Fantasy Books

Firefly

For a show that hardly anybody watched (it was reportedly 98th in the Nielsen Ratings for 2002-2003. The TV Guide Ratings page has it at 125th, and Fox’s lowest-ranked show), that one word carries a lot of weight 23 years later.

Fox famously aired the double-length pilot, which set the show up, as episode eleven, and then canceled the show, leaving three episodes unaired. It was also placed in the legendary Friday Night Death slot (where they also buried the far-more deserving The Adventures of Brisco County Jr).

The crew got to reunite and wrap things up two years later in the movie Serenity (which killed off two cast members). There were hopes to do more movies, but even after cutting the budget from $100 million to $39 million, it lost money in the US (98th) and barely broke even worldwide (111th). And  the Serenity (which is the ship: Firefly is its class) was grounded for good.

But over the years, Firefly came to be the definitive ‘cult classic,’ and the cast became fan convention staples. You can find all kinds of Firefly info on the web. And both streaming on Hulu, and Prime, the episodes are in order, which I HIGHLY recommend for viewing. Novels, board games, graphic novels — interest remained alive in more Firefly ‘stuff.’

I mentioned that Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk started a weekly podcast (Once We Were Spacemen), which is geek heaven. They’ve had several Firefly members on, and other folks from their careers. I love it.

THE BUILDUP

On February 23, a story/vid dropped on their IG page. Nathan Fillion knocks on the door of what looks like Gina Torres’ (Zoe) on-set trailer. She asks “Does this mean it’s time.” He replies, “It’s time.” She looks up wistfully, and Fillion looks confusedly at the skies, as if for Serenity. They both say ‘okay’ a few times and it ends. My response was “Holy crap! What’s happening?”

The Firefly fandom lost its collective mind and speculation was immediate. While a full-blown revival has been a dream for two decades, common thoughts were a gathering at a convention, or a reunion on Fillion’s show The Rookie, or on a podcast.

Two days later, Fillion shows up at Morena Baccarin’s (Inara) house. She is currently starring in the Fire Country spin-off, Sheriff Country. This one is cute, as Fillion is in his The Rookie uniform. And she answers in her sheriff uniform. He flashes that boyish smile and starts to comment they’re both in their uniforms, and she cuts him off with “You son of a bitch.” “He’s startled. “Are we doing this?” “Oh. We’re doing this.” More gravely serious head nodding.

Firefly fans were abuzz after the Gina vid. Now, with two, clearly something was going on. And the stakes has been raised.

There is a new line of Firefly Funko Pops coming out, and the cynical dismissed this new ‘thing’ as leading to pushing the Funkos. While that’s certainly not beyond the realm of possibility, Fillion had to know that would be an incredibly disappointing payoff after generating so much excitement.

Two days after that (now it’s February 27), Fillion knocks on Sean Maher’s (Simon) door. Maher peaks through, opens the door, says “We don’t want any,” then shuts it and goes back inside. Filion makes a despairing face, knocks again, points at his face with a “It’s Nathan” expression as Maher opens the door. The ‘It’s happening’ thing repeats. Maher gets blown out his doorway by the wind.. The long looks during the head nods, the little extras: these are fun for the cast and fans.

March 2, he’s at Summer Glau’s door. She speaks in very River fashion, and says that she knew the day would come as she stares off into some other place. Deadpan, Fillion says, “Yeah. Still a little creepy when you do that.”

Two days later and he’s knocking on Jewel Staite’s (Kaylee) door. She smiles and says “Shiny,” which makes Nathan smile. More odd head nodding.

March 7, he knocks on Adam Baldwin’s (Jayne) door. Baldwin is wearing Jayne’s orange and yellow hat. Fillion is holding the same hat, and he looks at his and tosses it aside. Both men finish with “Okay then.”

SIDE NOTE – I’m LOVING all this Firefly activity. Fillion and Tudyk have commented that the Joss Whedon who is a pariah now, was not the guy they knew. And that they’d absolutely work with him on a new Firefly. Baldwin appeared on Castle before he got more openly far-right. Clearly, they feel he’s still a part of Firefly. Don’t bother with comments about your dislike of them or their whatever views. I’ll delete them. This is a celebration of Firefly, whatever directional wing they identify with.

On March 12, Fillion shows up at Alan Tudyk’s (Wash) house. He tells him he’s not doing it without him, and Tudyk is so excited he slaps him. They have a very ‘them’ exchange. If you listen to their podcast, they have been real-life friends since Firefly, and they’re fun together.

Since Wash died in Serenity (if that’s a spoiler, I’m not sure why you’re even reading this post), it was uncertain if he would be part of this. Since the two are buddies, I assumed somehow they’ll find a way, even if it’s some kind of continuation series. Maybe he’ll be voices of characters, or a robot, or whatever. But I was happy to see Tudyk get an appearance.

Sadly, Ron Glass (Shepherd Book) died in 2016. So, no visit for Book.

There’s been nary a word about Joss Whedon. It was HIS show. He created, wrote, directed, produced, and even did music for it. Depending on what IT actually is, it’s hard to imagine a new live-action iteration, without him. As I mentioned above, the two have said they would work with him again (and on their podcast a week ago, Felicia Day spoke warmly about Whedon. Not everyone who has worked with him dislikes him). So, we’ll see.

Over 57,000 comments have been left on the various vids, including some from the cast. Nerd culture social media has been posting vids and texts and threads about this. Setting aside whatever IT is, Fillion and Tudyk have handled his brilliantly. From coming up with the idea of generating buzz with each cast member appearing ‘live,’ to feeding out the vids a few days apart for a couple weeks, keeping momentum going: it has worked!

AND NOW, FOR THE PAYOFF…

I wrote all this March 14 – the day before announcement at DC’s Awesome Con. I hope it conveyed some of the excitement and buzz that was going on. How from a couple decades of it just being a yearning among fans, into genuine hope somehow, in some shape, Firefly was coming back.

It is!!!!

The news was revealed at the reunion panel, and Once We Were Spacemen released a video from Nathan (with bits from the rest of the cast). The plan is to make an animated series.

JOSS

Fillion has Whedon’s blessing. Presumably this means he won’t be involved.

THE RIGHTS

20th CenturyFox/Disney said yes to the project.

SHOW RUNNER

Tara Butters and Mac Guggenheim are married, and they met through Firefly. Their individual producer credits include Agent Carter, Law & Order: SVU, and Arrow. They’re on board.

SCRIPT

“Athenia,” written by Butters and Guggenheim. Ready to go.

ANIMATION HOUSE

They’ve got ShadowMachine on board. They did Robot Chicken.

HOME (WHERE WILL IT AIR?)

There’s one not-so-minor road bump left. No one has picked it up. 20th Century Fox or Disney could have made it their own property and greenlit it. They didn’t. I’m a big fan of Almost Paradise, from Dean Devlin (guy behind Leverage, and The Librarians), and he couldn’t find a new network when it was canceled after season two. Youtubers have stated definitively that it will be on Disney, since they own the rights. That’s an assumption. And given Nathan SPECIFICALLY said they’re looking for a home, an erroneous one. Fact check, fanboys.

TIMELINE

Fillion said that he’s not interested in post-Serenity stories. With Wash and Shepherd dead, I certainly get that. The stories will take place between the end of Firefly, and Serenity. The nine authorized novels took place in that span. I believe some of the graphic novels did, as well. Those were all hit and miss for me, so I’m not invested in them being adapted for the new series. Original stories are fine. Or picking and choosing: I wouldn’t mind some of the novels being used. The Magnificent Nine was a Firefly version of The Magnificent Seven. That’s a winner.

SOOOOO…..

