Fantasy Books
ON SUNDAYS SHE PICKED FLOWERS by Yah Yah Scholfield
Yah Yah Scholfield’s On Sundays She Picked Flowers marks her impressive debut. It is a novel about perseverance, generational abuse, race, and shapeshifting creatures. It is part horror, part southern gothic and has the surreal, magical feel of a fairy tale. It is an arresting, powerful debut, in other words. In this sinister and…
Categories: Fantasy Books
Strange Horizons Roundtable on Influence
This week is the 2026 Strange Horizons Criticism Special, which includes a new essay and review every day, a podcast, an editorial, and a roundtable: “Giving Permission: A Roundtable on the Obscurity of Influence” with Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, Charles Payseur, Daniel A. Rabuzzi, and me. You can read the entire discussion here. Here’s a bit about the overall premise from the preamble: “We were seeking to identify a score or so authors who defy easy classification, whose unique style and/or […]
The post Strange Horizons Roundtable on Influence first appeared on Fantasy Cafe.
Categories: Fantasy Books
Spotlight on “The Ghost Women” by Jennifer Murphy
Other LitStack Spots Along with the book in this LitStack Spotlight, we’ve also spotted a…
The post Spotlight on “The Ghost Women” by Jennifer Murphy appeared first on LitStack.
Categories: Fantasy Books
Echoes of Insurrection – T. A. White
Echoes of Insurrection Series: The Firebird Chronicles #6 Published by T.A. White on January 14, 2026
With the alien scourge responsible for the greatest war in humanity’s history in full retreat, Kira Forrest anticipates a few months of rest and relaxation while she and her found family recover from their ordeal.
Her hard earned peace is cut short when an attack on the Great Houses reveals cracks in the very foundation of the empire. When blame is laid at the feet of Kira’s birth house, she will have to find the true perpetrators quick if she wants to protect her new home and everyone within it.
Her hunt will lead her to strange planets and ultimately a place anchored in her past. With the balance of power in a tension fraught universe at stake, Kira will have to decide what is most important to her. The love that sustains her or the safety of all she holds dear.
War isn’t just coming. It’s already here.
Pages: 679 Genres: Action & Adventure, Fiction / Romance / Science Fiction, Fiction / Science Fiction / Space Opera
Format: eBook ISBN: 1230009628021
By: T.A. White
Also in this series: Rules of Redemption, Age of Deception, Threshold of Annihilation, Facets of Revolution, Trials of Conviction
Also by this author: Age of Deception, Threshold of Annihilation, Facets of Revolution
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Another outstanding entry from T. A. White and a standout in one of my favorite series. This installment is an action-packed page-turner that is difficult to put down. I strongly recommend reading the series in order, as the story relies heavily on established characters and world-building; without that background, readers may feel lost. The book concludes with a light cliffhanger—just enough to leave you eagerly anticipating the next installment.
Categories: Fantasy Books
Wolf Worm - Early Book Review
Wolf Wormby T. KingfisherWhat is it about:The year is 1899 and Sonia Wilson is a scientific illustrator without work, prospects, or hope. When the reclusive Dr. Halder offers her a position illustrating his vast collection of insects, Sonia jumps at the chance to move to his North Carolina manor house and put her talents to use. But soon enough she finds that there are darker things at work than the Carolina woods. What happened to her predecessor, Halder’s wife? Why are animals acting so strangely, and what is behind the peculiar local whispers about “blood thiefs?”
With the aid of the housekeeper and a local healer, Sonia discovers that Halder’s entomological studies have taken him down a dark road full of parasitic maggots that burrow into human flesh, and that his monstrous experiments may grow to encompass his newest illustrator as well.
What did I think of it:New Nightmare Unlocked!
I'm not a fan of bugs and other creepy crawlies at the best of times, so knowing this book had parasitic maggots I went in with the expectation of being squicked out.
Turns out I was both squicked and freaked out by this book!
I loved the buildup, the setting, and the characters. Sonia (as all of Kingfisher's main characters) was easy to root for, and I could not put the book down, even (or especially) during the more icky scenes.
Kingfisher brilliantly weaves entomology with myth creating a horrifically awesome story that I most certainly will reread, even though it has given me new nightmares about insects.
Why should you read it:if you are as squicked out by insects as I am, this is the perfect Horror for you!
Expected publication March 24, 2026
Categories: Fantasy Books
Five Things I Think I Think (January, 2026)
It’s been quite a while since I’ve shared some Things I Think. Since I just jumped back down the Castle rabbit hole, and finished off the associated Nikki Heat books, I had the basis for this column. And away we go!
Nathan Fillion was a big name on the nerd convention circuit (you know I was a nerd way back when it got you laughed at in school) due to the cult favorite, Firefly. He’d had some attention in more mainstream things such as Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place, but in 2009 a buddy cop show launched him to stardom. He was Richard Castle, a James Patterson-like writer who works with NYC detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic). It’s an odd couple pairing, with the immature Castle constantly annoying the professional driven Beckett.
I like a drama buddy cop show with humor, and Castle is one of the best. There are some over-arching story-lines, and even a big cast change. Humor, original crimes, good cast: this show worked. I’m on season two of my first-ever re-watch, and this is still a favorite show. It holds up, and Fillion really shines. It’s got more humor than his current hit show, The Rookie, which I also watch.
The show ran eight seasons, with viewership trending downward, as is often the case in long-running ones. But it got to where Fillion and Stanic were not even speaking off camera. It was abruptly announced that the show would continue without Katic – only Fillion. Not long after that, it was canceled outright. Several Castle co-stars have appeared on The Rookie. Katic has not been one of them. But you can’t go wrong watching Castle.
2 – HOW ABOUT NIKKI HEAT?
So, on the show, Richard Castle is a thriller writer. He achieved fame with novels about Derrick Storm, a spy-type stud. He kills off Storm in season one, and begins writing about a hot, tough, NYC detective named Nikki Heat. And she’s openly based on Beckett.
Tom Straw, writing as Richard Castle, turned out three Derrick Storm novels, and ten Nikki Heat books. There were also short stories, and graphic novels in the mix.
