WHETSTONE is an amateur magazine that seeks to discover, inspire, and publish emerging authors who are enthusiastic about the tradition of “pulp sword and sorcery.” Writers in this tradition include (but are not limited to) the following: Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, Michael Moorcock, Karl Edward Wagner, David C. Smith, and many more. “Pulp sword and sorcery” emphasizes active protagonists, supernatural menaces, and preindustrial (mostly ancient and medieval) settings. Some “pulp sword and sorcery” straddles the line between historical and fantasy fiction; at Whetstone, however, we emphatically prefer “secondary world settings,” other worlds liberated from the necessity of historical accuracy. Published by Spiral Tower Press.
Managing Editor: Jason Ray Carney is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English of Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia. He is the co-editor of the academic journal The Dark Man: Journal of Robert E. Howard and Pulp Studies and the area chair of the "Pulp Studies" section of the Popular Culture Association. He serves as the Academic Coordinator for the Robert E. Howard Foundation. He is the author of Weird Tales of Modernity (McFarland Press) and Rakefire and Other Stories (Pulp Hero Press).
Associate Editor: Chuck E. Clark lives in Southern Wisconsin with his wife and four children. He graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Political Science degree, apprenticed as a jeweler, joined the navy, and now fixes laser microscopes. He has been published in Whetstone and The August Derleth Society's newsletter, Sage of Sac Prairie. He loves collecting rocks, books, and whiskey.
Associate Editor: Luke E. Dodd is a scientist, devourer of music, and collector of hobbies. He is one of the three hosts of The Cromcast, a podcast dedicated to the works of Robert E. Howard and other weird fiction. He lives in Kentucky with his wife and son.
First Reader: Chase A. Folmar is a writer of all forms of speculative fiction, particularly in the vein of weird fantasy and horror. The central philosophy behind much of his work can be expressed most eloquently by weird fiction author Clark Ashton Smith, who wrote, “Only the impossible has any real charm; the possible has been vulgarized by happening too often.” A graduate of English Literature from the University of North Carolina at Asheville, he currently lives in Virginia with his wife and their horde of rescued pets. You can find all of his writings and other works on his website, www.chaseafolmar.com.
Reader: Nicole Emmelhainz is Associate Professor of Composition and Rhetoric at Christopher Newport University, where she also directs the Alice F. Randall Writing Center and serves as Writing Program Administer. She received her MA in English from Ball State University, her MA in Creative Writing Poetry from Ohio University, and her PhD in Writing History and Theory from Case Western Reserve University. She is the co-editor for The Dark Man: Journal of Robert E. Howard and Pulp Studies and has presented widely on elements of pulp fiction, sword and sorcery, and feminism.
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Updated 8/27/23
