The final copies of issue one have been recovered! In a previous update we mentioned how we were trying to recover the last few issues from a distributor. Luckily, we did but there's now only 30 copies left and once they're gone that's it.
Now is the ideal time to collect a complete run of issues 1-10 via the following pledge options: Gimme All Your Issues: Softcover
"Pay Over Time" has been requested by some backers, and so we have activated it. Any pledge for $150 or more can now be paid for in four monthly installments with no interest or other complications.
This is where you will see Pay Over Time mentioned in the pledging process.
Our next livestream is SYNTHS AGAINST SORCERY, a riotous good time centered on the very S&S genre of Dungeon Synth. It will including live music by and interviews with notable individuals in the scene. The stream begins at 7pm EST, this Thursday right at the top of the crowdfund page.
Thanks to our most recent artist raise stretch goal, all backers will now receive digital phone & desktop backgrounds of Jimmy Makepeace's cover art for issue 8!
One lucky backer whose pledge got us over the line will also be receiving a vintage S&S magazine from my personal collection.
Next up is an author pay raise which will get backers an original piece of flash fiction by June Orchid Parker, starring her Suplex & Sorcery protagonist, Varika! Meanwhile the lucky backer whose pledge gets this raise over the finish line will earn a short story critique by Jeremy Pak Nelson to either use on a story of their own or gift to a writer friend.
Thank you once again for supporting and spreading the word about this year's crowdfund for New Edge Sword & Sorcery. it feels incredible to have achieved so much and still have just under half the crowdfund left to go!
Our remaining stretch goals have had extra rewards attached to them so our contributor raises stay exciting for you lovely backers. These include bonus fiction, story critiques, vintage magazines, original art and more! Details below.
There are three more livestreams to look forward to! Friday, February 27th - SWORDS WITHOUT MASTERS ttrpg session run by the game's creator, with special guests as the player characters.
Thursday, March 5th - SYNTHS AGAINST SORCERY! Jar Requard hosts an evening of Dungeon Synth featuring interviews and live performances.
Friday, March 13th - FINAL FRIDAY LIVESTREAM VARIETY SHOW featuring a session of Dungeon Crawl Classics: The Dying Earth run by Julian Bernick; he co-write DCC: The Dying Earth, co-edits Swords Against! magazine, and has a story in issue ten of NESS, our Timeworn Terra special.
Does "Variety Show" mean there will be other entertainment? Maybe!
IN DETAIL
You've brought us so far in the first third of the crowdfund that we can afford to dream big!
Just yesterday we unlocked the first author raise on the table, meaning...
Our authors will be paid the industry recognized professional pay rate for their stories.
All backers will get to read a piece of Sword & Sorcery flash fiction written by dave ring of Neon Hemlock Press.
The backer whose pledge got us to that raise will receive a short story critique by Molly Tanzer, which they can use themselves or gift to an author friend.
From here on out, every raise for contributors will unlock either..
Flash fiction for all, and a short story critique for one lucky backer.
or
Digital art rewards (mainly phone & desktop backgrounds) for all, and a unique physical piece of art for one lucky backer.
Those unique art treasures begin with four vintage issues of Fantastic magazine, each featuring at least one major Sword & Sorcery tale by L. Sprague de Camp, John Jakes, or Fritz Leiber.
And if we make it all the way to the final artist raise, then two very special rewards will be available.
Did you know Molly Tanzer likes to doodle scenes from her Jirel stories as she writes them? Well, if we reach our final stretch goal then all backers will receive a digital PDF booklet of a series of illustrations she drew while writing the new Jirel story you'll find in issue nine!
Original work by Saprophial, reproduced in issue two of NESS for Gemma Files' story "Revelstoke".
The backer whose pledge unlocks this final stretch goal will be mailed a gorgeous, original work of art by Saprophial - suitable for framing and hanging on your wall, that's for sure!
Meanwhile...
OUR NEXT LIVESTREAM will begin at 7pm EST, this Friday, February 27th.
Swords Without Master is a game of adventure, violence and wonder. Become rogues in a world of swords and sorcery, living by your wits and prowess, plunging into the unknown, and seizing from it untold treasures!
Run by its creator, Epidiah Ravachol, you'll get to see this exciting new Sword & Sorcery RPG being run with a table of players drawn from the New Edge Sword & Sorcery circle of pals. Epidah will explain how the system works as he takes myself and three special guests through a short adventure in a system where you literally influence the narrative by choosing between "gigantic melancholies" and "gigantic mirth".
I can't wait!
Then, next week we'll have...
Thursday, March 5th - SYNTHS AGAINST SORCERY! Jar Requard hosts an evening of Dungeon Synth featuring interviews and live performances.
and in our final week...
Friday, March 13th - FINAL FRIDAY LIVESTREAM VARIETY SHOW featuring a session of Dungeon Crawl Classics: The Dying Earth run by Julian Bernick; he co-write DCC: The Dying Earth, co-edits Swords Against! magazine, and has a story in issue ten of NESS, our Timeworn Terra special.
Does "Variety Show" mean there will be other entertainment? MAYBE!
I've got my own ideas (Music, interviews, trivia...?) but am happy to hear in the comments any ideas for what you'd like us to include in the big final party we'll throw the day before our crowdfund ends at noon EST, Saturday March 14th.
