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Paperback editions of the first six Elric books (DAW Books, 1972 – 1977). Covers by Michael Whelan

It may not seem like it, but this winter has given fans of fantasy plenty to celebrate. Less than a month ago, Michael Moorcock turned 84, his most recent Elric novel turned three, and the latest reprint of his vaunted Eternal Champion series hit store shelves in the US. Thanks to a boatload of new collections, there is no better time to be a fan of the pale emperor. Or, for that matter, to look into his legacy.

Suffice to say that Moorcock’s legendary career has been full of incredible characters. His influence can be seen among the finest rogues of the Sword Coast and in tales spun in the far-flung wine sinks of Essos. Nowhere is that more noticeable than with his most famous creation, Elric of Melnibone. When his early stories made their way into the hands readers in the 60s and 70s, the impact would prove seismic. Today those same readers are academics, authors, and gamers happy to see Elric influence another generation.

[Click the images for Champion versions.]

“It stuck out from any other fantasy book I’d read,” Derik Petrey shared the moment Elric of Melnibone was brought up.

The Chair of Humanities at Sinclair Community College recalls that first encounter with the emperor of dragon isle vividly. Like so many other readers in the 80s, Moorcock’s style and characters proved as addictive Imrryr’s dream couches.

The Elric Saga, Volume 2: Stormbringer , an omnibus containing the novels
Stormbringer (1965), The Vanishing Tower (1977), The Bane of the Black Sword (1977),
and The Revenge of the Rose (1991). Saga Press, April 12, 2022. Cover by Michael Whelan

“He was really the first antihero that I’d read and could wrap my head around. There was this sense that ‘oh this person has all sorts of flaws.’ He’s addicted to drugs, longs to marry his cousin, and keep her from her brother,” Petrey remembered.

The years 1983-1984 would see him read Elric of Melnibone and The Sailor on the Seas of Fate. In an age where the works of JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis were the example other authors followed, Moorcock became a patron saint of literary rebels.

“He (Elric) did not have the values of a Tolkien-esque character. You have his dependency on a sword, a living weapon, and also this love-hate relationship with Arioch that was really uncommon.”

Sci-fi fans of Petrey’s vintage look around and see a landscape transformed by the pale swordsman. Other Eternal Champions were great characters, but to Petrey, neither Corum, Dorion Hawkmoon, or any of the others held a candle to Elric.

“It was very much conveyed to me that this was a non-human civilization. It’s this idea of how you communicate how different a society would be,” Petrey said. “There were very few science fiction writers that treated aliens as truly alien. You had Jack Vance, Larry Niven, and Moorcock.”

Elric’s modern-day revival speaks to the enduring power of Moorcock’s writing. Recent years have seen entirely new generations of readers take to the original White Wolf of Fantasy.

Von Bek: The Eternal Champion omnibus, containing The Warhound and the World’s Pain
and The City in the Autumn Stars (Saga Press, December 3, 2024). Cover by Tom Canty

Reprints Galore

It wasn’t so long ago that simply finding certain editions of the Elric saga were a challenge. The number of anthologies, collections, and iterations of his stories can be staggering. Untangling the publication history of Elric for this article left me bewildered at times. Without the recent wave of reprints, reading those stories would be just as much of a challenge.

That would change in 2022. Starting in Feb. of that year, Saga Press announced they would be releasing new collections of Moorcock’s work starting with the Kinslayer himself. Last December, fellow Eternal Champion Von Bek received the same loving treatment when The Warhound and The World’s Pain returned to bookshelves. The well-made collections have made the jobs of Booktubers peddling the proverbial Book of Elric that much easier.

“I think Elric’s sustained popularity over more than 60 years owes much to Moorcock’s transgressive bent. He upended, or amplified beyond convention, traditional tropes of speculative fiction, including the monomyth (the hero’s journey),” Bridger, from the Library Ladder YouTube channel, shared by email.

The Elric Saga: Citadel of Forgotten Myths (Saga Press, December 6, 2022). Cover by Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme

He is one of many helping introduce Elric and his fellow champions to readers online. His four Moorcock-specific videos alone have garnered over 160,000 views.

At just 12, he would begin his journey alongside Imrryr’s most famous citizen with the DAW paperback editions, with their beautiful Michael Whelan covers. Completing the first Thomas Covenant Trilogy —  Lord Foul’s Bane, The Illearth War, and The Power That Preserves — would serve as good preparation for Elric.

“Elric and Covenant seemed almost like two sides of the same coin. Both were moody, morally ambiguous, endowed with awesome powers they feared, and prone to occasional outbursts of primal, uncontrolled violence. But I found Elric less abrasive, easier to identify with, and more willing to take decisive action when situations called for it. They were significant departures from any heroic characters I’d encountered up to then,” Bridger explained.

The Eternal Champion Sequence: The Eternal Champion, Phoenix in Obsidian, and
The Dragon in the Sword (Titan Books, November 2014). Covers uncredited

Like many readers, Bridger would return to the classic character time and again. Moorcock’s remarkable ability to churn out one story after another helped keep Elric current and fresh.

“In Elric, Moorcock took many of those qualities to extremes relative to typical fantasy heroes. His moods are darker. His weaknesses more debilitating. His impulses more consequential. His betrayals and revenges more bloody. And the stakes are higher, as he strives to save not just one world, but an entire multiverse of them,” Bridger shared.

He sees Elric’s legacy across the genre and beyond. And it is a legacy not just limited to books. His influence can be seen in video games, on tabletops, big and small screens.

