2026 read #47: A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon.

A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon

Translated by Anton Hur

Illustrated by Kim Sanho 

175 pages

Published 2022 (English translation published 2024)

Read from September 11 to September 15

Rating: 3 out of 5

This book has a solid story concept, and it has an outstanding title. The title promises an entirely different story from the one we get, though. Didn’t you picture a magical girl, plagued by defeats and disappointments, moving on to a more mundane life, perhaps in a humorous commentary on society? This brief novel offers humorous social commentary, but the story is about a woman defeated and disappointed by the mundane world discovering her own magical girl powers at 29. To my mind, at any rate, the title and the story move in opposite directions.

Still, I enjoyed A Magical Girl Retires. I wish there had been a bit more to the story; like most novels this length, it winds up feeling rushed and a bit shallow, barely developing any character aside from the narrator. But it accomplishes what it sets out to do.

2026 read #46: Scenes from Prehistoric Life by Francis Pryor.

Scenes from Prehistoric Life: From the Ice Age to the Coming of the Romans by Francis Pryor

325 pages

Published 2021

Read from August 28 to September 11

Rating: 3 out of 5

I knew I’d have issues with this author in the introduction, when he pointedly used BC in place of BCE. The first chapter confirmed it, as he refused to entertain the notion that Stone Age flint-knappers and kill-butchers could be anything other than male.

These fusty attitudes predisposed me to dislike Pryor’s narration, which certainly reads like a television presenter’s voice. He sometimes spends more time digressing about his own life and experiences as a rural sheep farmer than he does documenting sites and explaining landscapes. You can just imagine it as a relatable voice-over to make the past real for the pub-going masses.

Still, there’s some fascinating stuff here. I love both landscape archaeology and experimental archaeology, and Pryor brings viewpoints from both to the prehistoric sweep of Britain. Pryor has a tendency to present an analogy from modern anthropology or contemporary rural life and treat it as convincing, without much in the way of evidence. But as an exercise in thinking about bygone life and ancient conceptualizations of landscape, it’s a fine starting point.

2026 read #45: New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine: Issue 4.

New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine: Issue 4

Edited by Oliver Brackenbury (1:4)

80 pages

Published 2024

Read from August 31 to September 3

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

It’s been a hell of a bad summer. Fixation on a new partner, followed by lingering heartbreak after the relationship abruptly ended. Not to mention our rapid decline as a nation to new depths of fascism, and the escalating natural disasters as our planet reaches the climate tipping point. The last issue of New Edge that I read was way back in May, and I’ve only read like fourteen books since then. It’s been a bad time.

I’ve been putting off this issue for a while, then. Don’t know why, other than sometimes my ADHD rebels and refuses to indulge my autism’s hyperfocuses. Demand avoidance gets so much worse when I feel stressed and overwhelmed. Regardless, I’m looking forward to new installments from Jonathan Olfert, Dariel R. A. Quiogue, and June Orchid Parker, and also I spy a byline from Harry Turtledove, so this should be a fun time.

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“Gaze Upon the Beating Dark” by Jeremy Pak Nelson. I found this one a bit slow paced (fans of classic MST3K will understand the perils of extended rock climbing scenes), but ultimately it proved to be weird and enjoyable. It was nice to see an older couple in a starring role.

“White in the Eye” by Jonathan Olfert. A vivid and absorbing tale of sorcery and exploitation that (pun intended) hits the ground running. Fluent and satisfying.

“The Concord of the Outhar” by Kirk A. Johnson. Solidly enjoyable Sword & Soul tale.

“A Portrait in Ivory” by Michael Moorcock. This might be my favorite of the (admittedly few) Elric of Melniboné stories I’ve read so far. It’s also the farthest from Sword & Sorcery of any I’ve read so far. Elric even leaves his sword behind as he sits for a possibly sacrilegious bust.

“Hunter” by Oliver Brackenbury. I can recycle my review of Brackenbury’s “Something Oath-Like,” his story in issue 3: “Included as a fundraising reward, this piece from the editor is a bit busy and breathless, penned in the voice of someone who’s read a lot but hasn’t necessarily written much fiction on a professional level.” I can assure you we don’t need onomatopoeia transcribing our heroine’s breathing.

“The Jesting Jann” by Harry Turtledove. Turtledove can feel like a well-meaning liberal uncle who perhaps doesn’t understand the expectations of sensitivity in our present era. I love this story’s setting, the seldom-talked-about period of Jewish and Christian strife in 6th century Arabia. It isn’t much of a Sword & Sorcery tale to my mind, but it’s mostly enjoyable until the historian’s groaner at the end.

“Battle of the Nine Waters” by Dariel R. A. Quiogue. Another rip-roaring Orhan adventure, as we’ve come to expect from Quiogue. This installment reminds me quite a bit of classic Conan, as pseudohistorical geopolitics and warfare intersect with necromancy and death worms. My favorite story so far this issue.

“A Serpent from the Ash” by June Orchid Parker. This story of Astartha is built around a particularly blunt allegory, but it works magnificently (and movingly). Plus we get a Big Snake, always a welcome addition to any S&S tale.

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Moving on to the nonfiction selections of this issue.

First, we get another biographical sketch from Cora Buhlert: “Tanith Lee: Mistress of the Weird.” I’ve loved every Lee story I’ve read, but I have yet to make any concerted effort to read her books, in large part because they’re so expensive nowadays. (I miss when they filled shelves at Half Price Books.) Interesting as always.

Next, an essay from Nathaniel Webb: “Axes at the End of History: Sword & Sorcery & Heavy Metal.” Webb’s central thesis is that both genres are working class outsider art.

The inevitable interview from editor Brackenbury follows: “Lofty Heights and Profound Depths: An Interview with Bryn Hammond.” This is the first interview that is original to the magazine and not a transcription from Brackenbury’s podcast. I would love to be this conversant with the history of my genres. Good interview. Hammond’s responses gave me a lot to think about while crafting my own upcoming S&S.

Lastly, a book review from Doris V. Sutherland: “Review: Swords in the Shadows, Edited by Cullen Bunn.” It’s an anthology of Sword & Sorcery horror, which is always a fun mix (and one true to the subgenre’s roots). 

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And that’s it! Kind of silly that I put this off for so long, but then, my behavior since April has been kind of silly. (NRE hits doubly hard when your lover has BPD, and the crash is three times worse than usual.) Glad I finally got around to reading it!