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Broadswords and Blasters Issue 10: Pulp Magazine With Modern Sensibilities
Our tenth issue brings you the fantastic: Eddie Generous with his tale of a "Sunday Speed Trap," the ensuing police chase, and maybe some ritual sacrifice to ancient Old Ones. E.F. Sweetman with her tale of ecological horror on the high seas and a narrator who says, "Hello from Garbage Island."Joanna Maciejewska's "Yet Another Vessel" where we encounter terrifying enchanted artifacts and the kinds of psychopathic individuals who seek them out. Brian McNett's "Armageddon and the Way Out West" where he introduces us to Doctor Thaddeus Armageddon and his helmsman Delrick Borograve in their exploits through the Wild West aboard the skyship Devastation.Paul Alex Gray and his tale of artificial intelligence, giant mecha, and romance, "Battle Borne Dreams Never Die." Julie Rea, who takes us to the flooded future of 2202, where scavengers "Lela and Bat" comb through the remains of Philadelphia. Joshua Grasso's "Barbarians in the Boudoir" where we see the magician Hildigrim, previously imprisoned for black magic, paroled but only so he can help the Archduke avert a war with barbarians from a far distant land.Paul Starkey's "Below Noon," a tale of existential horror in the Wild West, as a man comes to grips with the reality of Hell.Patrick S. Baker, who takes us home with the further adventures of the warrior hero Kauahoa, as he takes on "The Cannibals in the Mist.
134 pages, Paperback
Published July 9, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 17, 2020
Cannibals and magic users and monsters, oh my!
Broadswords and Blasters brings together an enchanting collection of pulp tales. My favorites are as follows:
“Sunday Speed Trap” By Eddie Generous “He was a police officer and never in the two years of college did an instructor offer a lesson on how to police the apocalypse.” High speed chase leads a cop into a situation well over his pay grade, bringing a new meaning to ‘baby on board.’
“Hello from Garbage Island!” by E.F. Sweetman “Excuse me, I’m not an idiot because I wear trash and smell like death.” A man stranded on Garbage Island shares his savvy survival tips and begs to be rescued from his trash-filled nightmare.
“Barbarians in the Boudoir” by Joshua Grasso “Everyone loved the sorcerer in Cell 32. He told jokes, knew every guard by name, and was refreshingly up-front about his crimes....” The only way a sorcerer can save his skin is by getting the Queen out of a sticky situation.
“Lela and Bat” by Julie Rea “In the Badlands, survival depended upon a quick wit, a good gun, clean water, and a high place to ride out the storms.” When they encounter a rival crew, Lela and Bat’s mission to plunder the Badlands goes awfully awry.
With its blend of genres, each issue contains stories that will delight readers.
Broadswords and Blasters brings together an enchanting collection of pulp tales. My favorites are as follows:
“Sunday Speed Trap” By Eddie Generous “He was a police officer and never in the two years of college did an instructor offer a lesson on how to police the apocalypse.” High speed chase leads a cop into a situation well over his pay grade, bringing a new meaning to ‘baby on board.’
“Hello from Garbage Island!” by E.F. Sweetman “Excuse me, I’m not an idiot because I wear trash and smell like death.” A man stranded on Garbage Island shares his savvy survival tips and begs to be rescued from his trash-filled nightmare.
“Barbarians in the Boudoir” by Joshua Grasso “Everyone loved the sorcerer in Cell 32. He told jokes, knew every guard by name, and was refreshingly up-front about his crimes....” The only way a sorcerer can save his skin is by getting the Queen out of a sticky situation.
“Lela and Bat” by Julie Rea “In the Badlands, survival depended upon a quick wit, a good gun, clean water, and a high place to ride out the storms.” When they encounter a rival crew, Lela and Bat’s mission to plunder the Badlands goes awfully awry.
With its blend of genres, each issue contains stories that will delight readers.
July 22, 2019
DISCLOSURE: This periodical has purchased and published my work in the past.
Immense variety and a set of richly imagined environments mark this issue. We experience religious Armageddon as well as life amidst the Trans-Pacific garbage gyre, and salvage adventure amidst a hurricane-wrecked and flooded Philadelphia. Broadswords and Blasters’ writers go for the gold at every opportunity, and even when they don’t hit the mark with a particular reader, it’s never because they aimed too low.
