A collection of stories from the first 60 issues of Swords & Sorcery Magazine, presented on physical media for the first time with a full page illustration for each story and a color cover.
Introducing The Best of Swords and Sorcery Magazine, Vol. 1. including fourteen stories which originally appeared in the first sixty issues of the magazine online, each accompanied by an original full-page black and white illustration. The book features a color cover by Alison McGlone. It is available as a quality paperback book, and as a pdf for those who prefer an electronic format.
When I started Swords & Sorcery Magazineback in 2012 I never considered that I would still be doing it over thirteen years later, but I am. S&SM is still going strong with new issues issues online every month.
A few years ago I had the idea to put together an anthology of some of my favorite stories that I have published over the years. Because I have now done so many issues, with many wonderful stories in them, I decided it would probably have to be a series of anthologies. I'm now working on the first, covering the first five years of the magazine. If I am successful in getting this into production I plan to do more of them.
I hope to accomplish a few things with this collection. I want to pay the writers who's work appears in it again, giving them a bit more than the token amount I was able to give them when the stories were first published. Each story will get an illustration created by a talented and hardworking artist, adding to the tradition of fantasy art which is an important part of the sword and sorcery genre. Finally, I hope that the stories can find a larger audience in print. The stories and their creators richly deserve it.
PDF Receive a digital download of a PDF version of The Best of Swords & Sorcery Magazine, Vol. 1 $10
Basic Receive a physical copy of The Best of Swords & Sorcery Magazine, Vol. 1. We'll throw in the PDF as well. $35
Adventurer You get everything in the basic package, plus a bookmark and a postcard of one of our interior illustrations. $45
Champion You get everything in the Adventurer package, plus a cool S&SM sticker and your name listed as a Champion backer in the back of the book. $55
Hero You get everything in the Champion package, plus a limited edition print of the cover art, signed and dated by the artist. Your name listed in the back of the book as a Hero backer. $100
Last spring I did an interview with Oliver Brackenbury on his podcast "So I'm Writing a Novel" where he often interviews other creatives in the sword and sorcery community. Among other things, we talked about The Best of Swords and Sorcery Magazine, Vol. 1. It was fun to do it and it's a pretty good listen. https://soimwritinganovel.com/2025/04/28/ep84-interview-w-curtis-ellett/
Shipping for US backers included in the pledge amounts. For backers outside of the United States we will need to charge some extra to the additional cost. Here are current estimates:
We expect to get all of the art finalized by the end of October and files off to the printer by mid November. It will take a few months for the printer to turn around the order, but we are using a printer in the United States so we won't face delays in shipping from overseas or in clearing US customs. If everything goes as expected we expected to have everything shipped by sometime in April, or perhaps a bit sooner.
Curtis Ellett is a fantasy writer who also contributes to the genre in other ways. He has lived on three continents, studied archaeology, and worked as a newspaper ad designer, a bookseller, and a tech entrepreneur. Curtis has been the editor and publisher of Swords & Sorcery Magazine for more than 13 years. Find him on Bluesky.
Alison McGlone is a comic book, fantasy artist, and life long Bostonian even when living in the Boston suburb of Rhode Island. She worked for a major telecommunications company doing IT work and later for the publicly funded station GBH. She lives with her 2 cats Rocket and Kaiju and draws pretty much all day. Alison has worked with several different comic companies and media organizations but is mainly an independent comics and manga creator. Her latest work is the self published comic The Last Sentinel.
