Well, they might not be the best stories in the sword-&-sorcery canon, but John Jakes' Brak the Barbarian saga is back as ebooks. Jason Waltz, of (unfortunately defunct) Rogue Blades Entertainment somehow found this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqA_ydQhWSs&feature=share
Jakes gives a thumbnail description of how Brak came about, and also mentions that the final Brak tale is outlined and in his office safe.
It took a little link hunting from the video, but I found the two e'collections links on the third page of thumbnails.
Brak the Barbarian/Mark of the Demons
Witch of the Four Winds/When the Idols Walked
Follow the "buy the ebook" links. $3.99 each. Not bad at all.
Seems that Witch of the Four Winds is Brak vs. The Sorceress renamed.
Both descriptions mention the collections include additional stories. I don't know which ones and if they cover The Fortunes of Brak or not. And I don't know whether these complete all the published Brak tales or not.
Also, there is a link to a free Brak estory,
"The Girl in the Gem"
All good stuff. I'll be taking a look at other authors and ebooks from Open Road Media.
I've got some of the Brak paperbacks but have never read them. I've been intending to give them a try.
ReplyDeleteAnd Open Road is publishing some terrific stuff.
I've got all the Brak paperbacks and have read same. Not nearly as well written as Howard, but still fun.
ReplyDeleteOdd but vaguely encouraging! I love the interview, and the fact that Jakes apparently has the conclusion to the series planned out. I thought that Brak was a part of his past he wanted to forget. On the other hand the original stories aren't very good (I haven't read them all but I've read some) and I don't know what kind of sales Open Road Media is expecting. I expect they'll move very few copies.
ReplyDeleteStill, as an S&S fan it's definitely an interesting news item.
Brian; I'm sure Open Road are expecting much more from Jakes historicals, (they're also charging more for them.)
ReplyDeleteBut I'm glad they tossed in the Brak tales (almost as a bonus, I guess.)
The Brak tales are just about the caliber I'd want on my Kindle cheaply, but not taking up shelf space, so this is perfect for me.
I actually enjoyed the Brak stories.. but then again I read them at work during the slow times between customers.. they were just about perfect for that.. it is encouraging that Jakes has an outline for the final Brak story.. I really hope he will write it and publish it one day as the cliffhanger was a tad annoying..
ReplyDeleteFollow up on the new e'books;
ReplyDeleteEach omnibus also includes two bonus stories that were collected in Fortunes of Brak. That gets you four out of five tales from that collection.
So, the only published story missing is "The Girl in the Gem", which they are offering as a free read, and can be downloaded. (it's PDF, which to my experience isn't great on Kindle - passable, but not adjustable - more an issue with illustrations than text.)
I don't know why they didn't just stick the story in one collection or the other, even with the download available. *shrug*