Earlier this week four authors in the Walpurgis Witcheries anthology convened at the Monsters, Madness and Magic podcast to discuss the upcoming book and sword-and-sorcery fiction in general. The participants were M. Stern, Ethan Sabatella, Matthew Pungitore, and host Justin (J.R.) Young. You can watch the episode below:

Here are a few choice quotes from each of the authors about their stories.

Ethan Sabatella, author of “No Mercy for Witches”: “[The story is about] a wandering knight seeking justice and/or revenge against a devil-worshiping witch-knight who has innocent blood on his hands and wishes to give that blood in sacrifice to his false god/demon.”

M. Stern, author of “The Wandering One and the Witchdance”: “Vodoberex is a sort of cryptic warrior who has a mission that he has to undertake in the Harz Mountains at a time when there is a big banned pagan festival underway. [He’s] concerned about metaphysical forces that sort of stand outside of the theological conflict going on at that historical moment.”

J.R. Young, author of “Balefires Upon the Brocken”: “It’s a story about my character Nathaniel Bowen, who is a wayward witch hunter. I took the skeleton of Solomon Kane but I wanted to make a character that was physically capable but spiritually weak. He has this fluff of Kane in that he’s very righteous and devout, but it’s really just surface level. He has a lot of doubts, and more times than not (this isn’t the first Bowen story) he ends up on the wrong side of things… The whole theme of the story is he’s ascending up this mountain, and as he descends he’s descending himself. He’s less of the man he was when he reached the peak.”

Matthew Pungitore, author of “The Sorcerers and Mysteries of Mercury-Wotan”: “DMR Books as a publisher deserves more high praise. Mr. D.M. Ritzlin, its founder: good man, focused, strong, professional, supports innovation. DMR Books shows a great sense of aesthetics. It’s unique, creative, and savvy on sword-and-sorcery, desiring to publish works of artistically higher substance… DMR Books has been doing something special, noble, that’s helping keep sword-and-sorcery subculture healthy and alive with integrity, speaking to us, the common man, desiring to lift us up. So my gratitude goes to DMR Books and Mr. D.M. Ritzlin. I’d like to thank them for all of their support and hard work. Thank you, verily.”

All right, that last quote wasn’t about the story, but I couldn’t resist throwing that in there!

While Walpurgis Witcheries will be released on April 30 (Walpurgisnacht), you can pre-order it directly from DMR Books here. I expect copies will arrive at DMR Headquarters mid-May. You might ask, why wait for the pre-order to arrive instead of ordering from Amazon and getting it sooner? I have two reasons which might entice you. One, by ordering from the DMR website, you can use the code FREESHIP to get free shipping to the US as long as your order is over $50. This code has unlimited uses and will not expire. Two, all direct orders will receive the special limited edition booklet Two Tales of Witchery as long as supplies last.

Though the DMR website is the main place to find Two Tales of Witchery, on May 1, you’ll be able to get a copy at two special events! In Chicago, I’ll be vending at the Legions of Metal Festival (headlined by Rhapsody of Fire and Trouble). Also, in Philadelphia, cover artist and author Jo Gamel will have copies available at the opening of an exhibition of her paintings at the Jane Gallery. If you’re in either area, be sure to come out and pick one up!