by Anthony Perconti
in Issue 142, November 2023
New Edge Sword and Sorcery #1 gives readers a wide variety of stories set within the sword and sorcery genre. I find it heartening that the contributors to New Edge take an expansive approach in fleshing out their individual protagonists. They are not mere cookie cutter, musclebound “thud & blunder” heroes that were ubiquitous in decades past. The characters featured within these pages are representative of a wide variety of humanity inhabiting the world at large. This of course, is part and parcel of the New Edge mission statement. “Made with love for the classics, and an inclusive, boundary-pushing approach to storytelling.” Several of the protagonists maintain a hand to mouth, get rich or die trying ethos, assisted by whetted steel. While others take alternate paths in achieving their personal goals. As in real life, not every problem is solved by applying force–nuance is good thing in my view. Of the seven short stories featured in this issue, my (utterly subjective) personal favorites are as follows.
“Carnivora” by Kirk A. Johnson is a powerful tale that ushers in the end of one epoch, for the beginning of a new one. Gunjur, the Lion Hero of the Taakanda is trekking home from a successful raid against the neighboring Deebal. The Taakanda party captures a woman (a spoil of war, Tatinyam) who is not what she appears to be on the surface. Johnson deftly weaves a sword and soul tale that is highly elegiac in tone. Gunjur’s prowess as a warrior (replete with formidable stone ax) is simply no match for the technological paradigm shift headed his way. In addition to a doomed warrior (not really a spoiler) fighting his last, “Carnivora” also infuses a heavy dose of cosmic horror in its closing pages. Johnson’s introduction of the cosmological outré further reinforces the elegiac nature of this tale. That we are all living on borrowed time, be it slave, king or hero. What a way to kick off this volume!
“Sister Chaos” sees the return of Bryn Hammond’s wandering Angaj “Goatskin”-Duzmut, along with her bandit lover, Qi Mao (the titular Sister Chaos of the title). The pair of adventurers are confronted by a grassland mystery of sorts, in which a ghostly antelope forces the duo towards an intersection with the sorcerer Ussatur Shaman (replete with quartz organs-no kidding). In addition to Hammond’s masterful Silk Road invocations, and shout outs to the classical Water Margins, “Chaos” threw me for a loop. The denouement of the story zigged, where I was expecting a (more traditional) zag. “Chaos” subverted my expectations of a classic showdown between swords and sorcery. Where the supernatural entity is appeased, rather than defeated through the use of brawn. Is Hammond the creator of a new subgenre? Is she the first exponent of anthropological sword and sorcery fiction? “The Grief-Note of Vultures,” along with this tale leads me to think so. I hope that Hammond continues to write more tales set in this fascinating and well lived in world. And I hope that she utilizes Duzmut as our guide.
Jesus Montalvo’s” Chak Muuch” (translated from the Spanish by Gonzalo Baeza), is the tale of the warrior-priest and renegade, Chak Muuch and his mighty deeds. To me, Montalvo’s character was more in line with traditional sword and sorcery protagonists-cut from a similar cloth as Conan, Kull or even, Kane. The world that Chak Muuch inhabits is informed by the Pre-Columbian, Mayan cosmology. Jesus Montalvo has crafted an exciting tale of swords (okay, maaskabs), derring-do and jungle sorcery. The environment that Chak Muuch traverses is lushly verdant and always dangerous (be it natural dangers or otherwise). Fans of David Cronenberg, Junji Ito and John Carpenter’s The Thing will find much to love in this story. Montalvo serves up body horrors aplenty (flora-horror?), to go along with the mighty exploits of his warrior-priest.
“The Folk of the Forest” is another addition to the Elric mythos, by fantasy grandmaster Michael Moorcock. Kudos to Editor Oliver Brackenbury, for landing a brand-new story from a living legend! This tale is set exclusively on the island of Melnibone, deep in its forested interior. A wet behind the ears Elric and his tutor, Tanglebones go on a leisurely day’s outing of exploration and hunting. But this being a Moorcock penned tale, many Multiversal shenanigans abound. Scale-ships, the Moonbeam Roads, sentient figureheads and winged warriors, a la Vance’s Twk-Men are present and accounted for in this one. Not to mention a healthy dose of existential ennui from the young albino emperor. I did appreciate the positive surrogate father-son relationship between Elric and Tanglebones. And it was nice to learn more of the tutor’s backstory (as it pertains to his personal life).
In addition to the seven short stories, issue one of New Edge contains several pieces of nonfiction. These include;”Why (New Edge) Sword and Sorcery” by Brian Murphy (art by Sara Frazetta!), “Cele Goldsmith Lalli-Midwife to the Second Sword and Sorcery Boom” by Cora Buhlert, “Fresh Blood and New Thunder! Bringing New readers to Sword and Sorcery, with Sof Magliano” by Oliver Brackenbury and “Review: Woman of the Woods by Milton J. Davis” by Robin Marx. I found all of these pieces to be highly enjoyable, as well as informative. They touch upon the history of the genre, while simultaneously looking forward to the future. The issue even features a libation recipe in, “Cocktail Corner: “The Elric”” created by Kevin Beckett. Although I expect that if I indulged in a few too many of these cocktails, I would be praying for Lord Arioch and Lord Pyaray to take my soul.
As with the zero issue, this one boasts a plethora of talented illustrators doing what they do best, up to and including; Daniel Vega, Gary McCluskey, Dan Rempel, Carlos Castilho, Trevor Ngwenya, Hardeep Aujla, Sapro, Sara Frazetta (the master’s talented granddaughter) and Chuah Shih Shin. To say nothing of that remarkable Frank Frazetta inspired cover by Caterina Gerbasi. This is another solid issue, with exemplary production values, art design and of course, engaging stories and articles. I’m excited to see what the future holds for this magazine. Given the two issues that I have read already, I suspect that I am in store for some wonderful times ahead. Well done, Brackenbury and company! I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next.
©November 2023, Anthony Perconti
Anthony Perconti lives and works in the hinterlands of New Jersey with his wife and kids. He enjoys good stories across many different genres and mediums. His reviews have appeared previously in Swords & Sorcery Magazine.