The Krieg Sword & Sorcery Stories of Charles Gramlich

I really enjoyed “The Skull of Ghosts” from Old Moon Quarterly #5 featuring Charles Gramlich’s sword & sorcery character Krieg, so I sought out the rest of the stories. In a blog post the author describes the character as someone who “combines certain elements of REH’s Kull and Wagner’s Kane,” which I felt as I read the stories. This is a small detail, but I really like how the stories are broken up into parts, each with its own chapter title, something I usually only see in longer works. 

“A Whisper in Ashes” (5/5) 

(Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #17, July 2013 and The Best of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Vol. III, 2020)

After Krieg discovers the ruins of a funeral ship at the edge of a mountain lake, he follows a set of footprints to a town which is having trouble with an intruder. At first, they accept his help but then they become suspicious of him.

“Where all the Souls Are Hollow” (5/5) 

(Unsheathed: An Epic Fantasy Collection, 2018)

Krieg encounters something not of this world in a desert. I got a bit of a Karl Edward Wagner vibe with this one as it mixes science fiction with sword and sorcery really well. 

“The Rotted Land” (5/5) 

(Sword and Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy Volume 5, 2022)

After attempting to take a short cut though a swamp, Krieg meets a mysterious woman clad in black. The darkest story yet.

“The Skull of Ghosts” (5/5) 

(Old Moon Quarterly # 5, Summer 2023)

Krieg enters a plague infested town and meets people from his past. I loved the prose, the characters, and the backstory that’s hinted at. 

“Once Upon a Blood Dark Sea” (5/5)

(Savage Realms Monthly # 40, November 2025)

Krieg and the men he is travelling with at sea encounter an island newly risen from the ocean. On the island they explore the ruins of an ancient city and wind up battling all sorts of creatures. A real page turner. 

Each story is set up really well, has excellent pacing, and has a satisfying conclusion. Not a wasted word. Here’s hoping that the author writes more stories about Krieg. If he does, I’ll definitely be reading them.