HEROIC FANTASY QUARTERLY — ISSUE 5

Hail! And welcome to the one-year anniversary issue of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly!

One year of adventure, action, and arcane magic. One year of broadswords, short swords, long swords, lust, love, loss, revenge, romance, dragons, goats, stoats, and all points in between.  We’ve had stories nominated for international awards (the Internets makes them such!) while surviving tornadoes, hailstorms from hell, floods, escapes from New York, and soccer tournaments — we and our ISP — won’t be stopped! And all the while we’ve stayed true to our primary goals of publishing on schedule and finding cool tales to stoke the resurgence of adventure fantasy/sword and sorcery.

But enough about us — we’d like to give a hearty shout-out to all the fine contributors from the past year. Shout!

Now then, let’s get to the contributors who are kicking things off for HFQ, year two:

Fiction Contents

ANCIENT SHADES, by James Lecky
Tulun of Birjand is back in a new adventure.  The power of empires waits for those brave — or foolish — enough to claim it! If you missed Tulun’s first tale at HFQ, click here to read The Black Flowers of Sevan.

ALDROM, by Matthew Wuertz
Elves! After a year we finally have a story with elves in it. Not to mention a sorcerer. Oh, and the latter is a good guy. Sort of.

NO TWO STONES, by Christopher Wood
Here we have another first in this the dawning of HFQ’s second year of publication: our first sword and planet yarn. Whatever you do, DO NOT miss this one!

Poetry Contents

BEFORE THE BATTLE, by Vonnie Winslow Crist
A Celtic warrior faces down his fears moments before the foe is met!

WHAT SIEGLINDE SERPENTSLAYER SAID TO THE KING, by Megan Arkenberg
Ah, retirement — Volsung-style?

Art

We’re delighted to feature another awesome image by Ling Yun, whose work graced our banner in Issue 3. Thanks, Ling — keep up the great work! Mr. Yun lives in China. You can check out more of his impressive and varied art here.

Goings-On

Astute visitors to HFQ may have noticed a few changes in recent weeks.  After a year of publishing great sword and sorcery with nary a word about funding, HFQ has opened up its advertising potential.  If you can’t get enough adventure, check out Michal Ehart’s Tears of Ishtar.  Want to get a better feel for one of the giants of the genre?  We suggest reading Mark Finn’s biography of Robert E. Howard, Blood and Thunder.  Want to know how you, with all your “education” and “knowledge” might fare in a fantasy world torn asunder by war — test yourself against Patrice Sarath’s Gordath Wood.

Got a book you want to advertise?  Click here for more information.

Writers of sword and sorcery: as our gift to you we’ve updated our guidelines, giving you the lore you need to beat the acceptance odds. We’re also considering publishing more historical fantasy and fiction, so writers of that ilk — submit away! Just keep it exciting.

Writers of adventure fiction, have you heard about Rogue Blades Entertainment’s 2010 Challenge writing contest?  Offering cash prizes and pro critiques, you owe it to yourself to get into the mix!  Deadline for submissions is September 1.

That’s it for now. Thanks to all readers, contributors, submitters and others for your interest in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly. We look forward to delivering a second year of the sort of adventure fiction and poetry that you might not find elsewhere.

We hope you enjoy Issue 5!

Adrian Simmons, David Farney, William Ledbetter
Editors, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly