Mighty Sons of Hercules Volume 2 is live for pre-order!
Back, Bigger, Better, and Stronger!
Long ago, in ages past (2023), Cirsova Publishing released a tribute to Peplum cinema: The Mighty Sons of Hercules!
In this new volume, the Mighty Sons of Hercules return in search of further adventure. They will fight injustice, defend the weak and helpless, and right wrongs wherever they are found.
Join the Mighty Sons of Hercules on their new quests! You’ll be amazed by their impressive feats of superhuman strength. You’ll be dazzled by the exotic and dangerous beauties who would seek their downfall. You’ll cheer as they save the innocent from peril and mete out justice to dastardly villains.
Wherever righteousness must have a champion, there you will find the Mighty Sons of Hercules! Whenever there is need and no mortal man can suffice, a Mighty Son of Hercules shall appear!
Featuring the Adventures of…
- Melkart – The Phoenician trader-warrior finds himself in Israel, a guest in the court of King Ahab, little knowing that he has walked into a court of madness in Melkart the Warrior, a novella-length adventure by Mark Mellon!
- Maxus – A strange cult trafficking in monsters has taken up residence in a ruined temple in the post-apocalyptic wastelands, issuing a bizarre summons to Maxus in Abraham Strongjohn’s novelette, Maxus and the Temple of the Eagle!
- Umaeo – Carthage nurses its wounds following its first loss to Rome, but it’s vile god Moloch demands sacrifice! Umaeo must confront a powerful priestess and her centaur minions when the king tries to substitute Umaeo’s ward for his own son as the dark god’s sacrifice in Owen G. Tabard’s A Night in Tunisia!
- Makheist – Stranded on an island ruled by a capricious goddess, Makheist must fight against monstrous champions to win his freedom in The Isle of Lathreo by Misha Burnett!
- Diametrius – While tracking down his sister, the giant Diametrius finds a haven of warrior women under attack by monsters sent by the gods in Michael Tierney’s Damsel of Distress!
- Herakles – A sorcerer in the wicked city of Kastelannikos employs the mighty Herakles to lift the strange and alien Star Stone from its resting place in The Stone Forged by Darkness by Adrian Cole!
- Keltos – A mighty warrior tracks raiders taking women captive for sacrifice into the swamps in DJ Tyrer’s Keltos Battles the Bog Witches.
- Bato – When a man wearing wings falls from the sky, Bato the strongman, Rasko the legate, and Adir the godling find themselves roped into wild rescue mission that could put them at odds with the Legion in this sequel to Twas Bato Did It from the pages of Cirsova Magazine, All Interests Aside by David Skinner!
These adventures are bookended by the Sanctification Hymn to Hercules Lustrum and the Benediction Hymn to Hercules Nepenthes by poet and regular Cirsova contributor Matthew Pungitore.
Cover art by Kevin John Jacob.
What is Peplum?
Sword & Sandal adventure, also known as Peplum, experienced a cinematic boom beginning with the 1958 Hercules starring Steve Reeves. In this new wave of costume epics, the mythic strongman was king. Between characters like Hercules, Ursus, Maciste, and countless others, there were hundreds of silver screen stories of demigods, gladiators, and swashbucklers fighting bandits, evil viziers, and cunning queens to save the good and innocent from slavery and oppression.
The Sons of Hercules was created by Embassy Pictures to package and sell these films in bundles for syndication. They took a handful of Maciste movies and several other unrelated films, redubbed them, and gave them a cool cowboy western theme song. Each week, viewers could tune in to see a new installment featuring the adventure of a new Son of Hercules.
This fiction anthology project particularly pays homage to this TV series. Cirsova Publishing approached several of its very best writers with a challenge to either create original standalone adventures or rework existing unpublished stories that would fit the strongman theme. The first collection of The Mighty Sons of Hercules was a massive success, so we’re bringing them back! Your favorite Sons of Hercules in all-new adventures, plus a few new ones.
Rewards
- Helot $3 – (eBook) – Receive ebook of MSOH Vol 2.
- Citizen $6 – (Both Ebooks) Receive ebooks of MSOH Vol 1 & 2.
- Hoplite $20 – (Paperback) Receive paperback of MSOH Vol 2
- Signed Hoplite $30 – (Signed Paperback) – Receive paperback of MSOH Vol 2 signed by Abraham Strongjohn.
- Captain $38 – (Both Paperbacks) – Receive paperbacks of MSOH Vol 1 & 2.
- Signed Captain $48 – (Both Paperbacks signed) – Receive paperbacks of MSOH Vol 1 & 2, both signed by Abraham Strongjohn.
- Myrmidon $40 – (Hardcover) – Receive hardcover of MSOH Vol 2
- Signed Myrmidon $50 – (Signed Hardcover) – Receive hardcover of MSOH Vol 2 signed by Abraham Strongjohn.
- Hero $55 – (Paperback and Hardcover) – Receive both paperback and hardcover of MSOH Vol 2.
- Signed Hero $65 – (Paperback and Hardcover signed) – Receive both paperback and Hardcover of MSOH Vol 2 signed by Abraham Strongjohn.
- Champion $75 – (Both Hardcovers) – Receive hardcovers of both MSOH Vol 1 & 2.
- Signed Champion $85 – (Both Hardcovers Signed) – Receive hardcovers of both MSOH Vol 1 & 2 signed by Abraham Strongjohn.
