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New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine #2
New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine: Issue #2
Winter 2023 issue of New Edge Sword & Sorcery
Made with love for the classics and an inclusive, boundary-pushing approach to storytelling!
Stories include:
The Demon of Tashi Tzang by Dariel Quiogue
Fang by Jacquie Kawaja
Revelstoke by Gemma Files
A Debt Forgotten, a Debt Unpaid by Jeremy Pak Nelson
The Eyes of the Demon by J.M. Clarke
Water, Which Laughs at All Things by T.K. Rex & L. Ann Kinyon
Atonement for a Resurrected God by David C. Smith
How Many Deaths Till Vengeance? by June Orchid Parker
Articles include:
Neurodivergence in Sword & Sorcery by Jonathan Olfert
Sword & Soul Brothers by Milton J. Davis
Sword & Silk: An Interview with Dariel Quiogue, by Oliver Brackenbury
"Return of the Sorceress" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, a review by Kris Vyas-Myall
Made with love for the classics and an inclusive, boundary-pushing approach to storytelling!
Stories include:
The Demon of Tashi Tzang by Dariel Quiogue
Fang by Jacquie Kawaja
Revelstoke by Gemma Files
A Debt Forgotten, a Debt Unpaid by Jeremy Pak Nelson
The Eyes of the Demon by J.M. Clarke
Water, Which Laughs at All Things by T.K. Rex & L. Ann Kinyon
Atonement for a Resurrected God by David C. Smith
How Many Deaths Till Vengeance? by June Orchid Parker
Articles include:
Neurodivergence in Sword & Sorcery by Jonathan Olfert
Sword & Soul Brothers by Milton J. Davis
Sword & Silk: An Interview with Dariel Quiogue, by Oliver Brackenbury
"Return of the Sorceress" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, a review by Kris Vyas-Myall
- GenresFantasySword and Sorcery
80 pages, Paperback
Published November 13, 2023
3 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Oliver Brackenbury
9 books56 followersMy name is Oliver Brackenbury. I’m a screenwriter & author. I grew up around the corner from a five story deep cold war bunker, as one does, and can now be found living not far from a popular 1,815.4 ft tower in Toronto.
My first novel, JUNKYARD LEOPARD, was released through the Bad Day Books imprint of Assent Publishing. The book trailer and more can be found at www.junkyardleopard.com
I’m currently working on my third novel, a sword & sorcery short story cycle, and am putting out a podcast about my work on it. You can check that out at www.soimwritinganovel.com or by searching for "So I'm Writing a Novel..." wherever you get your podcasts.
My first novel, JUNKYARD LEOPARD, was released through the Bad Day Books imprint of Assent Publishing. The book trailer and more can be found at www.junkyardleopard.com
I’m currently working on my third novel, a sword & sorcery short story cycle, and am putting out a podcast about my work on it. You can check that out at www.soimwritinganovel.com or by searching for "So I'm Writing a Novel..." wherever you get your podcasts.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 28, 2025
The NESS crew is seriously putting to the test the anthology enjoyer's old adage of "they can't all be winners."
Dariel Quiogue's Orhan Timur is fast becoming one of Mah Dudes in the genre, while David C. Smith knocks it up a notch with his queer mercs Virissa and Edrion. Their adventure in #0 was mostly memorable for having two gay leads, but he was cooking calamari with this issue's maritime eldritch horror encounter.
Revelstoke's band of mercenaries ply their trade in a world that seems like a mix of Paul Verhoeven's Flesh + Blood with Kentarou Miura's Berserk and buddy, I don't need to tell ya that's my blackberry jam. Gemma Files manages to make every single member of the group memorable (and cool as hell), while the forces that move them hint at a world I'd definitely read more of.
Special mention for June Parker's "How Many Deaths Till Vengeance," a story of vengeance long in the making and -- very satisfactorily -- even longer in the executing. The real-world political analogies are quite blaring for those directly involved, but they might be a good wake up call for those who are not.
What a blessing for the genre this mag is!