Elric and House of the Dragon‘s Daemon Targaryen. Art by Jan Duursema, from The Michael Moorcock Library Vol. 5: Elric The Vanishing Tower (Titan Comics, August 8, 2017). Daemon Targaryen photo by Ollie Upton.

“There are some obvious parallels between Elric and later albino characters in fantasy fiction such as R.A. Salvatore’s drow elf Drizzt, Andrei Sapkowski’s Geralt the Witcher, and several members of George R.R. Martin’s Targaryen family tree, with their special abilities and complicated personalities,” Bridger detailed, explaining that the albino trope was itself borrowed from Sexton Blake’s Monsieur Zenith.

Roland Deschain of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series and Tyrion Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire are two other characters that remind Bridger of the Eternal Champion. For Petrey, its Death from The Sandman that reminds him most of Elric. Both see the industry as being much richer due to the author’s influence.

“There’s an authenticity in Moorcock’s work. He himself is an iconoclast, he loves taking conventions and smashing them and I think that’s refreshing every once in awhile,” the professor stated.

Michael Moorcock’s Elric Volume 5: The Necromancer, written by by Julien Blondel and illustrated by Valentin Sécher (Titan Comics, December 31, 2024).

A six-decade run doesn’t happen by accident. If Elric proves anything, it’s that with the pale prince of ruins Moorcock was able to capture the magic that continues to enchant lovers of the genre.

“These are characters that have their own lives. I don’t want to be like Elric but his stories help me imagine what living that life, at that time, and in those societies would be like,” Petrey said.

As all readers know, sometimes a book just doesn’t click. Maybe it’s just not what you expected—or worse, maybe it’s just not working for you at all. Granted, it doesn’t happen to me too often, but when it does, that’s when DNF reviews come in. I’ve found that it greatly helps me process my reading experience to articulate why a book didn’t work for me, not to mention they also serve as a way to share my honest opinions with other readers who might feel the same—or who might actually enjoy the book for the very reasons I didn’t.

Here are the latest books that didn’t quite hit the mark for me and that I ultimately decided to put aside (a couple of these were actually from the tail end of last year).

I received review copies from the publisher(s). This does not affect the contents of my reviews and all opinions are my own.

All the Hearts You Eat by Hailey Piper

Mogsy’s Rating: DNF

Genre: Horror

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Titan Books (October 15, 2024)

Length: 447 pages

From the start, this one felt off to me. The prose was overly flowery and purple, making the writing feel bloated with unnecessary words. It’s tough to explain, but the intro felt simultaneously drawn out and all over the place. It was also hard to care about the characters, and by the time I set the book down about a quarter of the way into the book, they still didn’t feel fully realized. Any message on solidarity and friendship was completely overshadowed by the book’s aimless structure. Simply put: too many POVs, too much chaos, and too much pointless rage made this one impossible to continue.

American Rapture by C.J. Leede

Mogsy’s Rating: DNF

Genre: Horror

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Nightfire (October 15, 2024)

Length: 384 pages

American Rapture had such an intriguing premise: as a new virus spreading across the country making the infected feral with lust, our protagonist braves the unknown to reunite with her family. Problem is, the author is not known for sublety. Really, she is not. Being over the top and shocking is part and parcel of the style and experience. But when you are dealing with such weighty topics like spiritual wounds, conflicted identities, and societal collapse, this treatment just feels so gratuitous and flippantly distasteful. This book didn’t feel like a story; the character felt more like Leede’s mouthpiece to deliver a one-sided and heavy-handed screed, and I abandoned ship early when I realized where things were headed.

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

Mogsy’s Rating: DNF

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Del Rey (January 14, 2025)

Length: 384 pages

I really really wanted to like this book. That I didn’t DNF it until well after the 50% mark should tell you just how badly I tried, but ultimately it wasn’t to be. With all the comparisons to Studio Ghibli, I was originally all on board, but as any fan knows, their films are diverses in tone and not all of them resonate with everyone. Sadly, while Water Moon had the whimsy and mythological charm down pat, it fell short in the areas that matter most to me: character development and cohesive storytelling. Troubles began with the clunky and overwrought writing style, and further issues came to light when the plot made it more important to focus on the romance. It’s a shame because I wanted to be swept away by the magic but instead I was left disappointed, though Water Moon will undoubtedly be a favorite for many.

Thanks again for the weekly fix of Drucraft! I assume that next week we will have some more on Motion Sigls? Waiting to see how how Calhoun can move so fast!
I hope that sales are still good for the new series? (PS: When is paperback of Book#2 due for release please?) Also I trust that edits are now ‘done’ and that you have started on Book #4 !

While Teacup—the Peacock series very loosely-based on Robert McCammon’s Stinger—has already been cancelled after just one season, one aspect of the show that was done well is the special effects work by KNB EFX. Given that the ‘N’ in KNB EFX is Greg Nicotero, who is co-producing the upcoming Swan Song series, it’s a safe bet that KNB EFX will also be doing the effects for that show.

On December 30, 2024, the website Animation World Network published an article about the effects in Teacup, complete with a bunch of photos showing the concepts and how the effects were done.

Carey Jones Serves Up a Macabre Special Effects Brew for ‘Teacup’

Also, as Hollywood is wont to do these days, just six days after the first two episodes of Teacup were released, Peacock released this spoiler-filled video about the special effects for the show.

 

Brian Freeman of Lividian Publications posted this news today on his Patreon.

The interior font size for LEVIATHAN was selected to keep the already high retail cost from going higher, but the text turned out smaller than I expected for some reason and I definitely understand it was too small for some readers. None of us are getting any younger! So, here’s what we’re going to do:

The Limited Edition, like the other Matthew Corbett Limited Editions from Lividian, will have a larger interior font size. But those are expensive books and down the road a bit.

