Spoiler ahead ⚠️
sff
In January 2026, a group of Hugh Cook fans began republishing his 10 book series, Chronicles of an Age of Darkness.
This is noteworthy since these novels were basically out of print and weren't available in e-book or audio. Untangling them from copyright limbo was no small feat.
In August, these fans, operating as Zenphos Press, published the first audio edition of The Wizards and the Warriors. The first novel in the series.
I was lucky enough to snag an early copy via the r/hughcook sub.
The narrator, Morgan Scott, is also a fan, and does an excellent job, you can feel that this is a labor of love for him.
Originally published from the mid 1980s to the early 90s, Chronicles of an Age of Darkness stands out as a critique of the heroic fantasy tropes so common in that era.
While other novels in the series use humor as part of this deconstruction, The Wizards and the Warriors is deadly serious. It is not Pratchett's The Color of Magic. It is more like Saving Private Rian. Working within the format of a heroic tale, exposing its dirty underbelly.
Cook takes the wizards and the warriors, two major examples of toxic masculinity and exposes the folly in their quest for power.
I originally learned of Cook's novels in the early 2010s. As a blind person I had to use a synthetic voice to listen to them.
Cook had a website on the early internet where he published the full text of, The Wordsmiths and the Warguild, the second book of the Chronicles. After reading that I had to resort to bootleg e-book versions scanned and uploaded by fans.
I'm very glad this series is finally getting a proper audiobook edition.
This is my original 2013 review:
Hugh Cook inserts some reality into his Fantasy.
While the setting is fantastic, Cook makes sure to break our expectations of a regular fantasy adventure, with his less than heroic heroes and less than clear path to ultimate goal.
My favorite scene is a battle where we first hear about the general's well laid plans and then watch them crumble in the face of reality.
So many books place a brilliant commander in charge and then you watch his brilliant plan unfold like clockwork. Hugh Cook is way beyond that kind of fantasy.
https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/95351200-2bf6-40d0-86ee-83dbe316e541
@bookstodon @audiofiction #fantasy #HughCook #AudioBooks #ChroniclesOfAnAgeOfDarkness #SFF #classics #amReading
I just pushed my latest book to ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/s/29a3443684
For the next 3 days, it's only $1 on ko-fi.
RE: https://wandering.shop/@mythologymonday/116474997038344612
I made a film based on dance in mythology, after one of the most popular characters in the myths of people around East Africa, the night dancer, who come to your house at night and dance around to bewitch you, or just to be a nuisance.
My webpage has been edited to include more information on my upcoming release: Season of the Bluebonnets. BOOK I will soon be available free to read on my site in weekly installments.
Also, for those of you who like to purchase your ebooks from Itch, I have added more to my shop.
Let's do this.
@bookstodon#Books #Reading #SFF #SciFi #Fantasy #Fiction #BrokenEarth
(comment on The Stone Sky)
"When a comm builds atop a fault line, do you blame its walls when they inevitably crush the people inside? No; you blame whoever was stupid enough to think they could defy the laws of nature forever. Well, some worlds are built on a fault line of pain, held up by nightmares. Don’t lament when those worlds fall. Rage that they were built doomed in the first place."
— N. K. Jemisin: The Stone Sky
"Built on a fault line of pain, held up by nightmares" could be the historical footnote for this era of capitalist imperialism. Could also be the official tagline for the USA.
@bookstodon#Books #Reading #Quotes #SFF #SciFi #Fantasy #Fiction #BrokenEarth #AntiCapitalist #AntiFascist
Torn from their homes after disaster strikes, survivors of the starship Eriander struggle to fit into their new world.
Chapter 1 of Season of the Bluebonnets BOOK I is now LIVE. New chapters will post each Wednesday.
Start reading: https://crcollins.org/2026/08/26/welcome-to-the-world-of-ardonna/
Learn more:
https://crcollins.org/season-of-the-bluebonnets/
#Today #Bookstodon #SFF #EpicFantasy #HopePunk #Magic #Polyamory #Trees
It's tragic that Nassun, in a fit of rage, comes to understand her father's filicidal outbursts—but can't quite make the connection that what she aims to do with her fear and hatred is just as evil as what Jija did to Uche with his.
So close! Just a wee bit more self-reflection and she'd get there…
Ah, but we're only a quarter of the way through the book. There's time and hope for Nassun yet.
@bookstodon#Books #Reading #SFF #SciFi #Fantasy #Fiction #BrokenEarth
(comment on The Stone Sky)
finished watching High Life 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑
Finally got around to this one. It was…distressing. I'm not mad I watched it. I think, maybe, I even liked it.
But it stressed me the fuck out.
Won't be watching again anytime soon, for sure 😅
