Simulcast on Blackgate:Dark Muse News: Sword & Sorcery Chain Story (#24-#28)
In August 2025, we hailed the emergence of a second Chain
Story project championed by Michael A. Stackpole. This is a Sword &
Sorcery-focused, contagious set of connected (“chained”) stories.
Each is:
- A
standalone tale
- Readable
in any order
- Free
to read! (for at least three months from its posting date)
- Interconnected
via a theme involving a Crown
We round up groups every several weeks, but check
the Chain Story website
for the latest. Here we highlight the latest set of five, Episodes 24-28.
#28 Damage
And Alatra In The Tower of True Love
Jason Fry (Star Wars The Last Jedi novelization) and
Bryan Young (BattleTech: Ghosts of Timkovichi), working in a universe
created by blockbuster LitRPG author Luke Chlimenko, have collaborated to offer
a story that is both a part of the chain, with an interesting tie to the story
of Tarru-Syn, and a sneak-peak at their upcoming collaboration in a new sword
and sorcery world.
#27 The
Krells of Tancras Moor by Michael Stackpole
A tale of revenge in pursuit of redemption.
#26 The
Evil Eye by James D. Mills
A brilliant Bronze Age tale of wishes, evil, and the
consequences when they are intertwined,
#25 Pigborne by Thomas Grayfson
Malion, a warrior of porcine origin, enters the Nexus
Dimension with a coterie of compatriots, intent on destroying an ensorcelled
sapphire before it consumes all life in his home.
#24 Duel
at High Moon by Alina Lee
This is the second adventure for Rowan Grim, mystical
wanderer in the Badlands—and in this tale the locale has certainly earned its
name.
Previous Black Gate posts have chronicled
groups of the growing chain:
- The
Chain Story 2 – Sword and Sorcery – Episodes 1 – 3 (Aug
2025)
- The
Chain Story 2 – Sword and Sorcery – Episodes 4 – 8 (Oct
2025)
- The
Chain Story 2 – Sword and Sorcery – Episodes 9 – 13 (Nov 2025)
- The
Chain Story 2 — Sword and Sorcery – Episodes 14 – 18 (Feb 2026)
- The
Chain Story 2 — Sword and Sorcery — Episides 19-12 (May 2026)
The Chain Story:
|
Entry |
Chain_Post_Date |
Story |
Author(s) |
Abstract |
|
28 |
Bryan Young, |
Damage and Alatra are opposites in every way. thrown
together as a gladiator pair and bound by the interaction of their talents so
that they can't be more than four paces apart. Together, they must navigate
the perils of the Blood Crown and a dangerous world marked by brutality and
sorcery. In the The Tower of True Love, they get a break from the gladiator
pits and have been loaned out to protect a traveling caravan. In their
travels, they stumble across a mysterious tower that could prove a
vulnerability to their employ and are forced to investigate. They get far
more than they bargained for when they discover the tower is cursed and they
must complete a series of mystical tests to survive. |
||
|
27 |
Michael Stackpole |
Enemies destroyed Black Morgan of Aldare’s life through
deception and guile. They tricked him into shattering everything, everyone,
he loved. |
||
|
26 |
James D. Mills |
Gora Younger, the First Son of the Chieftain is exiled
from his village in the Great Cave after vainly pursuing his betrothed, who
left him to live beneath the sky. After years sealed away in the dark, Gora
is summoned home to investigate a demonic presence that has taken the tribe’s
best warriors and afflicted the Chieftain with a strange malady, slowly
turning his flesh to stone. Diving into uncharted depths alongside a healer
from a strange city, Gora must dispel a curse that has long shackled his people…
and his soul. |
||
|
25 |
Thomas Grayfson |
Captain Malion is one of the last defenders of Genlina, an
animal kingdom reduced to feral instinct by the sapphire of Tarru-Syn. As his
mission into the Nexus Dimension unravels and his comrades are irrevocably
transformed, he must decide what he is willing to sacrifice to reclaim his
world. A grimdark animal fantasy in the spirit of Redwall,
Pigborne is a brutal tale of loyalty and ruin. |
||
|
24 |
Alina Lee |
Rowan Grim’s fearful hunger is sated, at least for a bit,
