The Best Fantasy Series You’re Not Reading
What if I told you there is an ongoing fantasy series with three volumes published. It includes but is not limited to evil sorcerers and wizards, undead unicorns, living unicorns, a multi-generational struggle against evil, transdimensional travel, a character who ascends to godhood, the erasure of history, cyborgs, and the King of California. There will be accusations of cheese yet many of you want to know the names of these books.
That I cannot tell you.
The reason I cannot tell you the titles of the books is they are not books. They are power metal albums.
He is the prince of the land of Fife
Noble and true with a heart of steel
Now it is lost vengeance shall be his
Angus McFife is his name
The band Gloryhammer has released three albums, Tales From The Kingdom Of Fife, Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards, and Legends from Beyond the Galactic Terror Vortex. Each chronicles the battles against the evil wizard Zargorthrax by the Prince of Fife, Angus McFife. The first album is the initial battle by the first Angus, while the latter two focus on Angus McFife XIII.
For the curious, the kitten at the head of this story is related because he is Angus McFife XIV, named in honor of those heroes.
The Gloryhammer world expends beyond just the albums. The band regularly gives out bits of lore in interviews and social media posts. An entire wiki exists to contain said lore and speculations about unknown elements. Unicorn heads, hats, and other unicorn items are a regular part of live shows. Comments on their music videos wonder when the Netflix series or Gloryhammer Cinematic Universe movies will be released.
Fight for the king, for the hammer and the ring
Fight for the ancient story
There is a lesson for the indie author of novels and short stories in the success of Gloryhammer. It is the power of the story that engages the audience. The stories of Angus McFife and the Gloryhammer are over the top cheese out of someone’s bad Dungeons & Dragons campaign, which they need to invite me to join. Yet, I doubt a single-player misses a session of that D&D game any more than a Gloryhammer fan misses a new song or video. The stories leave us with questions we want to be answered even as each album wraps up its main plotline.
For example, while Sir Proletius beyond the Terror Vortex is an alternate version of the original hero, Ralathor is the same in both worlds despite not passing through the Terror Vortex with Angux XIII and the Hootsman. How did he get there? I don’t know, but maybe we’ll learn in the next album.
Who will replace Angus McFife XIII, who allowed himself to die after being pierced by the Knife of Evil instead of becoming evil? I don’t know, although my own Angus McFife XIV is open to fighting the Zargothrax Clone.
Telling a good story is the key to fans who name their cats after your characters.
Fans who name their cats after your characters are the kind of people who become one of your 1000 True Fans.
Galaxies swarming behind me
Nebulas lying ahead
This can only mean
That I have arrived into space, oh yeah
Another trait to learn from the Gloryhammer series is not to take yourself too seriously. This is probably easy for a cheesy power metal band whose lead singer at one point looked like a cross between Green Lantern and Ironman. It can be challenging for writers, especially young writers.
But, not taking yourself too seriously will be a big help when one of you 1000 True Fans names a kitten after one of your main characters.
Regardless, telling stories well enough to have fans name their pets after your characters or their car after your locations should be the goal of any writer.
