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Grimdark Magazine acquires world rights to Richard Swan’s first Vonvalt prequel novella

Last Updated on November 1, 2024

If you loved Richard Swan‘s Empire of the Wolf trilogy, then I hope you’re as excited as I am to announce we have acquired the worldwide print, digital, and audio rights for the first ever prequel novella in that world featuring Vonvalt and Bressinger. The Justice of Kings, The Tyranny of Faith, and The Trials of Empire were three of my favourite books of the decade so far, and with news of the Grave Empire acquisition by Orbit, we know there is plenty more of this world to see.

We asked Richard about why he wanted to return to Vonvalt’s story:

“For me and I think many fans of the series, reading about Vonvalt investigating crimes and prosecuting criminals was the highlight of the trilogy. The opportunity to return to the world of the Empire of the Wolf, this time fifteen years before the events of The Justice of Kings, and throw Vonvalt and Bressinger back into a dark fantasy police procedural (with a sprinkling of mystery and horror for good measure) was too good to pass up. I’m really excited to partner with Grimdark Magazine to get the first of these novellas out into the world in October 2025!”

We’re all really looking forward to releasing more detail in the lead up to the expected publication in October 2025. I think this is going to be a really special project.

More to come

To keep track of this and other news in Grimdark Magazine publishing, please join our mailing list for monthly newsletters providing insights into the world of dark SFF across books, screen, and video games, and other news and updates. You’ll also get a free magazine issue with featuring a short story set in Swan’s The Art of War space opera universe!

Reviewers

Reviewers (review websites, Booktubers, Booktokkers, etc) interested in signing up for an ARC of this book, please complete our publicity form, here. We will be doing a very limited run of print copies, and will also have ePub copies.

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Putting the Fangs into Fantasy: Why I Wrote my Book

In just three months as I write this, Lightfall, the first book in my epic fantasy trilogy The Everlands, will be loosed onto the world—I hope you like terrible jokes in your chapter headings, fantasy fans—and a question I’m sometimes asked is the following: why vampires and werewolves in fantasy?

The simple answer is that it sounds awesome, but the esteemed and depraved souls at Grimdark Magazine probably want an article not a paragraph, so I looked deep into myself (always an unwise move) and I came up with Terry Pratchett.

More specifically, Pratchett’s 24th Discworld book, The Fifth Elephant, which I’ll come back to.

But first, let’s check in with ten-year-old me, who is staying up late with his dad to watch one of his first 18-rated horror films, An Interview with the Vampire (dobbing my dad in but that’s fine, he won’t read this). Obviously it traumatised me and gave me nightmares (a fine foundation for any adult horror obsessive) but it put me firmly on the vampire bandwagon. Around the same time, I read The Lord of the Rings and A Wizard of Earthsea (yes, I was a precocious ten-year-old, yes you would have loathed me, yes you would have been correct).

So there I am, aged ten and already split hopelessly between horror and fantasy for life. Pity my future wallet. I am Legend and Salem’s Lot would solidify my vampire love, while all the usual SFF names of the late 90s and 2000s (dear Christ, us millennials are getting old) kept my teenage self on the fantasy path.

Now we return to The Fifth Elephant, which I read on release (do you remember how exciting a Discworld release was? Dopamine hits have never been the same). If you haven’t read it, stop reading this and immediately devour the City Watch sub-series of Discworld (in order, you maniac). In case you haven’t done that, let me terribly summarise: it features Vimes, the chief of police of a fantasy city, travelling to a nearby rural country called Uberwald, which is where the vampires or werewolves live. At first there as an ambassador, he soon discovers a conspiracy that could drive the region into war.

While there are some scary scenes—a tense bit where the eponymous Vimes is hunted by werewolves through the land and must outwit them is so good I completely cribbed it for my more werewolf-heavy Book 2 of my series, originality not being my strong suit—it’s the vampire and werewolf politics that grabbed me. The idea of a region where they co-exist and scheme against each other and other countries? Ever since then, I’ve not stopped thinking about it.

Ed Crocker, Image Credit to Julia Boggio

So much so that when I was a 27-year-old teacher and thoroughly hating my life (standard teacher mood) I recalled my desire to pick up on that idea and started writing the first book in a planned five-book saga on vampires, werewolves, sorcerers and, uh, nihilistic banshees (Actually, I abruptly quit my job first with no money in the bank, but that’s an entirely different story for a magazine called Stupid Young People Make Curious Decisions that Luckily Turn out Pretty Well.)

