Duels, Guardians, and the Realm of the Dead: Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #49
Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #49 was released to the world in August.
Fiction
“A Song of Pictish Kings,” by Adrian Cole, artwork by Andrea Alemanno and Gary McClusky. Elak of Atlantis returns to our electronic pages! Generations of Pictish raiding along the Atlantean coast comes to a sudden halt and a bold Chieftain of the Picts requests the aid of the Atlanteans against a mutual supernatural enemy. Or is it a trap? Or is it both? Thrill to the adventure of young King Elak as he unthreads the mystery!
“Old Ghosts,” by Greg Mele, artwork by Justin Pfiel. Mele returns with another tale set in his alternate history Meso-American Azatlán world. Few living men would dare to cross seasoned warrior Nopaltzin Seven-Reed, but the dead play by different rules and have different goals. Even the greatest warrior cannot live without sleep and Nopaltzin must take the fight into the world of the dead. A phenomenal tale!
“The Pass,” by Nick Mazolillo, artwork by Andrea Alemanno. Young Strand has nearly finished his training guarding the world from Otherworld. But the Otherworld has its own rules and logic and young Strand’s difficult apprenticeship is coming to a difficult end. A great, dreamy work that drifts into nightmare.
Poetry
Recompense, by Gerri Leen, artwork by K Karolína Wellartová. An unnamed Scythian ruminates on the boon companion he just lost in battle. A gorgeous poem.
Among the Scythians, by Deborah Davitt, with artwork by Simon Walpole and audio by the author. Davitt delves back into the misty bronze-age. The tradition of raid and counter-raid takes a sudden turn and the fallout has just begun.
Issue #49 already has great reviews from Tangent Online and Quick Sip Reviews. Check it out!
Oh! And if you want to run the gauntlet, HFQ is OPEN for submissions in September.
Want to see if I can walk the S&S walk? I have stories in Savage Realms and Witch House #1.
Adrian Simmons is an editor for Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, check out their Best-of Volume 3 Anthology, or support them on Patreon!
‘Old Ghosts’ by Greg Mele is a great story, as are all Mele’s stories set in Azatlán. Some publisher needs to collect these together in dead tree format – soon!
Greg Mele was a lucky find for us at HFQ!
Someday we would like to be able to gather stories by various authors or by various settings and put them out as POD, but right now we are focused on our “best-of” anthologies.