I know I haven’t blogged a lot in recent weeks, but I’ve been very busy with work and family stuff. However, I have a couple of posts planned, including more Fanzine/Fancast and Non-Fiction Spotlights. And since I’ve had several new arrivals recently, there will be more Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre photo stories, too.
Star Trek Picard started up again as well, but I don’t think I will be doing episode by episode reviews this time around, because I’m all Star-Trekked out. There’s simply too much Star Trek right now and the last batch of Discovery and Picard reviews often felt more like a chore than fun. And I am doing this to have fun, after all.
But for now I want to share a link as well as two Kickstarters worth your attention. First of all, I was at Galactic Journey again, where I talk about some of the largest protests my hometown of Bremen has ever seen, which happened in January of 1968. The cause for the protests was not the war in Vietnam or the proposed West German state of emergency laws, both of which generated massive protests in the second half of the 1960s, but a (by contemporary measures very moderate) increase in tram and bus fares. This wasn’t even that uncommon, Cologne experienced massive protests against public transport fare increases a few months before Bremen. In Bremen, the protesters were mostly high school students – Bremen university did not open until 1970, though the technical college and arts college were already operating – as well as a handful of college students and apprentices who relied on public transport to get around. They were joined – and this is something we frequently saw in 1968, but almost never afterwards – by workers from the AG Weser shipyard and the Klöckner steel mill, then the biggest employers in town. Of course, a lot of workers relied on public transport, too, so this was one case where the interests of students and workers were aligned. BTW, the protesters eventually won and the fare increase was dropped.
And since I had to shove my protest report into a Galactoscope book review column, I also review a 1968 SFF book, namely The Swords of Lankmar, the only novel-length Fafhrd and Gray Mouser story by Fritz Leiber. In the same article, you also get another review (courtesy of Kris Vyas-Myall) of a 1968 sword and sorcery novel, namely Picnic on Paradise, the only novel Joanna Russ (yes, the author of The Female Man and How To Suppress Women’s Writing), ever wrote about her character Alyx the picklock. Alyx and Fafhrd and Gray Mouser actually do cross over, too.
In general, it is notable that the New Wave and the second sword and sorcery boom not only occurred at the exact same time – slowly gaining steam in the early 1960s before exploding in the mid to late 1960s – but that both were often written by the same authors and published in the same magazines, too. Michael Moorcock, Roger Zelazny and Joanna Russ were important contributors to both the New Wave and the 1960s sword and sorcery boom. Fritz Leiber, who actually coined the term “sword and sorcery”, was never really a New Wave author, though he did contribute to the Dangerous Visions anthologies. The many, many interconnections between the New Wave and the second sword and sorcery boom are not something I was really aware of, nor is it discussed very much, but it’s very obvious when following events in real time via Galactic Journey.
And while we’re on the subject of sword and sorcery, I also have two Kickstarters to announce for two new sword and sorcery projects, in which I 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.
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