A fairly new small press publication is Savage Realms. It is a magazine with an ambitious monthly schedule.

Their website states:

“Savage Realms Monthly is a new sword and sorcery magazine for fans of R.E. Howard, Karl Edward Wagner, and Michael Moorcock, featuring heroic tales of savage barbarians, evil wizards, and beautiful maidens. We aim to revitalize the Sword and Sorcery genre with brand new tales of adventure from some of today’s most talented authors. Our first issue is scheduled to land in January and will be available in Kindle and print formats.”

Issue # 1 is dated January 2021. 110 pages, 5 x 8 inch format. Contents include four stories.

“God of the Mountain” by Willard Black features an older warrior, Redgar. A man hires Redgar to find his daughter who has been taken by raiders from Kesh and to be sacrificed to their gods. What follows is a traditional sword & sorcery tale with lots of action.

I have encountered Steve Dilks’ character Bohun in the first issue of Swords & Sorceries. This story precedes the events in “The Horror From the Stars.” Bohun has escaped as a galley slave to the port of Tharnya. He saves a noble woman from cut throats in the city but hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Thrown in to the arena, things heat up. There is no supernatural element in this story. It reminds me of some of Tarzan’s adventures.

“The Tomb of Orthun Rah” has a group of mercenaries deserting an outpost to look for treasure in a lost city. The spirit of a dead sorcerer takes control of one of the members and picks the others off one by one. There is a climax. I was not sure how this story was going to go having a dwarf I it but it was alright.

“The Serpent Lord of Bryson Metals” by Kell Myers is set about a hundred years in the future after “The Crash.” It appears things quit working coupled with a alien or other dimensional invasion. The heroine Kara Black is a captain of the U.S. Army. She uses a sword and shield as guns don’t work. A story of grrl power, I can buy females using guns but I have laid out why Xena/Red Sonja is not so likely in a sword and shield scenario.

I was pleasantly surprised by this first issue. There was some kick butt action. I want to read more stories by Willard Black. You can get Savage Realms in either print form or e-book.