Hurled Headlong Flaming

by Matt Holder, Jason Ray Carney (introduction)

Genres: Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery

113 pages, Paperback

Published April 29, 2024

Reviews

[Clint · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a mixture of S&S with Dantes Inferno and a, I’m not sure how to accurately state this, a non-traditional telling of the tale. I feared it would be too highbrow, but it is not. My other fear was it would be “in the tradition of Clark Ashton Smith” (which in my unpopular opinion too often means “I busted out my thesaurus”), but it’s not. It is unique and I look forward to more in the line

[Lyndon]

I won't officially rate this. It would be a 1.5 to 2 star read for me, but I don't want to discourage others from taking a chance on this novella. The project is a worthy addition to the S&S genre, it's just not up my alley.

Might not get around to a full review as I have family arriving next week, so I'll just say "Hurled Headlong Flaming" did not do anything for me. Didn't care for the opening or the story, didn't connect with the structure or writing style, and wasn't satisfied with the overall message, actually.

Obviously, everyone's tastes are different; and I am a traditionalist when it comes to plotting, storytelling style, etc. I knew ahead of time this was 'experimental' but saw a very positive review on YouTube which convinced me to give it a shot. So I took a chance, which is what this novella did. I don't think it worked, but no harm no foul. Others have.

Still, if you want to read something that pushes the boundaries of sword and sorcery, and especially a story with religious and existential themes, Holder's novella might work for you. Congrats to the author and Spiral Tower Press for trying something different.

[James T · Rating 4 out of 5]

A phantasmagorical romp through post-modern philosophy. Each act takes on a different prose style. The opening is powerfully written and incredibly gripping. It has that blood and thunder the genre is known for. The first act is very purple, and creates an incredible hellscape with words. The second act takes on the aspect of a dialogue or play. The third switches to first person and very much accomplishes the sense of minuteness and meaninglessness cosmicism
Is known for. The conclusion returns to a prose style similar to prologue and reorients the narrative escaping that sense of meaninglessness and leaving the reader, still lost but a bit more centered.

I have deeply mixed feelings about the book. I think it accomplishes exactly what it sets out to. It’s pushing the boundaries of the Sword and Sorcery genre and stands as wholly unique in the current landscape of small press publishers that are seeking to revive the style.

That being said, and keep in mind I only have a layman’s understanding of post-modern philosophy I think most of these thinkers works are honestly garbage…so it does not resonate with me on a philosophical level, but there are probably people much smarter than I am who can more succinctly criticize Focault’s ideas of power, or that post-modernism is inherently self-contradictory.

It’s interesting to see this arguably anti-Christian philosophy through the lens of a Christian protagonist. Though Sword and Sorcery emerged in the English speaking world, it is rarely Christian. Most of it has a very elemental and pagan quality to it. I’d say it usually feels like pre-Christian myths mixed with American westerns, so I always find the more directly Christian influenced stories in the genre compelling because of their contrast to genre’s usual vibe.

John Jake’s Brak series comes to mind, and more recently Harry Piper’s The Burden(featured in Sword and Sorcery magazine and The Good Die Slow.) So I did like this differing spiritual aspect as compared to what I would consider the genre’s norm of an almost agnostic paganism.

It’s an interesting start to a unique endeavor, and though it didn’t personally work for me, I deeply respect it and think it deserves merit in its lofty ambitions. I’d be very curious to see what the author attempts next as it will certainly be unlike anything else out there. Hope to see many more Keen Blades.

[Jason Waltz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely an examination of the horrors of the Crusades, this Dante-esque mind-bending hellish trip is unique, even interesting. Terrifically bloody, depraved, delusional, violent and head-scratching, it is also definitely a professor's philosophical attempt to work some things out. Not my cup o' tea unfortunately, and only tangentially sword & sorcery I am afraid.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

HURLED HEADLONG FLAMING succeeds in fulfilling Keen Blades’ stated objective of pushing the boundaries of Sword & Sorcery.

Read my full review at the NEW EDGE SWORD & SORCERY Blog!

[aja · Rating 5 out of 5]

man maybe i just need to be reading medieval horror stories???? apparently this is a genre that really works for me. but this is another one that really kinda feels like it was written specifically with me in mind, if in slightly different ways.

anyway. here i will quote the summary from the back of the book, bc it is genuinely & deeply unfortunate goodreads does not have one for it:

a sword and sorcery novella that follows a priest on a perilous quest to a hellish underworld to retrieve an ancient manuscript he believes can help prevent the apocalypse. drawing from influences like dante, milton, and lovecraftian horror, this bizarre tale sees the bishop descend through a hidden city, forced to engage in infernal dialogues and navigate labyrinthine streets while pursued by demonic creatures. grappling with questions of faith, truth, and the brutality of the crusades, the bishop's harrowing journey examines the violence that often accompanies meaning-making in a world that resists interpretation.

in "hurled headlong flaming" (a KILLER title, btw) we find a story that hearkens back to the classics of pulp fiction in all its senses, part weird fiction, part sword & sorcery, part cosmic horror. much like "once was willem" i don't necessarily think we are excavating any particularly new or untrammeled depths from the material here, but (as with "once was willem") neither does this feel stale or tired. "hurled headlong flaming" is ambitious in scope, style & structure, and also in its influences; we draw, as the summary describes, from the classics of dante's "inferno" and milton's "paradise lost" almost as much as from pulp giants like lovecraft or ashton smith or howard, but beyond those we draw from classic philosophy (plato in particular, & not just for the allegory of the cave, although there are references to that as well) & sacred medieval hebrew & christian texts.

in terms of style & structure this book is broken into five segments, a brief prelude, the katabasis itself split in three, and a coda:

the prelude drops us immediately in the world of the crusades; our unnamed bishop interrupts a truly horrific interrogation to ask a question of a man he did not intend to have tortured, that question being where to find a particular cartographer.

the first section (i - the matter of war) of the journey through the underworld, a very typical but grotesquely, gorgeously written katabasis, sees our unnamed bishop seeking the advice of an islamic scholar and mapmaker who has himself ventured into the underworld and returned triumphant. we begin (it should be noted in limited third person perspective) in a cave, plummet from great heights into a blasted forest before an enormous battlefield, and must debase ourselves in horrific battle until we "become fluent" in war, the language of the denizens of the underworld. eventually, the bishop becomes fluent enough that the creature which will bear him hence appears, at which point we reach part two

segment two (ii - the matter of truth) is a dialogue, in a very classic platonic sense, written in the style of a play (or, well, a platonic dialectic, lol). here, an audience of demons waits in judgment, who present the bishop with a question that he must answer, but he must make of this answer a truth that the very fabric of his being believes as truth. this section was very fun, and the first change in narrative style.

in segment three (iii - the matter of taking) we switch once more, this time into a first-person epistolary entry in the bishop's journal. here we get REAL classic weird fiction, navigating an eldritch and ancient city that seemingly exists outside of linear time, besieged by the constant crash of some cyclopean sea and filled with creatures of all bizarre makes. something about this felt very reminiscent of ashton smith's "the singing citadel" to me, even if thematically it was very different. here he must find a guide to lead him to the library in which he will find his manuscript, and then return to the mortal realm.

finally the coda returns us to the opening scene of the making of war, the afternoon before the bishop makes his descent. the ending is left open, ambiguous, perhaps the start of another cycle, perhaps simply a relief from the sense of claustrophobic meaningless experienced in the city itself.

as much a musing on the nature of power & how truth is decided by those who wield that power & the ways we sacrifice our sense of self in horror & war as it is a phantasmagoric romp through hell, i enjoyed this immensely. there are so many bits of this i want to quote back, so many gorgeous little turns of phrase or deeply moving passages. ntm i'm always a sucker for describing the other spheres (or planes, or realms) of existence as somehow more real than our own ("it will take you to the sphere beneath ours, down a layer." "beyond the veil." "there is no veil. we are not laying maps one on top of the other. it is still our world. only more so."). i think i'd prbly end up quoting half the book lmao. the introduction by the publisher talks about how this engages with the "psychocartographic" nature of medieval allegory (a really fun turn of phrase). well we certainly did get that! the opening epigraph is a quote from a 10th century manuscript translated by the author, which i will quote here because i thought it was so beautiful:

the world is made by the tools we use to measure it. some of these tools we call language, some we call wealth and value, some we call the hammer and nail and oaken beam. all of them constitute this earth and the life theron. if we change the tools, we in kind change the world. none of this is new.

