Rakefire and Other Stories

by Jason Ray Carney

Fever Dreams of Sword-and-Sorcery in an Eld Realm of Unfathomable Beauty and Cruelty

A psychotic witch, driven by the spirits of her murdered sisters, seeks out the secret of a ruined city and the formless horror that destroyed it…

An impudent sorcerer, contemplating the outer beyond between stars, threshes shadowy demons from the lightless outside…

A holy man and a pauper mage delve the devil-haunted maze of a dead wizard of legend…

A nameless sorceress takes a thrall and gains a name…

A guttersnipe transforms hatred into a force of nature…

A reluctant scholar, forced to confront his impermanence, abandons hearth and wealth for a doomed passion…

Hope steams as hot blood in the snow…

Plus other enigmatic tales of horror and fantasy in the pulp tradition.

Genres: Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery, Horror, Weird Fiction

216 pages, Paperback

Published July 7, 2020

About the author

Jason Ray Carney, Ph.D. is a lecturer in popular literature and creative writing at Christopher Newport University; he is the author of the academic book, *Weird Tales of Modernity: The Ephemerality of the Ordinary in the Stories of Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and H.P. Lovecraft* (McFarland 2019) and the sword and sorcery collection, *Rakefire and Other Stories* (Pulp Hero Press 2020). He co-edits the academic journal, *The Dark Man: The Journal of Robert E. Howard and Pulp Studies* and is the editor of *Whetstone: Amateur Magazine of Pulp Sword and Sorcery.* He is the area chair of the "Pulp Studies" section of the Popular Culture Association.

Reviews

[B.J. Swann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know it’s stupid to judge a book by it’s cover, but I must admit the first few times I saw Rakefire I passed it over because the cover made me assume it was some sort of tentacle erotica. It wasn’t until the book was recommended to me in glowing terms that I finally gave it a look.

I was not disappointed. Rakefire is a truly excellent collection of dark fantasy stories taking place in the same imaginary universe. This is real dark fantasy of the Clark Ashton Smith variety - lush, decadent, and gleefully amoral. The atmosphere is reminiscent of CAS’ Zothique and Averoigne stories, but the prose is far more sleek and concise. Indeed almost everything about Rakefire is concise in the best possible way; I have seldom seen the art of worldbuilding practiced with such pleasing economy.

My three favorites from the collection are –

“Ink of the Slime Lord” – a wonderfully nihilistic tale featuring a very cool anti-heroine.

“One Less Hand for the Shaping of Things” – a genuinely touching story of love and death.

“Her Formless Temple” – another terrific story, beautifully structured, effortlessly evocative, short but seemingly epic in scope.

[S.E. Lindberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rakefire and Other Stories's Sum Is Greater Than Its Parts
Rakefire and Other Stories released July 2020 via Pulp Hero Press. Nine weird adventures span the 216 pages of this grimoire. Penned by emerging thaumaturgist Jason Ray Carney, Rakefire promises to corrupt any reader. So let us get this disclaimer out of the way: the mere reading of this tome may thicken your blood with wonder. Red turning to black, your blood will never bleed the same. Read this review at your own risk.

The book blurb labels this “Fever Dreams of Sword & Sorcery in an Eld Realm of Unfathomable Beauty and Cruelty” and it also contains “enigmatic tales of horror and fantasy in the pulp tradition.” That summary is spot on. Most of the tales here can be considered S&S, but they focus on the sorcery end of the spectrum. The writing style is reminiscent of Lord Dunsany and Clark Ashton Smith (full of pregnant shadows and intellectual skullduggery!). Excerpts throughout this review reinforce what to expect.

The majority of the stories (6/9) have been published in various magazines, but reading them piece-meal is like eating random snacks instead of a 5-course meal. The confluence amplifies the lore threading them all together (lore discussed below). Plus, the 3 newly published tales extend the impact. Each is recapped below, and most have excerpts that emphasize the style and common milieu (while avoiding spoilers). This serves as a tour guide into Jason Ray Carney's strange world.

