There is no doubt among them, and no fear, and no thought that they might not be victorious. For do they not sail with Reb Palache, the man who consults with angels every night? Do they not bear good steel made in best Damascene fashion, and have they not always triumphed before? And this is just one ship, one lonely ship against which they will strike with a sword of wrath and fire.

Reb Palache, the Rabbi Pirate, features in “The Thirty-Ninth Labor of Reb Palache” by Richard Dansky, published in The New Hero Volume 1.

The titular hero of Richard Dansky’s “The Thirty-Ninth Labor of Reb Palache” is a Rabbi, and a pirate. To quote the story, “He is a trader and a teacher, a sailor and a spy, a diplomat and a pirate of bloody intent, an exile and a man who has prospered in a new land.” And he’s a man about to face a rival ship, bristling with cannon.

Richard pitched two stories to me for this project. The other one seemed great but I forget what it was, because this one was about a pirate rabbi, and that’s where I said “sold.” And then the piece came in, written in a stunning epic voice, rolling with the rhythm of the sea. The juxtaposition between holy man and buccaneer, which you might expect to be presented in a joking manner, instead acquires a mystical grandeur.

“It was Ed Kritzler’s excellent history Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean that first introduced me to Reb Palache,” notes Richard. “Here was someone who had combined the most unlikely professions imaginable, and who had literally changed the course of history. What author wouldn’t love to get their hands on a character like that?” Of course, the historical Reb Palache probably didn’t have a personal angel to discuss Talmud and tactics with, but one never knows.

Named by Gamasutra as one of its Top 20 Videogame Writers, Richard Dansky is the Central Clancy Writer for Red Storm/Ubisoft. His credits include critically acclaimed games such as Splinter Cell: Conviction. He’s also published five novels, most recently Firefly Rain, and has contributed extensively to multiple tabletop RPGs. For a brief time, he was the world’s leading expert on Denebian Slime Devils, but he doesn’t like to talk about those days. Richard lives in North Carolina with his wife and their inevitable cats. For more information on Richard, visit his website.

All New Hero artwork by Gene Ha.

The Stone Skin Press Kickstarter and more information can be found here.

A soulbound knight, Iona was no ordinary woman. Iona and Duncan escorted Nihilan to the nearby city of Duralo. The Imperial Marshals there could put the criminal sorcerer on an airship for his trial in the capital for demon trafficking. Their destination was still days away. Already the man had tried to escape twice.

Iona and her faithful, soulbound canine companion Duncan, appear in “Sundown in Sorrows Hollow” by Monte Cook, published in The New Hero Volume 1.

Listen to Monte Cook reading a quote from “Sundown in Sorrows Hollow”.

In a wild frontier where justice can be hard to come by, the soulbound knight Iona steps in to see right done. At her side is her more-than-ordinary dog, Duncan, who shares what his keen senses detect through their psilent bond of communication. In “Sundown in Sorrow’s Hollow”, Iona escorts a prisoner, the demon-consorting necromancer Nihilan through lonesome pines, en route to the city of Duralo, and the airship that will take him away for trial. Yet in towns too small to mark on the map, big trouble awaits even the wariest traveler…

Monte Cook infuses the classic fantasy tale with western themes and flourishes, adding in a touch of monstrous horror for good measure. With an expert touch he introduces, builds and resolves the cascading obstacles on which a rousing adventure story depends. At the heart of the story’s appeal lies the delightful by-play between Iona and Duncan, with the telepathic canine sounding off as the duo’s voice of reason.

Monte Cook has worked as a professional writer and game designer since 1988. He has published two novels, numerous short stories, countless articles, and a comic book series for Marvel. Monte was also one of the three principal designers of 3rd Edition D&D and the d20 system. His d20 game design studio, Malhavoc Press, produced award-winning products like Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved, Ptolus, and the Books of Eldritch Might. Monte has worked in the game industry since on games such as D&D, Champions, Rolemaster, and more. He also created HeroClix, D20 Call of Cthulhu, and Monte Cook’s World of Darkness. He is a graduate of the Clarion West Writer’s Workshop and his recent nonfiction book is A Skeptic’s Guide to Conspiracies. For more information on Monte Cook, visit his website.

All New Hero artwork by Gene Ha.

The Stone Skin Press Kickstarter and more information can be found here.

Twenty years ago, John Squad enlisted in the United States Army.

Eight years ago, Sergeant Squad’s unit was sent on a top-secret mission that went worse than bad, further than south, more crooked than sideways. The extraction force  never came and Squad’s men were gunned down to the last, on the run through a Central American jungle. All except Squad.

When Squad came to, the voices of his men lived on, inside his head.

‘Never leave a man behind,’ they say.

That’s a mixed bag of advice.

John Squad appears in the story “Better Off Not Knowing” by Jeff Tidball, published in The New Hero Volume 1.

Listen to Jeff reading a section of “Better Off Not Knowing”.

