Daniel (@dungeondive) pivots from individual reviews to explore the contemporary state and future of sword & sorcery. Oliver Brackenberry, a genre mover-and-shaker, is publishing New Edge Sword & Sorcery, a magazine reclaiming the genre’s virtues—outsider protagonists, thrilling energy, wondrous weirdness—while shedding problematic baggage.
As Scott Oden and Howard Andrew Jones argue, sword & sorcery needn’t be diminished by abandoning retrograde social politics. Instead, new works can embrace pulp’s color, pacing, and headlong momentum while crafting fresh characters and worlds unconstrained by Robert E. Howard’s legacy or generic gaming backdrops. Daniel advocates passionately for this evolution: the genre’s power doesn’t stem from racism or sexism but from adventure, wonder, and protagonist defiance—qualities that shine brighter without problematic elements.
Daniel also highlights the Merrill Collection at Toronto Public Library, an eighty-thousand-item repository of speculative fiction representing one of the world’s premier research collections. Founded on science fiction editor and author Judith Merrill’s donation, it preserves works from pulp magazines to rare manuscripts, accessible both physically and digitally. The collection exemplifies why preserving sword & sorcery literature matters: ensuring older works survive for future readers while supporting authors crafting exciting new stories.
What draws you to sword & sorcery, and do you think the genre needs to evolve to attract younger readers?