Greetings Swordlings,

We had a great weekend over here at Swords Against! Because of YOU. We’re funded at the base level, and we have blown by the first stretch goal – a comic by Jason Sholtis and Trey Causey.

Now the stretch goals start to affect our creators, so I want to put special emphasis on a few points.

The short fiction market has always been a tough way to make a living. It’s never been harder for the sword & sorcery author and artist: comparatively lower paying, and perpetually barren markets. And maybe that’s just a sign of the times – people don’t read short fiction. They read/react on social media. But, I know things are changing. New Edge Sword & Sorcery, Old Moon Quarterly, these are signs of that. 

What excites me the most about doing a sword & sorcery magazine is that I get to feature creators’ work. My overall goal is to have a quarterly magazine. Your support makes that happen.

So dig into your contacts and forward to anyone that might like to have a regular stream of sword & sorcery short-form fiction. And let’s build a market that these creators can rely on long-term. 

Our next stretch goal is to add an additional story to the magazine along with title art for all the stories. That’s another author and a handful of artists that get an opportunity.

Thanks to everyone for a great opening weekend on the Swords Against! campaign. And let’s send this thing to the stars.

Greetings my Sword Siblings,

This Valentines Day, New Edge Sword & Sorcery is off like a rocket. And we are soooo close. Don't. Stop. 

Sorry. That was terrible. 

Seriously though -- we're less than $800 from base funding. Please, please share with your circles and be sure to back New Edge's 3-issue Backerkit if you haven't yet. You'll get a double-zine with stories from both of us. My next amazing announcement will be about our author for that zine (hopefully confirmed by Monday). 

We have maintained pretty good momentum going into the weekend. I’m already looking ahead to our first stretch goal and I have a current amazing announcement about that: 

Jason Sholtis and Trey Causey have proposed a sword & sorcery comic to be included in the first issue of Swords Against! and we’re definitely doing it if we can get to our first stretch goal of $6,400!

Below is a sample of Jason’s work (he’s done a couple of the pieces you see on this backerkit story, as well). Jason and I have worked together on every book I’ve done for Mystic Bull Games, and we’ve gamed together for years. Absolutely love his work, and he’s “one of us” when it comes to that core weird sword & sorcery vibe. If you don’t believe me (and you’re a TTRPG gamer) check out his books: Operation Unfathomable and Completely Unfathomable. (I did the DCC RPG conversion for that one). 

I know Trey Causey from various gaming conventions. His sword & sorcery stories appear in Flashing Swords e-zine, and he's the man behind the Sorcerer's Skull, one of the many heads of the Hydra Cooperative, and publishes TTRPGs under the Armchair Planet imprint. 

This is a sample of Jason's work, from the upcoming anthology Ozoo from the Merry Mushmen. 

Here’s today’s progress on the cover. Full inks! Really excited to see the full color image, but I’ve heard from several people that they really like the ink-only version, also. Maybe I'll do a poll. 

I'm completely flabergasted by the response. Thank you to all the backers, and please if you haven't yet, consider supporting our little sword & sorcery magazine (and our partner New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine). 

75% in 24 hours. Amazing. 

There’s still a ways to go to build a sustainable magazine – but I know we can get there. 

Please consider sharing our project on Bluesky, X, and other social platforms. I’d love to see this magazine pick up the kind of steam we’ve seen with New Edge Sword & Sorcery and Old Moon Quarterly.

We need more sword & sorcery fiction in our lives! Let’s make it happen.

Thanks again and I am humbled by the enthusiastic support.

Just yesterday evening, Rick Hershey (our cover artist), shared progress on the inks for the cover... 

Check out Orhan Timur, a companion, and enemies in all their glory! From Dariel R. A. Quiogue's story, Mother of Amber.

This is going to look amazing when he’s done with the painting.