Savage Scrolls [Volume One]: Thrilling Tales of Sword-and-Sorcery

by Jason Ray Carney (Editor), Adrian Cole, Steve Dilks

Annals of a Lost Time
Herein are eight scintillating tales of sword and sorcery from modern masters of the genre!

Adrian Cole. "Tower in the Crimson Mist." Elak of Atlantis braves a mysterious extradimensional portal to face down the sensuous Araccneris, Queen of Utterzanek!

Steve Dilks. "Tale of the Uncrowned Kings." In the streets of Uhremon, Erich Von Tormath and Zaran seek to plunder the city's most powerful sorcerer’s sanctum!

Steve Lines. "The Eyes of the Scorpion." Shamal the Warrior, enthralled by the wizard Zarallu’s magic, must brave ghul-haunted ruins to uncover a fell artifact!

David C. Smith. "Born of the Serpent." The Great Oron returns to combat the eldritch evil of an inhuman race, whose arcane secrets are more coveted than all the world's treasure!

Fred Blosser. "Under the Basilisk Moon." Prince Raynor is drawn into skullduggery and palace intrigue including a captive princess, bloodthirsty pirates, and a scheming mage!

D.M. Ritzlin. "Slave Girls for Sacrifice." Avok the Cytheran, bonded by slavers, must win his freedom from a sorceress dead-set on sanguine ritual!

Howard Andrew Jones. "Crypt of Stars." Hanuvar of Volanus seeks vengeance against the cruel Dervans; only with the aid of ancient spirits can he free his countrymen!

James Enge. "Laws for the Blood." The plundering of an ancient city awakens a lost weapon from a forgotten war. Only Morlock the Maker can stop it!

Genres: Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery

222 pages, Paperback

Published November 23, 2020

About the author

Jason Ray Carney, Ph.D. is a lecturer in popular literature and creative writing at Christopher Newport University; he is the author of the academic book, *Weird Tales of Modernity: The Ephemerality of the Ordinary in the Stories of Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and H.P. Lovecraft* (McFarland 2019) and the sword and sorcery collection, *Rakefire and Other Stories* (Pulp Hero Press 2020). He co-edits the academic journal, *The Dark Man: The Journal of Robert E. Howard and Pulp Studies* and is the editor of *Whetstone: Amateur Magazine of Pulp Sword and Sorcery.* He is the area chair of the "Pulp Studies" section of the Popular Culture Association.

Reviews

[Jason Waltz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I anticipated; nor frankly what I appreciated. Blosser & Cole lead the way with new tales of other authors' characters, closely followed by a surprise retread of Jones' newest character. Otherwise mostly odd choices fill the word count. Nuff said.

[Joe Bonadonna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Savage Scrolls is a new and excellent anthology of pulp-style sword & sorcery tales, the sort of action, and adventure on which I cut my teeth. While the stories are all in the style of pulp adventures that magazines like Weird Tales specialized in, and Robert E Howard, Fritz Leiber and Henry Kuttner excelled in, what this volume contains is a progression of the genre, allowing it to grow and change. The authors do not ignore the tropes of the genre, but what they've done is to expand on those tropes, creating new ones, adding themes that are fresh and interesting, giving the reader vivid characters, and plots that break down the walls and expand the borders of the sword and sorcery genre. There is action and adventure aplenty here, to be sure, and as the title suggests, plenty of savage battles, plus all the magic and mythical world-builder we who love the genre have come to expect and to love. There are also new stories featuring such famous characters as Elak, Price Raynor, and Oron. There are masters of the genre at work here, and some new names, as well, contributing tales and giving us interesting characters and plots. Old hands like Adrian Cole, David C Smith, Jason Ray Carney, Howard Jones, and James Enge, to name a handful of authors, and each has written a tale that is a little gem in its own right. This is a welcome addition to the catalog of great and classic, hard-boiled sword and sorcery anthologies, a book worth celebrating. I look forward to volume 2, and more stories of horror, adventure, sorcery, and of course, plenty of swordplay.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is undoubtedly one of the finest anthologies that I have ever read. It’s hard to believe; but there wasn’t a single dud in this collection! This is unimaginable, one may even say "fantastic" (pun intended). But it’s true.
If you love fantasy in all its glory— full of magic, heroism, horror, thrill, valour and dry humour, then this book is an essential read for you.
Highly recommended.

[James T · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty good collection of contemporary S&S.

