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Dark Muse News: Anna Smith Spark’s A Sword of Bronze and Ashes

Dark Muse News: Anna Smith Spark’s A Sword of Bronze and Ashes

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A Sword of Bronze and Ashes, September 12, 2023, FLAME TREE PRESS (Cover illustration by Broci)

Welcome to more Dark Muse News. This post reviews Anna Smith Spark’s A Sword of Bronze and Ashes. It was released in September 2023 (Flame Tree Press, cover illustration by Broci) and is the first book of the series The Making of This World: Ruined. The sequel, A Sword of Gold and Ruin, was recently published in October, 2025.

Anna Smith Spark is known as the Queen of Grimdark, a moniker she acquired with her Empires of Dust series. You can expect the same poetic brutality here.  Her style and approach are very unique but are reminiscent of Tanith Lee. Literary wording may keep you distanced as a reader, but the raw emotion expressed throughout is so real that it makes the fantasy feel real, too.  We interviewed Anna Smith Spark in 2019 – Disgust and Desire as part of our Beauty in Weird Fiction series, where she revealed all sorts of muses and inspirations. That year, we hosted a Q&A Session at Gen Con; there, she, John O’Neill, and I showed off our footwear (link); Anna’s footwear won hands down!
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The Conan novels of John Maddox Roberts

The Conan novels of John Maddox Roberts

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The Conan novels of John Maddox Roberts (Tor Books, 1985-1995). Covers by Boris, Ken Kelly, and Julie Bell

The name John Maddox Roberts (1947 – ) first came to my attention as a writer of Conan sword & sorcery pastiches from Tor. He wrote eight, and when I talk to other REH fans Roberts’ name is almost always listed near the top of the Conan pastiche writers.

Of the pastiches that were published by Tor between 1982 and 2004, I’d have to agree, although I like the earlier pastiches by Andy Offutt and Karl Edward Wagner better.

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Dave Hook on The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories and Other Stories by Gene Wolfe

Dave Hook on The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories and Other Stories by Gene Wolfe

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The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories (Pocket Books, June 1980). Cover by Don Maitz)

It’s still January, which means I haven’t yet abandoned my ambitious New Year’s Resolution to get caught up on my favorite blogs. I started with Rich Horton’s excellent Strange at Ecbatan, and this week I’ve been spending time at Dave Hook’s book blog A Deep Look by Dave Hook.

As the name implies, Dave spends his time on his reviews, with deep dives that usually include a lot of biographical information and entertaining anecdotes. His recent reviews include looks at David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer’s groundbreaking 2002 anthology The Hard SF Renaissance, Alastair Reynolds’ 2021 collection Belladonna Nights and Other Stories, and a long-forgotten SF anthology from 1954, Sam Moskowitz’s Editor’s Choice in Science Fiction.

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Rich Horton on The Blighted Stars by Megan E. O’Keefe

Rich Horton on The Blighted Stars by Megan E. O’Keefe

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The Devoured Worlds trilogy by Megan E. O’Keefe: The Blighted Stars, The Fractured Dark, and
The Bound Worlds (Orbit, May 23, 2023, September 26, 2023, and June 25, 2024). Covers by Jaime Jones

It’s January 17, and I’m doing a fairly good job on at least one of my New Year’s resolutions — catching up on some of my favorite blogs. I started with Rich Horton’s excellent Strange at Ecbatan, a review site that covers a delightfully eclectic mix of old and new books, from one of the most knowledgeable and astute readers we have. Rich’s most recent review was Howard Andrew Jones’ terrific debut novel The Desert of Souls, a piece resurrected from my first website, the sadly now defunct SF Site.

Back in September Rich discussed The Blighted Stars, the first book in Megan O’Keefe’s Devoured Worlds trilogy. I talked about the first two titles in the series here in July 2023. What drew me was the intriguing mix of SF and horror, and the promise of creepy adventure on a dead planet in the opening volume, in which an idealistic resistance fighter is stranded with the heir to an imperial space dynasty. But, as usual, Rich has a lot more insight to offer than I.

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The Sword & Planet of Adrian Cole

The Sword & Planet of Adrian Cole

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The Dream Lords trilogy by Adrian Cole (Zebra Books, February 1975 – December 1976). Covers: Thomas Barber, Jack Gaughan, and Thomas Barber

I discovered Adrian Cole (1949 – ) in the late 1970s through his Dream Lords trilogy.

1. Plague of Nightmares (1975)
2. Lord of Nightmares (1975)
3. Bane of Nightmares (1976)

All were from Zebra books, with covers by Tom Barber, Jack Gaughan (maybe), and Tom Barber respectively. Volume 2 was also published with a Tom Barber cover but I don’t have it. I’ve shown it below and wish I owned it because it’s cooler than my version. However, the Barber cover does wrongly list Lord of Nightmares as Volume 3.

I absolutely loved the Dream Lords trilogy. Not only did it have great ideas and a powerful story, but the writing was beautiful and poetic, which I don’t find nearly enough.

