Howie K. Bentley
Howie K. Bentley first encountered sword-and-sorcery in The Savage Sword of Conan magazines when he was a teenager during the early 1980s. This led him to John Milius’s Conan the Barbarian film, and subsequently the Lancer/Ace Conan paperbacks edited by Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp.
Bentley is the founder, guitarist, lyricist, and sole composer of two heavy metal bands: Cauldron Born and Briton Rites. He has written a number of novelettes featuring the demon-god Thorn, who is the Cauldron Born mascot and graces the band’s album covers. Thorn, the physical manifestation of the Thorn rune, is a god slayer and a witch maker.
DMR Books releases by Bentley:
Under a Dim Blue Sun
Karnov: Phantom-Clad Rider of the Cosmic Ice
DMR Books releases containing his work:
Swords of Steel I
Swords of Steel II
Swords of Steel III
Scrolls of Legendry #2
The Infernal Bargain and Other Stories
Swords of Steel Omnibus Edition
Die By the Sword
Byron A. Roberts
Byron A. Roberts is the vocalist/lyricist and founder of the British symphonic extreme metal band Bal-Sagoth. Originally hailing from Yorkshire, England, Roberts graduated from Sheffield Hallam University with an Honours Degree in English, writing his final year thesis on the genres of pulp fantasy, science fiction and horror, and more specifically the works of H.P. Lovecraft.
Roberts originated Bal-Sagoth's concept and writes all the lyrics for the band, having performed the vocals on all six Bal-Sagoth albums to date as well as the band's 1993 demo.
DMR Books releases by Roberts:
The Chronicles of Caylen-Tor
Karnov: Phantom-Clad Rider of the Cosmic Ice
DMR Books releases containing his work:
Swords of Steel I
Swords of Steel II
Swords of Steel III
The Infernal Bargain and Other Stories
Swords of Steel Omnibus Edition
Schuyler Hernstrom
Schuyler Hernstrom spent a great deal of his youth reading and rereading the works of Jack Vance and Robert E. Howard. After two enlistments, an education, and many years abroad he finally found himself ready to make his own contribution to his favorite genres, fantasy and science fiction. His work reflects his love of the written word as well as an abiding interest in the weird and spectacular. He has been a paratrooper, sailor, janitor, bouncer in Roppongi*, librarian, and a dozen other things, bringing a world wise slant to his tales of the fantastic. If you enjoy your bloody action couched in graceful prose and tinted with sadness for lost epochs, then perhaps you will enjoy his work.
*This is one of the easiest places in the world to be a bouncer. If you were thinking Road House you are mistaken.
DMR Books releases by Hernstrom:
The Eye of Sounnu
DMR Books releases containing his work:
The Infernal Bargain and Other Stories
J. Christopher Tarpey
Jason Christopher Tarpey is a musician and blacksmith from Boerne, Texas. He is the vocalist for Eternal Champion, Iron Age, and Graven Rite, the latter featuring the song “The Summoner's Pit” which inspired his short story “Vengeance of the Insane God.” He also operates Hammerhall Forge, where he creates his hand-forged iron works.
DMR Books releases by Tarpey:
The Godblade
DMR Books releases containing his work:
Swords of Steel
Swords of Steel Omnibus
E.C. Hellwell
During the recording of Manilla Road's Playground of the Damned, E.C. Hellwell came to Mark Shelton with a short story he had written, called "Acheronomicon". Shelton read it, and thought the story was so brilliant that he had to put it to music. Shelton had done this before in the early days of Manilla Road. The songs "The Riddle Master," "Cage of Mirrors" and "Time Trap" were all based on Hellwell's stories.
Although Hellwell wrote "The Riddle Master" in the '70s, it went unpublished until 2015 when it appeared in the first Swords of Steel anthology.
DMR Books releases containing his work:
Swords of Steel I
Swords of Steel II
Swords of Steel III
Swords of Steel Omnibus Edition
David C. Smith
David C. Smith was born on August 10, 1952, in Youngstown, Ohio. In addition to many essays and short stories, he is the author or coauthor of 22 published novels, primarily in the sword-and-sorcery, horror, and suspense genres.
In addition, Smith is the author of the screenplay Seasons of the Moon, based on his novel; has coauthored the play Coven House; and coauthored the screenplay Magicians, based on the David Trevisan novels. Smith is also author of the postsecondary English grammar textbook Understanding English: How Sentences Work.
Aside from writing fiction, Smith has worked as an advertising copyeditor and English teacher and for more than twenty years as a scholarly medical editor.
DMR Books releases containing his work:
Swords of Steel I
Swords of Steel II
Warlords, Warlocks & Witches
Swords of Steel Omnibus Edition
Terra Incognita
Geoff Blackwell
Geoff Blackwell is a guitarist and keyboardist currently living in Vancouver, Canada. He has played in several bands including Gatekeeper and Scythia, has appeared on no less than ten physical recordings and makes his living teaching music and performing in bands, musical productions, and as a studio musician. His primary inspirations are Robert E. Howard, Frank Frazetta, Quorthon, Thin Lizzy, and Ayinger Celebrator Dopplebock.
DMR Books releases containing his work:
Swords of Steel I
Swords of Steel II
Swords of Steel III
The Infernal Bargain and Other Stories
Death Dealers & Diabolists
Warlords, Warlocks & Witches
Scrolls of Legendry #1
Scrolls of Legendry #2
Swords of Steel Omnibus Edition