New Treasures: Jason E. Thummel’s In Savage Lands
One of the many great things about being involved with Black Gate is being exposed to so many terrific new writers. One of the best of the recent lot is Jason E. Thummel, whose short fiction is fast paced, consistently exciting, and packed with invention.
I’ve purchased three short stories from Jason for Black Gate magazine, but we by no means have a monopoly on his work. His story “Runner of the Hidden Ways” was one of the finest stories in the excellent anthology, Rage of the Behemoth (2009), and his fiction has also appeared in the acclaimed (and much-missed) Flashing Swords magazine and the anthology Magic and Mechanica (2009). His first novel, The Spear of Destiny, was published in 2011.
Now comes word that his first collection, In Savage Lands, is available. Here’s the official description:
A small band of rebellious slaves, fleeing an undead terror; an untested leader, willing to sacrifice everything to save his people; a man driven to become the thing he hates most in order to exact a terrible vengeance…
These are just a few of those you will meet within.
Against unfathomable odds, the might of monsters, the cunning of men, and the raw, overwhelming power of the elements themselves, each struggles to survive…
In Savage Lands is a collection of 13 short stories for lovers of Heroic Fiction, Sword and Sorcery, and action-driven Fantasy.
In Savage Lands is 160 pages (approximately 44,000 words). It is available for $8.95 in paperback, and in digital format for $2.99 from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and iTunes.
Thanks to the ever-vigilant Jason Waltz for the head’s up on this one!
As another editor who has bought a story from Jason, I’m glad to see this!
I bought it from your recommendation John. I like to see new blood in the S&S field. It isn’t that REH, Lieber, etc. are old but there is a lot of untapped potential out there who will feul the genre if they are supported.
I also prefer short stories and novellas to novels. I prefer the quick action and reads of short stories and sometimes I don’t get that with longer fiction.
Nice tradtional cover art too.
It is a shame that Black Gate is closed for submissions until 2016. Who knows what else is being generated out there?
I’ll definitely be buying this one. Thanks for the heads-up, John.
Bill — glad to see we have the same taste in authors. 🙂
You were an editor for Magic and Mechanica, right? What was that like? It looks like an interesting book.
> I bought it from your recommendation John.
Thanks, Wild Ape. Glad to see people willing to support new writers.
> I like to see new blood in the S&S field. It isn’t that REH, Lieber, etc. are
> old but there is a lot of untapped potential out there who will feul the genre if they are supported.
Well said.
> I also prefer short stories and novellas to novels. I prefer the quick action and
> reads of short stories and sometimes I don’t get that with longer fiction.
That puts you in the minority, sadly. I started with short stories and fiction magazines as a kid, but I think that experience is getting rarer and rarer. Fewer modern readers seem interested in short fiction, and that’s a shame.
> I’ll definitely be buying this one. Thanks for the heads-up, John.
You’re most welcome, Westkeith. Thanks for supporting new writers.
Downloaded it at lunch. I also got started by reading anthologies and fiction magazines, but I think you’re right, John. Fewer readers these days seem interested in short fiction. There are indications that the rise of electronic publishing may be changing that. Let’s hope so.
re: M&M: that was an antho I pitched to Pitch Black that I had started reading subs for right as they closed up, but then Rob Santa came along and rescued it and we co-edited it through his Ricasso Press.
We got a lot of great material for it, and I still haven’t seen much else that covers the same theme (fantasy stories with mechanical elements).
And yes, it does seem as if fewer people are interested in shorts, and I think a lot of that is because people don’t really learn to read them (they require more effort to read than a novel).
I think that readers like novels and are pretty flexible about what they read. I think the new generation is a bit different. The girls seem to read a wide range of anything and everything while boys tend to like the quick. I think the short story will make a big comeback as it appeals to the instant generation.
I think sometimes short stories are a hard art because it requires a condensed setup moreso than a novel which can take its time.
[…] His first novel, The Spear of Destiny, was published in 2011 and his short story collection In Savage Lands appeared earlier this […]