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Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayers (Avon Books, 1964)

“I know who you are now,” said Nurse Philliter, slowly. “You — you gave evidence against Sir Julian Freke. In fact, you traced the murder to him, didn’t you?”

In Unnatural Death, the third Wimsey novel, Sayers again makes medical issues vital to the plot and the mystery. In this case, Wimsey learns of his case entirely by accident: He and his close friend Charles Parker are talking about crime over dinner, and Wimsey tells Parker that, unlike police officers, who have a public duty to voice their suspicions, doctors have no such duty and can get in trouble by doing so.

This is overheard by a doctor seated at a nearby table, who tells them a story of his own experience with doing so: A rich old woman in his care died unexpectedly — she was suffering from a terminal cancer, but that was not the cause — and he found the death puzzling and asked to do a post-mortem, which found no cause of death, followed by a chemical analysis, which revealed nothing either.

[Click the images for unnatural-sized versions.]

Unnatural Death (Bourbon Street, January 7, 2014)

This sets us up for a neat medical mystery, which in fact has a solution that’s fairly widely known now, but that apparently was obscure a century ago. The doctor tells the other two that the local gossip that followed from this ruined his practice, and he had to move away and start over elsewhere.

Intrigued, Wimsey offers to look into the case, but the doctor turns him down, remarking with satisfaction that Wimsey doesn’t know his name and won’t be able to pursue the matter. Wimsey decides to do so anyway, sends the doctor, Dr. Edward Carr, a short note, and says to Parker, “If you want to be immune from silly letters, Charles, don’t carry your monomark in your hat.”

Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayers (New English Library, 1976)

(According to Wiktionary, a monomark is a short alphanumeric sequence used as a postal address, brought into use by a British mail forwarding company two years before Unnatural Death was published. Naturally Lord Peter would have spotted and memorized the monomark!)

In an early chapter, Wimsey takes Parker to meet a woman whom he describes as a friend. Parker takes this to be a euphemism, and is embarrassed, privately ironic about how “they always seem to think it’s different,” and trying not to show the disapproval he feels. Then he and the readers meet “a thin, middle-aged woman, with a sharp, sallow face and very vivacious manner.”

Unnatural Death (Avon Books, 1964)

Miss Climpson is, as Wimsey says, an old maid (an increasing problem in the years after the Great War) and, as Parker says, a sort of inquiry agent; in Wimsey’s words, “She asks questions which a young man could not put without a blush.”

In fact, she is part of an agency which Wimsey has created and is funding, which amounts to his version of the Baker Street Irregulars (with single women instead of street urchins!), and he sends her off to find which town Dr. Carr formerly practiced in and who was his deceased patient there — the first stage of her active role in the entire investigation.

At this point the story acquires a subtext that Sayers never makes explicit. The patient was Agatha Dawson — Miss Agatha Dawson, for she never married; she lived most of her life with her cousin, Miss Clara Whittaker, to whom she was deeply attached. Neither of them cared for marriage; Clara supported them as a successful horse breeder, and wanted nothing to do with men, except on matters of business.

Unnatural Death, back cover (Bourbon Street, January 7, 2014)

After Clara’s death, her niece, Mary Whitaker, a trained nurse who steps in to manage Miss Dawson’s care, is also, to Miss Climpson’s eye, “not of the marrying sort,” and is much admired by a younger woman, Vera Findlater, of whom Miss Climpson thinks “It is natural for a schoolgirl… in a young woman of twenty-two it is thoroughly undesirable”; the two have plans to buy a chicken farm together.

Finally, Wimsey has two interviews with yet another woman, Miss Forrest, at the second of which she attempts to seduce him, but when he takes the lure and kisses her, she involuntarily shudders away in revulsion.

It’s a point in Sayers’s favor, I think, that she doesn’t have one stereotype of “the love that dare not speak its name” (however politely hinted at) but shows everything from lifelong devotion to naïveté to cynical manipulation. What’s unnatural, in this novel, is not one woman’s passion for another, but murder.

Unnatural Death (HarperCollins, 1995)

Finding out about the two cousins gives Wimsey and Parker a start on discovering the family relations (some American editions were titled The Dawson Pedigree), and also meeting the solicitor who took over from their retired former solicitor. This brings up some complex issues that follow from a recent change in the law (I imagine Sayers reading about the change and thinking that it could be a motive for murder) and that supply a motive.

The story supports one of Wimsey’s ideas: That one crime can lead to more crimes as the criminal tries to cover up the first. The investigation heats up with the death of Bertha Gotobed, formerly a servant of Miss Dawson, and with the death of Vera Findlater. All this builds up to a dramatic climactic scene and to the revelation of how the original death was brought about.