Dariel Quiogue's Orhan Timur is fast becoming one of Mah Dudes in the genre, while David C. Smith knocks it up a notch with his queer mercs Virissa and Edrion. Their adventure in #0 was mostly memorable for having two gay leads, but he was cooking calamari with this issue's maritime eldritch horror encounter.
Revelstoke's band of mercenaries ply their trade in a world that seems like a mix of Paul Verhoeven's Flesh + Blood with Kentarou Miura's Berserk and buddy, I don't need to tell ya that's my blackberry jam. Gemma Files manages to make every single member of the group memorable (and cool as hell), while the forces that move them hint at a world I'd definitely read more of.
Special mention for June Parker's "How Many Deaths Till Vengeance," a story of vengeance long in the making and -- very satisfactorily -- even longer in the executing. The real-world political analogies are quite blaring for those directly involved, but they might be a good wake up call for those who are not.
What a blessing for the genre this mag is!
February 9, 2024
The second issue of NESS has been getting far less attention than its debut, likely because it lacks a story by legendary writer Michael Moorcock, but that's ashame, as it actually exceeds its predecessor in every demonstrable way. This is editor Oliver Brackenbury's third time at bat (including the Zero Issue) and he's clearly getting a feel for how he wants his journal to work. I don't always agree on the editorial choices of what is included under the NESS banner, but so what? I'm not the editor, and what matters here is that Brackenbury is experimenting and *producing*. Let's get to it.
The Demon of Tashi Tzang by Dariel Quiogue
The lead-off story features an alternate Genghis Khan character, Orhan Timur the Snow Leopard. If you are a fan of Howard Andrew Jone's alternate Hannibal, Hannuvar, then you know what Quioge is about here, but Timur is Hanuvar's dark twin. Whereas the former is an aging man, past his prime, now on a final mission bigger than himself, Quioge asks: "What if Genghis's brother had succeeded in deposing him during his rise to power and he was a hunted man? Would he take that lying down?" Umm, no.
In Tashi Tzang our hero finds himself hiding among a group of pilgrims headed to a remote mountain monastery, which has secrets of its own. It's a fun siege story, with some great visuals, although the end is a bit clipped. Dariel Quioge is, IMO, one of the absolute best S&S short story writers going right now, and even when one of his stories is only "good" for him, it's better than most. A strong opening tale.
Fang by Jacquie Kawaja
A truly disturbing story that reminds us how closely entwined S&S and horror are. In mood and tone this tale, which is at once a story of undead spirits and retribution, yet also of misunderstanding and the rejection the disabled face for their appearances, is fantastic, unfortunately, its shorter length makes the disability of the main character somewhat wedged into the narrative, which begins in media res, as if she were a character we knew from earlier adventures (she isn't). The end result still works more than it doesn't, but makes the story fall just short of brilliant.
Revelstoke by Gemma Files
I loved and was deeply frustrated by this Grimdark story, which very much felt like it was creating a set of recurring characters: a mercenary band in an alternate, late Medieval Europe in which sorcerers exist and employed by, and against, the Church to aid in combatting magical threats. In this story the Owl, a mysterious mercenary captain, who has been so repeatedly resurrected by the noseless sorceress in his employ that he doesn't show himself outside of his armour (presumably because it isn't pretty), has been contracted to rescue and transport a blessed pelican back to a bishop. Taking a shortcut through the village of Revelstoke, they find the villagers...changed.
This story abounds with creativity: cool magic, cool characters, interesting ideas. But the world-building trips over itself. We have "Vikings" and Hussites and the Varangian Guard...with no real explanation as to how the former is meant to exist with the latter, despite four centuries of separation, nor the Varangian Guard having long since being extinct in the last days of the rump Byzantine Empire. There may be reasons in the author's mind, the same way John M. Ford's brilliant Dragon in Waiting had an alternative 15th century complete with Mithraism and alternate Christianities, but there's no room in the narrative to explain any of that and it makes the references to the various anachronisms feel jarring and distracting rather than intriguing. That said, I'd love to see more of these characters and their strange world.