That series got zero interest—I’m still fond of it, and I miss my gloriously bizarre take on banshees, but some/all scenes have not aged well—so I wrote another book with vampires, werewolves and sorcerers in, and another… you get the point, which is that I’m a stubborn so-and-so who’s only ever had one idea. A decade after my offensively maverick “quit my job to be a novelist” decision, I finally get to force that idea onto the world whether it wants it or not.

But still the question remains: what is it about horror tropes that works well in fantasy? Well let me focus on vampires, who steal the show more than my werewolves, in Book 1 at least. For me there’s a lot of answers to that question, but two of the best are blood and immortality.

Let’s take blood first. Whether it’s seductive bloodsuckers putting the ro-mance into e-mancipating you from your life (if you liked that bomb of a joke, you’re going to love my book) or the kind of horrifically terrifying freaks from the graphic novel (and Josh Hartnett film triumph) 30 Days of Night, the timeless power of blood is arguably what gives the vampire legend its remarkable cultural staying power.

Blood is life, obviously, but blood is also sensuality, the dichotomy of pain and pleasure. What is a vampire romance if not an S&M bondage fest? As one of my characters remarks, though it is always painful to bleed, it is not always bad. Blood contains our soul in some readings; our very life essence. It carries disease, but it also saves. Vampires take your blood, but they give the dubious gift of eternity.

In my series, one of the angles by which I examine blood is the analogy of the poverty trap. In my vampire city, the poor get the weakest blood—I won’t go into too much detail, as the poor editor of this article is already smacking their head against the screen at the wordcount—and the rich get the best blood. So if you’re rich, you are strong and mentally sharp, and you never age. If you’re poor, you’re weak in both body and mind, and you die after a couple of centuries.

Often in our own society we are fooled by the idea we can “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps” to improve our lives. But if the very blood you drink (cough: diet, stress levels, exercise, sleep quality) is harming you through no fault of your own but the situation of your birth, how can you ever hope to fulfil this fairytale idea of class emancipation? Through such ideas can horror tropes exist in a complex political fantasy.

Then there’s the second reason I’m fascinated by the horror classics: immortality. I am obsessed by the idea of how a society would look if many of its denizens are centuries old. How does an economy or political ecosystem change if people have such long memories—and long-held grudges and hatreds? How is your personality affected by losing someone three centuries ago and having to face a near eternity of grief? Grief, as many of you will sadly know, never gets better. It just gets less frequent, but it still hits as hard, and knocks the wind right out of you until you remember how to breathe again, and, maybe, one day, be happy.

I’m not sure eternity is worth that, and neither are some of my characters.

So there we have it. Epic fantasy and the hammer horror classics might not be that frequent bedfellows, but there’s a world of intrigue to be had when they do get together.

And if not, I’ll just bring my nihilistic banshees back again.

Read Lightfall by Ed Crocker

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REVIEW: The Nightmarchers by J. Lincoln Fenn

There’s something about J. Lincoln Fenn’s thriller-horror novel The Nightmarchers that I can’t stop thinking about. The pacing of this book races at mach speed. The unsettling horror creeps up to you slowly, ever so slowly, before showing itself in the light. The protagonist is one I would follow to the ends of the earth (or at least to a mysterious island) and back.

The Nightmarchers begins with Julia Greer, a struggling journalist trying to survive a costly divorce and see her child. Her estranged great-aunt Lydia promises her a great sum of money if she travels to Kapu, a mysterious island that is run as a tropical resort by a religious group. She’s to retrieve the body of Lydia’s long lost sister Irene, who died on Kapu while conducting experiments in the 1930s. Julia has no choice but to accept. I found Julia to be instantly sympathetic, and rooting for her came easily, especially when we see how her ex-husband treated her.

Julia’s arrival on Kapu kickstarts her journey to discovering the truth of her family. Irene’s death in the 30s was mysterious, and Julia is on a mission to discover what actually happened. The other tourists on the island, as well as the Church of the Eternal Light that play as her hosts, are already suspects in a game that Julia unknowingly plays. I was left wondering who was on Julia’s side, and who was there to sabotage her mission. It certainly adds to the horror when you can’t really know who it is you can turn to.

Fenn’s writing carried me through The Nightmarchers at a lightning pace. I didn’t want to put this thing down, not until I hit the end. It slows at important, information-heavy moments, then ramps up at unexpected moments. The horror and suspense sings when Julia encounters some of the more supernatural elements of the island.

The Nightmarchers does one of my favorite things in horror: teasing the scares all throughout the novel, only to unleash it when the reader least expects it. I felt uneasy during the story, but that only made me turn the pages faster. Pair that with a group of characters that are constantly scheming and hiding their true intentions, and you’ve got a book that will keep you reading all through the night.

Even writing this review, I still wonder what it is about this book that won’t let go of me. The Nightmarchers seems to have entered into my mind and won’t leave, and I’m honestly okay with that. The world that Fenn created fascinates me, and I find myself rereading sections of the novel to relive the narrative.

The Nightmarchers is well worth anyone’s time, especially those who like their horror mixed with the thriller genre. It felt like a short read, but that may be because of the fast paced narrative. This is a book I’m going to be thinking about for a good long while.

Read The Nightmarchers by J. Lincoln Fenn

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REVIEW: The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister

I didn’t know that Appalachian gothic folklore was a weird and wonderful subgenre of horror that I needed in my life. But after team GdM has loved stories like Lee Mandelo’s The Woods All Black and Smothermoss by Alisa Alering, I couldn’t pass up another disturbing read set in this wild place. The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister is an entirely unexpected read, equal parts compelling, unnerving, and hard to describe without giving too much of the plot away. I shall try my best!

As far as the Haddesley siblings know, their family has been the custodians of their bog in the heart of West Virginia for generations. They look after the bog, and in turn, the bog provides for them – including the provision of a wife for each generation’s heir. A bog wife made of sticks, peat, and other swamp detritus to carry on the family line. When the bog fails (whether as a snub or because of an inability they do not know) to provide the next bog wife, everything they have ever known crumbles around them.

Each sibling has a different view of how the family must go on. Charlie, the eldest son, was passed over to inherit and has never felt an affinity with the land. Eda, the eldest sibling, tries to lead what remains of her family through this trying time. Wenna is the only one who has left their home and feels herself being unwillingly dragged back into a life she fought so hard to escape. Younger son Percy intends to carry on the compact and retreats further into the bog. The youngest child, Nora, takes desperate measures to keep them together.

I found The Bog Wife to be an unsettling but engaging read. It gave me the same sort of feeling as when you watch a documentary about cults – it’s not comfortable, but you can’t stop until you reach the end. I’ve never read Chronister’s work before, so I can’t comment on whether The Bog Wife is typical of her writing style, but I found it an effortless world to slide into. The story flowed well, and Chronister’s rich descriptions of the setting created a vivid location in my mind. I accept that some readers may have help with this if they are familiar with West Virginia or the Appalachian region, but I’ve got little pre-existing knowledge of the area, and I enjoyed her depiction of it.

As with any multiple-POV novel, it takes a little while to get the characters straight in your mind, and The Bog Wife is no exception. I do find that all the Haddesley siblings are well-developed characters, though they all seem a lot younger to me than they are meant to be in the novel. I think this must be intentional, though, a sign of their isolated and cultish upbringing.  It is these elements that I found the most disturbing in the novel. The almost instinctive desire to protect and heal these odd and neglected children was a strong factor in keeping me reading The Bog Wife.

Many of the dark aspects in the novel are psychological, like viewing the siblings’ upbringing as neglectful. There is an undertone, a near continuous feeling of unease while reading, rather than outright bursts of violence or dark actions. Chronister makes slight references to something that her characters do not fully understand, but we, the reader, do, and it feels like a tiny stab of revelation that so much more is wrong here than we first thought.

The Bog Wife is an eerie supernatural story, and even now that I have finished it, I will be mulling it over for a while. It deals with complex issues of familial loyalty and the secrets they hold, delicately blended with a folk horror tale. Thank you to Kay Chronister and both Titan and Counterpoint, who sent Grimdark Magazine ARCs of The Bog Wife so that we could provide this review.

Read The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister

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The Best Halloween Movies & TV: Screen Scares for the Spooky Season

Last Updated on October 28, 2024

It’s the time of the year when there isn’t anything more fun than sitting in front of a screen and watching something that is attempting to scare the hell out of you! Here at Grimdark Magazine, we love a good scare and here is a list of some of the best Halloween film and TV shows that get our seal of approval if you are looking for some good horror. So turn out the lights, get the popcorn ready, and peer through your fingers as we bring you some of the best scares for spooky season!

Alien

I had to start with this one. Ridley Scott’s film about a crew stranded with a deadly alien that is slowly killing them off one by one is one of the best films in building tension. Alien is a sci-fi masterpiece that brings scares in a variety of forms. It has aspects of body horror, a slasher movie, psychological horror and more. The practical effects and the creative designs of the alien based on the terrifying works of H.R Gieger has given the film longevity that hasn’t been the case for some CGI-heavy films in recent years. The alien feels reals and that makes the audience root for Sigourney Weaver’s powerful Ripley even more. Now is a good time to return to this classic, especially with the recent release of the brilliant Alien: Romulus which takes the franchise back to its simple horror roots.

Watch the trailer for Alien here.

A Quiet Place

The sequel and spin-off prequel are also quality but it’s the first offering from John Krasinski A Quiet Place that stands out as a near perfect film and one of the best movies to pick for Halloween. A mother and father struggle to keep their family alive following an invasion of sightless aliens with sharp hearing. Even the smallest of sounds will cause of death and the unique concept created one of the best cinema experiences I have ever been in – you don’t want to be the person munching popcorn in this film. The use of sound is incredible throughout the film and the foreshadowing is done to perfection. Monitor your heart rate during this film as it’s as tense as it gets. Sci-fi brilliance with a brilliant cast and a fresh concept. You’ll be exhausted by the end.

Watch the trailer for A Quiet Place here.

Let the Right One in/Let Me In

Vampires aren’t scary anymore, are they? But they are always a good choice for a Halloween movie night. The Swedish vampire horror Let the Right One In is the anti-Twilight. It uses its winter Sweden setting perfectly to create a film about isolation and loneliness as a young (in looks anyway) vampire befriends a twelve-year-old boy and helps him enact brutal revenge on his bullies. It takes a lot of the fantasy aspect out of the vampire concept and relies on a more realistic, brutal horror to create a compelling film that will live long in the memory. The American remake Let Me In featuring a young Chloe Grace Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee is almost a shot-for-shot remake and definitely worth a watch in its own right. A beautifully dark film with a very human take on vampires.

Watch the trailer for Let the Right One In here and Let Me In here.

Rec

If you’re a fan of found-footage horror, this one is for you. This Spanish horror gets up close and personal with a film crew trapped in an apartment block under lockdown. At first, everything is unclear but soon it is clear that everyone is trapped in the apartment block because it is ground zero of a zombie outbreak (and these zombies are terrifying!). The characters are smarter than most in horror films (see Cabin in the Woods for the best explanation for this) and the final few minutes of the film will scare the hell out of you. An incredible horror film filled with shots that will never leave your mind and make of a memorable Halloween movie pick.

Watch the trailer for Rec here.

28 Days Later

A zombie film (or is it?) from Danny Boyle with Cillian Murphy in his breakout role. Murphy’s Jim wakes up in a deserted London due to the spread of a rage infection making its way around. Heavily influenced by the great zombie masterpieces of yesteryear (Night of the Living Dead, Return of the Living Dead…), 28 Days Later asks some big questions and the real horror is looking at the lives of the humans who have survived and what they have done to be able to survive. Another sequel is on the way, it’ll be interesting to see if it can live up to the quality of the first.

Watch the trailer for 28 Days Later here.

Train to Busan

It could have been called Zombies on a Train. It’s not, but that’s what it’s about. Simple and effective. This Korean horror unleashes zombies in the tight confines of a train travelling to Busan (funnily enough…) and revels in the way the different characters respond to the deadly threat. There are scares and brutal moments mixed in with some truly emotional beats. We’ve known that Korea can produce some great horror and this zombie movie became an instant classic when it was released.

Watch the trailer for Train to Busan here.

All of Us are Dead

Zombies from the small screen work well for a Halloween watch too! The obvious choice here would have been The Walking Dead but Korean series All of Us are Dead feels fresh even if it does wear its influences clearly on its blood-soaked sleeve. Trapped in school, high-school students need to get inventive to take on the horde of zombies tearing through the building and the city. With a second season just around the corner, use your Halloween  to watch the brilliant first season.

Watch the trailer for All of Us are Dead here.

The Haunting of Hill House

I could have picked anything by Micky Flanagan but this show is horror perfection. The reimagining of Shirley Jackson’s novel features excellent performances from the whole cast and the scares-per-episode ratio is higher than almost any other mainstream show. It follows a family dealing with the trauma of surviving living in a haunted house and their return. There are hidden ghosts, terrifying jumps, and psychological horror all wrapped up in an expertly written series. If you haven’t watched it, what are you waiting for? It’s an awesome choice to watch for Halloween.

Watch the trailer for The Haunting of Hill House here.

Happy Halloween from the Grimdark Magazine Team

 

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REVIEW: A Monsoon Rising by Thea Guanzon

In A Monsoon Rising, Thea Guanzon picks up right where The Hurricane Wars left off, thrusting readers back into her electric South East Asian inspired fantasy world. To those who have yet to read The Hurricane Wars, I’d suggest stopping here and picking it up immediately, then circling back to this review! In this sequel, Alaric and Talasyn continue their dance of deception with their arranged marriage steering the helm of their respective political schemes. Whilst Talasyn plays the part of Alaric’s Empress, her comrades continue to strategise their plot to overthrow Alaric’s reign. Similarly, but unbeknownst to his wife, Alaric’s marriage to the Nenavarene Lachis’ka is simply a preface to his father’s much darker and sinister plan. But something much more pressing is quickly arriving: The Moonless Dark, a cataclysmic event that can only be stopped with Alaric and Talasyn’s joint effort of their Lightweaver and Shadowforged powers. Filled to the brim with tension and the devastating allure of uncontrollable emotions, A Monsoon Rising is a force to be reckoned with in the enemies-to-lovers game.

A Monsoon Rising places a strong emphasis on the romance between Alaric and Talasyn. What first began as a reluctant alliance between the two, is now transformed into a full-blown partnership that then sets the pace for the rest of the novel. The angst and tension are still palpable, but with a solidity behind it that can only come with the type of chemistry Guanzon concocts for her protagonists. The growth of each character is so organic, both in their own personal developments and their relationships with each other. Their actions align with their values, moulded to their character developments, feeling very natural. Readers are given two solid and well-rounded characters, both individually and as a pair. Alaric and Talasyn are a true treat in the realm of romantic fantasy. Guanzon really fills the readers cup of all the swoon-worthy action you’re hoping to see between the couple, especially after the first book. Truly, I devoured it.

The grimdark element is lighter here than in the first book, but we are still privy to some difficult and quietly dark scenes. I would have loved to seen more of the politics in play, as well as more court intrigue now that the couple are the heads of their households, both domestically and politically. Due to the lack of political intrigue and the abundance of romance in play here, the story is more character-driven than plot-driven, which makes sense if we’re driving towards what I imagine will be an exploding third and final book. I feel like this gives us a reprieve, almost like the calm before the storm (see what I did there? Hah.), as we gear up for the finale.

I have to mention one of the greatest elements to this series so far: the dragons. We are initially introduced to the dragons in The Hurricane Wars, which felt quite premature, since we never really got to see them again after their introduction. In A Monsoon Rising however, they are featured multiple times, in both casual and climactic scenes, and with all the fiery glory that dragons deserve. It is widely agreed that dragons are absolutely glorious creatures in every grimdark medium they are presented on, and Guanzon’s interpretation of them does not disappoint! I can’t wait to see them in action again in the next instalment.

I am always at awe with Guanzon’s writing. She manages to capture emotions so profoundly, and with the grace of a seasoned writer. It’s hard to believe that this is only her second book! Whilst book one rounded off in quiet anticipation, readers will be left stunned at the cliffhanger Guanzon has ended her sequel in. Echoing the same sentiment from my review of the The Hurricane Wars: the third book is my most anticipated read of 2025, and it has yet to even have a name.

Read a Monsoon Rising by Thea Guanzon

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REVIEW: The Ending Fire by Saara El-Arifi

After delivering one hell of a debut in The Final Strife and following that up with one of the strongest sequels in The Battle Drum, Saara El-Arifi had set the bar incredibly high for the epic conclusion in The Ending Fire. Now war has officially arrived at the Wardens’ Empires shores, and we are launched into a slightly messy but bloody satisfying finale that pulls zero punches and delivers tragedy and triumph in equal measure.

Look, El-Arifi proved to me in the first two books of this series that she is already a true master at her craft, but we all know that it’s rare for a finale to perfectly stick the landing, let alone a finale to a debut series. Needless to say, I went into The Ending Fire equally nervous and excited, hoping against all hope that all my favourite chaos queers would get their happy ending.

In many ways, I think The Ending Fire contained all the best elements of this visionary series and delivered on what was promised and set up in the first two books. Much like in the second instalment, our favourite perfectly imperfect characters find themselves separated against their will, fighting their own battles both within and without. Sylah and Hassa find themselves navigating the dangerous politics within the Wardens’ Empire where a mysterious vigilante is stirring up trouble, Jond is trying to bring war allies from overseas, and Anoor is taking up her role as the prophesied Child of Fire under the Zalaam’s oppressive thumb.

Now, I think these characters would be the first to admit that they are anything but perfect, but that relatable human messiness is exactly what made me love them so much in the first two instalments. However, in The Ending Fire, I felt like some of their satisfying and well-earned character growth was almost reversed a bit, and they started to test my patience just slightly too much with their questionable and frustrating actions. Moreover, while I appreciated how the separation of the characters in The Battle Drum allowed the world to expand and the characters’ individual arcs to shine, I personally thought it started to hinder both the development of the interpersonal relationships and my personal emotional investment in The Ending Fire.

Especially Anoor’s storyline in this finale had me feeling a bit conflicted, despite the fact that I deeply appreciate what El-Arifi tried to do with her character. The exploration of religious zealotry, cultism and indoctrination was quite powerfully executed, but her gullibility and ignorance just felt a bit too convenient and unbelievable for how savvy she had proven to be in the first two books. And as a result of Anoor’s tragic circumstances, I felt like a large part of Sylah’s entire personality was reduced to little more than “I am Anoor’s lover and I need to save her because there is no world and life without her”, which I found understandable for her character but nevertheless slightly disappointing.

Luckily, I could count on my girl Hassa to pull me through the rocky moments, and she just absolutely stole the show for me once again. The way that she continues to fight (in the shadows) through so much adversity despite her limitations was so empowering to see, and I honestly think she has the best character arc of anyone in this entire trilogy. Though while I personally wouldn’t hesitate to say that The Ending Fire is Hassa’s book, I also feel like I have to give some credit to Jond. See, I was stunned by how much I came to really enjoy Jond’s perspective in this finale, and I consider that a huge testament to El-Arifi’s skill as an author considering how much I loathed him in the first (and part of the second) book. His dynamic with Kara really entertained me, and their romantic tension proved to be a nice counterbalance to the unending yearning from Sylah and Anoor.

As the big climax drew near and the threatening (but undeniably cool) innovative blood magic creations/weapons were geared up for an epicly devastating showdown, I found myself getting surprisingly anxious and emotional over the fates of these characters despite my exasperation with them for large parts of this book. El-Arifi did a magnificent job of weaving together all the loose plot threads, resolving both the internal and external conflicts in a surprising but satisfying way. And although I was personally not the biggest fan of how messy and anti-climactic the final battle felt due to the sudden switch to perspectives from people we had never seen before, I can appreciate such a bold storytelling move and ultimately liked how it showcased the devastating impact of the war on all the little people outside of our (anti)-heroes’ lives.

Despite some of my quibbles with the execution of this finale, I can’t deny that I absolutely devoured this finale and found it to be a fittingly imperfect and beautifully bittersweet conclusion to The Ending Fire trilogy. Seeing how far these scarred characters have come since we first met them in The Final Strife tugged on my heartstrings in all the most unexpected ways, and I truly think El-Arifi succeeded in pulling off her ambitious vision for this story. I absolutely consider this one of my favourite series, and I will always be grateful to El-Arifi for helping change the landscape of the fantasy genre to a more diverse and inclusive space to escape into.

So, if you like the sound of a brutally dark yet delightfully fun fantasy tale set in a richly immersive African/Arabian-inspired world full of conspiracies and secrets, featuring beautifully queer and diverse characters who are way too snarky for their own good, and brimming with fascinating blood magic that will excite, delight, and freak you the fuck out, then I can’t recommend The Ending Fire trilogy highly enough. This is a journey I won’t soon forget.

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REVIEW: The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror (Volume 5) by Paula Guran

One of the highlights of October’s spooky season is the release of Paula Guran’s annual short story anthology, The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror. With over fifty short story anthologies and a slew of awards to her credit, Paula Guran is an undisputed queen of her craft. Although it is titled, The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror (Volume 5), the current volume is actually Guran’s fifteenth entry in the series, since the numbering was reset after switching publishers to Pyr Books five years ago.

