Though I have been interacting with indie author Erik Waag online since the moment I began covering Sword & Sorcery on my platforms, it wasn’t until receiving the e-ARC for Battleborn Magazine #1 (read my review here) that I had a true encounter with his fiction.
Waag is author of the popular Skarde: The Wandering Sword trilogy, with the first entry, Citadel of Seven Swords, written during the 2020 lockdown and released in 2023, the follow-ups coming soon after. He saw a deficit in the thrilling tales of old and sought to add his own spin to classic formulas.
Much so for this tale, The Thing in Iron, which was originally published by Savage Realms Monthly and just re-released as a $0.99 short on Kindle as part of Waag’s Wandering Sword Short Stories.
Despite what the series title might imply, this one does not follow Skarde, but a swaggering thief called Kelamon in the city of Byzerdamen, which evokes much of the same tone as the Zamorian city of Arenjun featured in R.E. Howard’s “The Tower of the Elephant” and a bit of Lankhmar with a southern hemisphere twist. I also felt a lot the same adrenaline of Kalam’s insane battle with the Claw in Malaz City at the end of Erikson’s Deadhouse Gates.
What I admire about Waag’s style is his traditional, classically-minded approach to crafting tales of Sword & Sorcery. This tale would have been right at home in a 1930s issue of Weird Tales. At the same time, the writing is modern and clean-cut—no time wasted and no fluff, just adventure and momentum.
With this in mind, Waag took a large creative leap with this tale in the form of an unreliable narrator.
Oh hey! If you love S&S, check out my BackerKit for Mordschlag Sword and Sorcery Magazines. Also keep an eye out… Waag will be making an appearance in a new Arcanist publication very soon.
Roof Games and Mind Play
Without diving too far into spoiler territory, Kelamon is a member of a thieves guild in city filled with thieves guilds. Upon seeing a rival member in his territory, Kelamon gets rather rambunctious and sets out to take out the competition… and runs into several uncanny complications on the way.
There is an action that is presented by the narrator (a third-person limited view of Kelamon) as factual that turns out not to be exactly as it was originally presented (vague enough for spoiler free?) Essentially, the sorcery at play within the tale seeped into the very structure of the narrative, altering the reader’s understanding of truth.
It’s a rather small element to the tale, but one that takes the largest leap and what sets this tale apart. While I think more could have been done with this idea, I appreciate Waag’s restraint—such a weird element could have completely taken over the narrative and turned it into an existential jaunt through obscurity as what happens much of the time with C.L. Moore’s Jirel of Joiry (see my review here).
Instead, we get a cool weird element that defines the ultimate villain of the tale, a subtle touch that makes The Thing in Iron a unique take on the thieves’ guild formula. Given the tight word count, this element was exactly what it needed to be.
In Sum
The Thing in Iron is a solid tale and a swift read. Waag’s prose is polished and concise, leaving no wasted space on the page. For $0.99 on Kindle, it’s a worthy investment to get a taste of the Wandering Sword before diving into the Skarde trilogy and an excellent addition for existing fans.
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