A Debt Forgotten, a Debt Unpaid by Jeremy Pak Nelson
Another dark tale, almost in the mode of Tanith Lee, about perhaps the last of a race of demigods, kept as a fattened calf (literally) by the ruling empire to be periodically bled into a mercury bath. By some alchemical process, the resulting metal can then be alloyed to create uniquely potent weapons. For 50 years our protagonist has been kept so and at last he finds a means to escape, by using an ancient form of blood and mirror magic to try and invoke one of the banished gods from which his people descend. But a cruel empire does not mean the gods it overthrew were necessarily anymore benevolent. This was a very lush story, literarily, that works perfectly until the last two paragraphs. Don't blink or you'll miss the ending, and you may still be left wondering "why" beyond "because it was cool". An unfortunately not-quite stuck landing
The Eyes of the Demon by J.M. Clarke
This is old-school sword & sorcery: the hero hired for a mission, by allies that he doesn't trust and don't trust him. Clarke's Kyembe the Sengezian a "demon-eyed" warrior-mage is a recurring character, and a fun one, who definitely feels like something from the later S&S era of the late 70s, early 80s. The twist is that it is African fantasy...occurring high in the mountains where it can actually *snow*, among a race of semi-giants. Oh, and there is an ice demon who can see in blizzards. Straightforward adventure, well done.
Water, Which Laughs at All Things by T.K. Rex & L. Ann Kinyon
An ambitious, literary story, with an environmental plot and alternating PoVs. The Faultlands setting seems intriguing, I enjoyed the "party" of characters, but felt the story tripped over its own cleverness. The internal musings of Okk, the gladiator-turned-poet, which are all in verse, didn't really advance the story (and frankly, weren't very good verse), and the villain's defeat was so convoluted and brief, I had to back and reread it. It involves an elk. Really.
It's a cute story, that almost felt like a hybrid of cozy and a D&D party, but certainly not what I would call S&S or heroic fantasy.
Atonement for a Resurrected God by David C. Smith
David Smith is the "old hand" this issue, a major figure from the 70s boom of S&S, who returns here with Virissa and Edrion his queer warrior pair from issue zero. Smith is creating something like an LGBT Fafhrd and Mouser here, which I felt to be something of a gimmick in their debut story, "Old Moon Over Irukad." Here the characters are more settled and the story can just develop on its own terms. Smith is a living master of the craft; a man who was able to take as thin a character as Red Sonja and (with the late Richard Tierney) write a series of spec novels that were far better than they had any right to be; or were being churned out by most writers in the same era.
How Many Deaths Till Vengeance? by June Orchid Parker
Set in a pseudo-classical setting, Astharta spots a wealthy patrician whom she believes to be the man responsible for the murders of her family and sets out for revenge. Straightforward? Yes, but we all know the story of sorcerers who have made themselves difficult to kill through magic, right? This dark, gruesome story will exhaust you as it does our heroine -- in just the right way. A great ending to the fiction.
Articles include:
Neurodivergence in Sword & Sorcery by Jonathan Olfert
As the father of a neurodivergent son this short article was an interesting read, though considering the sheer number of neurodivergent readers and authors drawn to this genre, I'm not sure that such characters or concerns are nearly as under-represented in fantasy as they are in literature or many other genres.
Sword & Soul Brothers by Milton J. Davis
A warm, heartfelt reflection on the legendary Charles Saunders by his friend and spiritual heir, Milton Davis. There have been many wonderful tributes to the man, but this one is the one you should read.
Sword & Silk: An Interview with Dariel Quiogue, by Oliver Brackenbury
I criticized the transcribed podcast in Issue 1 for being too long and for the interviewer doing too much of the heavy lifting, but this time, with an interview subject who knows their material and what they want to say, we have no such issues. Sword & Silk is a fun, fast read, filled with some fascinating insights into life as a fantasy and comics fan in Southeast Asia, Dariel's one-man battle to bring back Sword & Planet fiction, and
"Return of the Sorceress" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, a review by Kris Vyas-Myall
The Demon of Tashi Tzang by Dariel Quiogue
The lead-off story features an alternate Genghis Khan character, Orhan Timur the Snow Leopard. If you are a fan of Howard Andrew Jone's alternate Hannibal, Hannuvar, then you know what Quioge is about here, but Timur is Hanuvar's dark twin. Whereas the former is an aging man, past his prime, now on a final mission bigger than himself, Quioge asks: "What if Genghis's brother had succeeded in deposing him during his rise to power and he was a hunted man? Would he take that lying down?" Umm, no.