The Heat novels are essentially like bonus episodes of the show. It’s easy to envision Stana Katic as Heat, and Nathan Fillion as Jameson Rook. The book characters aren’t exact duplicates of the TV show, but pretty similar. The books hit a ‘jump the shark’ period in books eight and nine, but recovered. There were crossovers with Storm, and it was a bit much. But I think any Castle fan will enjoy Nikki Heat.
3 – GRIM DAWN IS PRETTY COOL
I played a TON of Diablo 1, and 2, back in the day. I replaced Diablo with Titan Quest, a really cool ARPG I got many hours on. I finally got around to D3, last year. I liked it well enough. I set aside the Reaper of Souls expansion, however. I then bought Titan Quest II in early access. TQII set aside it’s proprietary engine to use the Unreal Engine. It looks pretty, but it doesn’t have the charm of TQ1.
Which makes it somewhat ironic that I abandoned Titan Quest II, for Grim Dark. The 2016 ARPG was built using the Titan Quest 1 engine, by some former developers of TQ1. And I am enjoying this game far more than I was TQ2.
It’s a mix of pre-Victorian, horror, alien, cowboy, fantasy settings. Which all combine pretty neat. I have a large axe for melee, and a two handed musket for ranged. You can make some decisions with limited impacts on the storyline. Which is pretty railroad. But I like rr. There are side quests, as well as bounties from different factions, so you an mix things up.
You multi-class at level 10, so you can tailor your character to play a couple different ways if you want. Point-and-click games don’t capture me the way they did in D1 and D2 days. But I’m pretty into Grim Dawn. I was looking for something after LA Noire, and this is working for me. Leaving Reaper of Souls, and Titan Quest 2, on the shelf.
4 – AUDIOBOOKS COUNT AS READING
This is a distinction mostly made by obnoxious twits, who want to argue semantics. I am not going to use the term ‘consume books’ so that doofuses who wanna expound on the difference between seeing/reading, and listening.
Yes, reading is a specific experience. But for purposes of enjoying a book, ‘reading’ is a generic term, unless you want to specify a difference. People who get into ‘the listening experience is different’ are exhausting. Like so many on social media.
In January, I finished 9 audiobooks, 4 physical books, and 2 e-books. I would not have been able to get to those nine books, ‘reading.’ 7 of the 9 were first reads. I’d have completely missed out on those.
I just block people who start on about this. It’s not even worth arguing.
5 – DOUGLAS ADAMS WAS A TREASURE
I re-read the first two books of The Hitchchiker’s Guide, listened to audiobooks of them, listeneed to the entire radio series, and continue to listen to the BBC radio plays of the two Dirk Gently novels. And Douglas Adams never grows old for me. The latter Hitchchiker’s books are uneven, for well-documented reasons.
But Adams’ works age well. He had an insatiable curiosity about many things, along with keen insights. I will never outgrow Adams, or Terry Pratchett. I’m going to do a regular column on Aams quotes. Mostly his real life – not his book characters. Douglas Adams wass a rare treasure for our lifetimes. The Black Gate Landing Page, for Adams.
Prior Ten Things I Think I Think
Four Things I Think I Think (May 2025)
Six Things I Think I Think (March 2025)
Ten Things I Think I Think (January 2025)
Ten Things I Think I Think (December 2024)
Nine Things I Think I Think (October 2024)
Five More Things I Think: Marvel Edition (September 2024)
Ten Things I Think I Think: Marvel Edition ( September 2024)
Five Things I Think I Think (January 2024)
Seven Things I Think I Think (December 2023)
Talking Tolkien: TenThings I Think I Think (August 2023)
A (Black) Gat in the Hand: Ten Things I Think I think (August 2023)
5 More Things I Think (March 2023)
10 Things I Think I Think (March 2023)
Bob Byrne’s ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ made its Black Gate debut in 2018 and has returned every summer since.
His ‘The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes’ column ran every Monday morning at Black Gate from March, 2014 through March, 2017. And he irregularly posts on Rex Stout’s gargantuan detective in ‘Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone.’ He is a member of the Praed Street Irregulars, and founded www.SolarPons.com (the only website dedicated to the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street’).
He organized Black Gate’s award-nominated ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series, as well as the award-winning ‘Hither Came Conan’ series. Which is now part of THE Definitive guide to Conan. He also organized 2023’s ‘Talking Tolkien.’
He has contributed stories to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories — Parts III, IV, V, VI, XXI, and XXXIII.
He has written introductions for Steeger Books, and appeared in several magazines, including Black Mask, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Sherlock Magazine.
You can definitely ‘experience the Bobness’ at Jason Waltz’s ’24? in 42′ podcast.
Categories: Fantasy Books
My Top Thirty Films, Part 2
Silent Running (Universal Pictures, March 10, 1972)
I’ve had a little think about my favorite films, and what makes them my favorites. As you will see, my choices are on the whole rather fluffy, but these are the films that I return to time and time again for comfort, or as a way to reset my brain. I’d be very interested to find out if any of my favorites align with any of your own – please let me know in the comments below!
Read Part 1 here. Without further ado, in no particular order, and no ratings (because they are all 10s), let’s get cracking!
Taxi Driver (Columbia Pictures, February 8, 1976)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Who’s in it?
Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, Cybill Shepherd
What’s it about?Travis Bickle (De Niro) is a Vietnam Vet, suffering from PTSD, driving a cab for a living, and growing increasingly detached from reality day by day. He lives alone, on a diet of cornflakes and scotch, and writes in his diary the thoughts that trouble him nightly; the state of the New York City streets, the perceived inhumanity of its residents, and brief phrases and idioms to live his life by.
When he meets Betsy (Shepherd), a campaign assistant for a presidential candidate, he is fascinated by her, and attempts to take her on a date. The failure of their unformed relationship is due to his social awkwardness and choice of venue (an adult film theatre). Rejected by Betsy, he falls further into delirium as he becomes obsessed with ‘saving’ a child prostitute (Foster) from her pimp (Keitel). His mental breakdown concludes in the botched assassination of the candidate, and the successful liberation of the young girl in a bloody shootout.
