Adrian Collins's Blog, page 209

REVIEW: The Ember Blade by Chris Wooding

The Ember Blade by Chris Wooding was a recommendation by fellow Grimdark Magazine reviewer, James Tivendale, for which I’m very grateful. Just so you’re left in no doubt as to which way this review is going to go, I’ll kick things off with this opening declaration: stand aside JRR Tolkien, GRR Martin and Joe Abercrombie, for Chris Wooding.

Yes, you read that right. The Ember Blade is hands down the best fantasy novel I’ve ever read. I can only think of two things that suck about it: 1. The sequel is not yet published, and 2. The blurb on Goodreads and Amazon is poorly written and makes The Ember Blade sound like a stirring of the same old soup. But it is not, for this book is 1000% the real deal.

I’ll qualify my opening ravings by disclosing that the main themes in The Ember Blade had a particular resonance with me, since I was raised in Malta, a former British colony, by parents who were both Anglophiles. I can still recall once criticising a book on ‘famous lives’ which I’d received as a birthday present, by stating that it contained too much of a focus on British people, as if no one else in the world also made their own contribution. It earned me a stern rebuke from my mother who informed me that this primary focus was merited since the Brits set the standard in everything and do everything in proper and orderly fashion.

Which is why I could instantly identify with the book’s young protagonist Aren and his sidekick Cade, two Ossian boys who are raised in a country conquered and colonised by the Krodan Empire. Growing up they are taught that everything Ossian is backwards and to be forgotten, while they should aspire to learn and adopt Krodan ways. Aren is raised as a Krodan and constantly dismisses his Ossian background, unlike his closest friend the low-born Cade, who constantly pokes fun at Aren’s posturing while also reminding him that he is essentially a white raven i.e. an Ossian doing his best to be something he’s not.

Aren ignores Cade’s jibes, keen as he is to embrace the ways of what he perceives as the Krodan master race. He faithfully adopts their faith, manners, dress, culture and cuisine, while also enjoying a dalliance with a local Krodan girl, albeit against her family’s wishes. Yet his whole world comes crashing down when he is unjustly separated from his father and arrested along with Cade, with both boys taken to a mine where Krodan captives are worked to death. I could go on and on about what happens next but I shan’t, since I couldn’t live with ruining the sheer delight of this novel for any aspiring readers. Suffice to say that I’ve not often encountered themes of colonisation and rebellion so powerfully, intricately and movingly described, both in fantasy and other genres.

But be warned: it is a really long book. Yet there’s no sagging, irrelevant, mind-numbingly boring scenes like hobbits bagging gas with Farmer Maggot or being sung to sleep by Goldberry in the house of Tom Bombadil. The opening chapters are a carefully crafted build up until things pick up (the gentle and unhurried narration on Audible doesn’t help matters, so that I turned the speed up from 1 to 1.4, which suddenly ticked things along at a satisfying pace). It’s all a bit like a snowball beginning to roll down a hill before you are seized by the collar and hauled along for such a fast and exhilarating ride that a huge novel suddenly seems far too short.

The quality of writing is extraordinary, holding its own with any literary novel while not using hard words for the sake of it. The character building and plot twists are divine. The Grimdark element is present throughout, with real consequences for each of the characters’ actions and there being no convenient quick fixes or sudden deus ex machina moments to dilute the suspense which is ratcheted up further with each page turned. Wooding’s world is also possessed of a magic which is soft but intensely deep and powerful, with far-reaching consequences.

The interactions between the characters are extremely engaging, with each of them possessed of credible personal sufferings, troubles, strengths and aspirations. Their cultures and backgrounds are intricately set out in a world that’s both highly credible and immersive. I loved each member of the ‘fellowship of the blade’ (for want of a better description) and in Garric and Grub I’ve added two more awesome characters to my personal pantheon of favourite characters in fantasy, which includes Gandalf, Aragorn, Silk, Glokta and Logen Ninefingers.

The Ember Blade contains the well-worn fantasy tropes of perilous escape, bildungsroman, quest, rebellion, love triangle and so many other arcs and sub-plots which have been done before. But the way Wooding has blended and remixed it all is just to die for. There’s little to no gallows humour like that used by Abercrombie, yet overall this pays off since this sort of humour would only serve to dilute the real sense of danger that lurks at the edge of each page so that you can almost taste it. In fact I can’t count the number of times my mouth went dry or my stomach knotted up in fearful anticipation while reading this book. I also started biting my nails again. Yet the eventual payoff and ending are so good I felt like I needed a bone-crushing hug afterwards to stop me quivering all over, overwhelmed as I was by the quality of this novel.

So it’s a five on five read, I’d give it ten on five if it were up to me. A brilliant reminder of how intense and exceptional an experience awesome fiction can be when it’s done well. And at this point, phew, I’ve run out of superlatives, and am not quite sure what else I can say to make you pick up The Ember Blade right now. You can thank me later.

Buy The Ember Blade by Chris Wooding

The post REVIEW: The Ember Blade by Chris Wooding appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

Best SFF books of 2020 so far: picked by the GdM team

There have been some magnificent books released this year. We asked the GdM team what they thought the best SFF books of 2020 so far were, with each member of our reviewer team putting forward their favourite. As with each of these lists we publish, they generally span the gamut of dark fiction to full blown grimdark, but I’m sure readers will be happy to see some laughs in this list as well–because bugger me we could all use some!

We’ve got plenty to look forward to in fiction over the second half of 2020, but if you’re itching for something new to read right now, you could do a lot worse than the below books! We have plenty of action, intrigue, stories close and personal alongside the epic and grandiose, and all well worth looking in to.

Happy browsing!

Along The Razor’s Edge by Rob J. Hayes
(Picked by Chris Haught)

At just fifteen Eskara Helsene fought in the greatest war mankind has ever known. Fought and lost. There is only one place her enemies would send a Sourcerer as powerful as her, the Pit, a prison sunk so deep into the earth the sun is a distant memory. Now she finds herself stripped of her magic; a young girl surrounded by thieves, murderers, and worse. In order to survive she will need to find new allies, play the inmates against each other, and find a way out. Her enemies will soon find Eskara is not so easily broken.

