Simulcast on Black Gate July 2nd 2026: Dark Muse News: Blue Fire: A Jirel of Joiry Novella
Blue Fire, a Jirel of Jory tale by Molly Tanzer (Brackenbury Books, 2026). Cover art by Saša Đurđević
In February 2025, Black Gate covered Molly
Tanzer's release of "Jirel
Meets Death" (published with permission from Moore's estate); and in
March 2026 Black Gate's Dark Muse News covered Tanzer's next
story, "Jirel
in the Forest of Night." These were brought to us by Brackenbury
Books, the same outfit that champions New Edge Sword & Sorcery
magazine.
And now, Dark Muse News (your biweekly Black Gate
blog) has coverage of Brackenbury Books' current campaign, bringing the
first-ever Jirel of Joiry book-length adventure to life (crowdfunding
launched June 11th, and is still ongoing).
Blue Fire begins with Jirel fighting a foe her
sword cannot smite: a terrible illness nobody can explain, let alone heal. Her
search for a cure takes her many miles across many worlds, encountering friends
and foes familiar and frightening!
Like Alice in Wonderland with a big f***ing sword, Jirel has
compelling adventures in bizarre dream-logic realms, balancing a rich emotional
life with terrifying struggles against dark forces! -- boasts Brackenbury
Books
Here ye, here ye. Read on to see:
- A
listing of the Jirel of Jory writings
- Excerpts
from Blue Fire
- Special
Perspectives from author Molly Tanzer, artist Saša Đurđević, and
editor Oliver Brackenbury
- Status
updates on the campaign
New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine – New Jirel
of Joiry! Does Jirel have your axe?
“Jirel in the Forest of Night”
back cover illustration by Saša Đurđević
Tour guide to the world of Jirel of Joiry
- “Black
God’s Kiss” (C.L. Moore, October 1934)
- “Black
God’s Shadow” (C.L. Moore, December 1934)
- “Jirel
Meets Magic” (C.L. Moore, July 1935)
- “The
Dark Land” (C.L. Moore, January 1936)
- “Quest
of the Starstone” (C.L. Moore with Henry Kuttner, November 1937)
- “Hellsgarde”
(C.L. Moore, April 1939)
- “Jirel
and the Mirror of Truth” (Molly Tanzer 2024)
- “Jirel
Meets Death” (Molly Tanzer 2025)
- “Jirel
in the Forest of Night” (Molly Tanzer 2026)
- "Blue
Fire" (Molly Tanzer 2026)
Blue Fire Art
Saša Đurđević did the Jirel cover for NESS Issue #3,
two more Jirel back cover illustrations for Issues #5 and #9, and that great
cover for Sometime Lofty Towers this time last year. Interior art will
include more top-notch, black-and-white illustrations and a map from Caster
Jones. Saprophial will return to do the frontispiece for the novella and, if
the campaign unlocks the Double Art stretch goal, a second full-page
illustration.
Interior B&W
art by Saprophial from the Jirel story in issue three, "Jirel and the
Mirror of Truth".
Sample map by Caster Jones. They will be doing a piece of fantasy cartography for Blue Fire; the sample here is the map they drew up for their father, Howard Andrew Jones's, Lord of a Shattered Land.[/caption]
Blue Fire Excerpt: Confronting Horror
“Who am I? Do you really not recognize me — Jirel of Joiry?”
The figure turned with agonizing slowness, revealing a face so white it was almost blinding in the darkness of the bone-pit, a whiteness so dazzling no shadows seemed to touch it. There was no real flesh upon that face, though it was not a skull — it was the face of a woman, thin and gaunt, but beautifully formed, framed by hair that was not red save in the flickering of Jirel’s candle. Her hair was black, as black as this unremembered tomb, and straight as the bones of the dead. It lay stark against her bloodless face and tumbled in long locks over the shoulders of the bleached-bone garment that hung on her narrow frame like a body from a gibbet. Jirel gasped as she felt a cold breeze that did not stir her hair. She recognized this creature. It was an enemy she had thought long since defeated — the corpse-witch of Romne!
Blue Fire Excerpt: Weird Melee
“Come now,” said the first one. “Seven on two? Those are hardly good odds. Give us what we want and we will leave you with your lives!”
Jirel spat. “You’ll be lucky to escape with yours!”
And with that, Joiry’s red lady ran at one of the strange monsters, slashing him across the chest — or rather, his face — before he could raise his club. He made a sound like a man and fell back, black blood spurting in great gouts from his strangely placed mouth. He dropped his club as he toppled over; no longer concerned with him, Jirel whirled and ran another monster through, just below what she supposed was his chin, where a man’s stomach might be.
“Wait!” wailed one of the Sons of the Giant, as Jirel bore down on him, her sword dripping. “Please!”
Jirel did not wait. Her blood was up, and there were still five more of these monsters. Seeing his pleading had no effect, the monster dropped his rock and began to run. Jirel overtook him easily and thrust her blade through his back.
Stepping on his lifeless body to withdraw her sword, Jirel whirled saw Gervase fending off the others with the knife he used for eating. Jirel was impressed he was keeping them at bay, but saw quickly that they did not seem eager to attack a man of the cloth. This did not soothe her rage — these devils might not wish to kill him, but robbing a priest and leaving him to starve was hardly more honorable.
“Have at thee, fiends!” she cried, and charged.
The monster in her sights threw up his arms at the last minute, knocking aside Jirel’s blade so it sank into the meat of his shoulder, not his face. He screamed as she yanked it back out. Before she could go in for a second strike, however, another of the band of brutes stepped in between them, holding up his hands in supplication.
