We got a chance to speak with Steve Hugh Westenra about their upcoming sword & sorcery novella The Barbarian at Dream’s End. Westenra is the writer of the epic fantasy novel The Wings of Astaroth and the horror comedy novel The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle. We talk about the sword & sorcery genre, He-Man, and the funding campaign behind the novella.

[GdM] Thanks so much for taking the time for this interview! Can you tell us who you are and what sorts of stories you write?

[SHW] Sure thing! I’m Steve, an academic who works on monsters and the monstrous. I’m also a fantasy and horror author whose work tends to straddle genres.

For me, a good story is a good story, and good writing is good writing, regardless of genre. Because of that, I tend to be pretty adventurous both as a reader and an author. That said, I’ve been a lifelong horror fan, and I’d say horror is the genre that really infuses everything I do to a greater or lesser degree. The brightness and the humour of Barbarian probably seems, on the surface, to be at odds with that, but for me I feel like horror is quite complementary to genres and aesthetics that are, on the surface, very bright. I think for works that present any kind of an optimism, for them to have real depth—for them to have something to be optimistic about, in a sense—they almost need that sense of unease, eeriness, or dark possibility undergirding them.

[GdM] The Barbarian at Dream’s End is a sword & sorcery story, but the overall narrative and atmosphere seems like it falls in more in line with something like a He-Ma n story rather than a Conan the Barbarian tale. Could you talk about your inspirations for this story? Did you have any challenges while writing it? (I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the gorgeous cover art by Matthew Spencer, which really sold the novella for me immediately)

[SHW] Matthew really did a phenomenal job, didn’t he? I have to say, it was such a joy seeing each of his sketches for the cover (he floated several options in terms of both the concept and colour, and they were each of them fantastic. Truly, we were spoiled for choice).

My involvement in the project was maybe a bit unorthodox, since it was actually NESS’s editor, Oliver Brackenbury, who reached out to me to see whether I’d be interested in penning a novella. I can’t get into too many specifics in terms of why I was contacted, as they may lead to spoilers for the story itself, but I’ll say upfront that the basic concept of the novella was something Oliver had come up with. The details (characters, world, the specifics of the plot, etc) are my own, but a big part of his pitch to me was a book that would be vibrant in the way that He-Man was. I’d watched the show (along with She-Ra) as a child, although only stray episodes, since we didn’t have cable in my house for a long time. But that aesthetic and the general feel of those programs was one that I enjoyed and that I was also attracted to. In fact, my original character design for San the barbarian was very very hair metal-inspired, and a lot more colourful. In the end we toned it down (though we may see the return of some aspects of that character design).

In many ways, creating the world of Barbarian with its somewhat zany denizens (sapient centipedes who are also buses, bird people who have super muscular gymbro arms instead of wings, a guy with a microphone for a head) has been like playing with childhood toys again. My friends and I were never ones for premade stories. We would craft these elaborate worlds full of internecine strife, wandering vagabonds, dramatic backstabs, and fantastical creatures. One of the best parts was being given the okay to go as weird and wonderful as I wanted. I’m not joking when I say that in my head the world of Barbarian (called Myrial), still uses the same huge wood floor my friend and I played on as kids as its canvas.

One thing I chatted to Oliver about in terms of the feel of the novella was infusing it with the richness of a lot of the children’s media I (and he, in many cases) loved as a child: Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, Don Bluth’s work, the texture of 70s and 80s animation. The Barbarian at Dream’s End isn’t for children, but it is influenced by childhood, as well as what I would call a meaningful, weighty darkness that much children’s media of the time used to engage with, and which I very much miss. Maybe, “thematic weightiness” is a better way to put it, since for all that it often is “dark,” it’s not what I would call childishly “edgy.” It’s a darkness counterbalanced, emphasized, even underscored, by humour and light. Basically, it has layers, and those layers breathe a sense of realism into the fantasy. Tragedy, too. Tragedy is important for me as a writer.

Another work that I very much drew on for inspiration was a lesser-known live action Canadian kids show from the 90s called The Odyssey. I’m going to keep the “why” of that a bit close to my vest, but as a child I watched the show with my parents. It had such an addictive storyline.

I do hope that Barbarian is received as an earnest expression of what makes (and made) these earlier works compelling and meaningful to so many people, while still being very much its own thing. A contribution to a tradition, let’s say, rather than a cheap or cynical extortion based on a dangerous and commercially motivated form of nostalgia. It’s a fine needle to thread, but I’m very happy to try.

In terms of challenges, I think the main one has been writing and editing with everything that’s currently going on in the world. I wrote Barbarian much slower than I’m used to writing, but not because of the book itself. I’ve slowed down considerably in general due to stress and overwhelm. It feels both particularly important, especially as a trans person, to continue to create right now, but it’s also simultaneously that much harder.

[GdM] What drew you to S&S in particular? What is it about the genre that you enjoy, and/or are there things about the genre that you’re maybe not the biggest fan of?

[SHW] I’m very much a fan of the limitlessness of what can be imagined whether in terms of setting, or in terms of plot and idea. While I also grew up on Tolkien and Dragonlance (which itself draws on Tolkienian concepts), the creativity and expansiveness of Sword and Sorcery worlds is particularly compelling in the face of what can sometimes feel like an endless conveyor belt of shallow Tolkien clones.

In many ways, Sword and Sorcery, more perhaps than in other fantasy subgenres, has always seemed to me to be the genre of phantasy. I’ve previously described my horror novel, The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle, as a book that I initially conceived of as being “pure Id.” I think there’s an element of that to Sword and Sorcery as well. Perhaps this is itself a little fanciful, but I see it as a genre that in a way wears its psychology on its sleeve and takes no prisoners while it does so. I’m not sure that aspect of S&S is particularly visible in Barbarian (nor is the elegiac quality I see as essential to Lord Dusany’s work, and which I particularly enjoy). That aforementioned sense of expansiveness and possibility though—a rock and roll sensibility, maybe, is definitely there, along with a suspicion of straightforward narratives of good and evil (I’m all about the morally grey!).

Of course, whether because of when they were written or because of their phantastical layering, many classic Sword and Sorcery texts are peppered with both racist and sexist archetypes, stereotypes, and storylines. In many ways, I think that’s what NESS is doing that’s very special—that is, deliberately addressing and pushing back against those elements, while retaining the sense of mythological and historical density that drew fans to the genre.

[GdM] S&S is a very episodic genre of fantasy. Are you hoping to write other tales set in this world?

[SHW] I’d certainly love to! I can say, I have future stories planned for the characters and world. I’d love to be able to write them, and for them to come out through NESS. If people enjoy this one, I’ll be very happy. Hopefully, they enjoy it enough to demand more stories!

[GdM] Not only do you write S&S, but you’ve got books in the epic fantasy and horror genres. Are there any genres you hope to dig into some day?

[SHW] For the time being, most of my projects are at least adjacent to horror and fantasy in one way or another. In many ways, and this will probably seem strange to those who write in non-speculative genres, I find the idea of writing a straight-up contemporary, non-speculative book quite daunting. That said, I’m a playful writer and everything I do can’t help, I think, but be impacted by the fact that I read widely in terms of genre. Almost everything I do incorporates mystery, for example (to the degree that I’m barely able to imagine writing something that doesn’t have an element of mystery to it, or what the purpose would be in writing such a thing).

One thing I’m not sure I’d ever get the opportunity to do (but which I would love), is a comic book. I’m a very visual writer and I find that idea quite exciting.

But honestly, never say never! I’ll read or watch anything if the writing and characterization are good (there was a day when I watched basically anything HBO put out, regardless of genre, because so much of it was excellent).

[GdM] The Barbarian at Dream’s End is part of a larger crowdfunding campaign with Brackenbury Books. Can you talk about what that experience working with them has been like?

[SHW] It’s been a very new experience for me, and I’m happy to say it’s been a good one. I’d recommend the publisher as one who’s safe to work with. I have a short story releasing with them in 2026 and that will be my first traditionally published story (outside a poem in a local anthology). I’m quite excited about it.

It’s also been great participating in the NESS Discord (though it’s big, so I’m not the most active). It’s a very welcoming group of people, who’re all united by a love of the genre, but also a sense of openness and fairness. That’s distressingly rare these days and I value it tremendously. The support around the crowdfunding campaign has also been phenomenal. I think one of the strengths of Oliver’s marketing around it has been that his own responses to the novellas are enthusiastic and genuine. In a world where authenticity has become something we’re encouraged to manufacture, that true authentic response stands out. Audiences will hopefully notice that as well.

One thing that’s been unusual, and that will probably be more interesting to readers, is that some of the promotional material was completed before the story was finished (I was sketching characters for artists to look at before I’d written the characters themselves, for example). It’s not something I’ve done before, and that’s been fascinating and challenging (not in a bad way, but in a way that I think has taught me some new ways of approaching how I brainstorm).

[GdM] What are you reading now?

[SHW] As always, I’m reading too many things! I just finished Joshua Whitehead’s essay collection, Making Love to the Land, which was lyrical and gutting in equal measure. I’m also reading Mika Hunter and Francis Deer’s wonderful fantasy, Stars and Ravens (I’m surprised the self-pub fantasy community hasn’t jumped on it, to be honest), Body After Body by Briar Ripley Paige, and Watcher by J. P. Relph and Mathew Gostelow as part of my allocation as a judge for the SFINCS novella competition.

[GdM] Do you have any projects that you’re working on now you’d like to (or can!) talk about? Do you have anything coming out soon that we should look out for?

[SHW] Along with reading too many things, I’m also writing too many things! The main book I’d like to have out next year is my horror novella, Breadcrumbs on a Forest Floor. It’s about a trans man from outport Newfoundland who is taken by the fairies as a child, only to awake many years later on the grave of the changeling who replaced him (and whose murder he has to solve).

I’m also continuing my epic fantasy series with The Crown of Asmodeus and will be working on For One Night Only (sequel to The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle). There’s a standalone horror I’ve been dying to write (my take on the rather crowded haunted house subgenre), but I don’t know when I’ll find time to work on it. That one involves a group of influencers, psychics, and ghost hunters who are invited to the self-proclaimed “most haunted house in the country,” for a reality TV show that’s a bit like The Traitors. Needless to say, the eliminations are not what they seem (and as a teaser for anyone who’s read The Erstwhile Tyler Kyle, Kayla is one of the guests).

The Barbarian at Dream’s End is currently being crowdfunded over at BackerKit.

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