SHADOWS AND HELLFIRE, by R. Michael Burns: “Dive heedlessly into death, and you will wake up.”                              — Yamamoto Tsunemoto,                              Hagakure All around him, the dead drew closer, faces ash-pale, sunken eyes blazing with hatred. Hokagé’s hand went instinctively for his sword — but of course he wasn’t armed, not in the dead of […]

KINGDOM OF GRAVES, by David Charlton: Plague had come to the lands west of the river Elakk, and so Rakhar the Half-Orc came, too. He came to their towns with only his spade slung over his shoulder, taller than any man and uglier than most. His brow was heavy and hung low over dark, sunken […]

YASHUB-GEB, by James Hutchings: Old Yashub-Geb fell out of space the last and greatest of his race. Deep doleful furrows framed his face — his stubborn strength was flagging. His scales were brass that once were gold; his baleful blood ran slow and cold. An ancient story nearly told was Yashub-Geb the dragon. His eyes, […]

THE BULL OF CONFLICT, by Lorna Smithers: I come from battle and conflict With a shield in my hand; Broken is the helmet By the pushing of spears. ‘Poem referring to Gwyddno and Gwyn ap Nudd’ – ‘Black Book of Carmarthen XXXIII.’ On an empty day automata drift Wending suit shapes through the mist. Touchless […]

Fall is here and with it comes Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Issue 14!  If cooler weather, football, and the renewed availability of Octoberfest beers aren’t enough to lift your spirits, surely three free tales and a couple of poems will help you along. Check out our harvest: Fiction Contents DAY’S END AT THE THREE EELS, by […]