Dark Muse News: Heart of Vengeance & Other Tales of Azatlán by Gregory Mele
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Heart of Vengeance & Other Tales of Azatlán by Gregory Mele
(Obsidian & Bronze Ltd, August 2026, 280 pages). Cover Art by Mark Smylie.
Mele’s Meso-American Mysteries, Melee & Mayhem Awaits
Gregory Mele brings swordplay, sorcery, and the dark gods of a lost Meso-American world vividly to life in his Heart of Vengeance & Other Tales of Azatlán (Obsidian & Bronze Ltd.); it is a thrilling collection of occult mysteries, brutal battles, and weird adventures where the dead rarely stay dead. Dark Muse News jumped on it when it became public in August 2026 (available in several places; check out the author’s website).
It has 14 stories, 4 original and 10 published previously in various magazines. Their connection? All share characters, deities, and the land of Tehanuwak (map below).
Sprucing up the milieu are fourteen full-page illustrations by Luigi Castellani, Nicole Allen, Gary McCluskey, Justin Pfeil, and Mark Smylie. Logan Dustin Whitney (Sword and Sorcery author and Rogue in the House member) assisted on cover design. The esteemed S&S champion David C. Smith penned the Foreword, in which he admits to getting nightmares from Mele’s Sipan.
“May you have such dreams after reading these great stories.” — David C. Smith’s Foreword
The author’s martial arts background shines through! To emphasize how mesmerizing these battles are, we provide Excerpts below. Readers may take note of the careful details regarding spacing between combatants and timing of attacks. Greg Mele is more than a practitioner of the arts, but a historian of sorts, having written several books on historic weaponry (In the Service of Mars: Proceedings from the Western Martial Arts Workshop 1999-2009, Volume I and Volume 2, and Flowers of Battle, Volume III: Florius de Arte Luctandi (Complete Martial Works of Fiore Dei Liberi, a Master-At-Arms).
Expect more too! Having read Heart of Vengeance & Other Tales of Aztalan, I hunger for more (and fantasized about taking a vacation to Meso-America so I could reread this collection closer to suitable ambience). Thankfully, Mele expressed in his introduction, “there is enough material for almost two more volumes, all from the ‘Wanderings of Sarrumos-cycle.”
For now, read! This post showcases the book’s structure, includes tons of must-read excerpts, and samples of the interior illustrations.
Back Cover Summary
Tehanuwak, the Land of Obsidian and Bronze, is a sweeping vista of ancient city-states steaming jungles of the deep south and vast grasslands ruled by camelops-riding, bison and mammoth-hunting warrior nomads in unmapped north. But its heartlands are ruled by the Three Empires, each proud and ambitious, bu none more so than that of Azatlán, City of the White Hearth. Ruled by the Naakali, a race of foreign conquerors whose distant homeland was lost beneath the Great Ice, Azatlán’s legions push ever outward, seeking to bring more of the world beneath the yoke of the Living Sun.
Even in Azatlán, life is not easy. Tehanuwak is a beautiful, diverse land, but it is not a gentle place. These are the lands of feathered serpents and ancient ruins long reclaimed by jungle vines. War is everywhere, both within and without human civilization. The bones of fallen cities litter the land, decaying monuments to forgotten greatness. Monsters created by vengeful powers hunt those who wander alone. Far to the north, the Great Ice grinds south, strange creatures migrating southward out of its path, including beasts not entirely mortal. Demons dwell in the Dark Between the Stars, ever pressing against the barriers erected by the Sun and His sister the Moon long ago. Should they ever pierce it, they will descend on the mortal world like locusts upon a field. The gods defend Their creation, but They grow weary and hungry in Their eternal vigilance, and that hunger can only be satiated with mortal blood.
In this collection of sword & sorcery, dark fantasy, occult detectives and weird fiction readers are given a panorama of a lost Bronze Age world, inspired by the legends and civilizations of Mesoamerica, the American Southwest and the ancient Near-East. Readers of Robert E. Howard, David Gemmel, andMiles Cameron will find something to love.
