Sunday Castle Festival (2025 - 15): fantasy, science fiction and horror
If anyone wants me to translate to Spanish any of your stories, just leave me a comment. I will begin with The Samyuzot from
. The translation will also be published in my Wordpress blog, with the credits to the author, of course.let’s begin…
If you don’t get the entire mail, click here to read it. Believe me, this mail is really long…
A) Fiction:
I) Fantasy:
The Great Twins of Substack,
, have continued their story based on Scottish lore, Broherhood of the Gemstone, with Ch, VIII, A House of Sorrow: “These were all true statements. Much as she did not think a great deal of Corin, Kenna had to admit that he would never allow any harm to befall her son. What worried her most though, was something no one could cure or comfort away, or Corin could alter was to wake up one morn’, with him on her door’s step to tell her, her son was dead. Kenna could not bear the thought”.
The best writer of mythological realms,
, has published ch 33 y 34 “The Foundation Crumbles” of his great epic fantasy story, The Haunting of Guaritori Diolco and also ch 19 of his other fantasy story, Ivy League Illusion. Here we are reading the first one, but I am linking the three chapters, so you can enjoy all of them. ““Well, that is a change,” Hades admitted, making me wonder if he was the god of understatement. “Take me to him. I swear by the Styx that I will harm no one there as long as they make no attempt to harm me.” Looking down at Poseidon, he said, “I believe Garth’s story, but I am going to confirm it with my own eyes. Hold the tidal wave until I return.”” has ended his Samyuzot stories but I am beginning to read it now. So, I’m linking today the 1st chapter, The First Date of Segitars Arpadi: “He gazed down on the Torzsh camp. House-wagons and tents, cow herds and sheep flocks, wattle-marked paddocks and weaving lines—all were shadows of darker gray under the fading moon. Some of the sprawling camp, perhaps half, was hidden behind an aspen wood. Such small woods were the closest thing to shelter that these plains offered, at least in this border land between the clans.”, after finishing The Acton, has written a short story titled the House of Jeb: “I read this on the back of a bag of Automatonian potato chips. They came free if you took them in lieu of a proper meal and thirty minute break. Most people took ‘Chip Lunch’, called ‘Crisps Lunch’ in Europe, offered with unlimited, complimentary coffee, so they could leave thirty minutes earlier. Deadly combination. Even I, the smoker, found those chips saltier than a sea hag. It’s what had done in Jackson Brown”.
Kummer Wolfe has written 21 and 22 of his story Death Whispers, part of his story about the Doctor Pedro Sangre and the Legend of the Privateers: “The healing elixir did its work, as a dull warmth drove off the chorus of aches. Gently, I rubbed the bandages around my left shoulder. I grimaced. Healing elixirs had repaired some of the damage, but there was a lot more healing to go. Once I changed into fresh clothes, I ran a hand through my hair when something moved in my bag.”
has written a short story titled Morrigan, which deserves to be linked here: “Cathal the Fair, so named for his pale complexion, stood with his Highland kin at the fore of their gathered army. He was not their leader, nor was he a man of high status or good stock. His father had been a farmer, as was his grandfather, and his father before him. They were local stock, low bred, salt of the earth. Such was how Cathal’s humble line always saw themselves, but he was different. He was destined for greater things, a fact he’d known since his boyhood days. He simply needed the chance to prove it”.
We are also reading Eathel the Bastard, the story written by
. Chapter 5 is summed up by saying: “our recuperating hero reconnects with his former master. The power dynamics are now switched. Both men started as knights on the same chessboard. Now one is a King and the other a pawn”. “Haldric looked over at Eathel, then he looked down at the stained cloth still encircling his prodigal apprentice’s limb. Though Eathel was his Lord, and was as fine an apprentice is any knight could hope for, it was still hard for Haldric to really see Eathel as a full knight. Not yet, at any rate. Too many of the young Earl’s blunders remained in Haldric’s memory”.
This week we can also read the next chapter, 15, titled “the House of NO Delights”, by
. The chapter belongs to her story “One Hundred Refusals”: “There’s a good chance he will, he’s young and strong. But I cannot say for certain. I must leave you now, I’ll check upon him as soon as I can,” with it the physician washed his bloody hands, changed into a clean shirt provided by Lord Trouser, and went away. Gema sat on the side of Ash’s bed, staring at him silently”. has released chapters 23 y 24 of his story The Lives of Velnin: “I called for volunteers to fight to the finish—men without wives and children back home. All told, we ended up with about six hundred: half archers, half spearmen. All our healers and artificers left; we would not survive long enough to need them. I stayed, though I sent my sword, Swelfalster, back to Tarmel with a fast rider, lest it be lost to the Dark Empire and they gain the benefit of two powerful magic swords instead of one. Canmar also stayed.” has published a new story, The Elder’s Last Story: ““The chieftain approached me and bade me rise—the name upon him, he told me, was Maine, and asked for the one on me, so I gave it to him. He bestowed upon me a great cloth, so I could stave off the wind, and guided me out of the cave. It was a cloud-shadowed night outside; torches lit our way through the field. At the dun, in this hall, when everything was whole, a feast was brought to me, the chieftain, and his best tenants. They granted the champion’s portion to me”.