In the meantime, Robert McCammon gave the OK for us to rush a “Larger Print” version of the book. This isn’t a traditional Large Print edition, but it uses the same font size as the Limited Edition, which is considerably more readable. See the photo above.

Note: there are significantly more pages in this edition but it contains no new content. That’s just the result of the larger text taking up more space. You’re not missing out on anything new.

This “Larger Print” version is a trade paperback to keep the price reasonable, but there will be a “real” trade paperback published later this year with new Vincent Chong artwork, just like most of the other books in the series, and it will also use this larger font.

You can order this “Larger Print” edition on Amazon now — or if you bought the trade hardcover directly from me and need one, please just send me an email and we’ll work something out: brian@lividian.com

Also, I’m trying to figure out the best way to send this to the Lividian tier supporters. I know in the past some of you haven’t wanted trade paperbacks, and some of you won’t necessarily feel a need to have this particular edition… I’m thinking it might get included in another shipment to save on postage.

More news soon!

Best,
Brian

P.S. Some of you have correctly guessed we have Matthew Corbett news for later this year. First of all, shhhhhhh… Secondly, we’ll be using the standard Limited Edition font size for the text in all editions of that title.

It’s finally time to show off the gorgeous cover for BLOOD SKYE, book 6 in the Skye Druids series. I can’t wait for you to read this next installment of the series. Designed by Hang Le The only choice is surrender. In my world, magic and danger go hand-in-hand. It has from my earliest memory....

The post Cover Reveal – Blood Skye appeared first on Donna Grant.

–> GRAB YOURS HERE <– Deepest passion. Darkest betrayal. Once, she was my world. The only one I loved. Then it was all ripped away—including my freedom. Vengeance kept me alive. It paved every step, shaped every plot. Until I finally caught her. I learned that line between love and hate is wafer-thin. Where once...

The post New Release – Dark Heart appeared first on Donna Grant.

GRAB YOURS HERE With just one fiery embrace I could destroy her…or love her until the end of time. I am fire and death. My very presence brings terror and panic. For most, I am the last thing they will ever see. For there is only one thing I live for — freeing my kin....

The post New Release – The Bastard King appeared first on Donna Grant.

A Tide of Black Steel – Book One of The Age of Wrath trilogy- is published today in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Thanks to everyone at Orbit for making it happen. 

The winners of the signed books and bookplates giveaway have now been chosen and notified – check you spam folders to make sure you haven’t missed out on a prize. Many thanks to everyone who entered and for all the kind comments – sorry I couldn’t reply to everyone individually. 

Reviews:

‘These wonderful characters and story arc complexity matched with Ryan’s ability to build you up to–and deliver–epic moments (including an ending twist that is just chef’s kiss), wonderfully showcases the author’s skills as a fantasy storyteller.’ – Grimdark Magazine.

‘Rich world building, well-developed characters, and shocking betrayals are precisely what readers expect from Anthony Ryan as he kicks off the Age of Wrath trilogy.’ – Booklist.

‘A gripping epic… Ryan distinguishes himself with deep dives into his characters’ psyches and motivations. This is an exciting start.’ – Publishers Weekly

‘A grim, gritty, glorious Norse epic that begs to be devoured by fans of John Gwynne and Michael Hirst’s ‘Vikings’. You will come away with a taste of the salt sea and the smell of blood in the air, and characters you can’t wait to read more about. Grimdark at its finest.’ – FanFiAddict

Book description:

A NEW AGE HAS DAWNED. AN AGE OF BLOOD AND STEEL.
AN AGE OF WRATH.

The land of Ascarlia, a fabled realm of bloodied steel and epic sagas, has been ruled by the Sister Queens for centuries. No one has dared question their rule.

Until now.

Whispers speak of longships of mysterious tattooed warriors, sailing under the banners of a murderous cult of oath-breakers long thought extinct. A tide of black steel that threatens to vanquish all in its path.

Thera of the Blackspear, favoured servant of the Sister Queens, is ordered to uncover the truth. As Thera sails north, her reviled brother, Felnir, sets out on his own adventure. He hopes to find the Vault of the Altvar – the treasure room of the gods – and win the Sister Queens’ favour at his sister’s expense.

Both siblings – along with a brilliant young scribe and a prisoner with a terrifying, primal power – will play a part in the coming storm.

The Age of Wrath has begun.

A Tide of Black Steel begins a new blockbuster epic fantasy series from international bestseller Anthony Ryan, whose books have sold more than a million copies worldwide.

Buy here:

Ebook:  Amazon.com –  Amazon.co.uk –  Nook –  Kobo –  Google Play

UK Hardcover:  Amazon.co.uk –  Waterstones –  Blackwells

Special Edition Signed Hardcover: Goldsboro Books. – The Broken Binding

US Paperback:  Amazon.com –  Barnes and Noble

Audiobook:  Audible.com –  Audible.co.uk –  Barnes and Noble – Google Play

Did a little bit of signing yesterday at The Broken Binding. If you’ve ordered from them, I’m told the books should ship this week. I’m off to Goldsboro Books next week to sign their stock. 

Some people have been asking when or if this book will be published in their language / country. So far, the series has been sold to publishers in France, Germany, Czechia, and Poland. I don’t yet know the publication date for each country but will update as and when I’m told. 

GRAB YOURS HERE Forest child they call me. It is within the woods that I find solace and feel the magic of my ancestors. For I am a Druid. One who can trace her roots from the very first to call the Isle of Skye home. The isle draws many to its magical shores. It drew...

