Tom Barber lived the life of a wandering artist, and for some of it was lost.

After serving as an Army medic in Germany during Vietnam and receiving an honorable discharge, he suffered a slide into alcoholism and spent years as a vagabond in Arizona and elsewhere, roaming and sometimes without a roof over his head. Admittedly he squandered his considerable artistic talents.​

None of which is conducive to economic security.

When his significant other Terri passed away in July 2025 the loss of her social security sent him further into debt. Unable to pay his mortgage, Tom, now 80, was on the verge of losing his home, which was also in dire need of repairs. My visits with him, while great, left me greatly troubled with his situation. His future as an independent homeowner looked bleak.

These last couple weeks have gone a long way to restore my faith in humanity. Tom received some significant free assistance from veteran’s groups and a local hardware store that have squared away his property and greatly increased the odds he can keep it and live out his life with dignity and independence.

A veteran’s grant allowed him to hire a tree removal service to remove several large pines threatening the home itself. A biker group comprised of vets spent a day removing brush and landscaping the area, including removing junk and towing away an old van for scrap. And another volunteer group from a local hardware store, Belletetes, replaced rotted clapboard, window sills and decking.

The transformation of his property is startling. Where it was once heavy pines and dense underbrush and shadow and heavy roof moss, there is now light and air (and dare I say), hope.

Tom even cleaned out his detached artists’ studio. When you enter several of his paintings are on prominent display along with a new brochure promoting his works. And his new memoir.

One of the visiting biker vets purchased a painting that spoke to him, a powerful drawing of a teenager with a high school diploma in one hand and an M16 in the other. The group also presented Tom with his Army medals in a beautiful display case, which Tom has since placed prominently over his fireplace in a place of honor. Check out a bit of that story here.​

All of this was organized by a retired friend from Tom’s hometown named Charlie Darling, a dude who Tom describes as an angel. I couldn’t agree more.

Cheers to Tom and brighter days.

Sword & Sorcery's Affinity with Heavy Metal

A couple weeks ago I got the opportunity to join the Rogues in the House podcast to talk about the intersection of heavy metal and sword-and-sorcery, Flame and Crimson, and Growing Up Metal.

It was a great conversation and as usual I had a blast. That podcast is now out. Check it out on YouTube.

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I've written before about the symbiotic relationship of sword-and-sorcery and heavy metal. Many, many metal bands have been influenced by sword-and-sorcery fiction, and we now have heavy metal band members writing S&S fiction. Howie Bentley of Cauldron Born and Jason Tarpey of Eternal Champion a couple chief examples.

Anecdotally, readers of S&S listen to heavy metal in higher proportion than country or rap or pop music. There are reasons for this. The sound of S&S is heavy, and of battle. James Taylor cannot be the soundtrack of “Black Colossus.”

Metal bands have appropriated sword-and-sorcery imagery wholesale. Dangle Kings of Metal and its iconic Ken Kelly painting of a muscular warrior in front of a Robert E. Howard reader and you’ll get a grunt of recognition, if not appreciation, even though they might never have heard the name Manowar. Some will go on to sample the music, discover that “Heart of Steel” is really fucking awesome song, and become a metalhead.

(I dangled a CD copy of Kings of Metal on camera during the show, BTW).

This is not to say if you like one you must like the other. I know many S&S readers who don’t like metal. But you if you don’t see any relationship … you must be hard of vision, and hearing. When Manilla Road performs "Queen of the Black Coast," or Eternal Champion "YSLSL," subtlety has vacated the premises. I mean, there’s a metal band called Conan.

I also appreciated the chance to talk about Growing Up Metal for the first time in a public forum. I have been blown away by its reception; I've been contacted by several folks I haven't seen since high school 35 years ago who read it, loved it, and wanted to talk to me about it. It's had impact.

I don't know you, oh reader, but I suspect you'll like the book even if you don't love heavy metal. And that’s OK.

Other S&S artistry odds and ends

• Dax the Damned. Speaking of S&S art, I recently picked up a 28x20 poster of the cover of Warren’s Eerie magazine #59. This famous issue collects all 10 stories of Dax the Damned, a barbarian warrior created and illustrated by Esteban Maroto. The poster features such a striking and metal Ken Kelly piece I am compelled to find a place to put it on display. It also has prompted me to begin an essay on the visuals of S&S.
• RIP Sanjulian. I join the chorus of admirers and fans of the Spanish artist mourning his passing on Oct. 14 at age 85. His legacy is vast, the images he gave us, immortal. Here’s a good post from Deuce Richardson and DMR Books covering his considerable artistic legacy with plenty of visuals. Peace to his family.
• Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser illustrated. I finally picked up a copy of this graphic novel by the creative team of Howard Chaykin, Mike Mignola, and Al Williamson, which collects four out of print comics adapting Leiber’s legendary S&S duo. A quick thumb-through and I’m hooked; I can’t wait to read it.

What's your favorite intersection of heavy metal and S&S? Send it to Brian.