Assaph Mehr's Blog, page 16

The character cast (of Unveiling, by Zel Winter)

Dear readers, tonight we host a rather chaotic interview with five characters out of a novel’s cast. They are here to tell us about a world in which powerful Immortal beings battle for justice in a magical world just beyond the veil of our own — all while continually bickering about spoilers.

Hello everybody, tonight on the interview couch are part of the cast from Unveiling. Could you please introduce yourselves, and helps us know who’s who?

Hi, I’m Nina. (a littl...

Book Review: Alexander at the World’s End, by Tom Holt

I loved Holt’s more fantasy works (especially under his KJ Parker pen-name), so was eager to try his pure historical fiction.

What to Expect

This is a story about the world Alexander the Great lived in (or left in ruins, depend on how you look at it), rather than about Alexander himself. It reads alomst like a love letter to ancient Greece itself — not to the grand art and philosphy, but to the daily life that supported it, in all its craziness and occasional ugliness. Peop...

Effie Tsiragakis (of Bloodsucking Bogans, by Tabitha Ormiston-Smith)

Dear readers, tonight with us is a library assistant. She is here to talk about her policewoman friend investigating a plague of dead rats and finding something quite else.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

Oh, I’ve always been a Dingo Flats girl. Same old. Out of the three of us, me and my two BFFs Sam and Shanna, only Sam left, to go to the Police Academy, and now she’s back too. It’s not a bad place for a Western suburb. There’s a ...

Wolves, Coins, and Wine — Buried Treasures

A few interesting finds today, from prehistory through Roman and Byzantine times, up to modern recreations which are always fun — especially when alcohol is involved!

We’ll start chronologically (or else I might lose you to the wine) with a 57,000 year wolf pup. A Canadian Gold Miner Finds 57,000-Year-Old Wolf Pup Still Covered in Fur, which is one of the most complete and oldest finds of this type.

One of the interesting points of the story, is the ...

Isabella Brown (of The Sentinel, by Jacqueline Hodder)

Dear readers, tonight we witness something a little different. The protagonist of the novel, Miss Devine, a 19th century governess for small children, is interviewing one of her new charges.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

Well, I don’t rightly remember England as such. Da brought us out to Australia when I was no higher than Grace is now but I do remember the sea. Oh, Miss Devine, how much that sea threw its cold hard hands around ...

Book Review: A Dead Djinn in Cairo, by P. Djèlí Clark

I previously enjoyed Djèlí Clark’s “The Haunting of Tram Car 015“, so was looking forward to more stories set in the same world.

What to Expect

This story establishes the world, but many of the same elements as from Tram Car 015 are explained in either story. The stories are short and interesting enough for this not to be repetitive, and essentially – since they involve two different cases with different agents, it doesn’t matter which you read first.

In short, it’s ...

Jamuqa (of the Amgalant series, by Bryn Hammond)

Dear readers, tonight we present you with a Mongol chief from the armies of Temujin (whom you might know as Genghis Khan). We witness the chief being questioned by Irle Khan — the king of ghosts.

A deep voice in the gloom. What creature are you?

Jamuqa saw nothing. Nothing was what he had expected. “I’m a Mongol,” he said aloud. “Despite everything. A dead one.” He thought about that. “Dead and proud. Who are you? Irle Khan?”

If you think I am Irle Khan, said...

Book Review: Something More Than Night, by Ian Tregillis

I’ve heard good things about Tregillis’ works and their historical-fantasy settings and vibes, and given that this book is a standalone (often my preference) and a noir detective to boot I was drawn.

What to Expect

Read the blurb, and then notch it up several degrees… sideways. Tregillis goes for high-intensity literary devices, where the prose is as important as the story and one has to invest in order to savour and enjoy the novel. Even past that, the plot, the world-buil...

Luna (of Pink, Not Fanged, by Paige Etheridge)

Dear readers, tonight we interview a young woman who found herself at the clashing point of science and the supernatural. She is here to talk about anxiety, the dangers of the Amazon river, and were-dolphins.

Tell us a little about where you grew up. What was it like there?

I lived in Narragansett,  Rhode Island until I was eighteen. A beach town known as Gansett by locals. Being in New England, it’s cold much of the year. Despite this I walked along the beach all t...

Jie Yan (of Thorn of the Night Blossoms, by JC Kang)

Dear readers, tonight we print an interview with an half-elf member of anb imperial assassin clan.

It’s early in the afternoon in a empty tea house in the corner of the Floating World. I beckon to a young courtesan and her half-elf apprentice, who approach with sensual grace.

Though they appear demure—well, the courtesan does—I know they’re members of the imperial spy clan.

I swallow hard. Even though I outweigh both of them combined, either could probably k...