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Talking Out of School About Dark Academia: Katabasis by R. F. Kuang and We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad

Talking Out of School About Dark Academia: Katabasis by R. F. Kuang and We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad

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Katabasis by R. F. Kuang (Harper Voyager, August 26, 2025) and We Love You, Bunny by
Mona Awad (S&S/Marysue Rucci Books, September 23, 2025). Covers: Patrick Arrasmith, uncredited

The New York Times traces the inception of the “dark academia” genre to Donna Tart’s The Secret History, a Gothic murder mystery involving Classics students at a liberal arts college. The novel was published in the early 1990s, at about the time an entire generation was getting weaned on Harry Potter and Hogwarts, leading perhaps to an audience primed for settings of shadowy collegiate intrigue.

Perhaps not coincidentally, many dark academia authors hold graduate degrees and professorships at the very elite institutions whose campus culture and academic politics they mock. Which might seem like biting the hand that feeds you. Case in point are two recent novels, Katabasis by R.F. Kuang and We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad.

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The Best of Bob: 2025

The Best of Bob: 2025

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Happy 2026! Let’s kick butt for another year. Or at least, limp to the finish in 52 weeks. I really enjoy ‘meeting’ with my friends – and some strangers – here at Black Gate every Monday morning. Keep checking in, and let’s keep the discourse going on things we love. Or at least that catches our eye. Black Gate really is a family. My time writing here has almost been longer than my marriage was!

I continued to evade the Firewall at Black Gate (no, I do not earn a cent a word every time I mention ‘Black Gate.’ like some kind of blogging Pulpster), so I showed up every Monday morning. I had a much harder time conning other folks into writing my column for me – they’re catching on. Drat! So, I had to do my own work this past year.

Here are what I thought were ten of my better efforts in 2025. Hopefully you saw them back when I first posted them. But if not, maybe you’ll check out a few now. Ranking them seemed a bit egotistical, so they’re in chronological order. Let’s go!

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Tor Doubles #37: Esther Friesner’s Yesterday We Saw Mermaids and Lawrence Watt-Evans’ The Final Folly of Captain Dancy

Tor Doubles #37: Esther Friesner’s Yesterday We Saw Mermaids and Lawrence Watt-Evans’ The Final Folly of Captain Dancy

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Cover for The Final Folly of Captain Dancy and Yesterday We Saw Mermaids by Pat Morressey

This volumes  was originally scheduled for September 1991, but the series was cancelled before it would see print. Both stories were eventually published by Tor in different formats. Had this volume been printed, it would have been the first volume in the series to include two original stories. Although published separately, both were coincidentally first published in the same month.

Yesterday We Saw Mermaids was eventually published as a stand-alone novel by Tor Books in October, 1992. Set in 1492, Friesner tells the story of a magical ship that seems to be racing Christopher Columbus’ expedition to the new world. The ship is mostly crewed by a group of nuns from Porto in Spain, but there is also a monk, Brother Garcilaso, a woman named Rasha, and two unnamed women, one called La Zagala and one called the Jewess. The story is told from the point of view of a young nun, Sister Ana, who has been appointed the scribe for the voyage.

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The Stories Before the Story – Half a Century of Reading Tolkien, Part Eight: The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien (mostly)

The Stories Before the Story – Half a Century of Reading Tolkien, Part Eight: The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien (mostly)

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First edition, UK

Their Oath shall drive them, and yet betray them, and ever snatch away the very treasures that they have sworn to pursue. To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well; and by treason of kin unto kin, and the fear of treason, shall this come to pass. The Dispossessed they be for ever.

from Chapter 9 The Flight of the Noldor

I took The Silmarillion to camp with me the summer of 1978. I’d gotten it for Christmas the previous year, but I was put off by its Biblical diction. Still, I was determined to make my way through it. I mean, Tolkien was my favorite author, and I’d already read The Hobbit twice and Lord of the Rings, including the appendices.

I did read it that summer in the woods of Upper Delaware Valley. For all the activities, there was always free time to read, and read I did. Beside Tolkien’s book, I read Cajus Bekker’s A War Diary of the German Luftwaffe. Bekker’s book was a relatively easy undertaking, Tolkien’s was not.

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Tor Doubles #36: Fritz Leiber’s Conjure Wife and Our Lady of Darkness

Tor Doubles #36: Fritz Leiber’s Conjure Wife and Our Lady of Darkness

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Cover for Conjure Wife and Our Lady of Darkness by Wayne Barlow

Originally published in August 1991, Tor Double #36 offers two stories by Fritz Leiber, doubling the number of his stories included in the series. It also brings the official Tor Double series to an end, although just as I began by looking at a proto-volume in the series, I’ll be covering one last Tor Double next which, which was never published.

Conjure Wife was an originally published in Unknown Worlds in April 1943. The novel would eventually be awarded a Retro-Hugo, beating out works by C.L. Moore & Henry Kuttner, Herman Hesse, C.S. Lewis, A.E. van Vogt, and Leiber, himself. The novel is also listed in James Cawthorn & Michael Moocock’s Fantasy: The 100 Best Books and David Pringle’s Modern Fantasy: The Hundred Best Novels.

The novel follows Norman Saylor, a sociology professor at a small, conservative liberal arts college, Hempnell College. Saylor’s life is going well, he and his wife, Tansy, have a large circle of friends, his students respect him, and he is up for appointment to head the sociology department. Despite these seemingly close relationships with Tansy and their friends, most of the novel is focused on Norman’s thoughts and broodings, with little real interaction with anyone, certainly not over the important matters that concern him.

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