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Welcome back to the Wasteland! I've got one more surprise for you before we exit June. I promise, it's a great one.
The good news is just in time for the start of summer is the third volume in StoryHack's Sidearm & Sorcery anthology series! It's quite the release. For those looking for a fun read, you won't get much better than this.
In case you are unaware, Sidearm & Sorcery is an anthology series framed around the concept of classic Sword & Sorcery anthologies like Flashing Swords or Swords Against Darkness, but set in a modern context of guns, social media, and cars. Instead of the typical shell of classic S&S framework and setting wrapped around modern storytelling tropes, these tales instead are built in the classic mode but connected to our modern times. The only difference is the setting. This approach is not about correcting the past, but connecting ourselves to it.
Before we go any further, I would like to first give the description of Volume 3 as well as the list of stories contained in this new release.
Evil hides is the shadows of modern life. Mythic monsters lurk among the refuse of city streets. Wizards that peep and mutter seek unholy power in the present-day. Unfortunately, there aren't enough kindly sorcerers, children of prophecy, or battlesuit-powered billionaires to go around. So when average people are swallowed up in supernatural trouble, sometimes they have to stand against the darkness by themselves.
Included in this volume are twelve new stories of regular people facing the worst the paranormal world as to offer. These heroes may not have powers, but they refuse to be powerless.
This is Sidearm & Sorcery Volume Three.
Included in this volume:
- What's It Like in There? by JD Cowan
- Hell is in These Hills by Jason McCuiston
- Mixed Mystic Arts by Niko Haapala
- Vagrant Vigilante by Josh VanZile
- Acts of Contrition by Daniel Minucci
- Shrinkage by Misha Burnett
- Abandonment and Possession by Dale W. Glaser
- The Devouring Mother of Appalachia by Carl Brown
- Red Wine, Books, and Ammunition by Julie Frost
- Supernatural Survival Merit Badge by Jason Akinaka
- Yahoo Cafe by Jay Barnson
- Werewolf of the Redmoss Apartments by Bryce Beattie
You might have noticed a few familiar names in the list, including yours truly! My piece is not only in volume 3, but it is also the lead story! That is a first for me, but it is especially nice to see when you consider this is probably my longest short story so far, just under novella length. The reason for this will be explained below.
Aside from myself, you can see for yourself some of the great names that have contributed to both this book as well as past volumes, as well. I'd go through each of them but the titles pretty much say it all for me. You know you're in good with those writers.
Regardless, this a fun release with a lot of wild tales by great authors to get the blood pumping. You can find Sidearm & Sorcery Volume Three here!
Now that the basics are out of the way, let us get to my tale.
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| You might have remembered this earlier AI art from my video |
Now, you might be asking, what is the deal with "What's It Like in There?" and what is it about? Surely, it can be any weirder than any of my past work. Well, you might be surprised because this is a strange one.
The story behind the story is that after I wrote the tale "City Eater" (which, funnily enough, released in Sidearm & Sorcery Volume Two) I realized that there was much to the "event" described in that story than I lead on. The obvious reason for that being that it was about a small family dealing with abject madness, but readers clearly noticed that the described event affected a lot more people than just them. Not only that, but it had happened more than once. So the question came, what happened during a similar one of these events where escape wasn't an option? In fact, this story was my attempt to understand the series of happenings that would lead to the sort of disaster that swallows the modern world so seemingly easy.
To go into it in greater detail would be to lean a bit esoteric and, even if that is much more acceptable these days, I much prefer being clear in my meanings when I write stories. Obscurity isn't what I try to do. I put a lot in here you can probably drag out yourself, but at the core is a story about a boy lost in a storm much older, and also younger, than he is. This whirlwind he finds himself a part of was always inevitable, but no one wanted to see it coming even when all the signs were there. As a result, well, the only thing that comes from it is disaster.