John Squad has left the war, but the war hasn’t left him. He hears voices in his head: the voices of the fellow soldiers he left behind. Their counsel keeps him alter to danger as he sets out to perform a dangerous favor for a girl named Becky.

Jeff walks a brilliant, cordite-stinking line in this story, simultaneously embodying and subverting the military vigilante action genre. With the hardboiled pleasures of a crackling crime story always in the crosshairs, he confronts us with a character for whose madness is not only functional, but a necessity of survival.

“I pitched the John Squad character to my manager as a movie protagonist about six years ago,” Jeff says. “He correctly pointed out that one inner monologue—let alone a half-dozen—would be a massive challenge in a visual medium like film. When I heard about The New Hero anthology I knew it was the perfect opportunity to bring this character to life.”

Jeff Tidball is an award-winning writer and game designer with a roiling wake of stories, board games, card games, and roleplaying games in his rear-view mirror. Marquee credits include the Horus Heresy board game, the Pieces of Eight pirate coin combat game, and the book Things We Think About Games. Jeff holds an MFA in Screenwriting from the University of Southern California and lives with his wife, sons, and dog in Minneapolis. His website is predictably located at jefftidball.com and he spews forth on Twitter as @jefftidball.

All New Hero artwork by Gene Ha.

The Stone Skin Press Kickstarter and more information can be found here.

Finnegan moved more quickly than the Dutchman expected. Glasses flew as he flipped the table into the air, knocking Huysman’s gun hand up so his shot went harmlessly through the palm thatch. The tabletop slammed into Huysman’s chest, driving the wind out of him. He could do nothing but gasp for breath as Finnegan took his gun.

Mike Finnegan appears in the story “Against the Air Pirates” by Graeme Davis, published in The New Hero Volume 1.

Mike Finnegan knows planes, the South Pacific, and how to handle himself in a scrape – and in “Against the Air Pirates,” he needs all three. It starts with a Dutchman named Huysmans sticking a gun in his face and demanding a shipment of morphine bound for an island clinic. It ends ­well, and given the title you can guess where it ends.

A big smile plastered itself to my face as I read this story. Graeme Davis pours his longstanding love of classic aviation into this wonderfully straight-faced tip of the hat to the manly adventure pulps of the 30s and 40s. Graeme’s treatment of the period rings with authenticity rather than genre pastiche: he portrays the nuts and bolts of the vehicles, guns, and other old-time tech with the confidence of long familiarity. His dogfight sequence is a showcase of skilled action. Even if, like me, you don’t know jack about aeronautics, vintage or otherwise, you’ll feel that you do as you read this story.

This story allowed me to fulfill another goal for the book: ­to include at least one non-fantastic story. Miss Marple, Bulldog Drummond and House are as much iconic heroes as the Shadow, Captain Kirk and Fox Mulder.

Graeme Davis was born within spitting distance of London’s Heathrow Airport and traveled around the world twice by the age of seven, visiting Australia, Fiji, and other places across the Pacific. He is just old enough to remember airliners with propellors and has a lifelong fascination with vintage aviation. Best known as a writer for roleplaying games like Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Vampire: the Masquerade, and GURPS, he has also written a Dungeons & Dragons novel and a few short stories. He has always wanted to write an air-pulp adventure. For more information about Graeme Davis, visit his website.

All New Hero artwork by Gene Ha.

The Stone Skin Press Kickstarter and more information can be found here.

I am what the old folks call a Reader. ‘Psychic’ is the common term, but in the Southern Territories, we’re still called Readers… In this day and age, with the world split open, Heaven and Hell in chaos, and the dead walking among us, everyone claims to be a Reader, and the real ones are in high demand.

Ivy Greene appears in the story “Ezekiel Saw the Wheel” by Julia Bond Ellingboe, published in The New Hero Volume 1.

Listen to Julia Bond Ellingboe reading a quote from “Ezekiel Saw the Wheel”.

Ivy Greene, hero of Julia Bond Ellingboe’s “Ezekiel Saw the Wheel”, is a Reader. That’s the preferred term for psychic in the Southern Territories. In the wake of a folkloric apocalypse, the South has returned to the fashions and habits of days long past—albeit in a world haunted by duppies and Confederate Horsemen. Ivy’s problem? Frank, an old, bad boyfriend has come back to Charleston to see her, trailing chaos in his wake. A very old, very bad boyfriend.

With “Ezekiel Saw the Wheel”, Julia, well-known for her groundbreaking indie games, establishes herself as one of the anthology’s prose discoveries. She beautifully conjures the atmosphere of her rich setting. Her hero, Ivy, is engagingly drawn, with flaws that prove unexpectedly subtle and human.

Julia relates: “When I first read about the theme of the book, the setting immediately came to mind: a storyteller’s Old Southern landscape gone awry, populated by its own rich and colorful folklore, a setting ripe for an unlikely hero to shine, but quietly so. Ivy Greene arrived as the perfect guardian, as she intimately knows the ghosts and monsters we consider part of folktales and superstition, similar to how a storyteller often inserts herself in the story. She even kept me guessing while I wrote her story, just whom or what she was the guardian of. A product of the world, Ivy keeps the peace in her small way, and reaps a tiny, but deeply personal reward for her efforts.”