Why do I love it?Everyone remembers their first Scorsese, and this was mine. It is still my favourite Scorsese film, and the fella has made quite a few good ones (sarcasm)!
Taxi Driver is an utterly dreamy film for me, not in the gossamer nightgown and watercolour pastures sense, nor in the David Lynch stream of consciousness sense, but more of an intangible mosaic of sound and light and shadow. Just thinking about it now, having not actually watched in over a decade, I can see the neon-drenched streets and hear the melancholy wail of Herrmann’s brass (my favourite score of his, completed mere weeks before his death).
I fell in love instantly with Cybill Shepherd and wanted to take her out for a coffee and apple pie with a slice of cheese (which still seems utterly alien to me), although I had a hard time separating Jodie Foster from Bugsy Malone. De Niro’s raw performance, years before he became a facsimile of himself, is hypnotic, and although I couldn’t possibly identify with him, I could certainly empathise.
There are so many quirky elements in this film that add to the dreamstate; the afore-mentioned cheese slice, corn flakes and scotch, custom wrist holsters, and Bickle’s own reaction to pornography, and these have all lingered with me like half-forgotten personal memories.
Silent Running (Universal Pictures, March 10, 1972)
Silent Running (1972)
Who’s in it?
Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, Jesse Vint
What’s it about?In the future, all of nature on Earth has been eradicated by the advancement of humanity, and the last remaining forests, along with a clutch of animals, have been sent into space in vast geodesic domes attached to giant star freighters. The custodians of these last biomes are a motley bunch of blue-collar workers, including an obsessive biologist who seemingly prefers nature over humans, Freeman Lowell (Dern), and a trio of robotic gardener drones, Huey, Dewey, and Louis. When the order comes through to destroy the habitats (for ‘business’ reasons), Lowell flips and turns on his crewmates, determined to keep the forests alive.
Why do I love it?There have not been many films that made me blub uncontrollably at the end (Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983) is one of them), but when Joan Baez’s ‘Rejoice in the Sun’ kicks in as we watch Dewey, the last surviving drone, caring for a little garden with Lowell’s old watering can, the waterworks inevitably begin. It’s an ending both depressing and profoundly optimistic, and caps off a truly groundbreaking hard sci-fi flick that paved the way for many cultural touchstones, not least R2-D2, the stoned bomb operators of Dark Star (1974), and the crew of the Nostromo.
Following Star Wars, little me devoured any and all science-fiction I could find, and Silent Running felt like one of the few ‘realistic’ settings; less catsuits and rayguns, more industrial grime and hardware. It certainly helped that director Douglas Trumball shot many of the interiors in a real-life decommissioned aircraft carrier, the USS Valley Forge, blending the claustrophobic corridors and cabins with stunning, large-scale, greeblie-heavy spaceship models, and the talented performers, all bilateral amputees, imbued the little drones with so much character that they became more than machines, they were the characters that we empathized with the most. A stunning film.
Re-Animator (Empire International Pictures, October 18, 1985)
Re-Animator (1985)
Who’s in it?
Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Bruce Abbott, David Gale
What’s it about?VERY loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft’s 1922 novelette “Herbert West – Reanimator,” this version features West (Combs) as a brilliant, obsessive, young scientist who has developed a glowing green serum that can reanimate dead things.
Having secured a spot as a medical student at the famed Miskatonic University, West ropes his fellow student, Dan Cain (Abbott) into a series of experiments that soon grow wildly out of control. When one of the professors, Dr. Hill (Gale) learns of West’s discovery, he covets it for himself, but soon falls foul of West’s vengeance. However, death doesn’t stop him from continuing his quest to steal not only the formula, but Dan’s girlfriend, Megan (Crampton), and he literally unleashes bloody hell upon the university in his efforts.
Why do I love it?The first of Brian Gordon’s utterly bonkers reinventions of Lovecraft classics (see also From Beyond (1986), Castle Freak (1995), and Dagon (2001)), Re-Animator popped onto the scene when I had just hit 18, and was one of the first legitimate ‘adult’ certificate films I went to see. I was already frothing at the mouth having had the film’s insane effects teased by Fangoria magazine, but I really wasn’t prepared for the sheer sticky madness of the whole affair. Not only was it gory as all heck, but the gore itself was used in such an imaginative and hilarious way, that it altered my brain chemistry forever. Remember, this is a kid who grew up with the horny grue of Hammer films, so I was used to a little more restraint in the bloodletting (barring the occasional The Thing (1982) highlight).
Re-Animator however decided to not just disembowel someone, but then had their reanimated entrails loop out and grab someone, it had a headless corpse steady its own head by slamming it onto a desk paper spike, the undead are dispatched with bone saws. Of course, much of this visceral lunacy would be turned up to 11 in the better of the two sequels, Bride of Re-Animator (1990), but this film was the O.G. — the one that kicked off my passion for over-the-top gore, and my enduring infatuation with Barbara Crampton.
Jaws (Universal Pictures, June 20, 1975)
Jaws (1975)
Who’s in it?
Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary
What’s it about?When the sleepy seaside town of Amity Island in New England is rocked by a shark attack, the local sheriff, Martin Brody (Scheider), must contend with the town mayor who wants to keep the beaches open for the 4th of July, while trying to convince the townsfolk of the very real danger of stepping into the ocean. A failed shark hunt leads him to recruit a student oceanographer, Matt Hooper (Dreyfuss), and a grizzled seadog, Quint (Shaw), in a last desperate attempt to destroy the toothsome terror before it can do more snacking.
Why do I love it?In this complete list of favourite movies, I would argue that all of them are fantastic, but only a handful of them are perfect. Jaws is undoubtedly one of the perfect ones.
My dad (in one of his rare moments of doing something cool with me) took me when I was 9 to see Jaws in the cinema. This was in the first week of release, when the hysteria hadn’t quite kicked in yet, and it had an ‘A’ certificate (the UK equivalent of a PG film), shortly before it was recertified to ‘AA’ (no one under 14 allowed). Naturally it scared seven colours out of me, especially old Ben Gardner’s noggin popping out of the boat hull.
