Maria Haskins's Blog, page 50

My review of THE SHARDS OF HEAVEN, by Michael Livingston

The blurb: Julius Caesar is dead, assassinated on the senate floor, and the glory that is Rome has been torn in two. Octavian, Caesar’s ambitious great-nephew and adopted son, vies with Marc Antony and Cleopatra for control of Caesar’s legacy. As civil war rages from Rome to Alexandria, and vast armies and navies battle for… More My review of THE SHARDS OF HEAVEN, by Michael Livingston

Maria Savva Recommends Maria Haskins

Originally posted on Reading Recommendations:
Odin’s Eye by Maria Haskins Genre: Science Fiction/Literary Fiction Imaginative, skillfully crafted short stories that will transport you through time to different worlds. Why I recommend this book: The stories are so well written. I’d recommend it even if you don’t usually read science fiction. It’s not a genre I…

Goodreads giveaway complete: thank you to all who entered!

The Goodreads giveaway for my collection of poetry ‘Cuts & Collected Poems 1989-2015’ is over. 655 people (whoa!) entered for a chance to win one of three paperback copies: thank you so much to everyone who put their name in the Goodreads hat! I have the addresses of the winners in my hot little hands right … Continue reading →

My review of BLOODBOUND, by F. Wesley Schneider

The blurb:  Larsa is a dhampir-half vampire, half human. In the gritty streets and haunted moors of gothic Ustalav, she’s an agent for the royal spymaster, keeping peace between the capital’s secret vampire population and its huddled human masses. Yet when a noblewoman’s entire house is massacred by vampiric invaders, Larsa is drawn into a … Continue reading →

My 2015 in the rear-view mirror

  2015 was a momentous year for me. I first started out as a published writer in the dinosaur-age known as ‘the 1980s’, and plodded along rather nicely for a decade or so after that. Then, things happened (as things seem to do in life), and for a long time I wasn’t sure I would ever … Continue reading →

My favourite reads in 2015

I read a lot of fantastic books in 2015, and as my Reading List shows there were also a whole lot of books I didn’t have time to read (yet). Here is a selection of the best titles I devoured this past year. Disclaimer: these books were not necessarily published in 2015, but are books … Continue reading →

Dragons & magic beyond the veil – J. Michael Radcliffe’s THE GUARDIAN’S APPRENTICE

This year, I’ve read several short stories by J. Michael Radcliffe, including those included in the Mind’s Eye anthologies ‘Triptychs‘, and ‘Tales From The Cacao Tree‘. I also dove into ‘Scale of a Dragon‘, and ‘A Touch of Darkness’ – two short stories set in Radcliffe’s ‘Beyond The Veil’-universe where magic and dragons are ever-present, and … Continue reading →

A writing update from my messy desk

  This year has been a rather amazing experience of me as a writer. After self-publishing my collection of science fiction short stories ‘Odin’s Eye’ in March, I spent a few months translating, writing and editing poems for my collection of poetry ‘Cuts & Collected Poems 1989 – 2015’. It was self-published in November, and since … Continue reading →

Three immensely readable classics

What is a classic? I like Italo Calvino’s poetic definition best: A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say. Here are three such books that I highly recommend to anyone, and everyone. The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov The blurb: Mikhail Bulgakov’s devastating satire of Soviet life … Continue reading →

My review of Mary Rickert’s YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN HERE

The book blurb: Open this book to any page and find yourself enspelled by these lush, alchemical stories. Faced with the uncanny and the impossible, Rickert’s protagonists are as painfully, shockingly, complexly human as the readers who will encounter them. Mothers, daughters, witches, artists, strangers, winged babies, and others grapple with deception, loss, and moments … Continue reading →