Now in 2026, NESS brings us more with promises of Issues 8, 9, and 10!
The campaign to fund and expand them ends just days after this posting (March 14th )! Hurry now to Backerkit to get some exclusives like a poster featuring live models in full S&S costume, discounted back issues, and a cover art postcard; also, backing unlocks more interior art and bumps author payments. If you miss out, or want some of the prior rewards from previous crowdfunding, get back issues and other NESS offerings in their shop, noting that print copies often have limited print runs.
So what is in the next three issues? We asked Oliver Brackenbury that, and his answer is below. And we had a feeling Jirel of Joiry would return, and we asked Molly Tanzer to provide a bit of perspective on the heroine.
Oliver Brakenbury on What’s New for Issues 8, 9, 10
“Loving the magazine as an object, we’re increasing the page count not only to make room for new features like our letters page, but to allow us to increase the white space for a reading experience that’s even easier on the eyes. Meanwhile the paper will be upgraded to something more textured, akin to classic paperbacks. Along with the letters page we’ll be introducing our first S&S film review, and are proud to include an author profile on Howard Andrew Jones penned by his own child, Caster Jones. Finally, our special issue for 2026 is called Timeworn Terra, expanding upon a science-fantasy tradition begun by Jack Vance, Gene Wolfe, William Hope Hodgson, Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique stories and more to tell tales of futures so far they feel ancient; when magic & technology blur together; our home is transformed into a wondrously strange setting; where Earth’s days are short yet still we lust and laugh!”
“Jirel in the Forest of Night” Back Cover Illustration by Saša Đurđević
Molly Tanzer’s Insights on Jirel
“I always have a blast writing the Jirel stories, and one thing in particular that’s been fun for me, when it comes to expanding on the original stories, is giving Jirel more of an historical context. We know from “Quest of the Starstone” that Jirel lived in France, around 1500. While I never want to take the focus away from Jirel’s magical adventures, in “Jirel Meets Death,” I give Castle Joiry a bit of attention… it was built atop a Roman foundation, and still has a Roman bath, and I added a few servants to make it feel more lived-in. In the upcoming “Jirel in the Forest of Night,” we begin the story with Jirel being annoyed by a proposal of marriage that would be impolitic for her to refuse. While this kind of stuff isn’t at the heart of the Jirel stories, in my opinion, it’s fun to put a character known for visiting other worlds into thorny situations here in — or at least in a version of — the real world. It gives, I think, a broader sense of who Jirel is — her character, her strengths and weaknesses, her desires, dreams… and nightmares, too!”
Bryn Hammond Highlights her new story
“In this story, Goatskin certainly goes further than she has gone before, into the unknown. And the unknown gets a grip on her in ways she has not faced. This story changes her.”
Recall, we interviewed her last September. To learn more about her Goatskin yarns, and her writing muses, check out: Interview with Bryn Hammond.
Waste Flowers and What Rough Beast? A Tale of Goatskin, written by Bryn Hammond, both with cover art from Goran Gligović
Leading the charge is JIREL OF JOIRY, returning with her third new story since the originals by her creator, legendary Weird Tales regular C.L. Moore. She was the first Sword & Sorcery heroine and, like Alice in Wonderland with a big f***ing sword, Jirel had compelling adventures in bizarre dream-logic realms, balancing a rich emotional life with terrifying struggles against dark forces! Predating Red Sonja, she & Moore were a direct influence on Robert E. Howard’s writing, and others who came after.
Authorized by the estate of C.L. Moore, “Jirel in the Forest of Night” has been written by the magnificent MOLLY TANZER (editor of Swords v. Cthulhu, author of Creatures of Charm and Hunger, and so much more).
Thirty other authors are spread across the three new issues this campaign is funding, including names like legendary S&S editor Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Bryn Hammond, and Milton Davis.
With #10, NESS looks to the impossibly far future in “TIMEWORN TERRA,” a special issue featuring stories inspired by Jack Vance, Gene Wolfe, Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique cycle, and others. Readers unfamiliar with those names will be enthralled by futures so distant they feel ancient, where sorcery has returned or technology is indistinguishable from it, where Earth is so transformed as to feel alien…yet still humanity struggles, seeks meaning, even laughs as their home world’s clock winds down.
Every story and non-fiction piece in these issues will be paired with two original B&W illustrations as soon as the crowdfund meets its first stretch goal – Double Art. The goal after that is a fund to cover shipping discounts for backers outside the United States, and from there every stretch goal is a pay raise for contributors. These goals make clear the magazine’s values of paying creators as much as they can, and making NESS financially accessible.
The magazine’s editor, Oliver Brackenbury, promises the magazine is “Made with love for the classics and an inclusive, boundary-pushing approach to storytelling,” delivering high quality writing and art in a wide variety of styles. Sword & Sorcery can be many things and still be Sword & Sorcery.
Readers should race to back the new issues before the campaign ends on March 14th, so they can benefit from crowdfund exclusives like a poster featuring live models in full S&S costume, discounted back issues, and cover art postcards.
From Feb 12th to March 14th the crowdfund is on BACKERKIT.
S.E. Lindberg is a Managing Editor at Black Gate, regularly reviewing books and interviewing authors on the topic of “Beauty & Art in Weird-Fantasy Fiction.” He has taken lead roles organizing the Gen Con Writers’ Symposium (chairing it in 2023), is the lead moderator of the Goodreads Sword & Sorcery Group, and was an intern for Tales from the Magician’s Skull magazine. As for crafting stories, he has contributed eight entries across Perseid Press’s Heroes in Hell and Heroika series, and has an entry in Weirdbook Annual #3: Zombies. He independently publishes novels under the banner Dyscrasia Fiction; short stories of Dyscrasia Fiction have appeared in Whetstone Amateur S&S Magazine, Swords & Sorcery online magazine, Rogues In the House Podcast’s A Book of Blades Vol I & II, DMR’s Terra Incognita, the 9th issue of Tales From the Magician’s Skull, Savage Realms Magazine, and Michael Stackpole’s S&S Chain Story 2 Project.