Later that year we holidayed in Cornwall, and I recall the sheer panic when someone yelled “Shark!” at the beach and the sunburned throng erupted from the surf, mimicking a scene from Spielberg’s masterpiece. We did indeed see a dorsal fin, but it was probably a basking shark, harmless. We don’t get great whites off the English coast. Still, it was a lovely snapshot of the ongoing shark obsession that had gripped the world, and a perversely happy memory for me.
Jaws is a regular watch for me, it’s one of those comfort films that I can put on and just wallow in the mastery of all concerned; the stellar cast, the music, the cinematography, and Spielberg’s supernatural blocking skills. The film means so much to me, and has been present in key moments in my life — my early introduction to horror, as a learning tool in film school, as a teaching tool for my own son. I think I’d like it to be one the last things I watch before finally shuffling off. Guess I should be making plans.
Starship Troopers (TriStar Pictures, November 7, 1997)
Starship Troopers (1997)
Who’s in it?
Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Neil Patrick Harris, Dina Meyer
What’s it about?The future expansion of the human race has brought us into contact with a highly-evolved alien insect species, which is now hellbent on destroying our planet. The war with the ‘Arachnids’ is ongoing, and the world government, run by a fascist corporation born from the ashes of a failed democracy, puts military service above all else. Only through fighting for your planet can you truly be perceived to be a citizen, and thus embrace the benefits that come with that status.
Into the fray is thrown Johnny Rico (Van Dien), a blond-haired, blue-eyed jock who doesn’t quite have the smarts for officer material, but is a good fit for the fodder known as the General Infantry. Rico enlists partly to impress his crush, Carmen (Richards), but is fully onboard after his parents and home town are destroyed in a bug attack. Once thrust into the brutality of close combat with the Arachnids, all that remains is for Rico to try to survive each encounter, save his friends, and eradicate the bug menace once and for all (spoiler alert — two out of three ain’t bad).
Why do I love it?The third in the holy Verhoeven trilogy, following Robocop (1987) and Total Recall (1990), and although I love the others equally, Starship Troopers is the one I’ve returned to the most times (and that’s saying something).
For all of my inherent anti-war feelings, I am always completely swept away on a jingoist wave of blood lust when this film gets going — much like rooting for the Colonial Marines when a swarm of xenomorphs is advancing. Nothing beats this film for sheer, bombastic military mayhem, and yet at its core are some sneaky anti-fascist themes, sandwiched between the violent layers like warm syrup in a stroopwaffle. Verhoeven’s great at this, he did something similar with Robocop, and here he manipulates (let’s face it) a Beverly Hills soap cast in a savage deconstruction of the military machine and Robert A. Heinlein’s alleged right-wing fantasies in his original 1957 novel on which this film is based.
But enough of my pseudo-analysis of themes, what really probes my brain bug are the effects, stunning for the time and further proof that for the best CG effects you need to place them in the hands of a traditional artist. Phil Tippett’s bugs still hold up today — it’s hard not to marvel at the swarms of Arachnids thundering across the rocky plateaus on their way to slice and dice the hopelessly outnumbered soldiers. Add to this spectacle some of the best military vehicles ever put on screen, gnarly animatronic gore, and Michael Ironside shoving his metal fingers into a hollowed out bonce and growling, “they sucked out his brains,” and you have the recipe for a damned good time. POPCORN, STAT!
Previous Murky Movie surveys from Neil Baker include:
My Top Thirty Films, Part 1
The Star Warses
Just When You Thought It Was Safe
Tech Tok
The Weyland-Yutaniverse
Foreign Bodies
Mummy Issues
Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
Monster Mayhem
It’s All Rather Hit-or-Mythos
You Can’t Handle the Tooth
Tubi Dive
What Possessed You?
See all of Neil Baker’s Black Gate film reviews here. Neil spends his days watching dodgy movies, most of them terrible, in the hope that you might be inspired to watch them too. He is often asked why he doesn’t watch ‘proper’ films, and he honestly doesn’t have a good answer. He is an author, illustrator, teacher, and sculptor of turtle exhibits.
Categories: Fantasy Books
The Problem of the Invincible Warrior: Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer by James Silke
Frank Frazetta’s Death Dealer, Volumes 1-4, by James Silke (Tor Books, 1988-1990). Covers by Frank Frazetta
James Silke (1931 – ) is something of a renaissance man in the arts. He’s a visual artist and prose writer, a set and costume designer, photographer, and comic book guy. Most people who I meet recognize him as a comic artist/writer, although I’ve never read any of his graphic stuff.
I’ve seen a few of the movies he’s worked on, including King Solomon’s Mines and The Barbarians. My only experience with Silke’s writing is the four Sword & Sorcery books in the Frank Frazetta Death Dealer series.
These are:
1 Prisoner of the Horned Helmet (February 1988)
2 Lords of Destruction (January 1989)
3 Tooth and Claw (November 1989)
4 Plague of Knives (June 1990)
There’s also a book called Rise of the Death Dealer, with a Frazetta Cover (shown below), but I’ve never seen a physical copy, and from what I understand it’s not a 5th book in the series. According to Fantastic Fiction, it’s an omnibus volume that collects the first two books. Fantastic Fiction has been pretty accurate in my experience.
Frank Frazetta’s Rise of the Death Dealer, omnibus edition (Tor Books, March 2005). Cover by Frank Frazetta
As far as I understand, Frazetta provided the Death Dealer character and the covers and Silke wrote stories about the warrior, including an origin story in Prisoner of the Horned Helmet. I don’t know whether Frazetta offered any story ideas but the prose is Silke.
The series features a character named Gath of Baal, a young but powerful warrior at the beginning of the series, who acquires a horned helmet imbued with great sorcery. He doesn’t realize that once he puts it on he’ll become its prisoner and will become the Death Dealer.
I enjoyed the series quite a lot. There are some strong visuals and some bloody, gory fights. The prose is serviceable but not outstanding. There are some very modern phrasings that occasionally threw me out of the story. I was hoping for more Robert E. Howard style poetic prose but didn’t get it.
The pacing is not as fast as it could have been either, mainly because the books are too long. Cutting fifty pages out of each of these volumes would have really helped. At some point I’ll also talk about the “problem” of the invincible warrior and how it diminishes tension in a tale.
