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Dark Muse News: Reviewing Conan – Spawn of the Serpent God by Tim Waggoner

Dark Muse News: Reviewing Conan – Spawn of the Serpent God by Tim Waggoner

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Conan: Spawn of the Serpent God by Tim Waggoner (Titan Books, October 28, 2025). Cover artist unknown

Titan Books is on a roll, publishing Conan novels in quick succession: S. M. Stirling’s Blood of the Serpent (2022), John C. Hocking’s City of the Dead (2024), James Lovegrove’s Cult of the Obsidian Moon (2024), Tim Lebbon’s Songs of the Slain (2025), and Tim Waggoner’s Spawn of the Serpent God (2025).  And their 2026 schedule promises more with John Langan’s The Brides of Crom.

Here we delve into Tim Waggoner’s Spawn of the Serpent God. He’s a Bram Stoker Award-winning author known for horror and media tie-in fiction. Recently, he was honored for his Terrifier #2: The Official Movie Novelization with a Scribe Award for Best Adapted Novel from the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers. With approval from movie writer and director Damien Leone, Waggoner had doubled the size of the hack-and-slash script by adding lore and characterization (I plan to interview Tim Waggoner about this for Black Gate‘s Beauty in Weird/Horror series). Anyway, Waggoner’s knack for tie-ins and deepening characters is demonstrated again in Conan: Spawn of the Serpentas he highlights the dangers of Zamora.

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Intrigue, Betrayals, and Plenty of Swordplay: Eda Blessed III by Milton Davis

Intrigue, Betrayals, and Plenty of Swordplay: Eda Blessed III by Milton Davis

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“I’ve been away from Sati-Baa for ten years,” Omari said. “I’ve walked every inch of Ki Khanga and never truly felt at home. Now I have the means not only to return but establish something of my own. The closer I get, the more eager I am to see it done.”

I first encountered Milton Davis way back in 2012 when I bought Griots (2011), a collection of sword and soul tales he co-edited with Charles Saunders. I bought it on the combined strengths of Saunders’ name and the cover. As a quick side note, if you don’t own it, you can buy an e-book for $3.99, so you have no excuses. It and its companion volume, Sisters of the Spear (2013), are fantastic collections and deserve way more recognition than they’ve received.

I enjoyed Davis’ own story in the book so much, I immediately bought the first Changa book. Changa Diop is a noble adventurer and merchant in 15th century Africa who travels to the Far East and back, ever intent on regaining his father’s kingdom from an usurper. At the heart of the sword and soul explosion of the last two decades, these are great additions to the catalog of heroic fantasy.

Davis’ other major character, Omari Ket, is a very different sort of adventurer. He is a rake, a gambler, a mercenary, but, most importantly, blessed by the goddess Eda. She is the wife of the god Daarila, and with him, co-creator of the heavens and the earth. This has protected him in many instances as well as altered his plans as Eda has used him for her own greater plans.

Omari’s adventures take place in the African-inspired world of Ki Khanga. The setting was created by Davis and Balogun Ojetade for a RPG. To christen it, they released an anthology of stories places, Ki Khanga (2013), in the setting and one of my favorites was “Simple Math” featuring Omari. It’s a fun book, filled with warriors and sorcerers, talking gorillas and elephants with guns, and I reviewed it over at my site. …

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A Kind of Thought Experiment: The Weigher by Eric Vinicoff and Marcia Martin

A Kind of Thought Experiment: The Weigher by Eric Vinicoff and Marcia Martin

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The Weigher (Baen Books, November 1992). Cover by C. W. Kelly

First contact stories are one of science fiction’s major subgenres, an important branch of stories about aliens, going back at least to H. G. Wells’s The First Men in the Moon. The usual point of view is a human one; after all, humans are familiar and nonhumans are not, and that way the reader can share the protagonist’s discovery of a new species and culture. But every so often, a writer tells the story from the nonhuman point of view. The Weigher, published first in Analog in 1984 and then expanded into a novel in 1992, is one of these ventures.

What adds interest to this is that the culture of the aliens is worked out in some detail, and is different from our own culture in major ways, and probably from a lot of human cultures. Some of these differences reflect different biology and psychology; others probably don’t, such as the version of money in use.

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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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