Tales From the Magician’s Skull #6 is from 2021. A total of 80 pages, cover by Doug Kovacs featuring Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

Six stories, editor introduction, and three articles present.

John C. Hocking has been present in most of the issues with Benhus, the King’s Blade. Benhus has some magic wands inherited from his deceased mentor/predecessor. He takes them to a sorcerer’s apprentice to figure what wand does what. Benhus is pulled into the apprentice’s problem of his infatuation with his master’s woman. This series is growing on me as you learn a little more each time. The story also reminded me of Karl Edward Wagner’s “Undertow” which in turn was influenced by Cornell Woolrich’s “Jane Brown’s Body.”

Howard A. Jones’ alternate history Hannibal in the form of Hanuvar has him in enemy territory incognito. Hanuvar gets caught up in searching for a missing girl with a bird that brings good luck.

“Guilty Creatures” by Nathan Long, this is a Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser story. Before there are outcries of blasphemy, I will remind everyone that Harry O. Fischer invented Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, not Fritz Leiber. Leiber got stories written and into print first. I was part of a panel on Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser at Pulpfest in 2019. You can listen to the audio and find out some details on the series. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser need money desperately after a failed venture. They join an acting troupe to infiltrate the Sorcer Guild to pilfer their library. Things don’t go as expected. Nathan Long is perfectly fine continuing the adventures of the two swordsmen.

“Shadows of a Forgotten Queen” by Greg Mele is his first entry in Magician’s Skull. Some stories in his Atazlan setting have been appearing in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly.

I think James Enge has been in every issue of Magician’s Skull so far, everyone featuring Morlock Ambosius. This story is shorter than usual wherein Morlock comes face to face with a vampire.

Dhulyn and Parno return in “Isle of Fog” by Violette Malan. The Mercenary Brothers are hired to recover a noble born boy taken as a slave and sold to sorcerers on an island shrouded in fog.

“Of Sword and Scrivening” by Michael Curtis is a profile on Fritz Leiber.

All five stories are part of series. I have said before that readers like series. I notice that Goodman Games only has issues 5, 6, 7 for sale. These issues are going out of print. Better to buy them sooner than later.