Charles Gramlich administers The Swords & Planet League group on Facebook, where this post first appeared. His last article for us was Erich von Däniken’s Chariots of the Gods? and the Pseudoscience Bestsellers of the 1970s. See all of his recent posts for Black Gate here.
Categories: Fantasy Books
Exhilerating Escape! 6 Mind-Bending Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels
Alright, let’s talk about science fiction novels and fantasy novels, and escape reality for a…
The post Exhilerating Escape! 6 Mind-Bending Science Fiction & Fantasy Novels appeared first on LitStack.
Categories: Fantasy Books
Book Review: Twelve Months by Jim Butcher
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Book 18 of Dresden Files
Publisher: Ace Books (January 20, 2026)
Length: 448 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
It’s kind of wild to think it’s been almost six years since Battle Ground came out, because Twelve Months very much feels like a sequel that has been cooking quietly in the background all that time. But instead of throwing readers straight back into the action, Jim Butcher hits the brakes to bring us a Dresden Files novel that’s much more subdued and reflective. In other words, this one is very much an “aftermath story” that explores what happens after the dust settles.
The last time we saw Harry, who is now openly operating as the Winter Knight, Chicago burned as the city became the site of a full-scale magical assault which resulted in the deaths of thousands. Though the attack was eventually thwarted and the enemy defeated, this came at an enormous cost. The supernatural world has been exposed for all to see, and Harry also lost someone very near and dear to him, only barely containing his anger and grief before he did something he’d regret. Still, given his history and his increasingly erratic and risky behavior, the White Council ultimately decided to cut ties with him, leaving our protagonist more isolated than ever.
And so, Twelve Months basically follows Harry across a year of his life as he tries to regain some sense of control and normalcy while trying to manage the crushing stress caused by grief, guilt, and an endless list of responsibilities. That said, there’s no more saving the world for Harry Dresden, at least not at this time. Right now, he’s in recovery mode, putting all his efforts into healing after loss and rebuilding the support systems around him, both emotionally and physically.
Stylistically, Twelve Months is one of the more unusual entries in the series. It’s certainly different from many of the previous sequels which saw Harry facing down supernatural foes and dealing with ever escalating threats. In this, the pacing slows down, but if you think that means the stakes disappear or the story loses its momentum, think again. The conflicts are alive and well, they’re just more intimate, and the focus turns towards character development and relationship dynamics.
Because of this, I can see this book receiving mixed reviews, but personally I enjoyed the change of pace. Having some room to breathe is a good thing, not to mention it’s also more realistic. Places don’t just bounce back from the brink of utter destruction, and neither do people. A lot happened in Battle Ground leading to significant repercussions that are going to take more than a few pages to digest, and Twelve Months gives us the chance to do a deep dive into the fallout, looking at how Chicago has changed. People are scared, resources are strained, and Butcher’s storytelling here truly drives home the point that the world of the Dresden Files is, and always has been, bigger than just Harry’s personal sphere.
There’s also a noticeable shift in the way Harry interacts with the greater world around him. He’s no longer the young, brash wizard who storms into every situation with his guns blazing. It’s been more than twenty-five years since the first book burst onto the scene, and in that time, the books have seen Harry mature and become a hardened man shaped by real-world experiences and fatherhood. Of course, he’s always been a reluctant hero, but there’s a lot more people now who look up to him and depend on him, and he’s becoming increasingly aware that his actions have consequences well beyond the here and now.
In the end, I do think there’s value in having a book like this every so often, especially in a long-running series. If nothing else, it helps break up the usual pattern and to prevent monotony. In this case, Dresden Files fans got a much calmer ride than we’re used to, but to be honest, I probably wouldn’t want too many more installments in this similar vein, and I certainly wouldn’t be too heartbroken if the next one swung back towards a more action-oriented approach. I’ll even admit I was cheering inside when the end of this book finally ramped up and delivered a genuinely exciting climax and conclusion.
In the end, Twelve Months feels very much like a transitional novel, nudging the overarching plot of the series forward, but not by too much and not in any way that’s too dramatic. By this point, Jim Butcher clearly knows his audience and trusts both their patience and their investment in Harry’s journey. In a way, this also feels like a book the author himself needed to write, since I’ve heard that so much of the emotional beats in the series are often a reflection of what he’s going through and feeling in his own life. As a sequel, this one feels necessary, giving the story a chance to decompress, while also efficiently laying the groundwork for what comes next.
Categories: Fantasy Books
NINE GOBLINS by T. Kingfisher
In the scale of things fantasy, goblins since the age of Tolkien (and before actually) have tended to have a bit of a bad reputation. Seen as smelly, violent, greedy, selfish, grumpy, lazy and well, a bit dim, they’re not the first choice for literary inspiration. To this we then have T. Kingfisher’s latest novella…
Categories: Fantasy Books
Snake-Eater - Book Review
Snake-Eaterby T. KingfisherWhat is it about:From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award–winning author T. Kingfisher comes an enthralling contemporary fantasy seeped in horror about a woman trying to escape her past by moving to the remote US desert—only to find herself beholden to the wrath of a vengeful god.
With only a few dollars to her name and her beloved dog Copper by her side, Selena flees her past in the city to claim her late aunt’s house in the desert town of Quartz Creek. The scorpions and spiders are better than what she left behind.
Because in Quartz Creek, there’s a strange beauty to everything, from the landscape to new friends, and more blue sky than Selena’s ever seen. But something lurks beneath the surface. Like the desert gods and spirits lingering outside Selena’s house at night, keeping watch. Mostly benevolent, says her neighbor Grandma Billy. That doesn’t ease the prickly sense that one of them watches too closely and wants something from Selena she can’t begin to imagine. And when Selena’s search for answers leads her to journal entries that her aunt left behind, she discovers a sinister truth about her new home: It’s the haunting grounds of an ancient god known simply as “Snake-Eater,” who her late aunt made a promise to that remains unfulfilled.
Snake-Eater has taken a liking to Selena, an obsession of sorts that turns sinister. And now that Selena is the new owner of his home, he’s hell-bent on collecting everything he’s owed.
What did I think of it:If it's possible to call something cozy horror, this book is it.
I love Kingfisher's writing style, fell in love with her horror books, then fell in love with her Fairy Tale reimaginings, her Fantasy Romance, and now this book.
It's mostly cozy magical realism with hints to something more horrific, but for me it never got too dark.I loved discovering Quartz Creek and its inhabitants together with Selena. There are a couple of really interesting and fun characters, as well as some surprises I didn't see coming. There's a pleasant cozy pace to this story and world, only disturbed by Snake-Eater. ( I will confess I felt some sympathy towards Snake-Eater even while realizing Snake-Eater is the evil that needs to be banished for Selena to find happiness.)All in all a story and setting I totally fell in love with. I hope Kingfisher keeps the books coining, because I want more.
Why should you read it:It's lovely, cozy horror.
Categories: Fantasy Books
Forgotten Authors: Raymond F. Jones
Raymond F. Jones was born in Salt Lake City on November 15, 1915. He studied engineer and English at the University of Utah before working as a radio engineer. He later suggested that getting an English degree is one of the worst things a writer could do. He had a reasonable amount of success as an author, with his novel This Island Earth being the work he is best known for. It was adapted into a film in 1955, starring Jeff Morrow and featuring Russell Johnson, who would go on to portray the Professor on Gilligan’s Island, and Richard Deacon, who played Mel Cooley on The Dick van Dyke Show.
According to Jones, he was introduced to science fiction in 1927 when he read H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. He decided he never wanted to read it again because he was afraid it couldn’t live up to the “thrill of that first contact with the realm of imagined science.”
After graduating college, he served on a mission in Galveston, Texas and worked installing telephone exchange equipment for Western Electric in Texas, but after marrying Elaine Kimball on June 27, 1940, he took a job with the Weather Bureau to cut down on travel. During World War II, he used his radio engineering degree at Bendix Radio in Baltimore before settling in Arizona after the war.
Jones’ first short story, “Test of the Gods,” was published in the September 1941 issue of Astounding, in which it was overshadowed by the cover story, Isaac Asimov’s “Nightfall.” This is a pattern that would be repeated, leading Gerald W. Page to note that while Jones was a “writer of surprising versatility. But the price of this seems to be that too often he came on the scene with a perfectly good story that was still second best to the similar works of someone else.”
Jones wrote 15 novels in addition to This Island Earth, beginning in 1951 with the novel Renaissance (which was reprinted as Man of Two Worlds).
In addition to This Island Earth, two other stories by Jones were adapted by Hollywood. “The Children’s Room,” originally published in 1947, was an episode of the anthology series Tales of Tomorrow in 1952, and 1950’s “Divided We Fall” was adapted for the anthology series Out of This World in 1962.
His 1950 story “Tools of the Trade” is believed to be the first description of 3D printing.
Jones not only wrote science fiction, he also wrote non-fiction, with four juvenile science books ranging from The World of Weather to Animals of Long Ago. He also wrote the study Ice Formation on Aircraft.
Jones was a Hugo finalist in 1967 for his short story “Rat Race,” which lost to Larry Niven’s “Neutron Star.” In 1996, his story “Correspondence Course,” was remembered by enough people to earn him a Retro-Hugo nomination, where he lost to Hal Clement’s “Common Sense.”
Elaine died on July 23, 1970 and on May 2, 1973, Jones married Lillian Wats. Jones and Elaine had five children and eighteen grandchildren. When he married Lillian, he gained five step-children.
Jones died in Sandy, Utah on January 24, 1994 after suffering from pancreatic cancer. For no reason other than the same first name, I tend to think of Jones along with author Raymond Z. Gallun (1911-1994). Coincidentally, both of their obituaries appeared in the same issue of Locus, with Jones coming in second to Gallun’s.
I reviewed Jones’ short story “Death Eternal” in 2018 as part of my Birthday Reviews series on Blackgate.
Steven H Silver is a twenty-one-time Hugo Award nominee and was the publisher of the Hugo-nominated fanzine Argentus as well as the editor and publisher of ISFiC Press for eight years. He has also edited books for DAW, NESFA Press, and ZNB. His most recent anthology is Alternate Peace and his novel After Hastings was published in 2020. Steven has chaired the first Midwest Construction, Windycon three times, and the SFWA Nebula Conference numerous times. He was programming chair for Chicon 2000 and Vice Chair of Chicon 7.
Categories: Fantasy Books
Review – Contracts & Cats (Meow: Magical Emporium of Wares Book 1) by Toni Binns (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Cozy Fantasy
Length: 538 pages
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: November 4, 2025
ASIN: B0FW17TZ45
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Meow: Magical Emporium of Wares series
Source: eGalley from Netgalley
Rating: 4/5 stars
“When Sable answers a too-good-to-be-true job posting—cozy bookshop, perfect espresso machine, adorable black cat, and an apartment upstairs—she thought she’d finally caught a break from her crushing student loans.
But the ink on the deal is barely dry when Sable realizes that the contract is very literal. She cannot leave. Also, her new feline companion talks, the bookstore itself is a sentient enigma with an excellent espresso machine, and magic isn’t just for storybooks–it’s woven into her new reality.
Bound to the shop as the mystical Cat’s voice and hands in the human world, the bookstore’s true purpose begins to unfold, and Sable must choose. Will she embrace the impossible magic blooming around her, or cling to the mundane life she thought she wanted, risking the fate of the shop and its curious inhabitants?”
Series Info/Source: This is the first book in the Meow: Magical Emporium of Wares series. I got a copy of this on ebook from NetGalley from review.
Thoughts: I really liked the premise behind this book and really enjoyed the day to day adventures and intriguing characters. I definitely plan on continuing the series. My only complaint is that the story started to drag some in the middle and started to feel a bit repetitive.
Sable shows up for a job interview at an amazing bookshop that appears too good to be true. The pay and benefits are wonderful, and there is an adorable cat in the store. She gets the job on the spot and can’t believe her luck. However, maybe she should have read the contract a bit better. Sable is not allowed to leave MEOW (Magical Emporium of Wares) for a year and must answer to The Cat. Suddenly, Sable’s days are filled with odd magical visitors and events and she never knows what to except next!
This book has serious cozy vibes, and I really enjoyed the characters and how you never knew what was going to happen from day to day. I loved how Sable just rolled with all the odd day to day happenings in the shop. Initially, the story starts with Sable being anxious and surprised by the next encounter each day brings, some of them fairly normal and some of them of the more magical variety. All the while, Sable is trying to figure out the mystery of The Cat and the bookshop itself. The layout of the bookstore changes, dishes are washed, and it’s all very mysterious.
Initially this is very light on characters, you have Sable and you have The Cat. However, as the book continues, we are introduced to more and more intriguing characters. I really enjoyed them all. This book has a very adventuring feel to it despite the fact that Sable can’t leave the book store, and I really enjoyed that. I also liked the glimpses I got of Sable’s family but hope we get to see more of her family as well in future books.
The only downside to this book for me was that the day-to-day format started to feel a bit repetitive despite each day being somewhat different. The story picked up towards the end of the book again as Sable learns more about The Cat and gets pulled into a broader story. So while I adored the concept and the characters, and enjoyed the story as well, I thought the pacing was a bit off. However, the way things picked up at the end really had me intrigued to read more of this series.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I really enjoyed this book it is a fun and cozy read with a creative concept, intriguing characters, and an entertaining story. It does drag a bit in the middle, but it quickly picks up again towards the end and really had me wanting to read more about this magical book store and these characters. The second book is supposed to release in early February (so very soon) and will be titled “Keeper and Kindred”. If you enjoy cozy fantasy with cats, books, dragons, and magic, I would recommend!
Categories: Fantasy Books
A Game of Classic Science Fiction: Terraforming Mars by Jacob Fryxelius
Terraforming Mars by Jacob Fryxelius (FryxGames/Stronghold Games, 2016)
About a year ago, I added Terraforming Mars to my collection of board games, fascinated by the premise. At the very end of the year, a local friend proposed to get together and try playing it. On 2 January, three of us sat down to a first game, using the beginner option of everyone playing a standard corporation and keeping all ten of their initial cards without having to pay for them. Four and a half hours later, we started counting up scores.
Terraforming Mars is a game about economic investment and its returns, like Race for the Galaxy, one of my long-time favorites. The premise is fairly hard science fiction: Several corporations have been granted charters by Earth’s world government to begin — as the title says — terraforming the planet Mars: raising its temperature and oxygen and giving it bodies of water. When these reach specific designated values, the game ends and score is taken. There are no violations of fundamental laws of physics such as faster-than-light travel; the departure, so far as there is one is not qualitative but quantitative, in the rapid progress of terraforming, though in some compensation, play is divided into “generations,” which implies a time scale on the order of centuries.
[Click the images to terraform them.]
Back cover of Terraforming Mars
The rule book for the game is 16 pages, but that includes introductory material, illustrations, and several game variants, including a solitaire version. The actual rules are in easily readable type and can be read through in a few minutes. Most of the complexities are strategic and are expressed in the text and graphics of game cards. Along with these cards, each player has a personal game board that keeps track of resources, and players share a larger board that’s a map of one hemisphere of Mars, where tiles can be placed to represent cities, oceans, vegetation, and other special achievements.
The map is also used to keep track of various scores and accomplishments. Reading the map is a little complicated, like watching the screen for character status in a computer game; on this first session we took a while to figure out some of its sections. But I think it can become familiar quickly.
In a way comparable to Race for the Galaxy, each generation in Terraforming Mars is divided into phases. A generation begins with each corporation receiving four cards from a deck, which represent newly acquired capabilities if the player wants to pay for them (“‘Take what you like,’ said God; ‘take it, and pay for it.'”) After that, players perform various actions, many but not all enabled by the cards, and some of which add tiles to the large board. Spatial arrangement of tiles is important and is partly restricted by the game rules.
Race For the Galaxy by Tom Lehmann (Rio Grande Games, 2007)
Some cards are used up by one action; some are kept and displayed in front of the player, and some of these can be used for a new action in each generation. All of this costs credits, and sometimes other resources! At the end of the generation, players engage in “production,” which provides more credits (based partly on their terraforming scores) and sometimes other resources that can be used to advance terraforming, directly or indirectly.
One thing that’s largely omitted from the game is violent conflict; most of the time, the various corporations are competing in an enterprise that theoretically benefits all of them (moving them toward a fully terraformed planet). There are a few moves that advance one player while imposing costs on another. An economist would call these “externalities”; a historian might call them “acts of war.” But as with, for example, Settlers of Catan (another European game), players have the option either of cutthroat competition or of deciding that that makes playing the game less fun, and avoiding it.
One of the three of us found the game rules a bit too complicated and hard to follow, so this may not be a game for everybody. It’s certainly not a casual game! But the other two of us enjoyed it a lot. In The Psychology of Everyday Things (published 1988), Donald O. Norman set out principles for ease of use, and pointed out that well designed games are deliberately a little difficult to “use” successfully (that is, to win); otherwise they become boring when the player solves them. I don’t see Terraforming Mars as likely to become boring.
Many games have an implied story. Sometimes this is very abstract, as with chess (a game about feudal warfare) or bridge (a game about capitalistic competition and cooperation); sometimes a kind of story emerges from the play of the game. (And sometimes, as with Dungeons and Dragons, telling bits of story is an actual move in the game.) Terraforming Mars has a fairly strong story aspect: It tells about how humanity moves out into the solar system and makes other planets humanly livable, in the style of classic science fiction writers (a clever joke in the rule book is to give examples of play with three players named Kim, Stanley, and Robinson!), of recent video series such as For All Mankind, or of the proposals of billionaires.
If you like that premise, or are willing to accept it, you’ll find Terraforming Mars a well thought out representation of a lot of its scientific details. I expect that as we play more games, and move on to using more than the standard starting corporations, we’ll find interesting bits of added flavor in the profiles of other corporations. And I may try playing the solo version when I have a few hours free; it seems likely to be entertaining.
William H. Stoddard is a professional copy editor specializing in scholarly and scientific publications. As a secondary career, he has written more than two dozen books for Steve Jackson Games, starting in 2000 with GURPS Steampunk. He lives in Lawrence, Kansas with his wife, their cat (a ginger tabby), and a hundred shelf feet of books, including large amounts of science fiction, fantasy, and graphic novels. His last piece for Black Gate was a review of Whose Body? by Dorothy Sayers
Categories: Fantasy Books
Spotlight on “Kin” by Tayari Jones
LitStack Spots – Other Titles by Tayari Jones Other titles we recommend by Tayari Jones,…
The post Spotlight on “Kin” by Tayari Jones appeared first on LitStack.
Categories: Fantasy Books
On McPig's Radar - Sea of Charms
Sea of Charms (Spellshop #3)by Sarah Beth DurstMarin is a supply runner with her own boat that she sails from island to island, delivering whatever anyone will pay her to deliver: letters, flour, even the occasional enchanted lemur. It’s a lonely life, but it’s hers, and she wouldn’t trade the freedom of the sea for anything. Her only companion is a sea serpent, Perri, whom she saved from a fisherfolk’s net.
One day, she sails to Alyssium and discovers the city is on fire. There’s been a revolution, and the empire has fallen. Marin, with Perri, begins transporting refugees, finding them new homes where they can start over. One such refugee is Dax, a composer who refuses to leave behind his instruments, no matter how much she tries to emphasize the gravity of the situation. Intrigued by his stubbornness, his passion for stories, and his charming smile, Marin discovers perhaps she isn’t saving him ― maybe it’s the other way around.
Expected publication July 28, 2026
Categories: Fantasy Books
7 Author Shoutouts | Authors We Love To Recommend
Here are seven author shoutouts for this week. Find your favorite author or discover an…
The post 7 Author Shoutouts | Authors We Love To Recommend appeared first on LitStack.
Categories: Fantasy Books
Paladin's Hope - Book Review
Paladin's Hope (The Saint of Steel #3)by T. KingfisherWhat is it about:Piper is a lich-doctor, a physician who works among the dead, determining causes of death for the city guard's investigations. It's a peaceful, if solitary profession…until the day when he's called to the river to examine the latest in a series of mysterious bodies, mangled by some unknown force.
Galen is a paladin of a dead god, lost to holiness and no longer entirely sane. He has long since given up on any hope of love. But when the two men and a brave gnole constable are drawn into the web of the mysterious killer, it's Galen's job to protect Piper from the traps that await them.
He's just not sure if he can protect Piper from the most dangerous threat of all…
What did I think of it:This is my favorite in this series so far!
I fell in love with Piper in Paladin's Grace, so seeing him getting his own book in this series made me so happy. Galen is a worthy love interest, and I loved seeing the two pine for each other. They're the sweetest couple yet, imoI also loved learning more about gnole society, loved the gnole constable who asks Galen and Piper to join him on an investigation, loved seeing Brindle again... well, love for all things gnolish all around!The overall story was suspenseful and fun. I had a great time with the weird situations they get into.
All in all a delightful read.I'll get to the last book soon, I hope.
Why should you read it:It's a very enjoyable Fantasy Romance
Categories: Fantasy Books
Audiobook Review – Tattoos and Clues (Mitzy Moon Mysteries, Book 2) by Trixie Silvertale, Narrated by Coleen Marlo (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
Length: 286 pages
Publisher: Sittin’ On A Goldmine Productions LLC
Release Date: November 19, 2019
ASIN: B07YR6RSSH
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Mitzy Moon Mysteries series
Source: eGalley from Netgalley
Rating: 3/5 stars
“A beachside stroll. A deadly discovery. Will this psychic sleuth swim or sink?
Mitzy wishes she could turn a blind third eye to her hit-or-miss powers. Instead, while taking her fiendish feline for a walk, they make a stomach-churning find on shore. Despite her loss of appetite, she can’t help but get a closer look at the unique ink etched into the corpse.
Before she can track down the killer, Mitzy must sweet-talk her way off the sexy sheriff’s suspect list. And once again her meddling Ghost-ma is dying to interfere with the case. But when the trail leads to dangerous smugglers who shoot first and don’t ask questions, she could end up in over her head.
Can Mitzy uncover the truth, or will hers be the next body to float to the surface?”
Series Info/Source: This is the second book in the Mitzy Moon Mysteries series. I got this on Audiobook from Audible.com.
Thoughts: This is the second book in the Mitzy Moon Mysteries. I got this as a three book bundle on audiobook. Both this book and the first book were okay. They have some fun paranormal elements to them and a who-dun-it style murder mystery. They are fairly short and simple and predictable. The author keeps saying in the afterward that readers say things get a lot better and more engaging from book 3 on. Since I have the third book I will go ahead and listen to it.
Mitzy had a rough start with the police force in Pin Cherry Harbor so imagine her mortification when she and her feline find a dead body washed up on the beach. She just can’t get a break. The dead body is someone well known to the town. Of course it’s a drowning…or is it? Mitzy just can’t stay out of the mystery and uses her amateur sleuthing skills to get herself deep into trouble.
This was okay. The mystery is a bit predictable. I do enjoy the subtle paranormal aspects to the story…Mitzy can speak to ghosts and is showing some budding paranormal abilities. I am still struggling to like or relate to Mitzy as a character. She just seems really immature to me, and the constant lusting after the sheriff got old fast. I would like to say she showed a lot of character growth and started to take her life and responsibilities a bit more seriously, but she really didn’t in this book. I like a lot of the side characters better than Mitzy, but none of them have a lot of depth to their personalities.
This was a cute and quick read that was easy to listen to. I have no complaints about the narration of the audiobook. I specifically picked this paranormal mystery book pack because the books are shorter and they have solid reviews.
My Summary (3/5): Overall this was okay. It’s a cute and quick paranormal mystery read. I just also found this very forgettable. Mitzy is a pretty generic free spirited 20 something, the mystery was pretty ho-hum, and Pin Cherry Harbor could be any small town. Part of the issue is that I don’t really like Mitzy as our main protagonist; she seems really immature for her age. However, I did enjoy some of the side characters more. I do have the third book already, so I will give it a listen and see if it draws me in more than the first two books did.
Categories: Fantasy Books
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