BotTalk Reviews

eBook by Matthew John Cover by Juan Alberto Hernández Chapter illustration by Patrick Zircher  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  The ship of Wulfhere the Skull-Splitter (a Danish Viking, chieftain of the Danes) is attacked by Kenric the Fair (Wulfhere's old Saxon nemesis) ship's. Wulfhere and Kenric are both seeking the ROMAN GOLD of the Picts, which lies concealed on the Isle of Swords (the Pictish island from "The Dark Man" by Robert E. Howard). An unnatural wave wrecks Wulfhere's ship on the shore of the Isle of Swords. The Skull-Splitter and Cormac Mac Art of Erin (Cormac the Wolf, a Celt, a Gael) are the only two of the crew to survive the beaching. Wulfhere and Cormac disguise themselves as Saxons, they discover that Kenric and his Saxons are already on the isle. Cormac and Wulfhere kill three Saxons. Picts appear, Cormac and Wulfhere surrender. At the Pictish settlement, Cormac and Wulfhere are shown the statue of The Dark Man (The...

eBook by George Mann Cover by Alex Horley (aka Alessandro Orlandelli) Chapter illustration by Patrick Zircher  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  We start with some poetry by Yrkonis. King Kull of Valusia is in his court, sitting on the Topaz Throne, next to his brother from another mother, Brule the Spear-Slayer. Jolanta of Elegaria manhandles the guards of Kull, she wants the King to help her find her missing sister (Nola) who is under the spell of a cult dedicated to a god of the sea (the cult of Piri'nach (an elder god of annihilation), the cult's emblem is an eye inside a flame). Jolanta saw a priest with a white skull visage... the sorcerer Thulsa Doom take her sister away. Kull, Brule and Jolanta go to the cult's temple (recently magically teleported from beneath the ocean back to land) in the port city of Alimantos, they kill the sentinels and enter the slimy structure. Wearing cyclopean breathing masks, three cultists drug the air of the te...

eBook by Steven L. Shrewsbury Cover by Guillem H. Pongiluppi  Chapter illustration by Patrick Zircher  From Titan Books and Heroic Signatures Spoilers! Spoilers!  The Kingdom of Hungary. A seasoned Solomon Kane arrives to assist Tamás (a follower of Martin Luther, an old comrade who like Kane was a galley slave of the Turks (The Footfalls Within by Robert E. Howard)). Kane meets Tamas' wife (Leena) and his ten-year-old daughter (Arina). Two guards of the Countess Elizabeth Báthory of Ecsed (1560-1614) try to kidnap Arina. Kane kills both guards.   Solomon learns that the Countess Báthory drained the blood of Tamas' older daughter (Stanca). Báthory bathes in blood to preserve her youth. Reverend Hermann gives Solomon a guard's cloak so that Kane can disguise himself. Kane arrives at the Castle of Csejte (Čachtice). Solomon saves a fifteen-year-old girl (Elisa, an orphan) from Marta (the Countess' cannibal maid). Solomon drowns Marta in Báthory's warm bath. Elisa ment...

Jim Zub's Cursed Shores Beyond part 3: Thralls of the Rift Deep beneath The Isle of Dread, the crew of the Briney Wren (Captain Quinn Corvaxis' shipwrecked ship) are the prisoners of Morley and a cult. Morley wants to offer Conan to his eldritch god/master...  Jaggta-noga (sorcerer Zukala's favourite demon from Kull: The Curse of the Golden Skull and Conan the Barbarian (1970) #5). Still on the loose on the island, playing the role of The Predator (1987), the infatigable CONAN OF CIMMERIA slays dozens of cultists (who need Conan alive for their ritual). Conan even takes the time to burn a big pile of his victims to draw even more cultists to him. The cultists somehow know that Conan dispatched Thulsa Doom in the past (way back in Conan the Barbarian (2023) #12). Valeria kills her torturer, and slips out of her shackles.  Giant humming crystals and an invocation from a servant of Jaggta-noga open a violet fissure in the firmament, tentacles grab Captain Quinn, like the previ...