Our review: Click here

Interview with Rob J. Hayes: Click here

Sample chapter: Click here

Read in the US: Along the Razor’s Edge (The War Eternal Book 1)[image error]

Read in the UK: Along the Razor’s Edge (The War Eternal Book 1)[image error]

Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings
(Picked by Michael Dodd)

In a small Western Queensland town, a reserved young woman receives a note from one of her vanished brothers—a note that makes question her memories of their disappearance and her father’s departure.

A beguiling story that proves that gothic delights and uncanny family horror can live—and even thrive—under a burning sun, Flyaway introduces readers to Bettina Scott, whose search for the truth throws her into tales of eerie dogs, vanished schools, cursed monsters, and enchanted bottles.

In these pages Jennings assures you that gothic delights, uncanny family horror, and strange, unsettling prose can live—and even thrive—under a burning sun.

Our review: Click here

Read in the US: Flyaway[image error]

Read in the UK: Flyaway[image error]

Stormblood by Jeremy Szal
(Picked by Adrian Collins)

Vakov Fukasawa used to be a Reaper, a biosoldier fighting for the intergalactic governing body of Harmony against a brutal invading empire. Now, he fights against the stormtech: the DNA of an extinct alien race Harmony injected into him, altering his body chemistry and making him permanently addicted to adrenaline and aggression. It made him the perfect soldier, but it also opened a new drug market that has millions hopelessly addicted to their own body chemistry.

But when Harmony tells him that his former ally Reapers are being murdered, Vakov is appalled to discover his estranged brother is likely involved in the killings. They haven’t spoken in years, but Vakov can’t let his brother down, and investigates. But the deeper he goes, the more addicted to stormtech he becomes, and Vakov discovers that the war might not be over after all. It’ll take everything he has to unearth this terrible secret, although doing so might mean betraying his brother. If his own body doesn’t betray him first.

A vibrant and talented new voice in SFF: alien technology, addictive upgrades, a soldier determined to protect his family, and a thief who is prepared to burn the world down . . .

Our review: Click here

Read in the US: Stormblood[image error]

Read in the UK: Stormblood[image error]

Camelot by Giles Kristian
(Picked by Edward Gwynne)

Britain is a land riven by anarchy, slaughter, famine, filth and darkness. Its armies are destroyed, its heroes dead, or missing. Arthur and Lancelot fell in the last great battle and Merlin has not been these past ten years. But in a small, isolated monastery in the west of England, a young boy is suddenly plucked from his simple existence by the ageing warrior, Gawain. It seems he must come to terms with his legacy and fate as the son of the most celebrated yet most infamous of Arthur’s warriors: Lancelot. For this is the story of Galahad, Lancelot’s son – the reluctant warrior who dared to keep the dream of Camelot alive . . .

Our review: Click here

Read in the US: CAMELOT (working title): the epic new novel from the author of Lancelot[image error]

Read int he UK: Camelot: The epic new novel from the author of Lancelot[image error]

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
(Picked by Fabienne Schwizer)

In 1893, there’s no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.

But when the Eastwood sisters–James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna–join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women’s movement into the witch’s movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote-and perhaps not even to live-the sisters will need to delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.

There’s no such thing as witches. But there will be.

Fabienne’s review at libridraconis.com: Click here

Read in the US: The Once and Future Witches[image error]

Read in the UK:The Once and Future Witches[image error]

A Time of Courage by John Gwynne
(Picked by James Tivendale)

Battle the dark

Reclaim the world

The Demon-King of the Otherworld is finally free. And armed with mighty new starstone weapons, Asroth prepares to lead his demonic war-host south. With the help of his dark bride Fritha, he plans to crush the warrior-angels and their allies.

In the shadows of Forn Forest, Riv and the surviving Ben-Elim hold a war council. After the catastrophic events at Drassil, they are desperate to unite those who would stand against Asroth and his army. So they fly west, to join the Order of the Bright Star. But Drem and the Order are besieged by a demon horde – and their fragile defence may soon shatter.

Across the Banished Lands armies are heading south, to settle ancient grudges and decide the fate of humanity. Drem, Riv and the Bright Star’s warriors will need every ounce of their courage if they are to join the final battle. But will their combined forces be enough to face down their greatest foe?

In A Time of Courage, angels, demons and heroes face the ultimate fight for the Banished Lands. Thousands of years of enmity will be put to the test, in the epic conclusion to John Gwynne’s mighty trilogy.

Our review: Click here

Read int he US: A Time of Courage (Of Blood & Bone Book 3)[image error]

Read in the UK: A Time of Courage (Of Blood and Bone)[image error]

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho
(Picked by Mike Myers)

Zen Cho returns with a found family wuxia fantasy that combines the vibrancy of old school martial arts movies with characters drawn from the margins of history.

A bandit walks into a coffeehouse, and it all goes downhill from there. Guet Imm, a young votary of the Order of the Pure Moon, joins up with an eclectic group of thieves (whether they like it or not) in order to protect a sacred object, and finds herself in a far more complicated situation than she could have ever imagined.

Our review: Click here 

Read in the US: The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water[image error]

Read in the UK: The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water[image error]

The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold
(Picked by Elizabeth Tabler)

A former soldier turned PI tries to help the fantasy creatures whose lives he ruined in a world that’s lost its magic in a compelling debut fantasy by Black Sails actor Luke Arnold.

Welcome to Sunder City. The magic is gone but the monsters remain.

I’m Fetch Phillips, just like it says on the window. There are a few things you should know before you hire me:

1. Sobriety costs extra.

2. My services are confidential.

3. I don’t work for humans.

It’s nothing personal—I’m human myself. But after what happened, to the magic, it’s not the humans who need my help.

Walk the streets of Sunder City and meet Fetch, his magical clients, and a darkly imagined world perfect for readers of Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher.

Our review: Click here

Interview with Luke Arnold: Click here

Read in the US: The Last Smile in Sunder City (The Fetch Phillips Archives (1))[image error]

Read in the UK: The Last Smile in Sunder City (Fetch Phillips Book 1)[image error]

Assassination Protocol by Andy Peloquin
(Picked by CT Phipps)

Nolan Garrett is Cerberus. A government assassin, tasked with fixing the galaxy’s darkest, ugliest problems with a bullet to the brain.

Armed with cutting-edge weapons and an AI-run cybernetic suit that controls his paralyzed legs, he is the fist in the shadows, the dagger to the heart of the Nyzarian Empire’s enemies.