In truth, this is the final story in a small cycle of shorts I wrote about the end of the modern world. There are a few others, a couple of really short pieces I have on the side, the aforementioned "City Eater" as well as the upcoming "Mirage Carousal" in Cirsova's fall issue (which should help bridge some of the gap), and then there is this one. There is also a short epilogue story I'm currently working on between other projects, but that one's also a bit out there. On top of all that, I suppose with this I should have to state that this is all also related to Y Signal, as well. Take whatever you want from that last piece of knowledge.
That said, as always, each story stands on its own merits and tells its own tale. You only need to read them all if you want a more full picture of where they stand in relation to each other and the grander scheme of things. If you just want to read one on its own, you can still do that.
But how about this particular tale? Let us now go into it a bit.
Without going into spoiler territory, "What's It Like in There?" is the end result of many social and societal trends allowed to go on unchecked by those who refuse to look at the bigger picture, leading to an end worse than mere collapse. The strange vampirism everyone today seems to have in regards to everyone else and the smashing of a high trust society can only really lead in one direction. Doubly so if you have no vision for the future beyond leaving everyone alone to kill themselves. Out of sight, out of mind. That sort of destruction will only ever fold back in on itself as much as it folds out and flattens everything else around it in the process. No one wins.
The main protagonist is not only the viewpoint character for the reader but also representative of anyone coming across this madness out of context. I once said that if someone outside of the small window of the small cultural context actually watched the movie SLC Punk they would see nothing but madness and be puzzled that anyone would let this happen. That was part of the goal here, too. None of this really makes sense, and yet it's still not only being allowed to happen, it's encouraged. What possible end can come of this mentality?
In case you were wondering, the title of this tale is indeed a reference to the above Edmond Hamilton story about space exploration and how detached it is from reality. If you haven't read it, the piece stars a psychologically wounded space war vet that has to go around telling families their loved ones have died and he has to contrast it with how different space is from all those old pulp stories they dreamed it would be.
It's a rather dark and dreary story, different than Hamilton's usual and one of the few he could sell in a market that didn't want what he actually loved to write. So of course it is looked at highly by fans of the "genre" and not remembered by anyone else today. That's not to say anything about the story's quality, we are talking about Edmond Hamilton after all, but it's not what Hamilton is remembered for anymore, if he is remembered by the industry at all. I'm also fairly certain it's not the sort of thing he would want to be remembered for.
Regardless, the concept of misunderstanding space and the possibilities out there in the Unknown was funny to me. The idea of charging out into the Unknown Up There when we have spent all of modernity ignoring the Unknown Down Here is interesting. Forget what it might be like out there. How about what it's like in here? We can have arguments about how many dwarf planets we have to admit in so we can get Pluto back (all of them, who cares), but most of us no longer can even give the first names of any of the neighbors who live on our own streets. A link is missing here. We're leapfrogging over everything for the promised gold prize of progress that doesn't exist.
"What's It Like in There?" is a trip through a dead end with little more than a shotgun, a prayer, and friends in unlikely places. You can't get out if you don't even know what it is you're trying to escape. What awaits on the other end? You'll have to read and find out.
All that aside, I want to thank you for reading. These stories are always a blast to write and put out there and it's always a pleasure hearing about others' enjoyment of them. Sidearm & Sorcery Volume Three is sure to be a blast as will the upcoming Cirsova #20 in the fall. I would recommend them even if I didn't have a story in them. (Which reminds me, Cirsova's summer issue is now out! Be sure to grab it here!)
But I also have a pretty big surprise to share with you in the very near future. It will have to wait until July, but rest assured it's a big one that will change how I operate. I've got more stories on the way and you're about to be able to access them far more easily. I only want to wait a bit longer to let these things breathe before I go into yet another project with you.
Lastly, in Star Wanderers news, I gave the okay on the proofs and Cirsova is now collecting surveys and readying to ship them out! If you haven't filled yours in yet, now is the time. You'll be getting that awesome package very, very shortly!
That's all for this week! Thank you for all your support and I will see you next time. You never just what is out there waiting!
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