The blog title says it all, but you don’t want to miss this! Well, you already missed it, but you can still watch the VOD right here:
Winning Secrets is out now on Amazon! Hold them in your hand and maximize your game!
Umbros In Print
One of the most frequently-asked questions we got when putting together Winning Secrets was “Is there a way to get Umbros in print?”
Bdubs had a lot of technical reasons for why but tbh I don’t remember most of them, but THERE WERE REASONS.
Anyway, those reasons have been addressed, and Bdubs has a print version of Umbros available now through Lulu.
Note that this is NOT a Cirsova Publishing release, but we’re happy to plug Dubs’ book and get it into the hands of everyone who needs it.
[Also wow, has it really been almost a month since I posted? Life has been wild, but whatever. I’ll officially post about the Summer issue soon]
Jeffro Johnson’s Winning Secrets Out Now!
Jeffro Johnson’s Winning Secrets is out now!
You can get it on Amazon in eBook or softcover.
If you don’t mind getting copies that are a little dinged up, we have a handful that we couldn’t use to fulfill the Kickstarter but aren’t in terrible shape that we’re offering on eBay for $10 off the cover price.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/227380929482
Online discourse surrounding Dungeons & Dragons changed forever when elite gamer Meffridus sent Jeffro Johnson bodybuilder memes to bully him into playing 1st Edition.
What was this strange game that has been subject to a million folk interpretations, whose rules we have been endlessly gaslit into believing were impossible to discern from the text’s arcane High Gygaxian language? Jeffro Johnson, author of APPENDIX N: The Literary History of Dungeons & Dragons, undertook a journey to find out exactly what kind of game AD&D was when you played using the actual rules in the book, even the weird ones that didn’t seem to make sense!
What he found were Winning Secrets…
Contained herein are the chronicles of Jeffro Johnson’s Trollopulous campaign, the first campaign of the BrOSR, with essays and commentaries from RuleOfThule and Bdubs1776.
This seminal work definitively answers:
- What are the core pillars of BrOSR-style play?
- What can 1:1 timekeeping bring to a campaign that pausetime cannot?
- How does rediscovery and incorporation of the Braunstein unlock the game contained in 1e’s rulebooks?
- Why is Rule Zero a luciferian cop-out that turned D&D into a non-game?
- How can I make my game as awesome as the bros’?
Jeffro Johnson’s Hugo-finalist work on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons’ Appendix N launched a revolution in pulp as dissident OSR gamers began to rediscover the literary roots of the hobby. Jeffro managed to capture lightning in a bottle again, however, reshaping the discussion around D&D for a second time, connecting the secrets of David Wesely’s Braunstein, Dave Arneson’s incorporation of the idea of Braunstein into Blackmoor, and the massive living world able to accommodate infinite characters, players, and tables in a campaign that is hiding in plain sight within the rules of AD&D.
Summer Issue Update: Cover Reveal, Taking Ads, Release Date TBA
I am so incredibly far behind in everything right now, I don’t even actually know when the Summer Special will come out, but it WILL come out in Summer! Maybe late July, maybe early August!
We can take some ads, tho. Details are here: https://cirsova.wordpress.com/cirsova-magazine/advertising/
I’ve kept Mark so busy with everything else this spring [Mighty Sons of Hercules V2, Adrian Cole’s Dream Lords Legacy, and JD Cowan’s City Eater], I was only able to get him the Summer Special a few weeks ago. He’s been a godsend and really helped us keep on top of everything. We wouldn’t have been able to get a lot of the stuff done and out the door this year if not for his help, and of course Yakov’s.
This cover for Caroline Furlong’s new story is by StarTwo, who I’m sure you’re all familiar with by now.
We also have new merch in the TeePublic store.
Interview with Matthew Pungitore on Retirement of Cirsova Classics, Wind-Down of Cirsova Magazine, and More
This is probably the most important interview we’ve ever done.
Don’t miss it.
Cirsova Classics Line Being Retired 11/2026
As part of our long wind-down, we will be retiring the Cirsova Classics line at the end of our fiscal year.
These titles include:
- The Cosmic Courtship
- Absolute Evil & A Goth From Boston
- Sara Was Judith
- Doris Dances & Fires Rekindled
Our original publication of The Cosmic Courtship has been buried by several dozen mercenary editions. The other volumes have not suffered the same fate because I think Robert forgot to convert the others to raw text to upload to Gutenberg.
But ultimately these titles failed to perform the one task I had really hoped for, which was to see some critical reexamination of the writings of Julian Hawthorne, a now-forgotten but key figure in American literature who bridged the Gilded Age and the Pulp Era as a master of mystery, suspense, and gothic fantastic.
Anyway, I’m looking to simplify my accounting work, and is a title really evergreen if it never sells and is buried in Amazon’s search results?
