Where to Read New Sword & Sorcery in 2023

I’ve been reading a lot of more mainstream science fiction and fantasy periodicals lately, both contemporary and from the 1950s and ‘60s. But I thought I’d take a break from that and provide a list (if you haven’t teased one out from the previous posts), of what I consider the core sword & sorcery magazines being published today. 

I’ve identified seven. If you know of others, tell us about them in the comments!

Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is, as of this writing, up to their 56th issue. It features stories, poems, articles, and, even a comic in the current issue. Their slogan is “Prose, Poetry, Pulp” and this periodical lives up the billing. The contents of this magazine are free to read at their website.

New Edge Sword & Sorcery is the new kid on the block and made quite a splash with their testing-the-waters issue #0 last year. Since then, a successful Kickstarter campaign has ensured at least two more issues will appear, I believe on a semi-annual basis. The fiction and features in #0 were top-notch. This magazine is published in softcover, hardcover, and electronic formats and #0 is available as a free ePub as of this writing.

Old Moon Quarterly began paying “pro rates” (which means 8¢ per word) for sword & sorcery stories as of their most recent issue, which led to quite a bit of excitement in the writing community. The higher pay shows in the quality of what they’ve been publishing. This magazine is available via Amazon Kindle, and physical copies are also available for purchase. See details at their website.

Savage Realms Monthly doesn’t have much of a web presence, but they consistently put out a monthly magazine with some well-known contributors. Some individual issues of this magazine are available through the Kindle Unlimited program, while others are available for ePub purchase. Paperback versions are also available for order.

Swords & Sorcery Magazine is an online venture that has consistently put out two or three quality stories every month for years now. Some of my favorite recent stories have appeared at this free online magazine.

Tales from the Magician’s Skull is widely considered the top current sword & sorcery magazine. It features work by the very best and most well-known practitioners of the form today, and the physical copies are just gorgeous. A fairly recent development is the inclusion of new estate-approved adventures of Fritz Leiber’s famous duo, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Electronic versions are available via DrivethruRPG.

Whetstone is a labor of love, and a worthy one. The brainchild of scholar and writer Jason Ray Carney, this magazine styles itself “The Amateur Magazine of of Pulp Sword and Sorcery” and the contents are written, as of the most recent issues, exclusively by writers who haven’t previously published professionally. That doesn’t stop the free pdfs available at the website from being chockfull of exciting fiction.

There are also at least two regular anthology series. More on those, and their publishers, soon.