I’m excited. I’m reading that Hulu decided to cancel a planned Buffy reboot (never seen that show). But it proves nothing is guaranteed. Fillion is pitching it through his production company. Clearly, it’s got some quality names attached, with lots of inside connections. And a plan is in place. And an animated series certainly seems more doable than a live-action project. Those that are disappointed it’s not a live-action reboot, are living in a fantasy world. Reality precluded that in multiple ways. An animated series, with the original cast, still isn’t a done deal. But I don’t see how we could realistically have expected more. And Fillion and company delivered on all that buildup.

A life-long D&Der, I think Vox Machina is garbage, but it found a geek home on Prime. And there’s always SyFy (yes, it’s still around).

Firefly fans have wanted something since the day it was canceled. This is as solid as could have been reasonably hoped for. Gonna be a massively missed opportunity if it doesn’t happen. But the pieces are in place to get someone to say ‘Yes’ and then air it.

 

THE COLD HARD REALITY: Firefly had poor ratings. Serenity lost money at the domestic box office, and barely broke even globally. Firefly fans have been loud over the years. But they had better show up and make this a ratings hit, if they don’t want it cancelled quickly.

Fan numbers and dollars didn’t support Firefly, or  Serenity. Those are facts, however much Fox screwed up the show, or promoting Serenity. There are no excuses for Browncoats not to make this a smash hit if it happens. A third financial failure and cancellation will establish that there is a core of fandom, but that Firefly isn’t a commercially viable project. Viewers and dollars matter. Not many properties get three chances.

 

IT’S A NEW IDES OF MARCH!

March 15 was the Ides of March. If this had been a disappointing ‘thing,’ it would have been linked to the Ides forever, like when Brutus and his buddies chopped up the first Caesar salad. Instead, if the animated series happens, it can make The Ides of March a happy day. Well, not for Caesar…

Can’t stop the signal. And the Browncoats are gearing up to support this. Let’s hope it happens.

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.

A complete set (18 issues) of Avon Fantasy Reader, edited by Donald A. Wollheim and published 1947-1952

Donald A. Wollheim edited a magazine between the years 1947 to 1952 called Avon Fantasy Reader for Avon Publishers. There were 18 issues, publishing mostly reprints.

Erik Mona reviewed the first issue of Avon Fantasy Reader for Black Gate back in 2023.

I’ve never seen a copy of any of these, but in the late 1960s, George Ernsberger selected some of the best stories from the magazine for two paperback volumes. I believe there were only two. Here are some quick looks at the paperbacks, which I own and have read.

[Click the images for fantastic versions.]

The Avon Fantasy Reader and The 2nd Avon Fantasy Reader, edited by Donald A. Wollheim
and George Ernsberger (Avon Books, January and February 1969). Covers by Gray Morrow

The Avon Fantasy Reader (1969), Avon Books. Contains,

A very short Foreword by Ernsberger
“The Witch from Hell’s Kitchen” by Robert E. Howard, which features a Conanesque hero named Pyrrhas
A Northwest Smith story by C. L. Moore called “Black Thirst”
“A Victim of Higher Space,” by Algernon Blackwood
A fine story by Nictzin Dyalhis called “The Sapphire Siren” (or “The Sapphire Goddess” in Echoes of Valor III)
“The Voice in the Night” by William Hope Hodgson
“The Crawling Horror” by Thorp McClusky
“The Kelpie” by Manly Wade Wellman, which is one of his better stories

The 2nd Avon Fantasy Reader (1969): Contains “The Blonde Goddess of Bal-Sagoth by Howard, and also has stories by C. L. Moore (Northwest Smith again), Zealla Bishop, Clark Ashton Smith, Donald Wandrei, Edward Lucas White, Robert Bloch, Laurence Manning & Fletcher Pratt, and Sax Rohmer.

Back covers to The Avon Fantasy Reader and The 2nd Avon Fantasy Reader

“The Black Kiss” by Bloch was excellent, and very Lovecraftian in feel. Several of the stories had that kind of edge to them.

Overall, these two collections are more horror than Sword & Sorcery, although Howard’s two stories fit S&S. The title, “The Witch of Hell’s Kitchen” doesn’t suggest S&S but the tale’s other title perhaps does — “The House of Arabu.” I found both collections generally enjoyable.

I also love these cover illustrations, both of which are by Gray Morrow.

Charles Gramlich administers The Swords & Planet League group on Facebook, where this post first appeared. His last article for us was  The Sword & Sorcery of John Jakes. See all of his recent posts for Black Gate here.

Arcane Arts and Cold Steel (Pulp Hero Press, December 24, 2025)

David C. Smith is a name that speaks to lovers of sword & sorcery, if not with the power of a Karl Edward Wagner, then not far behind, and if you love the genre but don’t know Dave’s name…1) Shame on you; 2) Let me get you up to speed.

A powerful writer of the genre’s last great flowering in the late 70s, Dave’s Tales of Attluma — a sunken lost continent — have spanned five decades, chronicling multiple eras in the lost land’s history — including its destruction — beginning with the epic saga of Oron and most recently, the Unforgiven-esque Sometime Lofty Towers, which I will go on record as calling the best s&s novel since the Elric-fixups, and with more emotional punch.

The Red Sonja series by David C. Smith and Richard L. Tierney (Ace Books, December 1981-May 1983). Covers by Boris Vallejo

Dave is also the man who, with another S&S giant, the late Richard L. Tierney, successfully took one of the most vapid characters in S&S — Roy Thomas’s sexing up and dumbing down of Robert E. Howard’s Red Sonya into Marvel’s Red Sonja — and wrote a brilliant, six-volume work-for-hire that are worth the sometimes high prices they command in used bookstores.

Finally, his Literary Biography of Robert E. Howard is one of the most important pieces of Howard scholarship produced in the last twenty years.

Sometime Lofty Towers by David C. Smith (Brackenbury Books,‎ December 2025). Cover by Saša Đurđević

All of which is saying, Dave knows this genre inside and out. Not just its history, but how to write it.

And that bring us to Arcane Arts and Cold Steel: Writing Sword-and-Sorcery Fiction (with a foreword by BG‘s very own John O’Neill).

Advertised as “Part master class, part genre analysis, Arcane Arts and Cold Steel is written for authors who want to write bestselling sword-and-sorcery for a modern audience.” This is true, but the publisher undersells the book’s power. Yes, the book has a lengthy appendix in which Dave speaks directly to the aspiring writer and reveals his tool kit, and an interview transcript where he speaks to both his career, his long hiatus, and the lay of the S&S writing landscape today. But the core of the book is something much more.

Tales of Attluma by David C. Smith (Pulp Hero Press,‎ December 24, 2025). Cover by Tom Barber

Beginning with a short, concise history of the genre, Dave gets into what IS sword & sorcery fiction, not by trying to create a list of characteristics (Brian Murphy and the late Howard Andrew Jones already did yeoman work here), but by the working nuts & bolts that is usually reserved for snobby lit-crit books.

Smith sees sword & sorcery as the ancestral descendent of myth cycles — Gilgamesh fighting Humbaba, Theseus & the Minotaur, the adventures of the Argonauts — as those tales are immediate and personal, whereas high fantasy is more akin to the great epics.

The Sorcerer’s Shadow by David C. Smith (Zebra Books,‎ September 1978). Cover by Doug Beekman

Like Howard Andrew Jones, he sees the immediate predecessor of the genre in the historical adventure fiction of the late 19th century and first years of the 20th century: the work of Haggard and Lamb, the pantheon of pulp writers in Adventure and Argosy, that all coalesced as a young man from west Texas synthesized those experiences, the successful John Carter and Tarzan pennings of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the weird horror he already wrote and created the characters of Solomon Kane, Kull and Conan, launching a new genre along the way.

Drawing on a century of fiction — from the foundations laid by Robert E. Howard and Fritz Leiber, to the gritty reinventions of Karl Edward Wagner and Charles Saunders, and into the “New Edge” renaissance pioneered by Howard Andrew Jones, Smith looks at story structure: character & setting; plot & scene construction; style, voice, and tone; the use of horror & the supernatural; even the role of the inhuman as character and lens on human issues. Like a lit-crit academic, he digs deep into these topics through extensive examples from real published sources.

