August!  The hammer of the year has dropped on us here at HFQ.  But such solar savagery shirks us not a shred in our search to bring you great S&S fiction and poetry!  We’ve got three stories, two poems, audio, an ongoing graphic tale, an update on our workshop and the kickstarter for best-of 4.  […]

DUEL, by R. M. Gulaya, artwork by Lilith Graves       This was a magnificent place to spill blood. The clearing here was not a natural thing, but rather a scar, blasted out of the thick pine forest by magical fires of war some fifty years ago. Kael marveled at the scene, so familiar […]

THE CURSE OF BLOODBONE ISLAND, by Adrian Cole, artwork by Miguel Santos A tale of Elak’s Atlantis Prologue   Under the watchful eye of the Atlantean moon, the Arrow, a sleek privateer craft, was at rest at the quayside of the small port of Ulumar, far from the main sea lanes of the young Empire. […]

THE CANDLE-MAKER AND HER KNIGHTS QUESTING, by Kelly Peach, with audio by The Bard     The candle-maker wears a silken gown Of blackest ink and broidered gibbous moons And shiver sta rs. The candles, lowered down With supple wrist while humming mirthless tunes, Are dipped in iron vat of paraffin, Some bacon fat, and […]

SHY DAISIES, by Gretchen Tessmer, with artwork by Andrea Alemanno     She’s muttering to herself oh, clasp these hands together before we’re all done in— keep them steady keep them still don’t shiver even as the woods dress in winter-white all their apple seeds and maple saplings close to the chest, sleeping under this […]