Then he found Bex on his doorstep…

A junkie, high on the drug he’d fought for years to avoid, and a former elite soldier like him. So he takes her in to help her get clean—Silverguards never leave their own behind.

If only he’d known his actions would put him in the crosshairs of the most powerful cartel in New Avalon.

Facing an army of gangbangers, drug pushers, and thugs, Nolan must fight to not only carry out his mission, but to prevent the escalating violence from destroying everything he loves.

Cerberus: Assassination Protocol is the riveting, heart-pounding first book in the epic military sci-fi Cerberus series. If you like fearless heroes, non-stop futuristic action, and neck-breaking plot twists, you’ll love Andy Peloquin’s thrilling space opera series.

Buy Cerberus: Assassination Protocol now to watch an assassin fight to protect the innocent!

Charles’ review at Booknest.eu: Click here

Read in the US: Assassination Protocol: A Military Space Opera Thriller (Cerberus Book 1)[image error]

Read int he UK: Assassination Protocol: A Military Space Opera Thriller (Cerberus Book 1)[image error]

The Headlock of Destiny by Samuel Gately
(Picked by Nate Aubin)

Some say titans are descended from giants. Others say they are risen from men. But there’s never any debate about where to find them. They will be in the center of a roaring crowd, beating the hell out of each other. From contenders like the Savage and Scott Flawless to pretenders like Richard the Living Portrait and Troll-Blooded Thom, a titan’s lot in life is the same: To wrestle for dominion and glory in the squared circle.

Van, a quiet titan from the brewery town of Headwaters, wants no part in this. He’d prefer to be left alone with a beer. But destiny has him in a headlock, and it is prepared to drag him into battles that will shake the land and change his world forever.

Step into the ring with this one-of-a-kind novel, brewed special for fans of epic fantasy, fans of professional wrestling from the Golden Era and beyond, or simply fans of a good tale.

Our review: Click here

Read in the US: The Headlock of Destiny: An Epic Fantasy / Pro Wrestling Mash-up (Titan Wars Book 1)[image error]

Read in the UK: The Headlock of Destiny: An Epic Fantasy / Pro Wrestling Mash-up (Titan Wars Book 1)[image error]

The post Best SFF books of 2020 so far: picked by the GdM team appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

REVIEW: The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

I was so excited to read The Monster Baru Cormorant after absolutely loving The Traitor Baru Cormorant, and calling Baru one of the best protagonists in fantasy. When the publisher sent me through links for both Monster and Tyrant at the start of iso, I thought this was going to be brilliant–the world was burning around us but I had two books I was so excited to read back-to-back during lockdown.

The story starts with failure: failure of courage, failure of combat, failure of death, and who knows how many others—all leading, eventually, back to the secret rebel accountant, Baru. And this is all part of an absolutely devastating opening quarter of book. I gobbled up the first quarter of this book in a couple of days. But that’s where my happiness and enjoyment of The Monster Baru Cormorant pretty much ended. And I do need to say in fairness to both author and publisher that, in hindsight, this was likely the wrong book to have read during these times. It’s a heavy read, has plenty of characters, and if you lose concentration for a moment, or forget a detail, or read it over a long period of time, like I did, then you’re going to miss things.

Our key cast of characters are fairly familiar, with Baru, Aminata, and Admiral Ormsmet leading the fray.

Baru is on a mission to find the mysterious Cancrioth–the mysterious puppet masters sitting behind and guiding the numerically superior (to Falcrest) Oriato Mbo people. They are famed to be immortal, and the Falcresti cryptarchs want that power. The cryptarchs topple nations with disease and commerce, they bring people after people under the iron shod boot of Falcrest. They have done so much just in the last few decades. Imagine what the Falcresti cryptarchs could accomplish within many lifetimes?

Animata, two navy voyages into her career, is now a landlocked torturer of her own people—know thy enemy—using whores to fill time and need and wishing Baru, dead or alive, would write her back. Then the Admiralty gives her command of a mission—the one mission she wishes didn’t exist.

Admiral Ormsment has a plan, and the Emperor of Falcrest is going to kill her and everyone she knows if she goes ahead with it. With two ships full of loyal crew, and a new alliance, it is time for her to hunt down Baru.

The second quarter of this book is a lot slower, sometimes a bit dreamlike, to how I remember book one. In this section we spent a lot of time in Baru’s head, trying to figure out the repercussions of her actions in The Traitor Baru Cormorant, deal with the shadow of her lover, figure out who wants her dead and who is helping her and why. The threads of where this book could go writhe out in what feels like a hundred trails of possibility.

Unfortunately, in hindsight, this is perhaps where I should have pulled the pin on The Monster Baru Cormorant–perhaps even just to try and pick it up again in happier days. All these threads just end up creating a bunch of confusion and an incredibly long drawn out second half of the book that does not deliver a satisfying ending–a dissatisfying bridge into book three. I feel like I can see what Dickinson was doing. I understand the plot. I can see the characters grow and change. I just can’t say there was ever a moment where I was thinking, “Wife? Food? Sleep? Forget that! I’ve got to drop everything and read!” as opposed to feeling obliged to finish the book so I could review it.

The frustrating thing is that all the right ingredients are there in this book. A super shadowy foe to discover and chase down. A nicely diverse and different group of characters. Enjoyable ethical systems and characters who truly see the world differently. Espionage and fear of discovery. Brutal, brutal, decisions and repercussions. A very gross but very cool low magic system. One wonderfully terrifying extra foe in Tain Shir. Real heartbreak. An end goal where it should have been a brilliant unveiling that drives home an unquenchable thirst to get into book three.

This book feels like it should have been half the length, like Dickinson had too much story for a duology and not enough story for a trilogy, and went with the latter, jamming all the good bits into book one and (hopefully, now) book three.

One thing I do really want to highlight is some really interesting commentary from the author on how culture is fluid—it’s in a perpetual state of change and has no set boundaries. That really rang true with the prejudices I have witnessed change in my lifetime around the LGBTQIA+ community, and I assume some of the change other countries have seen in their own cultures and populations as the world becomes more and more connected and people leave their countries to live on other shores in greater numbers, taking their own cultures and life experiences with them. This is something Dickinson does really well throughout this series so far. He ties themes that matter to readers now into his work in a manner that doesn’t have him on a soapbox preaching and info dumping, but has you seeing this change through the eyes of Baru.

