Two Sword and Sorcery Kickstarters Worth Your Attention

In the following, you'll find two Kickstarters for two new sword and sorcery projects, in which Cora will have articles, if they fund.

The first of these is the Kickstarter for issues 1 and 2 of New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine, edited by Oliver Brackenbury. So what is New Edge Sword and Sorcery Magazine? Basically, it's a sword and sorcery magazine that offers all the excitement, adventure and weirdness traditionally associated with the genre without the regressive attitudes that mar some past work in the genre.

Here's how Oliver explains it:

WHAT IS SWORD & SORCERY?

A unique fantasy sub-genre known for short, episodic tales with historical inspiration and horror elements, featuring outsider protagonists with personal motivations, often facing dark and dangerous magic!

WHAT IS NEW EDGE SWORD & SORCERY?

A brand new magazine featuring over 45,000 words per issue of exciting stories paired with original art, essays, in-depth interviews, literary profiles, and book reviews. Made with love for the classics, and an inclusive, boundary-pushing approach to storytelling!

In the summer of 2022 we made a prototype “Issue #0”, an unpaid passion project for all involved. We put it out in the world and…people liked it! People want more! So this Kickstarter will fund the print publication of issues #1 & #2, paying contributors as much as possible this time.

Available in gorgeous electronic, softcover, and highly collectible hardcover formats.

MAGAZINE FORMAT, BOOK-LEVEL QUALITY

Our magazine pages are a spacious 8 1/2 x 11 inches, printed like a book, using quality, cream paper that is thicker and more durable than standard, floppy magazine paper. When taken care of, our perfect-bound softcovers--and especially our sewn-stitched hardcovers!--will be beautiful objects you can enjoy for years to come.

Several of our stretch goals will provide enhancements such as doubling our number of interior illustrations and, for our hardcovers, adding a pair of bookmark ribbons - each a different color - or foil-embossing our cover text and logo.

CONTRIBUTORS

In these issues you will find new, original stories by the legendary Michael Moorcock, Margaret Killjoy, Gemma Files, Bryn Hammond, Kirk A. Johnson, Prashanth Srivatsa, Jon Olfert, Sarah Macklin, David C. Smith, T. K. Rex, Dariel Quiogue, JM Clarke, Jacqueline Kawaja, and a translated story by Spanish language author Jesús Montalvo.

There will also be stimulating non-fiction by Hugo award-winner Cora Buhlert, Jon Olfert, Milton Davis, Brian Murphy, Robin Marx, and Oliver Brackenbury.

Cover art will be Caterina Gerbasi on issue #1 and Gilead on issue #2. For interior illustrations, as stories are written artists will be assigned from a pool that includes: Sapro, Daniel Vega, Saprophial, Remco van Straten, Ursa Doom, David White, Simon Underwood, Hardeep Aujla, Morgan King, Gary McClusky, Damiano Di Marco, Aldo Ojeda, Carlos Castilho, Trevor Ngwenya, Shih Shin Chuah and Sara Frazetta.

If the Kickstarter funds, I will contribute an article about an unsung heroine of the second sword and sorcery boom (and coincidentally the New Wave), editor Cele Goldsmith Lalli, to issue No. 1.

The New Edge Sword and Sorcery Kickstarter is currently at 75% funded and still has eleven days to go, so what are you waiting for? Pledge and support a great new magazine and give me the chance to share a TOC with Michael Moorcock.

And if you want an idea of what you're getting first, issue 0 of New Edge Sword and Sorcery Magazine (with an article by me about C.L. Moore and Jirel of Joiry) is available to download for free and to buy in paperback or hardcover for cheap.

The second sword and sorcery related Kickstarter is for the anthology Swords & Heroes, edited by Lyndon Perry.

Again, here's what the anthology is about in Lyndon's own words:

New Stories, Fresh Blades

Be the first to experience Swords & Heroes, an S&S anthology featuring 12 epic tales of heroic adventure, monsters and mayhem, beasts and bravery. Antho is ready to ship!

What can you expect? Tales of undead kings facing off against evil necromancers, cursed warriors reluctantly fulfilling their quests, back-stabbing rogues and unlikely duos battling otherworldly abominations, and so much more.

Want a choice of covers? So be it, by Crom!

That's right! After the campaign, when you fill out your survey, you'll get to pick what cover you want for your e-book, paperback, and/or hardcover. You like the pulp fiction feel of a battle horse and courageous rider? You got it! Or are you partial to the gritty Viking vibe of our shieldmaiden cover? The choice is yours!

Same stories inside, of course. Here's the ToC. Names we think you'll recognize. Established writers and some fresh voices as well. We're also excited to feature a brand new Crimson Warrior tale by Adrian Cole, the award winning author of the War on Rome saga published by DMR Books.

The anthology will also contain a roundtable discussion about the state of the sword and sorcery genre and where it's going. I contributed to that roundtable.

Swords & Heroes has already funded, but it still has three days to go, so if you want even more modern sword and sorcery in your life, get over there and pledge.

