Heroic Fantasy Quarterly–Q53

Life has intruded on the schedules of the HFQ editorial staff and we’ve struggled, burning the midnight illuminated candles, threading the catacombs for the proper funerary cerements to grind into the finest inks to transcribe tales and poems of a singular vintage.  We emerge from the depths and into the blinding light of August with a plan!  We’re going old-school on this issue, harkening back to our issues 1-12, from our misty art-free days, and releasing the stories and poems as we get them and following up with art as it becomes ready.  Think of it as a feast set before you in courses!

Enough of the hors d’oeuvre and let’s delve into the main course!  We have dishes both familiar and exotic to tempt your palette.  We bring back Gregory Mele with another adventure set in the land of Azatlán.  Mike Adamson returns with another Sword and Planet tale set on the world of Malovar, and we set a new writer on your table with Daniel Rowe and a south-seas fantasy that will leave you craving more.  On the poetry side of things, we often shy away from any kind of theme, but fate brought us poems about the two great wolves of Norse Mythology, Fenris and the less well-known (but equally feared) Managarm.  As mid-course snacks we offer poems of enchanted harps and grimoires of dragons.

Garçon!  Bring on the vians!

Fiction Contents

The Crown of Azt’nyr, by Mike Adamson.  Return to the ringed world of Malovar with the tale of Derros, in the prequal tale of how he came to meet Princess Therolynn and the first of their adventures getting back to the great city of Tymass.

The Waking Gods, by Daniel Rowe.  Hekili, descendant of Tuilakemba, sails the south seas with skill and braggadocio, but when he comes up on the island of Iakala, cursed by the presence of a truly gigantic serpent, his deeds have to match his words.

The Path of Two Entwined, by Gregory Mele.  The world of Azatlan, has many tribes, kingdoms and a hundred tales for each.  The warrior Sarrumos, well before his days as a wolf of the sea in (Father of Rivers and Kamazotz ), finds himself caught up in the dreams of great chieftains and must put aside his distrust of the Kwalankku tribe to put a stop to it.

 

Poetry Contents

The Singing Harp, by Colleen Anderson, with audio by the author, all the great instruments and magical weapons of legend have their own legends and their own goals.

Managarm, by Jennifer Crow, the first of our Norse mythic wolves, considering what is on the menu.

Fenrir, by Adam Semple, the second of our Norse mythic wolves, considering what it is like to be on the menu.

Dragons, by Anna Remennik, a convenient reference for your adventuring needs.

 

Artwork

Jereme Peabody is back, with a powerful piece of banner art “Marsh Ruins” promising that adventure awaits!

Jereme is a software engineer in the DC area and is also a freelance concept artist working mostly on video games and books.  He started his artistic career dabbling with sculpting, pencils, and even still-life oil painting.  As tablets became available, he crossed over from traditional art to digital by first digitally painting still-lifes, then through experimentation and practice, transitioned to landscapes and fantasy.

 

Goings on

David Farney:  Dove out of the sun like Han freaking Solo!

Adrian Simmons:  Adrian’s bronze-age story “How I Came to be Raised by  Balniwan the Fool” is collected in Meta Stellar’s Year-One Anthology.  His story “A Witness of the Last Days of En-Fanulk“ will be coming out soon in Weird Book.  He recently dipped his toe back into the sci-fi convention world, attending SoonerCon in Norman, and ArmadilloCon in Austin.  His bitter jaded ink-stained heart was warmed to see so many people he knew, and double warmed to see so many new faces in the greybeard spaces.

James Rowe: Keeps it real!

Neil Baker:  Say something about his book . He is the founder of April Moon Books, and his latest publication, ˜The Call of Poohthulhu”,  has burst from the hundred acre wood and into the world at large. He loves his cats, and they love him.

 

Tales From Around The Fire

What?  You need more?  A wafer-thin mint after that magnificent feast?  Here are some wafer thing mints:

Tales From the Magician’s Skull constructed a ziggurat of terror at Gen Con this year, and for that alone, you should check out issue #7.

Swords and Sorceries #3 is out now!

Sick of S&S?  Past HFQ sub-editor Bill Ledbetter continues to blaze a bright science-fiction trail with his novels Level Five, and Level Six  , as well has having short fiction out in April’s Analog Magazine.

Need actual adventure in your life?  Back Mark Finn’s Kickstarter for the fantasy heist collection ‘Ogres 11’

Need some spicey science fiction?  Back HFQ cover-artist Robert Zoltan’s Kickstarter for issue #2 of Space Happy.

Like what we do?  Of course you do!  Back us on Patreon to get more!