Hello everyone!

Well it's been a bit of a week. I've actually been quite busy in several regards.

Straight into writing news, I've been getting quite a lot done. I have a new fantasy novella starring a regular character, an elf barbarian by the name of Gwaeloch Irisgarth, and it's all plotted out with the relevant world building, character development outlines and background all sorted out. It has taken a lot longer than I planned to get it all done, but I was getting some old world building redone.

All in all, I've actually written about 15,500 words this last week. I'm pleased with that, but it's a shame that its all background stuff that folks probably aren't going to properly see. I just hope that I can keep that up that average word count when I come to actually start writing this novella. I think I feel more capable doing so now I've made a few dietary changes - please see last weeks blog post.

I feel My writing has been revitalised at the moment. It may be the dietary changes, but its started warming up here a bit. I don't now if this is a sign that Spring is coming here, or if we'll get another cold spell. I wouldn't be surprised if we do, we can get cold spells and snow up until the end of March, and sometimes into early April around here.

Anyway, this evening, I'll be able to sit down and full concentrating on this new novella. There'll be a Black Knight protector spirit and the remnants of lost elves. There'll also be a mad human general worshiping egotistical gods too.

I feel like writing this will go well.

Afterwards, I think I'd better start editing a few of the stories I have in the archive and start getting them actually published, but I have a feeling that I want to get the first draft for a third novella done before that, so I can get them out in quick-ish succession. Then worry about other works and getting a certain other novella finished that turned out to basically be a full on novel. I', putting that to one side for now as it's so long. It just feels like a better use of my time to concentrate on shorter pieces at the moment. I think one of the reasons I was so grumpy before Christmas was because I'd decided to get so many first drafts done before doing any editing, so I was feeling very bogged down by things, like I wouldn't be seeing the fruits of labour any time soon, probably for a couple of years.

But regardless, things are progressing very well at the moment and I intend to capitalise on it.

Onto other literary news, I managed to get a book delivery from the dreaded Amazon arrive during the week. I got a couple of Judith Sonnet splatterpunk volumes. One, Judith Sonnet wrote a few months ago called Torture the Sinners and one has just been released recently as part of a series.

Torture the Sinners looks good. There are undead monks in a monastery. It reminds me of one of the old Giallo books and films, like Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento.

Torture the Sinners,
a splatterpunk book by Judith Sonnet

The other Judith Sonnet is called Carnage on 84th Street and was written in conjunction with Brian G Berry's Hooker Massacre of Trash City and Otis Bateman's Medusa's Son. All are part of a trilogy called Splatter Crimes and I hope they are made into an actual series, even if it's only occasional with volumes added every six months or once a year or something.

I've only started reading Judith Sonnet's Carnage on 84th Street so far and I'm enjoying it. The three books are meant to be in the old '70s Grindhouse vein and I am getting that so far, with a strong dose of other exploitatin films. I can't help but imagine stuff like the Death Wish films or some of the Mickey Spillane stuff when I pick it up to read more.

Carnage on 84th Street
by Judith Sonnet,
Hooker Massacre in Trash City
by Brian G Berry,
and Medusa's Son by Otis Bateman,
Splatter Crimes books

That's pretty much it for literary news from me this week.

The only other thing is that I'd like to share a Kickstarter with you.

It's for the first two actual issues of New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine. I wrote a blog post during the week about it and you can see it by scrolling down a bit once you've finished reading this fine post.

But I'm impressed by what they are trying to achieve. I got their issue 0 in late August last year and the stories were a real fresh take on the Sword and Sorcery genre, with some really nice takes on the main character being an outcast, thrust into an uncaring, vicious world.

They have articles included too. The ones in issue zero were really intriguing, with one about women in Sword and Sorcery and one about Black Agnes, one of Robert E Howard's female main characters.

If you would be interested in looking at the Kickstarter, take a look here. They have even wrangled a certain Michael Moorcock into contributing, which has impressed me. He was one of the earliest fantasy authors I ever read and have been reading his stuff since.

New Edge Sword & Sorcery
Issue 0

Michael Moorcock, author of Elric of Melnibone,
contributor to New Edge Sword & Sorcery

I even have fond memories of enjoying New Edge Sword & Sorcery's issue 0 in Derby's oldest pub, the Dolphin, with a lovely pint of Bass.