In the end, this is a book I wanted to love so much. Again, I don’t know if it was the times I tried to read it in, or it was just as unenjoyable as I found it (I haven’t looked at anybody else’s reviews to compare), but I found The Monster Baru Cormorant to be a long grind towards an unsatisfying end. I really hope The Tyrant Baru Cormorant is as epic as I think it will be, but I’m going to read a few short, sharp, million-miles-an-hour books to get my mojo back before I open up Tyrant.

Buy The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

As with evil, reviews are a matter of perspective. Perhaps you’ll have a different experience to mine.

The post REVIEW: The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.

REVIEW: Every Sky a Grave by Jay Posey

I received an uncorrected proof copy of Every Sky a Grave in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Jay Posey and Harper Voyager.

In Every Sky a Grave we follow Elyth, an agent for the First House of the Ascendance. This female-only order regulates the galaxy and keeps peace and harmony throughout. When a planet’s path deviates from what the authorities desire then an operative is sent to do a task. Their objective is to use the Deep Langauge, the greatest of all the Ascendance’s technologies, to assassinate the planet. Elyth uses these words of power to bring forth the assigned planet’s destruction. Upon completing her mission on Revik, she is urgently called back to base and given a crucial follow-up mission. This task, which takes Elyth to the planet of Qel, makes up the lion’s share of the action that takes place in Every Sky a Grave.

Elyth is a model agent for the First House of the Ascendance. She is highly trained and experienced in stealth, reading people, manipulating situations, combat, and with the Deep Language. She is a true believer of the First House’s cause. When upon Qel, her mission does not go to plan at all. When events go a bit haywire Elyth has to use analyse the strange scenarios and improvise on the assignment that isn’t like any that she has completed before. There is a mysterious and powerful entity on or surrounding the planet, and that something, or maybe the planet itself, may not give in to Elyth’s words of power and doom.

Every Sky a Grave, the first novel in The Ascendance Series, was my first time reading anything by Jay Posey. The intriguing premise won me over completely, I think the cover is beautiful, and the publicist presented it as science fiction for fans of Mark Lawrence. Every Sky a Grave does have a planet-hopping science fiction Book of the Ancestor vibe to it. Like Nona, Elyth is the sole third-person point of view perspective and she operates for a female-only assassin/warrior establishment. Similar to Lawrence, Posey is a skilled wordsmith who creates excellent imagery, presents quality and exciting set-pieces and makes me truly empathise with his protagonist throughout. Even if she is stubborn, headstrong and blindly dedicated to her role in First House of the Ascendance. I enjoyed following her patterns of thinking when dealing with a scenario or drama.

I had a mostly positive experience when reading Every Sky a Grave. It took me a while to get into though and some of the chapters in the first half of the novel dragged and seemed overly descriptive, including the opening segment. Throughout the second half, I didn’t have this problem but it may be that whilst reading I became attuned to Posey’s style, just embraced it and enjoyed the ride. The chapters tend to be between 20-35 minutes long so I always made sure that I had at least that time set aside so that I wouldn’t be rushed and could relish what was being presented.

We spend a fair amount of the narrative’s time in Elyth’s head as she is alone but the novel also includes some fine supporting players. The Paragon of the First House is a great character who has been extremely influential in Elyth’s upbringing yet my favourite character is someone who I can’t really mention or describe here without potentially mentioning something that might take away from the reading experience. All I will say is that they were an absolute pleasure to read about and their interactions with Elyth were sometimes humorous, often thought-provoking, but always had me glued to the page.

Every Sky a Grave, although the first in a series, works perfectly well as a standalone. The last 25% to the ending is terrific and takes the novel from a steady 3 to a strong 4-star rating for me. What could come in the next books is exciting and there are a lot of possibilities. I believe I will check out the sequel as I am interested to see what is next for Elyth after the knowledge gained, and the revelations and events witnessed here. Every Sky is a Grave is an intriguing and entertaining read for those who wish to follow the adventure of an assassin of worlds. Even with the sections that dragged to me, I raced through the 400 or so pages in 4 days. Recommended.

Buy Every Sky a Grave by Jay Posey

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REVIEW: The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark

I have been to New Orleans, once. And even in my limited understanding of New Orleans, I can imagine how difficult it would be to get down on paper in The Black God’s Drums. Not only does P. Djèlí Clark get it on paper, but he also evokes the “spirit of the place.” He understands what makes New Orleans hum. Clark understands the smells, and he gets the people. He gets what it feels like to walk the cobblestone streets and hear the music of Mardi Gras. Any reader can read this story and smell beignets, moss, and hear the deep thrumming of drums in their bones. It is no small feat.

The Black God’s Drums is an immersive tale, a steampunk-esque alternative history. An eloquently written, and researched, story set in confederate era New Orleans post Civil War Stalemate. Clark took legends and folklore from Haiti, the Caribbean, and Africa and paired them with the history of the Haitian Slave Rebellion of 1794. In reality, the rebellion helped create only Haiti, a state free from slavery, and ruled by non-whites and former captives. Yet, in this story, the rebellion helped free Haiti as well as most of the Caribbean and created a state known as The Free Isles. Thus a great stalemate was born between the Free Isles and the slave-owning south. A stalemate based upon a mysterious weapon, previously used once against the French fleet. A weapon that is so powerful that to use it again, it would destroy everything.

Against the backdrop of history, both real and imagined lay New Orleans and our protagonist Creeper. Creeper is a 13-year-old street kid gifted or cursed by the goddess Oya. She makes her living stealing and doing what is necessary to survive. Even though Creeper is a thief, there a strong moral current that flows through her. Given different circumstances, you know that Creeper wouldn’t steal. There is no great thrill to stealing save for prolonging her life a day at a time. Oya, the Yoruba goddess of winds, lightning, and violent storms, death, and rebirth. She was brought to New Orleans in the hearts of slaves. Part of Oya has settled inside of Creeper, sending her visions and protecting her on occasion.

Creeper wants to escape her circumstance. After a chance meeting with a Cajun smuggler and overhearing some useful and important information, Creeper has a chance to leave. What follows is an exciting array of characters. Specifically in the form of Captain Ann-Marie of the airship Midnight Robber. The Captain has secrets of her own and that could involve Creeper. The story has exciting plot elements and a gorgeous retelling of history from that era.

If you like stories that involve nuns, smuggling, mysticism, and saving the world. All set against New Orleans, this is the story for you. It is gorgeously and atmospherically written and I cannot wait to read whatever else Clark writes.