Unnatural Death (Perennial Mystery Library, 1987)

Sayers also shows Wimsey troubled by his own involvement in the case: asking the vicar of the town where Miss Dawson and Miss Whittaker lived for moral advice on a “hypothetical” case; thinking that his own investigations may have created the motive for two more murders; and in the end, “cold and sick” at the outcome. Inner conflict over his own vocation of criminal investigation makes him an increasingly complex character, and makes this a psychological novel as well as a murder mystery.

William H. Stoddard is a professional copy editor specializing in scholarly and scientific publications. As a secondary career, he has written more than two dozen books for Steve Jackson Games, starting in 2000 with GURPS Steampunk. He lives in Lawrence, Kansas with his wife, their cat (a ginger tabby), and a hundred shelf feet of books, including large amounts of science fiction, fantasy, and graphic novels.

Other LitStack Spots LitStack has also spotted other books that we want to add to…

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Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
ABOUT AUTHORS: J.A.J. Minton is the pen name for Jakob, Amy, and John Minton, a family living in North Carolina. Together, they produce and host the YouTube channel, "Talking Story: A Fantastical Fiction Channel." Between them, they have lived nine lives in theatre, comic book retail, indie filmmaking, academia, undercover shopping, dog kennel cleaning, advertising copywriting, old-school video store management, and hot dog delivery for Harlan Ellison. This is their first book.
Publisher: Keyhole Books (May 15, 2025) Page Count: 461 pages Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback

Discovery is an ambitious book and you notice that immediately. It opens big with strange forces moving pieces on a board humanity barely understands, Then it quickly shifts into newsroom, and later missing expeditions, and government secrecy. It’s juggling cosmic horror, conspiracy thriller, historical mystery, and character drama all at once.
Surprisingly, a lot of it works.
The mystery surrounding the Rosie expedition hooked me, fast. Something clearly went very wrong in the South Pacific, and the slow reveal through letters, tapes, and investigations kept things exciting. I also enjoyed the newsroom scenes. Nessa Decker is a good lead because she reacts how a reasonable person would - she’s cautious, skeptical, and trying to separate fact from spectacle while everything grows increasingly hard to explain.
The atmosphere is great, too. The horror always hangs in the background. Even when characters are just talking in offices or arguing over evidence, there’s an unease that something larger is already in motion.
That said, ambition sometimes works against the book.
The prose gets dense and performative, especially early on. Long monologues and stylized narration slow the pacing when the story would benefit from getting to the point faster. The cast is large, and while many characters are memorable, it takes time to understand who matters most. The shifting perspectives add scope, sure, but also feel unfocused. Just as you start to vibe with it, the book moves elsewhere. Eventually the pieces come together, but the middle stretch demands patience.
Tone is another mixed success. At times the book balances dark humor, horror, and thriller elements well. At other moments, the theatrical style feels excessive. The story clearly enjoys its own weirdness, which is part of the appeal, but it tends to lean a bit too hard into it.
Still, the central mystery remains compelling, the cosmic ideas are unsettling in a good way, and the gradual realization of what humanity may have uncovered gives the later sections weight. You start with a missing expedition. You end up asking much larger questions about knowledge, power, and whether some discoveries are survivable at all.
It’s uneven, but interestingly so. Even though I struggled in places, I’m glad I’ve read it.

There’s a new “Dread & Darkness” horror megabundle at Humble Bundle consisting of 52 ebooks. Included are the Matthew Corbett series (minus The Queen of Bedlam, since Open Road doesn’t publish that), Stinger, They Thirst, The Wolf’s Hour, Boy’s Life, and Swan Song, along with books by Richard Matheson, Stephen Graham Jones, Robert Bloch, and others. You can get all 52 ebooks for $18 (or more, if you want).

If you’re not familiar with Humble Bundle, you pay what you want, and part of the proceeds go to charity. This Bundle benefits the charity Save the Children. The included ebooks are DRM-free and can be read on any e-reader.

Dread & Darkness: A Horror Megabundle from Humble Bundle

The Bundle is available through March 23, 2026.

ACOTAR 6 and 7 release dates revealed on Call Her Daddy

The post New: COMING SOON: A Court of Thorns and Roses 6 (27 Oct 2026) & A Court of Thorns and Roses 7 (12 Jan 2027) appeared first on Sarah J. Maas.

That’s how much time I have for the blog post today. I have a fancy and semi-intelligent post in drafts about Fantasy genres and it need more braining than I have at the moment. So this is a rambling salad of randomness instead.

