These days there are so many new books coming out in the fields of fantasy, science fiction, and adventure that it’s hard to keep track of them all! Let’s take a look at some that have been released this month.

The long-awaited essay collection Robert E. Howard Changed My Life made its debut at the annual Howard Days event on June 11th. This homage to REH contains essays by 33 different authors detailing the impact and influence he had on their lives. Among the contributors are many names you’ll surely recognize, such as Michael Moorcock, Adrian Cole, David C. Smith, Keith Taylor, Howard Andrew Jones, and our own Deuce Richardson.

Also released on June 11th was the third issue of Whetstone, “the amateur magazine of pulp sword and sorcery.” The Spring 2021 issue is packed with 16 short stories, and, like the first two issues, can be downloaded for free, so there’s no reason not to give it a try.

Parallel Universe Publications recently brought out the second volume of their anthology series Swords & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy. Volume 2 features ten stories by authors such as Adrian Cole, Steve Dilks, and Tais Teng. Jim Pitts provided the cover art for the new volume, as well as the previous.

Cirsova Magazine continues to deliver quality fantastic adventure in the old pulp tradition, and the Summer 2021 issue was released just last week. The new issue, sporting a stylish anime-influenced cover, includes a new Mongoose and Meerkat story by Jim Breyfogle, the second part of a new Wild Stars serial by Michael Tierney, and an installment of the Badaxe comic.

And of course I can’t neglect DMR Books’ June release, Planetary Adventures. The five stories in this anthology (three of which have never been reprinted before) mix sword-swinging, swashbuckling action with sci-fi settings. With tales by Poul Anderson, Henry Kuttner, Edmond Hamilton, Ross Rocklynne, and Bryce Walton, how could you go wrong?

There you have it, five selections to add to your TBR pile. Who knows how many next month will bring!

D.M. Ritzlin founded DMR Books in 2015 with the aim of revitalizing sword-and-sorcery literature. DMR’s publications include reprints of classic material by authors such as Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith, as well as brand-new collections and anthologies by some of the finest fantasy writers active today. A collection of his own stories, Necromancy in Nilztiria, was released in October 2020. Nilztiria is a world of adventure and strangeness, peopled by lusty heroes and callous villains. The thirteen sword-and-sorcery stories presented in Necromancy in Nilztiria place the emphasis on sorcery and mix in a touch of gallows humor.