Is the First Law Trilogy the Anti-Lord of the Rings?
A question that often comes up in the various fantasy forums I frequent is, ‘What is the anti-Lord of the Rings?’ This is an odd query because it implies there’s automatically an antithesis the...
Barbarians or Philosophers? What Psychology Has to Say about Grimdark Fans and Their Dark Obsession
We grimdark readers and writers are often written-off as the dark creatures hiding in the caves of fantasyland, eager to feast upon depictions of horrible gore, morally reprehensible characters, and pointless violence. Why would...
The Mud, the Blood and the Years: Why “Grimdark” is the New “Sword and Sorcery”
“Hither came Conan the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer…” –Robert E. Howard It was born in 1929, named in 1961, and died sometime in the early 80s....
Creating a Grimdark World
Somewhere between the incredible detail of J.R.R. Tolkien’s worlds and the slapdash efforts of films such as 10,000BC, which famously had snow turning to jungle turning to desert, lies a happy place. A place...
The Moral Ambiguity of Geralt of Rivia and the Grimdark World of The Witcher Series
In the genre of grimdark fiction, heroes are not always the most savoury of people. They are not always the valiant knight on a crusade to rid the world of evil or magicians seeking...
Attention Submitting Authors!
Ever received a rejection from an e-zine and just wanted to scream, “JUST WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE LITERARY GODS DO YOU PEOPLE WANT!” I certainly have. It’s hard to know what these...
In Defence of Grimdark
Grimdark is dead. – Justin Landon (Nerds of a Feather blog) Across the ages, when women and men were under attack by forces that would see their heads on spikes, they would take up...
What does Grimdark Magazine want?
We’ve all been there as writers. You knock out a short story, crack yourself a celebratory beer and know – just know – that you are getting this piece published in that e-zine (like Grimdark Magazine!)...