- Lord $100 – (Both Hardcovers and Both Paperbacks) – Receive paperbacks and hardcovers of both MSOH Vol 1 & 2.
- Signed Lord $110 – (Both Hardcovers and Both Paperbacks Signed) – Receive paperbacks and hardcovers of both MSOH Vol 1 & 2 signed by Abraham Strongjohn.
Special Add-ons
Patron $100 – Advertise in The Mighty Sons of Hercules
We’re selling advertising space in The Mighty Sons of Hercules Volume 2. Backers purchasing a Patron add-on have the opportunity to run a full-page advertisement that will appear in the back of the book. [All formats.]
Ads should be submitted as high-res image files, 5″ 
x 7″ or 7.5″ (h) and must be ready no later than 2 weeks following the end of the Kickstarter.
Archon – $300 Written into the Story
We have a few very limited slots for people who are interested in being written into one of the stories as a minor character.
Didaskalos – $500 Written into the Story as a Major Character
We have one slot available for someone who would like to be written into one of the stories as a major character.
About the Authors
- Mark Mellon – Mark Mellon is a novelist who writes two-fisted, hardboiled, blood and guts pulp fiction. He has four novels and over a hundred stories published (many as reprints) in the USA, UK, Ireland, Canada, Bulgaria, Denmark, and India. His novel Scoundrel! The Civil War Misadventures Of An Unrepentant Rogue, is represented by Anthony Flacco and Jen Newens of Martin Literary Management. More information can be found at: www.mellonwritesagain.com.
- Abraham Strongjohn – Abraham Strongjohn occasionally writes for Cirsova Magazine. He’s probably best known for his Neptune stories and his collaboration with Michael Tierney on Texas Goth. Abe hopes to actually finish a trilogy of Maxus stories [sorry, Neptune fans…]
- Owen G. Tabard – Owen G. Tabard is a writer and a lifelong fan of the Sword & Sandal genre and heroic fantasy generally. Besides the Sons of Hercules anthology series, his fiction has previously appeared in the Spring 2022 and Winter 2024 issues of Cirsova. His hobbies include cycling, kayaking and bird-watching.
- Misha Burnett – Misha Burnett is the last of the New Wave, a blue collar rebel with more tattoos than teeth, equality at home discussing 19th Century American poetry and low voltage wiring for security applications. He would like to extend a special thanks to fellow author John Daker for inspiring portions of the following story.
- Michael Tierney – Michael Tierney is an another alumnist of the Mighty Sons of Hercules, and this volume’s entry is a direct sequel to “Battle of the Rages.” In the last ten years he’s put over a million words of fiction and non-fiction in print. This includes his eight volumes of Art Chronologies about the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard. The ninth volume of his 12 volume Wild Stars space opera just completed its serialization in Cirsova Magazine, and the final three volumes will jump straight to book releases beginning in 2026. His other work includes scripting, lettering, and for the first hundred episodes coloring the long-running Beyond the Farthest Star online comic strip.
- Adrian Cole – ADRIAN COLE is a native of and lives in North Devon, England.
He has had some 3 dozen novels and 200 short stories published over 50 years, in genres including Heroic Fantasy, Sword & Sorcery, Horror, SF, Mythos and supernatural crime.
Adrian has appeared in several “Year’s Best” anthologies. In 2015 NICK NIGHTMARE INVESTIGATES won the prestigious British Fantasy Award (best collection).
His recent works include the WAR ON ROME saga, the ELAK OF ATLANTIS trilogy, a de lux reprint of THE DREAM LORDS and a dedicated issue of WEIRDBOOK Magazine. Forthcoming Ulric and the Valkyrie stories due in AMRA and BATTLEBORN. - DJ Tyrer – DJ Tyrer dwells on the misty northern shore of the Thames estuary in the decaying seaside resort of Southend-on-Sea, and is the person behind Atlantean Publishing. DJ studied history at the University of Wales at Aberystwyth and when not writing, enjoys the arcane art of conlanging. DJ’s stories have appeared in such places as Tales of the Black Arts (Hazardous Press), The Dragon’s Hoard 2 (WolfSinger) and The Black Beacon Book of Pirates (Black Beacon Books), and issues of Black Cat Weekly, Broadswords and Blasters, BFS Horizons, Journ-E, Swords and Sorcery Magazine, and Tales from the Magician’s Skull. https://djtyrer.blogspot.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/DJTyrerwriter/ - David Skinner – David Skinner has been writing steadily, though not prolifically, since he was twelve years old. His works tend to be weird, fantastical, and science-fictional. Wonder stories, as it were.
He is the author of the novel The Giant’s Walk. He has written several books for young readers, notably The Wrecker. Most of his stories are collected in his multi-volume Stellar Stories.
He is Catholic and American, and lives in Michigan, USA. He blogs rarely at https://www.davidskinner.biz - Matthew Pungitore – Matthew Pungitore is a writer and painter. For more information about his art and works, check out his blog: https://matthewpungitore.wordpress.com/
Author Bonuses
Like last time, the Authors have agreed to let us hold onto their stories contingent upon the Kickstarter funding, after which point they will be paid 2 cents per word for their submissions. However, for every additional $6k we raise, we will be able to pay the authors an agreed upon bonus for the their stories!
Cirsova 