JRC’s forward was really good. As someone who HATES forwards I can say that with confidence. It was short, poignant on the genre, and not pretentious. Something most forwards could learn from

Tower in the Crimson Mist - I read Cole’s recent Elak of Atlantis pastiche. I thought it got the bromance, and humor down but missed the horror feel of Kuttner’s original stories. I think this got closer to Kuttner’s originals and I hope he writes more. Needed more Lycon antics though.

Tales of the Uncrowned Kings - I really liked this story. Probably my favorite of the lot. It just had that “days of high adventure feel.” It wasn’t anything unique, but it was great mix of Fahfrd and Gray Mouser, Elak of Atlantis and Conan. It reminded me of Lin Carter’s (better) works. Just someone who is in love with the genre and wants to have fun. I need to check out more of Dilks’s work.

Eye of the Scorpion - This one was very different. It had a very Arabic vibe to it. Clearly influenced by Arabian Nights, probably also Dunsany. I liked it quite a bit though it started a bit slow.

Born of the Serpent - By no means bad, but too dark for my taste. However, I gotta give it kudos for playing with serpent tropes in unexpected ways.

“Under the Basilisk Moon”- Unfortunately, there are only 2 Prince Raynor stories written by Kuttner. They were excellent, if only there had been more. This pastiche attempts that. I’m not sure there is enough Prince Raynor for there to be a distinct flavor to emulate, but what’s here is a fun tale. I’m glad this under-appreciated character is getting some love.

“Slave Girls For Sacrifice” - DMR’s story is silly and fun. Overall, I liked it but I did roll my eyes a bit at the ending.

“Crypt of Stars” - This is probably the best written story of the collection. I’m not sure if I’d call it sword & sorcery, feels a bit more straight fantasy, and maybe a bit modern. However, the olfactory descriptions were amazing, and it was a very good story.

“Laws of the Blood” - It’s a funny, sarcastic little yarn.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an anthology of S & S tales with an emphasis on sorcery. Nearly all the stories are will written often with a nice bow to the masters of the past. There are also included short notes that give good insights into this genre and the philosophy thereof. I won’t lie: “Slave Girls for Sacrifise” was by far my favorite. It was hilarious, sort of like if Terry Pratchet or Douglas Adams had written S & S and been a bit more riske. It works with the tropes brilliantly while making some epic entertainment that I couldn’t stop laughing at. While this was my favorite, I don’t think a single one of these stories was actually bad. “Tower in the Crimson Mist” was a strong intro with a story about Elak of Atlantis done in the style of Kuttner. I really liked these head bows to the masters of old. If I should ever gain great renowned as a writer I think I’d be greatly honored that someone would continue in my worlds and the spirits of my characters. It was interesting that one of the heroic characters was a Druid-a sorcerer of sorts, as usually the sorcerers are our route villains for this genre. “Tales of the Uncrowned Kings” presents an epic story that while bound by a predictable plot proves unpredictable by all the curves the path takes. “The Eyes of the Scorpion” presents a desert tale said to be akin to Arabian nights. Not bad, though I don’t know if I’m going to remember this one for long. “Born of the Serpent” was enjoyable as it reworked some tropes a bit and kept me guessing a little. “Under the Basilsk Moon” was another one ale that was fairly epic and flowed well, which I’d almost say is one of the hallmarks of S & S-in general the pieces are fasted moving than other genres of fantasy with more fluid plot lines. “Crypt of Stars” was a bit atypical and falls at the fringes of the genre yet was none-the-less interesting, especially in the depiction of the tomb. “Laws for the Blood” was the hardest piece for me in this work-while I could see the fun the author was going for it dragged for me more than a little. Excited to see the next volume whenever it eventually comes out and I wonder, if the art on the book covers do tell a story, maybe somebody could write that story in the final installment? Or multiple variants of it? Then again, perhaps allowing for different interpretations is half the fun.

[Roy Bayfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exciting collection of tales

Varied in style and tone but of consistently high quality, Savage Scrolls brings us an entertaining set of tales where headlong action is interwoven with dark magics in lost lands.

[Zastis · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Light reading enjoyment for sword and sorcery fans. Stories that try to evoke the earlier pulp writers.

[Clint · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read. From my understanding, this book holds some refugees from the Flashing Swords 6 debacle.

It’s a shame, but I’m glad to have them in my hands.

THAT COVER! It’s a throwback to the days I loved when covers were sexy, exotic and jumped off the shelf into my hands.

I ask for volume 2 please.