The post New Release – Still of the Night appeared first on Donna Grant.

 

HELL OF A WITCH
coming out Oct 1, 2024!The hotly anticipated sequel to HELL FOR HIRE...

One month ago, Bex, the demon queen, and Adrian, witch of the Blackwood, pulled off the upset victory of the century. Now, they find themselves facing the question all unexpected champions must answer: what next? They declared war on Heaven, but how do you actually bring down a divinely powerful tyrant when your army’s still in the single digits and your magical fortress is an illegally modified Winnebago?

It seems like a hopeless situation. As always, though, Adrian Blackwood has a plan, and this time, he’s going big. He’s got an idea to take down the Seattle Anchor, the giant magical fortress that houses the Anchor Market and every other bit of critical infrastructure that connects Heaven to Earth.

How the Anchors work is a closely guarded secret, and getting to the good stuff will require going deep into the heart of Gilgamesh’s power. There’s a reason even the Queen of Wrath has never attacked one directly, but now that Adrian’s on her team, Bex thinks they can do it. She’s finally got the power she needs to actually move the needle on this war, and she’s going to hit that Anchor with all the fire she’s got.

But the enemies of Heaven aren’t the only ones making plans. After the fiery return of his most persistent annoyance, Gilgamesh has ordered his princes to take care of the demon queen problem personally. It’s time to roll out the big guns and show these rebels what divine wrath really means, starting with the Hell of a Witch who made it all possible.

Coming out October 1 in ebook, Kindle Unlimited, paperback, hardback, and an absolutely incredible audio edition!Preorder Now!Boston, what are you doing? Get out from in front of the title!

*Attempts to push familiar away with broom. Broom and cat team up. The author is forced to retreat.*

Ahem... It's sequel time! Y'all made HELL FOR HIRE one of my best new launches ever, and now the second book is almost here. HELL OF A WITCH has more of everything you love, and it's coming out all formats on October 1! Hooray!

Thank you all so much for making this series such a success. I'm so grateful you're enjoying the story, because I love these misfits to death. So much that I've already written book 3, which will be coming out in early 2025! So many books! It's the best of times.

I really hope you'll give HELL OF A WITCH a try, and if you haven't cracked into my Tear Down Heaven series yet, what are you waiting for? It's awesome! The audio book in particular is *chef's kiss*. One of the best things we've ever done. Highly recommended. 

Again, thank you all so so much for being my readers and listeners. I hope you love this book as much as I do. It's just so much fun and I can't wait for you to get into it. This series is going to be a truly epic ride.

Thanks again for making my dreams come true! Yours always and forever,

Rachel AaronWitch Career Counselor Assistant to the Familiars
HELL OF A WITCH is the second book in the Tear Down Heaven series. If you're new, start from the beginning with HELL FOR HIRE. I promise you won't be sorry!

 

From the BLURB: 
Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met.
They came from Fleet Street, Knightsbridge, Wolverhampton, Sweden and Wales. They wrote ballads, ran coffee houses, lived on country estates, they breathed ink-dust from printing presses and escaped people-traffickers. 
What they had in common was the year of their murders: 1888. 
Their murderer was never identified, but the name created for him by the press has become far more famous than any of these five women. 
Now, in this devastating narrative of five lives, historian Hallie Rubenhold finally sets the record straight, and gives these women back their stories. 
⦾
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold, read on audiobook by Louise Brealey. 
“Poor women were expendable …”
I listened to the audiobook of this, via my library's BorrowBox app - even though I've also owned the B-format paperback since about 2020, I could just never bring myself (or my heart) to pick it  up and read it of my own volition, but on audiobook I tore through it. And under the talent of Brealey's narration, who could bring out various regional accents to really help things along - it was superb. 
This was such a tough listen but I’m really really glad that I finished this book and I found it to be an extraordinary non-fiction work and by far one of the best non-fiction books I’ve read in a long time. 
I was completely upended, however to discover that this book has pissed off so many people and specifically “Ripperologists” to the point that Hallie Rubenhold has been horribly abused and harassed because she did to research into the canonical five victims of Jack the Ripper - and put fourth credible evidence that not all of them were prostitutes as the sick lore of this madman murdering spree dictated for so long. 
Her book is a gracious and human examination of what it meant to be a woman in the 1880s and the impossible position that they were put in to either be Madonna or whore. She digs into the Victorian mindset of the time that insisted that their murders had to somehow be prescriptive to the wider public and so they were painted as Scarlet women. Their stories absolutely broke my heart and patterns did emerge in all of them — domestic violence, alcoholism (if only to have some alleviation from the drudgery of being a woman at the time) …  the way people were kept impoverished and women in particular who had to bear the burden of childbirth and child rearing. Lack of education being the lightning rod overarching issue for so many people of this time. Just an incredible historical examination of everything never said about these women that I found to be so touching and crucial.
As I was reading, I was repeatedly struck by the realisation of how true it is now - just as it was in 1888 - that all it takes is a bad bout of luck, illness or injury for any one of us to experience houselessness and our fate to be completely undone. I thought that about each of these women at so many points in their life as Hallie unpicked them for us ... and my god, did my heart go out to them - across space and time. 
The very final chapter in the book is the Author listing all of the items found on four of the victims upon their death; in one of their pockets was one red mitten — and that visual is just touching and heartbreaking, as was the entire book.
5/5

In a few short days, Prince of Thorns becomes a teenager and will be the same age as Jorg himself for the first few pages of the novel!

I never expected to be an author. I certainly never expected this guy to pay off my mortgage. And I absolutely didn't expect to still be signing copies of the book in my local Waterstones 13 years after it was published.