Julia Bond Ellingboe is a freelance editor, writer, and role-playing game designer. Having missed her chance to become an itinerant storyteller, her work draws often draws from various folkloric traditions, such as African American slave narratives, Japanese kaidan stories, and the Francis J. Child Ballads. Her work includes Steal Away Jordan: Stories from American’s Peculiar Institution, the forth-coming Tales of the Fisherman’s Wife, and the short fiction “The Wolf and Death”. Julia holds a bachelor’s degree in Religion and Biblical Literature from Smith College and lives in Greenfield, Massachusetts. For more information on Julia Bond Ellingboe, visit her website.

All New Hero artwork by Gene Ha.

The Stone Skin Press Kickstarter and more information can be found here.

I well recall my first encounter with Violet Meeks, although I did not know her name at the time. She stood among the tombs, as quiet and pensive as if she were a stone angel. Only her eyes betrayed her vitality, watching me as I passed between the lichgate and the rectory.

Violet Meeks appears in the story “A Man of Vice” by Peter and Alexandra Freeman, published in The New Hero Volume 1.

The unnamed narrator of Peter Freeman’s “Violet Meeks” is a quæstor, a lay official of the Anglican church who acts as a Victorian-era forensic accountant, investigating the alleged financial peculations of rectors, vicars and bishops. Here he recalls the events linking the strange suicide of the Rector Piers Myton to complaints regarding the conduct of Reverend Saul Bulmer, newly installed at the parish of St. Petroc’s in the Diocese of Bodmin. Central to his account is the titular character, a serving girl whose striking eyes belie her quiet, pensive demeanor.

Peter Freeman conceived this story with his young daughter Alexandra during a country hike. He goes beyond pastiche to fully inhabit its Victorian style. Peter’s alternate Victorian era is steam-powered but scarcely punkish, with nary a goggle in sight. What lurks behind his ecclesiastical facade are ways much older than that. As you read “Violet Meeks”, ask yourself to what extent it cheats the project brief. In one reading, it is an origin story, and hence verboten. But that depends on who you select as the iconic hero…

Peter Freeman was born in London, educated at Oxford and is still alive. He has now been a professional writer for fifteen years, producing over a hundred works on all manner of subjects and under more than a dozen different pseudonyms. His output has varied from writing cartoon strip text for Punch Magazine, through fantasy, humour, detective fiction and erotica to non-fiction on everything between recycling equipment and unexpected sexual practises. For him, this story was very much a case of coming home to early influences. (Alexandra Freeman is his daughter and has an imagination perhaps more vivid still.)

All New Hero artwork by Gene Ha.

The Stone Skin Press Kickstarter and more information can be found here.

Between the skin shows and an endless supply of cocaine and hard liquor, the city of Las Vegas was perfect for any predator, mortal or otherwise. Usually, the mortal predators lurked in noisy casinos, preying on unsuspecting tourists. Vampires, bloodstalkers, like Atlas, on the other hand typically took to the streets to find their next meal.

Atlas appears in the story “Fangs and Formaldehyde” by Monica Valentinelli, published in The New Hero Volume 1.

You’ll get no sparkling from Atlas, the tortured bloodsucker prowling a modern day Vegas, this tough-guy vampire protects a diffuse and not-always-grateful undead community from those who would prey on them. Here a pair of surprise no-shows at a poker game lead him to the trail of an old love…and a threat that makes a wooden stake seem quaint.

The New Hero’s format allows us not only to explore the iron structure of the iconic hero tale, but to take a temperature reading of which genres feel exciting to our stable of writers. As pitches came in the modern horror-action thriller took an early lead and never looked back. (Western  mash-ups made a strong, late play for second place. Given the resurging hotness of the fanged crowd, we’d be remiss not to have a vampire noir in the mix, and Monica Valentinelli delivers that in straightahead, hard-boiled fashion. Within the bounds of her iconic tale, she hints at a broader mythos, one I hope to see her revisit.

“The theme of New Hero allowed me to take the iconic nature of an elder vampire in a wildly different direction,” quips Monica. “I can’t wait to sink my teeth into Atlas’s next detective story!”

Monica Valentinelli is an author and game designer who lurks in the dark. Her publications include non-fiction, original and tie-in fiction. Stories range from Redwing’s Gambit, a novella set in the universe of the Bulldogs! RPG, and “Tailfeather” which debuted in Apexology: Science Fiction and Fantasy. In addition to her short stories, novellas, articles, and RPG contributions, Monica crafted one of the first enhanced e-books titled The Queen of Crows. In her spare time, she dons the role of project manager for horror and dark fantasy webzine, Flames Rising. For more about Monica and her work, visit www.mlvwrites.com.

All New Hero artwork by Gene Ha.

The Stone Skin Press Kickstarter and more information can be found here.