u/DMRitzlin

DMR 049: The Ship of Ishtar by A. Merritt
Introduction by Doug Ellis
Afterword by Deuce Richardson
Cover art by Gabriel Danilchik
Interior illustrations by Virgil Finlay and R.B. Morrison
Release date: November 8, 2024

The Ship of Ishtar is one of my three favorite books of all time (along with The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson and The Dying Earth by Jack Vance), so it was quite an honor to be able to republish it in a special Centennial Edition. The last time it saw print was about 15 years ago through Paizo, who put out a fantastic edition. That one was hard to beat, so I knew we had to go the extra mile here.

In addition to using the author’s preferred text (which has rarely appeared in book form), the Centennial Edition features nearly two dozen vintage illustrations by Virgil Finlay and R.B. Morrison, and previously unpublished ephemera from the Merritt estate. On top of that you get an afterword by Deuce Richardson explaining the book’s influence on some of the most important writers in the sword-and-sorcery genre, such as Robert E. Howard and Michael Moorcock. 

The novel itself is the tale of John Kenton, who returned from the Great War a changed man. The world he knew had lost its zest; the one in which he could be happy he did not know where to find. But when he uncovered an artifact from ancient Babylon, he was transported to a new world beyond time and space: one which offered pain and the near certainty of a bloody death, but also brotherhood, vengeance, and the most entrancing woman he ever laid eyes on—Sharane, flame-haired priestess of Ishtar!

One of my most exciting discoveries during the submission call for Die By the Sword was “The Tears of Blood” by M. Stern. This tale introduced Prince Ulxedomus, whose brother, influenced by a malicious sorcerer and alien entities, had usurped the throne of K’Zal. The vast creativity on display in Stern’s first sword-and-sorcery story drew comparisons to Jack Vance, Clark Ashton Smith, and Schuyler Hernstrom. A sequel followed in Die By the Sword Volume II, which offered a few more tantalizing glimpses of Ulx’s strange world. But there were more tales to be told in K’Zal, more lands to explore, more adventurers to follow…

This June DMR Books will proudly present M. Stern’s first collection, Kingdoms Trembling. All twelve of the tales in this book take place at various locales in K’Zal and the surrounding lands, and all of them are previously unpublished. A few of the heroes you will meet in Kingdoms Trembling include:

Fyrox, a barbarian pirate, his memory lost, fighting man and monster in search of the bizarre truths behind his berserk rages and the arcane sorcery that saved him.

A royal guardsman, Pektelemum, taking up his sword against ghastly threats, ancient and alien, infesting his kingdom and his cohort.

Aurodeomus the Gladiator, famously skilled with an unwieldy weapon, who discovers in freedom dangers more deadly than what the arena held.

Artisan instrument maker Vstadru, who finds her finest work is sought by malicious individuals with cryptic intentions.

Kingdoms Trembling is scheduled to be released on June 8 in trade paperback and digital editions. The cover art was painted by Matthew Skillern, whose distinctive work previously appeared on Die By the Sword Volume II. For those not yet familiar with Stern’s work, you can read “The Tears of Blood” in the free anthology, The Battle Rages On.

DMR 048: Dark Dreams of Nilztiria by D.M. Ritzlin
Cover art by Brian LeBlanc
Release date: April 2024

I’ve said before that my first collection of short stories, Necromancy in Nilztiria, was the crowning achievement of my life, but I’m equally proud of the follow-up. The stories this time around, for the most part, were darker and less humorous than my previous work. That wasn’t a conscious decision, it just happened that some of the ideas I had required a more serious treatment. “Crowned in Madness” and “The Curse of Ambition” are quite grim indeed. “More Blood,” the cover story, was very experimental, which one reader described as “Philip K. Dick doing sword-and-sorcery.” 

Some of the plots were rather complex and detailed, resulting in stories that were significantly longer than anything in NIN. In “The City the Gods Abandoned,” Xaarxool the Necromancer finds himself in another dimension where, for the first time, his magic fails him. The cursed swordsman Vran the Chaos-Warped uncovers the sinister truth behind a rising cult in “The Demon’s Oak.” And the fate of Nilztiria hangs in the balance in “Inside a Dead God’s Skull,” where Avok Kur Storn leads the clans of the north against a mad warlock who intends to make the corpse of a god into his undead servant.

