The Black Gate, a popular science fiction and fantasy magazine recently mentioned and reviewed another budding fantasy e-zine, one that needs far more notice. It’s called Heroic Fantasy Quarterly. HFQ is an online magazine that seeks to publish fantasy of the old fashioned kind- they want short works of good quality pulp fantasy and epic poetry. They look for storytelling that hearkens back to times when oral storytelling enthralled audiences. There aren’t very many places that seek or have an interest in epic poetry and pulp fantasy fiction anymore. This e-zine seems unique and a great opportunity for budding fantasy writers with a style reminiscent of these kinds of stories. If you love the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert E. Howard, Ovid or Homer then this is may be the perfect place to look whether you are a reader or a writer. The editors are unapologetic in their love and promotion of pulp fantasy and poetry and seek to put it back upon the high pedestal it once had and still deserves. If you love action, magic, high adventure, swords and sorcery and general great storytelling with no navel-gazing this e-zine is for you.
There are 15 issues so far. For fantasy readers there is imaginative, well-polished content and the journal is published once each quarter – July, October, January and April. For fantasy writers they are a paying market and they are open to fantasy submissions in March, June, September and December. They are always open to poetry submissions. For artists, they are looking for quality banner art to go with each issue and they do pay. Rates are negotiable.
The managing editor of The Black Gate magazine, Howard Andrew Jones, had this to say about it: “I can personally vouch for the stories I’ve named above. If you’re a fan of sword-and-sorcery and heroic fiction, you owe it to yourself to check them out. Go there, celebrate the stories, and the writers, and the market, because markets are fragile things and should be cherished while we have them. So often, it seems like the only people frequenting the markets are the writers wanting to be published there. I want to send some readers to HFQ.”
High praise from the editor, who is an excellent fantasy author as well and one of my favorites. I’d like to send some readers to HFQ too.
Thanks!
Great article, Victoria!
Thanks for posting this. I’ve been looking for some good short works to read between school readings. 🙂
Thanks Meahgan. I’m glad I ran across it!
I agree, that’s always my struggle as a student is getting overwhelmed with required readings! These are perfect, thank you!