to say this quote impacts this story would be to put it mildly. this story is built around this quote, from the narrative structure itself (each different segment changing in form to better fit its telling) to the theosophical & political debates held therein. yaqut says it, the bishop says it, innocence and the audience of demons say it, the man who guides him through the labyrinth says it. not necessarily in these words, of course, nothing so lazy as that. but the undercurrent of this runs throughout the entire book.

ambitious as this was, i think it was also a tremendous success. very excited to read more from this author, and also from this new imprint by the publisher.

lastly, i want to give a tremendous and heartfelt thanks to the author for mailing me this copy (autographed, with a handwritten epigraph that includes part of the quote i shared above) (NOT FREE, TO BE CLEAR, I PAID FOR THIS COPY). extremely grateful the offer he posted in the new edge sword & sorcery discord server was one of the first messages i saw upon joining. you made a fan with this one, mr. holder, have no doubt of that.

jesus christ i've been working on this review for over an HOUR. wow

[E.M. White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the strange directions the plot takes and the multiple forms in which this novella is told, Matt Holder clearly knows what he's doing and is well versed in the literary worlds in which he's writing. Namely, the influence of Milton (of Paradise Lost fame) is readily apparent here, yet the story has the visceral embodiedness and moral imperfection of a classic sword & sorcery tale. Hurled Headlong Flaming is an odd combination of genres and prose forms alike, and the story works all the better for this.

I didn't find the ending (no spoilers) wholly satisfactory, but perhaps it wasn't supposed to fully satisfy given the protagonist's ambivalence about his role in the Crusades and about the moral compromises that make up his journey. I have a mind to read this again sometime and see what else I get out of it.

I'm not really fond of book rating systems. That said, I'd probably give this a 4 or perhaps 4.5 if written by a widely published S&S/fantasy/horror author. But this is exceptional work, and even more so for one who hasn't put tons of fiction out there yet; frankly, there's a level of sophistication here that a number of fantasy and horror authors will never even aspire to. Really looking forward to seeing what else Holder will have published in the future.

[ʕっ•ᴥ•ʔっ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lacks finesse at times, but thematically and formally strong. The form somehow echoes the theme of tools measuring and shaping the world, as if a different kind of story is needed to show us who we are, our edges honed on the stone of a classical allegory and a Socratic dialogue. The fantasy elements and action scenes could have used more imagination and rigor; they feel at odds with the richness of the philosophical and real world elements.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The city sprawled for miles...the only natural landmark the jagged shoreline along one side of its perimeter, haphazard in its organization like a crooked scar hewn into the land. Great black waves crashed ceaselessly against the city walls. Flashes of green lighting threaded their way through the water..."

There are no stock choices in this book. Not a single line is the usual thing.

[Rett Weissenfels · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting Sword and Sorcery tale that only takes an afternoon to read. It caps out at 100 pages. It plays with some notable philosophy. Explored some interesting topics. I would have loved to get more about the protagonist. But that's not really S&S. Definitely worth the read.

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lege feliciter!

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wants to be profound but it's not profound. It's not bad, it's not profound and desperately wants to be. I thought this book was imaginative and mercifully short. I'm glad I purchased and read this but I'm not super impressed with this book.

It makes me want to read more Gene Wolfe, which I noticed was conspiciously absent from the author's influence section.

[Adam McPhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Safe to say I loved it and it's going to stick with me for a long time to come. Holder has a real talent and I believe he's doing something unique within genre fiction.

UPDATE: I interviewed the author, Matt Holder, over at my newsletter.

[Albert Marsden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! Sword and sorcery lives to fight another day!

it's dark and contemplative and yet at the same time you're on a journey and you don't know where you're going to end up next. One moment you're in the Levant, the next you're fighting for your life (soul) in the bowels of hell, then you're having a socratic debate with a demon straight out of bosch. I'm not doing Holder justice. Every line is both sturdy and ornate. You'll see what I mean. Go read this one.