The Shadow of Sorcery by David C. Smith (Wildside Press, March 5, 2026). Cover by Mike Hoffman

And this is the first gold mine. Yes, of course, we see Howard, Leiber, Moorcock and Wagner being cited and examined, but there are as many — or more — examples from the writers of Smith’s generation, such as Adrian Cole, Richard Tierney and Charles Saunders, and even more from active writers today: Jason Ray Carney, Milton Davis, John Fultz, Bryn Hammond, Schuyler Hernstrom, John Hocking, the late Howard Andrew Jones, Dariel Quioge, Jason M. Waltz, Clint Werner and more.

Where the work differs from the usual lit-crit manual is that the author is actually a major figure in the genre he is analyzing and has an actual love of the material he is not afraid to show. This is not some dry, literary analysis of sword & sorcery as literature — this is a paean to the genre, to the power of *genre* fiction and *plot* to do all of the things usually reserved for pure literature.

Flame and Crimson: A History of Sword-and-Sorcery by
Brian Murphy (Pulp Hero Press,‎ January 16, 2020). Cover by Tom Barber

Along the way we get snippets of genius from a century of writing, and I guarantee you’ll find stories and writers you never knew about. But you will also see why the oft-maligned “genre” can be powerful literature in its own right, even when its first goal is — gasp — entertainment. You will also find that there is a clear pattern of what makes sword & sorcery a distinct sub-genre, the defiant “attitude” coined by Jason M. Waltz in his massive anthology Neither Beg Nor Yield, making this a perfect companion volume to Brian Murphy’s Flame & Crimson: A history of sword & sorcery.

It’s rare that we get to see a genre analyzed by one of its own luminaries, even rarer they then sit down and tell you how to hone your writing for that field. This is a delightful read that serves on many levels and deserves the praise it is receiving.

 

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward

Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Genre: Horror

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Nightfire (February 24, 2026)

Length: 304 pages

Author Information: Twitter

Catriona Ward has built a reputation for writing horror that’s strange, unsettling, and often surreally disorienting by design. Nowhere Burning continues following in that same vein, though in this case, it might have gone a bit too far, pushing the story into hazy disjointedness. As a result, I didn’t quite take to this one as much as I’d hoped, finding it occasionally difficult to stay invested in what was happening from one section to the next.

In one major thread, we follow Riley, a teenage girl on the run with her younger brother Oliver. Desperate to escape their abusive foster home, she decides to seek out a place called Nowhere, rumored to be a safe haven hidden deep in the mountains where runaway children can live off the grid. The place, however, comes with its own dark history. The land once belonged to a reclusive actor named Leaf Winham, who built the sprawling ranch retreat years earlier. But what was meant to be a private sanctuary eventually became the center of a horrific scandal before a devastating fire consumed the property. All that’s left now are the burned-out ruins and the bad memories and ugly rumors that have grown around them.

In addition to Riley’s story, a couple others also run alongside in tandem. One follows a pair of filmmakers digging into the ranch’s past for a documentary, interviewing people who were connected to it from before the fire and trying to piece together what really happened. Another thread looks back at Leaf Winham and the early days of the estate, hinting at the secrets that shaped its creepy reputation. As the novel moves between these perspectives, details about Nowhere, its former inhabitants, and the events that led to its ruin gradually come together, showing how past and present collide.

Unfortunately, with so many separate threads and sudden jumps in time, the plot can start to feel a little choppy and hard to follow, and not every storyline gets the space it needs to fully develop. Riley’s is by far the most compelling and arguably the most important; some of the others, however, feel less essential. These came and went like side narratives that only appear in short bursts to give background information before shifting back to Riley’s perspective, which I started looking at as the “main” story. At least her chapters had plenty of emotional themes to anchor them, like her love for Oliver and her determination to secure a safe place for them to live. This was not the case with the “before” and “after” storylines, whose purposes were less defined and didn’t hold my interest as much.

That said, Ward still does a solid job creating a strong sense of place. The isolated mountain setting gives an unsettling edge right from the start, and once we get to the section where Riley finds Nowhere, the behaviors of the young people living there make things feel even more off. And no wonder. Bad things have happened in this place, and the kids here now have had bad things happen to them. The book is heavy with themes of trauma, abuse, and the misery that leads people to make desperate choices when they feel trapped with no way out. It can be difficult read at times.

At the same time, the nebulous tone that defines much of the author’s work can make the reading experience frustrating. The story often hints at deeper, hidden meanings without fully explaining how everything fits together. Granted, it’s clear that some of the vagueness is intentional, since there are secrets buried in the timelines before and after Riley’s storyline that don’t connect until the very end. And yet, the confusion it leads to doesn’t always feel rewarding since the story withholds too much information for too long.

In the end, Nowhere Burning ended up being a bit of a mixed bag. The premise is intriguing, the setting works well, and Riley makes for a strong central character. But the crowded structure and hazy storytelling kept the book from fully coming together for me. I’ve enjoyed Catriona Ward’s previous books (even the more surreal ones!) but this one might end up being my least favorite. Fans of her dreamlike style may still enjoy the ride, but for me this one ultimately landed somewhere in the middle.

Nat Schachner

Nat Schachner was born on January 16, 1895 in New York. He earned a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from City College in 1915. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I in the chemical warfare service from 1917 to 1918 and, when he returned to New York he earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence from New York University in 1919, the same year he married Helen Lichtenstein. The couple would have a daughter.  He worked as an attorney until 1933 when he became a freelance writer.

On April 4, 1930, Schachner, along with G. Edward Pendray, David Lasser, and Laurence Manning, founded the American Interplanetary Society, which would be renamed the American Rocket Society four years later. The organization designed and launched liquid fueled rockets and in 1936 the organization was awarded the Prix a’Astronautique by the Société astronomique de France.

1930 also saw the start of his career as an author with the publication of “The Tower of Evil,” which he co-wrote with Arthur Leo Zagat. The two men collaborated on eleven stories published in 1931 before both turning to their solo careers as authors.

Wonder Stories Quarterly, Summer 1930. Cover by Frank R. Paul

Schachner’s first solo story was “Pirates of the Gorm,” which appeared in Astounding Stories in the May 1932 issue. His most famous story appeared in the December 1933 issue, “Ancestral Voices,” a time travel story the was an early example of the grandfather paradox, although in this case, Emmet Pennypacker travels back to the fifth century and kills a Hun who was a distant ancestor of his. Although known for the grandfather paradox, Schachner has stated that the story was a commentary on the destructiveness of the concept of racial purity that was popular in the 1930s.

The same year “Ancestral Voices” was published, Schachner published the three stories which made up “The Revolt of the Scientists,” which was set in the then near-future of 1937, indicating that a technocratic society held the keys to lifting the country out of the throes of the Great Depression.

As the Nazis and Fascism rose to power in the late 1930s, Schachner continued to address their ideas in his fiction, focusing on championing human liberties in his writing, and writing stories in which authoritarianism was ultimately defeated. By 1935, he was writing “World Gone Mad” in which Schachner warns the reader of about the pending global war, although Schachner sets it in 1990, with the U.S. on one side and the Sino-Russian alliance and United Europe on the other side. Despite coming up with interesting ideas and trying to include messages in his fiction, Schachner’s fiction rarely rises about average. Paul A, Carter, writing in The Creation of Tomorrow: Fifty Years of Magazine Science Fiction, described Schachner as “the earliest of pulp science fiction’s anti-Nazi Paul Reveres…”

In 1937, Schachner published Aaron Burr: A Biography, launching a new writing career for himself.  He continued to publish science fiction through 1941, with the story “Eight Who Came Back” in the November issue of Fantastic Adventures, but after that he focused on biographies, publishing books on Alexander Hamilton (1946), Thomas Jefferson (1951), and The Founding Fathers (1954).  He also published a work on Medieval universities in 1938.