“Fighting it has to be like trying to push back a flood. In my head, Oya laughs. You can run from those old Afrikin goddesses. But they find you when they ready.”

Buy The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark

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REVIEW: A Plague of Swords by Miles Cameron

A Plague of Swords solidified The Traitor Son Cycle as one of the best epic fantasy series written. It has everything I have come to love in fantasy, and continues on a wonderfully fun trajectory that has built up to the final instalment excellently. A Plague of Swords was the excellent penultimate entry of the Traitor Son Cycle.

“Never ascribe to some conspiracy of evil what can be explained as easily by ignorance and fear.”

Now being the fourth book of the series, I’ll not go into the plot and intricacies of A Plague Swords – but I WILL go into everything that is especially brilliant about The Traitor Son Cycle.

With the grand ending of the previous book, A Plague of Swords begins with the ‘sides’ of the various wars in a state of limbo, recovering from the conflicts and preparing for those that lie ahead.

“Ser Tomaso,” she said. “It is very likely we will all die.”

“Or worse,” said Brown, the first words he’d said in days. Ser Tomaso made a brave face.

“Perhaps,” he said. “But we will eat well.”

A Plague of Swords has the addition of some intriguing and enjoyable features, such as SEA MONSTERS – and yes, they are terrifying and glorious. We also have the addition of a certain Gryphon that is now rideable by a certain knight – Ariosto is one of my favourite characters, I really want my own Gryphon. Even if they are hungry all the time. He’s so polite too! Yeah, I like Ariosto.

We also see a thread that resembled the final chase in The Last of the Mohicans. Miles Cameron has taken influence from various cultures, and I loved reading about the tribes that were obviously inspired by Native Americans.

“You said you’d lead us to hell,” Tom said. He laughed. “Oh, we will make such a song!”

Being four books into a series some readers would expect A Plague of Swords to be similar to the previous three reads, with small changes. But no, Miles Cameron has clearly developed as a writer and has enjoyed taking risks. We know there are gritty and bloody battles with knights in full plate, heavy cavalry charges, vile boglins and pageantry. But there are twists here, like spy threads, new creatures, celebrations, new alliances. There is something extremely new to this fantasy world that keeps you on your toes.

“Since when does war only have two sides?”

5/5 – I am loving my foray into The Traitor Son Cycle and cannot believe I am so close to the end. A Plague of Swords is a fantastic addition and has proven what an excellent writer Miles Cameron is (yet again, I know!)

Buy A Plague of Swords by Miles Cameron

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REVIEW: Stoker’s Wilde by Steven Hopstaken & Melissa Prusi

I received an advance reading copy of Stoker’s Wilde in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank Steven Hopstaken, Melissa Prusi, and Flame Tree Press.

The concept of Stoker’s Wilde intrigued me straight away. It is an epistolary novel that is set in the late nineteenth century and sees Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde, who actively dislike each other, begrudgingly working together to thwart a vampire cult masterminded by the mysterious Black Bishop. Much like Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Stoker’s Wilde features numerous narrators presenting the events chronologically through diary and journal entries, letters, police reports, newspaper articles etc…

Stoker’s Wilde is a finely composed mix of horror, historical fiction, and the supernatural written in a classic style that borrows elements from both Dracula and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray in its presentation, writing style, flair for language, and events that take place. It features many famous faces from the Victorian-era including Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, Sir Richard Burton, Robert and Teddy Roosevelt, as well as a Lord Wotton, and a Dutch vampire-hunter who has a lot in common with Van Helsing.

The main point of view perspectives were Stoker’s journal and Wilde’s diary. Both were a joy to read albeit completely different presentations with Stoker’s writing being factual and thought-provoking in his commentary whilst Wilde’s recording of events is full of style, wit, charisma, and is extremely quotable. The way Wilde’s sections flow and the lexical choices made me think that certain sections could have been written by the great man himself.

Stoker’s Wilde is a haunting gothic horror love letter to the titular authors. Hopstaken and Prusi have dedicated a lot of time, care and effort into their research and the subject matter and it shows. The novel has many exciting moments and reads like an extremely skilfully crafted classic horror tale. It’s the unlikely pairing of Stoker and Wilde that steal the show. Stoker’s relationships, finding out about his powers and past, and Wilde’s wit, place in society, and sexuality are all a joy to read about. They are two opposites of the era which makes them such a fine pairing.

There are some excellent suspenseful moments, pretty gory incidents, and a fair few decapitations and vampires turning into goop. The ending features a fantastic set-piece at stone henge that approaches dark fantasy territory and events are set up perfectly for the sequel, Stoker’s Wilde West, where the unlikely duo venture to America to help their ally, Robert Roosevelt. I will be checking out that book very soon.

The only real negative I have is that occasionally some of the letters written by less interesting characters such as Florence Stoker were not as exciting to follow as Bram’s and Oscar’s moments so I occasionally rushed these sections to get back to what I considered the best parts. That being said, overall I recommend this book to fans of horror, vampires stories, the paranormal and Victorian classical fiction.

Buy Stoker’s Wilde by Steven Hopstaken & Melissa Prusi

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REVIEW: Devolution by Max Brooks

It sounds exciting right, living amongst the wilds of nature while being tethered to the city’s ease and convenience. You get the verdant beauty without all the needs of living in a forest. Who wouldn’t want that? But what if something huge happens and you are unprepared for it. You are a city person living amongst the beasts. What do you do, how do you survive?

This is what happened to Greenloop community on the skirts of Mt. Ranier when the Bigfoots came to hunt.

Let me start by saying that Devolution was the wrong book to read right now. Currently, I am neurotic and anxious, trapped in quarantine, much like the rest of the world. Trees surround my home. I can see Mt. Ranier on a clear day from my front yard. It is either the worst or the best time to pick up a book like Devolution; either way, it was effective at scaring the bejeezus out of me. This story is something. Written in what I am sure is to become the “Max Brooks style” of storytelling. It is told through letters and first-person interviews. Instead of linear storytelling Brooks creates the world of the story brick by brick until you are surrounded by his world and can’t get out.

“Many people are horrified when they hear that a chimpanze might eat a human baby, but after all, so far as the chimpanzee is concerned, men are only another kind of primate…”

A group of rich yuppies from the city comes to a premade rural/city community named Greenloop. The food and necessities are shipped in via drone, the homes are smart and powered by solar, people telecommute for work, and every need has been thought of by the architect. Then with a boom and shaking, the sky fills with ash, and Greenloop is cut off from all human contact. This, on the surface, is bad enough. You take characters that do not have a strong bone in their bodies and throw them into a life and death situation and see what happens. Now add in a mysteriously large footprint. Animal bones are surrounding the complex that has been chewed on and licked clean. A strong smell of gamey rot that permeates the air, and instead of just survival, you have so much more to worry about. In the vein of classic fear of invisible monsters, these people are stalked and toyed with.

The lead character is a neurotic woman named Kate. I dislike Kate. I think everyone who reads this book will hate Kate at first. She is an insufferable know-it-all that would be the first to complain to a manager if her chardonnay was the wrong temperature. But when everything goes pear-shaped, Kate changes. This is the best part of the book. Kates’s character progression is beautiful and believable. She is so much more under the surface; all she needed was flesh-eating primates to bring it out. You will love her, you will cheer her, and you will want her to win.

The one complaint I have about the story is that it is a slow burn. SLLLOOOOOWWW. I was waiting for something to happen in the first 60 % of the story, and nothing did. It wasn’t enjoyable until you see why Brooks wrote it that way in the last 40% of the story. It all comes together. Every little bit of info or aside he shoved into the beginning was the building blocks for the last gory and exciting forty percent of the novel. Then all you have is an appreciation for Brooks’s storytelling abilities. Because man, there is craziness, explosions, fights, terror, excitement… so much.

Devolution isn’t World War Z; it is an entirely new thing. The scale is smaller, but the action and characterizations aren’t. It is a big story told on the microscale of a small community. It was so much fun, and you should read it.

Buy Devolution by Max Brooks

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REVIEW: Vampyr

Vampyr is a game by Dontnod Entertainment, creator of the popular Life is Strange episodic adventure. A Gothic Horror action-adventure game is about as far from that story as possible, so I was intrigued as well as wary when the game first came out in June 2018. While I ultimately enjoyed the game, it is the update of the game and my thoughts on replaying it in 2020 that inclined me to write this review. A game about politics, disease, poverty, mass uprisings, and the undead walking the line between them reads a bit differently in light of recent events.

The premise of the game is that it is 1918 during the Spanish Flu. Doctor Jonathan Reid is an upper class Englishman and veteran of World War One that has returned to his city during its worst years with the possible exception of the Black Death, Great London Fire, and the upcoming Second World War. Bodies are piling up in the streets and being carried off to mass graves. The city is torn between classicism, social unrest, and the slow death of the British Empire. What could possibly make this situation worse? Why vampires of course.

As bad as the Spanish Flu is, something unnatural has begun spreading vampirism among the city’s residents. These creatures are not the suave and debonair creatures of myth but mostly a bunch of hungry, feral, and hideous creatures that are only unnoticed due to the sheer amount of death that is already occurring due to the influenza outbreak. Combating these creatures are roving bands of vampire hunting vigilantes called the Priwen Guard.

Doctor Reid runs afoul of the guard and these feral vampires when he awakens on top of a mass grave as one of the few still-intelligent members of his race. He, unfortunately, kills an innocent woman within minutes of awakening and she turns out to be someone very important to him. This also puts him in the sights of the Priwen Guard. In the end, only a chance encounter with an occultist running a free hospital allows him to survive his second night of vampirism. Can Doctor Reid help bring an end to this disaster and does he really want to?

The atmosphere of the game is tremendous with the dark and crumbling London feeling like something out of Interview with a Vampire. I don’t think it’s particularly historical but the feel of it nicely updates Dracula to the early 20th century. It also remembers that the British Empire extended to all corners of the globe so not everyone is lily white agnostics. We get reminders of the racism, sexism, homophobia, political extremism, and PTSD that was rampant during this set point in time without it ever feeling like the game is trying to make a point. Just presenting it is enough to get the game’s message.

While Doctor Reid has a Dark Souls-lite series of adventures where he must fight vampire hunters and monsters in the street in order to get to the various social hubs, the most innovative mechanic of the game is best described as, “Who do I murder?” There’s sixty-four or so NPCs scattered throughout the game that can be interacted. All of them have backstories, personalities, and subplots related to each other. Some of them are innocents and others are complete assholes. In order to increase his strength, Doctor Reid can choose to kill some of these mortals. Normally, this will traumatize and weaken districts but that’s easily fixed by attending to the survivors. A few of them are people who make the lives of their neighbors worse too.

Doctor Reid is, unfortunately, the weakest link of an otherwise solid story. He’s a somewhat snooty upper-crust healer who seems devoid of traits that another man of his background would have during the time period. Progressives certainly existed in 1918 but they forgot to give him any flaws to balance out his better qualities. Giving him a few weaknesses like overwhelming arrogance, addiction, bloodthirst (of a less literal kind), regular lust, or other vices might have made him more engaging. As such, he’s a saintly human who becomes a saintly vampire.

Vampyr has recently been updated with a story mode that allows players to avoid some of the sometimes punishingly-difficult combat of the game. It has also been provided with a much harder difficulty for those who enjoy a challenge. Personally, I think Vampyr is worth picking up and full of excellent writing as well as characters. Its main character could have been better done but I don’t hate him either. He’s just a bit too much of a proper gentleman in a setting that cries out for a ruthless antihero.

Buy Vampyr from Dotnod Entertainment

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An Interview with Rob J. Hayes

Hey demented ones! This issue I come to you from the Dripping Bucket. It’s dark, the tables smell and the ale is horrible—but I am here with the Hat himself: Rob J. Hayes!

If you don’t know Rob’s work, he just finished his The War Eternal trilogy which is GDAF and is a past winner of Mark Lawrence’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog Off (SPFBO) and almost made it twice this last year with his ode to old Asian martial arts movies—Never Die.

Now, I know many of you are thinking right now, “finally! We’ll get to the bottom of this cabal thing!”

Sorry, but we won’t be exploring wild rumors like a secret cadre of authors running the grimdark world behind the scenes. That would be outlandish, and uh, fantastic. #NoCabal

I’ve cyber-known Rob for a few years and enjoyed his work, but never interviewed him. Before now that is…

[TS] Rob, thanks for taking the time for a chin wag.

