Please introduce yourself and tell us about your background as a writer.
My name is Bryan Dyke, I live up on the northern border of Vermont, not far from Montreal, Canada. I’m a part time writer, working a busy day job and equally busy with a lovely wife and two kids (six and nine). I grew up here in Vermont, but have lived all over, including a few years in the military, and in college at the University of Florida. I’m a big fan of all things Sword and Sorcery and Science Fiction and started writing more and more about five years ago. Since then, I’ve had several stories published, mostly in small press anthologies, and I’m very happy to have a tale called “Three Coins of Doom” in DMR’s Death Dealers and Diabolists.

Your story "Three Coins of Doom" is a bit on the light-hearted side for sword and sorcery. What do you think is the best way to utilize humor in heroic fantasy?
I really like what Fritz Leiber did with humor, especially on a few of his stories like “Stardock” in the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser tales. If there’s a template, that’s probably it. I’m not always into humor, but I do sometimes dig the occasional dose of bawdy jokes injected into my sword and sorcery.

I’d be lying if I said stuff like Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean and old school Ray Harryhousen Sinbad films are not huge influences on this particular venture.

I also think humor can be used to make stories more accessible to today’s readers. I love the balance of writers like Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and how they pulled off some nice dark humor in the early depictions of the paper comic-versions of the 2000s “Guardians of the Galaxy” series.  

What are the most prominent influences on your writing? How do you incorporate those influences without being derivative?
Howard, Lovecraft and Jack Kirby are my biggest influences. Definitely on “Three Coins”, Fritz Leiber is there as well. I am, however, mixed on Leiber’s prose. The Lankhmar stuff was such a great concept, and I love his dialogue and character work, but I often find his style a bit ornate and difficult to immerse in.

I’ll totally admit, Dungeons and Dragons is a big influence as well. I was never a giant table-top player, but I read all my brother’s books, Dragon Magazine, the video games, toys, and comics. I’d steal all his lead miniatures and play those old SSI PC games endlessly. The exposure to lead and the fumes of that “Testors” paint probably explains a lot.

As for being derivative, it’s always a challenge to find your own voice with Sword and Sorcery because Howard looms so large. I think the key comes from being well-schooled across multimedia. For starters, being well-read. I know I always can do more here, and it’s tough, because sometimes I don’t always think derivative is that bad, or even that “unoriginal” is negative. For me, it all depends on the quality of the writing.

Many authors say marketing is one of their biggest challenges. What tactics have you found to be most effective for getting your name out there?
I have a Facebook, Twitter and a cobwebbed blog on Tumblr, but I’m probably behind on this stuff. I’m not sure how much it helped me with interest, but in the early stages, working online really helps to get over putting stuff out there for critique. I’ve put a few tales online and am just trying to learn and grow. It’s a great tool, or at least it seems to be. I enjoy several of the Facebook S and S groups, and post on those from time to time. A few writers have Twitter feeds I find inspiring, others annoying.

Social media can suck you in or become toxic as well, so most of all I try to just stay focused on writing and subbing stories to get recognition, i.e. putting my head down and spinning the ol’ wheel of pain.

How much do your audience’s expectations factor in to what you write? Does this ever cause you to hold back from experimenting?
I am still at the stage where I am grateful that I even have an audience, ha!….but I guess I do read what others say and take it as a consideration, probably not to the point of drastically altering my course, but perhaps use it to self-reflect.  I think when you’re lucky enough to have fans, it’s important to listen to them and factor their thoughts into the creative process, especially with serialized work, like comics or short stories with reoccurring characters.

I still mostly write for me, and write stuff I would want to read. I happen to dig older classics, so that is the style I like to write in. I’d be lying, however, if I said I didn’t try to keep up on what is being published professionally as a yardstick for what readers like. Then again, some of the trends in literature today really turn me off.

“Three Coins of Doom” was more or less experimentation for me. I write mostly dark and straightforward fantasy, horror, and adventure. Our genre is a fickle bunch, however, and tastes are so varied, with some strong opinions out there. It’s tough to please everybody, so I often say “screw it”.

That being said, at the stage I am in my writing career I’m just trying to sub to numerous places, and rejection and critique are so prevalent, you have to get over the fear of experimenting or failing.

Have you had any new stories published recently? Are you currently working on any?
I’ve got two published items coming up; a series of Sword and Sorcery/Fantasy drabbles in Forgotten Ones by Eerie River just out now, and a post-apocalyptic western tale in The Dark Frontier, an anthology by Wild West Press due out this summer. I’ve been working on more western pulp-style short stories at the moment, but I have a Sword and Sorcery novel in progress that is coming along.

Name one newer and one older book you have read and enjoyed recently. (“Newer” meaning from the past year or so, and “older” meaning written before 1980.)
I’ve been reading old pulps lately; The Hill of Dead from the “Eagles/Gladiator” series by house name/ghost writer Andrew Quiller, I’ve also inhaled a couple of the old “Edge” Western pulps from the ‘70s written by George G. Gilman. I highly recommend them, even for fans of Sword and Sorcery.

As for new, not to be biased, but I really liked the “Q’a the Librarian” tale by Buzz Dixon from Death Dealers. Very gritty and graphic stuff. The visuals there were haunting.  I also just read Sea of Rust, by C. Robert Cargill, an excellent robot centered post-apocalyptic science fiction page-turner. He also has a really helpful Twitter feed I would recommend.

Any final words?
I really appreciate getting the opportunity in Death Dealers and Diabolists, and hope some folks out there enjoyed the story, I know from reading the collection, it was an absolute honor to have been included in the TOC. DMR is really putting out a great product with the amazing cover art and quality of these books.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has me behind on writing and reading, as I’m still working overtime with my full-time job, and have not had the time to catch up on the enormous stack of books on my reading pile. “Conan Exiles” is also partly to blame. Hope everyone is healthy and enjoys staying home and reading, thanks again.