On Monday we got a massive attack of Chinese IPs and the site has crashed. We have solved the problem but it ate most of the day, even with the capable assistance of WP-Engine Support.

I worked two weeks straight without breaks and crashed just like the website for the whole day yesterday. It was that place where you haven’t slept well and you have a low grade headache, and you almost feel slightly out of it because you are that tired. This release + deadline is kicking my ass.

It’s been hot and humid, so we haven’t gone walking this week. I can’t play computer games because we are signing things for Waterstones and I am making a blanket for Gordon, and the hand can only take so much. The blanket actually helps to loosen the fingers up, because I’m using a very bulky yard and a big hook, so the motion is wider. I will take a pic once it’s done. It is very pretty.

All my coping mechanisms are failing a bit.

In a flash of brilliance or desperation, I’ve off loaded the This Kingdom website to Anchored Designs, who created this one, so that is one less thing on my plate. I’ve also learned the InDesign in self-defense. OMG, editing graphics for print layout is so much easier.

In the good news, This Kingdom has taken the triple crown in audio: Audible, Apple and Spotify all selected it as their featured release for the month of March.

I leave you with this wonderful post by Éros Brousson. Everything you ever wanted to know about Texas HEB religion. If you are reading this in your email, here is a direct link.

View this post on Instagram

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That reminds me, I need to put a grocery order in and the flyer should’ve just come out.

The post 25 Minutes first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

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.

Marvel’s Conan paperbacks: Conan the Barbarian: The Official Marvel Comics Adaptation of the Movie by Michael Fleisher and John Buscema (1982), and Stan Lee Presents Conan the Barbarian, Volumes 2 and 3, by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith (Ace Books, 1978). Covers by Earl Norem and Barry Windsor-Smith

I don’t systematically collect comic book materials but I pick up Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert E. Howard related stuff when I see it. Found all three of the Marvel paperbacks above at various book sales.

Conan the Barbarian: The Official Marvel Comics Adaptation of the Movie stayed true to the movie plot. Being a Howard purist, I wasn’t a big fan of the movie when it came out, but it’s grown on me over time. I just don’t really think of it as a Howard Conan movie. Earl Norem did the cover for this one, based on movie images.

The Stan Lee Presents Conan volumes are in color. I don’t have Volume 1 and likely won’t be getting it since it lists at 250 bucks on Amazon, but here are 2 and 3, which I bought for a buck or so. Both were written by Roy Thomas (1940 – ) and drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith (1949 – ).

[Click the images for Conan-sized versions.]

Conan the Barbarian #4 & 5, by Roy Thomas and Barry Barry Windsor-Smith
(Marvel Comics, April and May 1971). Covers by Barry Windsor-Smith

Volume #2 collects issues 4-6 of Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian comic, including an adaptation of Howard’s Conan story called “The Tower of the Elephant,” a story expanded from Howard’s poem “Zukala’s Hour,” which did not feature Conan, and a final piece called “Devil Wings Over Shadizar,” which is a new story not directly connected to Howard. It was nominated in 1971 for best story by “The Academy of Comic-Book Arts,” and is interesting for its use of two characters named Fafnir and Blackrat.

Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian 6 (June 1971). Cover by Barry Windsor-Smith

Fafnir = big man, dressed as a barbarian, heavy red beard. Blackrat = little man, called rodent, more fancy in dress and in swordsmanship. Remind you of anyone? Maybe the story should have been called “Ill Met in Shadizar.”

Volume #3 reprints issues 7-9 of Conan the Barbarian, including “The Lurker Within,” which was adapted from Howard’s “God in the Bowl,” a Conan piece, “The Keepers of the Crypt,” loosely based on a Howard synopsis, and “The Garden of Fear,” which transforms Howard’s story of the same name into a Conan tale. The original featured the character of James Allison, who is remembering his past life as Hunwulf the Wanderer.

Conan the Barbarian #7-9, by Roy Thomas and Barry Barry Windsor-Smith
(Marvel Comics, July-September 1971). Covers by Barry Windsor-Smith

The stories were enjoyable. Roy Thomas, who I briefly met, seemed to have a pretty good feel for Conan, and Windswor-Smith has long been identified with his Conan art.

Charles Gramlich administers The Swords & Planet League group on Facebook, where this post first appeared. His last article for us was a review of two Sword & Sorcery anthologies, Savage Heroes and Heroic Fantasy. See all of his recent posts for Black Gate here.

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Length: 356 pages
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: February 17, 2026
ASIN: B0F92B9CCF
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley
Rating: 5/5 stars

“Agnes Aubert leads a meticulously organized life, and she likes it that way. As the proudly type-A manager of a cat rescue charity, she has devoted her life to finding forever homes for stray cats.

Now it’s the shelter that needs a new home. And the only landlord who will rent a space to a cat rescue is a mysterious man called Havelock—who also happens to be the world’s most infamous magician, running an illegal magic shop out of his basement. Havelock is cantankerous and eccentric, but not not handsome, and no, Agnes absolutely does not feel anything but disdain for him. After all, rumors swirl about his shadowy past—including whispers that his dark magic once almost brought about the apocalypse.

Then one day a glamorous magician comes looking for Havelock, putting the magic shop—and the cat shelter—in jeopardy. To save the shelter, Agnes will have to team up with the magician who nearly ended the world . . . and may now be trying to steal her heart.

Havelock is everything Agnes thinks she doesn’t need in her life: chaos, mischief, and a little too much adventure. But as she gets to know him, she discovers that he’s more than the dark magician of legend, and that she may be ready for a little intrigue—and romance—in her life. After all, second chances aren’t just for rescue cats. . . .”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got this on ebook through NetGalley for review.

Thoughts: I really enjoy Fawcett’s Emily Wilde series and expected (given the subject matter) I would enjoy this as well. I really loved this book right from the start. This is set in a vague Victorian type of fantasy world (at least it felt vaguely Victorian to me) where magicians exist.

Agnes is trying to find a new place for her cat shelter after dueling magicians blew up her last cat shelter. She finally finds a place that seems too good to be true….and….it is too good to be true. The new location harbors a horrible evil magician. However, as events play out, Agnes and the magician learn that they can support each other and maybe even make this new situation work to their advantage.

This was very well done with an intriguing world, interesting characters, lots of cats (obnoxious and cute ones), and lots of magic. There are some politics here and some light romance as well.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story about a normal woman who just wants to rescue cats and ends up thrown into the middle of a magical battle of sorts instead. The writing flows well, is easy to read, and is humorous, entertaining, and heartfelt. This is a self-contained story but I would love to see more books in this world.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I really loved this story. I enjoyed the characters, the magic, the cats, and how cozy this feels. Yes, there is danger and action, but in the end this is about Agnes finding a home for herself, her cats, her employees, and maybe even an evil magician. I loved the glimpse into this world and would love to see additional stories set here. If you are a fan of cozy Victorian fantasy, magic, and cats, definitely pick this one up. I am eagerly awaiting Fawcett’s next book!

…in the brand-new Kickstarter that just launched. It features my bestselling novel, Alien Influences, which The New York Times calls “a well conceived, well executed novel,” my award-winning novella, Broken Windchimes, and a brand-new collection of my science fiction stories, called Strange People, Stranger Places.

In addition, you can get all 28 Diving books in ebook format or more than 100 short stories in large collections. If we’re lucky enough to hit some stretch goals, you’ll get even more fiction and two workshops for writers and readers on the history of science fiction.

We have some writing workshops here as well, including my favorite—”Handwavium.” “Handwavium” is the art of making the reader believe in impossible things.

So lots of fun things and lots of reading. But hurry! The Kickstarter will disappear forever on March 12. Click here to see all the offerings.

The 13th Warrior (Touchstone Pictures, August 27, 1999) The 13th Warrior (102 minutes; 1999)

Written by William Wisher and Warren Lewis. Directed by John McTiernan

Based on the novel, Eaters of the Dead, by Michael Crichton, who also served as a producer and uncredited director.

What is it?

A version of the Beowulf story, as witnessed by an aristocratic Arab who accompanies a dozen Viking warriors into battle against a mysterious army of cannibalistic cavemen.

Noteworthy

Touchstone Films produced The 13th Warrior as a vehicle for star Antonio Banderas, bringing in John McTiernan (Die Hard) to direct. When test audiences proved unhappy with the results, famed writer Michael Crichton, who had penned the novel on which it was based, took over production. He reshot numerous scenes and took a broadsword to what McTiernan had already filmed. He even went so far as to toss out the… let us be charitable and say “interesting” musical score by Graeme Revell and replace it with unquestionably great new compositions by Jerry Goldsmith. The result is a film that is uneven in places, as one might expect from having multiple cooks in the kitchen, but spectacular in others.

The studio shelved the finished product for roughly a year, before unceremoniously shoving it out under a different title and with little fanfare to theaters in the summer of 1999. There it was promptly given a Viking funeral at the box office by bigger fish such as The Matrix, The Phantom Menace and The Mummy, despite it being better than any of those.

Omar Sharif and Antonio Banderas in The 13th Warrior

Banderas plays the central character, Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan, known to his Viking cohorts as “the Arab” and “Ibn.” The film also stars Scandinavian actors Dennis Storhoi and Vladimir Kulich, with Diane Venora as the queen – one of the very few female characters in the movie – and Tony Curran (Gladiator; League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) as one of the Vikings. The great Omar Sharif (Lawrence of Arabia; Dr Zhivago) appears briefly in the opening scenes as an aide to Banderas’s character.

Michael Crichton wrote the novel Eaters of the Dead in 1976 as a “found manuscript” supposedly composed by Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan, a real person who actually did journey up the Volga River and encounter Vikings during Medieval times. In Crichton’s fictional telling, the king of those Vikings is called Buliwyf, better known today as Beowulf. Fahdlan travels with them and documents their adventures.

Quick and Dirty Summary

An exiled Arab diplomat (and dandy) finds himself among a group of Vikings led by King Buliwyf. He is chosen to accompany them on a journey to save a distant Viking kingdom from attack. That kingdom is menaced by a mysterious, perhaps supernatural force called “The Wendol.” (“Stop saying it,” warns one survivor of their attack, who fears even the mention of their name.)

The Wendol turn out to be a group of mysterious, cannibalistic cave-dwellers. Crichton cleverly has them stand in for the “Grendel” creature of Beowulf fame, and in his novel suggests that they are from some other branch of humanity; perhaps the last of the Neanderthals, surviving into Medieval times.

During his travels and travails with the Vikings, Fahdlan grows tremendously as a warrior and as a man. He learns the Viking language, improves his fighting skills, and impresses the rugged men around him with his growing tenacity, courage and determination.

They fight off attacks by the Wendol against the Viking village, battle them deep in their creepy underground caves, and face them one last time on the surface.

At last, Ibn Fahdlan sails away for home, probably destined to chronicle the story of Beowulf. He has earned the friendship and the respect of the Vikings and, more importantly, his own self-respect.

Fantasy/SF/Sword & Sorcery Elements

Some would argue that Fahdlan learning to speak with the Vikings so quickly, simply by listening to them during their travels together, constitutes some kind of magic. For my part, I think the movie simply doesn’t make it clear enough that an enormous amount of time passes during this journey. Time enough for the Arab to pick up the basics of their language.

There’s sorcery by the “old woman” who rolls the bones and chooses Fahdlan to accompany the Viking squad on their mission, and there’s sorcery by “the Wendol’s mother” down in her cave. But this is all fairly light stuff. What this movie really is, at its heart, is a buddy-cop team-up quest. Fahdlan, a fish out of water (or rather, out of desert), finds himself having to accept the ways of a civilization he initially looks down on, and learn fighting skills from them, in order to survive and succeed against a truly terrifying enemy.

And we do get some fantastic battles between Vikings and cannibals! I mean, it’s not Pirates vs Ninjas, but still…!

High Point

After fighting off the Wendol hordes the first time, Builwyf chooses to take the fight to them. He leads his band of warriors down into the cave network where they lurk. There we get a great set of underground battle scenes to rival those in the Mines of Moria in The Fellowship of the Ring, with climbing, running, swinging over chasms, jumping and swimming – all while being pursued by an army of cannibalistic half-men! Hell yes!

Low Point

The very beginning and the final act are both uneven, resulting from rewrites and reshoots by Crichton. It’s easy to see that a great deal of the opening, including much of Omar Sharif’s time in the film, was cut. Similarly, the final battle in the village feels tacked on in a way, as if we needed to see one more heroic stand by the team, and check off the box for one more victory by Buliwyf, to properly put a bow on things.

The original McTiernan cut of this movie might well be weaker than the version we got. But I’d still like to compare them, to find out for myself who was right – if only the McTiernan cut would ever be released. That “interesting” Revell score, however, is available for listening on YouTube.

Standout Performance

Dennis Storhoi plays the Viking translator, Herger (or “Joyous”), who befriends Banderas’s character first. His performance is indeed joyous. He brings energy, warmth and light to the film, reacting to every situation, no matter how dire, with an upbeat sense of optimistic fatalism – if that can be called a thing. In other words, his attitude from start to finish is, We’re probably all going to die on this crazy mission, but let’s have fun in the meantime!

His attitude is summed up when he admonishes a terrified Fahdlan, “Go and hide in a hole if you wish, but you won’t live one instant longer. Your fate is fixed. Fear profits a man nothing.”

Later, a Viking tosses the Arab a huge sword, and Fahdlan complains that he can’t even lift it. Herger’s response is instantaneous, his solution all too logical and delivered with a warm smile: “Grow stronger!”

Overall Evaluation as a Movie and as Fantasy/SF/Sword & Sorcery

The 13th Warrior might, in some ways, be a mess of a movie. But it is a glorious, delightful, and extremely fun mess! Let’s be honest: There are many worse ways to spend a couple of hours than watching Antonio Banderas and his merry band of Vikings fight the Wendol.

The Wendol?

Stop saying it!!

Van Allen Plexico is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a Grand Master of Pulp Literature (2025 class) and a multiple-award-winning author of more than two dozen novels and anthologies, ranging from space opera to Kaiju to crime fiction to superheroes to military SF. Find his works on Amazon and at Plexico.net.

Thank you all for bearing with us yesterday through the technical difficulties. It was not the BDH enthusiasm (this time!) but I will let Ilona tell you more about it another day. Just happy to be back.

I come with the promissed reminder about the Imagine Books preorder for their resale edition of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me, which is now live.

What is a resale edition?

Imagine Books are purchasing the hardcover teal-edged edition directly from the publisher, then creating a redesigned, double-sided dust jacket with foiling, page overlays and bookmarks with character art.

The book:

The extras:

• Signed bookplate sticker with House Andrews autographs
• Redesigned front dust jacket with foiling: @jescole.art
• Reverse dust jacket: @davidev.art
• Page overlays: @avoccatt_art
• Bookmark with character art

A page overlay is a semi-transparent illustrated sheet designed to be placed inside the book over a specific page — essentially a removable full-page art print tied to a scene.

This is a limited run and Imagine Books typically do not offer reprints. It is open to everyone and does not require subscription. Before you ask: yes, there are two more US special editions not yet announced officially. I cannot speak about them, do not mine me for information, I am bound by contract.

Preorder: Imagine Books Shop website

Price: $42.99 plus tax plus shipping. Add on option: additional page overlay $11.99

Shipping: International.

Shipping date: This resale edition is estimated to ship in JUNE. So later than the book release at the end of March (only 27 more days!). This is because the featured custom art must be produced and shipped to Imagine Books before they send the customized books to you.

DISCLAIMER: For all additional inquiries, please contact Imagine Book Shop.
House Andrews did not commission this edition and are not involved with order fulfillment. This was done through the main publishers, Tor.

The post This Kingdom Imagine Books Edition first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

 

Buy This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me
Read Mihir's Review!

FORMAT/INFO: This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me will be published by Tor Books on March 31st, 2026. It is 480 pages long and available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook formats.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: While waiting long years for the third and final book to come out in her favorite dark fantasy series, Maggie has had plenty of time to obsessively read the first two books in the trilogy. Which is why when she wakes up in an unfamiliar city, it doesn't take her long to realize she's in the world of Kair Toren - and the events of book one are just beginning to happen. With no clues as to how to return to her own world, Maggie decides she might as well try to help Kair Toren out and prevent a deadly civil war that will destroy the city and many of her favorite characters. Of course, Maggie's knowledge only helps her figure out things written in the books...and as she quickly remembers, this is a series with an unwritten ending....

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me is a smart and engaging portal fantasy that grounds the story by taking the stakes of its fantasy world seriously. When we meet Maggie, she's been in Kair Toren for a few days, and has already come to terms with the fact that somehow, some way, she's in a fantasy setting, one that is every bit as brutal as it is portrayed in the book. Maggie doesn't try to carelessly pull shenanigans or run off to romance a tall dark handsome hero. Instead, she decides that if she accepts that this world and these people are real, then she has to do everything in her power to stop the deadly future that will destroy countless lives.

One thing I really liked about the approach to this story is that Maggie doesn't set herself up in the castle in the middle of the limelight. She decides to work from the shadows, hoping to nudge events while staying unnoticed. She rallies a crew, establishes some connections, and tries to become a credible source of information without drawing too much interest. In this game of intrigue, Maggie knows all the story threads; it's just a matter of figuring out which ones to pull.

There were a few times I felt like Maggie's "trick" of knowing things about people or events was a little overdone, occasionally making her feel like a one-trick pony as she rattles off another monologue detailing intimate knowledge of a character's backstory. But there's enough other things going on that those were minor bumps in the road. There's still so much skullduggery, blackmail, and tense negotiations that I frequently found myself forgetting that Maggie was from our world, until an occasional throwaway line would reference Netflix. It does genuinely feel like another gripping dark fantasy novel, which is key to making this story work.

The other slight hiccup was the romance subplot. While there were many parts of the romance in this book that I liked, it also started to veer into a trope that isn't my favorite. Time will tell how things play out in the long run, but I definitely preferred some sections over others.

(For those curious, this is a no spice story, and the romance subplot IS a subplot. This is not a fantasy romance.)

For a story featuring a protagonist who should know how everything is supposed to go, This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me had plenty of twists and turns. The more Maggie meddles, the more unexpected things become as events unfold differently. I have a feeling we'll be fairly off the rails when the second book comes around, and I am absolutely dying to see where things go.

 

A young couple – Mavis and Jerrod – have what seems to be a wonderful marriage despite the tension that has been simmering for years between Mavis and her parents. The novel’s action kickstarts early when Mavis gets into a very bad car accident. The first oddity she realizes is that she knew the other…

In reply to Anthony.

Yes, that’s exactly what they do.

Mickey never imagined her life would turn out this way. But she learned the hard way that life holds many surprises. Seeking solace on the skating rink, she discovers that life’s changes hold hope for new beginnings—if only she knows where to look.

“Skating in Time” is available on this site for one week only. You can get the story as a standalone ebook on all retail sites. Enjoy!

Skating in Time Kristine Kathryn Rusch

 

MICKEY STOOD and turned slowly on the thin orange carpeting. They never played Mozart at the roller rink. If they did, she’d go out there and skate with the finesse of Dorothy Hamill. She’d pretend she was on ice, wearing a small, glittery costume, performing for thousands of fans. Her movements would be as elegant as the music, with little trills and delicate pauses, light with an undertone of warmth.

If only. Her life had been full of idle daydreams. She had never gone to college, never tried the glamorous activities of her imagination. All she knew of Mozart, besides the fact that she loved his music, was that he had died young. Like Carl. Her heart tightened, and she made herself breathe. Nearly a year now. She could live without him. She had lived without him for eleven months, twelve days and ten hours.

Mickey rolled up the ramp and onto the floor as Elvis launched into “Jailhouse Rock.” For one giddy moment, her feet threatened to slide out from under her, then she got her balance and moved forward.

As she gained speed on the straightway, the years left her body. She was thirteen, when she’d skated every Friday night until closing, staring at the guys and swaying with the beat. She’d given all this up when she married Carl. They’d been oh-so-serious at eighteen, straight out of high school and determined to be adults. She’d gone to work, cooked and cleaned, and cuddled with Carl on her days off from the travel agency. He came home at night, ate her meals and watched television, never saying a word about the lumber company or his experiences in the woods. A skidder had killed him and, up until the day of his death, she hadn’t even known what a skidder was.

A man clomped by her, clearly on skates to please his date. Mickey watched him: a frown on his face, pot belly, feet sticking out at an awkward angle. A woman passed him, skating backwards, shouting instructions. He clomped harder. As the woman disappeared into the crowd, Mickey found herself beside him

“You ski?” she asked.

He looked at her and had to kick a skate forward to keep his balance. She extended her hand to catch him if he fell. “Yeah, I ski every Sunday.”

“They tell me it’s the same motion,” she said. “I don’t ski so I don’t know.”

And then she passed him, crossing into the corner to a singer whose name she could never remember, a deep-voiced man who cried about summer loves. The woman skated past again, still going backward, weaving in and out among the other skaters as if she’d been born on wheels.

Mickey skated around the rink a few more times, wondering if her desire to hear Mozart was a wish to make the sport more serious, less fun. She didn’t have to be graceful on the rink. The only graceful person here was skating with a frown on her face and her nose in the air. The other skaters flopped and flailed and laughed as they fell. Since the month after Carl’s death, Mickey had been coming here every Thursday for the sense of community. Although she rarely spoke to anyone, she just knew that if she landed on her back, someone would put a hand under her shoulder and help her up.

The smell of hot dogs and popcorn from the concession stand grew stronger with each turn, and finally she followed the aroma off the rink. She leaned against the greasy counter, bought a diet soda and a hot dog with everything, then sat at one of the picnic benches and watched the other skaters as she ate.

The man she’d helped skated off the rink. His movements had eased; his legs flowed beneath him rather than jerked along. He made his way across the floor, stopping when he reached her table.

“Hey, you know, you were right,” he said. “It is just like skiing.”

She smiled, feeling awkward with the large, messy hot dog in her hand. “You look a lot more comfortable now.”

“I am.” He had a nice face, chocolate-brown eyes and ears that stuck out a tad too far from his scalp. “You said you’d never been skiing.”

