The Eye of Sounnu by Schuyler Hernstrom
Once upon a time, short fiction was the mainstay of science fiction and fantasy readers. Titans like Robert E. Howard and Jack Vance worked their magic on magazine and pulp pages, delighting readers with strange visions and pulse pounding action. In 2016, editor P. Alexander dared to bring those days back with the launch of Cirsova, a magazine of science fiction and fantasy fiction.
DMR Books is proud to present a collection of one of Cirsova’s rising stars, Schuyler Hernstrom. These stories will take the reader across strange and sweeping landscapes of adventure. Life and death, blood and desire, greed and sacrifice, all and more are contained within. Classic barbarians and classic rogues are here, along with Dunsanian knights and witches, sentient computers and savage beasts. This collection includes all of Hernstrom’s stories from the first three years of Cirsova along with three tales that have never appeared in print before.
Stories included:
The Gift of the Ob-Men
The Tragedy of Thurn (previously unpublished)
Images of the Goddess
The Space Witch
The First American
The Law of Wolves
Mortu and Kyrus in the White City
The Star-God’s Grave
Release date: May 2020
Trade Paperback: 9” x 6”, 240 pages, $19.99
Digital: $4.99
Reviews:
“Sky Hernstrom uses a deliberate style to give Mortu and Kyrus an otherworldly, almost dreamlike tone that carries the moral dilemma and axe and sorcery forward to its conclusion. Mortu's dialogue is quotable, not because it is clever or whimsical, as too many writers try for, because it is heroic, with care to the best phrasing possible. I will leave it to others more skilled in English to dissect the Hernstrom style, but read a long section of “Mortu and Kyrus,” “The Gift of the Ob-Men,” or “The Law of the Wolves” out loud. You will hear the difference and how a heroic style gives heroic deeds more impact.” (Nathan, The Pulp Archivist)
“The Eye of Sounnu is an outstanding collection, from prehistoric cavemen fighting grotesque lizard-man aliens to space wizards controlling crystal ships with their magic, every story delivers. Hernstrom writes like a savage clone abomination of Robert Howard and Jack Vance.” (Alexandru Constantin, The Dacian)
“An eclectic anthology of innovative sword and sorcery tales… This anthology will clearly be remembered as a classic.” (Jason Ray Carney, Spiral Tower)
“Weird fiction captures the wonder of technology without the afterthought of realism. It gives us an unbridled imagination of the unreal with none of the constraints of real engineering, technology, and science. Hernstrom does this masterfully. His worlds are all the wonder of fantasy, mixed with youthful admiration of scientific gadgetry, but there’s nothing of the banality of the actual scientific process.” (J. Thomas Howard, Spiral Tower Press)
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