Cover & Title: The cover depicts Mera the Cruelly Beautiful (from story#1, not the witch from #6-Rakefire). I would have expected a red-robed sorceress (i.e., representing the character Rakefire), or, since Rakefire (although a fine story) does not stand apart as being the singular cornerstone, I could actually see this collection keeping the cover and retitling it “Weird Legends of Drossus” (which would sound too much like a David Gemmell work…but the point is: the collection does not revolve around the character Rakefire…but it does have a unified world which is a character unto itself).

Contents:
1. “The Ink of the Slime Lord” appeared in Swords Against Cthulhu II: Hyperborean Nights (2017) & Sword & Sorcery Magazine (Dec 1018)
- Mera the Cruelly Beautiful alone survives a purging of her cult…and goes on a quest to resurrect her bloodline. She’s crazy and attractive (like DC Comic Harley Quinn). She invades Inmor’leh for essential ingredients. Her sister Sasha the Scarred is mentioned a lot in stories #5 and #7. As mentioned above, that’s probably Mera on the cover. Backcover Blurb: A psychotic witch, driven by the spirits of her murdered sisters, seeks out the secret of a ruined city and the formless horror that destroyed it.... Excerpt:

“…along with their prophets, Alesh the Old, Sasha the Scarred, and Mera the Cruelly Beautiful, the cultists were taken to the purple swamps outside of the city. A deep grotto had been prepared there, of roots, mud, and worms. Their crime, writ on the beaten bronze tablet in ancient hieroglyphs, there was verbalized with the sonorous majesty of the High Priest of Atok’s powerful voice. Amidst song and the beating of spears on shields, all of the heads were sliced off the convicted and swung into the hole.”

2. Trigon (new)
-The captain of the Gate Watch investigates and attempts to close the gate which oozes evil. Coincidentally, this journey involves the removal of a sorcerer’s hand (which obtusely foreshadows the next section). Backcover Blurb:"An impudent sorcerer, contemplating the outer beyond between stars, threshes shadowy demons from the lightless outside.... Excerpt:

“The thrall-messenger breathlessly pleaded his case, told the council his terrible tale: high in hubris, the Sorcerer Peroptoma of Dis-Penethor, Duke of Chius, seeking secrets in the stars, had opened a Black Gate, one he could not close, and now shadows poured through it, like black blood from a wound, ravening with hunger for human flesh."

3. “One Less Hand for the Shaping of Things” appeared in Skelos, #1 (2016)
- A weird tale, but not S&S. This is all about Ayolo’s journey and his infatuation with Jessa, a tree spirit who rescues him. The title is cryptic, though a priestly character does mention this verbatim. Note, #5 indicates this title is a line used by the followers of the tree goddess Ral (from the Discourses of Thees). Backcover Blurb: A reluctant scholar, forced to confront his impermanence, abandons hearth and wealth for a doomed passion.... Excerpt:

“[Ayolo’s] thoughts wandered to his wife Shemira and Chamberlain Brocoshio, who had, with clever arguments, convinced him to organize his caravan to the south...If he had any virtue as a merchant, it was due to his shrewdness. He was no swordsman or adventurer and was fully aware of the dangers that plagued the roads through Yizdra. Instead of sublime beauty of alien lands, he’d much prefer the ordinariness of his study, reading correspondence or tabulating accounts by candlelight; or better yet, the poetry of Thees….

4. “A Song in Deepest Darkness” appeared in Cirsova: Heroic Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, Issue #10 (2018)
- A weird S&S tale very much in the vein of CAS. This is the most comedic of the bunch, I laughed out loud over the predicaments of the protagonists: Pardew and the warlock, Ka seek out the Hearthfather’s true name and make poor decisions. Callouts to “Rakefire’s Resplendent Roadblock” and “Ink of the doom of Inmor’leh” were welcome. Backcover Blurb: A holy man and a pauper mage delve the devil-haunted maze of a dead wizard of legend.... Excerpt:

“O lightdrinkers!” sung a mellifluous voice as pale lights bobbed behind them. “Listen to how we will treat with you! We will flay you and then bind a Black Book with your skin! We will make a wine pot of your skull! We will read dark verses as your soul writhes in the chest-cage of the Horned One’s breast!”