The shelf life of an author is typically one book. Fantasy authors more often get a trilogy, because that's how fantasy rolls. But yup, not many of us hang around for long, and the past 13 years are littered with the bright flashes of many fine writers who came along about the same time as me.
I've said - so often that I'm bored of hearing myself say it - that all forms of writing success require large doses of luck. Skill at writing and at story telling are what buys you the lottery ticket. After that you need the stars to align.
It's easy to focus on the hyper-rare examples where the celestial alignment has been of atonishing proportions, and to feel a measure of discontent. But I'm constantly aware that so many fine writers have failed to flourish where I've been fortunate enough to make a living for over a decade now.
So, in part this post is a big thankyou to all you readers who've made that possible.

It's scary to look back at my bibliography and think that (with the exception of the Impossible Times books) each of those novels represents a year of my life. I have grown significantly older doing this...
People often talk to me about pride and about legacy, as if these stories are somehow more of an achievement than the myriad things everyone else has spent the last 13+ years on. I don't subscribe to that point of view, at all. Almost every book is a line drawn in wet sand and if the wave that will wash them away hasn't arrived in 13 years, then it's certainly going to hit the beach at some point, and sooner than most folk think.
I'm pleased and grateful that I've been able to share these stories, but 'proud' isn't a word I'd use. It's ... complicated.
Anyway, enough navel gazing. Just as I had no idea what the 13 years after Prince of Thorns hitting the shelves would look like, I have no idea where we'll be when the book reaches 18 or 21. Will anyone remember Jorg on the 25th anniversary in 2036 ... who knows. 
For now though, the ideas keep coming and the itch to write continues to require scratching. I've finished three books this year, and hopefully will have a 4th done by Christmas.
Thanks for reading!


Join my Patreon.Join my 3-emails-a-year newsletter.  #Prizes #FreeContent
 

 

From the BLURB: 

A BOY MEETS A GIRL. THE PAST MEETS THE FUTURE. A FINGER MEETS A TRIGGER. THE BEGINNING MEETS THE END. ENGLAND IS FOREVER. ENGLAND MUST FALL. 

In the near future, a disaffected civil servant is offered a lucrative job in a mysterious new government ministry gathering 'expats' from across history to test the limits of time-travel. 

Her role is to work as a 'bridge': living with, assisting and monitoring the expat known as '1847' - Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin's doomed expedition to the Arctic, so he's a little disoriented to find himself alive and surrounded by outlandish concepts such as 'washing machine', 'Spotify' and 'the collapse of the British Empire'. With an appetite for discovery and a seven-a-day cigarette habit, he soon adjusts; and during a long, sultry summer he and his bridge move from awkwardness to genuine friendship, to something more. 

But as the true shape of the project that brought them together begins to emerge, Gore and the bridge are forced to confront their past choices and imagined futures. Can love triumph over the structures and histories that have shaped them? And how do you defy history when history is living in your house?

'The Ministry of Time' is the debut novel from British-Cambodian writer and editor based in London, Kaliane Bradley. 

So, this may well be my favourite book of 2024. WOW-ee. What an enjoyable read, especially for a low-science fiction girly whose particular proclivity is time-travel tales (those are always my fave 'Doctor Who' episodes, the back-in-time ones). So, some random observations; 

⦿ I am very fond of 2005 YA novel 'The White Darkness' by Geraldine McCaughrean, which is about a teenage girl who is genuinely in love with (the long-dead) Captain Lawrence 'Titus' Oates from the doomed Terra Nova Expedition. So when I read the blurb for 'The Ministry of Time' about Britain having harnessed time-travel and successfully bought six travellers from various eras to the modern-day, including Commander Graham Gore from the doomed Franklin expedition - I was all in. *Especially* when the blurb hinted that Gore's present-day "bridge" - the protagonist of the novel who is tasked with helping him acclimatise and who maybe starts to develop feelings - I was *ALL IN*. 

⦿ Time-travel has always been my bag. Modern-day women falling for out-of-time men is my particular favourite sub-genre ... I know exactly when this started; 'Playing Beatie Bow' by Ruth Park, and the time-travelling Abigail falling for Judah in the 1800's. This was particularly cemented when I read 'Outlander' by Diana Gabaldon as an 18-year-old; WWII army-nurse Claire passing through the stones to Jamie Fraser in the 18th century. No doubt there's some Marty McFly 'Back to the Future' Michael J. Fox appreciation thrown in there too. But this sub-genre of sci-fi and time-travel is my jamboree. And 'The Ministry of Time' gave it to me in HEAPINGS of timey-wimey goodness. The romance is slow-burn but makes up for it because our protagonist (whose name we don't know, but we get an intimate first-person account from) crushes HARD on Gore and that amps up the burn. But I was also very sucked into the mechanics and politics of the time-travel itself, so it wasn't like I was ever cooling my heels and checking my watch for the low sci-fi to get good ... it was ALL good. 

⦿ The politics of time-travel in this book reminded me of the Norwegian sci-fi series 'Beforeigners', about people from different time-periods suddenly randomly appearing in Oslo, becoming refugees of time that the Norwegian government has to deal with. It's also a little bit like the (brilliant) Aussie TV series 'Glitch' set in a small outback town where; 'Seven people from different time-periods return from the dead with no memory and attempt to unveil what brought them to the grave in the first place.' I like this connection in particular because there's a shady organisation linked to the raising of the dead, a big-pharma laboratory called "Noregard" (best in-universe name for a corporation, ever.) It's also a wee bit like the 2001 rom-com starring Hugh Jackman and Meg Ryan, 'Kate & Leopold' about an English Duke from 1876 falling for a modern-day New Yorker when he's unceremoniously dragged into the future. If any/all of those recs are your picnic; this book is for you. 