The creative team has been finalized for a 'zine reward that will go to anybody who backs both this crowdfund and our sword-siblings at Swords Against!. Details below.
The double-sided poster which all physical reward backers will receive has now been converted into two sets of digital rewards - phone & computer backdrops - for all backers.
A second bonus story has been unlocked by people sharing this Bluesky post, and we're close to unlocking the first of three S&S poems!
IN DETAIL
THE ZINE... ...will be 5.5 inches wide by 8.5 inches tall, with black & white cover art on both sides, and two stories inside. The Swords Against! side will have a story by Bryn Hammond with cover art by Craig Brasco, and the New Edge Sword & Sorcery side will have a story by Milton Davis and cover art by Gary McCluskey.
Much like the Ace Doubles of old, or our Double-Edged Sword & Sorcery two-novellas-in-one-book (available as an add-on), this 'zine will have a "front" cover on both sides and you'll flip it upside-down to switch between them.
There will also be a digital version of this for those who back both projects in digital formats. If a backer chooses to get one magazine in digital and the other in physical formats, they'll receive the physical version whenever the magazine they backed in a physical format is fulfilled.
DIGITAL POSTER REWARDS How will digital-only backers get the double-sided poster? Well, the answer is phone & desktop backgrounds.
Phone dimensions on the left, computer background on the right.
These will be added to all pledges by all backers!
SECOND BONUS STORY UNLOCKED, ON TO POETRY! Our launch day Bluesky post has been shared over 200 times, meaning there will now be a second bonus story in this year's issues.
Only six more shares to unlock a poem by Bryn Hammond, with two more after that...
So you may as well call dibs on whatever issues & books you want. Issue one has sold out in physical formats, and Double-Edged Sword & Sorcery's hardcover is down to the last few copies...
Issue one is sold out in physical formats. It may still be possible to get a copy later. Details below.
There are new rewards for our backers bundled with all further author & artist raise stretch goals. You've unlocked three pay raises each for authors & artists. The next author pay raise is a big deal as it gets them to what is known as "SFFWA Pro Rates", and because it unlocks something fun for backers. Details below.
7pm EST Livestream Tonight: S&S AMA Join us right on the crowdfund page for a Sword & Sorcery themed Ask Me Anything livestream with our editor-in-chief, Oliver Brackenbury, Molly Tanzer, and one or more Mystery Guests! Free free to put questions in the comments of this update.
IN DETAIL
ISSUE ONE HAS SOLD OUT IN PHYSICAL FORMATS
If you've already pledged for a bundle that includes issue one in softcover or grabbed it as an add-on, you're good.
Otherwise our first issue is now only available in digital formats. There are two ways this might change...
1) If someone who has a copy of issue one in their pledge cancels that pledge, then the copy will re-appear and you'll see the Add-On listing's "0 remaining" count go back up to "1 remaining".
2) We are trying to get a few dozen absolute final copies from the print run returned to us by a distributor. This is currently being negotiated and we are being cautious - we won't add them to our inventory until they are safely in our fulfillment center. It'd be rough to sell them first, then have the package lost in the mail or destroyed or...
If this happens, we will contact anybody who has pledged for one of our new "Issues two through ten" pledges so they have the opportunity to complete their runs, then make an update so everybody knows.
NEW AUTHOR & ARTIST RAISES UNLOCKED, AND NEW REWARDS FOR BACKERS AS WE UNLOCK MORE
Oliver is still scrambling to make a big cool stretch goal map but in the meanwhile you've now unlocked three author and three artist raises. Wow!
The next author raise will bring their pay up to 8 cents a word. This is a very important number to authors & publications as it is what the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association recognizes as a professional pay rate for SFF authors.
To celebrate that unlocking the next author pay raise will unlock one reward for all backers, and another for the person whose pledge gets us over the line.
Everybody will get digital backgrounds sized for their computer & phone featuring Jimmy Makepeace's excellent art for issue 8.
The person whose pledge gets us over the line for the next author raise will win a short story critique from Molly Tanzer herself! The story can be up to 5000 words, and if you don't want a story critique this can be gifted to a friend or the backer who pledged just before you did.
SWORD & SORCERY ASK ME ANYTHING LIVESTREAM TONIGHT
Molly will also be joining Oliver Brackenbury for a Sword & Sorcery Ask Me Anything livestream tonight at 7pm EST for one hour....and there may be other special guests as well!
The stream will be viewable right here on the crowdfund page, and you're welcome to put advance questions in the comments of this update.
THIS SNAIL KNIGHT IS GOING TOO FAST FOR OUR GRAPHICS DEPARTMENT (aka Oliver)
And we're less than $400 from cracking open a third Author Raise! These first few days of the crowdfund have been the best we've ever seen by far, and we really appreciate it.
Soon we'll have a proper new stretch goal map, and on that map will be something we've never tried before...
STRETCH GOAL RIDERS
From now on our stretch goals are unlimited author & artist raises, and it's so cool you've already made it possible to pay our contributors 50% more.
BUT WHAT ABOUT YOU, THE BACKER?
This is where Stretch Goal Riders come in. As we unlock special pay raises, special rewards will be unlocked - sometimes for all backers, sometimes a particular treasure will go to the backer whose pledge unlocked the raise.
More on this in our next update!
SATAN & SORCERY?
We are very few backers from the devil showing up. At least we think that's what happens...seven more backers until we find out...