Heart of Vengeance & Other Tales of Azatlán Structure
Section / Genre
- “Creation of the Fifth World” – 1x Story + Map / Myth
- #1 Tales from the Journals of Ométl Five-Rabbit – 3x Stories / Occult Detective
- #2 Tales of the Borderlands – 4x Stories / Sword & Sorcery
- #3 Tales of the Underworld – 6x Stories / Weird Sword & Sorcery
- Glossary
Opening Myth
“Creation of the Fifth World” is an original, yet-unpublished story. Being a solid myth, it lays the foundation for the collection. The deities presented pervade all the stories, with Xatanatchoa (the Mother-Father of Nightmares) taking a primary role in the first section and Xokolatl (Lord of Death) in the third. Some are ubiquitous, like Hatûm’s represented by the sun whose burning shield begins its descent.
Xatanatchoa was both Male and Female, and ejaculating semen into Her many mouths, becoming pregnant. From this act, and from continuous mating with Her own offspring, She gave birth to all living things… But Xatanatchoa’s passions were not yet abated. She mated with Her own shadow, from which was born a misshapen race of night creatures who cannot abide the light of day. Mating again and again with the strongest, and most horrific of Her own offspring, the Fecund One continued to sire monstrosities, each more terrible than the last. — Creation of the Fifth World excerpt.
Deities and their Manifestation & Key Appearances
- Xatanatchoa — primordial Mother-Father of Monstrous Life — focus of Section 1
- Kouranós — Time/Fate Destiny, “Written on the Brow”
- Hatûm — Sun/Courage Imperial religion, warriors, sacrifice
- Atâna — Moon/Wisdom Moon Court, women, warriors, “Feast of the Hidden Moon”
- Ktuunlós — Sea entity
- Nanuwatta — Night/Abyss Stars, darkness, cosmic boundary
- Xokolatl — Death — entire Section 3: Underworld Cycle
“Khalkeos, my employer, often likens my head’s thickness to a stone’s,
but it proved a poor match for actual granite.” — Ométl character
Section #1: Tales from the Journals of Ométl Five-Rabbit
These are “occult detective” stories in a sword-and-sorcery world. These feature a duo with Khalkeos, a sorcerous inquisitor, and Ométl, his mixed-race warrior/bodyguard narrator, a skeptical, practical warrior who gets pushed into increasingly bizarre supernatural situations. Khalkeos and Ométl are hilarious together. Avoiding spoilers, watch out for their ‘crocodile dung’ predicaments. Anyway, Khalkeos investigates supernatural crimes, disappearances, hauntings, necromancy, and occult conspiracies, while Ométl provides the grounded warrior’s perspective and leads the way through the front lines of the crime scenes. The mysteries begin as seemingly mundane crimes or political problems before revealing the supernatural with gusto. The tone and adventure are reminiscent of Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser style.
- “Shadows of a Forgotten Queen” previously appeared in Tales from the Magician’s Skull #6 (2021)
- “Feast of the Hidden Moon” previously appeared in Crimson Quill Quarterly #7 (Sept 2025)
- “The Headhunter of Taltopék” previously appeared in Crimson Quill Quarterly #9 (Jan 2026)
“I think the man we dispatched was actually happier to be traveling with a headless corpse than continuing with us.” – Ométl character
Section #2: Tales of the Borderlands
This section shifts dramatically away from the detective format. Expect classic Sword & Sorcery survival in the vein of Robert E. Howard-style adventure. Protagonists are thrown into dangerous situations, encountering monsters, hostile peoples, supernatural forces, and then have to fight, escape, endure, or outwit crazy odds. These are journeys from the northern border of the Empire to the pearl beds of Kaketzewán and eventually the distant Sea Isles. The “Salt Tears” is a unique take on pearl diving that will haunt readers.
- “Kai-Chilam’s Judgment” first time in this collection.
- “Salt Tears” previously appeared in Whetstone #5 (2022)
- “Bride-Price, Twice-Paid” previously appeared in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #65 (2025)
- “The Colossi of Zakatla” previously appeared in Anvil: Iron Age Magazine #5 (2026)
Section #3: Tales of the Underworld
The section follows Siwakalpa, a tepatiani (“spirit-healer”), and Sipan, an aging priest of Xokolatl, Lord Death. The Siwalkalpa tales echo the original Ométl tales with a mystery flare, but she is more erotic and employs sorcery instead of a weapon. The mysteries she solves all involve ghosts. Expect lots of phantasms here, tormenting the living or being hunted across realms. These stories lean more toward Clark Ashton Smith than R.E. Howard. Rather than simply asking, “How do I defeat this monster?” these stories tend to ask, “What does death even mean and what happens when the boundary between the living and dead breaks down?”