⦿ He filled the room like a horizon ... the writing was sumptuous, and gorgeous at times. Sometimes Bradley had a turn-of-phrase of description that made me go "ohhhhh." When something changes you constitutionally, you say: ‘the earth moved,’ but the earth stays the same. It’s your relationship with the ground that shifts. 

⦿ I actually first heard about this book, in a Guardian round-up of British debuts to look out for, and the description of Kaliane Bradley's idea made my spine sizzle and then I Googled her even more and found that she partly wrote the idea for 'The Ministry of Time' during Covid and lockdowns and because she kinda fell in love with the only photograph of Graham Gore. No, really. 'Kaliane Bradley Fell in Love With a Dead Man. The Result Is The Ministry of Time' ... if that's not an *amazing* sales-pitch I don't know what is. 

⦿ I just loved this. It's extremely cinematic and I wouldn't be surprised to find it is being developed into a movie or limited-TV series. It both feels appropriately head-nodding to plenty of other fabulous low-sci-fi time-travel that will make aficionados happy, but also sparkly-unique enough to keep adding to the conversation about the space-time continuum. Even if I guessed the small twist that comes, I did so because I know this sub-genre so well and expected certain markers along the way and Bradley did not disappoint. I loved this so much, I was only one-chapter in when I knew it'd give me the best bookish hangover and be hard book to follow-up, probably throwing me into a reading-rut.

5/5

This is the city of Las Fables. I work here. I’m Detective Peter Peter. I put ‘em in the pumpkin shell.

Las Fables is a land of fairy tales and rhymes. Sure, it used to be made of sugar and spice, but Mother Goose flew the coop and hasn’t been seen in years. Darkness has settled over the town, whiffling and galumphing down the yellow brick lanes.

When the Seven Dwarves are gunned down in the Old Woman’s Shoe Bar, Detective Peter Peter and his partner Jack Horner are on the case. No matter how over the hill and far away the clues take them, they’ll see that justice is served–not too hot, not too cold, but just right.

Of course it isn’t just crime on Peter Peter’s mind. There’s a dame named Muffet who’s got him in a tizzy. And it’s gonna take all of his willpower to keep his heart from tumbling down after her.

Amazon Apple Barnes and Noble Kobo

Yes! Nursery Crimes is a short, fun standalone book set in the storybook land of Las Fables. I am so excited to finally get to share it with you! Just like the description says, it’s a smashup: hard-boiled mystery, fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and lots and lots of ridiculous jokes.

I hope you enjoy! (print will be available soon!)

 

"Featuring a motley crew of loveable demons, a chaotic male forest witch with a sassy talking cat familiar, snarky sentient weapons, wicked warlocks, and plenty of magical mayhem, Hell for Hire is a bewitching and diabolically fun urban fantasy that is as thrilling as it is wholesome." - Before We Go Book Blog

"Rachel Aaron has never ever failed to deliver an effortlessly engaging story filled with lovable characters, and an amazing, yet accessible, worldbuilding that is uniquely hers. It came as no surprise that Hell For Hire has all her usual winning trademarks and is possibly her best first book in a series so far." - Novel Notions

"Hell for Hire is an urban fantasy tale that follows a ragtag group of demons and the outcast witch they're hired to protect. Boasting loveable characters, unique lore, and a whole lot of heart, this urban fantasy romp is an absolute delight." - Simple Reads

"Hell For Hire is an absolute blast to read as it combines action, comedy, and lots of magic for a unique story. Rachel Aaron with her eighth (or ninth) series opener showcases exactly why she has no peers in the urban fantasy genre. If you want to have lots of fun, thrills and action, look no further. Hell For Hire is available to fulfill all your needs and more." - Fantasy Book Critic

"Aaron has done it again, giving us a whole new world in which to enjoy her outstanding craft. While many of the themes will be familiar, Aaron has created something fun and wonderful that delighted me. I blazed through this book, sacrificing sleep and productivity. Loved the world building and as usual with Aaron, loved her characters and the obstacles they face, overcome, and the new crises that arise from the ashes to challenge the protagonists anew. Can’t wait for the next book! This is already a must-read." - J Graham (audiobook review)Get your copy now in ebook, print, audio, or KU!The time has finally come! I finally get to share the book that's consumed my last year with you, and I can't wait for you to read/listen to HELL FOR HIRE, which is available right now in ebook, print, audio, and Kindle Unlimited!

I know it's not the DFZ and there aren't any dragons (yet), but I still hope you'll give it a try, because this book was an absolute blast to write! I've never had so many great critic reviews right off the bat. And if you're worried about starting a new book 1, I've got you, because book 2 is already written and going through proofreads, which means it will be available later this year. This series, she is rolling!

And speaking of rolling, you should give the audio edition a try on this one, because our new narrator, Nicholas Cain, narrated the hell out of it, pun entirely intended. ;) The audiobook is also available in stores other than Audible this time! Here's a list of all places you can find it, I hope you'll give the story a listen :D

If print is more your thing, we have hardbacks, and they are sexy! I mean, just look at this.



Ah, the sight fills my book-hording heart with joy <3 

I think that's enough promo for one morning. Thank you all so, so much for coming along with me on this crazy journey! I couldn't do any of this without your support, and I hope from the bottom of my heart that you love HELL FOR HIRE as much as I do. Thanks again, and I'll see you for the next book!

Yours sincerely,
Rachel AaronProfessional Familiar Consultant, talk to me about talking cats!
HELL FOR HIRE is the first book in the new Tear Down Heaven series, which will be five books in total. The second book will be out in Fall of 2024. I hope to see you then!

