Dark Muse News: Battleborn Magazine Issues 2 and 3

Simulcast on Black Gate: Dark Muse News: Battleborn Magazine Issues 2 and 3

[LEFT] Battleborn issue #1 (cover art by Samuel Dillon); [CENTER] Interior Art for "Jaguar's Children" by Greg Mele (artist Babeto Daroz); [RIGHT] art for Lee Patton's "Temple of the River King."

Black Gate has covered the inception of Battleborn magazine as it spawned from an August 2025 crowdfunding on Indiegogo. Columnist and author Mark Rigney interviewed the champion and chief editor Sean CW Korsgaard over three segments: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Too much ground to recap here, but we can highlight that the goal of the magazine is to blend contemporary Sword & Sorcery with reprints of classics (beyond Robert E. Howard, there will be Michael Shea, David Drake, and even more....that we 'kane't' wait to share the identities of!)

Sean CW Korsgaard is not to be confused with the Commander of Battleborn Magazine. This character is akin to the Skull from Tales from the Magician's Skull, and he is as rough as the skeletal icon, but perhaps a bit easier on his interns. The Commander has provided his sacred guidance below.

Battleborn Magazine

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Battleborn is an upcoming action-packed sword and sorcery magazine curated by Sean CW Korsgaard and published by IronAge Media. Read this to learn the scope of this supercharged magazine, the crowdfunding campaign needed to make it a reality (Indiegogo Aug 1st!), and learn Black Gate Exclusive scoops!

As an editor at Baen, Sean CW Korsgaard championed the Hanuvar series, and was mentored by the author, the late Howard Andrew Jones.  Sean CW Korsgaard states that Battleborn is emulating Howard's run on Tales from the Magician's Skull, both in style and in terms of authors and artists tapped. The magazine will feature a new Hanuvar tale from the late author, and from first issue to last issue, this will be on the masthead: "Howard Andrew Jones - Editor Emeritus."

Expect:

• Contemporary authors
• Classic reprints
• And, perhaps adding to a Heavy Metal flair, each issue will have a short comic crafted by Schyler Hernstrom.
• If all stretch goals are met, they will have room for 20k words more per issue... which WILL be open to submissions.