Every short story by A.C. Wise is a treat. As the first entry in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror (Volume 5), Wise’s psychological horror “The Dark House” is no exception. “The Dark House” concerns a photographer’s obsession with the eponymous house, which he uses exclusively as a darkroom for developing photographs. But the images that develop reveal more than expected.

Another standout story is “All the Things I Know About Ghosts, By Ofelia, Age 10” by Isabel Cañas. There is something about a young child’s perspective that makes a horror story even more terrifying, and the Bram Stoker Award-nominated Isabel Cañas delivers in spades with her juxtaposition of innocence and fear in a flooded town.

Alaya Dawn Johnson’s contribution to The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror (Volume 5) is “The Witch Is Not the Monster,” a futuristic ecological horror concerning generations of witches living along the Potomac River. This story grabbed me from the opening line and held me in its spell till the very end.

“The Demon Lord of Broken Concrete” by Alex Irvine is another standout story in this year’s collection. Irvine blends the everyday with the bizarre in this tale about a school-aged boy in the 1980s, overlaying religious occultism with schoolyard and family drama.

“Midnight in Moscow” by Tobi Ogundiran is a special treat, brilliantly blending Russian folklore into a tale told by a Nigerian narrator residing in Moscow. Tobi Ogundiran’s writing is simply magical, making this story one of my favorites in the collection.

Other noteworthy stories in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror (Volume 5) include “Interstate Mohinis,” M.L. Krishnan’s tale of a woman killed on an Indian highway; “Return to Bear Creek Lodge,” the mournful wintry horror by Tananarive Due; and the offbeat family tale, “The Tissot Family Circus,” by Angela Slatter.

Rounding out the anthology are “The Crease” by Simon Avery, “Miz Boudreaux’s Last Ride” by Christopher Caldwell, “Resurrection Highway” by A. R. Capetta, “Those Hitchhiking Kids” by Darcie Little Badger, “If Someone You Love Has Become a Vurdalak” by Sam J. Miller, “Kudzu Boy Dreaming” by S.J. Powell, “A Geography of Innocence” by M. Rickert, “Till the Greenteeth Draw Us Down” by Josh Rountree, “Jack O’Dander” by Priya Sharma, “Significant Disruption” by R.L Summerling, and “The Ghasts” by Lavie Tidhar.

Altogether, The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror (Volume 5) is another highly recommended anthology for horror fans in search of a new favorite short story. Paula Guran’s anthology is a great way to discover new authors and revisit established favorites.

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REVIEW: Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance

Last Updated on October 24, 2024

With the upcoming release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare has released an immersive audio drama on most major podcast platforms. Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance is an eight episode audio drama that takes place before the events of The Veilguard. One of the major selling points about the series is the companion characters that accompany the player created character, and each episode of Vows & Vengeance introduces one of the new companion characters that are found in The Veilguard.

Vows & Vengeance stars Nadia Carcosa, voiced by Mae Whitman of Avatar: The Last Airbender and Good Girls fame. She’s a former thief who left her life behind for the love of her life, the charming Tevinter mage Elio. However, Nadia gets whisked away for one last job to steal a magical artifact by a former friend, which goes sideways once Solis, the companion/antagonist from Dragon Age: Inquisition gets involved. Elio is dragged into the Fade, and Nadia joins with the writer and scholar Drayden to find a way to bring him back.

I like that each episode of Vows & Vengeance features one of the new companions from The Veilgaurd that Nadia interacts with. This podcast is a great way to get to know each companion character before meeting them in the game. Each episode feels like its own genre or twist on grimdark fantasy: Nadia joins Taash for a dragon hunting adventure and meets with Lucanis the Antivan Crow assassin for a Home Alone-inspired mansion defense. Speaking of grimdark, Dragon Age has had some growing pains over the years, going from a dark fantasy in Dragon Age: Origins to a more traditional heroic fantasy in Inquisition, but that doesn’t deter things from getting bloody and morally gray. Nadia is an interesting character whose past is not a clean one, and you get to see how all of that plays out through the story.

This being an audio drama, Vows & Vengeance strategically uses its soundtrack and sound effects to draw you into the story. There were a handful of times where I wasn’t quite sure what was happening simply because a character didn’t describe what they were doing (and even if they did describe what they were doing, the dialogue usually felt stiff or awkward), but those moments felt few and far between. The overall ending of the story was wrapped up a little too quickly and cleanly for my taste, but since each episode feels like a complete story from beginning to end, I didn’t much mind this.