Serving on the editorial committee for the American Jewish Committee, he published The Price of Liberty: A History of the American Jewish Committee in 1948. He would also go on to serve as the Director of Public Relations for the National Council of Jewish Women from 1954 until 1955.

Schachner died in Hastings-on-Hudson on October 2, 1955. He is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Hudson-on-Hastings, New York.

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.

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 393 pages
Publisher: Amulet Books
Release Date: August 17, 2021
ASIN: B08WJS9RV8
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Raybearer duology
Source: Borrowed ebook from Library
Rating: 5/5 stars

“For the first time, an Empress Redemptor sits on Aritsar’s throne. To appease the sinister spirits of the dead, Tarisai must now anoint a council of her own, coming into her full power as a Raybearer. She must then descend into the Underworld, a sacrifice to end all future atrocities.

Tarisai is determined to survive. Or at least, that’s what she tells her increasingly distant circle of friends. Months into her shaky reign as empress, child spirits haunt her, demanding that she pay for past sins of the empire.

With the lives of her loved ones on the line, assassination attempts from unknown quarters, and a handsome new stranger she can’t quite trust . . . Tarisai fears the pressure may consume her. But in this finale to the Raybearer duology, Tarisai must learn whether to die for justice . . . or to live for it.”

Series Info/Source: This is the 2nd book in the Raybearer duology. I borrowed this on ebook from my library.

Thoughts: I really enjoyed Raybearer and the sequel to it, Redemptor, is also very well done. I was immediately sucked into the story. This is very well written, and I enjoy the magic and the characters.

Tarisai sits on Aritsar’s throne; for the first time there is an Empress Redemptor. Alongside the challenges of ruling comes the knowledge that Tarisai must descend to the Underworld as part of her agreement to end future sacrifices to it. As if this wasn’t enough, Tarisai starts to be haunted by child spirits who drive her to push herself harder and harder. With her tight circle of friends driven further away from home to deal with other threats, Tarisai finds herself increasingly isolated.

This was very well done. I enjoy the characters here and the unique system of ruling in Aritsar. I like the magic and the blend of otherworldly elements (like the Underworld and ghosts) as well. This story wasn’t what I expected it was going to be; I thought most of this book would be Tarisai’s journey in the Underworld. Instead, that was a very small portion of the story. The majority of the book is about Tarisai trying to figure out how to be a good ruler to her people, protect the everyday person from injustice, and keep her found family from falling apart.

I did like that there are some intriguing social issues discussed in this book. These are primarily issues around not wanting to have children and around not wanting to have sexual relationships. There is also a lot of discussion about overworking yourself and not getting adequate rest when you are trying to right various wrongs.

My Summary (5/5): Overall this is very well written and I really enjoyed it. It is fast-paced and hard to put down. The characters are relatable, and the story and dialogue both flow beautifully. This is a book that is very engaging and very easy to read. When I saw that Ifueko had written an additional book set in this world called “The Maid and the Crocodile” I immediately put it on my to be read pile. I would recommend to fantasy fans that like some magic in their books.

Other LitStack Spots Here are a few other titles we have our eyes on, including…

The post Spotlight on “The Penguin Book of the International Short Story” appeared first on LitStack.

 

It's time to show the books Jeffe ordered for me, because I couldn't order them myself.You'll notice they have a theme ;-)
The US hard cover of Nine Goblins!Now I will confess a certain online retailer had it listed, but when I ordered it, it went in stasis for an undetermined time as is often the case when I preorder at that particular site, so I asked Jeffe to buy it for me as she was going to send a package anyway.

I confess I wanted this edition just for these end papers alone!
The other books were the Owlcrate editions of the Sworn Soldier books.Yes! I already got my trotters on the amazing US hard covers, but just look at the pictures below! I could not resist.


What Moves the Dead







What Feasts at Night

What Stalks the Deep





I can tell you T. Kingfisher got her own shelf in my bookcase by now.

I hope you enjoyed seeing so many cool book mail pictures.I promise I'll have reviews again next week

Cover Artists Cover #8 – Jimmy Makepeace  Cover #9 – Plastiboo  Cover #10 – Matej Kollár

Black Gate has been tracking the inception and growth of New Edge Sword & Sorcery (NESS) mgazine, starting with Micheal Harrington’s 2022 interview with Oliver Brackenbury (champion and editor of NESS), through 2023 with NESS’s first two magazine releases (also Greg Mele’s review of #1), and then into 2024 with NESS’s first book “Beating Heart and Battle Axes and its two-novella combo book Double-Edged Sword & Sorcery, and then in 2025 we covered NESS‘s publication of a NEW Jirel of Joiry tale! (2025) and we interviewed one of their key New Edge authors, Bryn Hammond.

Now in 2026, NESS brings us more with promises of Issues 8, 9, and 10!

The campaign to fund and expand them ends just days after this posting (March 14th )!  Hurry now to Backerkit to get some exclusives like a poster featuring live models in full S&S costume, discounted back issues, and a cover art postcard; also, backing unlocks more interior art and bumps author payments. If you miss out, or want some of the prior rewards from previous crowdfunding, get back issues and other NESS offerings in their shop, noting that print copies often have limited print runs.

So what is in the next three issues? We asked Oliver Brackenbury that, and his answer is below. And we had a feeling Jirel of Joiry would return, and we asked Molly Tanzer to provide a bit of perspective on the heroine.

Oliver Brakenbury on What’s New for Issues 8, 9, 10

“Loving the magazine as an object, we’re increasing the page count not only to make room for new features like our letters page, but to allow us to increase the white space for a reading experience that’s even easier on the eyes. Meanwhile the paper will be upgraded to something more textured, akin to classic paperbacks. Along with the letters page we’ll be introducing our first S&S film review, and are proud to include an author profile on Howard Andrew Jones penned by his own child, Caster Jones. Finally, our special issue for 2026 is called Timeworn Terra, expanding upon a science-fantasy tradition begun by Jack Vance, Gene Wolfe, William Hope Hodgson, Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique stories and more to tell tales of futures so far they feel ancient; when magic & technology blur together; our home is transformed into a wondrously strange setting; where Earth’s days are short yet still we lust and laugh!”

“Jirel in the Forest of Night” Back Cover Illustration by Saša Đurđević Molly Tanzer’s Insights on Jirel

“I always have a blast writing the Jirel stories, and one thing in particular that’s been fun for me, when it comes to expanding on the original stories, is giving Jirel more of an historical context. We know from “Quest of the Starstone” that Jirel lived in France, around 1500. While I never want to take the focus away from Jirel’s magical adventures, in “Jirel Meets Death,” I give Castle Joiry a bit of attention… it was built atop a Roman foundation, and still has a Roman bath, and I added a few servants to make it feel more lived-in. In the upcoming “Jirel in the Forest of Night,” we begin the story with Jirel being annoyed by a proposal of marriage that would be impolitic for her to refuse. While this kind of stuff isn’t at the heart of the Jirel stories, in my opinion, it’s fun to put a character known for visiting other worlds into thorny situations here in — or at least in a version of — the real world. It gives, I think, a broader sense of who Jirel is — her character, her strengths and weaknesses, her desires, dreams… and nightmares, too!”

Bryn Hammond Highlights her new story

“In this story, Goatskin certainly goes further than she has gone before, into the unknown. And the unknown gets a grip on her in ways she has not faced. This story changes her.”

Recall, we interviewed her last September. To learn more about her Goatskin yarns, and her writing muses, check out: Interview with Bryn Hammond.

Waste Flowers and What Rough Beast? A Tale of Goatskin, written by Bryn Hammond, both with cover art from Goran Gligović Check out the Backerkit campaign by clicking here! NESS Press Release

Launching on February 12th, short story & non-fiction magazine New Edge Sword & Sorcery will be running a crowdfunding campaign on Backerkit to produce issues #8, 9, and 10 in accessible digital, classic softcover, and luxurious hardcover (w/endpage art and a bookmark ribbon!) formats. These will be released in November of 2026.

Leading the charge is JIREL OF JOIRY, returning with her third new story since the originals by her creator, legendary Weird Tales regular C.L. Moore. She was the first Sword & Sorcery heroine and, like Alice in Wonderland with a big f***ing sword, Jirel had compelling adventures in bizarre dream-logic realms, balancing a rich emotional life with terrifying struggles against dark forces! Predating Red Sonja, she & Moore were a direct influence on Robert E. Howard’s writing, and others who came after.

Authorized by the estate of C.L. Moore, “Jirel in the Forest of Night” has been written by the magnificent MOLLY TANZER (editor of Swords v. Cthulhu, author of Creatures of Charm and Hunger, and so much more).

Thirty other authors are spread across the three new issues this campaign is funding, including names like legendary S&S editor Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Bryn Hammond, and Milton Davis.

With #10, NESS looks to the impossibly far future in “TIMEWORN TERRA,” a special issue featuring stories inspired by Jack Vance, Gene Wolfe, Clark Ashton Smith’s Zothique cycle, and others. Readers unfamiliar with those names will be enthralled by futures so distant they feel ancient, where sorcery has returned or technology is indistinguishable from it, where Earth is so transformed as to feel alien…yet still humanity struggles, seeks meaning, even laughs as their home world’s clock winds down.

Every story and non-fiction piece in these issues will be paired with two original B&W illustrations as soon as the crowdfund meets its first stretch goal – Double Art. The goal after that is a fund to cover shipping discounts for backers outside the United States, and from there every stretch goal is a pay raise for contributors. These goals make clear the magazine’s values of paying creators as much as they can, and making NESS financially accessible.

The magazine’s editor, Oliver Brackenbury, promises the magazine is “Made with love for the classics and an inclusive, boundary-pushing approach to storytelling,” delivering high quality writing and art in a wide variety of styles. Sword & Sorcery can be many things and still be Sword & Sorcery.

Readers should race to back the new issues before the campaign ends on March 14th, so they can benefit from crowdfund exclusives like a poster featuring live models in full S&S costume, discounted back issues, and cover art postcards.

From Feb 12th to March 14th the crowdfund is on BACKERKIT.

 

S.E. Lindberg is a Managing Editor at Black Gate, regularly reviewing books and interviewing authors on the topic of “Beauty & Art in Weird-Fantasy Fiction.” He has taken lead roles organizing the Gen Con Writers’ Symposium (chairing it in 2023), is the lead moderator of the Goodreads Sword & Sorcery Group, and was an intern for Tales from the Magician’s Skull magazine. As for crafting stories, he has contributed eight entries across Perseid Press’s Heroes in Hell and Heroika series, and has an entry in Weirdbook Annual #3: Zombies. He independently publishes novels under the banner Dyscrasia Fiction; short stories of Dyscrasia Fiction have appeared in Whetstone Amateur S&S Magazine, Swords & Sorcery online magazine, Rogues In the House Podcast’s A Book of Blades Vol I & II, DMR’s Terra Incognita, the 9th issue of Tales From the Magician’s Skull, Savage Realms Magazine, and Michael Stackpole’s S&S Chain Story 2 Project.

 

 

Douglas Adams An Author Shoutout to Douglas Adams, born in Cambridge, England, who was known…

The post 7 Author Shoutouts | Authors We Love To Recommend appeared first on LitStack.

 

This sailboat was her freedom, her heart, her hope.On the other hand, this was a plant.
(page 65, Sea of Charms ARC by Sarah Beth Durst)

---------
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, previously hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: - Grab your current read - Open to a random page - Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) - Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their  TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Graphic Novel/DarkFantasy
Length: 184 pages
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: December 2, 2025
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1534332690
Stand Alone or Series: 10th volume in the Monstress series
Source: Bought paperback
Rating: 4/5 stars

“The Defiled, a group of Monstra long confined to the prison planet Golga, have slipped through a rift between worlds and possessed anyone who has ever held the Mask of the Shaman-Empress–including Maika, Kippa, and Maika’s father, the Lord Doctor. Without Zinn at her side, Maika will need to partner with the most unlikely of allies to fight this invasion–or risk losing everything and everyone she loves..”

Series Info/Source: This is the 10th volume in the Monstress series. I bought this in paperback format to read.

Thoughts: I really enjoyed the artwork and revisiting this world. I still find this series a bit confusing and wonder where it is going. I keep hoping we are getting close to wrapping up the storyline, but I am honestly not exactly sure what the point of the storyline is anymore. I think I buy these mainly for the cool artwork at this point.

The Defiled have slipped through a rift between worlds and have started to posses former owners of the Mask of the Shaman Empress, including Maika herself and many of her friends. With Zinn trapped by her father, Maika is forced to find a partner elsewhere to help her push back the Defiled.

This was fine; I finished it. The artwork is amazing, and I enjoy reading about these characters. I do wish there had been more of a recap because there are so many characters that I forget where we left off with some of them. I just tried to go with the flow here, the story is very ambiguous so I feel like that’s all I can do.

I don’t really understand how the Defiled play into the larger story. I felt like they were kind of randomly thrown in to create more trouble and extend the series. Of course, maybe they do tie into some earlier story elements, and I just don’t remember those earlier story elements. I don’t own the earlier books in this series anymore (I sold them when I moved), so I can’t do re-reads of this every time a new book comes out.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I liked the artwork here and enjoyed reading about characters I like. I am unsure about the new Defiled invasion storyline and don’t really understand what the point is. As a result, I am not a huge fan of where the story is going, or maybe I just don’t understand where the story is going. Will I keep reading this series? Probably, I like the artwork enough just to buy the series for that alone.

I would absolutely love it if there was a synopsis about how the Defiled tie in with the broader scope of this world. The lack of any sort of summary or synopsis has been an ongoing complaint of mine with this series, but I keep reading it. I think there is just something so unique about this series and I keep being drawn back to it even if it is a bit of a mess. If you enjoy dark fantasy graphic novels, I would recommend this series as a whole.

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan

Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Genre: Horror, Historical Fiction

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Tor Books (February 24, 2026)

Length: 535 pages

Author Information: Website

Historical horror with a generous heaping of sardonic humor. That’s the way I would describe The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan, which draws inspiration from the real-life mystery of the Beast of Gévaudan, the name given to the man-eating creature that terrorized the French countryside in the 1760s, killing more than a hundred people. This novel is a retelling of those events, with a mythical twist.

Told as a memoir written by an ancient warlock named Sebastian Grave, the main plot is a detailed account of his involvement in the hunt for the Beast. Split into two distinct timelines, one follows him in the past as he is called to the region to deal with the creature, and then the second one follows him years later, when he has been asked to return once the killings start up again. Could the attacks from these two periods be related? The story jumps between these two timelines as Sebastian tries to figure it out, reliving the past to find clues that might connect them to the present.

At the same time, running through the story are also a few side threads that gradually connect Sebastian’s backstory to the larger picture. With his body serving as a vessel for a powerful demon named Sarmodel, he has been wandering the earth for centuries, the arrangement giving him immortality as well as access to certain magical abilities. An additional narrative which unfolds in a series of interludes details the succubus Livia’s exploits as she is tasked with carrying out a mission related to Joan of Arc, then later the relic associated with her remains. All these pieces come together to give the novel a wider scope, revealing the events that helped set the stage for the beast itself and the forces driving the violence in Gévaudan.

Despite the shifting timelines, the story is easy enough to follow, though certain sections are more interesting than others. But even with its complex structure, the mystery is engaging, becoming more solid as each perspective adds more context little by little. Sullivan does a good job of dropping just enough information in each chapter to keep the reader satisfied and feeling like the developments are earned rather than rushed. However, I did occasionally find the interruptions from Livia’s interlude chapters distracting, since more than once they pulled the reader’s attention away just as the main storyline was reaching its most important moments. And speaking of distractions, this might also be a good time to mention the footnotes, which The Red Winter uses quite liberally. The book really leans into this stylistic quirk, so how much you enjoy them will probably depend on what kind of reader you are.

The book also undoubtedly falls into the horror genre and gets pretty gory and intense when it comes to the beast side of things, especially its attacks. That said, the author balances the brutality and carnage with plenty of humor, especially through the narration and those aforementioned footnotes. Sebastian is a fantastic character to spend time with, and as you might expect after centuries of life, he’s amassed a vast amount of knowledge and has at least one cynical observation to offer on just about everything. He and his demon Sarmodel provide lots of lighthearted back-and-forth, adding a much-needed layer of levity to what could otherwise be a very grim and heavy story.

For a debut, The Red Winter is genuinely impressive. Sure, there are a few pacing issues to smooth out, along with some timing hiccups and moments where the character development could have gone a bit deeper. Still, these are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, and the book remains highly readable. Sullivan clearly knows the kind of story he wants to tell, and his confident storytelling reflects that. The blending of history, occult magic, and a touch of werewolf lore results in a very distinct vibe, and it’s this creativity and overall polish that give it an edge, helping the novel stand out from your typical werewolf tale.

If you enjoy stories that mix real historical events with speculative elements like horror and the supernatural, then The Red Winter will likely be right up your alley. It’s an entertaining read packed with atmosphere, combining bloody horror with a streak of irreverent humor that helps it feel fresh even in a genre that’s already pretty crowded.

Good afterevenmorn, Readers!

I’ve been receiving a great many emails of late, of a kind that I’m sure many authors are getting, and I think I should probably talk about it, because it’s all such a scam. There are several flavours of scam emails that are circulating at present, of which I have personally experienced two, so let’s talk about them.

The first and most frequent email I receive are from supposed authors who enthuse about how wonderful your book is, and how much it moved them and deserves a larger audience. Some of the emails feel like their quite detailed. It’d be easy to believe that the person sending the email had indeed read it, and loved it. Here’s an example I received regarding a book of mine.

My name is [redacting as I believe they used the name of a real author], and I am a fellow author working in emotionally driven, character-centred fiction. I recently came across your Kindle edition of Human, and I felt genuinely compelled to reach out in appreciation of the emotional restraint and moral tension shaping Aleksandar’s story.

What struck me first is how deliberately you frame power as inheritance rather than advantage. Aleksandar arrives in America not as a conquering figure, but as a custodian of collapse tasked with restoring a House already hollowed by violence and history. The political weight of the Shadow Council, and the ruined legacy of House Üstrel, create a quiet but persistent pressure that follows him into every decision. Authority, in your novel, never feels clean.

I was particularly drawn to the way you explore emotional awakening inside a character who has been trained to survive without it. Aleksandar’s connection to Alicia is not written as a sudden redemption arc, but as an intrusion into something disruptive, risky, and profoundly inconvenient to the life he is meant to lead. The feelings he thought long dead do not restore him. They complicate him. That choice gives the romance its credibility and its emotional danger.

The presence of Detective Brody adds an especially compelling moral counterweight. His knowledge of what Aleksandar is and his vow of vengeance creates a rare dynamic in supernatural fiction: one where neither man is positioned as morally comfortable. Their forced proximity under betrayal and crisis becomes less about reluctant partnership and more about confronting the human cost left behind by immortal decisions.

I also admired how you position the true antagonist not as spectacle, but as consequence. The cat-and-mouse pursuit of the kidnapper is emotionally effective because it targets what Aleksandar is only just beginning to care about. The threat is not only physical it is ethical. What happens when someone who has benefited from predatory systems is suddenly required to protect what those systems would normally discard?

As authors, we both know how difficult it is to write a story that balances political hierarchy, emotional vulnerability, and violent momentum without allowing any of them to dominate the others. Human succeed because they treat conscience as seriously as it treats danger. The tension comes not only from who might survive but from who Aleksandar chooses to become while survival is still possible.

The responses from your target audiences reflect something important: readers are responding to the emotional friction at the heart of the story. Many are not simply drawn to the vampiric world or the crime-driven pacing, but to the uneasy humanity you allow to surface inside a character shaped by power, tradition, and moral erosion.

As an author, I deeply respect books that are written not simply to entertain, but to examine responsibility inside violent worlds. Human feels shaped with emotional discipline and a genuine respect for the cost of change.

If you would ever be open to exchanging thoughts on how this novel continues to reach target audiences who value morally complex supernatural fiction and emotionally grounded character transformation, I would be glad to continue the conversation simply as one author recognising another whose work carries real depth and intent.

Sounds great on the surface, right? I mean… Holy shit. It sounds like they got it.

Except, upon further reflection, it’s clear that this is just a strung-out summary of the book, likely written by an LLM. There is nothing in there that couldn’t have been gleaned from the blurb of the book. The novel itself was never read. If a close examination of the email itself doesn’t raise any flags, that last sentence absolutely should.

If you would ever be open to exchanging thoughts on how this novel continues to reach target audiences…

There it is. A hook designed to elicit a response from the receiver that eventually leads to a request for money to “help” the book reach more people. Often times, that price can be in the hundreds, of not thousands of dollars.

Honestly, the above email might have worked on me if I hadn’t received so many like it from other sources. This was the first one that tried to build rapport by posing as a fellow author. Usually they’re “book marketing specialists” or something along those lines. Those emails I can at least respect, because they don’t hide who there are and so the reasons for their emails are obvious. Like this one.

My name is Mary Jesus, and I’m a book marketer. I recently came across your novel, The Lioness of Shara Mountain, and I want to sincerely congratulate you on creating such a gripping and imaginative story.

I was particularly drawn to the dynamic between Prince Lis and the Lioness the way tradition, duty, and rebellion collide to shape their bond, set against the vivid backdrop of Shara City and the Desert Market. Your world-building, combined with the intrigue of ancient vows and shadowed pasts, makes this story both thrilling and emotionally resonant.

I would truly love to understand more about your vision behind this work:

• What inspired you to create the Hnura’i Empire and the story of the Lioness?
• Who do you most hope connects with this novel fantasy readers, adventure enthusiasts, romance fans?
• Do you see this story evolving into a series or expanding further within this world?

As a marketer, I’ve seen that rich fantasy worlds with strong character-driven narratives have incredible potential for global engagement, particularly when positioned to reach readers who love immersive storytelling and epic stakes. I’d love to better understand your long-term vision so that any promotional approach highlights both the adventure and emotional depth of your novel.

I would be thrilled to learn more about your goals for The Lioness of Shara Mountain and explore how it can reach more readers worldwide.

Thank you again for crafting such a compelling and imaginative tale.

Which was much simpler and obvious. But also for a book of mine that is not yet published, so there’s that. I greatly wonder how they would know anything about “the way tradition, duty, and rebellion collide” at all.

The emails coming from supposed authors I find particularly insidious, because it frames the interaction differently, banking on creating a trust bond that will then be exploited. It’s gross, and makes me mad. It’s super underhanded. What really sticks in my throat is the thought that there are authors who were taken in by these kinds of emails. Hell, I nearly was. It’s not right.

For writers who are just now being exposed to this sneaky, underhanded way to extract money, I have but one piece of advice. Before you jump to reply to an email like this, consider if this is something you’d write to a fellow author. Should you message another author to let them know you loved their work? Of course! That would absolutely make their day. But would you do so with the intent to discuss how their novel continues to reach their target audience?

Probably not. I doubt many authors would (unless they were maybe asking for advice, and considering how few books I sell, no one ought to be coming to me for advice on how to get books in front of readers).

Image by Gaertringen from Pixabay

The other kind of email I’ve gotten frequently (though less so), are those coming from supposed book club organisers. They follow the same pattern. They’ll gush about a particular book, and then end with a similar call to action. I had one about Daughters of Britain recently that made me so sad that I deleted it, so I can’t quote it here. But this one had a different tactic. Simply put, they would enthuse about the book, and then talk about how they were an organiser of a book club, and they’d love to use the book for their next read. Of course, through the course of the conversation, you would learn that you would have to pay (something around $560.00 in my case) to have this happen.

Let me be clear — in situations like this, money should always flow towards the author, not the other way. If any book club organisers wants to use your book, and would like to organise a video conference with club members, the writer should be paid for their time. They shouldn’t pay for it. The best way to reply to an email like this is what I wish I had done. I should have replied that I’d be happy to participate, and then offer a tiered list of appearance fees.

I am extremely fortunate that I am a naturally suspicious person, and perhaps even more so that I have no money to spare. Even if I fell for these scams, I could in no way afford any of them. Silver linings, I guess.

It is an absolute minefield out there for writers both new and veteran. Nearly every single one of these predatory schemes are designed to prey specifically on an author’s desire to be successful at their craft. Near as I can tell, not one of them can deliver on the promises they offer. They’re a scam, through and through. Don’t fall for it.

With the exception of book publicists, who are usually more straight forward about their services and why their emailing (and there is considerable debate about whether these publicists actually manage to help books sales in any appreciable way), they are scams. When in doubt, follow this golden rule: money should always flow to the author, not the other way around. This includes publishing, and public appearances (yes, even book clubs).

When S.M. Carrière isn’t brutally killing your favorite characters, she spends her time teaching martial arts, live streaming video games, and sometimes painting. In other words, she spends her time teaching others to kill, streaming her digital kills, and sometimes relaxing. Her most recent titles include Daughters of Britain, Skylark and Human. The Timbercreek Incident is free to read on Wattpad.

Here is LitStack’s review of The Reformatory, by Tananarive Due, daring readers to face chilling…

The post “The Reformatory” Mirror | We Dare You To Confront The Horrors appeared first on LitStack.

I got the most amazing book mail at the end of February!Jeffe sent a package with both presents and books she managed to get hold for me, because I couldn't order them myself.
First the presents!
There was an ARC of Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst.I'm reading it at the moment so check back soon for my thoughts on it.
Signed paperbacks of two of Jeffe's own books.
The UK edition of Never the Roses!(It's bigger than the US hard cover.)
And it's purple!
The Owlcrate edition of Never the Roses!
There's notes and other illustrations on the cover.
And Bad Bunny!
It has pretty painted edges.
Illustrations on the end pages.

Another bunny.And it's signed as well.
The dust cover is reversible and has gorgeous art as well.

Painted edges comparison.
And here are all my Never the Roses copies together!(In June I'll have to make room for the US paperback to join them)
Thank you, Jeffe!

Stay tuned for part 2 of this book haul.

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Douglas Preston is the author of forty books, both fiction and nonfiction, thirty-two of which have been New York Times bestsellers, with several reaching the number 1 position. He is the recipient of numerous writing awards in the US and Europe, including a shared Edgar Award and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Pomona College. From 2019 to 2023 he served as president of the Authors Guild, the nation's oldest and largest association of authors and journalists.

Lincoln Child is the co-author, with Douglas Preston, of such highly-acclaimed thrillers as CROOKED RIVER, OLD BONES, VERSES FOR THE DEAD, CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, and RELIC, the latter two of which were chosen by an NPR poll as among the 100 greatest thrillers ever written. He has also published seven thrillers of his own, most recently the Jeremy Logan books FULL WOLF MOON and THE FORGOTTEN ROOM. 26 of his joint and solo books have become bestsellers, 3 of which debuted at #1 on the New York Times list. He lives in Sarasota, Florida.

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (January 27, 2026) Length: 384 p Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback

I’ve been following this series for years, and I’m still eager to check a new Pendergast book out whenever it appears.

Pendergast: The Beginning isn’t a continuation of his latest adventures, but a prequel. Preston & Child go back to 1994 and watch Aloysius Pendergast start his FBI career in his hometown of New Orleans. He’s a rookie agent, and, as expected, already a problem for his superiors.
Pendergast’s new partner and mentor, Dwight Chambers, believes in procedure and paperwork. Pendergast believes in Pendergast. He goes undercover without clearing it and ignores protocol when it suits him. He also solves things no one else even sees.
They take the case of a corpse with its arm surgically removed. Soon there are more bodies and more missing arms. The case covers secret university experiments, psychic research, and a killer whose motives are rather peculiar.
For me, it was extremely fun. Pendergast himself is already fully formed. Pale, impeccably dressed, sharper than others. He’s also already driving his Rolls-Royce making Sherlock Holmes-level deductions while everyone else is still staring at the body. In other words, you won’t be getting a clumsy, uncertain young version of him. He arrives on the page exactly as we know him.
The villains lean toward the theatrical. The plot doesn’t try to be deep. You can often see where it’s heading, and while I guessed most of the turns, I didn’t mind.
If you’re already a fan, you’ll likely enjoy this return to the beginning. If you’re new, it’s an easy entry point since the end of the book leads directly to the events pictured in Relic 30 years ago.

Other LitStack Spots We’ve also spotted a few other books that we’re adding to our…

The post Spotlight on “Year of the Mer” by L. D. Lewis appeared first on LitStack.

I’ve read 24 books so far this year, and 17 were audiobooks (we’ve already established I’m not going to say ‘books consumed.’ Listening and physically reading are distinctive, but they’re interchangeable here).

Of the 17 audiobooks, 15 were new. I re-read more than I read new books, but I’ve been using audiobooks to tackle things for the first time. 7 books were Clive Cusslers.

CLIVE CUSSLER

I first talked about Clive Cussler back in 2019. He would die a half-year later, at age 88. He had created an empire, with other authors carrying on his five sometimes-intertwined series’. I revisited his works last Summer. I’ve listened to 7 of his books so far this year, as I am well behind on my Cussler.

Isaac Bell is a turn-of-the 20th Century private eye for the Van Dorn Detective Agency. Justin Scott co-wrote the first 10. Jack Du Brul (who had been co-writing The Oregon Files), took over for the next 5. Though I liked it, for some reason the series hadn’t resonated with me in paperback. They were slow reads through the first 5. But Scott Brick reading them aloud worked for me, and I’ve listened to books 6 through 9: The Striker, The Bootlegger, The Assassin, and The Gangster. I like listening to Bell. So, audiobooks have me invested in a series that I wasn’t into in print. I will continue on. This series has run from 2007 through 2025.

The Oregon Files are the only techno-thrillers I’ve ever gotten into. I’ve not read a single Tom Clancy book. Craig Dirgio ‘co-wrote’ the first 2, succeeded by Jack Du Brul for the next 7. Boyd Morrison took over for 7 books, with Mike Maden having written the last 4 in this 19-book series. I’m still in the Morrison phase, listening to books 12 (Typhoon Fury) and 13 (Shadow Tyrants). These are different from any other series I read, and I like them. I’ll continue on. This series has run from 2003 through 2025.

The Fargo Adventures feature married treasure hunters named Sam and Remi Fargo. These feel a little less intense than the other series’. As with Isaac Bell, listening to the books works better for me than actually reading them. Grant Blackwood wrote the first 4. Thomas Perry took over for the next 2. Russell Blake then wrote 2, and Robin Burcell has written the last 6 in the 13 book series. I listened to book 5 (The Mayan Secrets). This is my fourth-favorite series, just below Isaac Bell. But it’s WELL above Dirk Pitt. I’ll check out Russell Blake here soon. This series has run from 2009 through 2023.

My favorite series of them all feature Kurt Austin and the NUMA Files. There are 21 books, and I’ve read somewhat over half. I haven’t listened to any this year, but I should try to get caught up some on those, as well. I enjoy reading Austin in book form and will likely do that again. This series has run from 1999 through 2024.

As I’ve said before, I don’t read Cussler’s foundational series, featuring Dirk Pitt. There have been two movies from it, with Matthew McConaughey’s Sahara a big screen action flick. There have been 27 novels.

Starting with book 18, his son, Dirk Cussler, began writing them. He’s not as bad as Anne Hillerman (whose last name is the only qualification she has for continuing father Tony’s Navajo Tribal Police series. She is SO bad I quit mid-book and abandoned the series. She’s a disgrace), but I read the first two Dirk Cussler books, and gave up. I might try the next one after I’m 100% caught up on the other series’, but I doubt it. I didn’t enjoy them, and there’s too much good stuff out there to read and re-read. Including the earlier Dirk Pitt books. This series has run from 1973 through 2023.

Scott Brick narrates the books from all four series,’ which is unfortunate. There are multiple characters in each one, including a large team for The Oregon Files. Having the same person reading all the books kind of runs together. Brick is okay in each, but some variety would be nice.

JAMES LEE BURKE

Back in 2022, I talked about my favorite audiobook narrators, and Will Patton was one of them. He was the perfect choice to read James Lee Burke’s Cajun Noir featuring Dave Robicheaux. I am well behind, and I just read 20210’s The Glass Rainbow in hardback. Burke is a superb writer. One of the best of my lifetime. I’ve got 6 to go to get current, with the latest just having come out last month. I wrote about Tommy Lee Jones’ labor of love to bring Robicheaux to the screen.

Unfortunately, most of the Patton audiobooks still available are abridged. I’m not an abridged fan. Most of the books are now read by Mark Hammer. I don’t like his recordings at all. I re-listened to book 1 (The Neon Rain) -which I had by Patton – while I read The Glass Rainbow. Then I tried to listen to Hammer reading book 2 (Heaven’s Prisoners) and I simply quit, moving on to a Firefly audiobook. He just sounds like a boring old man. I won’t be listening to any more Hammer readings. It was disappointing. Wish I still had some of my Will Patton cassettes.

NIKKI HEAT

I talked about Castle, and Nikki Heat, back in January. I listened to books 7 (Driving Heat), 8 (High Heat), 9 (Heat Storm), and 10 (Crashing Heat). 8 and 9 were definitely the low points of the entire series, but it recovered in book 10 to close things out well enough. Overall, worth reading. As I said in the prior post, a female narrator would have made a lot more sense.

CASTLE PERILOUS

And back in February, I talked about revisiting this whimsical eighties fantasy series by John DeChancie. I listened to books 4 (Castle War!) and 5 (Castle Murder), then dove into Clive Cussler. I’ve got the rest of the series, from the 2025 Audible Big Sale, so I’ll listen to more.

MISC

I listened to some Douglas Adams (Life, the Universe, and Everything), and the two ‘radio play readings’ of Red Dwarf, by Chris Barrie. He does a really good job, and they’re as good as the audiobooks of the novel. Sadly, co-creator Rob Grant died on February 25.

I listened to the ten Firefly audiobooks a few years ago. They’re a mixed bag: some are good, some not-so-much. One of my favorites is book two, The Magnificent Nine, which is a Jayne story. And essentially a Firefly version of The Magnificent Seven. This was written by Sherlock Holmes – and Conan – author, James Lovegrove. James Anderson Foster sounds kinda like Nathan Fillion, and I think he was a good choice. I’d start your Firefly listen with this one. Lovegrove had to use a ‘story concept’ by someone else for book one, and it’s a weaker entry. Four of the first five are among the best in the series. I’m not as keen on the succeeding authors.

Prior Audio Posts:
What I’ve Been Listening To: November (II) 2025 (Dictator, Don’t Panic, Mistletoe Murders, Sword of Shannara)
What I’ve Been Listening To: November, 2025 (Conspirata, Stacy Keach, Gideon Lowry)
What I’ve Been Listening To: August, 2025 (Middlebridge Mysteries, Unlicensed, The Big Lie, 64th Man)
What I’ve Been Listening To: June, 2025 (Eve Ronin, Thieves World, SPQR, Egil & Nix, the annual sale)
What I’ve Been Listening To: February, 2025 (Isaac Steele, Sharpe & Walker, SPQR, Steven Saylor, The Trojan War)
What I’ve Been Listening To: November, 2024 (Mistletoe Murders, The Caine Mutiny, Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting)
What I’ve Been Listening To: September, 2025 Desert of Souls)
What I’ve Been Listening To: August, 2024 (Part II) (Leaphorn and Chee, Tony Hillerman, Eve Ronin)
What I’ve Been Listening To: August, 2024 (Egil & Nix, Caleb York Westerns, Malazan)
What I’ve Been Listening To: July, 2024 (The Black Company, SPQR, Charles Willeford, Thieves World)
What I’ve Been Listening To: September 2022 (Robert R. McCammon, Ian C. Esslemont, Dirk Gently)
May I Read You This Book? – (My favorite audiobook narrators)

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.

 

FORMAT/INFO: The Book of Fallen Leaves was published by Orbit Books on March 17th, 2026. It is available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Nearly two decades ago, the Gensei clan was nearly wiped out after their failed attempt at rebellion. Prince Sen, one of the only survivors, managed to barely escape due to the help of Rui and her peasant family. Now new tensions are stirring in the imperial court as two factions try to usurp power from the weak hold of the current emperor. Sen is soon forced to choose between remaining neutral with his adopted clan or joining an army intent on war and avenging the Gensei household. But the most pivotal person in the coming conflict may be the peasant Rui, who is slowly realizing that the gods are using her to enact schemes of their own.

The Book of Fallen Leaves makes a valiant attempt to be the next great dark political fantasy, but is just too slow and muddled to succeed. I usually avoid comparisons to Game of Thrones at all costs, as it is a highly overused comp, but you can definitely see the touchstones here. There's a huge cast of characters, multiple clans and vassal clans forming alliances and plotting betrayals, and a splash of mystical elements in the background. And when the story finally gets going in the back half of the book, a lot of those elements really clicked and came together.

Unfortunately, it takes a very long time to get there. The first half of the story spends a significant amount of time with Sen and Rui, two characters who I ultimately did not really care about. We spend a lot of time getting to know them as they go through a year of events, watching lots of angst as they grapple with their futures. We don't spend nearly enough time in the first half of the book with characters who are actually influencing the diplomacy and politics of the empire.

The writing style itself was very flowery. On the one hand, there were definitely some beautifully written sequences that painted the scene of the dawn on the day of a big battle or as a character is making a pivotal choice. On the other hand the prose tended to refer to characters indirectly, using titles or descriptions, or by having a character obliquely talk about them in reference to some past event. This all made it hard initially to understand the faction alliances, even with a hand character list at the front of the book.

I'm all for authors making me piece together a fantasy world through context, but understanding alliances and factions in a political fantasy is key to enjoying the story. If I can't track who is working with who (or supposed to be working with who) then the impact of the political maneuvering fails to land. Once I had untangled those threads, the story worked a lot better for me, but it took far too long to get there.

Lastly, the magical fantasy elements of the story were a bit haphazardly used. No one uses magic in this world; instead, there are gods and supernatural creatures that roam and have their own agendas. But after an initial intriguing opening chapter with such a creature, the supernatural elements vanish from most of the story. When they finally re-enter the scene, they talk in riddles and never give a direct answer, to the point that for some of these beings, I never figured out what their agenda was. At least one god had a use for Rui, but I honestly can't tell you if Rui fulfilled her destiny in this book, or if it's a reveal in the sequel.

At the end of the day, The Book of Fallen Leaves had a lot of potential, but just couldn't suck me in. I will say that the back half of the book was significantly more engaging than the beginning. By that point, however, my overall frustration couldn't be surmounted. I wish this was a story I wanted to recommend to people, but ultimately I can not.