so her only desire is for a hot meal, a warm bath, deep sleep and perhaps a
dream. Galant’s Gultch looks like the town that can provide all that and even
a little whiskey. But there are forces in the town which see her as
something more than a weary traveler. They think she will sate a hunger they
have. And, under the Scarlet Moon, the truth of the matter will be revealed. |
||
|
23 |
James D. Mills |
IN THE WASTES, ALL ARE FODDER FOR PAN. In a return to the
world of SOIL and Ashen Rider, Hromgir and Arvid of Clan Sparrow are on the
run after a raid gone wrong. Braving the frozen wastes of the northern coast,
they must reach the mountain pass to escape the Wystran riders close on their
heels. Hiding from the riders, they take shelter in the depths of a strange
cave, unearthing otherworldly horrors better left buried.... |
||
|
22 |
Aaron Canton |
A trio of student witches head off on a dangerous
adventure to obtain a powerful artifact—aiming to retrieve it and keep it out
of the hands of sinister forces. |
||
|
21 |
Alina Lee |
Rowan Grim’s world is one which is long on places you
don’t want to travel to, and few people return from. But what is out there
draws her, and she willingly embraces the challenges which have devoured so
many others. |
||
|
20 |
Bryan Young |
Now returned to Nightfall Forest, and in the company of
the fox bard Ashley, Pip finds the hamlet of Riveroak ablaze. The mouse
knight, his war cat, and companion race to quench the fires and hunt the
leader of the crow cult, intent on putting an end to her evil. |
||
|
19 |
Jason M. Waltz |
Direk, wielder of the magickal sword Retribution, has been
dispatched to destroy an old enemy at the behest of his King. In his pursuit
he encounters a newly awakened power which challenges his knowledge of the
world, and threatens to up end all he knows to be true. |
||
|
18 |
Bryan Young |
As with all good heroes, Pip does not shrink from danger
and adventure. Still, there are times when it would be good to relax at home.
But Pip is far from home, and is searching for a powerful sorceress who can
help him on his way. |
||
|
17 |
Malcolm T. North |
To reach her, however, he’ll have to venture through the
Chaos Realm and, as every true hero knows if you undertake that journey
lightly, it will end quickly. But Pip has no choice, and therein our
adventure begins. |
||
|
16 |
C. L. Werner |
A forbidden ritual conducted in secret, bathed in blood
and death enables a demon to grasp unimaginable power—the power to destroy
all enemies and raise himself above all others. |
||
|
15 |
Bryan Young |
A Samurai, whose duty calls for him to hunt down such a
creature. A destiny he must pursue even as the world burns around him. |
||
|
14 |
Katherine Monasterio |
Forest Ranger Hazel Boncliff is a Green Speaker, a person
with the magical ability to commune with plants. When the king summons Hazel
and her assistant to the capital to heal the strange blight affecting his
hunting grounds, she’s reluctant to help—least of all because he’s insisting
his inexperienced secretary go along for the journey. But with a reward she
can’t refuse and the blight’s effects more harrowing by the moment, she’ll
take all the help she can get. |
||
|
13 |
Bryan Young |
A chance meeting in the dark forest. A tale of woe and
injustice. |
||
|
12 |
Michael Stackpole |
Chased into a swamp by homicidal cultists, Kellach and
Serinna encounter a fire mage who saves their lives, and then leads them on
an adventure that is sure to get them killed. |
||
|
11 |
Robert Greenberger |
Something drew the mage onward, always toward the
northwest, through restless evenings and dark dreams of ill portent. Yet when
Jareth’s traveling companion, the swordswoman Talin, asks him why, he has no
idea. |
||
|
10 |
Aaron Rosenberg |
She came to them spinning a tale of woe. An army of undead
lay siege to the Manor she called home. She had barely escaped and sough
adventurers brave enough to free her people. |
||
|
9 |
Bryan Young |
Shield Maiden and legendary sleuth Sister Agatha,
