that there appears to be an overall plotline that presumably continues in later books, since just about every story has a big "TO BE CONTINUED" implied at the end. However there's no particular focus, and nothing really goes anywhere. In fact it's basically just one long series of prologues and I'm not sure it's worth $9 to buy the next book to read Chapter One. The writing is competent and some of the characters are mildly memorable, but overall the book lacks both an edge and a point.
This book is somewhere between an anthology of short stories and a "fix-up" - a collection of stories either re-edited from their original publication or with additional material sewn loosely together to form a single narrative. As an anthology, it doesn't really take off. Much of what appears to be newly-added material is far more like chapters in a larger work rather than individual narratives. As a fix-up, it's only marginally more successful, to the extent that there appears to be an overall plotline that presumably continues in later books, since just about every story has a big "TO BE CONTINUED" implied at the end. However there's no particular focus, and nothing really goes anywhere. In fact it's basically just one long series of prologues and I'm not sure it's worth $9 to buy the next book to read Chapter One. The writing is competent and some of the characters are mildly memorable, but overall the book lacks both an edge and a point.
January 27, 2026
This was a series of stories told out of order with some common themes and characters throughout. It’s an interesting set of stories and this author writes action very well.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews