Swords and Sorcery is a monthly magazine devoted to traditional fantasy stories. At this time I am seeking original short stories of 1,500 to 8,500 words length that feature fantasy elements and pre-industrial settings. Historical and pseudo-historical settings are fine provided they are set before 1800. I am not looking for contemporary urban fantasy or steampunk stories. I enjoy reading these when they are well written but there are plenty of markets for them. As the name implies I welcome stories with action and overt magic but neither is necessary to make a good fantasy story. To get an idea of what kinds of stories interest me most, I recommend perusing the archive before submitting. I also post articles of interest to writers in my blog.
In addition to publishing fantasy stories, I want Swords & Sorcery Magazine function as a forum for criticism within the genre. To this end I am also seeking reviews and critical essays on genre topics of at least 1,000 words length. These need not be confined to literature but can include reviews of movies and comic books as well. We will not publish criticism that is dismissive of the genre as a whole. Any other literary opinion is acceptable.
At this time we are not interested in flash fiction, novellas, or graphic tales. In the future we may consider buying these, probably for a special issue. Please query before sending us a novella or a graphic story. Please do not send flash fiction at this time.
Swords and Sorcery Magazine can only offer a token payment to our writers. For now we are paying $10 per story, review or essay for first world-wide publication rights. Submissions should be sent by email to submissions@SwordsandSorceryMagazine.com. Include a brief précis of the story and any information you want to give us about your background as well as your contact information in the body of the email. Attach the story itself as a word, text, or rtf document. I generally select stories from those that were submitted in the previous month, so I typically take 45 to 60 to respond so submissions, but it is sometimes longer. Please feel to query after 60 days.
Swords & Sorcery is published online only and it would be helpful if stories were formatted as they would appear on the web. Please use a proportionally spaced font and mark paragraphs by putting extra space after rather than by indenting the first line. This is different than the format traditionally required by print magazines but makes publishing online simpler. Also, please include your name, the title of the work, and the approximate word count in the body of the submitted document.
Note of Warning Swords and Sorcery Magazine purchases first world-wide publication rights. You should be aware that if your story or non-fiction piece is published by Swords and Sorcery Magazine you will no longer be able to offer first publication rights, either on the web or in print anywhere in the world. This means you will lose your opportunity to sell your story to better paying markets except as a reprint at a drastically lower rate than they would offer for a story that had not been previously published. You may wish to consider offering your work to higher paying markets before submitting it to Swords & Sorcery Magazine—we strongly encourage you to do so.
Best,
Curtis Ellett