The other day I mentioned I’d submitted one of my Faceless Sons sword-and-sorcery stories to a brand new venture called Heroic Fantasy Quarterly. And so here I am to report a couple of things based on that experience.
Point one: The editors work fast. I heard back from them in just a couple of days, and two editors read my submission. Their response time will undoubtedly increase as word gets out about HFQ and more stuff rolls in, but for now they are on top of things. I got a personal reply, and they liked my submission.
Point two, and this is the crucial one: For the debut issue, the editors want to establish their own identity for HFQ, and so for that issue they are not looking for serial characters who have been established in other publications. They aren’t out to ride coattails, or be an extension of anybody else’s publication. They want to do their own thing, right out of the gate.
This does not mean no serial characters ever; indeed, I have hopes of seeing HFQ one day publish the exploits of Calthus or the Faceless Sons or Spider John or Otrossius pitting their weapons against Evil With Big Claws. The editors liked the Faceless Sons tidbit I sent them, and asked for a chance to look at it again for consideration when they work on issue two. I thought it was nice of them to recognize I might wish to submit it elsewhere in the meantime, but odds are good they will see the story again.
In the meantime, I have sent them one of my stories that isn’t part of a continuing saga. And if you have been brushing off a John Humble story or a Dermanassian story or a Dalacroy story — or anything else involving a serial character who has battled evil and splashed blood across other pages — put it on the back burner and send HFQ something entirely dazzling and new. This sounds like a great opportunity for new voices in sword-and-sorcery to get afoot in the door, too.
— Steve
Swords Against Boredom 
Have you try to send a submission to Beneath Ceaseless Skies. They have published interessant pieces of sword and sorcery by Chris Willrich, Sarah L Edwards or Erin Cashier. The editor seems to be open to sword and sorcery and have nothing against serial characters because the Willrich story feature the two recurrent heroes of the author.
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Fabien: I have not yet submitted anything to “Beneath Ceaseless Skies,” but thanks for letting me know they are open to sword-and-sorcery. I was kind of waiting to see an issue first (a good idea, I think, to get a handle on what the editors like and how they treat authors) and I haven’t gotten around to that yet. But I will. Thanks for the reminder.
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