Quick Sips - Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Q38

Art by Toe Keen

Four stories and three poems anchor a new issue of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly that seems to linger on feeling trapped. Because most of the pieces build up a situation where the characters are either physically confined or philosophically confined. Either they find themselves on a raft at see, or in a vault deep in a keep, and they must try to find their way out of a situation with ever-narrowing options, or else they are in a situation where change seems impossible, where disaster and war seem inevitable. The stories and poems all show people fighting back against the gravity of corruption and violence and greed and finding that often times there is no winning there. That the best they can hope for is to delay the final crushing blow. But fighting against that weight isn’t useless. Isn’t pointless. Sometimes, it’s all a person has. So yeah, let’s get to the reviews!

Quick Sips - Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Q35

The first issue of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly has landed and brought with a trio if fantasy novelettes and a trio of poems. The stories are a mix of historical fantasy (with a new Carvajal story and what could be the beginning of a series of Victorian-era investigations) and second-world fun. The poetry is rather narrative, revealing battlefields of various sorts, whether literal or more symbolic. There’s dragons, monsters, demons, and usurpers to deal with, and the pieces as a whole show characters trying to make things right, trying to lead and to follow their own hearts. It’s a nice mix of pieces, and before I give too much away, let’s get to the reviews!

Art by Jereme Peabody

Quick Sips - Heroic Fantasty Quarterly Q33

There's something of a surprise in this issue of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly—a pair of linked novelettes! The stories are dark and center on the European invasion and colonization of the Americas, and the death and sins associated with that time. The stories feature characters in some ways divorced from their people, alone and looking for punishment for the direction their lives have taken. Instead they find new purpose in the face of a dark and twisted threats that go far beyond the Europeans knocking at the door. Along with another short story and a nice range of poetry, the issue marks an interesting complication of what's normally considered Heroic Fantasy. But it works, not only to fit into the guiding theme of the publication, but to find new territory to discover. Onward to the reviews!

Art by Jereme Peabody

Quick Sips - Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #31

With the giant novella-length epic poem done with, this latest issue of Heroic Fantasy Quarterly brings things back to basics with four original stories and two poems (of much more modest length). The stories build up worlds filled with magic and darkness, where there are things lurking at the periphery, at the edges of the world, in the blank space of maps. The stories look at characters who are seeking something. Themselves or a much-deserved rest or gold or even escape from certain death. And none of the characters find the situation easy. The stories embrace their magic and their mayhem as the character work against the monsters and circumstances arrayed against them and attempt to wrestle some sort of victory from the jaws of defeat. These are fun, sometimes thrilling pieces that build very different world, especially once the poetry gets added in, but it's also a strong issue that does a lot right. So yeah, to the reviews! 

Art by Jereme Peabody

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #205

The stories of this issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies look at violations. Abuses. The ways in which consent can be perverted, that relationships can become harmful. The stories look at how situations can become tainted, can become toxic. How, in the end, sometimes the best option is to escape. Sometimes the only hope is in escape. And perhaps to some extent in taking steps to remove the abusers from power. These are complex stories with that examine power and abuse and hope. Time to review! 

Art by Marek Hlavaty

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #178

As always, two stories anchor another issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Both take the second world push of the publication to rather satisfying extremes, showing in both reflections of our own world distorted in interesting ways. In the first, the world is explained as being like our own but grown on the leaf opposite us, like a branch with opposite leaf structure. In the second, the setting involves time travel of a sort and an examination of insurrection and love. Both are interesting, building worlds that live and breath, but I should just get to the reviews already!

Art by Julie Dillon

Quick Sips - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #165

Just when I thought maybe I was all caught up, Beneath Ceaseless Skies came along and reminded me that it comes out twice a month. So two new stories! And this issue is much more standard with its story lengths than last time. Two novelettes just waiting to be read. They both end up being about a pair, a man and a woman, traveling together. I rather prefer the depiction in "For Lost Time," but both are interesting in their own right. Let's go!

Stories:

"For Lost Time" by Therese Arkenberg (7638 words)

It's not every day that you read a story with an asexual main character, but I feel that this character did a nice job with Aniver, who is traveling with Semira to try and bring back the cities of Aniver's homeland that have become lost in Time. Aniver is driven, perhaps a bit desperate, and definitely cares for Semira, but there is nothing sexual about their relationship. He's simply not interested in sex. Which is great. The only part that I could see as being maybe a little...well, a reason I would hesitate to endorse it fully is because there might be the implication that he was sexual and used that part of himself in his magic. Now, it sounds like he's always not been interested, but going off of how the magic in this story works, it's not for-sure for me. Still, it's a nice story about trying to recover something that is lost, and the strength and power of friendship. I like that, like that Aniver and Semira are so close and can stick by each other through so much. I like that Semira is taking on this task because it's right and not because it's her home that was lost. All around it's just a good story, with enough action and magic (Aniver's confrontation with a GIANT DEATH ON HER THRONE) to keep things moving right along. The "ending" of the quest isn't shown, but in some ways a very important part is already over. They choose to go on, and that choice is what defines them. Solid work.

"Day of the Dragonfly by Raphael Ordoñez (9737 words)

Even longer than the other story, this one takes place in an even bleaker setting, one that is dirty and that seems overrun by strange creatures and gods and cults. It's told a bit like a fable. A young woman, Yuni, goes in search of a man named the Dragonfly, who turns out to be the last of his people, a young man named Keftu. She needs him to save her sister from a giant worm that came from the moon. If he succeeds, he will get to marry said sister. It's a fairly standard setup, but the setting is interesting. Yuni turns out to be the sort who constantly gets him in trouble either to deal with her own growing feelings for him or, more likely, to toughen him up so that he can save her sister. The action is fast and violent and well done, and the visuals are interesting. The resolution and the ending didn't come as a surprise, but for someone looking for a male adventure story then this is a solid effort. Perhaps not really to my tastes, it does everything it sets out to do with skill, and is a fun enough read.