In Tashi Tzang our hero finds himself hiding among a group of pilgrims headed to a remote mountain monastery, which has secrets of its own. It's a fun siege story, with some great visuals, although the end is a bit clipped. Dariel Quioge is, IMO, one of the absolute best S&S short story writers going right now, and even when one of his stories is only "good" for him, it's better than most. A strong opening tale.
Fang by Jacquie Kawaja
A truly disturbing story that reminds us how closely entwined S&S and horror are. In mood and tone this tale, which is at once a story of undead spirits and retribution, yet also of misunderstanding and the rejection the disabled face for their appearances, is fantastic, unfortunately, its shorter length makes the disability of the main character somewhat wedged into the narrative, which begins in media res, as if she were a character we knew from earlier adventures (she isn't). The end result still works more than it doesn't, but makes the story fall just short of brilliant.
Revelstoke by Gemma Files
I loved and was deeply frustrated by this Grimdark story, which very much felt like it was creating a set of recurring characters: a mercenary band in an alternate, late Medieval Europe in which sorcerers exist and employed by, and against, the Church to aid in combatting magical threats. In this story the Owl, a mysterious mercenary captain, who has been so repeatedly resurrected by the noseless sorceress in his employ that he doesn't show himself outside of his armour (presumably because it isn't pretty), has been contracted to rescue and transport a blessed pelican back to a bishop. Taking a shortcut through the village of Revelstoke, they find the villagers...changed.
This story abounds with creativity: cool magic, cool characters, interesting ideas. But the world-building trips over itself. We have "Vikings" and Hussites and the Varangian Guard...with no real explanation as to how the former is meant to exist with the latter, despite four centuries of separation, nor the Varangian Guard having long since being extinct in the last days of the rump Byzantine Empire. There may be reasons in the author's mind, the same way John M. Ford's brilliant Dragon in Waiting had an alternative 15th century complete with Mithraism and alternate Christianities, but there's no room in the narrative to explain any of that and it makes the references to the various anachronisms feel jarring and distracting rather than intriguing. That said, I'd love to see more of these characters and their strange world.
A Debt Forgotten, a Debt Unpaid by Jeremy Pak Nelson
Another dark tale, almost in the mode of Tanith Lee, about perhaps the last of a race of demigods, kept as a fattened calf (literally) by the ruling empire to be periodically bled into a mercury bath. By some alchemical process, the resulting metal can then be alloyed to create uniquely potent weapons. For 50 years our protagonist has been kept so and at last he finds a means to escape, by using an ancient form of blood and mirror magic to try and invoke one of the banished gods from which his people descend. But a cruel empire does not mean the gods it overthrew were necessarily anymore benevolent. This was a very lush story, literarily, that works perfectly until the last two paragraphs. Don't blink or you'll miss the ending, and you may still be left wondering "why" beyond "because it was cool". An unfortunately not-quite stuck landing
The Eyes of the Demon by J.M. Clarke
This is old-school sword & sorcery: the hero hired for a mission, by allies that he doesn't trust and don't trust him. Clarke's Kyembe the Sengezian a "demon-eyed" warrior-mage is a recurring character, and a fun one, who definitely feels like something from the later S&S era of the late 70s, early 80s. The twist is that it is African fantasy...occurring high in the mountains where it can actually *snow*, among a race of semi-giants. Oh, and there is an ice demon who can see in blizzards. Straightforward adventure, well done.