We can also read the latest story from
, An Inheritance: “Isocrates finally caught on – the realization sickened him – he had made a terrible mistake. Had he known they were only visiting one of the neighboring farms, he never would have chosen that of his best friend. Or his former friend – obviously, that relationship had been ruined, and would never be fixed”.
The chapter 38 of Mordreigiau Chronicles, It is time, by
has been also published and can be read here: “I eyed Llyr. Like mine, his bronze torc did not seem to pinch his flesh at all. His scars, so many more than before, shone pink amongst his red and gold scales. He moved with effortlessness. I watched the power in his flexing muscles. Any draig môr would be eager to dragon dance with him. Why not me? Why not surrender, put Jasper behind me and start afresh? He was a good choice and it would seal our partnership…”
We can also continue reading
‘s story, Thrain. Chapter 2 is titled Thrain Weeps: “Quick as Thrain and Serbus went, a rider in the open could not hope to hide no matter their speed. Figures scurried in haste, and a bell from the small church in the middle rang out. Nearing the village, he saw stalwart defenses well-established, war spikes and iron fences hammered hard into the ground. The townsfolk who could not fight filed silently into the temple, a practiced, prepared calm”.
B) Science fiction and horror:
We can read another of
’s great essays, Do AI Dream of Electric Words?: “[Marco]: I have no doubt that AI lacks consciousness. The important issue is not what AI is, but what it does, the effect it generates. Consider how often the Turing test is passed these days. Of course, it only measures how well a machine can simulate conversation, but there are others now, such as the Winograd Schema, ARC, the Stance Tests, the Wozniak Coffee Test, and the Marcus Test. They delve deeper. They touch on understanding, emotion, and even perception of reality. These are all things that edge closer to what we’d call consciousness. If those tests exist and people are actively working to beat them, then the line just keeps getting blurrier."
This week’s story from
is very funny. It’s titled Flying Wheels and has great photos! “But what are UHL or universal homebuilding licenses?!, you’d ask, you wholesome sci-fi enjoyers. As long as it bore the company logo and satisfied all of their vehicle operational standards, the Corpos did not care if a hamster, bunny, or uplifted gorilla built the MX100 or whatever. Guns, tanks, starships, and yes, mecha; the realities of space exploration and the colonization of a vast expanse as the Fringe Space are such, that no individual Corpo can manage manufacturing and supply machinery, let alone their continuous maintenance”. has continued her story titled The Silent Fleet, so we are going to read Ch 2: “Commander Sarah Montoya was halfway through her morning run when her secure phone buzzed. Twenty minutes later, she was on a military transport headed for an undisclosed location. Twelve hours after that, she sat in a sterile conference room at NASA's restricted Quantum Propulsion Laboratory. She wondered why she'd been pulled from her assignment at the International Lunar Base.” has new chapters of his story, The Ghosts of Morena. So, I am linking today the Part 1 of chapter 5: “Jarl sucked his tongue back into his gullet with a slurping sound, spattering drool across most of the seats. He turned to Aleph and grinned, showing far too many teeth, and held up a distorted hand-paw with six digits spread. Something rumbled inside the beast, although it might just have been the shuttle crapping itself against some thermal outside”. has also written chapter 15 of her novelette The Lightbreakers of Orpheus: ““Derek, he didn’t even know how to call what he did, when we talked. Lightbreakers were never meant to live normal lives. To fall in love, and to make love. He had no clue what was going on with him. I presume he acted according to the chemical reactions driving him, like Lightbreakers are supposed to.”” has a really disturbing story, pure horror, The Hive: “Leo kept his utterance quick and quiet. “No attacking, yet.” Everyone swallowed down the red hot fear he formed with the words. They crept along carefully. These weren’t any normal wasps. Everyone had realized that now. Especially with their buddies still in the hospital”. has another truly interesting sci-fi story, ““It’s quite easy, actually. At least, once you get used to it.”: “A hundred thousand new processes, or extremed processes, had to be invented or tested or extrapolated. Their specialty was the cryopods. Little ones for mice, curled sleeping rodents for six months of torpor—bigger ones for cats, dogs, and rhesus monkeys. At first, plenty of the animals died. Later, fewer of them did”.
C) More links:
: The Great Warriors.: In Search of Old Wisdom.: The Wandering Thoughts of Turtles. I hope is recovering well.New books:
has released her new book, Ivy and Ixos.
This week I will also be releasing the covers and backcovers of The Legend of Sinardia, Part I, in English and Spanish.
Some music to finish:
Buy me a coffee. ☕️
Hans Zimmer's a great choice! And thanks for the tag, Mercedes.
Thanks for the referral!