“My lady, stop!” he shouted.
Molly Tanzer exclusive Black Gate blurb
Blue Fire is Jirel’s first novella-length adventure, which made writing it a bit intimidating! Not only would I need to keep up the same pacing, energy and forward motion as in my shorter Jirel stories, and do my best to keep honoring C.L. Moore and her amazing character... the truth is, I’ve never written a novella before. Not on purpose, at least!
This is probably a wild confession, as I literally just celebrated the release of my Tordotcom novella, the scifi art heist And Side by Side They Wander... but I wrote that intending it to be a novelette, and expanded it once I realized the story was too big. Same with my forthcoming folk horror novella, Ferry-Loupers. That started life as a novelette, too.
Blue Fire was different. I had a set of specific goals, aesthetic and practical. Oliver and I wanted the novella to be a potential entry point for new readers, as well as rewarding to longtime fans, and it needed to be between 30-35,000 words. It was thrilling to tackle this, though — I’ve been publishing for sixteen years, and one thing I love about this industry is there’s always something new, a challenge I’ve never encountered, a goal I’ve never considered. So I brought a bold, Jirel-like attitude to writing this project: I went at it head on, sword (keyboard?) out, fearlessly snarling. It was a hell of a lot of fun, and I think it worked... though ultimately, that’s up to the readers!
Links to Tanzer books: And
Side by Side They Wander and Speculative
historical mystery novella Ferry-Loupers
Saša Đurđević – Jirel of Joiry Sketches
Saša Đurđević - Artist Perspective in His Own Words
When I was first approached by the good folk over at New Edge Sword & Sorcery Magazine at the end of 2023 to illustrate the cover of issue 3 for the return of Jirel of Joiry with the story "Jirel and the Mirror of Truth" which was to be written by Molly Tanzer, I had only heard of this character for the first time, maybe just a couple of months before that.
Naturally, I was really excited about having the opportunity to work on such a classic character and I immediately picked up a collection of all the Jirel stories and read through them as I was working on the cover. The cover signifies Jirel's return after a long time, so we wanted to have her against a stark white background staring the viewer down. One suggestion by Oliver was to really emphasize her gold/amber eyes and almost lionine-like mane of fiery hair, which I was really on board with since it was an excellent way of visually separating her from the more well-known character of Red Sonja (who probably owes her existance to Jirel).
I also really wanted to work off the descriptions of Jirel's outfit in "Black Gods Kiss," her Roman greaves, simple tunic and a hauberk over it. Other than that, the rest of the elements I went with were to evoke a classic Fantasy look, something more magical and whimsical rather than grim. The red cloak, the chunky leather gloves and gold accessories all evoke that feeling for me. A lot of artists like to innovate and over-design their characters, but I think you can get great designs by working onto existing tropes. Jirel here evokes a classic fairy tale hero with a flowing red cape and mail armor, but her choice of leg armor and her fiery hair set her apart.
Since this first cover, I have worked on a couple of illustrations for the back of two New Edge issues that featured Jirel stories written by Molly Tanzer, "Jirel Meets Death" and "Jirel in the Forest of Night."
Most recently I had the pleasure of Illustrating the cover for the very first Jirel novella titled Blue Fire, written by Molly. This story brings back Thevin, Jirel's rogue friend, and a new character as well, which is why we wanted to feature all three of them on the cover, a classic S&S style composition with a blue flame framing the background and the title. My goal with the flame was to keep it as more of a graphic shape rather than render it realistically, and I think it will look delectable when readers get to gaze at their physical copies of the book.
I am grateful to have this opportunity to draw and paint the lady of Joiry. Magazines like New Edge are a real beacon to us artists in these times.
Oliver Brackenbury Reflection
My first conversations with the Moore estate were a little over three years ago and I'm very proud to have reached this point in relatively little time, working with them & Molly to help raise the profile of a classic S&S character. Between a third new story in our magazine, Blue Fire and the upcoming Penguin Random House collection of the classic Moore tales, 2026 is shaping up to be a great year for Jirel of Joiry!
Crowdfunding Updates:
Blue Fire funded in 21 hours and since then
has unlocked all kinds of upgrades for its readers, including:
- ART: A
second full page illustration by Saprophial, back cover art by Saša
Đurđević, as well as chapter heading illustrations and a custom dinkus,
and a one page bonus Jirel comic in the back of the book, illustrated by
Clade Mirya
- COLOR:
Spray color edges, whose color backers get to vote on
- MORE
AFFORDABLE SHIPPING: Discounted shipping for backers outside the
United States
The final stretch goal, currently being worked toward,
shares Blue Fire's success with the people who made it possible;
a pay bonus for the author & artists!
Also, note that all paperbacks readers get through the
crowdfund will be signed by Molly Tanzer!
Does Jirel have your axe? (Link to Backerkit)
S.E. Lindberg is Blackgate.com’s
Managing Editor, regularly reviewing books, interviewing authors, and running
Dark Muse News. He has led the Gen Con Writers' Symposium and the Goodreads
Sword & Sorcery Group; even interned for Tales from the Magician’s
Skull, and is Assistant Editor for Battleborn. He contributed eight
stories across Perseid Press’s Heroes in Hell & Heroika and
an entry for Weirdbook’s Zombies. He independently publishes Dyscrasia
Fiction®, stories of which have appeared in Whetstone and Swords
& Sorcery magazines, A Book of Blades (Vol. I and Vol. II), DMR’s
Terra Incognita, Tales From the Magician’s Skull, Savage Realms
Magazine, and Michael Stackpole's Chain Story 2 Project.
