Category Archives: Fantasy

Fantasy, LGBTQ+/GRSM, Romance, Short story/novella

Diemer, Sarah: The Witch Sea (2012)

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Artist: Herbert James Draper

I love this cover. It illustrates perfectly the longing of the witch in the novel. In my head that is what The Witch Sea is about. Longing to belong, to have someone to love and to love you back.

Being responsible for holding the magical net surrounding her island is becoming a difficult task for Meriel. She is no longer certain of the beliefs that her mother and grandmother have tried to imprint on her.

Both Meriel’s longing and the longing of the sea-people shines through Diemer’s prose. Very minor-key and absolutely lovely.

The author makes a point of this being a lesbian fantasy short story. Once it was pointed out to me, I could see it.

The Witch Sea won first place in the Kissed by Venus Fresh Voices short story competition.

Adventure, Fantasy, Young Adult

Dalglish, David: The Weight of Blood (The Half-Orcs) (2010)

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Coverart by Peter Ortiz

There is a timeline for Dalglish’ books. You can find it on his website. However, that does not mean you have to read the books in that order. I haven’t.

David Dalglish has created a world called Drezel. Once upon a time the brothers Ashhur and Karak came to Drezel and ended up representing dark/chaos/death and light/order/life. They are godlike-creatures who have been cast from the planet and acquired followers. Like many brothers out there Ashhur and Karak fight. Unfortunately that usually involves getting their followers to fight each other.

The Weight of Blood is a dark story, one of death and destruction. The Half-Orc brothers Harruq and Qurrah Tun are responsible for quite a bit of that destruction. These two brothers seem very different yet Harruq would do just about anything for Qurrah, even if it means killing children or friends. What Qurrah will discover in The Weight of Blood is just how far he can drive his brother. Because one thing is for sure, Qurrah manipulates his brother. In spite of this, the brothers have great love for each other.

Dalglish writes dark fantasy well. His characters are complex and loveable (in spite of their deeds). Life isn’t a matter of black and white in Dalglish’s litterary world. Instead we get shades of grey that mirror real life.

I loved his writing and the world he has created.

 

Fantasy, Humour, Short story/novella

Cheek, Kater: Mean Little Kitty/Waiting Room at the Hero League (2011)

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The really great thing about crazy authors is that they are hilarious. I couldn’t help visualising the scene in Mean Little Kitty where the mom in the story looked for her son all over the place and ended up naked on the roof. I’m serious, you just have to read Kater Cheek’s family description.

Waiting Room at the Hero League was the same. Ms. Cheek made the whole thing seem real and brought me into her story. I loved the powers the super-heroes had. That and the ruckus they just happened to cause. Priceless.

Adventure, Fantasy, Short story/novella

Cummings, Shane Jiraiya: The Smoke Dragon (The Adventures of Yamabushi Kaidan) (2011)

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Cover design by Shane Jiraiya Cummings

Shane Jiraiya Cummings is a popular writer of dark fantasy. You can get the short-story Smoke Dragon for free on his website.

Power-hungry and greedy people are to be found all over the world I imagine. Along with the hunger for more we also sometimes find those who work for a lighter world.

Smoke Dragon is the story of the fight between two who are on the polar opposites of the above traits. The people fighting on the side of the Smoke Dragon want what they do not have even if it means killing to get it. On the other side we find Yamabushi Kaidan and his apprentices.

In Smoke Dragon we get a story packed with action, magic and martial arts set in a kind of Japan. Mr. Cummings writes a fascinating tale of disillusionment and the fight for something more than oneself and those nearest and dearest to us.

Originally published as “Yamabushi Kaidan and the Smoke Dragon” in Fantastic Wonder Stories, ed. Russell B. Farr (Ticonderoga Publications).

  • 2008 Ditmar Award Nomination, Best Novella/Novelette
  • 2008 Aurealis Award Nomination, Young Adult short story

 

Fantasy, Thriller

Doyle, Kevin: Mourning’s Song (2010)

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I have not been able to find any information on Kevin Doyle (except the email address he shares at the beginning of the novel). Too bad, really. The best I can do is link you to Amazon.

Super-heroes. Their aliases are Poison, Winterkill, Eagledawn, Heart, Kalide, Squire, Plaza, Kriegen and Liegelord. These are the ones we are introduced to in Mourning’s Song. These super-heroes are born or created genetically.