5. "Her Formless Temple" appeared in Phantaxis #7 (2017)
-Sasha the Scarred is sought after to heal a sick child, Cas. He is worked upon, and he joins up with Lia (his love) as leaders of the tree-loving Ral. Backcover Blurb: A guttersnipe transforms hatred into a force of nature... Excerpts

"Cas of the Sun Disk flourished at his mother’s breast, and when he grew to a hate-filled guttersnipe, he was not killed in the urchin wars that plagued that slum’s youths, nor did he lose his namesake; but, alas, a grippe swept through the slum, and both mother and child contracted it. "

We also learn more about the cryptically named story #3 with this excerpt:

“Most heroes know not themselves .... have fallen deeply... Their joy in questing unselfing like a breath exhaled .... Inflating their mainsails, propelling them beyond .... To strangle lands where the measure of joy is sunlight, lightning, shadow, and mist, and sometimes death: one less hand for the shaping of things.”

6. "Rakefire" appeared in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Q33 (2017)
Qwayas is sought after by the female narrator (the titular Rakefire). She is enlisted by a village to investigate weird sorcery, which has his signature attached. Book Blurb: A nameless sorceress takes a thrall and gains a name...Excerpt:

"...they looked at me, the little quivering wretches, and answered my warning with snarling grins that revealed transparent teeth. Their radiant eyes dilated. I saw their brains bulging, brightening. They threw the force of their poisonous dreams against my ward that repelled them back like a brick wall. In the intensity of their mental barrage, they popped like overindulging ticks, the bloody slime of their brains smearing across the cliff face and undergrowth."

7. “Two Silvers for a Song of Blood” (new)
- An unidentified rogue comes to the rescue of the bard Maur who played a role in #3) from the anti-magic, policing minions of Atok (i.e. those of the priest who slew Mera and her sisters in #1). Excerpt:

“The Rogue slid his dagger into this man; his eyes bulged and bubbling foam spurted from his mouth. The dagger removed, the Rogue slit his throat with a wet slash, hissing, showing stained teeth in a rictus snarl, and then shoved the limp body over a table, scattering wine bowls, gnaw bones, and candles. In a flash, seven swords gleamed trembling in the flickering light of the smoking grease lamps swaying from the rafters. The Rogue leapt to a table, his cloak thrown off, his blade, a curving shiwa, gripped and ready at his dark brow. One of the men-at-arms came forward and died, stabbed through the eye. Another guard came forward and died, his blood spattering the Rogue’s face and bare chest, and thereafter fell like a sack of roots to the ground, his hot blood spurting rhythmically from his wound. The sounds of his gargling and dim death-movements were all that broke a new silence, and the iron aroma of blood blended with the stale musk of fear-sweat.”

8. “Shadows from Shadows” (new)
- Mika protects/rescues the seedling Shela from the necromancer who created her and other homunculi (loriks): Book Blurb: Hope steams as hot blood in the snow...Excerpt:

"I saw them: at the base of the incline were two Loriks, their faces nearly identical, their brains glowing red in grayish, translucent skulls. They gazed up at me with large, lamplight eyes: little naked slime men with undulating lobes like blooming flowers. They chattered something at me in a foul, half-formed language, black tongues slipping out.

9. “The Curio Dealer” appeared in Hypnos, Vol. 6 No. 1 (2017)
- A short piece that reveals the audacity of merchants preying on the poor land of Bel (Yesha valley specifically, where Cas from story #5 is gifted the copper amulet).

Themes and reoccurring Items/Places
1) Triangles (a.k.a. trigon, a polygon of 3 sides): in addition to being the title of a story, these appear as icons for witchery, inform the design of amulets, banners, and other insignia.

2) Weird pregnancies: from the use of adjectives describing "gestures" and "shadows", to plots based on foundlings and the creation of homunculi (loriks).

3) Black blood: evil usually bleeds black, whether be from the Slime Lord, the goblin-like granlings' blood, or the evil that pours through Trigon’s black gate. The gran and their Horned One leader are mentioned in at least three stories. Excerpt:

The gran were elder-lived humans of mysterious origin, sometimes thralls to ancient, tree-tall sorcerers, purposefully stirred to emotional frenzy so that their insubstantial fear, hatred, and rage could be incarnated, extracted, and harvested as a black sap used as a dark fuel for even darker sorceries.

4) The land is shared across all tales, and an excerpt from story#5 best captures some of the names:

Cas and Lia learned much about the world: the Youv to the north marshalled brown-cloaked armies of Porthror axemen and swore to annex Drossus, a northern fief of Griess Volor, peopled by shrewd merchants who flirted with republicanism. The City of Re to the south was plagued with religious dissent; a coven of witches cowed the oligarchy there, a masked priesthood of Atok, a God of a Million Eyes. Even whispers of Yesha trickled into Roa: the devil sorcerer who sat on the throne of that city-state was fashioning a great sphere that gave dark vibrations, and the thrall-nobles who kept his court, bathed in the sphere’s subtle movements, had developed a taste for human flesh and long teeth to tear it. But the worst of these stories treated Yizdra, the forestland Cas and Lia called home, where of recent seasons evil, cavern-dwelling creatures, the gran, had been waxing in numbers and raiding by night. They depleted game, burned villages, and murdered travelers on the ancient roads. … hung brazenly at a crossed cart road, the flyblown, wet skins and bones of the slaughtered, hooked beneath a rude formation of horns and antlers nailed and tied to a stand of weeping trees, and a flapping banner with ancient runes inked with blood and gore, and a single rune, a rendering in an ancient tongue. What, precisely, it meant, no scholar could tell, but its core message was clear: war.

Who is Jason Ray Carney? : If you are a fan of adventure horror, then keep an eye out. I first read his work in Skelos #1..and first saw him (via video) on a Howard Days 2019 Panel on S&S. Recently, he seems to be ever present in the S&S and Weird Fiction communities, contributing to Goodman Games and to Black Gate blogs with articles on the gothic tradition in S&S and “How S&S brings us life.” He recently edited Savage Scrolls Volume One : Thrilling Tales of Sword-and-Sorcery for Pulp Hero Press and is an editor at The Dark Man: Journal of Robert E. Howard and Pulp Studies and Whetstone: Amateur Magazine of Sword and Sorcery. By day, he is a Lecturer in Popular Literature at Christopher Newport University. He also authored the academic book Weird Tales of Modernity: The Ephemerality of the Ordinary in the Stories of Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith and H.P. Lovecraft.

[David C · Rating 5 out of 5]

A jewel of a debut from a writer whose voice is quite unlike that of anyone else I know of: literary (you may be reminded of Clark Ashton Smith) but not pretentious (the vocabulary and structure of the stories grounds the narrative in every case, as with Smith) and fundamentally genuine, honest, without the archness of CAS but retaining the intelligence. These stories--tales, actually--are heavily Gothic and feel like creepy folktales from a thousand years ago, although they clearly take place in an environment that Carney has thought through and established. Each story hits the ground running, and you’ll wonder where the devil each one is going as you turn the pages, which is why it seems as if Carney is reporting on events at full speed as these characters get into trouble. “One Less Hand for the Shaping of Things” and “Her Formless Temple” really raise the bar for what can be done with fantasy fiction. Good work.

[James T · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a collection of short stories by Jason Ray Carney. For those unfamiliar with him he is the man behind the webzine Whetstone, a publication of amateur sword and sorcery stories.

The Rakefire collection contains nine short stories in the Sword and Sorcery style. The stand out of which is “one less hand for the shaping of things.” It has a very poetic and romantic quality to it.

You won’t find unabashed Robert E Howard worship in his style. The closest of the classic pulp authors I can think of is Clark Ashton Smith. His stories have an inky quality to them. They are filled with dark magic and not so much mighty thews. The stories have loose cohesive elements. Hints at a greater world and lore but never too much. Just enough to entice interest but not enough to spoil the wondering.

