ADVENTURES IN SWORDS AND SORCERY
Please Note: This article was written quite some time ago and since that time, Adventures in Swords and Sorcery has not kept to a regular shipping schedule. I'm not even sure that it's still in print. Because of this, the subscription address has been removed from this article.
Without exaggeration, I can say that I am a voracious reader. If there is no fantasy or science fiction about, I will read newspapers (even tabloids), magazines, cereal boxes and advertisements on the sides of buses. I currently subscribe to more than a few magazines and I read most of them each month. Which doesn't leave all that much time for others things, such as sleeping.
In addition to the magazines to which I subscribe, I also buy a fair number of others, some of which magically turn into subscriptions. I enjoy just about everything that I read, but I have never felt the need to stand up on the top of a cliff and shout the praises of any single publication... until now.
Imagine it. Here I am, an rpg'er, a fantasy aficionado (let's face it, an addict) and a fantasy and SF writer. I have read just about every magazine you have heard of and quite a few you haven't (don't bother testing me on this, I have read some really obscure domestic and foreign 'zines). Most recently, however, I have discovered (drum roll please) Adventures of Sword and Sorcery.
The title says it all. I've just finished reading the third issue (after reading the first two) and I can state with complete confidence that I will be a subscriber for life. Put yourself in my place. I work two million hours each week, I write, read and try to make a bit o'time for the family. I really, really want to read The Wheel of Time series, by Robert Jordan, but it has grown to eight books, each of which is eight hundred pages. I have them all. I just have to make time.
Then I discover a magazine that is devoted to, get this, short heroic fantasy fiction and I think I've gone to heaven. A seventy-five page magazine of which sixty-five pages or so are actual stories. And not just stories... STORIES.
Herein you'll find winged women, ancient gods, elven detectives and a whole lot more. The stories are excellently arranged so that by the time you've finished it, you have had just enough of each type of fantasy fiction. Thieves, barbarians, demons, wizards, a veritable treasury of fantastic literature abound in each issue.
The authors of these amazing tales are also well known in the field. Darrell Schweitzer, for example, has over two hundred stories to his credit, as well as a number of longer works. His story The Silence in Kandretiphon is my favorite from the issue, but it had some stiff competition. I also particularly liked The Orchards of the Moon by Stephen Baxter. Mr. Baxter also has a long line of credits, including around fifty short stories and six novels.
Adventures of Sword and Sorcery has a full color cover and each tale is illustrated in black and white. Don't let the lack of color throw you, these are professional illustrations. The magazine also includes readers' letters, a Robert Jordan bibliography (issue two included the complete Tolkien catalog) and fiction reviews.
Congratulations to all the writers and artists that have made Adventures of Sword and Sorcery what it is. And thanks to editor Randy Dannenfelser for helping to make it happen. If I said it once, I've said it a thousand times, what this world needs is more heroic fantasy.
A subscription runs $15.95 for 1 year (4 issues) and $26.95 for 2 years (8 issues). Back issues are available for $5.50 each.
Speaking of fantasy fiction, I've been getting quite a bit of feedback on The Adventures of Alaric Swifthand, which, by the way, is back by popular demand. Part seven is out now and eight is just around the corner. Keep those letters coming, they mean a great deal to me.
One final note. It seems that a few of our readers have responded to past issues of View from the Parapet. In most of the letters I've received on the subject, it seems that an overwhelming majority of our readership like "realistic" fantasy and SF. That is to say, a story that is completely believable within its own context.
I would like to point out that if the writer's skill is great enough, he can get you to believe anything, no matter how preposterous. Take the Well of Souls series by Jack Chalker. If you can buy that (and I did), you can believe anything, and I loved those books.
So perhaps it isn't realistic fantasy you crave, just good writing.
Webpage & Graphics by Samandi Adams
Copyright (c) 2003-2004 ~ All Rights Reserved
ADVENTURES IN SWORDS AND SORCERY
Please Note: This article was written quite some time ago and since that time, Adventures in Swords and Sorcery has not kept to a regular shipping schedule. I'm not even sure that it's still in print. Because of this, the subscription address has been removed from this article.
Without exaggeration, I can say that I am a voracious reader. If there is no fantasy or science fiction about, I will read newspapers (even tabloids), magazines, cereal boxes and advertisements on the sides of buses. I currently subscribe to more than a few magazines and I read most of them each month. Which doesn't leave all that much time for others things, such as sleeping.
In addition to the magazines to which I subscribe, I also buy a fair number of others, some of which magically turn into subscriptions. I enjoy just about everything that I read, but I have never felt the need to stand up on the top of a cliff and shout the praises of any single publication... until now.
Imagine it. Here I am, an rpg'er, a fantasy aficionado (let's face it, an addict) and a fantasy and SF writer. I have read just about every magazine you have heard of and quite a few you haven't (don't bother testing me on this, I have read some really obscure domestic and foreign 'zines). Most recently, however, I have discovered (drum roll please) Adventures of Sword and Sorcery.
The title says it all. I've just finished reading the third issue (after reading the first two) and I can state with complete confidence that I will be a subscriber for life. Put yourself in my place. I work two million hours each week, I write, read and try to make a bit o'time for the family. I really, really want to read The Wheel of Time series, by Robert Jordan, but it has grown to eight books, each of which is eight hundred pages. I have them all. I just have to make time.
Then I discover a magazine that is devoted to, get this, short heroic fantasy fiction and I think I've gone to heaven. A seventy-five page magazine of which sixty-five pages or so are actual stories. And not just stories... STORIES.
Herein you'll find winged women, ancient gods, elven detectives and a whole lot more. The stories are excellently arranged so that by the time you've finished it, you have had just enough of each type of fantasy fiction. Thieves, barbarians, demons, wizards, a veritable treasury of fantastic literature abound in each issue.
The authors of these amazing tales are also well known in the field. Darrell Schweitzer, for example, has over two hundred stories to his credit, as well as a number of longer works. His story The Silence in Kandretiphon is my favorite from the issue, but it had some stiff competition. I also particularly liked The Orchards of the Moon by Stephen Baxter. Mr. Baxter also has a long line of credits, including around fifty short stories and six novels.
Adventures of Sword and Sorcery has a full color cover and each tale is illustrated in black and white. Don't let the lack of color throw you, these are professional illustrations. The magazine also includes readers' letters, a Robert Jordan bibliography (issue two included the complete Tolkien catalog) and fiction reviews.
Congratulations to all the writers and artists that have made Adventures of Sword and Sorcery what it is. And thanks to editor Randy Dannenfelser for helping to make it happen. If I said it once, I've said it a thousand times, what this world needs is more heroic fantasy.
A subscription runs $15.95 for 1 year (4 issues) and $26.95 for 2 years (8 issues). Back issues are available for $5.50 each.
Speaking of fantasy fiction, I've been getting quite a bit of feedback on The Adventures of Alaric Swifthand, which, by the way, is back by popular demand. Part seven is out now and eight is just around the corner. Keep those letters coming, they mean a great deal to me.
One final note. It seems that a few of our readers have responded to past issues of View from the Parapet. In most of the letters I've received on the subject, it seems that an overwhelming majority of our readership like "realistic" fantasy and SF. That is to say, a story that is completely believable within its own context.
I would like to point out that if the writer's skill is great enough, he can get you to believe anything, no matter how preposterous. Take the Well of Souls series by Jack Chalker. If you can buy that (and I did), you can believe anything, and I loved those books.
So perhaps it isn't realistic fantasy you crave, just good writing.
Webpage & Graphics by Samandi Adams
Copyright (c) 2003-2004 ~ All Rights Reserved