Heroic Fantasy Quarterly–Q25

On top of the floods of spring, the heat of summer has now fallen upon Oklahoma like the very hammer-strike of Grond!  Yet we push through the heat, scouring the world to find the best sword and sorcery fiction to bring to you.  And again, we succeed!  The HFQ ship sails into port with a full cargo of three stories and two poems AND a special surprise from editor Adrian Simmons.

Fiction Contents

Beast Hunter’s Song, by Michael Liguori In a land where terrible creatures once terrorized the landscape an aging hunter gets one more chance to face a one of a kind beast.

White Elephants, by Linda Donahue Escorting the Indian bride of the Shah of Persia is a task fraught with danger.  Bandits!  A disagreeable elephant!  But when a passing Roc decides the elephant would make a fine meal, Darius, chosen treasure guard, has to take some big risks to get it all back.

Engines Rarely Seen, by N.G. Lancaster In the breath before the armies move out again, a vendetta brings a group of vagabond mercenaries into the docks outside of town.

Ram Daskanyarda, by Adrian Simmons About a year ago, HFQ editor Adrian Simmons got the idea of updating/re-booting/re-imagining the H.P. Lovecraft classic “Nyarlathotep” for our modern, troubled, age.  Turns out, from a marketing standpoint, this was a poor investment of time.  However!  Although it isn’t quite S&S fiction, he considered posting the story here at HFQ, but thought better of it when he realized that he could have the re-animated corpse of H.P. himself take time off from dispensing advice on the internet to read it aloud!

Poetry Contents

Harrowed Hall, by Cullen Groves Mr. Groves has practically become a fixture at HFQ.  He returns to poetry with “Harrowed Hall”, which tells the other side of the story of his poem The Lay of Hrethulf Glamirsbane from issue #22.

Dragonslayer, by Mary Soon Lee Ms. Lee’s poetic prowess has finally graced the pixels of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly.  It’s about dragons, and their slaying, and something else.  Some quality possessed by certain people.

Artwork Dana Martin’s artwork “Battle” graces this issue’s banner.  Illustrator Dana Martin was born in New Mexico and has been roaming ever since. She received a B.F.A. at Montserrat College of Art, as well as a severe tea addiction that she maintains to this day. Her work was featured in CMYK’s Top New 100 Creatives, and has appeared in such magazines as Ploughshares, Pantheon, and Spellbound. Find more of her art at dana-martin.com.

Goings On

David Farney:  You know how in the Lord of the Rings this guy named Imrahil comes from Dol Ammroth to answer the call of Gondor, and how he suddenly finds himself de facto steward of the city?  David’s life is kind of like that right now.

Adrian Simmons:  Aside from “Ram Daskanyarda” above, he  has an audio story, “A Fan Letter to Joe Landsdale” out from Pseudopod, a science-fiction story just released at the ezine Strange Constellations, and keeps the Lovecraft vibe going in his story “Dilution Solution”, coming out in the Post-Old-Ones-Awakening anthology Apotheosis.  Also, his sci-fi story “Bronze and Glassteel” is available in the July 2015 issue of Outposts of Beyond.  He finally got around to reviewing “Mad Max: Fury Road” at the HFQ Facebook page.

William Ledbetter:  Bill was among the eighteen people selected to attend the first ever Schrodinger Sessions workshop hosted by the Joint Quantum Institute the last week of July at the University of Maryland. It was a workshop designed to teach SF writers the fundamentals of quantum physics and was, in his studied opinion, a great success.

He continues to rack up the pro-market the sales (up to number six!).   “The Long Fall Up” will be in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction’s November/December issue. His story “That Other Sea” was voted best Escape Pod story of 2014. And his story “Stealing Arturo” is included in the Year’s Best Military SF and Space Opera by Baen Books, available now! Bill will also be at WorldCon in August, HFQ fans and S&S writers are welcome to flag him down and say hello, maybe talk a little shop.

James Rowe:  The dog days of Summer have been somewhat lazy for James, but that doesn’t mean nothing is going on his life. “Ikea” and “Rumble, O! Conqueror” shall be appearing in a forthcoming poetry anthology, as yet untitled, but published by David Pring-Mill.  On other fronts, “The Rise of the Anti-Christ”, a comic which James had the privilege of editing, is finally available for purchase. You can buy the first issue here , the second here, and the third here . The comic details Michael, a madman stricken with the belief that he is Jesus Christ, and his messianiac rise when the Devil sees fit to outfit him with proof sufficient for others to believe the same. The results are…electric.

Further news will require a bit of waiting, though, but suffice it to say something very interesting, and very fun, happened in James’ life that he will share with all of you soon.

New Ads!

Haven’t gotten enough of the S&S fiction, have you?  Still craving more?  Then HFQ Alumni Aaron Williams  (Demon Song, issue #8) has got what you need!  Sword and Sorcery fiction.   Check him out and give him your support!

Stina Leicht, well-known for her novel “Of Blood and Honey”, takes the gloves off with her new novel “Cold Iron”.  Described by those in the know as a ‘Flintlock epic’, this is the good stuff!

Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Volume 1

We made quite a boast that we’d have the best-of put together by issue #25.  Quite a boast, indeed!  And we blew that deadline.  But all the final art-wrangling is coming to an end. Issue #26- we super-solemn-pinkie-swear!