Swords and Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume Six
Edited by David A. Riley
Parallel Universe Publications
2023

Like a freight train, Parallel Universe Publications continues to come down the line filled with S&S stories from authors new and old. Volume Six features many names that have appeared in previous installments. Several are active authors in the community with stories appearing in different venues. A couple I was wholly unaware of before reading their stories.

Twelve stories round out the table of contents. Many of them are sequels to previous stories. Return to Atlantis and Zothique. The Stone Snake is still well behind enemy lines. Knox is on a mission to eradicate evil from the world. Zain is the last line of defense in a city under siege. Shipwrecked Wardark must face down the Siren Queen.

A few of my favorites were: “Land of the Dead” by Dev Agarwal features the Stone Snake and a boxing match he is not expected to win. “Gods, Men, and Nephilim” by David Dubrow mainly for the final revelation and denouement. “The Golden Witch of Adzelgar” by Scott McCloskey was the crown jewel for me, boasting several passages I felt compelled to share on social media. I am eager for more of this protagonist. Some of my favorite passages follow:

“You call upon Dracht Kar, Hierarch Warrior of the central tribes,” I reply smugly. “Your people once called me Gor Malin—the Blood of Ten Thousand. ‘End of Days’ was also a popular appellation.”

With a hiss and a garbled epithet, my opponent presents his spear and leaps to the fray. His speed and agility are beyond any human being, and so I cleave him in twain at the waist quickly to demonstrate the divide between us. I let the soldiers watch as their officer’s entrails spill from his bisected, still breathing remains.

I am the disease that will strike this place down—the only mercy I offer is a quick end for the ones who take me head-on. May the Horsemother bestow death’s clemency upon them in return for their bravery. I kill relentlessly, hewing a path through the jaguar-men until I come upon a dais of wood surrounded on three sides by a thick copse of trees.

I eagerly look forward to Volume Seven which should be out sometime later this year.