While DMR Books is spearheading the charge for sword-and-sorcery fiction, we’re far from alone in our crusade. A number of notable S&S titles from a variety of publishers have hit the (virtual) store shelves just this week.

Most significantly, Hippocampus Press has finally released the first trade paperback edition of The Averoigne Chronicles: The Complete Averoigne Stories of Clark Ashton Smith. While the digital edition was released in the summer of 2019, the paperback was delayed for over a year. Considering some people have been waiting for an Averoigne collection since the ‘70s when it was supposed to be included in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series, one year’s wait is nothing. In addition to collecting all of Smith’s weird fantasy tales set in the imaginary medieval French province, many poems are included as well, plus an introduction by Gahan Wilson and an afterword by Donald Sidney-Fryer.

To accompany The Averoigne Chronicles, Hippocampus has reprinted The Last Oblivion: Best Fantastic Poems of Clark Ashton Smith. Edited by S.T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, The Last Oblivion contains nearly 200 pages of Smith’s poetry, plus a bibliography. Both The Averoigne Chronicles and The Last Oblivion can be ordered from the Hippocampus Press website.

While it’s great to see some long-awaited reprints, there’s no shortage of new heroic fantasy fiction either. Making its debut this week is the heavily-revised version of Lin Carter’s Flashing Swords #6, edited by Robert M. Price. The earlier version, which was supposed to come out last summer through Pulp Hero Press, caused quite the controversy due to Price’s introduction. The new edition has been released by Timaios Press, an outfit I am unfamiliar with. Flashing Swords #6 contains nine stories plus a graphic novella. It is available in paperback and hardcover, but not digital.

Also popping up this week is the first issue of a new publication entitled Savage Realms Monthly. Steve Dilks, one of four authors whose stories appear in the premier issue, describes Savage Realms as “a new e-zine that publishes unapologetic stories of sword-&-sorcery, spear-&-savagery, guns-&-guts, and anything else that falls under the blood ’n thunder banner.” Sounds promising! Savage Realms Monthly appears to be digital only, and can be found on Amazon.

There you have it, a veritable feast of sword-and-sorcery titles for hungry readers. Don’t forget to leave room for the upcoming The Empress of Dreams, a collection of Tanith Lee’s sword-and-sorcery short stories, which DMR Books will release next week.