While hiking in the mountains two young guys discover an oddity. When they go to find out what it is they get attacked and disappear. This is our first meeting with the Liegelord. Lord of the mountain, insanity and world leaders. We then jump to the city and get to meet two run-aways and five superheroes who try to make the world a better place.

If you are looking for a happy story with a happy ending, you need to go elsewhere. Mourning’s Song is filled with tension, action and death.

So, is it any good? Holy, freaking cow – YES. Mr. Doyle certainly knows how to hold my attention. I recommend Mourning’s Song to any and all interested in mutants, superheroes and fighting/action-scenes. There are no rose-colored glasses to make life beautiful. But in all its harshness Mourning’s Song manages to leave the reader with a tiny ray of hope.

Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Short story/novella

Cheney, Kathleen J.: Iron Shoes (Hawk’s Folly Farm) (2011)

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Cover designed by Cheney/ photography by Alex Gorstan

Kathleen J. Cheney writes in minor key. I’m getting the mushy parts of her story. Maybe mush has be written in minor for me to understand it???

Ms. Cheney has written a lovely story about coming to terms with prejudice, betrayal and power-hunger but also about loyalty, love and unexpected friends.

Imogen Hawkes is a conflicted young widow who not only has to come up with money to prevent foreclosure but also has to find a way to accept herself for who she is. Not an easy thing in the early 1900’s in Saratoga.

2010: Nominated for the Nebulla award for best Novella: Iron Shoes’, J. Kathleen Cheney (Alembical 2)

Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult

Cole, Laura R.: Unleashed Fury (Blood Runes) (2011)

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The spilling of blood as a way to power is certainly a topic that more than fantasy writers have embraced, war being the first thing that comes to mind. In fantasy the spilling of blood for power generally comes in relation to either war or magic. In the case of the Blood Runes’ novels we are talking about magic.

Laura R. Cole has written a trilogy about the attempted awakening of the old Dark King. The Dark King had become so powerful through his use of blood-magic that he could not be killed, only put to sleep.

In the prologue we are introduced to a couple of semi-awakenings of the Dark King. He really wants to wake up and come into the world again to wreak his special kind of havoc.

One of our main characters is Jezebel. Jezebel is power-hungry and does not let anything hinder her. Her problem is that she is easily manipulated (all the while thinking that she is the one doing the manipulating).

The other character that we meet the most in Unleashed Fury is Layna. Layna is the unassuming and stunning servant who ends up having unexpected powers. She is humble and pretty much everything else that a HERO is supposed to be. Her main problem is that she is Jezebel’s servant and Jezebel is not the best master to have.

The action parts of this novel were great. There was plenty of it and it was well-written. Jezebel’s character was fun. She is so wrapped up in her own world-view that she just does not see even the most obvious signals that she might be wrong. My problem, as usual, lies with the mushy bits. I don’t get them – plain and simple.

Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery, Short story/novella, Young Adult

Clement, J.A.: Parallels: The Black-Eyed Susan (On Dark Shores) (2011)

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Cover art based on a photo by Jeffrey van Possum

The Black-Eyed Susan tells the story of a captain we heard about in the two first novels of On Dark Shores. The Lady and The Other Nereia both mention a captain that was tricked by Mr. Copeland and later killed by his bodyguard Blakey as a consequence of forfeiting his loan.

We get a look into the workings of Mr. Copeland’s mind. His mind is not a pretty place to be. We also get a closer look at Blakey’s character and a deeper understanding of the choices that have been made.

The Black-Eyed Susan is only a few pages long, but those are incredibly enjoyable pages.

Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery, Short story/novella, Young Adult

Clement, J.A.: The Other Nereia (On Dark Shores) (2012)

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Cover artwork based on a photo by Jeffrey van Rossum
J.A. Clement is the author for the novel The Other Nereia. The Other Nereia is book no 2 of the On Dark Shores serial. I see an omnibus of books no. 1 and no. 2 has been released.

I enjoyed The Other Nereia as much as I enjoyed The Lady. Clement kept her minor-tone throughout the novel. Flowing authors make my reading experience about as enjoyable as sinking under water. There is just something about feeling the water close over my head that makes my head so happy it wants to stay there forever. See what you did to me Ms. Clement.

In trying to run away Nereia woke a feeling of community in Scarlock that had been missing for quite a while. Mr. Copeland senses this and it stirs his paranoia and insanity even more. Poor Blakey (yes, I feel sorry for him and his mom) is left trying to make things less awful for the population. Poor Nereia is left with very few choices in what to do. Novel two is a terribly wonderful novel.

