Books I Read in July 2026

One book, one comic, and two short stories this month.

Robert E. Howard Changed My Life: Personal Essays about an Extraordinary Legacy, edited by Jason M. Walz. (Rogue Blades Foundation, 2021)

I picked this up during Robert E. Howard Days 2026. It was my first time making the pilgrimage to Cross Plains, Texas, and I had a fantastic time. I have a blog post that I’m working on about my experiences there but it’s taking longer than expected to finish it. Hopefully soon. 

This is a collection of over thirty essays about how people discovered Howard and how he inspired them. It includes essays by Robert E. Howard Days founders Rusty Burke and Bill “Indy” Cavalier as well as from authors such as Joe R. Lansdale, Scott Oden, Nancy Collins, Roy Thomas, Howard Andrew Jones, Charles R. Saunders, and Michael Moorcock. Although a lot of the essays are written by authors, there are essays by those in other professions as. While I enjoyed some essays more than others, I got something out of all of them. As a Howard fan, I found it quite interesting reading how everyone first encountered him, the variety of characters that they were drawn to, and the different ways Howard’s work made an impact on them. In a way, it was an extension of the experience I had at Robert E. Howard Days 2026. 

Rating: 5/5

Comics

I broke down and bought another single issue…

Conan and Dragonero #2. Written by Luca Enoch and Stefano Veitti, art by Lorenzo Nuti. (Titan Comics, July 2026)

This is the second issue of the Conan and Italian fantasy character Dragonero crossover. After escaping from the cell he was put in last issue, Conan joins Dragonero on a flying ship only for them to run into a new threat. This issue definitely feels more epic fantasy than sword and sorcery. I liked the art and the issue did a good job of moving the story forward, but as it was such a quick read I’m thinking of sticking to my usual plan of reading the trade. 

Rating: 3/5

Short Stories 

After a friend recently recommended “The Word of Unbinding” by Ursula Le Guin to me, I decided to read it as Le Guin is one of my favorite authors but I still haven’t read much of her work. I wound up reading it and another story as they are the first stories Le Guin wrote set in her Earthsea world. The stories are available in a collection titled The Wind’s Twelve Quarters. 

“The Word of Unbinding” 

A wizard awakes to find that he has been imprisoned by another wizard. After his attempts to escape keep ending in failure, he realizes that he will need to do something quite drastic in order to escape. Quite original and very moving. It’s amazing what Le Guin accomplished in a short story.

Rating: 4/5

“The Rule of Names” 

A mysterious man shows up on an island with a local wizard that isn’t very good at his job. We soon learn that all is not as it seems and things get complicated. I was blown away by the ending. 

Rating: 5/5

Le Guin introduced a lot of concepts in these two stories that she would later flesh out in her Earthsea novels. I read the first one a few years ago and really liked it but I never continued with the other books. I may have to jump back in soon. 

Books and Comics I Read in June 2026

Between a busy month at work, making plans for a much-needed vacation, driving halfway across the US and back (more details to come in an upcoming post), and the heat of summer, not only did I not get much reading done, but I also took forever to write up my notes for what I did read.  Well, I’m finally back so here are some reviews!

Jangar! Slaves of the MInd Mage by L. D. Whitney. (Cliffhanger Press, 2026)

A barbarian raised in the jungle fights to save a woman from savage beast-men. This novelette was a really fun read. A fast-paced sword & sorcery jungle adventure with some world building deftly mixed in. An interesting mix of Tarzan and Conan. I love the cover art by Mike Hoffman as well as the cover design, which is done in the style of the old Ballantine Tarzan paperbacks.

This is the first of a series of six planned stories. The first five will be released as eBooks while the sixth will be included in a collection of the previous stories in paperback. Looking forward to reading more. 

Rating: Five Atlantean swords out of five. 

Conan the Barbarian #32. Written by Jim Zub, art by Doung Braithwaite. (Titan Comics, June 2026)

I’m reading Titan’s Conan the Barbarian in trade as I stopped buying single issues of comics quite a while ago, but I couldn’t resist picking this one up as it’s a done-in-one story. A mysterious woman hires Conan to safeguard her across a desert. It starts out as an adventure story and then becomes something more with its twist ending. This felt like something that would have been published in Weird Tales. The more I think about the ending, the more questions I have. In any case, I really enjoyed it and it was nice to read a stand-alone story. 

Rating: Four Atlantean swords out of five. 

Conan and Dragonero #1. Written by Luca Enoch and Stefano Veitti, art by Lorenzo Nuti. (Titan Comics, May 2026)

When I went to my local comic book shop to pick up Conan #32, I told myself that I wouldn’t pick up anything else… but then I saw this and the item below and I caved. This was a complete blind buy which turned out to be an entertaining read. After Conan is pulled into another world that has dragons, he meets Dragonero, a famous dragonslayer.

I did some research and I learned that Dragonero is a long running Italian fantasy comic. Dark Horse published one volume in English in 2009. This first issue of a seven-issue mini-series has a nice European style art and does a good job of setting things up. I’m not sure how the mix of standard fantasy and sword and sorcery is going to play out, but I’m on board so far. Now, do I wait for the trade or continue to buy single issues…

Rating: Three and half Atlantean swords out of five. 

The Savage Sword of Conan Reforged #1. (Titan Comics, October 2025)

This magazine sized comic is basically a color version of The Savage Sword of Conan, as each issue includes color versions of stories that originally appeared in black and white. I wasn’t planning on picking this up as most of the modern re-coloring of old comics that I’ve seen have been pretty awful, but after flipping through some issues I have to say the coloring done for this is quite good. That and the fact that my local comic shop had a copy of the Boris Vallejo variant cover, plus that it was still at cover price, got me to come away with another single issue. It includes adaptations of two of Robert E. Howard’s most famous Conan stories, an illustrated version of Howard’s poem "Cimmeria," an essay by writer/artist Patrick Zircher, and some pinups. A pretty nice mix. The stories are:

“The Frost Giant’s Daughter” 

Written by Roy Thomas. Art by Barry Windsor-Smith.

(Savage Tales #1, 1971)

“The Tower of the Elephant”

Written by Roy Thomas. Art by John Buscema and Alfred Alcala. 

(Savage Sword of Conan #24, 1977)

The stories are well adapted, the art is fantastic, and as I mentioned the coloring is very well done. Between the stories and the extras, they really knocked it out of the park with this. 

Rating: Five Atlantean swords out of five. 

It’s still pretty hot but things have calmed down, so I’ve been doing more reading this month. We’ll see if I can keep it up.