Cyber Monday is winding down. It got me to thinking about what DMR Books—and Friends of the DMR Blog—have to offer this Yuletide season. Plenty, as it turns out.

I would be remiss--and committing a crime against quality literature--if I didn't mention all the kick-ass books for sale at DMR Books. Since the landmark Swords of Steel anthology was published in 2015, editor/publisher, Dave Ritzlin, has conjured up one worthy book after another. Sword-and sorcery, sword-and-planet, horror--vintage and cutting edge...Ritzlin has delivered the goods. His consistent pace of providing quality fiction in the categories of Heroic Fantasy/Planetary Adventure/Horror is pretty much unparalleled when it comes to small press publishers in the twenty-first century. Let's take a look at some of the books not sold out...

I still consider the two DMR anthologies, Death Dealers & Diabolists and Warlocks, Warlords and Witches to be the best showcases of new/original S&S to be published in the last ten years, if not in the last four decades. The S&S writers to keep an eye on are in there.

When it comes to quality reprints, DMR has four of the best. Swordsmen from the Stars collects Poul Anderson's finest planetary adventure tales from the '50s--the same period wherein he wrote The Broken Sword. Cahena is Manly Wade Wellman's final--and classic--novel of heroic historical fantasy. The Empress of Dreams brings together some of Tanith Lee's best fantasy short fiction. Far Away & Never collects Ramsey Campbell's S&S tales of Ryre.

This last summer, Dave Ritzlin published a 'trilogy' of pulp reprint anthologies: Planetary Adventures, Prehistoric Adventures and Viking Adventures. Each volume is chocked-full of classic tales from their respective sub-genres. Ritzlin dug deep on these, finding lost gems from the pulps--and even earlier--that even I hadn't read. This is the good stuff. Old school and manly.

Two great books from the best new S&S authors would be The Godblade from Jason Tarpey and the Schuyler Hernstrom collection, The Eye of Sounu. Both men get sword-and-sorcery...which is why they went to DMR Books.

In 2020, my erstwhile blog-brother from The Cimmerian, Brian Murphy, wrote a ground-breaking history and analysis of of S&S titled Flame and Crimson. DMR Books now sells it. You can pick it up here.

I've known Dennis McHaney for over fifteen years. He's a legend in Robert E. Howard fandom and recently received the coveted "Black Circle" award from the REH Foundation. That puts him in the same company as Glenn Lord, Don Herron and Patrice Louinet. The Robert E. Howard Collector Volume One - Illustrating Robert E. Howard is McHaney's newest project. It covers the illustrators of REH from Weird Tales up through Stephen Fabian and Frazetta. A very cool, well-crafted book. Plus, the profits go to Project Pride.

Shadowridge Books was started by Robert Barr. You can read more about that here. As they have for the last four years, Shadowridge sells Seabury Quinn's Roads, complete with Virgil Finlay art. As I and many others have said, Roads is the best S&S Christmas story ever written. It is endorsed by Jack Palance, if you're worried about your man-card getting revoked. Read more about it here.

One of my earliest posts at the DMR Blog was about the acclaimed Irish artist, Jim FitzPatrick. I'm a lifelong fan. Jim is still out there, creating great art. A couple of years ago, I ordered some Christmas gifts from Jim. The package far exceeded my expectations. I won't go into it, but the extras I received just about doubled the value of what I paid for. Your mileage may vary, but I can assure you that you will get your money's worth. Jim's oeuvre is so vast, you can find a gift for just about anybody. Irish art, landscape art, heavy metal art, Christmas-themed art... Just give his site a look and decide for yourself. I can assure you that the customer service is great.

Well, I’m sure I’ve forgotten a myriad of deserving people/products, but this will have to stand as is. I hope y’all have a great December!