Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 12

by David A. Riley, Henry Helbog, Phil Emery

309 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 30, 2026

About the author

David A. Riley writes horror, fantasy and SF stories. In 1995, along with his wife, Linden, he edited and published a fantasy/SF magazine, Beyond. His first professionally published story was in the 11th Pan Book of Horror in 1970. This was reprinted in 2012 in The Century's Best Horror Fiction edited by John Pelan for Cemetery Dance. He has had numerous stories published by Doubleday, DAW, Corgi, Sphere, Roc, Playboy Paperbacks, Robinsons, etc., and in magazines such as Aboriginal Science Fiction, Dark Discoveries, Fear, Fantasy Tales. His first collection of stories (4 long stories and a novelette) was published by Hazardous Press in 2012, His Own Mad Demons. A Lovecraftian novel, The Return, was published by Blood Bound Books in the States in 2013. A second collection of his stories, all of which were professionally published prior to 2000, The Lurkers in the Abyss & Other Tales of Terror, was launched at the World Fantasy Convention in 2013. His fantasy novel, Goblin Mire, was published by Parallel Universe Publications in 2015. Their Cramped Dark World is his third collection of short stories. With his wife, Linden, he runs a small press called Parallel Universe Publications, which has so far published ten books. His stories have been translated into Italian, German, Spanish and Russian.

Reviews

[Jim K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure at first, then the book gained steam with each story. This culminated in quite a finish with the last two stories being gems of the genre. I really liked how Riley chose submissions that gave the true essence of sword and sorcery. I was a little worried after volume 11. I Highly recommend this anthology.

[Constantine Bech · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a slower start than I was perhaps expecting, the tales herein do pick up and deliver a satisfying experience, overall. As Cam said in the podcast, this is perhaps a collection better suited to those already versed with more "classical" sword & sorcery fare as the genre is blended and experimented with in the eleven tales presented in this anthology.

Full pod and thoughts: https://gunghogeeksblog.wordpress.com...

[David Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This reminded me of the fantasy I loved as a teen back in the old days. Badass warriors battling powerful evil with only their steel and grit. There were a lot of outstanding stories in here, of particular note RAID ON KNORRTUFT by J. Benjamin Sanders Jr. But it's all gold. Read it and become a kid again.