New Edge Sword & Sorcery issue 0
in The Dolphin, Derby

Well into New Edge Sword & Sorcery
Issue 0 that I needed a 2nd pint of Bass
in The Dolphin, the oldest pub in Derby

There isn't much in the way of any wargaming news this week. I've been knuckling down with my writing mainly this last week. But I have ordered a few more things from Oakbound Studio to go with my The Woods warbands. Hopefully I'll get it all painted up soon. I want to get some games in and hopefully start getting some of those games filmed for YouTube.

Delivery from Oakbound Studios
that I received last week.
Reinforcements for The Woods'
Pixie Badger-Rider warband

But otherwise, I've been slowly painting up the models I had ordered last week and trying to finish off the human Druid warband I received from Oakbound Studio's Patreon.

The Druids of Anglesey warband
for The Woods by Oakbound Studio
Patreon exclusive

It's time for a regular slot now, just before I go. As probably usual, I've been drinking a nice mug of refreshing tea while writing this. I'm getting used to having it without sugar now that I've had a bit of a health scare with diabetes. But I am also watching the lovely, tipsy guys from Battlehammer play a game of Dystopian Wars. I think they're great, but I will say as a bit of a warning, there is some swearing and drinking in this, so it may not be fully safe for work.

And with that done, I wish you all safe travels and wellness.

 Hello everyone!

This is a bit of an impromptu blog post today.

There's a Kickstarter that went up today that will be of interest to fantasy fans. Its the first two proper issues of New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine.

If you would like to take a look before I start waxing lyrically about it, then you can take a look here.

I managed to get their trial run Issue 0 towards the end of September 2022 and was suitably impressed.

New Edge Sword & Sorcery
issue 0

It can still be ordered off amazon in the UK here and in the USA here.

I liked that they were including stories that broadened the scope of the characters beyond just the clone of Conan - Clonan the Librarian - and were generally involving characters who were termed as 'outcast', with quite a diverse range of character types involved, with there own diverse struggles.

In Issue 0, about a third of the large magazine was taken up by articles too, one delving into Sword and Sorcery in the modern age and another about one of Robert E Howard's female characters - not Red Sonja. Though I still need to do a better review of the volume, I still want to say, I was suitably impressed by the production and the intent to modernise the genre.

Issues One and Two look to expand on that and solidify those new changes as a 'New Edge'. And I'm welcoming that. There are some very curious tales that can be told and some erudite things to be said about it.

The new magazines will be roughly 45,000 words in length, in softback and hardback as well as e-book forms, with some luscious artwork by talented and established artists and illustrators.

As youcan probably tell, I've already backed the Kickstarter for issues one and two of New Edge Sword and Sorcery because one of the biggest selling points for me as a fanboy, is a tale by Michael Moorcock of Elric fame. This is something I'll be looking forward to.

Michael Moorcock, of Elric of Melnibone fame,
contributor to New Edge Sword & Sorcery

There are some tasty looking stretch goals too. There is even a first day backer incentive too.

Again, I'll post the link to the Kickstarter here. So try and take a look and seriously consider backing it.

Launch day special for
New Edge Sword & Sorcery issues 1 and 2,
backers on Kickstarter

If you would like to follow progress further, they can be found on Twitter here. They look to be posting regular updates about the Kickstarter as things happen. The most recent two are that they were 20% funded within 2 hours, and then 30% funded in 3 hours, which looks promising.

That pretty much ends my rambling for today. and I shall leave you with another couple of photos of me enjoying this excellent sword and sorcery fantasy magazine in Derby's oldest pub - The Dolphin.

New Edge Sword & Sorcery with Bass
In The Dolphin, Derby

Further enjoyment of
New Edge Sword & Sorcery
with Bass in The Dolphin, Derby

Nothing like Bass and
New Edge Sword & Sorcery
in Derby's oldest pub

New Edge Sword & Sorcery,
with Bass in The Dolphin
in Derby

Hello everyone!

Oooo, I'm doing a blog post early this week!

Well, with my writing, I needed a bit of a rest from my novella and that time is almost over, Soon, I'll delve back into the world of Elf barbarians, wizards, pirates and Fomori, I just needed to refresh my brain a little from it. Thankfully, I did wait until I'd finished the third act of five.

But my my my, it's proving to almost be classed as a novel at this rate. Even now, with being three fifths of the way through, I think its as long as my previous novella. It's looking to be about 43,000 words long in total, compared to the last novella which was at 25,000 words. Both will perhaps be cut down quite a fair about in the editing process. I'm aiming at these being in the Sword and Sorcery markets.