[RH] No worries at all, thank you for inviting me over. Is it over? On? I’m never sure which phrase to use for virtual chatting.

[TS] I’m going to start this off a bit differently. One of the things that we have talked about several times online is our mutual love for whiskey. What got you started with whiskey and which one are you really enjoying lately?

[RH] I do love a good whiskey. Or a good rum to be honest. I like to have a variety in the house so I have a choice when it comes to tipple time. Weirdly it’s just been of a progression for me from spirit to spirit. Used to be a vodka drinker, then switched to rum and drank them with mixers. Then I started sipping rum neat just because I really enjoyed the flavour. A mate of mine was big into his bourbons so I gave a few a try and converted happily. Then last year I started getting into the Irish whiskeys. At some point, I reckon I’ll head on over to Scotch, but I’m not quite there yet.

As for favourites at the moment. Woodford Reserve is always a big favourite of mine, and I love getting a bottle in, though it never lasts as long as it should. Other than that, I recently got myself a bottle of Writers Tears Double Oak and I’m loving the taste of it.

[TS] Rob, you have built a pretty successful library of work and a loyal following and have stayed indie. Can you tell us what your thought process was for staying indie when you could switch to traditional? What are the pros and cons in your opinion?

[RH] I could switch to trad? On a serious note, I am hoping to have a series published traditionally, but I will not be making a full switch. I like the hybrid approach so that’s my goal, a nice mix of trad and indie. As to the pros and cons to either, I believe they are many and varied. For myself, I like the freedom to explore that being indie gives. Traditional publishing, by its very existence is a place of gatekeeping. For a book to be picked up and published, an editor has to fall in love with it. And just because an editor doesn’t fall in love, doesn’t make it a bad book, it might just mean it’s not for them, or not for another editor as well. It might not be for any of the editors, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad book or that it will not have an audience.

So I guess what I’m saying is I’m an author who likes to write what I want to write. What I feel strongly about and what is galloping through my brain like wild bison stampeding a young lion. Another way of putting it is that I’m a mess who doesn’t know how to write to the market.

From a business standpoint, the two sides of publishing look like entirely different beasts. Sure, you have to start with both by writing a book, but after that they divulge in every aspect. As an indie, the risk is entirely on you as the author. You pay for the cover, the editing, the marketing. In a very real way, whether it succeeds or fails is down to you. You also tend to get a larger slice of the pie. I do like having large slices of pie, but I would also like to have certain aspects taken out of my hands. I’ll refer back to me being a mess at this point.

[TS] I don’t think anyone would argue that most of your books aren’t firmly in the grimdark camp. Yet, you are the nicest, most laid-back guy. Where do you draw your dark side from? Is it Korra the beagle of death?

[RH] I would argue my books aren’t in the grimdark camp. Maybe my debut trilogy (The Ties that Bind) is, but most of what I write? Never Die certainly isn’t, at its core it’s a book about heroes having another shot at redemption. It’s a bit bloody in places, but the characters aren’t morally grey, and they actively pursue heroic goals. With my latest trilogy (The War Eternal), you could argue that book 1 is grimdark, but when you set a book in a brutal underground prison, it’s a little hard not to be. I’d argue books 2 and 3 are more epic fantasy.

But that’s not what you asked. The beagle of doom certainly helps. She has a big purple towel and when you wrap her up in it so it looks like a hood, she looked like a Sith lord. We call her Darth Doggyous.

I don’t think I really have a dark side any more than most people do. Any grimdarkiness in my books comes mostly from looking at the world around us, what’s been and what’s happening right now. There’s plenty of darkness to draw upon right there. As for the morally grey aspect of characters, I just try to make my characters feel as real as possible and a morally grey aspect feels natural. Everybody has dark thoughts from time to time, skeletons in closets, a whole gamut of emotions from the happy, sparkly to the brooding, anger.

So I guess I draw my dark side from the dark side of humanity. It’s like an anti-spirit bomb.

People of earth, lend me your dark energy!

Too much. TOO MUCH! Take some of that shit back.

[TS] In book 1 of your War Eternal series, we meet Eska, a young mage who skipped her childhood in service of her government. While dealing with other more pressing issues in her immediate environment, we also realize that as badass as she is, she is still so young and clueless in some ways as far as interpersonal relationships.

She learns some hard lessons.

What was your inspiration for her and what were the challenges for you writing a complex female character as a male author?

[RH] Oh she certainly learns some hard lessons. I sometimes think I should have tortured Eska a little less in those books. She gets put through the wringer.

A lot of the inspiration for Eska really comes from a place of anxiety and depression. I hope it’s clear to most who read it that she suffers from some fairly heavy mental illness issues. Eska is a character who second guesses herself, who looks back on her decisions and calls herself an idiot for making them, who dredges up the stupid mistakes she has made and doesn’t sugar coat them but instead shines a damning light upon them. At the same times, she is a character who does not apologise for who she is, nor what she has done, but owns up to everything. I wanted to give my readers a character they could follow through her journey and see all the good and ill, the mistakes and triumphs, and really see how each makes her grow as a person from a callous foolish youth into the woman known as the Corpse Queen (that’s not a spoiler, she tells you that’s who she is in chapter 1).

As for specific challenges for writing a complex female character, I can’t really name any. Eska really just flew onto the page for me. That being said, it’s worth pointing out that 3 of my 4 alpha readers are women, so if I get anything wrong in an unrelenting male fashion, I get called out on it.

[TS] I have to digress for a minute and say that ONE of my favorite things you write isn’t even a book, but your monthly facebook preview of next month’s indie author new releases. I have taken my TBR to ridiculous heights because of that list. What got you started with that?

[RH] So about 18 months ago I realised I kept seeing lists of books coming out next month. The lists were always on blogs like Tor or B&N, you know small fries compared to myself. And I’d always click to see what was coming and whenever I was releasing a book, some small foolish part of me would be like Wouldn’t it be cool if your book was on there? Of course, it never was. Those lists were for trad books. So it dawned on me that indie authors didn’t really seem to have an equivalent. A list of upcoming books that was all indie. I figured I could piss and moan about it, keep dreaming that I’d one day see my book on a list with all the big hitters. Or I could create my own list of upcoming books each month and use what platform I do have to help shine a light on the little guys like myself.

