Heroic Fantasy Quarterly–Q45

Summer has hit in full force, as has the weighty hammer of HISTORY!   The Covid-19 pandemic still grips the U.S., as has a long season of good trouble of civil unrest; the cult of Set anti-maskers and the madness of the King in Yellow Q-anon grow in every city.  HFQ does not let living through interesting times slow us down!  We bring you four—yes four! works of  fiction, and one outstanding poem.  Rare vintages to savor as we live through historic times. 

Fiction Contents

Assailing the Garden of Pleasure, by Danial Ausema, with audio by Karen Bovenmyer.   The wounded apprenticies of a corrupt teacher must gather what little power and skill they have to attempt to wrest the stolen parts of themselves from their corrupt master. The mastery of sorcery exacts a price.  The search for vengeance exacts an even greater one.

Fox Hunt, by Rebecca Buchanan, with artwork by Simon Walpole and audio by Karen Bovenmyer.  There is a horror worming its way into the world of feudal Japan in this outstanding story.  No bold samurai or powerful sorcerer fights against it—only a lone foxkin and a willful old woman stands in its way.  A unique tale!

Instrument of Vengeance, by Howard Andrew Jones with artwork by Darian Jones.  The clever Dabir and his bodyguard Asim are on the case!  When a young musician’s enchanted oud is stolen the duo delve into a world of deceit, smoldering resentments, and rumored curses. An investigation that takes them through the seedier side of Mosul, and the seedier side of human nature.

Apples of the Gods, by Jane Dougherty. When the goddess Idunn is kidnapped from Asgard by the giant Thjazi she gets her first true glimpse of the world beyond the walls of Asgard and discovers things are not quite what she was led to believe.  A cynical tale for cynical times!

Poetry Contents

Owain the Red at the Castell Dolbadarn , by Nicole Sellers with artwork by Simon Walpole.  An old Scottish legend re-told in poetry.  Vengeance and
murder in the highlands!   

Artwork

Jereme Peabody is back with a piece appropriate for these sweltering summer months:  “Epic Swamp”.  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.

Goings On

David Farney:  Continues to consolidate his base of power.

Adrian Simmons:  Adrian will have a story coming out in Tales from the Magician’s Skull.  Other than that, he’s been lucky enough to work remotely during the pandemic.   

Sub-editors James Rowe and Arien Skiba were, after years of working remotely for HFQ, easily able to transition to remote work at their respective jobs. 

Tales From Around the Fire

We wrapped up Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Best-of Volume III, in both hardcopy and kindle versions.  With an introduction by Darrell Schweitzer, and illustrations for each story and poem.  Click on the ad at the right, or here and get your copy!

Frequent poetry contributor Mary Soon Lee has collected her poems featuring young Prince Xau in The Sign of the Dragon.  If you’ve been following her work here at HFQ, you need to get this book and get the whole story!

Robert Zoltan gave us an last minute assist on the best-of anthology, and we return the favor by emphasizing that if you haven’t read the collected tales of Darrion and Blue in Rogues of Merth you need to correct the error of your ways!  Check out a review of the book at Cirsova.

I might not go so far as to call it “Superversive”, but it’s certainly more fun and uplifting than one would expect from contemporary Sword & Sorcery revival. This one should go on your reading list, especially if you’re a fan of the classic early Fafhrd & Gray Mouser or of Cirsova, particularly our Mongoose & Meerkat series from Jim Breyfogle. There’s not a single story in this anthology that we ourselves would not have run, had we had the opportunity.

Finally, if you need a little spice for your D&D game (and you know you do), then Mark Finn’s Monty Haul ‘zine is for you! Get yours at DriveThruRPG.