Heroic Fantasy Quarterly–Q38

Fall has clamped down hard on our part of the world, bringing relief from the summer’s relentless heat. And now, HFQ brings you relief from the long nights to come in the waning of the year!  Four stories, three poems, artwork, and audio!  A literary feast, spread before you in our electronic pages.  Behold the menu:

11/25/18 update!  Robert Zoltan’s Rogues of Merth is now available for purchase.  Click on the ad to the right!

Fiction Contents

Prerogative of the Gods, by Nathanael Green. A servant of the God of Justice learns that the boundary between justice and revenge can be thin indeed. Audio version read by Karen Bovenmeyer.

Raft of Conquistadors, by Raphael Ordoñez. Vagabond conquistador Francisco Carvajal is back in the electronic pages of HFQ! Travelling this time with fellow Spaniards, Carvajal finds himself again embroiled in ancient cosmic horrors.  Carvajal’s previous adventures include “White Rainbow, Brown Devil“,  I am Become Death, Destroyer of Worlds , and Heart of Tashyas.

The Bells of Bel-Hazir, by Michelle Muenzler. HFQ alum Michelle Muenzler is back with another powerful tale of obsession and madness.  Listen, and pray you don’t hear the bells of Bel-Hazir!  Michelle’s story “Advice on the Slaying of Wurms” was reprinted in our Best-of Volume II .

The Vault of Sowdek, by Seth Skorkowsky. Skorkowsky’s Black Raven lands at HFQ for the first time. As plague devastates the land, Ahren must infiltrate the fortress of Sowdek and escape with a valuable prize for his shadowy employers.  Intrigues and adventure await! With artwork by Miguel Santos.

 

Poetry Contents

Blossom, by Deborah Davitt. Do not be fooled by the title, this is a very grown-up poem. A bustle in your hedgerow, so to speak.  Audio version by the author.

Between Battles, by Mary Soon Lee. Lee’s tales of the struggles of King Xau continue!  Even with a successful campaign, fought for all the right reasons, there are moments when the weight of command and decisions become almost too great to bear.  Lee’s previous poems for us include Dragon Mountain, Seventeenth Lesson and Inheritance. Audio version by Karen Bovenmyer.

Unseen Warrior, by Marlane Quade Cook. A near-Amazon, welcome in no country, finds her own hard way in the world.

 

Artwork

“Harvest”, by Toe Keen–an appropriately spooky bit of banner art for this time of year!   Keen currently resides in Spain.   He is a lover of wine, women and song, inventor in flammable agua and de-nuded noodles.  His artwork has appeared at Neo-Opsis and Lackington’s, as well as various book covers.  Check out his work at his website, and at his facebook page. 

Miguel Santos returns to our electronic pages with his illustration for the story “Vault of Sowdek”.   His illustrations at HFQ can be found in  “Seven Moves on an Ordrulk Board”, “Spatha Stercae“,  “Dragon in Amber” and “The Great Bear God“.  He has several illustrations in the HFQ Best-of Volume 2, as well.

 

Goings On

David Farney: David Farney is a mighty pillar that holds the great edifice of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly high into the heavens.

Adrian Simmons: Adrian has been working a lot of non-fiction writing this last quarter, including wrapping up his reviews of the November, 1969 SF/F magazines , and delving into the November, 1979 cohort.   He also spearheaded the Black Gate Book Club’s inaugural read of C.J. Cherryh’s Downbelow Station, and reviewed some modern SF/F as well.

James Rowe:  James’ summer has thus far been spent busily writing academic papers with a hope to see those in scholarly journals sooner rather than later. On the more creative side, his two poems “Fury of a Language Isolate” and “Taboo” are slated to appear in NILVX: a Book of Magic – A Journal of Magic(k), mysticism, and the occult in their Fall, 2018 “Words of Power” issue. He is also set to give a talk entitled The Doors of Platonic Perception: (Neo-)Platonism, William Blake, and the Vision of the Infinite through Morbid Anatomy on September 25th in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York. Lastly, stay tuned for James’ new philosophy youtube channel which should make its debut later this month, and which shall, of course, contain at least a few words on some sword swinging barbarians, for what is philosophy if it cannot answer the Riddle of Steel?

Jennifer Faulk: Jennifer Faulk contributed a great deal to Heroic Fantasy Quarterly over the last three issues, including finding several stories for issue #38 and #39, but real life has intruded and she is bowing out for a while.

Arien Skiba: Welcome our new sub-editor Arien Skiba.  An aspiring author/DVM Candidate, Class of 2021, she writes in the sci-fi/fantasy genre and is shopping around her debut novel. She loves all things horror, is left-handed and short!

 

 Tales From Around the Fire!

In issue #37 we announced our Patreon campaign, and it proceeds apace. Because of the way we structured it, this issue doesn’t actually have any patreon funds backing it—that’s right!  All the fiction, audio, poetry, and artwork were done on our shoestring budget, and issue #39 is where the new funds will come into play.  We said it before but it bears repeating:  Like what we do? Want to see more of it? Back us!

When we heard that HFQ alum Robert Zoltan had a book coming out we were eager to help get the word out; and when we heard the book was about Dareon and Blue—the very characters from “The Blue Lamp” in issue #26, we were more than happy to give him an advertising slot. But you don’t have to take our word for it.

“Colorful and exciting…Dareon and Blue are interesting and involving people…the more involved stories show an imaginative force and a real belief in the core of the characters’ motivations that compel the reader’s interest.”  

— Rich Horton, Editor of The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy (Prime Books)

Zoltan not only has Rogues of Merth coming out, but he produces SF/F related podcasts at his youtube channel Dream Tower Media, AND he did the cover art for issue Best-of Volume II.  Check him out and give him your support!