 

Emanations: When a Planet was a Planet, edited by Carter Kaplan and International Authors

 

Release date: October 3, 2021

Subgenre: Science fiction anthology

 

About Emanations: When a Planet Was a Planet:

 

Emanations: When a Planet was a Planet, the ninth volume in the Emanations anthology series.
 

The ninth volume of the critically acclaimed Emanations literary anthology series, Emanations: When a Planet was a Planet presents stunning new art, illustrations and writing from around the world. The forty-two contributors represent South Korea, Canada, India, Oman, France, Nigeria, England, Scotland, Germany, Spain, the Philippines, Sweden, Japan and the United States. Comprising a broad range of graphic and literary expressions, this new volume wonderfully sustains International Authors’ commitment to innovation and experimentation, with unusual visual pieces, intriguing artists’ statements, idiosyncratic memoirs, dynamic poetical constructions, and cutting-edge speculative fiction. 

The book features the work of: Andrew Darlington, Michael Moorcock, Ebi Rober, Shashi Kadapa, Philip Murray-Lawson, C. E. Matthews, Elkie Riches, Dale L. Sproule, David Flynn, Gareth Jackson, Jean-Paul L. Garnier, Adam Paxman, Tim Newton Anderson, Michael Butterworth, Carter Kaplan, Horace Jeffery Hodges, Mack Hassler, Denny E. Marshall, Ana Cameron, Oz Hardwick, Darwin Holmstrom, AE Reiff, Mario Murgia, Adrian Nehard, David Flynn, Marielle Risse, Peter Dizozza, Daniel De Cullá, Bienvenido Bones Bañez, Jr., ughVitasta Raina, Richard Kostelanetz, Nobxhiro Santana (Nobuhiro Mido), Francine Perlman, Hugh Macrae Richmond, Marilyn R. Rosenberg, Don Tinsley, David Nadeau, Christopher Arabadjis, Arthur Lee talley, Tessa B. Dick, Michael Beard, & Richard Glyn Jones         
 

 

Excerpt:

The Names of My Children

by Jean-Paul Garnier

The vehicle made it clear that passengers would take a back seat. It moved through the cool, wet city taking us further from the safe zone. Leanna gazed down her long nose at me, her face in the half-light became more severe than usual. She tapped a code with her forefinger into the glowing dash. It was my car but it only wanted her touch. Somewhere back in the fire surrounded mists my family waited, trusting that I would return to the shelter. The air crackled with electricity killing my hope that we would be going back any time soon.

Emergency situations like that suck firefighters within the area. In undulating waves they came to help, only to find that the available hardware wanted someone to play with. The solar radiation, the adult babies and red flag warnings had not been enough. My vehicle, which was not Leanna’s, curved through the burning spaces propelling us toward the great concrete bunkers. Research into adaptive events had killed at least thirteen people so far. The numbers would no doubt rise. But Leanna continued to smile as though a plan of hers was working out nicely. My family would disagree.

“You always fail me. Your car isn’t much better. Can’t you see how the flames lick at the heavens? The city is yours, too bad there will be little left in the end. I could be yours but you cower under that suit of yours. Even the firemen have learned that the signal enters through the skin. Damn civilians. Ate it up just like the commercials told you to. You know they are testing you, yet here you are with me, infinitely wiser than you. Keeping you safe even as we flee your dreams.”

Leanna, condescending as always. Took from me as she pleased. Sirens pierced through the smoke. A hundred houses burned all along what were once my streets. My suit tightened further. Skin crawled with anticipation knowing the harm and wanting it badly. Leanna looked towards me smiling, teeth glowing orange. She matched the sky in most regards but she wasn’t falling for it. She navigated the flames as though they were imaginary. Perhaps they were but I could still hear screams matching the volume of the moving sirens.

From the window I saw a man tearing at his suit. The buckles changed position as he clawed at them. The colors changed until he could not tell his own body from the surrounding wreckage. His fingers bled as he tried to remove the asphalt from the burning road circling his feet. Comical dances completed the horror music that dragged through the suburban night. Police fired warning shots straight up. Pop, pop, pop. They were trying to time the shots with the rest of the music. The dancing man falls to ashes. Leanna’s smile grows in intensity. They flash from orange into rainbows or terror, but it is not her terror, she is feeding on the ruptured waves of the satellite. She didn’t need a suit, her mind had undone the frequencies prior to my abduction.

As when old men throw yet another log onto the fire the sparks spiral into the whirling void. The fire sings like an out of tune children’s choir. The parents sit with pleased looks on their faces as they endure the cacophony. My children have become tinder by now. Leanna sings a poisonous lullaby with touches of triumph. She believes she has freed me from the shackles of modernity. While it isn’t true I am elated by the ever tightening suit. They knew to make our downfall entertaining but who knew it could be this rapturous. I squirmed in my seat to the rhythm of the screams. Pop, scream, pop, pop, scream. Leanna writhed in gross pleasure knowing I couldn’t hold out much longer.

 

Amazon | International Authors

 

About International Authors:

 

A consortium of writers, artists, architects, filmmakers and critics, International Authors publishes work of outstanding literary merit. Dedicated to the advancement of an international culture in literature, primarily in English, the group seeks new members with an enthusiasm for creating unique artistic expressions.

 

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