But in the mean time on my rest from the novella, I've still been busy. I've sort of refrained from starting a new writing project as I would like to finish this novella at some point and I think like a few writers, I'm prone to start a new story at the drop of a hat. Though new projects have sorely tempted me.

I did look again at the Lester Dent Master Plot Formula, which I've loosely based my plotting techniques on, though I do add a fifth act and use a Shakespearean way of organising story. If you guys are interested, I can always reprint the Plot Formula on my blog, if you guys wished.

I've also been thinking of doing a couple of historical based stories that I'd plotted out a while ago, one of which I did about six years ago. One is an English Civil War Story that I'd always planned to do when I was in the Sealed Knot and was very keen on that period of history but never got around to completing. Though I'd started and re-started it about three or four times.

I'd also previously been wondering if there ever was any Lord Flashheart fan fiction out there - the character from Blackadder played by the unparalleled Rik Mayall. I think the character is wonderful, even if it is a sort of Harry Flashman style character, there is still the pulp hero ethos to him. Well, I found that there were some stories the other day on fan fiction sites. But I'm wondering about doing a pulp hero version of him, specifically from the second series of Blackadder. So t hat's a temptation to do now as well.

And another story I'd wanted to do was one based about Repton in the ninth century from when it was the Viking capital of Mercia. It was the furthest inland that the Vikings had managed to venture by river and had fortified Saint Wystan's church. I remember doing a horror story about the place years ago, but have gone off it. In the mean time, I was looking at the place's history, with it supposedly having the grave of Ivar the Boneless - of The Vikings fame. But one thing I though twas odd was that there was a battle there and the bodies were buried in a mass grave and from what I recall, there were very very few skeletons in it that had a Norse background. Strange, I wonder why. They couldn't have all been One Man Armies, surely. Anyway, I was thinking of a story that included some Lovecraftian, Cthulhu Mythos element to it to explain.

But now onto other stuff. I had thought about doing something for Halloween and was wondering what. I have an idea. I could do a post that incorporates the Revenant portions of William of Newburgh's History of English Affairs. They are something I've wondered basing stories on, having a medieval vampire hunter perhaps, but I figured that folks might love some medieval zombie/vampire action for the spooky season. What do you think?

Anyway, I also got some reading matter through the post during the week. It came two days early, which is nice. I've started reading them and intend on doing a review on them both, but I managed to get an anthology of Halloween based Sword and Sorcery stories called Samhain Sorceries come through. I doubt, unfortunately, that I'll be able to have a review done by Halloween, which is a shame.

I also managed to get a copy of War on Rome, by Adrian Cole come through. This looks good and is based in an alternate history, that has magic involved. This is based on the Roman invasion of Germany. I'm enjoying it so far, though haven't got very far. I'll also try and do a review of this as well, once I've finished it.

War on Rome book 1, by Adrian Cole,
DMR Books

Samhain Sorceries, DMR Books

Sorry for the quality of the photos.

I;m also hoping to get reviews done of New Edge Sword and Sorcery Issue 0, and Tales From the Magician's Skull Issue 7 as time comes. I've almost finished reading both of these excellent fantasy short story magazines, so I should start getting that sorted soon-ish. I've talked about both of these in earlier posts.

Now, please indulge me a little as I go onto a little bit of wargame related stuff. I managed to get a trio of wargaming models through today. Through the post I managed to receive these guys:

Mad Donna Ulanti, Necromunda

Corum of the Silver Hand by
Games Workshop for Stormbringer RPG

Jerry Cornelius by Games Workshop,
for Stormbringer RPG

They are an old Mad Donna Ulanti model from Necromunda, and I'm guessing that it's from when the '90s edition of the game got relaunched in the early 2000s. I can't wait to paint her up. It's a shame I can't find my copy of the Mad Donna Necromunda tie-in novel. I might have to get myself a new copy.

But there is also Corum of the Silver Hand and Jerry Cornelius as well. Both of these are from a line of miniatures that Games Workshop made in 1987. They were of a short run of models for the Stormbringer RPG that Games Workshop made models form. I know there had been some copyright kerfuffle with the games, but I'm unsure what. I think there were two games being made of Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion stuff and that confused matters.

But anyway. I feel lucky to have them. Corum is one of my favourites of Michael Moorcock and Jerry Cornelius is a solid character too. I want to paint them all up. Sometimes I take inspiration from this stuff. Its nice to have a physical representation of something that exists in your head. I may use the Jerry Cornelius model as part of a warband for Inquisitor. I recently had a thing for that and got quite nostalgic for that game. I even found the rulebooks in PDF form online.