Battleborn #1, June 2026“A Stone’s Throw” by Howard Andrew Jones
“Blood of the Oni” by C.L. Werner
“Jaguar’s Children” by Gregory D. Mele
“Vengeance Vow” by TJ Marquis
“To Boast of Victory” by Erik Waag
“Temple of the River King” by Lee Patton
“The Last Spell” (Part 1) by Schuyler Hernstrom (serial, not reviewed)
“The Fury’s Blade” by Robert Rhodes
“Pearls of the Vampire Queen” by Michael Shea (reprint, not reviewed)
Reviewed by Chuck Rothman
Battleborn is a new magazine dedicated to publishing traditional Sword and Sorcery. It starts out with a previously unpublished story by the late S&S master Howard Andrew Jones, “A Stone’s Throw,” about his hero Hanuvar, who is shown having defeated an assassin sent by Arkif, a wizard. Hanuvar is led to Arkif to understand the reason. The story doesn’t do much to develop the character (though since this was intended to be the beginning of another novel in a series, it probably doesn’t need to), but just a vignette, with the result a bit too easy. It would work better as it was probably intended, as a first chapter.
“Blood of the Oni” by C.L. Werner is set in a Japanese-influenced world, which is a nice change from the Eurocentric settings in many fantasies. Shintaro Oba is a samurai who comes across a woman being burned as a witch and stops the execution. It turns out there’s a demon in the forest and the woman, Noriko, is blamed for it, and for good reason, since the demon Sasorinezu has taken her over and commits murders. Oba must figure out how to drive out Sasorinezu. It is an interesting situation with some good twists.
Gregory D. Mele’s “Jaguar’s Children” shows Gayán, who captains a ship that ran aground in a storm. Leading the ship is Kekrops, who has brought with him a precious bird to present to the emperor. The pirate Sarumos finds them as they become targets for the River People, known as “Jaguar’s Children,” and comes to an agreement to help in the fight. Much of the story describes the fighting. Sarumos seems to be a recurring character, and is an Errol-Flynn-like swashbuckler. He gives the story its life.
“Vengeance Vow” by TJ Marquis is a story about the assassin Jain, who comes to the Festival of the Long Sun to kill King Ahmulah III. The story describes the attempt in detail. The problem with the story is that Jain has no problems doing so and outwits everyone, though there is somewhat of a twist at the end.
Erik Waag contributes “To Boast of Victory,” where Skarde and Bulgeti, after a drunken boast, go out to capture a fortress that their army is currently besieging. The story is filled with bombast as we see how two of them succeed when others couldn’t, but I found it all too convenient.
“Temple of the River King” by Lee Patton has its hero, Izrak the mercenary hired by King Damir to rescue his daughter Zemfira from the river king Tsavod. Which he does. The problem with the story is that Izrak has too much plot armor and dispatches various dangers without any real sense of risk and without any emotional depth.
Robert Rhodes contributed “The Fury’s Blade” where Bianca and her apprentice Gabriela are warriors for a religious sect, out to find the thief who stole important relics from them. It leads them to the port city of Velifar to find the thief is dead already, and that someone else is the real mastermind. Not a bad adventure story, and Gabriela is decently drawn as a character.
I think the issue suffers from too much sword and not enough sorcery, with too many stories about people who set out on a mission and suffer little in accomplishing it.
Chuck Rothman’s novel The Cadaver Princess is out from Amazing Stories Selects. He’s online at chuckrothman.com and blogs at greatbutforgotten.blogspot.com