RBE is taking a chance on this one, our first anthology filled with bloody swords and a bit of inappropriate laughter. Humor is a difficult thing to write, and asking for funnies amidst death isn't making the writing any easier. There were a lot of submissions received for this call, and humor was typically the piece that eluded them. When we're declaring "The most wasted of all days is one without laughter" though, writers and readers had to dig deep and find the lines that delivered.
There is an awful lot of death in these pages, readers beware! Some tales open in blood and never let up, some take a moment to get to the red-stained pages, but all of them are not for the faint of soul. Yet! Just when despair might set in, there's that bit of humor - sly, subtle, rarely slapstick - that brings the hint of a grin twitching. Darkness alleviated but for a moment by the light of a well-said line, often by a stalwart companion, and often in the most dire of situation.
Eadwine Brown kicks off this title of about 102,000 words in 14 tales with a foreword about mayhem and mirth. Death rides with a devilish grin sometimes, and these storytellers have captured those exquisite moments:
David Bischoff - "Up the Gladiators"
Edward Ahern - "The Corolean Tablet"
G. J. Dunn - "Spilled Blood"
Michael Ehart - "The Beast of the Bridge"
Jason J. McCuiston - "A Matter of Honor"
Gregory D. Mele - "Jaguar's Children"
W. E. Wertenberger - "Hag of Bones"
Keith West - "Flanking Maneuver"
DJ Tyrer - "Into The Slave Pit"
Daniel Loring Keating - "Invasion of the Shimmering Monolith"
Rayne Hall - "Scylla and the Pepper Pirates"
Bruce Durham - "Dark Assassin"
Chad A. B. Wilson - "No One Expects Goblins"
Howard Andrew Jones - "Dream Horn"
*Cover by RBE
*Foreword from Eadwine Brown
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