All short stories and novellas this month. All highly recommended.
“Rider in the Widow Lands” short story by Coy Hall. (The Scythian Wolf, 2026. Available as an ebook)
A dark rider on a mysterious mission in an eerie land. By the end all is revealed. A tale just brimming with sword & sorcery atmosphere with vivid prose, interesting worldbuilding, and an ending that totally sticks the landing.
“Viy” by Nikolai Gogol (From The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol. Vintage, 1999. Story first published in 1835)
A philosophy student holding vigil over the dead body of a beautiful young woman in a remote church is terrorized by supernatural creatures. It has a slow buildup up but the wild supernatural events that begin happening towards the end make up for it. As soon as I finished reading, I watched the film adaptation from 1967.
Viy (1967) Directed by Georgi Kropachyov and Konstantin Ershov
A faithful and well-done adaptation with some beautiful location shooting in Ukraine. Like the novella, it has a bit of a slow beginning, but it leads into a phenomenal latter half. The set of the church interior, the lighting, the color, the direction, and the practical effects during those scenes were all amazing and creatively done, especially for a film from 1967.
The Dolphin and the Deep by Thomas Burnett Swann (Ace Books, 1968)
This collects three fantasy stories of varying length. Each story mixes history and mythology in a way that I really enjoyed.
Where is the Bird of Fire? by Thomas Burnett Swann (Ace Books, 1970)
Three more stories that deftly mix mythology and history. Swann has become a new favorite author of mine. I’ll be looking out for more of his work, and I’ll write more details about both books in an upcoming post.
Tales of Attluma by David C. Smith (Pulp Hero Press, 2020)
Sixteen stories about sorcerers, warriors, demons, and gods on the island continent of Attluma. Fantastic stuff. Once again, I’ll post a longer review soon.
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