- “The Very Small People” previously appeared in Schlock! Magazine (October 2025)
- “Old Ghosts” previously appeared in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #49 (2021)
- “Obsidian Butterfly” first time in this collection.
- “Written on the Brow” first time in this collection.
- “The Heart of Vengeance” first appeared in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #44 (2020), and then in Die By the Sword, Volume 1, DMR Books (2023)
- “Servant of the Black Wind” first appeared in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #39 (2019) and then in We Who Are About to Die: An Anthology of Sacrifice, Rogue Blades Press (2022)
Excerpts
Mele’s Mesoamerican Melee — the Author’s Practice and Study of Martial Arts Shines Through
Blood, or its facsimile, gushed, drenching my face; my attacker stumbled back with an altogether inhuman hiss. Monstrous, bat-like wings flared outward, blocking the moonlight. Scrambling to my feet, I saw now what had mauled and hunted the young priestess, though I had no name for it beyond demon. Its face was both anthropoid and pantherine, but the eyes held a malignant intelligence that was clearly mannish, while the body was some blasphemy of man, reptile, beast and bat, made all the more horrible by a random mingling of hair and scales, and the massive, membranous wings it bore.
I would have to cripple it again and try to flee before it regained its feet. I immediately went after the sickle arm again, as it was the demon’s greatest weapon. Unfortunately, it was no longer dysfunctional, and the demon parried my blow on that thick, horny forearm, then slashed at me. I barely dodged, and cut at it again, this time at the softer-looking elbow; again it parried, and the claw hand raked my ribs. I gasped in pain and thrust it through the heart.
It seems it didn’t have one, as nothing happened, other than I was now inside its grasp with my sword constrained. Too close for the sickle arm to disembowel me, I was not too close for the arms to crush me, as the restored tongue writhed toward my throat.
As Kai-Ch’ilam spiraled forward, mouth opening wide, the diver flexed his strong legs, kicking out sinuous as an eel, stroking with one hand. Just as the great fish reached him, the youth glided beneath it, his skin scraping against the pebbly hide, the tail fin flicking, striking him painfully as he pushed free and turned, once more spread-eagled, almost motionless. With a great surge the monster folded on itself and drove towards him once more, mouth shut now, long, blunted snout driving faster through the water than before. Along the rail the men saw little but whorls of water and impressionistic shadows of man and shark dueling below…
Driving his cloth-wrapped left arm into the open maw, he wedged it against one of the jaw hinges, as one might a wild dog or wolf, and drove his obsidian knife to the hilt in its greyish belly, ripping viciously upward, then drew the knife free and repeated the blow, up and in behind one set of gills. The sea-jaguar was no dog, however, and the jaws squeezed down with tremendous force, crushing bone, driving even more air from now burning lungs.
Club and axe met straight on, forehand blow to forehand blow, crescent blade hooking over carved wood, but Atsál lacked the strength to wrench the bigger man’s weapon free from his grasp. Pushing Chipota’s weapon arm with his left hand, he fouled the man’s knife thrust and broke free, chopping backhanded at his neck. The blow was hasty, the axe too short; he scored only a tear in the feather-cloak and a thin red line of blood on a broad shoulder.
Chipota’s backswing was better placed, the club’s heavy rootball head catching Atsál just above the hip, knocking him back, which, ironically saved him from the knife-thrust driving at his face. The young warrior remained standing, but his breath came in gasps, and he knew ribs were broken. Slipping farther back he drew his own knife with his left hand…
With a howl, the other man hurled his knife. Atsál tried twisting aside, but his hip failed him. The knife struck as his leg buckled, sinking into his thigh. He crumpled, felt his back strike something hard, and realized he lay splayed against the base of the Long Face. Chipota bore down on him, war-club gripped in both hands. Atsál willed himself to rise, failed, and the club was striking down at his skull. Gripping his axe in both hands, left hand beneath the head, he parried between his hands, grunting in pain at the force of the standing man’s blow. A foot lashed out, stomping his belly, broken rib howling, driving the wind and the fight from him. Atsál looked up into those rage-maddened eyes, saw the club lifted on high, heard Chipota’s triumphant war-howl.