It’s not quite the same, I don’t have some special way of finding the upcoming releases. I’m mostly reliant on people telling me that they’re releasing a book, but it seems to be working. Plenty of people have come back to me and said that I’ve helped them find new books to read and new authors to follow. And now, if anyone else like me was clicking on those links and hoping in foolish vain to see their books up there, well now they can.

[TS] What is the best book you have read recently, and what was so good about it?

[RH] So many! I’ve been reading a lot the past couple of years thanks to audiobooks, and I’ve found some real crackers. I’ll start by hitting up a fellow indie by saying Paternus by Dyrk Ashton knocked my socks off. I read it last year and was blown away by the way he breaks the rules and makes it work. No idea how he does it, but he has head hopping, exposition, foreign language. You name a rule, and Dyrk has probably broken it, but the books are still amazing.

I also have to mention The Ember Blade by Chris Wooding, a book that doesn’t get anywhere near enough attention. I was in a bad spot a while back, struggling to find my interest in fantasy books… which is especially hard when it’s your primary interest. And The Ember Blade really ripped me out of that slump. It’s such a perfect mixture of old school adventure like you seen in LotR along with the more modern style like you’d find in Abercrombie or Lawrence.

Can I pick a third? I’m gonna pick a third. I recently listened to The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin and loved it. Much like with Paternus, I loved the way the book broke the rules. It had a second person perspective which was weird as all hells and such a powerful delivery. It was structured really oddly, and spent long periods of time not going anywhere, and yet I was riveted. Absolutely loved it. And the second and third books kept breaking rules too!

[TS] Who are some up and coming writers and / or books that you think we should be watching out for?

[RH] M.L. Wang of current SPFBO fame, the katana-wielding author of Sword of Kaigen. So I know this isn’t her first rodeo and she’s written previous books (SoK is not her debut), but by her own admission her other books are more YA focused. SoK is her first foray into more general adult fantasy and she nailed it so hard. If she can continue to bring the same level of emotional impact and brilliantly constructed prose that she did with SoK, I think she’s gonna be picking up awards all over the place. She’s also a really lovely person and hilarious to boot.

Who else? So many again. Evan Winter. Have you read Rage of Dragons? That book is intense! Blistering action, on point commentary, an expansive world, and characters that are so damned believable and broken. Book 2 is coming out soon, I think, and I cannot wait to listen to it. He’s another who’s going to be picking up awards.

One more, I’m working in threes today. Gareth Hanrahan, the author of Gutter Prayer and Shadow Saint. His imagination is leagues ahead of the competition. The bestiary of creatures, monsters, and gods in his series is mind blowing. I love it. I can’t wait to see what’s coming next from him. And hey, his books break a few rules too.

[TS] What is your favorite book that you’ve read in recent years that you would recommend to others?

[RH] Stop asking me to name single favourite books. I can’t do it. Skullsworn by Brian Staveley left a big impact on me. I don’t hesitate to say that Eska and her The War Eternal trilogy wouldn’t exist without Skullsworn to inspire me.

Continuing to roll on the threes. Age of Assassins by R J Barker I happily recommend far and wide. That book and the trilogy just work so damned well as murder mysteries without a murder from the point of view of the murderer. And R J breaks rules in the weirdest of ways with things like formatting and shifting tenses. Truly inspiring.

Last one, I’ll go with Robin Hobb’s latest trilogy starting with Fool’s Assassin. Hobb probably needs no introduction, but to anyone who hasn’t read her books, get on it. No one delivers emotion and devastating character arcs quite like her. It’s a series that will stay with me for life and you all need to feel the same pain I do.

[TS] I have to ask you as a brit, what is it about the old country that enables you guys to crank out so many heavy hitters in the grimdark community? Abercrombie, Lawrence, Smith-Spark, Stephens, Barker, McLean, yourself, just to name a few (and apologies for the ones I left off). Is life really that dark across the pond?

[RH] It really is. We wake up at 5am the previous morning and we’re down in the Pit (capital P) before 4am. A 64 hour work day and all we get to eat is rich tea biscuits coated in marmite.

I don’t know what it is really. British mentality maybe? We’re not told to look on the bright side of life. We always support the underdogs, until they’re not underdogs anymore, then screw them for getting uppity and growing above their station. We don’t complain, until we do and then we complain like there’s no tomorrow.

Yeah, I got no idea. We live on an island with pleasant temperatures, where the most dangerous animal is the wasp, you can get from one end to the other in a hop, skip, and a jump, and there’s a pub every two feet.

[TS] With the insane year we’ve all been having, how has it affected your writing? How about just your life in general?

[RH] It hasn’t affected me in the slightest. I’m certainly not currently writing a new book set in a world where humanity has been all but wiped out and is hanging on by a thread, with a creeping enemy known only as the Doom sweeping across the planet. Nope… no effect at all.

My life really hasn’t changed that much. I was already a hermit who worked from home. The biggest change is not being able to see friends and family, and that’s been a big blow to the mental stability. Depression is ever a thing I fight against and it’s been rearing its head pretty regularly. It’s been tough to cope with, but with the support of a brilliant wife-not-wife and a naughty little beagle-face, I’m getting through it.

[TS] Ok Rob, we’ve reached that point of the interview where you sell us on your new stuff. What is up and coming in the world of Rob Hayes?

[RH] Well, I don’t know if you know this, but I have just recently finished publishing The War Eternal trilogy which kicks off with Along the Razor’s Edge. That’s been a pretty big deal for me. Book 1 has only been out for about 3 months and book 3 less than a month. So there’s that. For those who don’t know, it’s a story about a young woman, a Sorcerer, who is on the losing side of the great war. She has her powers stripped from her and is thrown into the Pit, a prison sunk deep into the earth. But she refuses to give up and refuses to break and refuses to let go of her dreams of vengeance.

And I should probably mention I’ve just signed the audio rights to The War Eternal over to Podium, so the audiobooks will be coming soon!

I’m releasing a sequel (that is not a sequel) to Never Die in January 2021. It’s called Never Die Another Day With A Vengeance. Not really. It’s called Pawn’s Gambit.

I’m writing this new military flintlock fantasy set in the world with humanity on the edge. And I have about 6 other things in the pipeline. Life keeps me busy.

[TS] And the sound of heads breaking tables in the back of the tavern means we’re out of time. Rob, thanks so much for taking the time to talk.

[RH] Always happy to talk books and ramble on for hours. Thanks for having me.

This interview was originally published in Grimdark Magazine #23

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