DID YOU KNOW WE'RE ADDING A LETTERS PAGE TO THE MAGAZINE?

SWORD & STATIONERY will become a new feature in every issue, a chance for you to have your thoughts shared with others in a classic, analog fashion which pulp scholars may read decades from now...

...but only if we get some letters! Here's some guidelines:

• Ideally your letter will involve S&S, NESS, and/or writing & publishing...but if you want to ask one of us about our favorite dinosaur it's possible you'll find out!
  
  
• Questions are more likely to get an answer, but sharing your thoughts on a story, pitching wild theories, and other statements are welcome.
  
  
• Letters over 200 words long may be edited down for length.
  
  
• Letters received by before before May 1st have the best chance of being included in one of this year's issues.

• Send your letter for Sword & Stationary to: [email protected]

Our goal is for this bring some of the great community spirit we have on our Discord out into the wider, NESS-reading world, and we hope to hear from you!

Keep your swords sharp and your sorcery numinous,

For NESS 2026 we still have 46 failed credit card charges, so you may wish to check if your pledge has gone through. 

If it hasn't, you can comment beneath this update and we'll respond, or perhaps first you can check out this help page for ways you may be able to resolve the issue yourself: https://help.backerkit.com/category/616-payment

Meanwhile the wheels keep turning on NESS 2026 but, as you can imagine, there isn't a lot more we can show you so soon after the crowdfund has ended...though we have got the vintage SFF magazine issues already in envelopes, ready to ship to the lovely folk who each made the made the pledge that unlocked a key stretch goal for us!



Those will go out some time in April.

Cheers,

IN SHORT

• WE FUNDED! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
  
  
• We unlocked every stretch goal, made a big crazy chart, then hit every stretch goal on that and then doubled the international shipping discount, why not???
  
  
• We unlocked every bonus story, piece of flash fiction, digital art background, a bonus poem, and Molly Tanzer's Jirel art booklet!
  
  
• Right now backers are being charged for their pledges.
  
  
• Backers will be charged for shipping approx. four weeks before fulfillment. This is also likely when surveys will be sent out to collect necessary information such as mailing addresses, though the surveys may come sooner.
  
  
• Our current goal for fulfillment is "Q4 2026", so expect to be charged for shipping in September at the earliest. Backers in Canada will have a $10 USD shipping discount, all other backers living outside the United States will have a $20 USD shipping discount.
  
  
• Enjoyed the TTRPGs we played in our livestreams?
  Then check out...
  DEFY THE GODS: https://hecticelectron.itch.io/defy-the-gods
  SWORDS WITHOUT MASTER: https://www.worldswithoutmaster.com/swords-without-master-about
  and DCC: THE DYING EARTH: https://goodman-games.com/store/product-category/dcc-setting-dying-earth/
  
  
• Some of our pals are doing cool stuff right now...
  Thorin, from last night's stream, has his RPG box set "SEEKERS OV THE OTHER WORLDS" funded and working on stretch goals. You could get that weird knife with an eye!
  https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/owl-knight-publishing/seekers-ov-the-other-worlds
  
  Meanwhile friend of the magazine James Mills, who has recently become such a champion of S&S in the Booktube scene, is crowdfunding a book he wrote: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/the-arcanist-fantasy-publishing-llc/old-sorcery-an-absurdist-epic-fantasy-novel
  
  
• Don't forget Swords Against!, whose crowdfund is still running! If you back both them and us you'll get that unique "Ace Double" zine with a story each by Bryn Hammond & Milton Davis...
  https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/mystic-bull-games/swords-against-the-swords-sorcery-fiction-magazine
  
  
• All backers are cordially invited to join our New Edge Sword & Sorcery Discord server through this link:
  https://discord.gg/HAjPqvxmDD
   
• Though we'll be much quieter for a little while, if you'd like more regular updates and other fun info, we can be followed on Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram. Keep an eye on them, or join our newsletter.

IN DETAIL

So everything wrapped, and then I napped, and several hours later....here I am! Normally I'd recuperate more before writing this update, however there's a very important, time-sensitive item further down I had to get out to you ASAP...



Fulfillment Schedule
We're once again playing it safe by saying that issues will be shipped out in "Q4" aka "October, November, or December". Already we're about a month ahead of schedule compared to last year, however who knows what challenges the year may bring?

When we're closer to shipping we will do our best to provide a more specific shipping date.



Please do join The New Edge Sword & Sorcery Discord, a great online hang-out that I'd love to see your digital faces in, a fun spot to chat about the magazine, Sword & Sorcery in general, and otherwise connect with your fellow readers, writers, artists, and more.

It's also a breeding ground for goofs like how Meatball Subs Are The Only Real Sandwich, and the only time I get to eat one is when we've finished funding another publication.

Reader, I had a good time wrestling this massive beast earlier today...while appreciating it's probably a good thing I limit myself to how many I have in a year!

Of all our friends we linked to in In Short, if you check just one out please make it the crowdfund for our sword-siblings at SWORDS AGAINST! magazine, and get yourself that "Ace Double" zine co-produced by the two editorial teams!

The crowdfund ends at 12pm EST, tomorrow aka Sunday, March 15th.

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/mystic-bull-games/swords-against-the-swords-sorcery-fiction-magazine 

Alright, that's all from me for now. Please make sure to read through IN SHORT for the practical details of what's happening with charging backers for pledges, charging for shipping, our rough schedule and more.

We have other exciting book projects planned for the rest of 2026 and with the success of this crowdfund you've put us in the position to make them as great as we possibly can. Thank you.

Normally I'd be more loquacious however I'm writing this while still feeling very, very stunned by all that's transpired. So for now I'll just say...you've brought us to incredible new heights, and I promise we'll work very hard to show our gratitude for that.

Keep your swords sharp, and your sorcery numinous!

Sincerely,

We've unlocked....

• Double Art
• $5 USD off shipping for Canadians
• $10 USD off shipping for everyone else outside the USA
• Two bonus stories
• A bonus poem
• Three bonus pieces of flash fiction
• Phone & desktop backgrounds using art from each of our three issues
• Six raises for Authors
• Six raises for Artists...

There's still time to unlock more raises, getting us to TRIPLE pay for contributors...and the final stretch goal we can even conceive of reaching, DOUBLE INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING DISCOUNT...

If you haven't already, please consider backing and sharing the campaign so we can pay our contributors as much as possible.

Meanwhile...

TONIGHT

Join us right here on the crowdfund page, up top where the trailer video sits, at 7pm EST to join our Final Friday Livestream party!

Not long after we start there will be a 20 min set of live music by Gloamwalker, followed a TTRPG liveplay of DCC: The Dying Earth as run by one of its designers, Julian Bernick!



And don't forget our crowdfund exclusives like...

• All backers get a two-sided poster featuring fun retro-style S&S photography with live, costumed models!
  
  
• Back issues are available at a discount as Add-Ons
  
  
• You can get our face drawn into a scene from a story! (Also available as an Add-On)
  
  
• There's one spot left if you'd like your short story to get a developmental edit from the editor of NESS!
  
  
• You don't pay shipping until close to when we send the finished books out, approximately November of this year. Breaks the cost up nicely!

Alright, let's take this thing all the way to the 21st Aeon!