Fanfiction.net is fun, and DeviantArt is cool, but there's still something rather special and thrilling in getting a packet of your pals’ efforts in the mail. This is why I've been a member of an old-fashioned print Apa, Sord&Sworcery, for, um, a long time) And how does that work? Well, each member makes up a section, or trib, and then copies off sufficient for everyone else in the group to have one; the editor gathers these together, collates them, and sends one set of everyone's efforts to each member. It's sort of like a cookie exchange, except not as fattening;)

Founded by Marg Baskin and Heather Bruton, Sord&Sworcery is was^[1] an old-fashioned print science fiction, fantasy and horror apa, which will be celebrating its twentieth anniversary with the Autumn Equinox (Fall 2010) issue. Over the years, Pat McCoy and yours truly (99–06) served as the editor; right now that honor is held by the very talented Bonnie Reitz, who both draws and writes. She says:

My Alphonse Mucha inspired cover. I absolutely adore his stuff, and in this image was attempting to do a variation with my own flower drawings. Yeesh, this goes all the way back to 2007—how time flies... Also, um, gee, looking at it now, I really have learnt a lot...

Fantasy, vampires, magic, space opera. Pretty much anything goes.^[2] Art. We need artists and art. A trib can be all or mostly art if they want. Science articles, humor stuff. A mixed bag.

Just as an example, I've included fiction, reviews (usually of sf&f), and art. We have folks who write only, others who do art only (including maps:)—that's fine. Other contributors have experimented with poetry, stamping, even stickers. We usually also comment on each other's offerings, which can range anywhere from ‘nice job’ to serious, in-depth critiques (this is determined by the member.) Any claims to understanding how to plot has pretty much come out of the feedback I've gotten over the years, so not only has S&S been fun, it's been educational, and helped me considerably as a writer, as well.

2nd in the series (2010). Unlike the prior effort this is entirely my own work (with substantial help from the wizard, who kindly flipped the image for me—the original ink was only half drawn. —The x-shaped spray of flowers behind Dacian was a lucky accident that I decided to keep. Btw, since Mucha's works are in the public domain, and mine are CC-licensed you're perfectly welcome to cut out Dacian & Kate, and use the borders, though I'm afraid my interlace down on the bottom is considerably clunkier than Mucha's —hey, still learning!)

S&S goes out 4x a year, with deadlines at the Equinoxes and Solstices. Dues are about $20 for US postal customers, and more for international members. I like to think that our group is friendly, inclusive, covering a broad range of artistic and literary styles, ranging from poetry to old-fashioned pulp serials to ‘stream-of-consciousness’; members working in visual media cover a similarly wide range of styles, everything from silverpoint to CGI.

We have openings. Alas, S&S is no more. But I'll always be thankful for its deadlines that forced me to write fiction regularly. I did eventually get the idea, sort of. 12jan2020: substituted apa with fantasy tag.

page created summer? 06; (substantially) updated 06oct06; updated again, 18feb2010; and again 18jul2010; and again, 27apr14.

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.