DMR 047: Die By the Sword Volume II
Stories by Adrian Cole, Wade German, Howie K. Bentley, Sersa Victory, Robert Mammone, Ethan Sabatella, M. Stern, Mark Coomer, Ville Meriläinen, K.T. Elfering, David Carter, Rev. Joe Kelly
Cover art by Matthew Skillern
Edited by D.M. Ritzlin
Release date: March 2024

Die By the Sword Volume I was well received, and just under a year later the follow up was unleashed. I received fewer submissions for Volume II than the first one (113 compared to 175), but the submission window was only open for half as long. Still, there were a hell of a lot of stories to get through!

After reading so many stories that stuck to the well-defined tropes of sword-and-sorcery, it made me appreciate the authors who displayed originality all the more. That definitely influenced my decisions as to what made the final cut, and some of the stories that made it into DBTS II were rather unusual. Maybe too unusual for some readers. I knew that the dark humor of Ville Meriläinen’s “Journey to the North,” the experimental storytelling device in “The Guard’s Tale” by Mark Coomer, and the utter strangeness of “Her Scarlet Smoke of Sacrifice” by Sersa Victory might get mixed reactions from the audience, but I wanted to reward authors who took chances rather than those who played it safe and delivered the same old stuff you can find anywhere. 

Of course, readers looking for blood, thunder, and eldritch horror would find it in the stories by the always reliable Adrian Cole and DBTS I alumni Howie K. Bentley, M. Stern, and Ethan Sabatella.

I had originally intended Die By the Sword to be an ongoing sword-and-sorcery anthology series, much like the classic Swords Against Darkness series in the ‘70s. However, with the constant deluge of small press S&S anthologies and periodicals today, there doesn’t seem to be much of a point to continuing DBTS. In the future, any DMR anthologies will be based around a theme, like Samhain Sorceries and Walpurgis Witcheries are, rather than general S&S.

Fires burn bright on April’s last night and through the first day of May… for yearly falls Walpurgisnacht, the time when witches play!

Walpurgisnacht, or St. Walpurga’s Night, is a Christian festival begun in the Middle Ages with much earlier pre-Christian origins. It is closely associated in myth and memory with Germany’s Harz mountain range and the ancient pagan practices once undertaken on its huge rock formations and massive peaks. Now, four years after Samhain Sorceries, the acclaimed anthology of weird wizardry and high adventure set on All Hallows’ Eve, DMR Books returns with a new seasonal foray into might and magic.

In Walpurgis Witcheries, brave heroes with mystical mandates battle through an age when witches danced, sang, and sacrificed. Join them as they face unimaginable horrors in those hallowed mountains, encounter bloodcurdling festival rites, and battle supernatural foes at the edges of madness!

Stories included:
“No Mercy for Witches” by Ethan Sabatella
“The Black Hound” by Owen G. Tabard
“Hecate’s Offerings” by Keith J. Taylor
“The Vigil of Sister Liudgard” by Sam Belleneuve
“The Wandering One and the Witchdance” by M. Stern
“Cold Night on the Field” by Harry Piper
“Balefires Upon the Brocken” by J.R. Young
“The Sorcerers and Mysteries of Mercury-Wotan” by Matthew Pungitore
“When the Great Wyrm Wakes” by Deborah Tapper

Digital and paperback versions of Walpurgis Witcheries are available now through Amazon, but you can also pre-order the paperback directly from DMR Books. I expect copies will arrive at DMR Headquarters mid-May. You might ask, why wait for the pre-order to arrive instead of ordering from Amazon and getting it sooner? I have two reasons which might entice you. One, by ordering from the DMR website, you can use the code FREESHIP to get free shipping to the US as long as your order is over $50. This code has unlimited uses and will not expire. Two, all direct orders will receive the special limited edition booklet Two Tales of Witchery as long as supplies last. Only 100 copies were printed, so they won’t last long!

Earlier this week four authors in the Walpurgis Witcheries anthology convened at the Monsters, Madness & Magic podcast to discuss the upcoming book and sword-and-sorcery fiction in general. Additionally, the blog post has info on preordering Walpurgis Witcheries and Two Tales of Witchery.