Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #69, August 2026
“The Chariot of Naram-Zahur” by R.A. Dariel
“A Voice of Hornets” by Bryan Babb
“Tinker’s Come to Fix Your Wares” by Galen Gower
“Crossing the Eye of Silence” by Dennis Mombauer
Reviewed by Wendy Vidlak
In a world made of sand and monsters, a couple of slaves find love and fight for freedom for themselves. “The Chariot of Naram-Zahur” by R.A. Dariel follows a small band made up of a chariot racer, a dancer, and a dwarf as they escape a wicked king and his sorcerer. It is a raucous ride through the desert that starts simply enough. Three people escaping from slavery through the desert seek shelter with a local tribe on a magical night when beasts hunt the desert. What could go wrong? An action packed plot begins when a merchant gets handsy with the Amla, the dancer and wife of Kalis, and the charioteer tries to defend her. The dwarf Berosh serves as the consummate criminal that always has their back, rounding out the original trio.
The story includes enough character development to get us to care, enriched by some excellent world building that helps anchor this fast paced plot driven adventure story. Mythical beasts of all types roam the night on this day, described in good detail. Some are hellbent on the destruction of our heroes as they try to escape a priest/sorcerer who was set on becoming the most powerful leader ever, and an unusual ally in the quest, the former king who had last enjoyed the honor of a legendary power. I enjoyed the vivid detail, the many monsters, and the love story that tied it all together.
The second feature of the quarterly was a novelette entitiled “A Voice of Hornets” by Bryan Babb. The story starts slow, building to a loud crescendo, then leaves us pondering life and morality in the end. The Knight Sigurd starts by talking with a local boy named Nicolo in Naples about the making of weapons and why steel is important for making weapons. The knight back from a crusade in Jerusalem is waiting in the village on assignment from a local Duke. We spend a lot of time getting to know Sigrid and his future squire Nicolo as he grows tired of inaction in Naples and hears of a village of Sapri being attacked regularly by a sea monster. A man of action, he immediately heeds the call to destroy the monster. Learning all he can about the monster, he devises an intricate trap, described in detail, to catch it. As often happens, the trap does not work as anticipated. The knight finds himself in both a mental and physical battle with the monster, who he finds can read and infiltrate his mind. A demon, according to the local priest.
The author portrays a vivid description of the fight that drew the reader into the action well. The monster storms the head of the Sigurd taking his moves and cue from the knight’s head, filling it with a buzzing and words to hurt the knight’s soul at its core. This story becomes not only a physical thriller but a psychological one as well. I enjoyed the moral struggles of the knight that went beyond an average right versus wrong. What happens when a demon infiltrates your mind? Does it ever really leave? Worse, what if it told you the truth, shattering everything you once believed?
In the “Tinker’s Come to Fix Your Wares” by Galen Gower a traveling tinker walks into a town haunted by scarecrows filled with the souls of people. The story starts with a prophecy of Armageddon if his donkey should talk. He takes every precaution against evil as he works his way through the town, never looking in the eyes of a scarecrow or getting in its shadow, amongst other folk wards. Voices appear on the wind. Eventually he makes it to the main house, after a warning on the wind from the scarecrows about a witch. Never showing fear, he ventures to meet her, thinking his donkey would stay mute and all would be well.
The best part of the story is the sensory details of the town. I could envision the scarecrows and what they looked like as they followed the tinker around town. In fact, I kept flashing to the Dr. Who episode with the weeping angels. The movements seemed very similar, but the scarecrows were obviously different. A creepy, shorter story provided an enjoyable read through. As with most fairy tales, there was a nice twist at the end. Just when the tinker had gotten what he wanted, he lost it all.
“Crossing the Eye of Silence” by Dennis Mombauer is very different from the other stories. Most of the story takes place on a boat that is not moving against enemies that are not really there. It is a story about a team made up of a blacksmith, a soldier, and a priest in training taking a shortcut at sea through the “eye of silence.” A place where the winds don’t blow and a frosty wasteland of water. In the middle of the eye, their boat dies. They limp along for a bit and finally see a gigantic boat up ahead that they dock with to resurrect their own boat. Left with only prisoners onboard, the mysteries start to surface as to the purpose of the ship. It had left the same town they had, but all the crew had disappeared.
In the end, the adventure is minimal in this story. It is more a philosophical piece about a young priest apprentice piecing together where they belong in the world. Their real home is in the depths of the sea or their chosen world away from those depths in a new world that fits with the implanted childhood that formed their identity. I felt it lacked a bit of character depth, even though the story was ultimately character driven rather than plot driven. I really wasn’t rooting for anyone by the end, but found it an enjoyable philosophical exercise with enough tension to keep me interested and reading.
This month’s Heroic Fantasy Quarterly was overall an enjoyable read, not a bad story in the bunch. The two standout stories this month were “The Chariot of Naram-Zahur” and “A Voice of Hornets” that really kept the action high with a whole lot of sensory details to accompany them. They were quite well written with great characters to complement the action. The fine artwork makes a nice addition to the stories, making the monsters come to life.