Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #64, May 2025

“Daughter of Kart-Hadasht” by Rebecca Buchanan

“The Undefeated” by Thomas J. Griffin

“The Witch of the World’s End” by Darrell Schweitzer

“A Knowledge Sharper than Flint” by Adrian Simmons (serial, not reviewed)

Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf

In “Daughter of Kart-Hadasht” by Rebecca Buchanan, the daughter of a defeated Carthaginian commander battles a Roman witch. The story is quite short, and feels like an excerpt from a longer work. The historical setting adds some novelty to what is essentially a brief battle between swordplay and magic.

The protagonist of “The Undefeated” by Thomas J. Griffin is an emperor’s champion, sent to do single combat against representatives of enemy armies. As the title suggests, he has always been victorious, never even receiving a wound. His latest opponent raises no weapon against him, but simply asks him questions about his previous battles. This unusual encounter leads to an unexpected conclusion for both.

The story is cleverly plotted, and creates more interest than the usual kinds of conflict found in this type of fantasy. The ending is not only intriguing, but says something profound about warfare.

The title character in “The Witch of the World’s End” by Darrell Schweitzer weaves a tapestry that determines the fates of mortals. The story deals with one such person, from a childhood of poverty to his adult life as a mighty warrior, ending with a last encounter with the witch herself.

This greatly simplified synopsis fails to capture the story’s dreamlike, almost surrealistic mood. The plot is far less linear than I have indicated, and it is sometimes difficult to tell what is really happening.

The author reveals great imagination and the ability to create scenes of eerie beauty, grim violence, decadence, and symbolic archetypes. The presence of the latter makes the story seem like an allegorical fable, but the meaning is unclear. Fans of writers such as Lord Dunsany and Clark Ashton Smith will appreciate this enigmatic tale, while others may find it opaque.

Victoria Silverwolf is working extra this weekend.