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Swords & Heroes Quarterly Q-1 2025
Eight stories by seven writers, this collection of sword and sorcery features five recent best-of adventures from the e-zine Swords & Heroes published online at Tule Fog Press. Three new tales await your reading pleasure by Freysson, Alerec, and Chinn.
Stories
From a Darker Age by Elí Freysson
Unbound by R. E. Diaz
A Hiss from the Mound by B. Harlan Crawford
A Grin Above Er-Richât by Keith Alerec
Call of the Wyrd by Teel James Glenn
Eye of the Beholder by Charles Allen Gramlich
Two Swords Waiting -and- Sisters of the Swords by Mike Chinn
Dive into this new volume of heroic fantasy edited by Lyndon Perry and published by Tule Fog Press with cover art by Sophie Hanlon. You’ll find a touch of cosmic horror and eldritch powers ready to transport you to a realm of entertainment and escape.
Stories
From a Darker Age by Elí Freysson
Unbound by R. E. Diaz
A Hiss from the Mound by B. Harlan Crawford
A Grin Above Er-Richât by Keith Alerec
Call of the Wyrd by Teel James Glenn
Eye of the Beholder by Charles Allen Gramlich
Two Swords Waiting -and- Sisters of the Swords by Mike Chinn
Dive into this new volume of heroic fantasy edited by Lyndon Perry and published by Tule Fog Press with cover art by Sophie Hanlon. You’ll find a touch of cosmic horror and eldritch powers ready to transport you to a realm of entertainment and escape.
153 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 19, 2025
4 people are currently reading
4 people want to read
About the author
Lyndon Perry
75 books120 followersLyndon Perry is a former pastor, current husband, and grateful father of two. He enjoys dark roast coffee, herds cats on the side, and used to teach middle grade English.
He also runs Tule Fog Press at www.TuleFogPress.com, an indie publisher helping readers and authors find each other in various genres, including mystery, thriller, fantasy, science fiction, and more.
He also runs Tule Fog Press at www.TuleFogPress.com, an indie publisher helping readers and authors find each other in various genres, including mystery, thriller, fantasy, science fiction, and more.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 30, 2025
Swords and Heroes Quarterly takes some of the best stories of the e-zine with a few new additions. This is an anthology of some very good sword and sorcery stories. I enjoyed every minute of it. It’s hard to pick favorites, because they were all well written and have the S&S elements you want! Highly recommend!
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March 31, 2025Privileged to publish this collection, so I won't rate it, but I think it's great! (grin)
Eight stories by seven writers, this collection of sword and sorcery features five recent best-of adventures from the e-zine Swords & Heroes published online at Tule Fog Press. Three new tales await your reading pleasure by Freysson, Alerec, and Chinn.
Stories include:
From a Darker Age by Elí Freysson
Unbound by R. E. Diaz
A Hiss from the Mound by B. Harlan Crawford
A Grin Above Er-Richât by Keith Alerec
Call of the Wyrd by Teel James Glenn
Eye of the Beholder by Charles Allen Gramlich
Two Swords Waiting -and- Sisters of the Swords by Mike Chinn
Dive into this new volume of heroic fantasy edited by Lyndon Perry and published by Tule Fog Press with cover art by Sophie Hanlon. You’ll find a touch of cosmic horror and eldritch powers ready to transport you to a realm of entertainment and escape.
Eight stories by seven writers, this collection of sword and sorcery features five recent best-of adventures from the e-zine Swords & Heroes published online at Tule Fog Press. Three new tales await your reading pleasure by Freysson, Alerec, and Chinn.
Stories include:
From a Darker Age by Elí Freysson
Unbound by R. E. Diaz
A Hiss from the Mound by B. Harlan Crawford
A Grin Above Er-Richât by Keith Alerec
Call of the Wyrd by Teel James Glenn
Eye of the Beholder by Charles Allen Gramlich
Two Swords Waiting -and- Sisters of the Swords by Mike Chinn
Dive into this new volume of heroic fantasy edited by Lyndon Perry and published by Tule Fog Press with cover art by Sophie Hanlon. You’ll find a touch of cosmic horror and eldritch powers ready to transport you to a realm of entertainment and escape.
March 31, 2025
Swords & Heroes Quarterly, 2025, published by Tule Fog Press, cover image and interior illustrations by Sophie Hanlon. This is mostly a “best of” anthology from the pages of Lyndon Perry’s Swords & Heroes magazine, although there are a couple of previously unpublished entries. The contents are:
Introduction by Lyndon Perry, Editor/Publisher. A brief description of where the stories came from and the general focus of the collection.