 

From the BLURB: 

Nova Weetman’s unforgettable memoir reflects on experiences of love and loss from throughout her life, including: losing her beloved partner, playwright Aidan Fennessy, during the 2020 Covid lockdown; the death of her mother ten years earlier; her daughter turning eighteen and finishing school; and her own physical ageing. Using these events as a lens, Nova considers how various kinds of losses – and the complicated love they represent – change us and can become the catalysts for letting go.

This is a moving, honest account of farewelling a partner of twenty-five years, parenting teenagers through grief, buying property for the first time at the age of fifty, watching Aidan live on through his plays, and learning to appreciate spending hours alone with only the household cat for company. Warm and wise – and often joyful – Love, Death & Other Scenes ultimately focuses on the living we do after losses and what we learn from them.

At one point while reading Nova Weetman's memoir, I said out loud to the empty room; "Geez, you're good Nova."

Such was the power and force of certain sentences, ideas, inflections and offerings throughout. "As writers, we are stealers of other peoples memories, bowerbirds of story," she writes at one point - and then puts that ability to collect on full display throughout as she recounts the life she built with her partner, playwright Aidan Fennessy, who battled and then died from prostate cancer in 2020 during Melbourne's numerous lockdowns and waves of Covid.

I know Nova as a colleague, a fellow middle-grade author and someone I greatly admire, and whose books I truly - hand on heart - believe helped me in tapping into my own voice for this age group. I think it's a little odd that I feel like I know-her, *know* her now after reading 'Love, Death & Other Scenes,' though. And especially because I have a tangential understanding of the loss she and her two children experienced in 2020. My uncle died after his third bout of cancer - having beat the other two, it was pancreatic in the end, third time unlucky - and unlike Nova's partner who had the option but didn't use it; my uncle chose Voluntary Assisted Dying and went out on his own terms, at home, December 2020. We were all there. I'm both surprised and not at all by how much reading Nova's perspective of a death like that during Covid - which I watched my aunt and cousin go through, one of the helpers minding children and looking for ways to ease their pain - I needed to reexamine and feel.

But I'm also surprised at how beautifully romantic this book was too, as Nova writes about how she and Aidan first met - how she fell first, and pursued ... how so much of their relationship felt like it needed balancing, especially in their creative exchange; ‘He introduced me to albums I’d never heard, to singers dead before my time, and the way that songs stain your memories giving them meaning they don’t have in silence.'

In this too, I feel weirdly intimate to the story because Nova writes about Aidan's final play he ever wrote - 'The Heartbreak Choir' - finally being staged, but only after his death. His final work he never got to see fully-realised. It's because I know Nova and am a fan of hers, that I was aware through social media what she was going through - and when tickets became available for 'The Heartbreak Choir' debut performance in Melbourne, I snapped them up for both myself, my mum, and my aunt - also knowing that she in particular may find some comfort in both the story, and its background. And she did - we all did. I saw 'The Heartbreak Choir' in May 2022 and loved it! A play my Aunt still talks about, has triggered her love of theatre to the point that she and my mum will now spontaneously ask me to check out what's on and what's coming up, book something for us all.

'Love, Death & Other Scenes' feels like another chapter to that play, in a way. How apt, that Nova muses towards the end of her memoir; ‘And it is in words that I can find him,' and it's in both her words and his that I feel something being unlocked, and another story I want to share with my family. That I want to press this book into their hands and say; 'It's us, a little bit.' We're not so alone, I think.

5/5

 

Introducing...HELL FOR HIRE coming out June 4!The Crew
A hulked-out wrath demon who eats gamer rage and loves cats, a shapeshifting lust demon who enjoys their food a bit too much, and a void demon who doesn’t see the point of any of this. They’re not the sort of mercenaries you hire on purpose, but Bex wouldn’t trust her life to anyone else.
 
Ever since the ancient Mesopotamian king Gilgamesh decided death wasn’t for him, killed the gods, and conquered the afterlife, times have been rough for a free demon. But the denizens of the Nine Hells aren’t the quitting sort, and Bex and her team have been choking a living out of the Eternal King’s lackeys for years. It’s not honest work, but when Heaven itself declares you a non-person, you smash-and-grab what you can get.
 
This next gig looks like more of the same…until Bex meets the client.
 
The Job 
Adrian Blackwood is a witch with a problem. His family has skirted the edges of King Gilgamesh’s ire for centuries, but thanks to a decision he made as a child, Adrian is personally responsible for putting his entire coven in Heaven’s crosshairs.
 
Determined to set things right, Adrian drags his broom, caldron, and talking cat thousands of miles across the country to Seattle where he can fight the Eternal King’s warlocks without bringing the rest of his family into the fray. But witchcraft--like all crafts--takes time, and if the warlocks catch him before his spells are ready, he’s dead. So Adrian does what any professional witch would do and hires a team of mercenaries to keep the warlocks off his back. He didn’t expect to get demons, but when you’re already on the killing-edge of Heaven’s bad side, what’s a bit more fuel on the fire?
 
Sometimes you get more than you paid for.
Neither Adrian nor Bex knew what to expect when they signed their contract, but witch-plus-demon turns out to be a match made in the Hells. With this much chaos at their fingertips, even impossible dreams start to come back into reach, because Bex wasn’t always a mercenary. She used to be the Eternal King of Heaven’s biggest nightmare, and now that she’s got a witch in her corner, it’s time to put the old magics back on the field and show Adrian Blackwood just how much Hell he’s hired.
 Preorder Now!Big day in book-land! 