My personal favorites in Issue 10 were:
BATTLE BORNE DREAMS NEVER DIE by Paul Alex Gray. An unconventional romance set in a post-apocalyptic America, with enormous Mechas and Kaiju squabbling over the spoils of civilization. Gray is a skilled storyteller who does a great job of showing us all of the game pieces early and of setting rules that the story abides by. The action beats serve a compelling relationship story which is never thrust into the background, and the ending packs a legitimate emotional punch.
BARBARIANS IN THE BOUDOIR by Joshua Grasso. A court drama in which a diplomatic faux pas inspires a visiting foreign delegation to take the queen hostage. An imprisoned magician’s only shot at a reprieve is to overcome the barriers of language and culture that are the source of the misunderstanding. One of the interesting elements of BS&B’s approach is that every issue seems to include a quiet story amidst the action mayhem—previous examples have included Rex Weiner’s “Camera Obscura” in Issue 9 and Tom Barlow’s “Jigsaw” in Issue 7. This choice is one factor that distinguishes BS&B from some otherwise similar modern pulps, and seems to me to be pretty consistently successful in giving the audience a pause to breathe and to savor. It helps that the editors seem to be very selective when choosing these stories, accepting only those which are written to a very high standard on a line-by-line level. Grasso certainly qualifies, and pulls off this particular caper with wit and panache.
KAUAHOA AND THE CANNIBALS IN THE MIST by Patrick S. Baker: I was a fan of Baker’s “Kauahoa vs. the Mu” in BS&B #2, and this one is an improvement on the original. A prequel to Mu, this story sheds some light on the exiled Polynesian warrior’s reasons for leaving his tribe, the motives for his heroic adventures, and his acquisition of the basalt-headed war club Kahehumakua with which he lays waste to the various monsters and baddies whom he encounters. Think “Conan goes Hawaiian”. Now that this has been established as a series rather than a one-off, I’d like to see Baker develop some supporting characters or a recurring villain. With or without those things, though, it’s still one of my favorite series of New Pulp adventures, as full of unique cultural flavor as it is of vowels and apostrophes.
Immense variety and a set of richly imagined environments mark this issue. We experience religious Armageddon as well as life amidst the Trans-Pacific garbage gyre, and salvage adventure amidst a hurricane-wrecked and flooded Philadelphia. Broadswords and Blasters’ writers go for the gold at every opportunity, and even when they don’t hit the mark with a particular reader, it’s never because they aimed too low.
My personal favorites in Issue 10 were:
BATTLE BORNE DREAMS NEVER DIE by Paul Alex Gray. An unconventional romance set in a post-apocalyptic America, with enormous Mechas and Kaiju squabbling over the spoils of civilization. Gray is a skilled storyteller who does a great job of showing us all of the game pieces early and of setting rules that the story abides by. The action beats serve a compelling relationship story which is never thrust into the background, and the ending packs a legitimate emotional punch.
BARBARIANS IN THE BOUDOIR by Joshua Grasso. A court drama in which a diplomatic faux pas inspires a visiting foreign delegation to take the queen hostage. An imprisoned magician’s only shot at a reprieve is to overcome the barriers of language and culture that are the source of the misunderstanding. One of the interesting elements of BS&B’s approach is that every issue seems to include a quiet story amidst the action mayhem—previous examples have included Rex Weiner’s “Camera Obscura” in Issue 9 and Tom Barlow’s “Jigsaw” in Issue 7. This choice is one factor that distinguishes BS&B from some otherwise similar modern pulps, and seems to me to be pretty consistently successful in giving the audience a pause to breathe and to savor. It helps that the editors seem to be very selective when choosing these stories, accepting only those which are written to a very high standard on a line-by-line level. Grasso certainly qualifies, and pulls off this particular caper with wit and panache.
KAUAHOA AND THE CANNIBALS IN THE MIST by Patrick S. Baker: I was a fan of Baker’s “Kauahoa vs. the Mu” in BS&B #2, and this one is an improvement on the original. A prequel to Mu, this story sheds some light on the exiled Polynesian warrior’s reasons for leaving his tribe, the motives for his heroic adventures, and his acquisition of the basalt-headed war club Kahehumakua with which he lays waste to the various monsters and baddies whom he encounters. Think “Conan goes Hawaiian”. Now that this has been established as a series rather than a one-off, I’d like to see Baker develop some supporting characters or a recurring villain. With or without those things, though, it’s still one of my favorite series of New Pulp adventures, as full of unique cultural flavor as it is of vowels and apostrophes.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews