Outside of a handful of anthologies and magazines, the market for the genre known as heroic fantasy is as dry as the sands of Stygia. Which is why I’m so excited to see newcomer Heroic Fantasy Quarterly (HFQ) enter the fray, broadsword in hand. 

HFQ describes itself as a home for stories with “an emphasis on action. Be it an exchange of blows or insults, the spurring-on of steed, or the application of poultices to wounds, things happen and happen quickly in the pages of HFQ.”

HFQ publishes both short stories and heroic-flavored poetry on its web site. It’s a free publication and also pays its contributors, which will hopefully encourage new young writers to publish in this sadly neglected field.

Below, editors Adrian Simmons and David Farney generously provided the following answers to The Cimmerian regarding their new venture. HFQ published its first issue in July and recently released its second issue, featuring three short stories and two poems.

Q: What made you launch this venture, given the general trends in publishing that favor multi-volume, epic fantasy?

Adrian Simmons:  Crazy as it sounds, the idea came from all the young adult fiction that grownups are reading. Why are they reading YA fiction? Because something HAPPENS in it. Plus, clearly there is a niche—the universe of short heroic fantasy venues has been shrinking, and although there are several places that pay for and publish the genre, there was a need for someone that paid triple digits.

David Farney: Turning 40! I’ve had real difficulty finding any fantasy I enjoyed as much as the Elric and Conan and Corum stories that blew me away as a teen. Translation: I think in HFQ I’m trying to rediscover or recapture some essence of my childhood. And though it’s been a lot of work, some of the stories coming into HFQ are indeed rekindling that sense of amazement in me. Also, like Adrian, I agree that S&S and Heroic Fantasy are getting pushed aside by the many other fantasy subgenres, both in short fiction and novel-length. That said, there’s PLENTY of solid short fantasy published both online and in print, but a real lack of S&S and Heroic. As writers of Heroic Fantasy, it occurred to us there are doubtless many others just like us who can’t find appropriate markets for their work, or who as fans keep reading older and older material (or YA) because the writing and storytelling is digestible and much faster paced.

Q: How would you define heroic fantasy, and how does it differ from swords and sorcery (if at all)? 

Adrian Simmons: Tough call. Like art or porn, I know them when I see them. One can claim that “heroic fantasy” is a sub-set of a larger sword and sorcery world.  What the division is?  I’d label it as a complicated mix of free-will, higher goals, and social connection.

David Farney: Yeah, defining Heroic Fantasy is a tough call. I read your article at The Cimmerian about HFQ (thanks for the pub!), and I agree Wikipedia is a bit off in its definition/delineation of S&S and Heroic Fantasy; if the two are twins, they are fraternal only. And certainly neither belongs in the ever-political, complex-world-setting, innumerable-name-having realm of High Fantasy. To me, S&S might have a lustier feel than Heroic Fantasy—in the latter you’re likely to see more of an emphasis on romantic love and perhaps chivalric ideals. Perhaps. But both could (should!) be equally lusty in action and bloodshed. I also think characters in Heroic Fantasy might be a tad more introspective than in S&S, but nonetheless own a much more outward focus than in other fantasy subgenres. The last big difference I sense between S&S and Heroic is that in the prior, the protagonist is more likely pitted against fantastical forces with nothing but his weapon, wiles, and friends as aid, while Heroic allows for use of magic by the protagonist(s) against come what may—supernatural or not.

David Farney: Adrian and I share the love for REH and LeGuin. We’re both also big fans of Cervantes’ DON QUIXOTE. Michael Moorcock rates high with me, and lately I’m really enjoying Gene Wolfe’s BOOK OF THE NEW SUN. Some of my other favorite writers/works include Cormac McCarthy, Bernard Cornwell, THE CANTERBURY TALES, COLD MOUNTAIN, and THE SAGA OF GRETTIR THE STRONG. 

Adrian Simmons:  Oh yeah, DON QUIXOTE–awesome. And I’d be lying if I denied that a dose of Norse and Irish myth, saga, and epic weren’t in the mix as well.

Q: Do you have any favorite heroic fantasy stories to recommend, or forgotten/little known classics in the genre that are waiting to be discovered?

Adrian Simmons:  Not much that I’d to the previous list… although I have a soft spot for the first “John Carter of Mars” book.  With modern CGI technology I assume that we’ll have a movie version before too long.

