TL;DR Review: Razor-sharp dialogue, a wildly imaginative alt-history fantasy world, and wonderfully extravagant characters result in what may be Joe Abercrombie’s best work to date. Synopsis: Holy work sometimes requires unholy deeds. Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his […]
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Author Chat: Mark A Ellis
Author bio: Mark A Ellis lives in Sheffield, England with his wife and two children. When not writing sci-fi he is usually reading it or climbing/cycling in the nearby Peak District. He is also a University Lecturer and holds a PhD in Responsible Leadership, a field in which he also publishes. Beyond the Treeline is his debut […]
Review: The Butcher’s Daughter: The Hitherto Untold Story of Mrs. Lovett by David Demchuk and Corrine Leigh Clark
Synopsis: London, 1887: At the abandoned apartment of a missing young woman, a dossier of evidence is collected, ordered chronologically, and sent to the Chief Inspector of the London Metropolitan Police. It contains a frightening correspondence between an inquisitive journalist, Miss Emily Gibson, and the woman Gibson thinks may be the infamous Mrs. Lovett—Sweeney Todd’s […]
Review: The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica
Synopsis: From her cell in a mysterious convent, a woman writes the story of her life in whatever she can find—discarded ink, dirt, and even her own blood. A lower member of the Sacred Sisterhood, deemed an unworthy, she dreams of ascending to the ranks of the Enlightened at the center of the convent and […]
Review: Canellian Eye: Prophecy (Book 1 of the Canellian Eye series) by Caroline Noe
Synopsis: Destiny can be savage The towering monolith of Erulia’s Prophecy stood for millennia in the watery paradise of Canellia, its dire warning unheeded. That time is long past. In the wake of dying twin suns, this generation faces extinction under the onslaught of an Ice Age. Then, in the depths of despair, a child […]
Review: One Yellow Eye by Leigh Radford
Synopsis Full of heartbreak, revulsion and black humour, a scientist desperately searches for a cure to a zombie virus while also hiding a monumental secret – her undead husband. Kesta’s husband Tim was the last person to be bitten in a zombie pandemic. The country is now in a period of respite, the government seemingly […]
Review: To Those Willing To Drown by Mark Matthews
Synopsis: To save her daughter’s soul, a grieving mother must battle a sinister pastor who feeds off the cremains of the dead and haunts a lake community. “This is goddamn wonderful. It’s both beautiful and horrible.”—Julie Hutchings, author of The Harpy“A beautiful, seismic novel.”—Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes When […]
Review: The Source of Strife by Alex Arch
Synopsis: Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Only stolen. Mages feed on catalysts like Dinnie to enhance their spells, and since she’s the most formidable weapon alive, they will stop at nothing to control her. Even her parents, leaders of warring realms, wage a battle for her custody, imprisoning her to prevent the other […]
SFF Addicts Ep. 154: How to Write Unlikable Characters with Joe Abercrombie (Writing Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson, M.J. Kuhn and Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on How to Write Unlikable Characters with bestselling author Joe Abercrombie. During the episode, Joe unpacks the core traits of unlikable characters, including what makes an unlikable character likable, why readers are fascinated by awful people, the process of creating an unlikable character, the importance of character voice, conveying character details through dialogue, morally gray character arcs, active vs. passive characters, revealing character vulnerabilities and flaws, reader investment, morally gray worlds, external conflict and more.
Review: The Devils by Joe Abercrombie
Synopsis: Holy work sometimes requires unholy deeds. Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters, and the mission he is tasked with will require bloody […]
Review: The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a masterwork of revenge fiction, coated with one of the most original spins on the vampire I’ve ever experienced. It’s going to be remembered as a classic!
Review: A Claiming of Souls by R A Sandpiper (Amefyre #3)
Warning: third degree slow burn ahead Synopsis A SOUL TAKEN. A SOUL RESTORED. A WAR AT HER FINGERTIPS. Suri’s deal with the Fae has left her a shadow of herself. Revelations about the prophecy sew confusion, new allegiances come to light, and Suri grapples with the darkness inside her. Insidious plots toll countless deaths as […]