Walpurgis Witcheries

by D.M. Ritzlin (Editor), Keith John Taylor, Ethan Sabatella

Genres: Fantasy

198 pages, Paperback

Published April 30, 2026

About the author

D.M. Ritzlin founded DMR Books in 2015 with the aim of revitalizing sword-and-sorcery literature. DMR’s publications include reprints of classic material by authors such as Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith, as well as brand-new collections and anthologies by some of the finest fantasy writers active today.

A collection of his own stories, Necromancy in Nilztiria, was released in October 2020.
Nilztiria is a world of adventure and strangeness, peopled by lusty heroes and callous villains. The thirteen sword-and-sorcery stories presented in Necromancy in Nilztiria place the emphasis on sorcery and mix in a touch of gallows humor.

For more information on all of his projects, visit dmrbooks.com.

Reviews

[Jim K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Walpurgis night- the night where followers of Saint Walpurgis light the fires to ward off witches and all forms of deviltry. But, this is also the time of the followers of the Old Gods and May Day celebrations. Cultures collide, witches abound, all forms of nefarious deeds are afoot. Nice collection of short stories similar to Samhain Sorceries also from DMR.

[James T · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you enjoyed DMR’s Samhain Sorceries you’ll enjoy this.

It’s more uneven overall than the previous pagan holiday themed S&S collection. There’s some returning authors like Ethan Sabetella who are always good. My favorite stories were The Vigil of Sister Liugard by newcomer Sam Belleneuve and When the Great Wyrm Wakes by newcomer Deborah Tapper. The latter of which would make a great start to an episodic sword and sorcery series.

Overall if you enjoyed Samhain Sorceries or any of DMR’s releases you can’t go wrong but I did find the stories a bit more uneven than the usual release from this publisher. Torn between 3 and 4 stars but I think the stronger stories pull the overall collection up.

[TMN · Rating 3 out of 5]

This anthology has four strong stories (Taylor, Piper, Bellevue, Tapper). Unfortunately, the rest fall below that standard, including two outright stinkers by J.R. Young and Matthew Pungitore, whose prose is so tangled and overwrought that it's virtually unreadable.
Several stories also contain severe historical inaccuracies. Contrary to claims made by some authors, witches were not hunted or burned in the Viking Age; that deplorable phenomenon belongs to the late-medieval and early-modern period (roughly 1450-1750), long after the Viking Age ended in 1066. Likewise, the Crusades (1096-1291) predate the era of witch-burning by centuries. The Varangians were not a "tribe" but Scandinavian adventurers, traders, and mercenaries who served - most famously in the Byzantine Varangian Guard. The Varangians effectively ceased to exist after the 1240 sack of Constantinople and certainly did not survive the Empire's final fall in 1453.
Errors like these are comparable to having Donald Trump team up with Billy the Kid and Santa Anna to help the British settlers in Virginia fight off the warriors of the Powhatan Confederacy.