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Old Moon Quarterly: Issue 6, Winter 2024: A Magazine of Dark Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery
Old Moon Quarterly is a magazine of dark fantasy and weird sword-and-sorcery. In the tradition of Clark Ashton Smith, Tanith Lee and Karl Edward Wagner, it contains stories of strange vistas, eldritch beings, and the bloody dispute thereof by swordsmen and swordswomen both.
Issue 6 contains the following stories and
"The Orphan of Bones" by Josh Reynolds
"Corpse Wax" by R.L. Summerling
"What They Don't Tell You About Training to Slay" by Katherine Quevedo
"The Marchers in the Fog" by Dariel R.A. Quiogue
"The Festering Mantle" by J.M. Hayes
"Respite" by R.H. Berry
"Towards a Justice" by Matt Holder
and
"Diary of the Wolf" by Adam McPhee.
It also includes a review of Tales from the Magician's Skull, Issue 11 by Robin Marx.
Issue 6 contains the following stories and
"The Orphan of Bones" by Josh Reynolds
"Corpse Wax" by R.L. Summerling
"What They Don't Tell You About Training to Slay" by Katherine Quevedo
"The Marchers in the Fog" by Dariel R.A. Quiogue
"The Festering Mantle" by J.M. Hayes
"Respite" by R.H. Berry
"Towards a Justice" by Matt Holder
and
"Diary of the Wolf" by Adam McPhee.
It also includes a review of Tales from the Magician's Skull, Issue 11 by Robin Marx.
134 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 16, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 23, 2025
A pretty mixed bag this time around, with three stories (and a couple poems) that I really enjoyed, but just as many entries that left me going “uh ok, was that it?” which isn’t a great place to be at the end of a story. Marchers In The Fog and Diary of the Wolf were both really great but Josh Reynolds’s The Orphan of Bones was the standout for me. A little creepy, a little weird, but also pretty funny. That’s a good mix to me. Also if you give me a couple of guys, like a dumb tough guy and a clever smooth talking guy as Reynolds does here then I’m gonna be pretty happy.
Not bad overall but as I said about half of the collection left me feeling cold, so it’s hard for me to recommend this one as enthusiastically as I have previous Old Moons.
Not bad overall but as I said about half of the collection left me feeling cold, so it’s hard for me to recommend this one as enthusiastically as I have previous Old Moons.
January 24, 2024
Old Moon took a darker tun this time with a sense of the macabre in every story. This is definitely a quirky read, but some delightful writing styles are presented. Recommended for anyone who enjoys reading weird, dark fantasy.
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March 6, 2024Fave parts:
-- The intro, as usual. I enjoy these old-style conversations with the reader on a given topic each issue. Please keep these up.
-- Adam McPhee's story 'Diary of the Wolf', in the style of the diary of Samuel Pepys. I enjoyed the perfectly executed seventeenth-century language and day-to-day affairs.
(There's a theme in my most-liked. Old Moon is seriously given to the old, in a way rare to find.)
-- The intro, as usual. I enjoy these old-style conversations with the reader on a given topic each issue. Please keep these up.
-- Adam McPhee's story 'Diary of the Wolf', in the style of the diary of Samuel Pepys. I enjoyed the perfectly executed seventeenth-century language and day-to-day affairs.
(There's a theme in my most-liked. Old Moon is seriously given to the old, in a way rare to find.)
