HEROIC FANTASY QUARTERLY — Q17

Ah, springtime in Oklahoma — continued: The flowers. The north-bound butterflies. The flowing creeks. The wildly overflowing creeks and huge hail and massive apocalyptic tornadoes! Then summer hits and flooding rains persist when we should be by drying out. Oy. Anyway, HFQ editors took way less on the chin than so many people in their home state and our hearts go out to them. But our lateness in publishing HFQ Issue 17 can’t be blamed on extreme weather. Did we mention the ongoing pestilence of real-life bugs?

But we have a respite from all these woes — a new issue of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly and some awesome respite from the worries of real life by way of our sort of art, fiction, and poetry.

So while we’re indeed arriving late, we’re arriving strong with another full issue:

Fiction Contents

A Whisper in Ashes, by Charles Gramlich
A wanderer from the north is embroiled in the affairs of Jarls and monsters in this short tale. Read it. Ja!

The Nature of Demons, by J. Kathleen Cheney
Bizarre deaths. An educated demon-hunter. A superstitious tribesman as guide. Who’s smarter? And who can ever know their true self?

Jiro, by Peter Fugazzotto
Appearances can be deceiving, but perhaps clothes make the man?  An excellent tale set in feudal Japan. Fast-paced action and not to be missed!

Poetry Contents 

Don Quixote’s Quandary, by Colleen Anderson
It’s hard to believe it has taken this long to get another quality verse regarding the Knight of Rueful Countenance, but HFQ veteran Colleen Anderson brings it home! (We’re huge fans of Don Quixote here at HFQ. If you enjoy heroic fantasy and haven’t yet read any Cervantes, after you finish with HFQ drop all other reading and check out what is arguably the first novel ever written — which also, in our opinion, happens to fall squarely in the heroic arena. Regardless, Colleen will tempt you with this poem so read it first!)

The Death of Conwynn the Wild-Eyed, by Colin Heintze
Now here’s a poem you might expect to find at HFQ  — sounds pretty straight-up S&S on the first read. The smartest among us won’t need to read it more than once to understand what’s up. We confess to having read it more than once . . . well done, Colin — well done.

Artwork

Wow! This issue’s art just might be a first for HFQ — we normally prefer an image that looks more painted. But this “digital” image blew us away. If you also think BIG BULLY TERRORIZING THE RAINTREE OF PERAK is cool, be sure to check out more of Kiddolucaslee’s work at the links below. Uniqueness aside, his breadth of subject matter is incredible.

Of his artistic pursuits, Kiddo writes: “ . . . hardcore-strange creator . . . one who had totally abandoned all his traditional path . . . now embracing in his self-developed style ‘ TRANCE HYPNOTIC abstract ‘  . . . and ‘ TRANCEMARE abstract ‘”

Who are we to argue? Indeed we recognize his sort here in OKC; if Kiddo isn’t listening to (the) Flaming Lips, he should. If he’s not listening to (the) Flaming Lips, he just might have been influenced by similar things as they . . .

Behold more of Kiddo’s awesomely trippy art:

http://www.foundmyself.com/kiddolucaslee

http://www.art-3000.com/artist/?id=548

Going Forward

It took us four years to figure out that HFQ’s publication schedule puts us at odds with some major holidays, tax day, and other things.  Which is why we’re shifting things from a January/April/July/October to February/May/August/November.  We still plan on bringing you great fiction four times a year, no fear there.

Goings On

Of the three of us who make HFQ happen, William Ledbetter is the only one with any news this time around.  Editing one magazine wasn’t enough for him!  At this year’s International Space Development Conference, Baen Books editor Jim Minz announced that the winning stories from the Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest will be collected in a series of anthologies. William Ledbetter who runs the annual contest for co-sponsors Baen Books and the National Space Society was named as the “anthologer”.

That’s it for now. Thanks to readers and contributors alike for your patience — we’ve got lots of good stuff in the pipeline and are easily on track for another issue in three months. Hope you enjoy HFQ Issue Q17 — meaning this is our 17th quarterly issue.  And though a month behind, it does also mean something else: Q17 marks entry into our fifth year on the Interwebs!