Having read as many books as I have, I still find myself caring for the characters and being able to dive into worlds created in another person’s mind. If that isn’t magic, I don’t know what is.

Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery, Short story/novella, Young Adult

Clement, J.A.: The Lady (On Dark Shores) (2011)

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Cover artwork by Fena Lee

First of all, I want to congratulate J.A. Clement on her choice of cover artist. Fena Lee captures the spirit of The Lady perfectly in the mood of her cover creation.

I loved The Lady. There, that really should be all you needed to hear, shouldn’t it. After all, my taste in books is superb and anything I like others must too. Or not.

Let me list the reasons why:

J.A. Clement flows. The Lady is a minor-toned novel (musically speaking) – exactly like the cover.

J.A. Clement’s characters grow on you, even Mr. Copeland. He is a sociopath. I know of no other words to describe him. Well, I do, but sociopath is the most descriptive one. His bodyguard has a reputation of breaking bones and possibly even killing people for Mr. Copeland.

The Lady is the Mother of the Shantari. She has made an awful choice (as in for herself) and is feeling a lot of pain.

Our main character is Nereia, another person having to make choices that will demand a high price. But sometimes you don’t really have a choice in life. You just do your best and hope the tides of fate will turn.

I have one complaint about The Lady. It was toooooooooo short.

A warning. This is a serial. You all know that means that you are left with a cliff-hanger. Fortunately book no. 2 in the serial is out along with a short-story giving some background information on one of the characters.

Adventure, Fantasy, Short story/novella, Young Adult

Wong, Billy: Gothic Warrior and the Dark Man (Tales of the Gothic Warrior) (2012)

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Gothic Warrior and the Dark Man is a 44 page short story.

It starts off with a barbrawl between the singer Freya (Gothic Warrior) and Lincoln. She wins. That fight gets Lincoln hired as her group’s (Helbound) body-guard.

This is urban fantasy with a demonic twist. Billy Wong manages to fill his 44 pages with plenty of action. I think it would probably be considered a young adult novel.

I enjoyed Billy’s writing and his characters.

Fantasy, Mystery

Young, Ross: Dead Heads (Gloomwood) (2012)

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Dead Heads A Gloomwood Novel

I like this cover.

Kudos to Mr. Young (old link stopped working) for managing to come up with an original idea for a fantasy novel. I cannot remember ever having seen something like Gloomwood described.

Let’s see if I can describe it to you. In Gloomwood the head honcho is The Grim Reaper – yes the skeleton with a scythe. For some reason the Grim Reaper created Gloomwood for dead people (obviously) but also for dead ideas (you will see Father Christmas near to the beginning) and dead dreams. Gods that people have stopped believing in also end up in Gloomwood.

OK. So we have a city for the dead. That is exactly what Gloomwood is – a thriving (maybe not so much) place where the dead (of a certain kind) end up and live their deaths. There is crime, good deeds, bad deeds, bureaucracy, spies.

One of the latest additions to the community is Augustan Blunt. Blunt is his name and blunt is what he is. The leaders of the city decided to expedite his death so he could investigate why/who/how the head of the Grim Reaper was stolen. For that reason they have made him chief investigator. Being an ex-cop and a detective while alive makes him qualified for the job. That and being new and unprejudiced and neutral.

The fun thing about reading Dead Heads is that I read along thinking of the novel as a plain mystery. Then bam, something really weird happens – like decapitations without splatter. I like their library and their “internet”. In fact, I think Ross Young is onto something with real potential here. He writes well and engages me as a reader.

The writing needed a bit of tidying up. Punctuation (periods) were missing and there were odd little paragraph breaks. That was about it I think.

Fantasy, Mystery

Weinberger, Michael Louis: Blood Harvest (The Hidden Amongst Us) (2010)

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Michael Louis Weinberger’s website on Photium seems to have expired. I guess you might as well use Amazon or one of the other books-sites to find out a tiny bit about him. I did find him on Twitter

Cover art by ???

Blood Harvest sure is a leading title, wouldn’t you agree. The cover no less so. It would have to be about serial killers or vampires. Knowing me – vampires. From the cover you might guess there would be a lot of blood and gore. There is gore, but Blood Harvest is a far cry from gore-celebrating novels. There is about as much blood and gore as you would find in most action novels today.

Blood Harvest was fun. I know, I think that about a lot of novels and authors. But that is the way it is. A lot of books and authors out there are fun.

