Whetstone: Amateur Magazine of Sword and Sorcery Issue Five

Whetstone #5

by Jason Ray Carney (Editor), G.T. Wilcox, Michael Burke

WHETSTONE is an amateur magazine that seeks to discover, inspire, and publish emerging authors who are enthusiastic about the tradition of "pulp sword and sorcery." Writers in this tradition include (but are not limited to) the following: Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, Michael Moorcock, Karl Edward Wagner, and many more. "Pulp sword and sorcery" emphasizes active protagonists, supernatural menaces, and preindustrial (mostly ancient and medieval) settings. Some "pulp sword and sorcery" straddles the line between historical and fantasy fiction; at Whetstone, however, we prefer "secondary world settings," and other worlds liberated from the necessity of historical accuracy.

Genres: Sword and Sorcery

133 pages, PDF

Published June 7, 2022

About the author

Jason Ray Carney, Ph.D. is a lecturer in popular literature and creative writing at Christopher Newport University; he is the author of the academic book, *Weird Tales of Modernity: The Ephemerality of the Ordinary in the Stories of Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and H.P. Lovecraft* (McFarland 2019) and the sword and sorcery collection, *Rakefire and Other Stories* (Pulp Hero Press 2020). He co-edits the academic journal, *The Dark Man: The Journal of Robert E. Howard and Pulp Studies* and is the editor of *Whetstone: Amateur Magazine of Pulp Sword and Sorcery.* He is the area chair of the "Pulp Studies" section of the Popular Culture Association.

Reviews

[James T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, no offense to the tons of good small press S&S publishers, but this issue is better than almost any paid contemporary sword and sorcery anthologies I’ve bought. The paid publishers’ anthologies need to up their game! Too many good stories to highlight just a few. Whetstone really outdid themselves with this issue and set an incredibly high bar for contemporary S&S. This is a must read for genre fans!

[Jason Waltz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oden ends this issue with a nicely crafted bar tale. I liked his framing, thought it a bit less cumbersome than that I've tried.

EDITED TO SAY - THIS WAS FUN! Overall a wonderful look at a smorgasbord of S&S interpretations. Lots of very enjoyable S&S stories here. Lots of writers and characters to find and follow. WHETSTONE is a treasure.

[Jim Kuenzli · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far the best issue so far. I didn’t count, but there had to be near 20 S&S tales in this issue. A variety of styles, but no weaknesses this time. Very fun read. And free! 5 stars! Recommend!

[Jim Reddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Issue five of the amateur sword & sorcery zine Whetstone jumps up to nineteen stories and one poem. A lot of outstanding tales in this issue. I got back into sword & sorcery a few years ago and that led me to the poetry of Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith. It’s great to see some poetry in Whetstone as well as all the stories. This was a great read.