From a Darker Age by Elí Freysson. The concept of a great warrior king promising to rise again to help his people in a coming dark age is not an unusual trope in Sword & Sorcery but this is a particularly well done example. Alger awakens from sleep in a new age but faces familiar evils. I enjoyed the “dislocation” responses of the main character but the author did not skimp on the action either. This one leaves open some sequels for Alger, who—although not a vampire—reminded me somewhat of a heroic Dracula rather than an evil one.
Unbound by R. E. Diaz. Roman legionnaires encounter a supposedly long-dead Greek hero, and it’s well that they do for there is a monstrous evil about to attack them. Great characters in this one, with a lot of action. The nature of the supernatural entities is a particular nice touch.
A Hiss from the Mound by B. Harlan Crawford. A story in which a historical battle is relived in a later age. Again, this is not an unusual trope in Sword & Sorcery but it is well done. Both the heroic and villainous characters are well drawn. I could definitely see a little Robert E. Howard influence. Can anyone say, “Snake?”
A Grin above Er-Richât By Keith Alerec. Rich with elements of the Cthulhu mythos and the King in Yellow. A beautiful lost city that is not what it seems. There is some hard-core horror here mixed with Sword & Sorcery, which is cool since REH also threaded his S&S with horror.
Call of the Wyrd by Teel James Glenn. When you see the character’s name is Ragnar Longaxe you know a bit about what you’re going to get. Glenn does a great job with the “northern” thing and Ragnar is a fine hero. Men gone “A Viking” to the new world find themselves in over their heads with the locals. But Ragnar has an ally the Skraelings do not know of. Probably part of a series, or set to become one. I’ve read quite a bit of Glenn’s stuff and he always delivers.
Eye of the Beholder by Charles Gramlich. I never do a “review” of my own contributions. This is a stand-alone sword & sorcery tale about the madness of lust and the power of illusion. I was very happy to be included in this fine collection of authors.
Two Swords Waiting (and) Sisters of the Swords by Mike Chinn. I don’t remember reading anything by Mike Chinn although he has published quite a bit and has been in the business a while. I enjoyed these two stories, which were previously unpublished. We have two sisters, Brindglais and Brandguin, who come into possession of two magical swords and use them in battles against all manner of supernatural foes. The weapons here certainly remind one of Moorcock’s Black Blade tales (Stormbringer etc). Sisters of the Swords has an awesome villain and a ship that is much more than a physical part of our world. I’d like to learn more about that ship.
Overall, I much enjoyed this collection. Lots of action and passionate storytelling. Some interesting twists on established tropes in Sword & Sorcery, and some new and unexpected stuff as well. Several of these stories definitely had an eldritch god appeal. Influences on these pieces would include H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Michael Moorcock, and maybe even a little bit of Bram Stoker.
Introduction by Lyndon Perry, Editor/Publisher. A brief description of where the stories came from and the general focus of the collection.
From a Darker Age by Elí Freysson. The concept of a great warrior king promising to rise again to help his people in a coming dark age is not an unusual trope in Sword & Sorcery but this is a particularly well done example. Alger awakens from sleep in a new age but faces familiar evils. I enjoyed the “dislocation” responses of the main character but the author did not skimp on the action either. This one leaves open some sequels for Alger, who—although not a vampire—reminded me somewhat of a heroic Dracula rather than an evil one.
Unbound by R. E. Diaz. Roman legionnaires encounter a supposedly long-dead Greek hero, and it’s well that they do for there is a monstrous evil about to attack them. Great characters in this one, with a lot of action. The nature of the supernatural entities is a particular nice touch.
A Hiss from the Mound by B. Harlan Crawford. A story in which a historical battle is relived in a later age. Again, this is not an unusual trope in Sword & Sorcery but it is well done. Both the heroic and villainous characters are well drawn. I could definitely see a little Robert E. Howard influence. Can anyone say, “Snake?”
A Grin above Er-Richât By Keith Alerec. Rich with elements of the Cthulhu mythos and the King in Yellow. A beautiful lost city that is not what it seems. There is some hard-core horror here mixed with Sword & Sorcery, which is cool since REH also threaded his S&S with horror.
Call of the Wyrd by Teel James Glenn. When you see the character’s name is Ragnar Longaxe you know a bit about what you’re going to get. Glenn does a great job with the “northern” thing and Ragnar is a fine hero. Men gone “A Viking” to the new world find themselves in over their heads with the locals. But Ragnar has an ally the Skraelings do not know of. Probably part of a series, or set to become one. I’ve read quite a bit of Glenn’s stuff and he always delivers.
Eye of the Beholder by Charles Gramlich. I never do a “review” of my own contributions. This is a stand-alone sword & sorcery tale about the madness of lust and the power of illusion. I was very happy to be included in this fine collection of authors.
Two Swords Waiting (and) Sisters of the Swords by Mike Chinn. I don’t remember reading anything by Mike Chinn although he has published quite a bit and has been in the business a while. I enjoyed these two stories, which were previously unpublished. We have two sisters, Brindglais and Brandguin, who come into possession of two magical swords and use them in battles against all manner of supernatural foes. The weapons here certainly remind one of Moorcock’s Black Blade tales (Stormbringer etc). Sisters of the Swords has an awesome villain and a ship that is much more than a physical part of our world. I’d like to learn more about that ship.
Overall, I much enjoyed this collection. Lots of action and passionate storytelling. Some interesting twists on established tropes in Sword & Sorcery, and some new and unexpected stuff as well. Several of these stories definitely had an eldritch god appeal. Influences on these pieces would include H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Michael Moorcock, and maybe even a little bit of Bram Stoker.
September 14, 2025
The book is really 2.5 out of 5, but I'm rounding up. I'll review each story below, but the short version is that only two stories are good, and the rest are less than satisfying. Those two stories (A Hiss from the Mound by B. Harlan Crawford and Eye of the Beholder by Charles Allen Gramlich) can both be found for free online. While I would like to support new sword and sorcery (my favorite genre), I suggest just reading those two stories I noted online rather than buying this whole book.
1. From a Darker Age by Eli Freysson. Rating 1.5/5. Unfortunately, this first story is really not very good. there's no plot really other than making us think the main character is important by fighting and people gawking at him. The fights have no tension, the enemy is vague. He indicates he can't understand the language of people around him, then understands it perfectly.
2. Unbound by R. E. Diaz. Rating 2.5/5. Better than the first story, and with a couple of elements that were neat, although one of the main elements very near the beginning seems to be there for no reason and is very underused.
3. A Hiss from the Mound by B. Harlan Crawford. Rating 3.25/5. The best story in the collection. A good story, with some similarity to the writing style of Robert E. Howard.
4. A Grin Above Er-Richat by Keith Alerec. Rating 2.75/5. Somewhat Lovecraftian. Not bad, but it felt like it was missing something. I also would have preferred a slightly different (darker) ending.
5. Call of the Wyrd by Teel James Glenn. Rating 2/5. Not much plot, but has fight scenes written better than the first story. The second half was an OK read.
6. Eye of the Beholder by Charles Allen Gramlich. Rating 3/5. A darkly amusing story. Reminds me a bit of Robert E. Howard's style as well.
7. Two Swords waiting by Mike Chinn. Rating 2.5/5. An interesting element that I see rarely done, but it read more like a set piece for some action.
8. Sisters of the Swords by Mike Chinn. Rating 2/5. A direct sequel to the previous story. I don't know what the point of this story is, except to maybe set up a type of situation for a third story. Not really interesting.
1. From a Darker Age by Eli Freysson. Rating 1.5/5. Unfortunately, this first story is really not very good. there's no plot really other than making us think the main character is important by fighting and people gawking at him. The fights have no tension, the enemy is vague. He indicates he can't understand the language of people around him, then understands it perfectly.
2. Unbound by R. E. Diaz. Rating 2.5/5. Better than the first story, and with a couple of elements that were neat, although one of the main elements very near the beginning seems to be there for no reason and is very underused.
3. A Hiss from the Mound by B. Harlan Crawford. Rating 3.25/5. The best story in the collection. A good story, with some similarity to the writing style of Robert E. Howard.
4. A Grin Above Er-Richat by Keith Alerec. Rating 2.75/5. Somewhat Lovecraftian. Not bad, but it felt like it was missing something. I also would have preferred a slightly different (darker) ending.
5. Call of the Wyrd by Teel James Glenn. Rating 2/5. Not much plot, but has fight scenes written better than the first story. The second half was an OK read.
6. Eye of the Beholder by Charles Allen Gramlich. Rating 3/5. A darkly amusing story. Reminds me a bit of Robert E. Howard's style as well.
7. Two Swords waiting by Mike Chinn. Rating 2.5/5. An interesting element that I see rarely done, but it read more like a set piece for some action.
8. Sisters of the Swords by Mike Chinn. Rating 2/5. A direct sequel to the previous story. I don't know what the point of this story is, except to maybe set up a type of situation for a third story. Not really interesting.
August 22, 2025
Pretty solid collection of stories, which can't always be said about anthologies.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews