Heroic Fantasy Quarterly–Q62

Fall has finally arrived, bringing a break in the relentless summer heat, and the release of issue #62.  We tromp through the fallen leaves bearing three stories, two poems, art and audio!  Get a fire lit to ward off the growing long nights and enjoy!

Fiction Contents

Asu and the Demon Wolf, by Daniel Gedge.  Asu, lame, unhandsome, and the least favored of his father’s sons encounters a legendary horror and with it a chance to remake himself in the eyes of his brothers and neighbors.  But there are dangers to remaking oneself, as Asu soon discovers.

Suffer the Witch, by Rev. Joe Kelly.  The fury of the O’Briens Dubh burdens poor young Colla with an unexpected victory, a success that he will regret for the rest of his life.  Colla has no desire to remake himself, only to get away from his past and the family that hunts him, and a brief winters happiness proves another burden—that of a life worth killing for.

Bells Beyond the Shore:  A Jack ‘o Wraths Tale, by Phil Emery.  Emery’s character Jack returns to HFQ, and at the edge of the world with war looming, stirs up far more than old gods.  Jack finds himself swallowed by primordial forces the likes of which he has never encountered before.  A great yarn that will stay with you long into the winter.

 

Poetry Contents

A Curse to Archery, by Aidan Redwing.  Amazing how in so many epic tales, a great warrior or wizard or dragon can be taken out with a single arrow.  No doubt a point of pride for the bow involved.  No doubt.

Homeward, by Scott T. Hutchison.  The fiercest of raiders can be dealt a blow by good planning and bad luck, and it is amazing how quickly the dreams of plunder turn to the desperate hope of seeing one’s own home.  A great poem to end the issue.

 

Ongoing Graphic Adventure Spear and Fang!

We’ve uploaded page 12 of Gary McClusky’s interpretation of Robert E. Howard’s first published story “Spear and Fang”.  We’ll be updating once a month until the tale is told!  Want early access?  Support us on Patreon and you’ll get it!

 

Artwork

We continue to tip our wide-brimmed wizard’s hat to the classic ‘Against the Giants’ AD&D modules with Jereme Peabody’s “Mountain Giant”—with little warning, defenders try their best hold out against a monstrous foe.

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

I doubt that anyone reading this is unaware of the pitiless blows that fate has dealt to Howard Andrew Jones.  His cancer diagnosis has rocked the sword and sorcery community back on its heels.  It has also provided a chance for us to come together and pull on the same rope—that rope being the gofundme to help Howard’s family in this trying time.  If you can, pull on that rope.

Related to that, the third book of Howard’s Hanuvar trilogy is out at Baen’s, check it out!

Sales of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Best-of 4 continues apace.  Delve into our best work from 2015-2017.

Frequent HFQ contributor Adrian Cole absolutely took over Weirdbook #48.  Check it out!

 

Tales From Around the Fire

Adrian Simmons:   Adrian penned the final review of his 1989 cadre of sff magazines at Black Gate, then compared and contrasted them all, and now looks ahead to 1999’s batch.  He’s clacking away (slowly) on a new novel.