TL;DR Review: Magic, mayhem, action, and monsters. Dark fantasy with surprising humor and a whole lot of fun. Synopsis: Amid the king’s death, magic storms rage, spreading fear against the mages. Killien will stop at nothing until he finds his sister, Fate. Her magic is both feared and hunted by mages, soldiers, assassins and the […]
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Fragmented Fates (FF Duology #1) by Nancy Foster
Synopsis After surviving two bloody purges that nearly exterminated both the Grey Clan and Orsenmuray City, the elf and harlequin survivors struggle to bring the tent city of Almjarhad to life. Surrounded by the ocean and desert, these inhospitable lands are slowly being developed with the aid of their magic. As the culprit of their […]
GUEST POST: The Essential Hero’s Toolkit by R.R. Virdi
There are three tools all heroes must possess. Know them by their shape and their names. They are the candle, cloak, and cane.
Magic swords, magical horns, and magic powers. Heroes throughout myth and modern fiction have had no end of magical macguffins to seek or draw upon. But when crafting Tales of Tremaine, I wanted to look back through history, and mythology, to what heroes have often had or needed, but perhaps not always got the spotlight.
So, where did I begin?
Review: Valour (The Faithful and the Fallen #2) by John Gwynne
Synopsis: The Banished Lands are torn by war as the army of the High King Nathair sweeps the realm challenging all who oppose his holy crusade. Allied with the manipulative Queen Rhin of Cambren, there are few who can stand against them. Meanwhile, the young warrior Corban flees from his conquered homeland with his exiled […]
Review: His Ragged Company by Rance D. Denton (The Testimonies of Elias Faust #1)
His Ragged Company gives us the chance to splatter and swear our way through a kooky western with all the obscene violence of a Tarantino flick. Seriously, what’s not to like about that?
Review: Memories of Ice (Malazan Book of the Fallen #3)
Synopsis The ravaged continent of Genabackis has given birth to a terrifying new empire: the Pannion Domin. Like a fanatical tide of corrupted blood, it seethes across the land, devouring all who fail to heed the Word of its elusive prophet, the Pannion Seer. In its path stands an uneasy alliance: Dujek Onearm’s Host and the Bridgeburners – each now outlawed by the […]
Book Review: The Treasured One (The Golden Children Book 1) by Hannah Levin
TL;DR – All the faerie flavor of ACOTAR, but a brighter, more upbeat story and characters you can’t help but love. Synopsis: Forced to choose between loyalty and love… Avery is a Golden Child with the ability to heal any illness or injury. She lives a sheltered life, dutifully healing hopefuls from around the globe. […]
SFF Addicts Ep. 112: Writing the Opposite Gender with Stephen Aryan (Mini-Masterclass)
Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and M.J. Kuhn as they delve into a mini-masterclass on Writing the Opposite Gender with author Stephen Aryan. During the episode, Stephen bridges the gap between genders, exploring the importance of writing outside your own gender, stereotypes and how men often write women badly, how to enjoy writing the opposite gender, the advantages of writing in SFF, how to research other genders, gender norms and little details, intent and power dynamics, awareness, biases, empathy and more.
Review: VVLNA by William Pauley III & Joseph Bouthiette Jr.
Synopsis Brushing away dust and dirt and sand and grit, the towering penumbra men stagger, drift, and wonder of the dark earth that surrounds them. These gods of an ancient world are simple men staring at a nothing moon struggling to invent a word to describe such darkness. The penumbra once had a word for the sun, VVLNA, but in […]
Review: I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
Synopsis: 1989, Lamesa, Texas. A small west Texas town driven by oil and cotton—and a place where everyone knows everyone else’s business. So it goes for Tolly Driver, a good kid with more potential than application, seventeen, and about to be cursed to kill for revenge. Here Stephen Graham Jones explores the Texas he grew […]
Review: Death Aesthetic by Josh Rountree
Synopsis: “This whole collection is obsessed with death.” Josh Rountree makes no bones about the mood in Death Aesthetic, his third collection of short fiction. Rountree explores the boundaries set by grief and guilt. He cracks open all manner of skeletons to peer inside the chest cavity, wondering what remains after everything else has left. He […]
Review: Wasps in the Ice Cream by Tim McGregor
Synopsis Summer 1987: Mark Prewitt’s only priority is to avoid his dad’s new wife and waste time with his friends, but idle nights are the devil’s playground. When his friends decide to pull a cruel prank on the reclusive and strange Farrow sisters, Mark regrets caving in to peer pressure. Wanting to make amends, Mark […]