May 8, 2026
deeply enjoyable as usual! with a loose theme catered directly to my niche interests lol, that of course being necromancy and the living (un)dead
our first story, "the orphan of bones," features three ghoul siblings in a very lovecraftian kind of dreamscape world (we in fact even mention ghasts and the ghouls' deadly rivalry with them) who have been ordered by their wrathful god to hunt down a pair of adventurers who had looted their catacombs and stolen from it their orphan prince; the orphan prince, of course, being the long-dead mummy of a young boy, resting eternally in his sarcophagus. loved this one!
second is "corpse wax," in which our protagonist has just beheaded a tyrant king; she carries his head with her on a pike wherever she goes, unwilling to take her eyes off it, despite the urging of her two children, who wish to have it displayed as part of their victory procession. plagued by visions of horror and certain the tyrant's head is haunting her, she bids her children find the tyrant's corpse and scrape from it all corpse wax so that she may burn it and purge whatever wicked spirit still lingers. i really enjoyed this one, the tone of it and the sense of unreality, weaving between dream-like nightmares and reality. this is written in second person POV, which i acknowledge is not everyone's cup of tea, but i've always been an enjoyer and i think it really works here.
"the marchers in the fog" was a delight for me; i haven't read any of quiogue's work outside of the sample issue of new edge sword & sorcery yet but i remember his piece being one of the highlights of that collection for me, so i was excited to see his name here. a very different offering than his orhan stories, this is set in the 17th century during the european wars of religion. a group of starving soldiers stumbles in their attempts to pillage food from their peasant neighbors upon a village wherein people have been boarded up inside their homes, only to realize after they've freed them that it is due to ghoulery: they'd resorted to cannibalism. devastated by their own ever growing hunger, the soldiers are haunted by the memory of that grisly stew pot of human meat and bones, and in the climax of the story resort themselves to cannibalism, becoming little more than ravenous spirits. gruesome, but deeply entertaining.
"the festering mantle" may have my favorite title in this collection. it is also really fun, written in what the editors describe as eddison-esque prose (i'll take their word for it; i've yet to crack open my copy of the worm ouroboros); very archaic in style, which is something i always really enjoy (learned some fun new words today!). our protagonist is one of four lords on a small island in the midst of a, well, festering marsh, lol, standing guard over their recently deposed king. the king has holed himself up inside and refuses to be disturbed, swearing that their patron lady wisdom will help them. things of course do not go to plan: their first night on the island our protag witnesses an apparition of some kind enter the building and not leave, and the dread and suspicion linger to a boiling point. rife with such delicious classic high-fantasy details as the sun being called "elfring" and the moon "eveshone," with truly gorgeous prose and spectacular atmosphere, this a more melancholy piece, but no less a good one.
now i didn't look too closely at the authors before i started reading this (partially that is because they are not listed in the table of contents), but i turned the page to start "towards a justice" and the author's name made me pause, because i knew i recognized it. turns out it is matt holder, the author of one of my FAVORITE books of last year, one of the five books i gave a 5-star rating, "hurled headlong flaming." so i was very excited to see this here! much more oblique in its writing, this tells the story of a sorcerer who finds a nearly-dead knight sitting at the base of a volcano and enlists him against his will to help him defeat a group of powerful cultists who live atop the mountain so that he may heal the wound in its side. the cultists are horrifying: they dance on the lava fields, "burning and peeling their flesh as offerings for their demon-gods;" we get yet more cannibalism from them! holder's action style is very sparse, to its benefit: things move quickly, but don't lack impact. i'm a little torn about the ending -- it feels like it is left unresolved but deliberately so? -- but i think overall it doesn't detract from the story as a whole.
our final prose piece took me rather by surprise when i started reading it; "diary of the wolf" is, in fact, a series of diary entries from a werewolf, set in 17th century england. the prose here is very period-accurate, at least to my eye (now-odd spelling included), so this may be a bit of a struggle from some readers. but i had great fun with it! not lacking in moment by moment emotional sobriety, this still managed to be a rather lighthearted piece, moving at a rapid pace from one day to another as our protagonist details the daily workings of his life as a werewolf, starting with one full moon and ending shortly after another. he has several other werewolf friends, and together they plot to free a pair of other werewolves who have been captured and imprisoned, and whose fate will to be used as bait for sport for whatever vicious creature tickles their captors' fancy. interestingly, and uncommon for werewolf stories going as far back as i know, injuries they suffer here in one form do not transfer to the other form when they transform. a fun little detail that i did not expect!
as usual the poetry did not particularly strike me, but that is unfortunately as to be expected most of the time. their review of the first issue of tales from the magician's skull was fun; i wish their earlier issues were still available in print, because i simply do not finish epubs. alas. maybe one day i'll get lucky & someone will put it up on ebay for less than $100 lmfao.
one strange thing i will note is that the page counts on the table of contents do not match the actual page counts of the stories? (contents will say something starts on page 121 but it actually starts on page 125, for example) which is odd, but a relatively minor quibble.
so grateful this magazine exists; keep up the good work y'all!
our first story, "the orphan of bones," features three ghoul siblings in a very lovecraftian kind of dreamscape world (we in fact even mention ghasts and the ghouls' deadly rivalry with them) who have been ordered by their wrathful god to hunt down a pair of adventurers who had looted their catacombs and stolen from it their orphan prince; the orphan prince, of course, being the long-dead mummy of a young boy, resting eternally in his sarcophagus. loved this one!
second is "corpse wax," in which our protagonist has just beheaded a tyrant king; she carries his head with her on a pike wherever she goes, unwilling to take her eyes off it, despite the urging of her two children, who wish to have it displayed as part of their victory procession. plagued by visions of horror and certain the tyrant's head is haunting her, she bids her children find the tyrant's corpse and scrape from it all corpse wax so that she may burn it and purge whatever wicked spirit still lingers. i really enjoyed this one, the tone of it and the sense of unreality, weaving between dream-like nightmares and reality. this is written in second person POV, which i acknowledge is not everyone's cup of tea, but i've always been an enjoyer and i think it really works here.
"the marchers in the fog" was a delight for me; i haven't read any of quiogue's work outside of the sample issue of new edge sword & sorcery yet but i remember his piece being one of the highlights of that collection for me, so i was excited to see his name here. a very different offering than his orhan stories, this is set in the 17th century during the european wars of religion. a group of starving soldiers stumbles in their attempts to pillage food from their peasant neighbors upon a village wherein people have been boarded up inside their homes, only to realize after they've freed them that it is due to ghoulery: they'd resorted to cannibalism. devastated by their own ever growing hunger, the soldiers are haunted by the memory of that grisly stew pot of human meat and bones, and in the climax of the story resort themselves to cannibalism, becoming little more than ravenous spirits. gruesome, but deeply entertaining.
"the festering mantle" may have my favorite title in this collection. it is also really fun, written in what the editors describe as eddison-esque prose (i'll take their word for it; i've yet to crack open my copy of the worm ouroboros); very archaic in style, which is something i always really enjoy (learned some fun new words today!). our protagonist is one of four lords on a small island in the midst of a, well, festering marsh, lol, standing guard over their recently deposed king. the king has holed himself up inside and refuses to be disturbed, swearing that their patron lady wisdom will help them. things of course do not go to plan: their first night on the island our protag witnesses an apparition of some kind enter the building and not leave, and the dread and suspicion linger to a boiling point. rife with such delicious classic high-fantasy details as the sun being called "elfring" and the moon "eveshone," with truly gorgeous prose and spectacular atmosphere, this a more melancholy piece, but no less a good one.
now i didn't look too closely at the authors before i started reading this (partially that is because they are not listed in the table of contents), but i turned the page to start "towards a justice" and the author's name made me pause, because i knew i recognized it. turns out it is matt holder, the author of one of my FAVORITE books of last year, one of the five books i gave a 5-star rating, "hurled headlong flaming." so i was very excited to see this here! much more oblique in its writing, this tells the story of a sorcerer who finds a nearly-dead knight sitting at the base of a volcano and enlists him against his will to help him defeat a group of powerful cultists who live atop the mountain so that he may heal the wound in its side. the cultists are horrifying: they dance on the lava fields, "burning and peeling their flesh as offerings for their demon-gods;" we get yet more cannibalism from them! holder's action style is very sparse, to its benefit: things move quickly, but don't lack impact. i'm a little torn about the ending -- it feels like it is left unresolved but deliberately so? -- but i think overall it doesn't detract from the story as a whole.
our final prose piece took me rather by surprise when i started reading it; "diary of the wolf" is, in fact, a series of diary entries from a werewolf, set in 17th century england. the prose here is very period-accurate, at least to my eye (now-odd spelling included), so this may be a bit of a struggle from some readers. but i had great fun with it! not lacking in moment by moment emotional sobriety, this still managed to be a rather lighthearted piece, moving at a rapid pace from one day to another as our protagonist details the daily workings of his life as a werewolf, starting with one full moon and ending shortly after another. he has several other werewolf friends, and together they plot to free a pair of other werewolves who have been captured and imprisoned, and whose fate will to be used as bait for sport for whatever vicious creature tickles their captors' fancy. interestingly, and uncommon for werewolf stories going as far back as i know, injuries they suffer here in one form do not transfer to the other form when they transform. a fun little detail that i did not expect!
as usual the poetry did not particularly strike me, but that is unfortunately as to be expected most of the time. their review of the first issue of tales from the magician's skull was fun; i wish their earlier issues were still available in print, because i simply do not finish epubs. alas. maybe one day i'll get lucky & someone will put it up on ebay for less than $100 lmfao.
one strange thing i will note is that the page counts on the table of contents do not match the actual page counts of the stories? (contents will say something starts on page 121 but it actually starts on page 125, for example) which is odd, but a relatively minor quibble.
so grateful this magazine exists; keep up the good work y'all!
June 25, 2025
They're really amping up the bangers... could they sustain it up to #8?
Love getting to know Good Workin' Authors.
Love getting to know Good Workin' Authors.
October 22, 2024
This is a great sword and sorcery magazine with a gorgeous cover. All the stories are actually about something and have an interesting angle. I recommend this one to readers who like some substance in their dark fantasy. Looking forward to reading more from this publisher.
June 14, 2024
Not terrible, not great. I started reading because I was wondering how Josh Reynolds would be without the Warhammer lore. After reading I would say competent and average sword and sorcery.
June 10, 2025
Talk about an aesthetic. Probably my favorite of the issues yet.
March 9, 2024
Okay yeah, this is getting five stars because my story "Diary of the Wolf" is in here and I think it's the best thing I've written so far. It's about werewolfery and it's set in Samuel Pepys' 17th-century London and written in the style of his diary.
But that said, there's a lot of great stuff in here. One of the great things about submitting your short stories for publication is seeing who you get published alongside. Dariel Quiogue's "The Marchers in the Fog" and R.L. Summerling's "Corpse Wax" are both a lot of fun, but I think my story was Matt Holder's "Towards a Justice." What I like about Holder's writing--here and elsewhere--is that he's really able to evoke a medievalesque mind, and the in the course of the story force it to confront something totally alien to its experience.
Also I really liked the editors' intro. Normally when someone tries to do this sort of thing in character it comes off really cringe, like someone doing a bad Stan Lee. But this one was good and I actually ended up understanding my own story a little bit better.
But that said, there's a lot of great stuff in here. One of the great things about submitting your short stories for publication is seeing who you get published alongside. Dariel Quiogue's "The Marchers in the Fog" and R.L. Summerling's "Corpse Wax" are both a lot of fun, but I think my story was Matt Holder's "Towards a Justice." What I like about Holder's writing--here and elsewhere--is that he's really able to evoke a medievalesque mind, and the in the course of the story force it to confront something totally alien to its experience.
Also I really liked the editors' intro. Normally when someone tries to do this sort of thing in character it comes off really cringe, like someone doing a bad Stan Lee. But this one was good and I actually ended up understanding my own story a little bit better.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews