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New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine #5
New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine: Issue #5
Seven stories and four non-fiction pieces, paired with B&W illustrations.
80 pages, 8.5×11 in, traditionally printed, perfect bound.
Featuring new, original work by:
Audrey Stollings
Samir Sirk Morató
Luana Saitta
Timaeus Bloom
Premee Mohamed
Bryn Hammond
James Lowder
Catherine Lundoff
Melissa Burlock
Oliver Brackenbury
and
a brand new Jirel of Joiry tale by Molly Tanzer.
80 pages, 8.5×11 in, traditionally printed, perfect bound.
Featuring new, original work by:
Audrey Stollings
Samir Sirk Morató
Luana Saitta
Timaeus Bloom
Premee Mohamed
Bryn Hammond
James Lowder
Catherine Lundoff
Melissa Burlock
Oliver Brackenbury
and
a brand new Jirel of Joiry tale by Molly Tanzer.
- GenresSword and Sorcery
80 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 2025
1 person is currently reading
7 people want to read
About the author
Oliver Brackenbury
12 books58 followersMy name is Oliver Brackenbury. I’m a screenwriter & author. I grew up around the corner from a five story deep cold war bunker, as one does, and can now be found living not far from a popular 1,815.4 ft tower in Toronto.
My first novel, JUNKYARD LEOPARD, was released through the Bad Day Books imprint of Assent Publishing. The book trailer and more can be found at www.junkyardleopard.com
I’m currently working on my third novel, a sword & sorcery short story cycle, and am putting out a podcast about my work on it. You can check that out at www.soimwritinganovel.com or by searching for "So I'm Writing a Novel..." wherever you get your podcasts.
My first novel, JUNKYARD LEOPARD, was released through the Bad Day Books imprint of Assent Publishing. The book trailer and more can be found at www.junkyardleopard.com
I’m currently working on my third novel, a sword & sorcery short story cycle, and am putting out a podcast about my work on it. You can check that out at www.soimwritinganovel.com or by searching for "So I'm Writing a Novel..." wherever you get your podcasts.
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 29, 2025
"In the Dissolving City" by Aubrey Stollings
A sickly thief is taken hostage by a deserter in her attempt to steal alchemical reagents from the ravaged site of a wizard's lab. Perhaps it's because I just came off a big Old Moon Quarterly tear, but this one felt like it could have felt right at home in that mag's dark fantasy repertoire. Stollings' prose grabs you by the hair and dunks you in the horse trough from page 1. While perhaps not quite as relentless (editorial decision? i get it!) as a Cormac McCarthy, that first paragraph of Dissolving City brought to mind nothing less than the dessicated chaparral haunting Blood Meridian.
"In Perfection's Shape I Writhe" by Samir Sirk Morato
An outcast journeys towards a deep mountain cult in search of... what exactly would be a spoiler, but the ending will have you going "good for her" like an A24 movie. The body horror actually managed to shock me in this.
"Staku-Ra's Hoard" by Luana Saitta
Saitta is someone you should just PayPal money to, or at the very least DM her and say how cool and hot she is, how much you like her writing etc etc
"The Lament of a Shieldman" by Timaeus Bloom
A wizard is stuck in the torment nexus. Bloom has kiiind of written an S&S Hellraiser here? This one rewards a re-read to piece together its dream (nightmare) logic.
"The Maiden of the Serpent Moon" by Premee Mohamed
Assassin gal makes a bet with a rival to take out a well-guarded nobleman first; this one is loads of fun.
"The Change" by Bryn Hammond
Goatskin is back in an Old Man Logan style tale of haunted regret. It's not just Goatskin that's changed with the years, but the very world and the spirits that lay within. Very touching and elegiac.
"Jirel Meets Death" by Molly Tanzer
The absolute MVP of the issue, New Edge's greatest claim to S&S fame, Molly Tanzer's Jirel returns for a classic jaunt to another dimension* where the Tank of Joiry gets into a romantic entanglement with some very unsavory characters indeed. Business as usual in the CL Moore vein? Not quite! Tanzer expands the cast compared to Moore's more sparsely populated realms, with a mirrored storyline happening in the real world. The pig-headed Jirel encounters enemies, lovers, allies, and all of the above in an ever-shifting chess match of (d)alliances and betrayals. My favorite part (that I can give away without spoiling) is Jirel's unfulfilled appetites haunting her, turning her into a chore to be around for everyone at Chateau Joiry. Tanzer is two for two, and I hope Brackenbury Books is planning to keep racking these up until there's a collection.
*new ga-la-xy
A sickly thief is taken hostage by a deserter in her attempt to steal alchemical reagents from the ravaged site of a wizard's lab. Perhaps it's because I just came off a big Old Moon Quarterly tear, but this one felt like it could have felt right at home in that mag's dark fantasy repertoire. Stollings' prose grabs you by the hair and dunks you in the horse trough from page 1. While perhaps not quite as relentless (editorial decision? i get it!) as a Cormac McCarthy, that first paragraph of Dissolving City brought to mind nothing less than the dessicated chaparral haunting Blood Meridian.
"In Perfection's Shape I Writhe" by Samir Sirk Morato
An outcast journeys towards a deep mountain cult in search of... what exactly would be a spoiler, but the ending will have you going "good for her" like an A24 movie. The body horror actually managed to shock me in this.
"Staku-Ra's Hoard" by Luana Saitta
Saitta is someone you should just PayPal money to, or at the very least DM her and say how cool and hot she is, how much you like her writing etc etc
"The Lament of a Shieldman" by Timaeus Bloom
A wizard is stuck in the torment nexus. Bloom has kiiind of written an S&S Hellraiser here? This one rewards a re-read to piece together its dream (nightmare) logic.
"The Maiden of the Serpent Moon" by Premee Mohamed
Assassin gal makes a bet with a rival to take out a well-guarded nobleman first; this one is loads of fun.
"The Change" by Bryn Hammond
Goatskin is back in an Old Man Logan style tale of haunted regret. It's not just Goatskin that's changed with the years, but the very world and the spirits that lay within. Very touching and elegiac.
"Jirel Meets Death" by Molly Tanzer
The absolute MVP of the issue, New Edge's greatest claim to S&S fame, Molly Tanzer's Jirel returns for a classic jaunt to another dimension* where the Tank of Joiry gets into a romantic entanglement with some very unsavory characters indeed. Business as usual in the CL Moore vein? Not quite! Tanzer expands the cast compared to Moore's more sparsely populated realms, with a mirrored storyline happening in the real world. The pig-headed Jirel encounters enemies, lovers, allies, and all of the above in an ever-shifting chess match of (d)alliances and betrayals. My favorite part (that I can give away without spoiling) is Jirel's unfulfilled appetites haunting her, turning her into a chore to be around for everyone at Chateau Joiry. Tanzer is two for two, and I hope Brackenbury Books is planning to keep racking these up until there's a collection.
*new ga-la-xy
January 31, 2026
Unlike most of us, New Edge Sword & Sorcery kicked off 2025 with a terrific start, this being issue number five of their magazine. The few stories in this issue that could be classed as conventional fantasy adventure yarns feature strong prose-level writing and compelling characters, and many other stories here show a willingness to experiment and fruitful results from doing so. As for this issue’s nonfiction, the interview with Howard Andrew Jones (paired with a dedication to him) is lovely; the essays are informative, though I’ll say I’ve gotten even more out of the nonfiction in some previous issues.
Now for reviews of the individual stories in issue 5:
“In the Dissolving City” by Audrey Stollings:
An adventure romp with a tag-teamed (well, sort of) pair of protagonists, but one that’s very much to my liking. The post-disaster lends a meaningful ominousness to the story’s atmosphere, and the human-against-human conflicts feel all the more serious and cutthroat when the competing parties are struggling to survive amid bleak circumstances all the while. The overall resolution was also much more satisfying than usual for a “these two characters hate each other but have to work together” sort of plot.
“In Perfection’s Shape I Writhe” by Samir Sirk Morató:
Marvelous. I wrote an entire blog post raving about this story, so clearly it was my favorite out of the bunch. This daring and morally complicated piece of paleofiction is sufficiently unnerving while also being a thoughtful reflection on how it feels to find belonging as an outcast or a misfit.
“Staku-ra’s Hoard” by Luana Saitta:
This is a more conventional piece of adventure fantasy, Indiana Jones-esque in places, which unfortunately means it’s not quite to my tastes. Even still, there’s plenty going for this story: It’s fun, the art piece (described in prose as well as featuring in the story’s illustration) is nicely integrated into the narrative, and most importantly, this story aptly demonstrates that there’s ample room for marginalized people in sword & sorcery tales. Of course trans people, as with S&S protagonists, want to self-actualize and not merely be grudgingly tolerated by their society; of course sex workers, as with S&S protagonists, want to reassert their dignity.
“The Lament of a Shieldman” by Timaeus Bloom:
Marvelous. I feel I need to read this story again, which seems fitting for a dreamlike piece of weird fiction. The dreamlike impermanence of things is also an excellent fit for the decadent, civilization-in-decline setting we’re treated to here. (At least, I find this to be a treat.) The story is lush at both the levels of theme and prose, making what’s a bit of a rollercoaster in places worth the read all the while.
“The Maiden of the Serpent Moon” by Premee Mohamed:
This one seems predictable initially, with two rival assassins competing for one contract and one of them being an archetypal femme fatale figure. That said, the femme fatale is made much more sympathetic, and the story more textured, by the fun (if pseudoscientific) source of her abilities and the fundamental unfairness in her difficult upbringing. I’ll also mention that Mohamed exhibits incredible range with this story being so vastly different from her recent book and collection set in war-torn, roughly modern worlds.
“The Change” by Bryn Hammond:
Marvelous! Beyond simply humanizing our Mongol nomad protagonist, I cannot readily think of any other Anglophone story that dares to imagine how the Mongols of Genghis Khan’s time would’ve envisioned an aspirational, even utopian future for themselves. This story is even more gratifying if you’ve read Hammond’s previous tales of Goatskin the nomad, as a shamanistic spirt encounter of sorts lets shine Goatskin’s scrappiness and her seasoned-but-not-world-weary demeanor.
“Jirel Meets Death” by Molly Tanzer:
I, unfortunately, have read little of Jirel of Joiry up to this point, so there’s probably a lot I’m missing with respect to Jirel’s characterization and backstory. (I will say, having read this story now, that describing her as a Joan of Arc for S&S flattens the real picture.) There’s strong action and stakes in this story, though I find the stakes lessened somewhat by the do-over ending, even if the closing sequence is itself very satisfying.
Now for reviews of the individual stories in issue 5:
“In the Dissolving City” by Audrey Stollings:
An adventure romp with a tag-teamed (well, sort of) pair of protagonists, but one that’s very much to my liking. The post-disaster lends a meaningful ominousness to the story’s atmosphere, and the human-against-human conflicts feel all the more serious and cutthroat when the competing parties are struggling to survive amid bleak circumstances all the while. The overall resolution was also much more satisfying than usual for a “these two characters hate each other but have to work together” sort of plot.
“In Perfection’s Shape I Writhe” by Samir Sirk Morató:
Marvelous. I wrote an entire blog post raving about this story, so clearly it was my favorite out of the bunch. This daring and morally complicated piece of paleofiction is sufficiently unnerving while also being a thoughtful reflection on how it feels to find belonging as an outcast or a misfit.
“Staku-ra’s Hoard” by Luana Saitta:
This is a more conventional piece of adventure fantasy, Indiana Jones-esque in places, which unfortunately means it’s not quite to my tastes. Even still, there’s plenty going for this story: It’s fun, the art piece (described in prose as well as featuring in the story’s illustration) is nicely integrated into the narrative, and most importantly, this story aptly demonstrates that there’s ample room for marginalized people in sword & sorcery tales. Of course trans people, as with S&S protagonists, want to self-actualize and not merely be grudgingly tolerated by their society; of course sex workers, as with S&S protagonists, want to reassert their dignity.
“The Lament of a Shieldman” by Timaeus Bloom:
Marvelous. I feel I need to read this story again, which seems fitting for a dreamlike piece of weird fiction. The dreamlike impermanence of things is also an excellent fit for the decadent, civilization-in-decline setting we’re treated to here. (At least, I find this to be a treat.) The story is lush at both the levels of theme and prose, making what’s a bit of a rollercoaster in places worth the read all the while.
“The Maiden of the Serpent Moon” by Premee Mohamed:
This one seems predictable initially, with two rival assassins competing for one contract and one of them being an archetypal femme fatale figure. That said, the femme fatale is made much more sympathetic, and the story more textured, by the fun (if pseudoscientific) source of her abilities and the fundamental unfairness in her difficult upbringing. I’ll also mention that Mohamed exhibits incredible range with this story being so vastly different from her recent book and collection set in war-torn, roughly modern worlds.
“The Change” by Bryn Hammond:
Marvelous! Beyond simply humanizing our Mongol nomad protagonist, I cannot readily think of any other Anglophone story that dares to imagine how the Mongols of Genghis Khan’s time would’ve envisioned an aspirational, even utopian future for themselves. This story is even more gratifying if you’ve read Hammond’s previous tales of Goatskin the nomad, as a shamanistic spirt encounter of sorts lets shine Goatskin’s scrappiness and her seasoned-but-not-world-weary demeanor.
“Jirel Meets Death” by Molly Tanzer:
I, unfortunately, have read little of Jirel of Joiry up to this point, so there’s probably a lot I’m missing with respect to Jirel’s characterization and backstory. (I will say, having read this story now, that describing her as a Joan of Arc for S&S flattens the real picture.) There’s strong action and stakes in this story, though I find the stakes lessened somewhat by the do-over ending, even if the closing sequence is itself very satisfying.
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December 14, 2025Great survey of sword and sorcery fiction with some supporting articles and interview with Howard Andrew Jones.
Top stories for me-- and I really, really liked them:
In the Dissolving City - Audrey Stllings
The Maiden of the Serpent Moon - Premee Mohamed
Very intriguing, want to re-read - Lament of a Shieldman - Sage Curtis-
I had no idea where this was going and I started to be annoyed by it's kind of circular and meandering nature, but I found the conclusion quite interesting and brought back to a Clark Ashton Smith-type fatalism even.
Top stories for me-- and I really, really liked them:
In the Dissolving City - Audrey Stllings
The Maiden of the Serpent Moon - Premee Mohamed
Very intriguing, want to re-read - Lament of a Shieldman - Sage Curtis-
I had no idea where this was going and I started to be annoyed by it's kind of circular and meandering nature, but I found the conclusion quite interesting and brought back to a Clark Ashton Smith-type fatalism even.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews