“Hold your axe! I said stop!” cried a voice from the corridor. Lamin opened his eyes and caught a glimpse of the axe-blade as it jerked away just inches from his neck. Everyone stared at the doorway, except for N’gara. His head faced the ceiling. It looked like he was thanking someone. “Save your breath,” Lamin [...]
The sun flared high over the western hills of Gaabar and above the city of Tel. Its radiant heat spread throughout the peaks of mudbrick pinnacles to the dusty cobblestone streets and alleys. N’gara stepped out into the sun, inhaling the bright promise of the morning. The streets were already awake and empty of the vagrants and beggars. All except for a lone bundle of tattered clothe with a crown of unkept hair sticking from the top. N’gara approached him as he buckled his sword, carelessly allowing his coin-pouch to jingle its few remaining coins. The bright day made him feel good, that coupled with a well-spent night. “Hey, Lamin! Rise and shine. The day is upon us and I refuse to miss it.” The closer he got, the more he noticed Lamin was sucking on mango seed, its juices spilling into his blanket. “Where’d you get that?”
I can remember, when I was young, Saturdays being a far more special day than simply a day-off from school. My friends and I would play and roughhouse the week out of our system until 3:00 called us back inside. It wasn’t a call for chores to be done or errands to run. It was [...]
Recently, a fellow member of the Sword and Soul family was published into the digital pages of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly. His induction into this much-needed e-zine has been the cause of both joy and inspiration to me. P. Djeli Clark won a place in this month’s Heroic Fantasy Quarterly with a great piece “Shattering the [...]
An excerpt from: ”In the Wake of Mist” There, before him stood a massive gongberou lumbering from the shadows dripping foam from its ghastly snout. The brute stood three spears tall from foot to crest. The stained bones of men and beast covered its barreled chest, as the skulls of its valiant meals dangled from its waist [...]
I’ve been reading Fritz Leiber‘s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, and R.E. Howard’s Conan devouring each original story I was able to get my hands on. And collecting Dark Horse’s Conan comics (whose artwork is superior than the earlier Marvel Comics publications) with the devotion of an alchemist.In the winter of 2004 I began my search [...]
Kirk A. Johnson
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