Confrontations with Death
A circle of beheaded corpses, all women, lay strewn across the floor, their blood pooling across the flags. Lord Sennedjem, hands, arms and chest spattered red, shrank against the vault’s far wall, his eyes staring wide in horror at the luminescent figure of a woman whose long, ornately dressed blue-black hair was crowned with a tall, gold diadem with a large heliotrope bloodstone at its center, surmounted by a fan of white owl-feathers. Her jade and turquoise jewels were the emblems of royalty and her costume, elegant yet scandalous, suggested an antiquity far greater than the memory of any living creature. At the nobleman’s feet lay the leaf-bladed sword…
I had long since drawn my sword, and good thing, for the headless corpses were gaining their feet now, tottering, but becoming steadier by the moment. Still lying scattered about the vault, seven disembodied sets of eyes scanned the room, and finding their slayer, seemed to guide their headless bodies towards him. Reanimated hands flexed, opening and closing as if to test their newly gained strength. A faint, luminous cloud of mist enveloped the monstrously animated dead, directing those lifeless hands towards Lord Sennedjem
Blood, or its facsimile, gushed, drenching my face; my attacker stumbled back with an altogether inhuman hiss. Monstrous, bat-like wings flared outward, blocking the moonlight.
Scrambling to my feet, I saw now what had mauled and hunted the young priestess, though I had no name for it beyond demon. Its face was both anthropoid and pantherine, but the eyes held a malignant intelligence that was clearly mannish, while the body was some blasphemy of man, reptile, beast and bat, made all the more horrible by a random mingling of hair and scales, and the massive, membranous wings it bore.
I stared in horrified bewilderment as I took in the blood-splattered scene. The vault was octagonal; as large as the shrine above but made oppressive by the low ceiling and the horrible, blood-stained idol that dominated the far wall. Its subject was an aged and yet pregnant woman, what parts of Her were woman at all. Nearly skeletal limbs, claw-like hands and breasts hanging flaccid from endless birthing. About her swollen belly was a skirt of writhing snakes and a necklace made of human hearts, hands, and skulls. A cadaverous, crone’s face, was surmounted on either side, by two facing serpents, and a long, alligator’s tail curled around Her clawed feet: Xatanatchoa, the Dark Grandmother, Source of Life and Mother of Nightmares.
Greg Mele (link to author page)
About the Author Gregory D. Mele has had a passion for sword & sorcery and historical fiction for most of his life. An early love of dinosaurs led him to dragons, and from dragons…well, the rest should be obvious. From Robin Hood to Conan, Elric to Aragorn, Captain Blood to King Arthur, if there were swords being swung, he was probably reading it. While a student at the University of Illinois in the early 1990s, he discovered that there was a vast collection of surviving technical works on fighting with the sword, rapier, lance and axe. Sword in one hand, book in the other, he never looked back. Since the late 90s, his passion has been the reconstruction and preservation of armizare, a martial art developed over 600 years ago by the famed Italian master-at-arms Fiore dei Liberi. He has become an internationally known researcher and author on the subject, via his work with the Chicago Swordplay Guild, which he founded in 1999, and Freelance Academy Press, a publisher in the fields of martial arts, arms and armour, chivalry, historical arts and Greg lives with his very tolerant family in the Chicago suburbs.
Artists: Left to Right, Gary McCluskey; Justin Pfeil, Gary McCluskey
S.E. Lindberg is a Managing Editor at Blackgate.com, regularly reviewing books, interviewing authors on ‘Beauty & Art in Weird-Fantasy Fiction’, and running Dark Muse News. He has taken lead roles organizing the Gen Con Writers’ Symposium (2021-2023) and the Goodreads Sword & Sorcery Group; he even interned for Tales from the Magician’s Skull magazine and is an Assistant Editor for Battleborn magazine. As for crafting stories, he has contributed eight entries across Perseid Press’s Heroes in Hell and Heroika series, and has an entry in Weirdbook Annual #3: Zombies. He independently publishes novels under the banner Dyscrasia Fiction®; short stories of these have appeared in Whetstone and Swords & Sorcery online magazine, Rogues In the House Podcast’s A Book of Blades (Vol. I and Vol. II), DMR’s Terra Incognita, Tales From the Magician’s Skull, Savage Realms Magazine, and Michael Stackpole’s S&S Chain Story 2 Project.