Water, Which Laughs at All Things by T.K. Rex & L. Ann Kinyon
An ambitious, literary story, with an environmental plot and alternating PoVs. The Faultlands setting seems intriguing, I enjoyed the "party" of characters, but felt the story tripped over its own cleverness. The internal musings of Okk, the gladiator-turned-poet, which are all in verse, didn't really advance the story (and frankly, weren't very good verse), and the villain's defeat was so convoluted and brief, I had to back and reread it. It involves an elk. Really.
It's a cute story, that almost felt like a hybrid of cozy and a D&D party, but certainly not what I would call S&S or heroic fantasy.
Atonement for a Resurrected God by David C. Smith
David Smith is the "old hand" this issue, a major figure from the 70s boom of S&S, who returns here with Virissa and Edrion his queer warrior pair from issue zero. Smith is creating something like an LGBT Fafhrd and Mouser here, which I felt to be something of a gimmick in their debut story, "Old Moon Over Irukad." Here the characters are more settled and the story can just develop on its own terms. Smith is a living master of the craft; a man who was able to take as thin a character as Red Sonja and (with the late Richard Tierney) write a series of spec novels that were far better than they had any right to be; or were being churned out by most writers in the same era.
How Many Deaths Till Vengeance? by June Orchid Parker
Set in a pseudo-classical setting, Astharta spots a wealthy patrician whom she believes to be the man responsible for the murders of her family and sets out for revenge. Straightforward? Yes, but we all know the story of sorcerers who have made themselves difficult to kill through magic, right? This dark, gruesome story will exhaust you as it does our heroine -- in just the right way. A great ending to the fiction.
Articles include:
Neurodivergence in Sword & Sorcery by Jonathan Olfert
As the father of a neurodivergent son this short article was an interesting read, though considering the sheer number of neurodivergent readers and authors drawn to this genre, I'm not sure that such characters or concerns are nearly as under-represented in fantasy as they are in literature or many other genres.
Sword & Soul Brothers by Milton J. Davis
A warm, heartfelt reflection on the legendary Charles Saunders by his friend and spiritual heir, Milton Davis. There have been many wonderful tributes to the man, but this one is the one you should read.
Sword & Silk: An Interview with Dariel Quiogue, by Oliver Brackenbury
I criticized the transcribed podcast in Issue 1 for being too long and for the interviewer doing too much of the heavy lifting, but this time, with an interview subject who knows their material and what they want to say, we have no such issues. Sword & Silk is a fun, fast read, filled with some fascinating insights into life as a fantasy and comics fan in Southeast Asia, Dariel's one-man battle to bring back Sword & Planet fiction, and
"Return of the Sorceress" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, a review by Kris Vyas-Myall
August 11, 2024
The fiction of issue 2 is stronger than issues 0 or 1. I’m still liking the decision to include non-fiction and while the transcribed podcast in this issue was better than previous attempts, it still felt like just that, a transcribed podcast. They do not belong.
June 22, 2025
Three volumes in now and the calibre of writing far surpasses many contemporary collections and demonstrates a richer variety in sword and sorcery than ever in the past. It's also supported with consistently superb black and white sketch artwork, which not only brings each story to life, but highlights the different styles of artistry out there.
There's classic sword and sorcery on offer here including a new "Snow Leopard" tale from Daniel Quiogue and a new Keyembe story from J. M. Clarke. We've also got a story which is very similar in set up to Abercrombie's The Devils in Gemma Files' Revelstoke and then some more ambitious, less traditional stories in keeping with the 'New Edge' moniker.
The non-fiction is mostly very good as well - which is something almost no magazine these days seems to pull off, often falling into being overly-indulgent or nauseatingly sycophantic, but the articles on neurodivergence and Charles Saunders were really informative. If I had gripes, it was firstly that the end review is wasted somewhat on a book costing a fortune due to limited, special print run years ago and is just messy gushing over something that is largely unavailable. The interview is also a little long being a podcast transcription, but I do like Dariel Quiogue's work so a little personal bias came in there (although spelling Leigh Brackett's name as Lee? Tsk! Tsk!). The risk of it feeling too padded or poorly translated from speech to written word is offset by some thoroughly interesting insights into writing process (useful for any writer of action) and views on Conan which I very much share.
