Last year we saw a big increase in what many where hailing as the next new sub-genre, Flintlock Fantasy. Big name authors like Brian McClellan and Django Wexler were churning out fantasy novels set in-between the Renaissance and Industrial Eras. They were stories focused on militaries and gunpowder. Hell, McClellan has a magic system devoted…
“Patience breeds perfection.” Sometimes you just need a fun story to break you out of the dull literary crap. And Brandon Draga’s subtle twists in his debut is exactly the kind of comfortable fantasy tale I needed. This pulpy Sword and Sorcery doesn’t take itself too seriously, inserts a whopping dose of humor at every…
“Regret is a poison every bit as malicious as revenge.” Edward Knight’s second book in the Ashes Saga picks up where we left off, with Dagan wandering around the city with no purpose, only a past fire to guide his way. But that aimless shamble doesn’t stop him. He watches men get killed in broad…
“The purpose of Russian roulette is edification. A lesson that poses the question: is there a bullet or is there not?” Time travel is not a subject I usually adore. It’s hard to execute correctly. There’s this little thing called the Grandfather Paradox, and that’s where most of my criticism comes when I see time…
“The danger was more subtle. It was the danger you feel when you stare into the eyes of a resting lion. It is the unspoken threat of harm from one who knows he is more powerful than you. It is the danger that comes with the wind on an icy night.” When a self-published author…
“Stories are as slippery as seasons; it’s beyond my power to make either stand still. I try to tell them the same way, but each telling leads to small changes; something is added to the structure, a change of pace, a tweak of testimonies, all of them make circles in our minds.” There are few…
“’The way I’d put it,’ said Makin, ‘is that Rike can’t make an omelet without wading thigh deep in the blood of chickens and wearing their entrails as a necklace.’” Killing a hero is hard work, but if anybody is up to the job, it’s King Honorous Jorg Ancrath. Oh, and he’s getting married. Lucky…
Some of you may know that I am writing a book. Currently, I am editing the entire novel by cutting it in half and rewriting from almost scratch. It’s a fun process, and I like to think I’ve improved immensely over the past four years. I’ve actually done a lot of thinking these past six…
“In the dark hours of a frostbitten morning, someone is digging.” Sometimes you need a comfortable read, a story with characters you’ve read multiple times, set in a land that’s not too strange or different. Sometimes you just need something that you’ve been to before, something you know from the very first page. Darkwalker by…
“One doesn’t attract support before fighting, one fights to attract support. It’s a way of showing that things cannot continue as usual, of showing that resistance is possible.” The newest addition to the Science-Fantasy subgenre, New Weird, is Rjurik Davidson. His novel, Unwrapped Sky, is one of those rare stories that manages to blur the…
Acerbic Writing 