A SFFH magazine with a focus on Welsh writers and stories. As for what Gwyllion means, in their own words: Gwyllion can be many things. The ghosts and spirits that haunt the halls at twilight, the dusk wanderers up to no good. The scoundrels and the miscreants. The wise old fae who take no nonsense from humans. Hags and witches, wisps and sprites, the gwyllion are every malevolent trickster that wanders the night in search of mischief. They are not your friends.
This issue has a mix of weird fantasy, thoughtful and existential sci fi, and tongue-in-cheek homages to gothic occultism. Below, I’ve highlighted the stories that edges closest to, in my view, Sword & Sorcery.
Get it from their website: https://gwyllionmagazine.com/product/gwyllion-issue-6-digital-download/ for a very affordable £3 ($3.78, 5.38 CAD, €3.62, ¥568).
A FLOWER CANNOT LOVE THE HAND
This enthralling tale by Aimee Ogden follows a child of the primordial god of sunlight, a being of flowers, forced into woman-shape by a Mage-King. This emotional story charts their journey to personhood, to an arranged marriage bed, before finally finding short-lived comfort in the arms of a hunter in need of late night sanctuary. The recurring question they ask themselves, and those around them, is “do I have a soul?”, and through that lens I found myself asking whether any of the characters had one.
Sword and Sorcery is often defined as outsider characters, magic with serious consequences, and personal stakes (plus many other expansive and conflicting themes); and this story shows the consequences from the perspective of the spell and their components. A quick read at 7 pages of A5, and thoroughly recommended.
THE WHITTLER
Renan Bernardo paints a haunting tale of a time just after creation, where things are made by beings called the Shapesayers, and those called the Whittlers remove words from the speech of the Shapesayers by carving it into their flesh. Within this story, we follow Jasmya, and outspoken Shapersayer, who is mourning the death of her lover at her own words, forever unable to speak his name again. Forced to obey the Whittler, lest she remove hope, family, and all good things from their lips; she builds the Whittler a lover, and in the building laces the new being with her anger and need for revenge.
A gripping personal story that handles the world-building and exposition deftly, before drowning you in the plight and agony of Jasmya, who ultimately shows that magic has dire consequences indeed. This story comes in at 12 pages of A5, and is worth the read.