Another great issue of this magazine which needs as big a readership as it can get; far from a gimmick, “new edge” is becoming synonymous with the best.
There's classic sword and sorcery on offer here including a new "Snow Leopard" tale from Daniel Quiogue and a new Keyembe story from J. M. Clarke. We've also got a story which is very similar in set up to Abercrombie's The Devils in Gemma Files' Revelstoke and then some more ambitious, less traditional stories in keeping with the 'New Edge' moniker.
The non-fiction is mostly very good as well - which is something almost no magazine these days seems to pull off, often falling into being overly-indulgent or nauseatingly sycophantic, but the articles on neurodivergence and Charles Saunders were really informative. If I had gripes, it was firstly that the end review is wasted somewhat on a book costing a fortune due to limited, special print run years ago and is just messy gushing over something that is largely unavailable. The interview is also a little long being a podcast transcription, but I do like Dariel Quiogue's work so a little personal bias came in there (although spelling Leigh Brackett's name as Lee? Tsk! Tsk!). The risk of it feeling too padded or poorly translated from speech to written word is offset by some thoroughly interesting insights into writing process (useful for any writer of action) and views on Conan which I very much share.
Another great issue of this magazine which needs as big a readership as it can get; far from a gimmick, “new edge” is becoming synonymous with the best.
December 18, 2023
What’s better than an old blunt sword you found in a hole? Well, one that’s been given a new edge by sorcerous means to tear through the flesh of your enemies, of course.
I’m not sure the editors and contributors of this magazine would want to be called sorcerers, but I’m not sure of their thews enough to praise their brawn. However, I can praise their writing. This is quality fiction and non-fiction to entertain and inform.
The fiction starts strong with Quiogue’s Orhan Timur, a scene from this graces the cover (sweet work, Gilead). We then get tales that are gruesome, awesome, wholesome and worthwhile-some in a great variety running the gamut of the genre. My favorite art work may be Matthew Spencer’s last piece in June Orchid Parker’s “How Many Deaths Till Vengenace” (a story that gets brownie points for incorporating the word “woundedness” into it). My favorite non-fiction piece is Milton J. Davis’s “Sword & Soul Brothers” that touches on his relationship to the one and only late Charles Saunders. It’s all good, as always and even if you don’t think so, there is something here worth your time.
I’m not sure the editors and contributors of this magazine would want to be called sorcerers, but I’m not sure of their thews enough to praise their brawn. However, I can praise their writing. This is quality fiction and non-fiction to entertain and inform.
The fiction starts strong with Quiogue’s Orhan Timur, a scene from this graces the cover (sweet work, Gilead). We then get tales that are gruesome, awesome, wholesome and worthwhile-some in a great variety running the gamut of the genre. My favorite art work may be Matthew Spencer’s last piece in June Orchid Parker’s “How Many Deaths Till Vengenace” (a story that gets brownie points for incorporating the word “woundedness” into it). My favorite non-fiction piece is Milton J. Davis’s “Sword & Soul Brothers” that touches on his relationship to the one and only late Charles Saunders. It’s all good, as always and even if you don’t think so, there is something here worth your time.
January 21, 2024
Continues the excellence of the previous issue. This time eight short stories and four non-fiction pieces fill the work, and I didn't have an issue with any of the stories. There continues to be a strong diversity of both authors and characters. Including one of my favorites from the issue which features a trans protagonist
The non-fiction pieces were all good, but the transcript of the interview with Dariel Quiogue was my favorite. He also authored the other of my two favorite stories to appear in this issue. I may have found a new author to check out.
I'd be sad that there is no Issue #3 yet, but I still have Issue #0 to go back and read!
The non-fiction pieces were all good, but the transcript of the interview with Dariel Quiogue was my favorite. He also authored the other of my two favorite stories to appear in this issue. I may have found a new author to check out.
I'd be sad that there is no Issue #3 yet, but I still have Issue #0 to go back and read!
April 16, 2024
The Dariel Quiogue, J.M. Clarke, and David C. Smith stories were the highlights of the fiction for me.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews