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It would definitely be fun to do an event in LA for the Wicked Powers, as the roots are there for so much of the story! And we do go back to Los Angeles in Wicked Powers — it's not just where Kit, Ty and Dru are from, it's the place Ash sort of lived in Thule.

Hmm, we do see a little of Clary and Jace in Better in Black, in terms of the years between TDA and TWP, and what happens in that story does reflect into LKOF. (Not in a way where you'll be lost if you haven't read it, just remember the word 'prophecy.' But it gets explained.)

I will say there's a scene in Pandemonium at the beginning of the book, with all the TMI gang there, and it was nice to go full circle back to the very beginning of TSC. Whether they stay together I cannot say. :)

In August 2025, we hailed the emergence of a second Chain Story project championed by Michael A. Stackpole. This is a Sword & Sorcery-focused, contagious set of connected (“chained”) stories. Each is:

• A standalone tale
• Readable in any order
• Free to read
• Interconnected via a theme involving a Crown

Stories are being released every few weeks. We’ll round up groups, but check the Chain Story website. for the latest. In this post we highlight the latest set of five, Episodes 14-18:

• 14 Blight by Katherine Monasterio
• 15  In The Land of the Giants, by Bryan Young (second in the series via the chain!))
• 16 Demonfire: A Tale of Shintaro Oba by C. L. Werner
• 17 Terror Above Icehenge by Malcolm T. North
• 18 The Sapphire and the Sorceress by Bryan Young (third in the series via the chain!)

Previous Black Gate posts have chronicled groups of the growing chain:

• The Chain Story 2 – Sword and Sorcery Entries 1-3 (Aug 2025)
• The Chain Story 2 – Sword and Sorcery – Episodes 4-8  (Oct 2025)
• The Chain Story 2 – Sword and Sorcery – Episodes 9-13 (Nov 2025)

The Chain Story 2 – So Far Entry Chain Post Link/Date Story (Link to Free version) Author Abstract 18 January 19, 2026 The Sapphire and the Sorceress Bryan Young

As with all good heroes, Pip does not shrink from danger and adventure. Still, there are times when it would be good to relax at home. But Pip is far from home, and is searching for a powerful sorceress who can help him on his way.

17 January 14, 2026 Terror Above Icehenge Malcolm T. North

To reach her, however, he’ll have to venture through the Chaos Realm and, as every true hero knows if you undertake that journey lightly, it will end quickly. But Pip has no choice, and therein our adventure begins.

16 December 31, 2025 Demonfire: A Tale of Shintaro Oba  C. L. Werner

A forbidden ritual conducted in secret, bathed in blood and death enables a demon to grasp unimaginable power—the power to destroy all enemies and raise himself above all others.

15 December 24, 2025 In The Land of the Giants, Bryan Young

A Samurai, whose duty calls for him to hunt down such a creature. A destiny he must pursue even as the world burns around him.

14 December 10, 2025 Blight Katherine Monasterio Forest Ranger Hazel Boncliff is a Green Speaker, a person with the magical ability to commune with plants. When the king summons Hazel and her assistant to the capital to heal the strange blight affecting his hunting grounds, she’s reluctant to help—least of all because he’s insisting his inexperienced secretary go along for the journey. But with a reward she can’t refuse and the blight’s effects more harrowing by the moment, she’ll take all the help she can get. 13 November 26, 2025 Ice Hawk’s Aerie Bryan Young A chance meeting in the dark forest. A tale of woe and injustice.
Pip Strongpaw, the last of the fabled Great Catriders, must once again wield the runed-sword Feathersbane, to end the chilling menace threatening to destroy the hamlet of Riveroak. A menace of sorcerous origins against which even the bravest of heroes may not prevail. 12 November 12, 2025 Blood for the River Michael Stackpole Chased into a swamp by homicidal cultists, Kellach and Serinna encounter a fire mage who saves their lives, and then leads them on an adventure that is sure to get them killed. 11 October 14, 2025 Of Nightmares & Jewels Robert Greenberger Something drew the mage onward, always toward the northwest, through restless evenings and dark dreams of ill portent. Yet when Jareth’s traveling companion, the swordswoman Talin, asks him why, he has no idea.
And then they reached a tiny town at the edge of nowhere, wherein lurked an evil with roots sunk deep in times beyond remembering; an evil that has chosen their visit as a time to awaken. 10 October 14, 2025 The Cursed Cuff Aaron Rosenberg She came to them spinning a tale of woe. An army of undead lay siege to the Manor she called home. She had barely escaped and sough adventurers brave enough to free her people.
But to do that Birr Blackjaw and his companions would have to wrest an ancient artifact from the hands of a cult leader who had his own army, and a hellish pet none could hope to defeat. 9 October 1, 2025 The Monastery Plot Bryan Young Shield Maiden and legendary sleuth Sister Agatha, accompanied by her faithful initiate, Brother Dominguez, sought to enjoy peace and quiet at  the Monastery of St. Maryam.Despite their desires, they soon find themselves investigating twin murders. Murders which become all that much more bizarre when the name Tarru-Syn turns up, and their search leads them into the very bowels of the earth, to face a foe from beyond their reality. 8 September 24, 2025 On Memories Michael Stackpole Dancillius Hrekt is fairly new to the world of Monster Fighting. All he wants to do is to make a good impression with his peers.  And all they want is for  him and his best friend to die. 7 September 10, 2025 The Village of Morvoss Thomas Grayfson In this new Kavion adventure, our tormented knight clings to the last threads of family and sanity as he navigates the mysterious Village of Morvoss. Haunted by fractured memories, he must confront the darkness around him—and within. 6 August 27, 2025 Fragment of a Sorcerous Crown Joan Marie Verba In this tale from the Chronicles of the Library of Sorcery, the sorcerers investigate a dangerous magical artifact of mysterious origin. Can the sorcerers uncover the truth?Sorcerer Serena is called to investigate an enormous, carnivorous plant. She finds that a mysterious magical artifact is behind the phenomenon. To find out where the artifact came from and what its properties might be, she consults the Library of Sorcery, where she uncovers the answers, but not on the Library shelves. Can the artifact be banished from the sorcerous regions before it becomes a more deathly threat? 5 August 13, 2025 Grave’s Brood S.E. Lindberg Doktor Grave sends Brood to recover a crown from the Red Orchard, only for Brood to find it is the source of a bloody plague caused by Grave’s experiments. Facing vampiric plants and their loyal clan, Brood must confront his past and question whether he can trust Grave or escape the nightmare himself. 4 July 28, 2025 Shard of Song Rigel Ailur Two wizards search desperately for a way to stave off a vicious magical-musical attack before the dragons succumb.  A powerful relic ancient beyond memory calls to them, but do they dare use it? 3 July 16, 2025 Forest of the Fallen Colossus Bryan Young A dying robber hands Laila and Zaki a mysterious artifact in the middle of a fae-haunted wood. “Danger,” the robber manages before dying. Suddenly sister and brother find themselves safeguarding an unwanted gift—on the run for their lives in the Forest of the Fallen Colossus. 2 July 3, 2025 Death Grip Michael Stackpole The man hadn’t died easily.A smoking hole sat where his heart should have been. Terror twisted his features, and he clutched an emerald reeking of magick as if would somehow save him. Neryon and Magistrate-Martial Logan find themselves in a race to find the killer before he has a chance to harvest more victims. But, with the amount of power used on his first target, there was a big gulf between finding and stopping; and no guarantee he wouldn’t kill them, too. 1 July 3, 2025 Blade of the Storm Witch Robert E. Vardeman Her vengeance became elemental! The Conqueror-King’s minion murdered her pirate husband.  The Lady Rennata was condemned to follow him into a watery grave—until wind and wave swept her to a magical blade that commands all of Nature.

 

 

 

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. 

In LKOF, the main focus they have is on the issues with the Cohort. Obviously that situation was never going to be stable, and Alec and the others have managed to be in touch with Zara and the Cohort in Idris, and they're desperately trying to set up some kind of peace talks. It's been years since Alec became Consul, so it's more about the issues they're having right in the moment that affect them all and less about adjustment.

Two things, one emotional and one logistical:

There are now so many characters and so much that we know about the world, all that information and all those people have to be juggled while still making sure Kit, Ty, Ash and Dru have center stage.

Secondly, it's just very hard to think about saying goodbye. Even if just visiting a location I have to think about if it's the last time I'll describe it. Very nerve-wracking!

And thank you!

You won't see him learn it so much as he already knows about it. In the first scene with him, he discusses what it means for him in terms of his work at the Scholomance, and we later see him thinking about and discussing what it is like in terms of being a neurodivergent Shadowhunter. Kit has also read a ton about it as has Ty's whole family. He does explain why he does things a certain way sometimes, but never to anyone who has no context for it. It's more a "this is me and how I do things" — he never feels bad about it, and never has to excuse any part of himself. There are ways in which it makes him a better Shadowhunter, and that's explored a bit too.

He will find out what they are. (And if they're wicked.)

Tavvy is still just a child, and so are Max and Rafe, so as of book 1, we see very little of them as the danger is such that they have to be protected. Mostly they are thought about but not seen.

Hi! I may have answered this in another format, but just to say 1) Thank you for the kind words about Ty and 2) It's definitely 2 — a brand new demon. That's why current Belial has no interest in the Herondales, thankfully!

Hi! I think this is in reference to the Kitty endpapers for the trade edition of Last King of Faerie? They are so pretty.

So, the choice to have Kit and Ty on the endpapers is because half the book is about them. I was so puzzled by the phrase “Dru and Kit book” that I thought we were discussing a different project and I couldn’t figure out what it was! I think it’s Last King of Faerie, but I would never think of it as a Dru and Kit book. For one thing, that sounds like they’re dating, which I think we can all agree would be a bad idea!

For another, Ty and Ash are just as important character-wise. We spend less time in their heads (although we do see from both POVs) but that is not a marker of how important a character is but rather a marker of what secrets people are keeping.

“Will we have more amazing Kit and Ty scenes”

That’s a very kind way to ask :) While I can’t say what happens, Kit and Ty have countless scenes together. Other than maybe the first chapter or two of the book, before Ty arrives at Cirenworth, they are together in every scene that either one of them is in. Except sometimes one of them goes to the bathroom. I hope we will not judge them for being apart at those moments. :)

Kit and Ty are just as important as Dru and Ash and they get just as much page time, in fact, if you’re counting pages they get maybe ten more. But I do think when you’ve come down to counting pages it may be more of an anxiety exercise than anything else!

I am sure there will be lots of Kitty artwork. I will certainly commission art, but most art is at the whim of the fanartists of our lovely fandom. I do not think they will let you down.

There are other editions with other endpapers that are not Kit and Ty — there’s Dru and Ash, there’s Livvy, there’s the Seelie Court. But the main and most common edition you’ll find is Kitty and we chose that because half the book is their story.

(I’m trying to be better about answering questions! Stay with me!)

Other LitStack Spots Other Titles that Litstack has spotted and that we have our eyes…

The post Spotlight on “Upward Bound” by Woody Brown appeared first on LitStack.

 

Red Star Rebelsby Amy Kaufman
What is it about:It’s 2067, and the Graves family has transformed Mars from lifeless rock into a chaotic patchwork of settlements—and everybody wants a piece.
Enter Hunter Graves: handsome, ambitious, and with spectacularly bad timing. He shows up at the United Nations base just as an emergency evacuation sends everyone scurrying for safety. Except he’s left behind. Uh oh.
Also stranded: Cleo, a sharp-tongued stowaway with no intention of dying today, and even less patience for overconfident trust fund boys. But the enemy of your enemy might just help you survive, so here we are.
Turns out the evacuation was just a cover for the mercenaries who came next, and they plan to blow up the base—and every trace of their crime—in eight hours.
Now, Hunter and Cleo have one shot to stop the explosion, escape alive, and deal with the inconvenient fact that they’re falling for each other.
The clock is ticking.
What did I think of it:This book was promoted somewhere as 'Die Hard meets...' (Yes, I forgot what the other thing was.)The Die Hard reference was enough for me to pick it up though.
And this is indeed a fun YA SciFi with elements that make the comparison to Die Hard a fair one.
The story is told from both Hunter's and Cleo's point of view in alternating chapters. After a short introduction to both and the setting, the action starts and keeps going in a pleasant pace. I really liked Cleo's fast thinking and creative solutions. There were a few surprises along the way, but those felt natural and believable.
All in all a very enjoyable read.
Why should you read it:It's YA Die Hard on Mars

Buy Daughter of No Worlds

FORMAT/INFO: Daughter of No Worlds was traditionally published by Bramble Romance on October 14th, 2025. It is 512 pages long and available in hardcover and ebook formats.


OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Tisannah is a woman with a rare gift of magic, but that matters little when you're a slave. For years she's been nothing more than a prized possession, using her gift to make pretty illusions for her master's parties. But when betrayal ends in bloodshed, Tisannah flees for her life to the one place she's always dreamed of: the Tower of the Orders. She believes this magical organization can give her the resources she needs to return to her home and free the rest of her fellow slaves. Unfortunately before the mages will lift a finger, Tisannah needs to become a member of their Orders herself. That means completing an apprenticeship - and the only mage available is the reclusive Maxantarius, who absolutely refuses to be of any help to the Orders for reasons he won't talk about. But Tisannah's sheer determination eventually wears down those walls, exposing her own heart in the process.

Daughter of No Worlds is a perfect blend of epic fantasy and romance, a slow burn love story nestled into the heart of a tale of intrigue and politics. My favorite romances always focus on the developing relationship between two characters. I'll take enemies to friends to lovers over instalove every day of the week. Daughter of No Worlds is one of those stories.

Maxantarius (who goes by Max) is bitter, reclusive, and stubborn. Tisannah wears her heart on her sleeve and is tenacious in fighting for those she loves. Which is why she's not going to be prevented from learning magic just because her mentor Max refuses to teach her (or anyone for that matter). What follows is a butting of heads that eventually softens to begrudging respect and more. Every beat feels earned, and I am absolutely rooting for these characters.

But that's only half of Daughter of No Worlds' plot. The rest focuses on the increasing instability of the kingdom that is aligned with the Orders as war seems likely. The politics surrounding those tensions give Tisannah a unique window to bargain for the fate of her people - if she can figure out something to offer the right person. The politics of the story aren't overly deep or intricate, but there's definite power players at the table that Max and Tisannah have to deal with to achieve their goals, and I appreciated this counterbalance to the romance. This is the beginning of a saga; we'll be following Max and Tisannah across the full trilogy, and the author does a good job getting us invested in this world.

Daughter of No Worlds is definitely a top tier romantic fantasy. You can come for magic, for war, for harrowing backstories. But running through all of that is a wonderful slow burn romance that hooked me in. It's a romance of respect and partnership and I cannot wait to see where things go in the next book.

 

Savage Heroes (Star, February 1977). Cover by Les Edwards

A couple more Sword & Sorcery anthology reviews: first up is Savage Heroes (Subtitled Tales of Sorcery & Black Magic) (1977), from British Publisher Star, edited by Eric Pendragon and illustrated by the great Jim Pitts, who is still working today. The cover looks to have been done by Les Edwards, however.

It contains stories by C. L. Moore (Jirel), Henry Kuttner (Elak), Clark Ashton Smith, Clifford Ball, Ramsey Campbell, Daphne Castell, Karl Edward Wagner (Kane), David Drake, and Robert E. Howard. The REH tale is “The Temple of the Abomination,” a Cormac Mac Art tale.

[Click the images for savage versions.]

Savage Heroes Table of Contents

A solid collection, though probably not the absolute best stories by these authors. Drake’s “The Barrow Troll” is one of his better ones. I remember being disappointed a little in this collection because I had almost all these stories already in other collections.

Second up, Heroic Fantasy (1979), from DAW with a cover by Jad. Edited by Gerald W. Page and Hank Reinhardt. A much thicker collection than Savage Heroes and it scratched an itch the other didn’t because it was all new heroic fantasy stories (at the time).

Inside cover and introduction for Savage Heroes. Illustration by Jim Pitts

It contains:

“Sand Sister” by Andre Norton (Witch World)
“The Valley of the Sorrows” by Galad Elflandsson
“Ghoul’s-Head” by Donald J. Walsh, Jr.
“Astral Stray” by Adrian Cole (Voidal Tale)
“Blood in the Mist” by E. C. Tubb
“The Murderous Dove” by Tanith Lee
“Death in Jukun” by Charles R. Saunders (Imaro)
“The De Pertriche Ring” by H. Warner Munn
“The Hero Who Returned” by Gerald W. Page
“The Riddle of the Horn” by Darrell Schweitzer
“The Age of the Warrior” by Hank Reinhardt
“The Mistaken Oracle” by A. E. Silas
“Demonsong” by F. Paul Wilson
“The Seeker in the Fortress” by Manly Wade Wellman (Kardios tale)

It also contained three nonfiction essays, which I liked: Commentary on Swords and Swordplay, Commentary on Armor, and Commentary on Courage and Heroism, all by Hank Reinhardt.

Heroic Fantasy (DAW Books, April 1979). Cover by Jad

This was my first introduction to Charles Saunders’ Imaro character and it was a dynamite story that made me an instant fan. I also particularly enjoyed the Gerald Page and Adrian Cole stories, but my favorite was E. C. Tubb’s tale. I’d read a lot of his Dumarest stories but this was Sword & Sorcery and I loved it. It was third in a series Tubb did about this character, “Malkar.”

The Malkar stories seem to have been gathered in print in 1999 in two volumes, Death God’s Doom and The Sleeping City, but the prices are pretty outrageous so I haven’t bought them. BTW, I thought the weakest story in the book was the ending tale by Manly Wade Wellman.

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

Hi guys! I am so excited to share with you the final cover for The Last King of Faerie, book 1 of the Wicked Powers! It features Dru Blackthorn (and yes, future covers will feature Kit, Ty, and Ash, in some combination!) I am so happy to be working with Cliff Nielson, who has designed all the Shadowhunter covers since City of Bones, to make Wicked Powers both stand out as its own vibe and also fit with the rest of the Shadowhunter books. It’s so weird to think of counting down to the last one!

And as much gorgeousness as there is with the cover, the trade edition (the one you’re seeing here) has such a beautiful gold-stamped cover and lovely Kitty endpapers* (swoon, thank you @frostbitestudios!), so swipe to see those, too. Trade edition means “the one you will find around everywhere and can buy at Amazon or indies” — I’ll update a bit later with special edition news!

*Lest anyone decide this contains important information about who is taller, Kit is on a different step than Ty :)

For those waiting for Wrath & Desire to be on Kindle Unlimited or in hardcover format, I've got updates!

Here are 7 Author Shoutouts for this week. Find your favorite author or discover an…

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

 

Clockwork Boys (Clocktaur War #1)by T. Kingfisher
What is it about:A paladin, an assassin, a forger, and a scholar ride out of town. It’s not the start of a joke, but rather an espionage mission with deadly serious stakes. T. Kingfisher’s new novel begins the tale of a murderous band of criminals (and a scholar), thrown together in an attempt to unravel the secret of the Clockwork Boys, mechanical soldiers from a neighboring kingdom that promise ruin to the Dowager’s city.
If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but that requires a long journey through enemy territory, directly into the capital. It also requires them to refrain from killing each other along the way! At turns darkly comic and touching, Clockwork Boys puts together a broken group of people trying to make the most of the rest of their lives as they drive forward on their suicide mission.
What did I think of it:I have really enjoyed Swordheart and the 3 Saint of Steel books I've read so far, so I decided to give the Clocktaur War Duology a chance as they're set in the same world.
And this was a very nice read.
I liked the characters, the banter between them, the setup. It just seemed to be a bit slow on the story. Now this might have been just me, but with a title "Clockwork Boys" I had expected more... Clockwork Boys. Our brave heroes do get drawn into other events, but they make sure to stay far away from the things this book is named after.
That aside, I had a good time with this book. Kingfisher's writing, characters, humor, and worldbuilding didn't disappoint, and I will most certainly buy the matching hardcover of The Wonder Engine when it releases in March.
Why should you read it:It's a fun Fantasy read.

Solentine Dagarra. Bastard son of a hero margrave, secret head of the Shears, devoted older brother, cousin, and son. Urbane, charming, ruthless. Noble by day, assassin by night, effortless thirst trap on all occasions.

Favorite quote: “Nothing is more annoying than a man who doesn’t have the decency to die after he’s murdered.”

It is said that the male lead belongs to the heroine.* Solentine is not the male lead. He belongs to everyone.

Artwork by Helena Elias

*The Romance of Tiger and Rose, cdrama.

Large files ahead. Click the images to view the artwork in detail.

A small snippet from Solentine’s short story.

A wiry woman charged Sol, swinging a short sword. He leaned back, and the point of her blade fanned his face, cutting only air. He spun past her, stabbing and slashing. She fell, and he kept moving. A tall dark-haired fighter blocked his way. Sol stabbed him twice, once in the kidney and then in the stomach, rupturing the bowels, and kicked his leading leg out from under him. The third man, in his thirties, with his red hair tied back, dropped his club and raised his hands. Sol pointed his left dagger at the wall, where the small man lay, crumpled on the floor. The man obeyed and ran there.

The last remaining fighter swung a long slender blade, drawing an elaborate pattern around himself. Southeastern style. The man was in his mid-twenties, athletic and light on his feet. A pricy haircut, a decent sword. A small medallion embossed with a white sword hung around his neck. Fador had hired himself a mercenary duelist.

The mercenary cut the air with a flourish. “I am Derrein of Garver. I have never lost a fight to the death.”

“I would imagine so,” Sol said. “Or we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we?”

“Whom do I have the honor of …”

Sol struck. Derrein saw the attack coming but wasn’t fast enough. Sol’s right dagger slid into his side, lacerating the liver. The mercenary stumbled away, clutching at the red stain spreading through his tunic.

Sol pointed at the door. Derrein fled. If he made it to a healer in time, he’d have a chance to recover, though his ego likely never would.

Promotion, we do it:

BOOKSHOP

The post Solentine Dagarra, Handsome Devil first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

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"It's him, isn't it?" Dawn breathes. "It's the Maleficent One, the Void King. He wants-"
(page 13, The Maleficent Faerie by Rebecca F. Kenney)

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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!