The writing feels like it has a foreign spice to it. There is something exotic to these stories in the classic way of Weird Tales. Again, I come back to Clark Ashton Smith.

I would recommend this for fans of Sword and Sorcery, but especially people who may be a bit tired of REH copycats.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short story collection by Jason Carney. A little dark fantasy, a little sword & sorcery, they are universally well written and blazing with symbology. The plots and characters are in general engaging. “One Less Hand in the Shaping of Things” was a tear jerker dealing with issues of love, mortality, and fate that is really all our stories in the end. Probably someone, somewhere has done something like this story before-even considering that it is well done with simple artless characters that seem real in their flaws and tensions and simple needs. That was by far my favorite work in this collection. My second favorite was the somewhat poorly titled “Ink of the Slime Lord” which is the story of one heroic ?evil? Witch-sorceress on a quest to save her sisters. I somewhat felt like it could have been a writing prompt story where one was told to identify a character with two descriptive words and here the writer went with cruelly beautiful which the character and story championed nicely. Mera definitely fits the outsider character type of S & S wonderfully and has the somewhat uncivilized savage character archetype down to despite coming to it from the opposite arc of more traditional S & S characters. This is actualized by scenes like her monologue about the crew of the ship-I.e. it is good that they fear me some, etc. the quest, villian, and working of the spell all worked nicely as did the heavy tones of grey as one is left wondering if Mera has saved her sisters at the cost of her own life? Considering the tone and timber of the other stories this seems rather likely though I for one hope not as I’d love to read more Mera stories. “Trigon” was the next story in this collection-to be honest this story I probably would have written off as a fun but forgettable story if not for a few things. The combat scenes with their sudden, deadly violence were spot in, as is the symbological key note at the end with the dichotomy between life and doom. “Song of the Deepest Darkness” was another fun but forgettable piece. It has a nice macabre vibe that seemed a bit Poe like to me. “Her Formless Temple” was another heavy symbology story. Here I particularly liked that it is revealed that it is our worst, darkest parts that are required to live, which reminds me of a “Sword of Truth” passage where it is revealed that every living thing is a killer-here we find not only that but that the ability to kill is the key part of us that lets us live, to be the golden beings we might be. Yet, even consumed by this darkness, there is still remembrance of love and a need fur beauty-at least that’s what I took away from the ending at least. “Rakefire” is another fun tale. I felt like the mythology of the story world came more in to focus and it was only after this story that I noted that some of these stories very loosely bleed over into one another, which I love: who doesn’t live a good story cycle? The remaining stories were short but sweet, being well written albeit short with great presence, descriptions, and pulling of heart strings, so, in conclusion I’d recommend this work best for fans of dark fantasy that like to drink symbolism and shadows with their coffee. I hope the author writes more!

[Chase Folmar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fever dream is right! In this collection of loosely connected stories, JRC weaves together a world that inundates the reader with a strange and esoteric beauty, capturing that sublime sense of wonder, and of terror, attributed to the pulp era of weird fiction storytelling, and which is so very often missing from the contemporary fantasy space. As many others have noted, the stylings of Clark Ashton Smith loom large over the writing style here, with vivid, decadent descriptions sometimes driven by their intentional contradictions and reality warping effect. The narratives conveyed within eschew more traditional forms of storytelling or plot, and while this might be a little jarring at first, it creates a refreshing and otherworldly tone that marks them as wholly unique in the writing space, as if they have truly been penned in another place or time. Stand-outs include "One Less Hand for the Shaping of Things" and "Her Formless Temple," as well as "Ink of the Slime Lord," which reads very much as an adventure which could take place in Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" tales.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slim collection contains some of the most well-written fantasies that I have EVER read. Unfortunately, despite being firmly belonging to the Sword and Sorcery genre, they are more about pain & loss than about triumph of good over evil. That made reading a grim pleasure.
After an erudite 'Foreword' we have the following stories~
1. Ink of the Slime Lord
2. Trigon
3. One Less Hand for the Shaping of Things
4. Song in the Deepest Darkness
5. Her Formless Temple
6. Rakefire
7. Two Silvers for a Song of Blood
8. Shadows from Shadows
9. The Curio Dealer
The settings are eerily realistic, recalling medieval Europe with enough accuracy to allow one to read this as some kind of alternate history. And as in real life here we get tear and blood washing away little pleasures of life too often.
Exquisitely painful stuff. One star got dropped for that pain part. But otherwise these are absolutely top notch fantasies.
Recommended.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

