He may be a king but he doesn’t sit idly in his posh palace. He rides and he fights with his royal blade. He does not fear death. He is a peacemaker of the most violent caliber and he’s on a mission of death and peace. Read the latest tale coming out of the Swanky Boar, Banner of Blood.
- by J.Wade Harrell,
author of Shadows of Siernod and Flames of Palamarr
Ever wonder where the term “Sword and Sorcery” came from?.
Reminiscing on a blog I wrote about a year and a half ago. I was just reminded of it when I read someone else’s blog that incorrectly attributed the coining of the term “Sword and Sorcery” that happened in 1961. Can you guess who can be credited with the genre’s moniker? I bet you can’t. Click the link above to read the original post.
My newest free short story in the archives of the Swanky Boar.
In every age and incarnation of earth, man needs one of great principle, a person that can be counted on to possess and contain great power. From the small tavern of the Swanky boar to the modern plains of the United States, Shadow never rests and men of power cannot be trusted. Narrator unmentioned.
- by J.Wade Harrell,
author of Shadows of Siernod and Flames of Palamarr
Cthulhu
This evening after grilling ribeyes for Kathy and I, I managed to sit on the front porch and complete my reading of H.P. Lovecraft’s flagship short story, “The Call of Cthulhu”. I find it very odd that I have been aware of this story and its significance in the fiction world for a long time but just got around to reading it. What follows is my point of view on this story while trying to steer clear of major spoilers lest you have not read it yet.
“The Call of Cthulhu” stirs a lot of thought as you read it and you can see the eccentric mind of Lovecraft at work. The complete absence of dialogue lends to the lonely aura the story exhudes. At first I thought I was getting into something I might not enjoy and might have put it down never to crack the pages again except for the high praise this and other Lovecraft stories have received over the years.
As I stuck with the long-winded prose I began to understand the statement that was being made. When you look at the fact that Lovecraft had few friends he ever socialized with in person, he actually had many friends he corresponded with via mail. Thus, I can understand how a person would have difficulty showing the intimacy of personal conversation. Perhaps that would have been considered a weakness for him to write stories so personal.
As one reads the short story, you get the sense there is no character development but perhaps Lovecraft disdains the need to show a development of a character because the idea is not how the character develops but how he is horrified as realization of the being and his diabolic plans are coming to fruition. One gets the feeling at first that he is distant from the protagonist but suddenly at some point you realize that YOU are the protagonist and you are seeing the dreadful story unfold through your own eyes via the first person method of delivery.
Even though it is a short story, it is divided into three chapters. In the first chapter we see the narrating protagonist being dragged into the duty of executing his late uncle’s estate. There he finds certain papers and a small statue that begins his inquiry into matters that eventually involve him with the longstanding secrets that only a few know about.
The second chapter we see the investigation of the mystery of Cthulhu and this is where the story actually begins to take on the aspects of a horror tale. The investigation leads the reader down a trail of no return for the things discovered are so abhorrent that we have to know what is at the bottom of this great mystery surrounding the small statue made of stone of unknown origin.
Finally, in the third chapter we listen to a recount of a Norwegian seaman who saw the actual horrors of Cthulhu and the narrator finally discovers more about his uncle’s bizarre death which only makes him fearful for his own life.
Lovecraft has a very creative mind and a method of storytelling than can put you to sleep at times but when the story starts building, you can’t put it down. You feel like you have unearthed some very private documents that aren’t for everyone’s eyes and the knowledge you are absorbing could actually be detrimental to your own existence. You begin reading “The Call of Cthulhu” feeling pretty mighty and intelligent but when you are done you feel like an important pawn, necessary for the fate of the universe but expendable nonetheless. What we learn that we humans have a unique role to fulfill and that there are other beings even more intelligent than we lurking in the darkness waiting to spring to life.
- by J.Wade Harrell,
author of Shadows of Siernod and Flames of Palamarr
It is finally here, the paperback version of Shadows of Siernod. For those who have been unable to enjoy my first series featuring the brash swordsman, Fist La’brau, here is what you have been waiting for. Fresh off the press Fist has come to paper and is available for order on Amazon.
Shadows of Siernod tells the tale of Fist La’brau who was a brash brawler and a hard working miner in the isolated city of Thuron. It was reluctantly that he set out to banish the Shadow Swords from Siernod. All he wanted was to be left alone to live life to his own liking but as fate would have it, things happened a little differently than he wished. Complying with the words of a mysterious scroll set in motion some painful darkness from his past to banish the Shadows of the future. Fist faces common thugs, powerful demons, mountain giants, and evil sorcerers in this compendium of fast paced adventures featuring sword and sorcery action. Shadows of Siernod is comprised of five stories about the brawling swordsman as he treks across the realm of Siernod on a collision course with the forces of Shadow. Fist’s adventures culminate with triumph and tragedy such that if man could foresee the future, he might do things differently.
This novel is a five volume set comprised of the following stories:
To get your copy, click the link below.
- by J.Wade Harrell,
author of Shadows of Siernod and Flames of Palamarr
Fist La’brau
If you have started following my new free short features for online fans entitled “Tales from the Swanky Boar”, here is volume #2. Fist La’brau–sometimes greatest swordsman in the realm, sometimes miserable drunkard, always followed by trouble–one wonders what darkness lurks around the corner for Fist La’brau? Learn how one such piece of trouble found him. Volume #2 is narrated by Ivan the Lipless form his dark corner of the Swanky Boar.
Beneath a rusted sky whose swift currents scoured the mountains into odd windblown shapes, a series of tunnels are chiseled from the rocks making a mountain into a stone honeycomb. The constant pinging of stone echoes throughout the maze of chaotic halls, through darkness and lantern light, through dust and debris. Their faces are darkened by dust and glazed by sweat as they constantly swing their picks into the crevasses that contain thin veins of silver ore that fuels the economy of the rogue city called Thuron . . .
- by J.Wade Harrell,
author of Shadows of Siernod and Flames of Palamarr
I have the layout completed and now I have this stunning cover to wrap my physical copy of my first novel in the life of Fist La’brau. All I have to do now is polish it up and make sure everything is ready to go.
Shadows of Siernod front cover
A COMMON MAN IN AN UNCOMMON WORLD
Fist La’brau was a brash brawler and a hard working miner in the isolated city of Thuron. So it was reluctantly that he set out to banish the Shadow Swords from Siernod. All he wanted was to be left alone to live life to his own liking. Complying with the words of a mysterious scroll set in motion some painful darkness from his past to banish the Shadows of the future.
Fist faces common thugs, powerful demons, mountain giants, and evil sorcerers in this compendium of fast paced adventures featuring sword and sorcery action.
Shadows of Siernod is comprised of five stories about the brawling swordsman that culminate with triumph and tradgedy such that if man could forsee the future, he might do things differently.
- by J.Wade Harrell,
author of Shadows of Siernod and Flames of Palamarr
