It’s a new year, and for some people that means new year’s resolutions. Not me, though; I’m sticking to my old one! When I started DMR Books I resolved to bring the world the greatest sword & sorcery fiction known to man. I’ve been doing just that for over a decade, and 2026 will be no different!

It’s no secret that one of this year’s releases is the highly-anticipated anthology Walpurgis Witcheries. The companion volume to Samhain Sorceries, which focused on the autumnal Celtic pagan festival, Walpurgis Witcheries deals with its Germanic counterpart. The tales in Walpurgis take place in the shadow of the peaks of the Harz Mountains, where witch hunters, wandering warriors, and common folk experience terrors and tribulations on the night when the veil between worlds thins. Walpurgis features the return of many authors who appeared in Samhain (including Keith Taylor and Ethan Sabatella) as well as some who will be making their DMR Books debut. Walpurgis Witcheries will be released on Walpurgisnacht, April 30.

Before then, the first release of the year will be the novel Against the Demon World by D.M. Ritzlin. (Yeah, that’s me!) The hero of this tale, Avok Kur Storn, has been featured in many stories before, such as “The Infernal Bargain,” but he’s never faced challenges like this. In Against the Demon World, Avok is captured and carried away to Uzz, the moon where demons dwell, where he is fated, it seems, to be nothing more than a pawn in a war between two factions of diabolical demons. One is led by the cunning and monstrous Nelgastrothos, the other by the seductive succubus Heltorya. Both sides wish to exploit Avok for their own purposes. Will Avok be able to break the chains that bind him to the depraved realm of demons and return to his home world?

Against the Demon World will be released in February. The cover art (pictured) was created by Bebeto Daroz, who also did the cover for my first novel, Vran the Chaos-Warped.

In June we can look forward to the first collection from M. Stern, Kingdoms Trembling. The stories in this book, each one previously unpublished, are set in the same world as Stern’s tales in the Die By the Sword anthologies. If you’ve read “The Tears of Blood” and “The Eye Within the Eye,” you already know about Stern’s capabilities for imaginative worldbuilding and captivating action. Fans of Jack Vance and Schuyler Hernstrom won’t want to miss this one.

Towards the end of the year we’ll follow up The Dwellers in the Mirage with a Definitive Edition of another one of A. Merritt’s works. Exactly which one is yet to be determined, so if there’s something in particular you’d like to see, leave a comment.

Most likely there will be at least one more title coming out in 2026, and hopefully one or two special out-of-the-ordinary releases as well. It’s too early to discuss plans for those, though. But believe me, 2026 will be a year to remember for sword-and-sorcery fans!