SE Guest Posts

The ABOUT and FAQ tab answers a lot about S.E. Lindberg, but check out his commentary on other websites: Guest Posts, Articles, Interviews-of-SE: 

Intern 331 Commends the Day of Might


The Skull’s friends and acquaintances are preparing for The Day of Might—happening on Sunday, October 23rd!  Intern 331 is a beloved member of The Skull’s team! As is evidenced by the fact that he has remained alive this long! The Skull even acknowledged him as Intern of the Year! The runners-up were all summarily…removed from the position.  And now he shows his gratitude by heralding The Day of Might and showcasing some of his favorite current sword-and-sorcery tales! Intern 331 is an excellent lackey!  …what’s that? He has a name? Seth? What is a “Seth”?

Independent Author Spotlight: S.E. Lindberg

DMR Books recently honored me with an invitation to participate in the Terra incognita: Lost Worlds of Fantasy and Adventure anthology. This spotlights an interview with me on the publisher's awesome S&S blog.  
“My goal when writing is to take myself to places that are completely unique and unsettling; if I do not feel the sincere weirdness while composing, then readers won’t feel it either."

Archiving the King’s Blade Champion: An Interview with John C. Hocking

John C. Hocking is a nigh-obsessed reader and writer of lurid pulp fiction, the author of Conan and the Emerald Lotus, “Black Starlight” serial, and their time-lost companion, Conan and the Living Plague, as well as an obedient thrall of Tales From the Magician’s Skull. Recently Black Gate reviewed John C. Hocking’s Conan Pastiche; then they cornered him to learn more about his pastiche and weird fiction muses in an interview. That post is a companion with this interview and we hope you’ll brave the Black Gate and check it out. Here we focus on Hocking’s original Archivist and King’s Blade series — now to the interview!

Interviews from Hell – Ernst Haeckel/Seth Lindberg Aug 2021

Welcome to the Infernal Interview Service. Today we feature one of the characters and his writer from the acclaimed Heroes in Hell series. Ernst Haeckel (and his writer Seth) feature in Mystics in Hell.

"A Quiet Place:124 " Reading Club Podcast April 2021

"Hatchet Mouth" host Jeremy (aka Level One Edge Lord) with some of his reading buddies corners SE for an hour. Lords of Dyscrasia is the focus, though we discuss writing and alchemy too. Jeremy squeezed in an excerpt reading. 

A Video Chat and Look Behind the Scenes with Skull & Friends

To you undeserving mortals I have granted a rare glimpse behind the veil of secrecy at my most peerless of publications, Tales From the Magician’s Skull. The lowliest of my minions, the larvae called ‘interns,’ were tasked with this honor, but recently each met their own destruction in most hideous and foolish a fashion. And so the task was entrusted to my more powerful servants. To that end, the Darksome One, Joseph Goodman, and He-of-the-Curved-Sabre, Howard Andrew Jones, have assembled a host of fell scholars and scribblers to discuss the ways of sword & sorcery. Harken, then, as your sanity is blasted by the Crookedly-Made James Enge, your limbs jolted with sufficient voltage by the Archivist of the Emerald Plague, J.C. Hocking, and your very atoms scrambled by the Dread Cymist, Seth Lindberg!

The friends of the Skull had a fun and freewheeling discussion during our latest get-together at Spawn of Cyclops Con, which you can watch right here. Topics included what we look for in a submission and the shifting styles of fiction editors have seen over time. What’s the difference between stories with a ‘Monster Manual’ feel to them, and less codified, sense-of-wonder-inducing pieces? And how about treating “action as character,” setting the stage with an establishing shot, or considering if there really is a successful template to pulp fiction. Was the secret to productivity by the great pulpsters of yesteryear a lack of mid-day scam phone calls?

And more besides; a quick reading discussion, how authors make their own surprising discoveries during the writing process, and the truth about Howard’s dirty ducks!


With the release of Heroika: Skirmishers, each contributor ... and one of their characters... is being interviewed by the Library of Erana. Hear directly from the Apollonius of Tyana, read “The Naked Daemon” by S.E. Lindberg, and experience alchemical warfare.


With the release of Lovers in Hell, many of the anthology's authors are sharing character interviews.  Follow the link, and listen in on the interrogation of Howard Cart and Ernst Haeckel as the body-less interviewer seeks out the location of a stolen artifact: the phallus of the Egyptian god of rejuvenation: Osiris.



