Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 4 reviewed in the latest issue of Phantasmagoria Magazine

There is a great review of Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 4 in the latest issue of Phantasmagoria Magazine by editor Trevor Kennedy:

NOW IN ITS fourth volume, David A. Riley and Jim Pitts’ Swords & Sorceries high fantasy series returns with eleven new tales of faraway mystical lands, swash-buckling heroes, blood-soaked battles, powerful wizards and sorcerers, pissed offgods (aren’t they all?!) and strange creatures. 

Although more suited to aficionados of this genre, with the stories all unconnected and with no overall arc, any reader can jump on at any point with any of the volumes, or indeed stories, with the excellent illustrations of stalwart Pitts throughout livening up proceedings further once again.

All of the offerings within this latest anthology from Parallel Universe Publications are at very least solid and worthy of inclusion, varied and differing, some even of almost novella length, though all still very much belonging to the general theme and genre. 

Dev Agarwal’s opener, ‘In the Iron Woods’, sets things up well with a hero named Simeon taskedwith ferrying Princess Irene to safety. Of the other stories included, the following really stoodout for me: 

‘At Sea’ by Geoff Hart, a fun pirate-based romp which sees a couple of strange woman board a sea vessel. 

Frank Sawielijew gives us ‘The Flesh of Man’, and it’s another very enjoyable yarn involving a barbarian warrior, flesh-eating harpies, giant lizards and pterodactyls! 

Adrian Cole’s ‘City at the Mouth of Chaos’ is great, although this is no surprise either as I have yet to be disappointed with the author’s work and I always look forward to reading his tales when I see his name pop up in an anthology’s list of contributors. This particular story is one of his Voidal works set in the “omniverse” and is as fast-paced and imaginative as you would expect from the author. 

My absolute favourite of the entire volume, though, would have to be the delightfully titled ‘My People Were Fair and Wore Stars in Their Hair’ by Andrew Darlington. It’s a relatively short piece but a very memorable one at the same time and features reanimation/reincarnation of the dead through dark magic and time travel (of sorts), fascinatingly and vividly rendered by Darlington. 

Riley and Pitts have selected well for this fourth entry in their popular series and with them now averaging around two volumes per year, I would expect that numbers 5 and 6 are already in the works. Long may their series continue! 

Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 4 is published by Parallel Universe Publications and is available to purchase from Amazon and other outlets.  

 

For more details please go to: paralleluniversepublications.blogspot.com
—Trevor Kennedy