S4 E7: Sword & Sorcery & Oliver Brackenbury
Before Frodo left the Shire, Conan the Barbarian was cutting his way through Weird Tales. This week I'm digging into sword and sorcery with someone who lives and breathes it: Oliver Brackenbury, editor and publisher of New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine.
We start at the beginning — the 1930s pulp magazines where the subgenre was born, and its tangled family tree with pulp horror. Then we get into what actually separates sword and sorcery from the fantasy you see dominating shelves and screens today. Why is Conan a different animal than Aragorn?
From there we talk about where the genre's headed: how sword and sorcery has cracked open to make room for new voices and new traditions, like Sword and Soul. Oliver walks me through how he found his way into this world in the first place, and lays out his vision for where sword and sorcery goes from here.
You can learn more about Oliver’s magazine, New Edge Sword and Sorcery, at https://newedgeswordandsorcery.com and to support Oliver’s publishing of new S&S fiction, you can donate HERE
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