Tons and tons of action and mystery galore. A real who-dun-it. The answer is revealed to the reader pretty early on in the novel. Once I know I sometimes get annoyed at the characters for not realizing sooner what is going on. That is unfair of me. Yes I realize characters in novels are not really alive – but they are in my head while I am reading a book. Steve and Chris were fun characters. I loved the ending – too funny.

Part of the blurb reads:  Respected by his fellow officers and enjoying a special bond with his Captain, whom he considers to be his mentor, Steve feels that he has finally found a place where the world makes sense and he can leave his dark past behind. So when his Captain calls in the middle of the night and instructs him to come to a highly unusual crime scene, Steve does so without question.    Arriving on the scene Steve discovers that the entire staff and patronage of nearly one thousand people at a popular and hedonistic Los Angeles nightclub have suddenly and mysteriously collapsed where they stood and appear to be dead. Rumors of a biological or chemical terrorist attack are doubted by the large number of LAPD and emergency personnel on the scene, but there seems to be no other explanation for the unnerving occurrence.     Then, before Steve can even fully begin his investigation, the case goes from unusual to absolutely bizarre with the appearance of an exotically beautiful and seductive woman in the company of a large, incredibly powerful white haired man.

Blood Harvest was a great first novel for Mr. Weinberger.

“Blood Harvest: Book 1, The Hidden Amongst Us” recently won a 2012 Next Generation Indie Publishers Award for Regional Fiction

Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult

Wright, Melissa: Frey (Frey Saga) (2011)

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Cover art by Robin Ludwig

In the same manner Catherine M. Wilson writes in minor key, Melissa Wright writes in major. Initially I read Frey because it was a freebie on Kindle. That is not why I continued reading the rest of the trilogy. Some authors just seem to have fun thinking up their stories and writing about them.

Part of the story was rather obvious, but the rest worked out a whole lot better than expected. I think it was the cover that fooled me. The blurb of Frey reads: “Unaware she’s been bound from using magic, Frey leads a small, miserable life in the village where she’s sent after the death of her mother. But a tiny spark starts a fury of changes and she finds herself running from everything she’s ever known.

Hunted by council for practicing dark magic, she is certain she’s been wrongfully accused. She flees, and is forced to rely on strangers for protection. But the farther she strays from home, the more her magic and forgotten memories return and she begins to suspect all is not as it seems.”

The first sentence kind of sets the tone for the rest of the novel and kind of demonstrates what I mean by writing in major key: “Crap!” I complained as I stubbed my toe on a root, one of the pitfalls of living in a tree. It says quite a bit about an author that begins her story like that.

Frey is an interesting character. As she realizes just how lost she is she also reacts in a manner that I could sympathise with. Frey was a fun read and brought me on to the next two books of the trilogy.

Adventure, Fantasy, LGBTQ+/GRSM

Wilson, Catherine M.: The Warrior’s Path (When Women Were Warriors) (2008)

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Cover designed by Catherine M. Wilson

When I talk about authors who write musically, Catherine M. Wilson is one of those authors. After reading her The Warrior’s Path right after reading the Frey Saga I found myself understanding a profound musical difference between authors. The Warrior’s Path is written in a minor key (or moll in Norwegian) while the Frey Saga is written in a major key (dur in Norwegian). How cool is that??

Our hero, Tamras, learns a great deal about herself, her prejudices and her talents during The Warrior’s Path. Some of these talents point to a mystical ability that may or may not become more apparent as the trilogy advances. One of her most important lessons is taught by her Warrior, Maara. Maara teaches her that Tamras is not her emotions but that she has the ability to decide how to use them. Tamras learns to deal with disappointment, anger, jealousy and fear.

I often think that we are what we choose. Just think of the many times you might have thought “if only”. Many of my choices have been less than ideal. But choosing to read The Warrior’s Path is a choice that has given me new insight and great pleasure. To think that this is Catherine M. Wilson’s first novel says quite a bit about her talent for the craft and her ability to develop it. I know she doubts she will write any more novels after spending ten years on her trilogy. That would be a pity.

After researching a bit more about the novel on the net I realized it falls within the lesbian/gay category as well as any other. Never entered my mind while reading it. To me it was just fantasy – really good fantasy – with a semi-lesbian twist. Didn’t seem all that important to me. But it is on the must read list of several lesbian/gay sites out there, soooo?

2010 EPIC ebook award in the Mainstream category