Tales From the Magician's Skull No. 1

Tales From the Magician’s Skull is a fantasy magazine dedicated to presenting all-new sword-and-sorcery fiction by the finest modern crafters in the genre. These stories are the real thing, crammed with sword-swinging action, dark sorceries, dread, and ferocious monsters — and they hurtle forward at a headlong pace.

Issue #1 features fiction by James Enge, John C. Hocking, Howard Andrew Jones, Aeryn Rudel, Bill Ward, C. L. Werner, and Chris Willrich. The magazine is edited by Howard Andrew Jones and published by Joseph Goodman of Goodman Games, with layout by Lester B. Portly.

Each story is lovingly illustrated by industry stalwarts, and issue #1 features art by Jennell Jaquays, Doug Kovacs, Willam McAusland, Brad McDevitt, Ian Miller, Russ Nicholson, and Stefan Poag.

Here are the stories in the first issue:

What Lies in Ice, by Chris Willrich

It seemed a simple matter – all they had to do was outrun the iceberg. Except that the iceberg followed after, from time to time sending severed hands scrabbling onto their deck to choke the life from them. If they were to survive, Gaunt and Bone and their comrades would have to brave the depths of the iceberg, where the tower of a power-mad wizard had been entombed for millennia.

It would require all the razor-honed skills at their disposal to infiltrate the ice and confront the horrific sentience that yet survived. And some of them wouldn’t be getting out alive…

The Guild of Silent Men, by James Enge

They came for Morlock at dusk, for aid with a grim and terrible problem. A guildsman had killed his opponent then slain himself with multiple knife wounds, his face frozen in a rictus of horror.

Others might have judged the case open and closed, but Morlock soon began to suspect other hands had been involved. Worse, the deeper his investigation went, the more he was certain he himself was in deadly peril.

Beneath the Bay of Black Waters, by Bill Ward

When Commissioner Shan and General Bao set out to destroy the cutthroats behind the addictive and deadly Black Pearls, they knew they’d be challenged at every turn. But they could never have known the terrible discoveries that lay before them, or guessed at what lurked beneath the waves. Soon they were locked in a savage fight for the soul of their city, two men in retreat with a bedraggled guard force against hordes upon hordes of creatures from the deep…

Beyond the Block, by Aeryn Rudel

Matthias had but one morning left him, and it would end with a blow from the headman’s axe. He’d fought to free his sister and dethrone a sorcerous tyrant, but he was outnumbered and alone.

And then his sister’s agents offered him a choice. They couldn’t get him past the guards, but they knew a way he could seek his vengeance. So long as he didn’t mind waiting until after his date with the chopping block…

Crypt of Stars, by Howard Andrew Jones

The Dervan Empire pecked at the sun blasted rocks with an army of slaves, determined to recover the fabled wealth of Volanus. Secure in their power, they worried only about delays. Even if they’d known that the last great general of Volanus was alive and free, why should they fear Hanuvar Cabera? He had no armies left him. What could a single man hope to accomplish against an entire garrison?

But then they had never reckoned with the secrets held within the crypt of stars.

There Was an Old Fat Spider, by C. L. Werner

Karl didn’t want much – just enough coin to purchase a bed each night, just a little luck so that his animal traps weren’t spoiled. Once he’d been a skilled carver with connections to royalty. Now he was a vagabond trapper. Mocked, bullied, and abused by the townsfolk, even the woman he loved could barely stand the sight of him.

And then a chance encounter led him to a dark, webbed grove, where he found a gruesome ally and began to hatch a sinister plan…

The Crystal Sickle’s Harvest, by John C. Hocking

The King’s Hand was the king’s most feared agent, the grim troubleshooter dispatched when subtlety and speed were paramount. It seemed like his apprentice Benhus might finally be able to prove his worth when the two discovered someone had crept into the royal cemetery.

But they quickly learned that they faced no common grave robbers. For someone had broken into the crypt of the king’s sister, a woman whispered to have mastered the darkest of arts…