The Chain Story 2 – Sword and Sorcery
It has been 15 years since The Chain Story Project hit the internet; in 2010, Michael Stackpole led a bunch of authors to write stand-alone adventures all shared via “The Wanderers’ Club.” All the stories were “chained” together with a common element but enabled every contributor to showcase their own characters/worlds. As standalone tales, they could be read in any order. And…. all stories were free to readers (at least for several months, many times indefinitely)!
Chain Story 2 has just commenced and will follow the same approach. This round, expect Sword & Sorcery with a common magical artifact represented in the logo. Learn about the project and the first three entries now on Black Gate. Shortcuts to the first three free stories are included below. Stories will be released every few weeks, so check the Chain Story website continuously, and you will also be treated to cool interviews (i.e., with S&S Champion Matthew John, who just released his second entry in his Maxus Cycle, Within the Weeping Eye).
We’ll aim to review the Chain Story Project as it develops again in a few months, but read this to get onboarded!
How the Chain Story Works: Start with any story!
Each of the writers selected to join the Chain Story Project has been given access to a planning document describing a unifying feature that has to appear in every story. It’s left entirely up to each writer just how much or how little they want to explore and emphasize this unifying link. In some cases it’ll play a central role in a story — or even a series of stories — and in others it’ll drift into the background so only the astute readers will find it. Each writer is given that leeway to make it easier for them to bring their worlds and characters into Project stories. In this way readers can be introduced to them for the first time, or renew acquaintances through continued adventures. — June 22, 2025 MAS
Death Grip, A Neryon Story
Michael Stackpole jumpstarted the series on July 3rd, 2025 with Death Grip (click to get it!)
The man hadn’t died easily.
A smoking hole sat where his heart should have been. Terror twisted his features, and he clutched an emerald reeking of magick as if would somehow save him. Neryon and Magistrate-Martial Logan find themselves in a race to find the killer before he has a chance to harvest more victims. But, with the amount of power used on his first target, there was a big gulf between finding and stopping; and no guarantee he wouldn’t kill them, too.
Michael A. Stackpole is an award-winning novelist, game designer, computer game designer, podcaster, editor, screenwriter and graphic novelist. He’s had over sixty novels published, the best known of those being the New York Times bestselling I, Jedi and Rogue Squadron. He has an asteroid named after him (165612). In 2023 the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers named him their Grandmaster by presenting him the Faust Award. His most recent novels are DARK SOULS: Masque of Vindication and BattleTech: A Night in the Woods.
Blade of the Storm Witch – Reign of Hex & Steel
Robert E. Vardeman followed quickly with Blade of the Storm Witch (click to get it!)
Her vengeance became elemental!
The Conqueror-King’s minion murdered her pirate husband. The Lady Rennata was condemned to follow him into a watery grave—until wind and wave swept her to a magical blade that commands all of Nature.
Robert E. Vardeman has penned over 100 fantastical f&sf adventures — including the Reign of Hex & Steel trilogy with Richard Prosch — without once misplacing a dragon. He wrangles stories (and an ancient black cat) from his New Mexico lair when not teaching tai chi or hunting Tupperware in the desert via geocaching. A decorated wordsmith, he now leads Western Fictioneers and once wrangled sci-fi pros as SFWA’s VP.
Forest of the Fallen Colossus
Bryan Young entered the fray July 16th, 2025 with Forest of the Fallen Colossus! (click to get it!)
A dying robber hands Laila and Zaki a mysterious artifact in the middle of a fae-haunted wood. “Danger,” the robber manages before dying. Suddenly sister and brother find themselves safeguarding an unwanted gift — on the run for their lives in the Forest of the Fallen Colossus.
Bryan Young works in many different media, from film and comics to prose and non-fiction. He’s been a regular contributor for the Huffington Post, StarWars.com, Star Wars Insider magazine, SYFY, /Film, Script Magazine, and more. He’s worked in the Star Wars, Robotech, Doctor Who, Shadowrun and BattleTech universes, among others. He teaches writing at the University of Utah and Writers Digest’s Online University. His latest novel is BattleTech: Lone Wolf and Fox. Follow him on social media @swankmotron or visit www.swankmotron.com.
Expect Chain Story contributions every few weeks!
Click here to follow the entire project on chainstorycore.com
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, 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, Swords & Sorcery online magazine, Rogues In the House Podcast’s A Book of Blades, DMR’s Terra Incognita, and the 9th issue of Tales From the Magician’s Skull.