David Farney: No recommendations or favorites that aren’t obvious to most fans. But I’ll throw this out there as you won’t find it in the SF/F section of the bookstore: THE SAGA OF GRETTIR THE STRONG, aka Grettir’s Saga. Written in the 14th century (but translated into modern prose and verse by Penguin and others), this is the story of one of Iceland’s greatest heroes — or antiheroes . . . take your pick. With ghosts and trolls and drunken brawls and big-talk and swordfights aplenty, this just might be the progenitor of all S&S tales! (No, I don’t care to debate the Greeks’ claim to this title. I’m happy with my hyperbole.)

I can talk a little more knowledgeably of the short story markets for HF and S&S.  There are not that many, really.  Or at least, not that many if you’re a relatively unknown writer trying to break in. Magazine of  Fantasy and Science Fiction pretty much steers clear of it, as does Realms of Fantasy, and Asimov’s and Analog don’t want anything to do with it. Weird Tales, which boasts as being the magazine that found Robert Howard, seems to be unlikely to publish anything along the HF and S&S lines.  There are places online, and in hardcopy Black Gate seems to be the HF and S&S standard bearer these days.  I thought Paradox did fine work, but they folded, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies seems to kind of dance around the HF and S&S subgenres.

David Farney: It’s pretty sad that I can’t give much of an informed answer here, either. There’s just so much I want to read! I’d have to say Jason Waltz is probably the real standard-bearer for S&S with his Rogues Blades imprints, but these are anthologies. I can’t think of any novel-length stuff since David Gemmell, but I’m likely wrong about this. I’ve gotten excited a couple times with works like Steve Erikson’s MALAZAN series, but that’s more on the epic side of HF than it is S&S. So I guess the state of things for S&S is that there aren’t many venues for it—especially among publishers of novel-length works — but we’re happy to be bringing something more to the short fiction scene. The epic variety of HF seems to be the best hope for finding novels to scratch the S&S itch.

Adrian Simmons: Right after we got HFQ set up and fired up the website, a group put together a new award for HF and S&S– The Ham-Sized Fist Award. So I think there may be more of a DIY kind of thing going on with HF and S&S.

David Farney: I’m not sure, but I think that’s a group of one: Jeff Crook. I’m also not sure about this, but my guess is Jeff’s about our age – late 30’s or 40-something. I sense it’s this demographic leading the S&S insurgency.

Adrian Simmons: As for it being a niche market… honestly, I think all the different genres are just niche markets.  The pendulum swings to one or the other, that’s the nature of the business.  I don’t know when things will swing to the HF/S&S end of the spectrum again. For all I know, all those urban fantasy books are really S&S stories with denim and leather trappings.

David Farney: Wait. Did you say denim and leather? Saxon! Saxon! Saxon! I somewhat agree with the pendulum analogy, but I do think S&S is relegated to niche status simply because it has been marginalized for so long. So hopefully we can help spread the word about certain traits of adventure fantasy that a wider audience might find appealing.

And by the way, we’re not poetry snobs. Writers: try it. If you send us a solid adventure poem, you probably stand a better chance of getting published with HFQ than if you send us a solid short story. (Just be sure to include some fantastical elements. And make it 50+ lines. Oh, and we’re probably a -1 modifier for overtly rhyming poems. Mix it up.) We’ve been fortunate to find some good poetry thus far, but we’d love to see a higher number of poetry submissions.

Q: Are you getting many submissions? And do you have any advice for writers thinking of submitting a story?

Adrian Simmons:  We got a LOT of submissions when we started up back in March, and the numbers have gone down some but we’re still getting a lot of material.  We read through something like 300 submissions for issue 1, and 150 or so for issue 2.

Really, just read the guidelines. We put it all on the table right there, what we want, what we don’t want.

David Farney: We received all sorts of fantasy until we published our first issue. Though we’re getting fewer submissions now, I’m encouraged because what we are getting is more solidly heroic fantasy — which means writers (and by extension, readers) are identifying a certain type of tale with HFQ. We’re putting out something different from other fantasy publications.

Q: How do you manage to pay your writers? With no paid subscriptions, and no advertising that I can see, I don’t see how you’re managing to pay (outside of dipping into your own funds).

Adrian Simmons:  Oklahoma (where we both live) has all these Indian casinos… and while drawing on an inside straight isn’t the best odds, sometimes, it pays off.

David Farney: My luck isn’t so good, so I generate HFQ funds by donating plasma. And sperm. On the same day. (Top THAT, Chuck Norris!)

Best of luck, gentlemen.

DEUCE ADDS: I’ll second that. Best of luck, Adrian and David! If y’all are ever in the Tulsa area, I might have to swing down.