So, these titles will all be retired and taken out of publication at the end of November this year.
Final Week for Dream Lords Legacy!
We’re in the final week for the Dream Lords Legacy Kickstarter!
We’ve hit our goal and are aiming now for stretch goals!
Mighty Sons of Hercules Volume 2 is Out Now!
Mighty Sons of Hercules Volume 2 is out now on Amazon!
If you missed the Kickstarter, now is your chance!
If you backed, please leave it a review!
Mourning Till Knight [Sneak Preview]
I’ve had a backburner project I’ve been sitting for some time now, but recent developments will hopefully spur me to actually get some work done on it. I still need to finish writing Maxus at the Mountain of Monsters, but I’m thinking that once that’s done and the magazine is put to bed, I’ll have time to put some real time and effort into it.
One of the two main character is Dawn, a witch who left/was rescued from her coven by a knight. She and the knight have gothic mystery adventures together. I’ve got three episodic stories outlined so far. I had originally planned on writing them as standard short stories, but recently I’ve become more interested in the idea of presenting them as visual novels.
Here is Maya’s take on the character:
Here’s a piece of concept art that Darn recently completed for us:
We still have a lot of projects to clear at Cirsova before I can devote more time and resources to this, but we hope you’ll check out Adrian Cole’s Dream Lords Legacy, which is funding now! It’s almost to its goal.
Bill Willingham Returns To Epic Fantasy With The Outrider Trilogy
IOWA PARK, Texas – April 27, 2026 – Bill Willingham — writer, artist, and creator of the Eisner Award–winning Fables — is stepping into prose epic fantasy with his Outrider trilogy, a new series of three novels to be published by Raconteur Press beginning in January of 2027.
The first novel, The Giant, the Witch, and the Warlord, will be published by Raconteur Press in January 2027. This will be followed by The Sorcerer and The King of the West later in the year. All three manuscripts are complete and in production. Readers will not have to wonder when the series will be finished — it’s already done!
The Outrider series is epic fantasy in the classic tradition of sword and sorcery. The story features morally complex characters, heroes who behave heroically, and centers on an oath kept at any cost. It is Willingham’s first extended prose sword and sorcery work, and a deliberate return to the genre he loved before he ever worked in comics.
“Sword and sorcery is where my love of reading started,” said Willingham. “Leiber, Howard, Vance, Zelazny, and always Edgar Rice Burroughs — those were the writers who made me want to tell stories. The Outrider trilogy is my attempt to honor that tradition and add my humble contribution to it.”
Willingham chose to publish the Outrider trilogy withRaconteur Press, the Texas-based independent publisher known for its author-friendly contracts and pulp-proud editorial philosophy. Raconteur publishes samples of its author contracts publicly — an unusual practice that Willingham cited as a factor in his decision.
“We publish books that trust the reader to keep up,” said Ian McMurtrie, founder of Raconteur Press. “Bill Willingham has been doing exactly that for decades. We are proud to be the home for these books.”
Raconteur Press has worked with more than 400 authors across its three book lines since 2022, publishing over 100 books including dozens of anthologies, story-first genre novels, and award-winning Boys’ Adventure titles.
A cover reveal is planned for June 2026. Pre-orders open August 1, 2026.
Available for Media: Review copy, press kit, author bio, cover image, and interview scheduling available on request. Contact pr@raconteurpress.com.
About Bill Willingham: Bill Willingham is a writer and artist best known as the creator of Elementals and Fables, the long-running DC/Vertigo comic series that earned fourteen Eisner Awards shared with collaborators, with Willingham personally winning Best New Series (2003), Best Serialized Story (2003), Best Short Story (2007), and Best Writer (2009). He has also received the Inkpot Award (2008) and the Adamson Award (2011), and received four Hugo Award nominations in the Graphic Story category. With the Outrider trilogy, Willingham returns to his roots of epic fantasy in the classic tradition of sword and sorcery — the genre he has always loved.
About Raconteur Press: Raconteur Press is a Texas-based independent publisher founded in 2022. The Press publishes genre fiction anthologies, story-first genre novels, and a Boys’ Adventure line, with all books unapologetically designed to entertain. Raconteur operates on a philosophy of radical transparency, publishing sample contracts publicly and sharing its operational playbook openly with the indie publishing community. More at raconteurpress.com.
As you guys know, Bill has sold us a couple of stories and we had the unique privilege of including some of his original artwork as an interior illustration in a recentish issue which featured him as our cover story.
I’m sure his new book series is going to be fantastic.
Speaking of fantastic books, Adrian Cole’s Dream Lords Legacy Kickstarter is chugging along nicely. Be sure to back it if you haven’t already!
Cirsova 
