''Astounding Hero Tales'' is a fiction anthology edited by
James Lowder
James Daniel Lowder (born January 2, 1963 in Quincy, Massachusetts) is an American author and editor, working regularly within the fantasy, dark fantasy, and horror genres, and on tabletop role-playing games and critical works exploring popular ...
and published by
Hero Games
Hero Games (''DOJ, Inc dba Hero Games'') is the publisher of the Hero System, a generic roleplaying rules set that can be used to simulate many different genres, and was the co-developer of the ''Fuzion'' system.
History
In 1981, George MacDon ...
in March 2007.
Contents
*"Death was silent" (
Lester Dent
Lester Dent (October 12, 1904 – March 11, 1959) was an American pulp-fiction writer, best known as the creator and main writer of the series of novels about the scientist and adventurer Doc Savage. The 159 Doc Savage novels that Dent wrote over ...
)
*"The mask of Kukulcan" (
Will Murray
William Murray (born 1953) is an American novelist, journalist, short story, and comic book writer. Much of his fiction has been published under pseudonyms. With artist Steve Ditko, he co-created the superhero Squirrel Girl.
Biography
Early ...
)
*"Two-fisted crookback" (
Steve Melisi)
*"Wolf train west" (
William Messner-Loebs
William Francis Messner-Loebs (; born William Francis Loebs, Jr., February 19, 1949) is an American comics artist and writer from Michigan, also known as Bill Loebs and Bill Messner-Loebs. His hyphenated surname is a combination of his and his wif ...
)
*"Godmother" (
Steve Eller
''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen
Notable people with the name include:
steve jops
* Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people
* Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people
* Steve ...
)
*"Missing pages" (
Richard Dansky)
*"Running thunder" (
John Helfers)
*"Playback" (
Patricia Lee Macomber
Patricia is a female given name of Latin origin. Derived from the Latin word ''patrician'', meaning "noble"; it is the feminine form of the masculine given name Patrick. The name Patricia was the second most common female name in the United State ...
)
*"A lost city of the jungle" (
Darrell Schweitzer
Darrell Charles Schweitzer (born August 27, 1952) is an American writer, editor, and critic in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror fiction, horror, although he does also work in science fictio ...
)
*"It came from the swamp" (
Ed Greenwood
Ed Greenwood (born July 21, 1959) is a Canadian fantasy writer and the original creator of the ''Forgotten Realms'' game world. He began writing articles about the Forgotten Realms for ''Dragon'' magazine beginning in 1979, and subsequently sold ...
)
*"Slide home" (
David Niall Wilson
David Niall Wilson (born 1959 in Clay County, Illinois) is an American writer primarily known for his works of horror, science fiction, and fantasy fiction.
The Academic Study of Wilson's Novels
Scholars such as A. Asbjørn Jøn, at the Unive ...
)
*"Out west" (
John Pelan
John C. Pelan (July 19, 1957 – April 12, 2021) was an American author, editor and publisher in the small press science-fiction, weird and horror fiction genres.
He first founded Axolotl Press in 1986 and published several volumes by authors su ...
)
*"Bandit gold" (
Thomas M. Reid
Thomas M. Reid (born December 23, 1966 in Fort Collins, Colorado) is an author and game designer who grew up in Arlington, Texas. Reid attended the University of Houston where he minored in Creative Writing. Subsequently, he got a job at Wizards ...
)
*"Kiss me deadly" (
Robert Weinberg)
*"The forgotten man" (
Robin D. Laws
Robin D. Laws (born October 14, 1964 in Orillia, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian writer and game designer who lives in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of a number of novels and role-playing game
A role-playing game (sometimes spelled rolepl ...
)
*"House of shadows" (
Hugh B. Cave)
Awards
''Astounding Hero Tales'' won the 2007
Origins Award
The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 aw ...
for ''Best Fiction Publication of the Year''.
Reception
The anthology was reviewed by Scott Connors in ''
Weird Tales
''Weird Tales'' is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine founded by J. C. Henneberger and J. M. Lansinger in late 1922. The first issue, dated March 1923, appeared on newsstands February 18. The first editor, Edwin Baird, prin ...
'', March-April 2008, and Jackson Kuhl in ''
Black Gate'', Summer 2008.
References
{{reflist
2007 anthologies
Works based on role-playing games