Rogues in the House

In 1934, Weird Tales magazine published Robert E. Howard’s Conan story “Rogues in the House.” Bob Byrne covered the story on Black Gate as part of his “Hither Came Conan” series.

Just a few years ago, in late 2018, Sword & Sorcery enthusiasts and content creators forged Rogues in the House – the Ultimate S&S Podcast (the link is a portal page to multiple listening Apps). This post spotlights it because it is more than just a source of perspectives. The crew genuinely wants to support a growing community. Their roundtable discussions always start with the “Bazaar of the Bizarre” round table, in which the cast shares recent events or learning opportunities (the session a call out to Fritz Leiber’s 1963 Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser story of the same name).

Beyond luring in S&S authors like Howard Andrew Jones, Scott Oden, John R. Fultz, and  Jason Ray Carney, they’ve got guests covering Movies, Video/Board Games, and Art. We embed three selections here:

• Morgan King and Phil Gelatt creators of the movie The Spine of Night (covered by Matthew David Surridge on Black Gate).
• Peter D. Adkison, founder and first CEO of Wizards of the Coast (1993–2001) and owner of GenCon (the world’s largest board game convention).
• Sara Frazetta, granddaughter of the fantasy master painter, an artist herself, and CEO of Frazetta Girls

Select Guests & Episodes

The Rogues

Who comprises the Rogues’ cast? The crew’s biographies are below, but guests may be labeled “rogues” by association too.

Matthew John

Matthew is an English language arts teacher and employee of Monolith Games (Conan, Batman: Gotham City Chronicles). He lives with his wife, two children, and countless cats and dogs in Nova Scotia, Canada. When time allows, he likes to write short fiction, waste time at the gaming table, and chat sword and sorcery on the Rogues in the House Podcast. His work has been published in Grimdark Magazine, Skelos (SkelosPress), Weirdbook (Wildside Press), and Robert E. Howard’s Conan the roleplaying game (Modiphius Games). More of his work will soon appear in Tales From the Magician’s Skull (Goodman Games) and the Terminator Role Playing Game (Nightfall Games)

Alex Kostopoulos

Alex’s origin story began on the fateful Christmas, on which he received a Nintendo Entertainment System and his first Dragonlance novel. On that day, he held aloft his magic game controller, said the words “I have the power” and became a lifelong nerd. Shortly after that, Alex was introduced to tabletop role playing games and of course, sword and sorcery.  Along with Matt and Logan, Alex started the “Rogues in the House” podcast. Today he enjoys playing music (mostly metal), playing games, reading, and all things sword and ______. He is currently pondering starting a band, starting a tabletop campaign, and finishing his miniatures ruleset, but unable to choose which to do first.

Logan D. Whitney

L. D. Whitney was born upon the Great Plains, but now calls the High Desert his home. He is an Educator, modest adventurer, and author of “Remnant” from Primal Press, His short stories appear within the pages of Rogue Blades Entertainment, Weirdbook, and Tales from the Magician’s Skull. When not sitting at his desk, he wanders the canyons and crags in search of treasure and inspiration.

Deane L. Geiken

Publication(s):

In late 2019, the Rogues published the anthology Rogues in the House, A Sword & Sorcery Anthology. Logan’s introduction explains the purpose:

This short collection is something of a “thank you letter” to all of you …. Thank you for listening, thank you for the tweets, comments, shares, and messages. …

… Here, we are trying to not only give our fans more of what they want – Sword and Sorcery stories – but also improve our product, as all of the proceeds from this endeavor will go directly back into the creation of the podcast. Whether that be actual microphones, technology, or whatever it is that comes up, remains to be seen. But, we thought offering you a product as opposed to asking for money via Patreon or something like that was a better.

Cover Blurb:

A desperate rogue finds more than he bargained for…A Guild of Assassins starts a war with the stroke of a knife…A wanderer on a rescue mission discovers truth living behind legend…Rogues in the House Volume 1 brings short stories, poetry, and artwork FOR fans of Sword and Sorcery BY fans of Sword and Sorcery!

2022, the Rogues promise another volume, a beefier one, S&S luminaries such as John C. Hocking, Howard Andrew Jones, John Fultz, and Scott Oden, and more.

Go Rogue!

Join the critically acclaimed podcast focusing on Sword and Sorcery & Heroic Fantasy.

• Podcast portal: Rogues in the House – the Ultimate S&S Podcast
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/RoguesintheHouse
• Twitter: twitter.com/rogues_podcast
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roguesinthehouse/ 

S.E. Lindberg is a Managing Editor at Black Gate, regularly reviewing books and interviewing authors on the topic of “Beauty & Art in Weird-Fantasy Fiction.” He is also the lead moderator of the Goodreads Sword & Sorcery Group and an intern for Tales from the Magician’s Skull magazine. As for crafting stories, he has contributed five 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 Dyscrasia Fiction have appeared in Whetstone and Swords & Sorcery online magazines.