accompanied by her faithful initiate, Brother Dominguez, sought to enjoy
peace and quiet at the Monastery of St. Maryam.Despite their desires,
they soon find themselves investigating twin murders. Murders which become
all that much more bizarre when the name Tarru-Syn turns up, and their search
leads them into the very bowels of the earth, to face a foe from beyond their
reality. |
||
|
8 |
Michael Stackpole |
Dancillius Hrekt is fairly new to the world of Monster
Fighting. All he wants to do is to make a good impression with his
peers. And all they want is for him and his best friend to die. |
||
|
7 |
Thomas Grayfson |
In this new Kavion adventure, our tormented knight clings
to the last threads of family and sanity as he navigates the mysterious
Village of Morvoss. Haunted by fractured memories, he must confront the
darkness around him—and within. |
||
|
6 |
Joan Marie Verba |
In this tale from the Chronicles of the Library of
Sorcery, the sorcerers investigate a dangerous magical artifact of mysterious
origin. Can the sorcerers uncover the truth?Sorcerer Serena is called to
investigate an enormous, carnivorous plant. She finds that a mysterious
magical artifact is behind the phenomenon. To find out where the artifact
came from and what its properties might be, she consults the Library of
Sorcery, where she uncovers the answers, but not on the Library shelves. Can
the artifact be banished from the sorcerous regions before it becomes a more
deathly threat? |
||
|
5 |
S.E. Lindberg |
Doktor Grave sends Brood to recover a crown from the Red
Orchard, only for Brood to find it is the source of a bloody plague caused by
Grave’s experiments. Facing vampiric plants and their loyal clan, Brood must
confront his past and question whether he can trust Grave or escape the
nightmare himself. |
||
|
4 |
Rigel Ailur |
Two wizards search desperately for a way to stave off a
vicious magical-musical attack before the dragons succumb. A powerful
relic ancient beyond memory calls to them, but do they dare use it? |
||
|
3 |
Bryan Young |
A dying robber hands Laila and Zaki a mysterious artifact
in the middle of a fae-haunted wood. “Danger,” the robber manages before
dying. Suddenly sister and brother find themselves safeguarding an unwanted
gift—on the run for their lives in the Forest of the Fallen Colossus. |
||
|
2 |
Michael Stackpole |
The man hadn’t died easily.A smoking hole sat where his
heart should have been. Terror twisted his features, and he clutched an
emerald reeking of magick as if would somehow save him. Neryon and
Magistrate-Martial Logan find themselves in a race to find the killer before
he has a chance to harvest more victims. But, with the amount of power used
on his first target, there was a big gulf between finding and stopping; and
no guarantee he wouldn’t kill them, too. |
||
|
1 |
Robert E. Vardeman |
Her vengeance became elemental! The Conqueror-King's
minion murdered her pirate husband. The Lady Rennata was condemned to
follow him into a watery grave—until wind and wave swept her to a magical
blade that commands all of Nature. |
S.E. Lindberg is a Managing Editor
at Black Gate, regularly
reviewing books and interviewing
authors on the topic of “Beauty & Art in Weird-Fantasy Fiction.”
He has taken lead roles organizing the Gen Con Writers’ Symposium (chairing it
in 2023), is the lead moderator of the Goodreads
Sword & Sorcery Group, and was an intern for Tales from
the Magician’s Skull magazine. As for crafting stories, he has
contributed eight entries across Perseid Press’s
Heroes in Hell and Heroika series, and has an entry in Weirdbook
Annual #3: Zombies. He independently publishes novels under the
banner Dyscrasia
Fiction; short stories of Dyscrasia Fiction have appeared in Whetstone Amateur S&S Magazine, Swords &
Sorcery online magazine, Rogues In the House Podcast’s A
Book of Blades Vol I & II, DMR’s Terra Incognita, the
9th issue of Tales From the Magician’s Skull, Savage
Realms Magazine, and Michael Stackpole’s S&S Chain Story
2 Project.
