I’ve previously read and recommended 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed, so was excited to see a continuing volume on the subject. Quick aside: did you know that two of my short stories have been published in the just-released anthology It Takes A Village? Two stories, one sci-fi and one fantasy, about the meaning of […]
Book Review
Book Review: Beast Be Gone, by A L Billington
I came across this via an interview on The Protagonist Speaks, and it looked like a fun read. Quick aside: did you know that two of my short stories have been published in the just-released anthology It Takes A Village? Two stories, one sci-fi and one fantasy, about the meaning of caring for others. If […]
Books Review: Black City Tales and Black City Angel, by Richard A. Knaak
What’s not to love about this series? Roaring 20’s, mythological creatures, and a hard-boiled noir gumshoe. What to Expect Black City Angel is the fourth full-length novel in the series (and it’s been a while since the previous). This one sees Nick dealing with an increasing number of refugees from Feirie. Trying to investigate affairs […]
Tasmanian Crime Fiction – or is it?
Since moving to Tasmania and embracing the scene, I have naturally started to toy with an idea about a modern-day, Outback-noir style, fantasy (duh) crime mystery. So for the sake of ‘research’ I’ve been reading a few police procedurals and crime fiction set in Tasmania. Or so I thought. This post collects several reviews in […]
Book Review: Fated, by Benedict Jacka
The Alex Verus series of urban fantasy has been recommended to me repeatedly, so finally got around to it. What to Expect Expect a well-written, original take on urban fantasy themes. TRhe story is told from the point of view of Alex, a mage living in London. While he’d like nothing more than to run […]
Book Review: A Specter Raps on My Windowpane, by Douglas Lumsden
I love the urban-fantasy noir-detective blend of this series, and have followed it from the start – it maintained its high quality throughout. What to Expect Trigger warning: Alex doesn’t get paid for this case. Well, OK, that’s not that atypical of gumshoe detectives – but most cases don’t start with being ‘hired’ by the […]
Book Review: Dragonfired (The Dark Profit Saga #3, by J. Zachary Pike)
I’ve enjoyed the first two parts of this trilogy (Orconomics and Son of a Liche), and was eagerly looking forward to the grand finale. What to Expect Pike started the Orconomics series as a deep satire, on both fantasy and economics. This continues in this vein, though the focus shifts more toward the epic (which […]
Book Review: Split the Party, by Drew Hayes
Though it’s been a while since I read the first book of this series, I was in the mood for some light entertainment and this fit perfectly. What to Expect Another D&D-ish adventure for the band of heroes, this one leading them to chase an evil artifact that a whole town into zombies. Naturally, they […]
Book Review: Something from the Nightside, by Simon R. Green
A bit of a twist on the paranormal detective, a genre which I generally like. What to Expect What starts as a noir detective quickly moves into a bizarre world, more Alice in Wonderland on a bad acid trip than your typical paranormal detective. As the blurb says, John Taylor isn’t really a detective, just […]
Book Review: This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
This novel was all the rage a while ago, with rave reviews and an interesting premise. Took a while, but I was in the mood for something different. What to Expect A literary work on a sci-fi backdrop, telling a romance. It’s an epistolary novel, told in the exchange of letters between two operatives – […]