Heroic Fantasy Quarterly–Q40

June 2, 2019 update! 

We are happy to bring you a mid-issue update from the always-awesome Darrell Scwheitzer, “The Song of Blue Mountain“!  There is trouble at Black Mountain, dragon trouble, and a hero is called for, but Altheric is no ordinary hero, nor is Valas an ordinary minstrel, and what is going on at Black Mountain anything that matches the old tales.

Issue 40. Ten years.  A lifetime on the internet!  The gravitas of the situation is not lost on us.  For this special issue we’ve broken with tradition somewhat, summoning S&S and Adventure writers to contribute, and brought back one of our favorites, and kept the tradition of finding great new writers. We’ve backed it up with artwork and audio!

Are you not entertained? Because we’ve got more on the way!

We also have an exciting announcement: our kickstarter campaign to fund the Best-of Volume 3 is a go!  Two years ago, our fans and supporters brought our first kickstarter attempt to success and we hope to repeat that magic. Click on our kickstarter ad on the right and be part of the action!

And now, behold our 10-year issue!

 

Fiction Contents

A Stone’s Throw, by Howard Andrew Jones. Hanuvar Cabera, exiled general and man on the run, runs into serious existential trouble in the city of Cericia. Twists and turns abound in this tale by the author of “For the Killing of Kings”.  With artwork by Karolína Wellartová and audio by Karen Bovenmyer.

Demons From the Deep , by Adrian Cole. An Elak of Atlantis Tale set shortly after the events of Henry Kuttner’s classic novella, Dragon Moon.  King Elak gambles big by meeting with two opposing lords, each with their own agenda and differing defintions of honor.  But other forces are eager to get the kings of man all in one basket.  With artwork by Miguel Santos.

Found on the Water, by Martha Wells. A short tale set in the Hugo Award nominated The Books of the Raksura series, Jai and the crew of the floating ship Escarpment come upon a small boat adrift Ataran Sea. Horrors of a different kind are encountered between the shadow of the Escarpment and the surface of the sea.  With artwork by Simon Walpole.

Trail of Ashes, by Caleb Williams. Keedran the Conjurer gets drawn into the dynastic struggles of the city of Cassandria; using his powers to determine just how the king died.  No easy task, with conjuration being illegal in the city, and Keedran having hauntings beyond those of spirits.

 

Poetry Contents

Children of the Stone, by Ann K. Schwader. We bring science fiction poetry Grand Master Ann Schwader to you, with a work of H. P. Lovecraft inspired mythos poetry. Those dolemans, so serene in the green plains and sun-dappled woods… they were once dappled with something quite different. With artwork by Miguel Santos, and audio by Karen Bovenmeyer.

 

Artwork

For issue #40, we bring back Jereme Peabody for our banner art with “Invading Army”, a clear nod to HFQ’s storming of the bastion of fantasy publishing!   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.

Story and poetry art for the issue was provided by Miguel Santos, Karolína Wellartová, and Simon Walpole. Audio versions of stories and poems were provided by Karen Bovenmeyer.

 

Goings On

David Farney: David has been working behind the scenes, pulling the strings and herding the cats for our upcoming best-of anthology.

Adrian Simmons: Adrian has continued his reviews of the November 1979 SF/F magazines, dipping deep into Analog .  He has fiction coming out in 2019 at Circova Magazine and Strange Constellations, and in 2020 in Helios Quarterly and Weirdbook.

James Rowe:  Keeps his head down, but he keeps on swinging!

Arien Skiba:   Arien gets nearer and nearer to graduation.  She is very excited to be practicing medicine in the vet clinic. She is also polishing her manuscript for an agent that requested it in full!

 

Tales From Around the Fire!

We are happy to announce the start of our kickstarter campaign to fund  our Best-of Volume 3. We’ve upped our goal from $500 to $750, but otherwise hewed close to the successful structure of our 2017 campaign.  Help us reach our goal and get Best-of Volume 3 ready to release at the World Fantasy Convention in L.A. in November!

Have you bought your copy of Rogues of Merth?  Get on it!  Want a sample?  Check out The Blue Lamp in issue #26.

Want to support HFQ issue-to-issue? We make it easy for you through our Patreon.