JRC is a standout author in the burgeoning indie / small press scene for Sword ‘n Sorcery. This first fiction collection of his rocks! JRC’s prose is artful and florid, reminiscent of Clark Ashton Smith or Leiber’s Lankhmar stories. The (slight) interlocking of the characters across the collection is clever, accessible, and pulls you in. There is verisimilitude to his sandbox, and his protagonists are compelling (and varied). Check it out!

[Poetyogi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jason Ray Carney’s first short story collection, which contains new and republished fiction, presents selections of a world that becomes more fully realized with each story. Place, characters, and ideas reappear throughout, giving the collection a cohesive quality. Calling on the pulp tradition of sword and sorcery, Carney’s story telling, world building, and character creation is rich and compelling. Let me highlight a few stories (warning: a few spoilers):

1. “The Ink of the Slimelord”: a beautiful yet unstable witch *reattaches her severed head* and sets out on a quest to resurrect her dead sisters. Personally, I love the witch, whose name is Mera. She’s a captivating female anti-protagonist whose journey brings her into contact with Lovecraftian horrors. And the ending still leaves me…unsettled.
2. “One Less Hand for the Shaping of Things”: a love story that’s more sword and sorcery adjacent than truly part of the genre. It follows a merchant, Ayolo, and a tree spirit, Jessa, over the course of a year. Without giving too much away, this is a tragic love story. The writing here is beautiful: descriptive, detailed, subtle. So many times I felt like I was there with the characters. I’ve read this story multiple times and cried at the ending each time.
3. “The Curio Dealer”: the final story in the collection and the shortest, but very indebted to the works of Clark Ashton Smith. Atmospheric in its brevity, it presents the story of a merchant who gets more than he bargains for.

Overall, the themes of love, devotion, revenge (among others) play off each other throughout the collection. The multitude of different characters backgrounds and experiences make for unique narrative perspectives. The world becomes more alive and unique with each story. Though there isn’t a narrative continuity between the stories per se, as I mentioned at the beginning of the review, there are enough call backs and connections to reward a careful reader lots to think about. A wonderful example of contemporary fantasy / sword and sorcery.

[Brian K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Freakin fantastic! Absolutely loved this stuff. The whole tone and prose I found incredibly good. I can't even pick a 'favorite' story seriously. Except, with one disclaimer: Personally, I found the very first story in the book in need of editing. The story itself is great but the writing on this one came across to me as too amateur and in my opinion should be read last or later after you've read a few others. (The first story was from a 2017 magazine submission) BUT ALL the others afterwards were simply incredible in my opinion. They really hit the bullseye for me in numerous ways. They even invoked the long lost childhood days of fantasy-discovery.. those wondrous emotions we had when we were ten or eleven gazing for the first time at Erol Otus artwork, never seen before monsters on miniature boxes or discovering Dragon Magazine for the first time. When everything you looked at or read, you responded "Whaaa is THAT?" It's hard to pin down that old feeling.. akin to finding millennia-old dusty scrolls hidden behind a wall that describe some exceptionally sorcerous stories of even darker past times. You know, told in an old, (maybe gothic?) intellectual style. You read in 'wonder'. You chuckle at how ridiculously sorcerous things can get. You set it back down almost as if the story itself was poisonous exclaiming "Geez!". You hide it again not wanting others to know you partook in reading such things. And then you secretly THANK the author profusely and beg for more...in hardcover. with artwork.