The Elusive, Inspirational Soul 

On the Once and Future Podcast -Blog,  For most artists, including writers, the act of creating attempts to capture and share some emotion, or conversely, evoke an emotional response from an audience. Often, we draw inspiration from our past experiences, traumatic or enjoyable, to deepen the impact. As a scientist, I find the entire transaction of emotions oddly inspirational and terrifying. Feelings are ubiquitous, but cannot be measured objectively; they do not seem to adhere to any law of conservation like energy or mass obey (is there any limit to sorrow or joy?).

The Beauty in Horror and Sadness: An Interview with Darrell Schweitzer



On Blackgate.com! We interview Darrell Schweitzer (a.k.a. “Brother Darrell” in the Esoteric Order of Dagon) is an American writer, editor, and essayist in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror, although he does also work in science fiction and fantasy. Schweitzer is also a prolific writer of literary criticism and editor of collections of essays on various writers within his preferred genres. Together with his editorial colleagues Schweitzer won the 1992 World Fantasy Award special award in the professional category for Weird Tales. His poem Remembering the Future won the 2006 Asimov's Science Fiction's Readers' Award for best poem. His novels include The White Isle, The Shattered Goddess, The Mask of the Sorcerer, and The Dragon House. He has also been known to lead the choir at Cthulhu Prayer Breakfasts, where his The Innsmouth Tabernacle Choir is used. Check out his cartoon drawing of Wilbur Whateley, learn about his Conan the Deliverer novel (not the "midwife" type he clarifies), and what inspires his weird fiction!




This post discusses how three recent S&S movies (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword ; Conan The Barbarian ; and Hobbit: Battle of the 5 armies) lured us in with conflict based on a magical artifact, only to sandbag us as the stories finished.


"I am Ernest Haeckel, renowned evolutionist, artist, and philosopher. You heard of my contemporary Charles Darwin, no doubt? I coined the term ecology and am famous for my beautiful drawings of lifeforms. My embryological montages unexpectedly drew anger from my fellow scientists.  They deemed I embellished too much. Yet, I stand by my depictions of embryos and the notion that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. You look confused, no doubt because of your retarded ancestry..."

Dorgo’s Dozen Questions: Getting Grilled by Joe Bonadonna - 2017 Black Gate

Thanks to Joe Bonadonna for the opportunity to be grilled by Dorgo’s Dozen questions. Phew, this will be intense! One cannot lie to a detective as keen as Dorgo, especially when his dowsing rod can sense minor indiscretions — I just hope he can differentiate between fantasy and reality. So please read on, as I attempt to pass the interrogation. Also appearing on Joe Bonadonna's blog.

The Promise in Cover Art Design

Just weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Brenda Carre at the World Fantasy Convention in Columbus, Ohio as we shared seats on the “Writers – Artist Panel.”  This continues our writer-artist discussion focusing on cover design.

Perseid Publishing 's Heroika 1: Dragon Eaters has a sequel in the works, but it will go beyond "Dragons." Stay tuned for updates from the authors as they explain the history that inspires adventure fiction. This link reveals the evolution of the Emerald Tablet. I'm proud to be part of Janet and Christopher Crosby Morris's crew on this.

Alchemy-Infused, Weird Fiction

Feb 2016 - Alchemy-Infused, Weird Fiction - GUEST POST on Draconis, HOST Katrina Sisowath –: Katrina Sisowath, scholar and author of mythology, hosts my article on "Beauty and Alchemy in Weird Fiction" on the Draconis website.  She is on the front lines writing for Ancient Orgin.Net and her own mythological/historical based fantasy. This is a huge guest post on the below topics:
·         Creative Muses Motivate Alchemists
·         Creative Muses Also Haunt Writers
·         Dyscrasia Fiction and Its Dark Muses
·         Perseid Press’s Heroika: Dragon Eaters
Jan 016 Fiction & Art Inspired By the Mappae Clavicula GUEST POST , HOST Jennifer Loiske: Sincere thanks to my host Jennifer Loiske who extended an invitation to discuss my muses & recent contribution to Perseid Press’s Heroika: Dragon Eaters. Please follow the link learn about the history of alchemy and how it inspired my contribution to Heroika.
“…for most of history, intellectual pioneers (alchemists) were all three: scientist, spiritualist, and artist. The allure of alchemy has persisted for many centuries, from its ancient-history roots in Egyptian medicine, through Arabic developments, into medieval Europe and the Italian Renaissance; its medieval flavor has inspired most magic-systems in contemporary fantasy…Scientists had to be artists to document their work; conversely artists were also scientists, sourcing their own materials and working them from the earth, such that their material gathering affected their style. One of the first "technology" books that evolved from compilations of secretive recipes and pseudo-legitimate alchemy was the Mappae Clavicula.”…
Jan 2016 – Comprehensive Author Interview -HOST Fiona McVie.Fiona asks a good a dozen great questions…here are a few snippets.

Fiona: Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp? SEL: Not a message, but a feeling. I’d like to convey a sense of terror and awe.

Fiona: What was the hardest part of writing your book? SEL: Making sense of fantasy world. Attempting to tackle a novel from the beginning was too overwhelming. I tried several times, but it was too difficult to simultaneously create a story while creating complex magic system and world. In order to tell a coherent story, I had to write a short story first (it ended up being Chapter 2 in Lords of Dyscrasia, “Portrait of a Seer”). Then “baby steps” commenced (Chapter 3, etc).  Lords of Dyscrasia ended up being a set of seven tales, each chapter being a short story—it has a single story arc, that being of Lord Lysis. It begins with him denouncing his ancestral faith and ends with his final transformation into an undead warrior. With the world building complete, I was able to tackle a second novel with greater focus on characterization and more traditional format: Spawn of Dyscrasia.
Apr & Nov 2015 April Grim Dark History GUEST POST:  Last April, I wrote a guest post on the Grimdark genre's roots (1930-and-1980).  I was just notified that the post was translated and reposted this month!  Like dark fantasy?  Check out a perspective highlighting Clark Ashton Smith and Fighting Fantasy.  Original Guest Post Link n English, thanks to an invitation by Francesco La Manno, and  Now in Italian, thanks to Alessandro Iascy:

As “Grimdark” matures and gathers traction, readers seem interested in defining its scope.  Many blog posts already cover the topic of “What is Grimdark,” including posts from champion Mark Lawrence (author of Prince of Thorns): Mark Lawrence Post May 2013  - What is Grimdark?; and Mark Lawrence Post Feb 2015 - "Is Grimdark dead?"  (With guests: R Scott Bakker, Karen Miller, Joe Abercrombie, Teresa Frohock, Kameron Hurley, Richard Morgan). This post will not try to disambiguated the boundary between overlapping/similar genres, but it will highlight a few books/topics that aficionado’s and newcomers should enjoy: 
1) 1930’s Grimdark/Sword & Sorcery: the oft-overlooked Clark Ashton Smith
2) 1980’s Grimdark/Sword & Sorcery: the origins of Grimdark stem from Game’s Workshop’s Fighting Fantasy series



Heroika Roundtable

Jun 2015 Terry Ervin’s UpAroundTheCorner blog: Terry W. Ervin II is an Ohio-based author (like myself) who writes fantasy and science fiction. He recently hosted four of the 17 authors (a.k.a. dragon hunters) from Heroika: Dragon Eaters. Please join the discussion and learn more about the art of killing serpents!  Here is a blurb:

Tips on how to write; Lindberg: Go mental! Balancing a fun career with the duties of a father too, there is scarce dedicated time for writing.  I’ve fallen into structured day dreaming, rehearsing scenes via each characters’ perspective. Being kept away from the writing-desk forces multiple iterations, but the frustration is rewarding when scenes are enhanced. This role playing can be done anywhere, anytime; a smartphone or notepad is needed to capture key dialogue and interactions to flesh out later.
2015-Feb Author Interview HOST A.L. Butcher’s Library of Erana Blog “~ A place of words, wordsmiths and word devourers, a haven of magic, myth and mayhem.” Many questions are answered, including…
What is your Muse? As a practicing chemist and hobbyist illustrator, I’m driven to explore the weird experience of artists & scientists attempting to capture the divine. I identify with early scientists before chemistry splintered from alchemy, when Art and Science disciplines had common purpose. Take, for example, early anatomy (Medieval and Renaissance period): surgeons searched for the elements of the soul as they dissected bodies; data was largely visual, and had to be recorded by an illustrator. The technology behind paint and dyeing was developing alongside advances in medicine. Back then, the same instrumentation in apothecaries produced medicines as well as paints/inks, so the distinction between artist & scientist was obscure. Despite all the advances over centuries, much of the alchemical focus remains at large.  Personally, it drive me nuts knowing that energy and mass are conserved quantities (that can be measured, tracked, and manipulated), yet the “soul” still evades detection or practical measure. As long as intangible things exist beyond our reach of understanding, we’ll need artists to interpret (study?) them.

Conflict in Conan

2011-Dec  Why "Man vs Man" is less effective than "Man vs Supernatural" : Were you disappointed in the recent Conan the Barbarian movie?  Perhaps you expected Sword & Sorcery...