Two Months of Swords and Sorcery Magazine

   I finally caught up with the May (#16) and June (#17) issues of Curtis Ellet's Swords and Sorcery Magazine the other day and both were good fun with nothing but straight, no chase, swords & sorcery fun.  The magazine's upward spiral clearly continues making me a happy reader.

   May's issue brought us Robert Mammone's "In the Shadow of the Gibbet".  Opening with a blast of carnality new to the magazine's pages, it's a fairly standard tale of a man condemned to an arena for two weeks after cuckolding his emperor.  Should he survive that long his freedom will be restored.  For all the story's scent of familiarity, the array of fights as the days pass are tense and well told. 

   The second story of the month, "Demons, Within and Without",  is the third (I think) of Steve Goble's Faceless Sons cycle.  The first, "The Mask of the Oath", is in Rogue Blades' Return of the Sword collection (which I can't imagine you don't own and if you don't you need to buy it RIGHT NOW!) told of a trio of brothers sword to remain faceless and nameless until they righted the horrible wrong committed by their father.  He had foolishly summoned seven demons who in turn slew him and fled out into the world, wreaking havoc and sowing terror.

   In "Demons, Within and Without" we learn more of the brothers and their oath.  The hero in this story is Tannen, the youngest and least bold of the brothers.  Tannen has come to understand he only swore the oath in the heat of a moment that left him "addle-minded" and with hopes of appearing a worthier man in his brothers' eyes.  Circumstance arise that force him to confront his fears as well as one of his brothers.  

   Goble's describes the Faceless Sons stories as pure swords & sorcery.  I wouldn't hesitate to agree with him.  Good stuff.  

  "Harvester of Souls" (S&SM #17) by James Lecky records how Ramish Kota and Varish Armeen came to the Black City, Salmu Alu and what befell them there.  Though elements of the story are reminiscent of Clark Ashton Smith's "The Charnel God", I liked it well enough.  

   Aging mercenaries, Kota and Armeen have come to Salmu Alu in hopes of making enough on a final job in order to retire.  A chance encounter leaves Armeen dead.  Kota quickly learns all the unburned or unburied dead in the Black City are claimed by the Red Priests for their god's provender.  

   Bound by oath of arms and fellowship, Kota will not allow his comrade's soul to become a god's nourishment.  Kota's effort sto discover the whereabouts and gain access to the Red Priests home and rescue his sword brother comprise the bulk of the story.

   Frank R. Sjodin's "The Last Saw in Town" (S&S M #17) is a comedy.  That it made me chuckle several times is enough for me to consider it successful.  Ahzi the swordsman is entranced by a woman he sees from across a crowd.  Unfortunately, she's a thief and the crowd is really a mob come to watch her sentencing.  Convinced she's looked at him with love in her eyes, Ahzi convinces his friend, Serjio, to help him free her.  To rescue the thief from the cage she's imprisoned in atop a high pole in the town square, the duo decide they need a simple hand saw.  Of course, nothing goes as planned and nothing is quite as it seemed.  

   So follow the links and read the stories and give Swords and Sorcery Magazine and its authors some love.  It may not look as slick as Beneath Ceaseless Skies or Heroic Fantasy Quarterly but it's a fun work in progress.

Issue #12 of Swords and Sorcery Magazine On Line

   If it seemed like I gushed a little about Issue #10 of Swords and Sorcery Magazine, I'm positively nuts about Issue #12.  It's been a steady upward path for the magazine since its inception last year and this issue makes a great case that my worries about Issue #10 only being a one-of were unfounded.  It's may not be everyone's idea of S&S but it should meet anyone's idea of good stories.
   "The Counter of Aderwyn" by Phil Davies is the absolutely first fantasy story I've encountered about accounting.   Young Indigo is skilled at, and obsessed with, counting.   In a world where accountants are held in the highest esteem, it's a trait with distinct possibilities.
  One day while counting ships, Indigo is told by a Gont (small, mischievous creatures with poor reputations) that he will be the Counter of of the royal city of Aderwyn.  Indigo, irriated that the little creature would mouth such an impossibility, turns to walk away.  Nonplussed, the Gont goes on to tell Indigo that when he accedes to the exalted office of Exchequer of Aderwyn he will come to bless him.  What follows is a tale that wouldn't feel out of place among Clark Ashton Smith or Lord Dunsany's dark little tales.    "The Counter of Aderwyn" is the best story I've read in this magazine and one of my favorites of the past twelve months.  This is a real good one and I'm telling you to take the time to read it.
   "Black Bones" by Frank R. Sjodin is a more straight ahead work of S&S.  Led by the young warrior Jarn, a party of soldiers has been sent to root out the members of a peasants' uprising and the priests supporting them.  They arrive at an ancient temple and swiftly dispatch a trio of priests unwilling to surrender and accept a promise of safe exile.  It's inside the temple that Jarn discovers real danger.
   Too many of the magazine stories I read suffer from reading too much like extractions from a much longer work.  It doesn't always ruin them but they don't stand by themselves as well as I'd like them to.  The events of the peasants' uprising are left a little too vague and the background's a little vague.  Still, it's not unexciting and foozle in the temple is pretty nasty and its defeat unique.  I also appreciated the unanswered questions at the story's end.  If real folks don't know the answers to all life's questions why should a ink and paper one?
   This month's editorial brings a bit of news.  Editor Curtis Ellett writes he's planning to put out an anthology of the best of the magazine's first year's stories.  A vote will be held on their facebook page, so if you want to participate, keep your eyes on that page.