First up, BY A SILVER THREAD is on sale this week for $0.99, so if you haven't given my new DFZ Changeling series a try, now's a great time to pick it up for cheap!

Second (and way more excitingly), I've got a brand-new book for you to dive into! Introducing HELL FOR HIRE, the first in the Tear Down Heaven series and a return to the classic Rachel-Aaron-style of big ensemble casts full of funny characters, crazy magic, world-ending stakes, and epic swordfights. If you liked my Eli Monpress fantasy books or the original Heartstrikers series, this is going to be right up your alley. There's a new magical system, demons with weird immortality issues, witch-family drama, and terrifying heavenly princes who will murder you while looking gorgeous. It's just a ton of fun and I can't wait for you to read it!!

HELL FOR HIRE comes out June 4, 2024 in all formats, including ebook, print, KU, and audio. If any of that changes, I'll be sure to let you know. Thanks for being my readers/listeners! I couldn't do any of this without you. 

Yours always,

Rachel AaronDivine Orchestrator Professional Demon Herder

Want to see all of my books in order, read samples, and know which series are finished? Visit www.rachelaaron.net!

 

From the BLURB: 

A seriously FUNNY, seriously CLEVER history of our early kings and queens by one of our favourite comedians and cultural commentators.

This will be the most refreshing, entertaining history of England you'll have ever read.

Certainly, the funniest.

Because David Mitchell will explain how it is not all names, dates or ungraspable historical headwinds, but instead show how it's really just a bunch of random stuff that happened with a few lucky bastards ending up on top. Some of these bastards were quite strange, but they were in charge, so we quite literally lived, and often still live, by their rules.

It's a great story. And it's our story. If you want to know who we are in modern Britain, you need to read this book.

 ♛ ♛ ♛

This just *delighted* me and had me running to find any other audiobooks of David Mitchell's on my Library's BorrowBox app (and yes, I am forever disappointed when somebody says "David Mitchell" and means the bloke who wrote Cloud Atlas. I want 'Peep Show' David Mitchell, 'Upstart Crow' David Mitchell - and this book proves why!)

I listened to this while I walked the dog, and I must have looked like a King George III-level maniac laughing and guffawing as I picked up his poo (with a bag) and walked blithely along, nodding and laugh/crying ... but it was truly just *that* good!

David Mitchell's injections and rants are next-level (at one point he manages to tie in the absurdity of awards for art; like the year that the theme song for 'Shaft' was up against 'The Age of Not Believing' from 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' for best song at the Oscars, to which he says you may as well compare a fish-finger to a ladder for all the good it does to categorise and quantify two pieces of art like that ... and he's not wrong!)

Mitchell only takes the book up to King James-ish because he says that was the last time that monarchy had true, absolute power before Parliament, Prime Ministers, foreign Governments and such started interfering with what the royals had bamboozled England into thinking was "divine rule," ... I do hope he decides to write a second-book about the waning royals (is it too much to ask that he give a full-throated debate on why a Republic would be better? Throughout the listening of this I could feel his tension to rein in what could have been an 11-hour long rant on the subject!)

As such, this was perhaps the most enjoyable new read I've encountered this year so far. Amazing!

5/5

No Victor lasts forever.

Victor thought he won when he became the Hero. He thought he won when he took over the DFZ. He thought he’d made himself untouchable.

He’s wrong.

Lola isn’t the sad little monster she used to be. She has a plan, she has allies, she has more magic than she ever dreamed possible. Killing one blood mage should be easy with an entire fairy kingdom at her fingertips, but Victor didn't make himself a god by playing fair, and his bag of tricks is far from empty. Taking him down will require everything Lola and her friends can bring, but if there’s one thing Lola’s always been, it’s determined. No matter the cost, no matter what it takes, she will see this through.

To the bloody end.

Get your copy now in ebook, KU, print, or audio!This was an extremely satisfying book to write. I don't think I've ever enjoyed wrapping a series so much. It's epic, it's awesome, and I cannot wait for you to read it in ebook, print, or KU or listen on audio, cause they're all out today!

Thank you so much for coming with me on Lola's journey. This wasn't the sort of story I ever thought I'd write, but when the book needs to happen, it needs to happen, and I'm very glad this one did. I hope you enjoy this series as much as I do and that you'll join me for what comes next.

And speaking of what comes next...

This is going to be a very exciting year for new releases! Lola's series is done, but I've got a brand new Urban Fantasy set in a brand new world that I think you're really going to enjoy.

The first book will be called HELL FOR HIRE and it's all about a team of demon mercenaries who get hired by a witch. There's tons of action, mystery, ancient Sumerian sorcery, a loveable snarky cast, a know-it-all talking cat, magical sword fighting, and overall hijinks in modern Seattle. It's just the BEST. I'm so in love that I'm already working on the draft for book 3. It's THAT GOOD, and as soon as I have a cover, you will be seeing a lot more of my new favorite thing. This is the most fun I've had with a series since Heartstrikers, and I just know you're going to love it.

So yeah, gonna be a lot of reads coming in 2024. :) As always, mailing list gets first dibs on everything, so sign up if you're not already and keep an eye on your email box, 'cause it's going to get wild!

Thank you again so much for being my reader/listener. You are the reason these stories exist, and I hope you'll come along with me for many more novels to come. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and please enjoy TO THE BLOODY END!

Yours always,

Rachel AaronMother of Dragons Bethesda's Unpaid Intern
TO THE BLOODY END is the third book in the DFZ Changeling trilogy. If you're new, start from the beginning with BY A SILVER THREAD. I promise you won't be sorry!