Vows & Vengeance is a wonderful way to meet Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s companions. It certainly has me picking favorites for who I’ll be taking along during my playthrough of the game.

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REVIEW: The Battle Drum by Saara El-Arifi

Look, I’ve made it no secret that I adored The Final Strife, but El-Arifi truly takes everything that was so bloody brilliant about the first book and cracks it up to eleven in The Battle Drum. The prophesied ending fire is looming ever closer, and now our favourite crew of flawed yet loveable chaos queers will have to choose between duty and desire to save their world from total destruction; cue the emotional turmoil!

The Battle Drum picks up almost immediately where the first book left off, sucking us straight back into the messy lives of our three fierce female leads. I was nervous to see if El-Arifi would be able to keep the story as engaging without the action-packed and high-stakes trial element that made The Final Strife so addictive, but I should never have worried. Although the pacing slows down significantly, the expansion of the world and the development of the characters and their interpersonal relationships quickly prove to be infinitely more captivating than any trial or battle could ever be.

For me, this sequel absolutely shines in its character work, and I thought it was very exciting to see Sylah, Hassa and Anoor all go off on their own personal journeys. These three ladies all absolutely have my heart, not because they are so perfect and loveable, but exactly because they are so relatable in their deep flaws and human messiness. And the entire cast of side characters also just pops off the page with personality, offering plenty of characters who you can love, hate, love to hate or hate to love. At times I didn’t know if I wanted to hug, strangle, shake or slap them all (okay maybe except for Jond, who gets his own POV here; he definitely deserved to be slapped), but that is exactly why they feel like real people to me and why I am so invested.

Now, I’ll admit that I was initially a bit nervous about the fact that some of my favourite characters were separated in this instalment, but in hindsight I think that was exactly what this story and the characters needed to live up to their full potential. While I did end up preferring Hassa and Sylah’s exciting storylines way more than the slightly lacklustre murder mystery plot line in Anoor’s life, I seriously can’t point to a single dull moment in this book. El-Arifi has a true gift for creating compelling and complex relationships of all natures that tug on your heartstrings, so it truly doesn’t matter who is together on the page, because every single scene just hits. And don’t get me started on all the casually queer love, the romantic tension is just absolutely delicious in here (can we get a Hassa and Kwame spin-off series? Thank you very much). 

But as if all that wasn’t enough, we’re also treated to a very intriguing and mysterious new POV in The Battle Drum that I was both fascinated and slightly terrified by. At first this new addition threw me off a bit, but it soon became so much fun trying to figure out who this person was and how their storyline would interweave with all the others; if you pay close enough attention, you can pick up on the breadcrumbs and puzzle the pieces together yourself, which made for such a satisfying and rewarding reading experience.

This book is just full of crazy twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat the entire way through, and especially the revelations about the world building and magic system were jaw-dropping. I already loved this vibrant African/Arabian inspired world from the few glimpses we’d gotten of it in The Final Strife, but it was truly awe-inspiring to realise the full depth and breadth of this world here as Sylah travels outside of the Wardens’ Empire. There’s so much mystery and intrigue woven into the history, lore, religion and magic of these lands, and I loved seeing everything start to unravel as our characters made some truly shocking and earth-shattering discoveries. Familiar tropes like prophecy and chosen ones are also incorporated into the story in new and clever ways, which just makes The Battle Drum one of the most unpredictable and refreshing modern fantasy stories.

Now, fair warning, El-Arifi does not shy away from the darker and more disturbing content. The stakes are immensely high, and I really appreciated that the characters really have to deal with the repercussions of their (questionable) actions in The Battle Drum. Difficult themes of racism, discrimination, classism, gender identity, sexuality, disability, addiction, toxic (familial) relationships and religious zealotry are all explored in meaningful and deep ways with effortless grace, all without ever feeling on-the-nose or overbearing. This might only be El-Arifi’s second book, but I wouldn’t hesitate to call her a master of her craft already.

All in all, I think this is one of the better sequels that you will find in the fantasy genre. If you liked The Final Strife, then I truly can’t see how you won’t enjoy The Battle Drum. El-Arifi’s visionary storytelling is a true breath of fresh air in the fantasy genre, striking the perfect balance between the fun, wonder, wit, disgust, despair and undying resilience and hope. The Ending Fire trilogy is quickly becoming one of my new personal favourites, and I can’t wait to see how it will all wrap-up in the finale.

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