Rogues of Merth: The Blue Lamp

Argosy meets Weird Tales in a mysterious shop far, far, away

Sword and sorcery is undergoing a broad revival. Broad enough to support entire magazines such as Tales from the Magician’s Skull. Broad enough for the recent reincarnation of Weird Tales to devote an entire upcoming issue entirely to the genre. Broad enough for traditional publishers to take notice (#KaneAtBaen).

But it is out on the edges of indie where the new life and enthusiasm for the genre has percolated, with authors such as Howard Andrew Jones and D. M. Ritzlin; with fly-by-night magazines such as Skelos and unlikely stalwarts like Cirsova.

With tales of the Mongoose and Meerkat, Mortu and Kyrus, and even new stories of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. And a host of other worthies struggling for recognition in the increasingly atomized bookstores.

Such as Robert Zoltan’s Rogues of Merth.

Billed as the first story of the Rogues of Merth—but not chronologically, “The Blue Lamp” introduces readers to the dour and tattooed Indari warrior known only as Blue and the poetic fencing instructor Dareon Vin. Like many sword and sorcery duos, these two are polar opposites in temperament. And, like many sworn brothers, there are times when they cannot stand each other’s presence.

This is one of those days.

So, in search of distraction, Blue finds himself inside a strange shop that sells exquisitely detailed, almost-life-like miniatures. The smooth-talking shopkeeper coaxes Blue into examining a strange blue lamp. A trap is sprung, and Blue is pulled into another world inside the lamp…

Two days later, Blue’s disappearance finally cracks the armor of Dareon’s ego. The fencing master tracks the blue-tattooed warrior to the shop. The wares catch Dareon’s eye, including the shopkeeper’s newest acquisition: a like-life miniature of a familiar Indari warrior. The shopkeeper plies his deceits once more, but Dareon perceives the trap and brawls with the shopkeeper and an enchanted cat.

From within the lamp and outside in the shop, distracted by blade and monsters, Dareon and Blue seek Blue’s return to the real world.

If the swords are prominent in the action, so is the sorcery. Much recent sword and sorcery has kept the magic in the background, dark, brooding, and secretive. Here, it is a live snake, snapping at passersby. The enchantments intrude far more brazenly into the city of Merth than the bleak shores of Lankhmar or the times when the oceans drowned Atlantis. This prominence brings back the weird to sword and sorcery without needing to mimic the genre’s Gothic roots.

Rather than the traditional sword and sorcery duos, Blue and Dareon instead resemble the carefree heroic adventurers such as the Three Musketeers or Argosy’s adventurers such as Cleve and d'Entreville. Their interactions are full of banter and wit, without it overpowering the story, and their interests in life are more than survival, wine, women, and song—although neither would turn any of these away.

Where many sword and sorcery duos have one character solve the mystery while the other makes the mystery end, the secrets held within this strange shop require both men’s wits and both men’s blades. Neither is shoehorned into only being either brain or brawn.

Like all of Zoltan’s projects, much care and exactitude is placed in the presentation. The black and white art that accompanies each story is bold and thick-lined, playing with contrasts instead of shades. And that exactness plays into the text, with every word, quip, and question carefully chosen for effect. And yet the carefree exuberance of the characters is not overpowered by such consideration.

“The Blue Lamp” serves as a wonderful introduction to two new sword and sorcery rogues, whose adventures continue in two collections of their short stories. Fans of heroic and historic adventurers should check out this more fantastical tale.