Her heart thudded against her chest and her fingers dug into the hot dog. She tried not to expect anything but still found herself wondering what she’d do if he asked her. “No, I never have.”

He glanced at the rink, at the frowning woman circling backward. His smile, when he looked back at Mickey, appeared apologetic. “You ought to try it sometime,” he said.

“I will,” she smiled.

He skated by her to the concession stand and she took another bite of her hot dog. It tasted gritty and slightly charred—delicious. Carl said hot dogs were made of things no human should eat and so she hadn’t had one the entire time she was married. She hadn’t skated, she hadn’t skied, she hadn’t done anything because adults didn’t have fun.

She glanced at the man waiting for his food. If he did ask her out, she’d say no. Dating was too adult. She needed time to feel her heart thud like a teenager’s when she talked to a man; time to eat a decade’s worth of hot dogs; time to skate around the rink until she was exhausted. Her desire to hear Mozart had nothing to do with being an adult. It came from an urge to be different, to break rules she’d followed for too long.

She got up and skated out onto the floor, her plastic wheels rumbling beneath her. She had loved Carl, but he was gone, and she had some of herself to rebuild. She smiled and felt the breeze blow the hair off her face.

Next week, she’d bring a Mozart tape and ask them to play it—something lively and warm.

 

“Skating in Time” Copyright © by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Published by WMG Publishing
Cover and Layout copyright © by WMG Publishing
Cover art copyright © Alexander Kataytsev/Dreamstime

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

Any use of this publication to train generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) technologies is expressly prohibited. The author and publisher reserve all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.

 

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I’ve been playing a lot of Halo lately.

I don’t think that’s quite the same, my dude.

Shhh, if he figures out electronics he’ll want his own phone next.

I gets it. See dis my zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzoom meeting.

Guys, being the dimmest bulb on the tree is my gig. Lay off.

Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk have become geek icons. A Knight’s Tale, Castle, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Resident Alien, The Rookie: they’ve built successful careers over the years. Their real-life friendship, and their nerdy idol status, tracks back to Firefly.

Some day I’ll go in depth on this ill-fated cult classic. Fox aired the episodes out of order, switched nights, then canceled it with some episodes unaired. A ‘tie up some loose ends’ movie (Serenity) followed. Firefly developed a dedicated following and Fillion and the actors became popular at fan conventions around the country. Fillion’s profile skyrocketed when Castle ran for eight hit seasons on ABC. And as his mainstream popularity soared, he became one of the most recognizable figures in the geek world.

Tudyk and Fillion had worked together several years ago on Alan’s hilarious web series, Con Man (mentioned below). Three months ago, they started a podcast together, and it’s fantastic. Episodes of Once We Were Spacemen are 45 minutes to 1 hour long, and it’s two long-time buddies hanging out. They share stories from their friendship, acting careers, and geek experiences. And they are as likable and funny as you hoped. Even more so.

There have been 16 episodes so far. It’s a two-hander about half the time, with a guest about every other show. So far, they’ve brought on Jewel Staite (FF– Kaylee), Gina Torres (FF – Zoe), Mark Addy (A Knight’s Tale), Alexi Hawley (Showrunner, The Rookie), Melissa O’Neill (Lucy, The Rookie), Seth Green (Austin Powers), Sean Maher (FF – Simon), and Summer Glau (FF – River).

There is so much laughter, so many funny stories. Their guests legit love these two guys, who seem to be genuinely awesome people. Hearing Fillion ‘make’ Tudyk get a Playstation when they became friends, so Alan could play Halo with Fillion’s buddies, on a LAN, shows these are real guys. Not Hollywood twits.

The insights into acting, and steps along their career paths, is terrific. Tudyk was an ass during one audition. And later, that very nearly kept him from getting Resident Alien. Just cool stuff.

I only discovered this show last week, and I’m ten episodes in. I’ve loved every one. Time flies. I watch The Rookie, and Fillion talking about that with his boss, and then also with a co-star, was neat. And the bonds formed during Firefly bleeds out with those guests.

If you are a fan of either actor (and you should be), and/or one of their shows or movies, you’re gonna like this. It’s all podcast; no video. I Youtube it. They add special effects, and fill in missing info in post-edit.

I hope there’s some Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog content. Maybe get Neil Patrick Harris, or Felicia Day. But I can unreservedly recommend this podcast.

UPDATE – Also, Nathan Filion is, currently, going around and visiting the actors from Firefly, in little Instagram reels. He has visited Zoe, Simon, River, and Inara. All with the message “Is it happening?” “Oh, it’s happening.”

Fillion later added it’s not a convention, podcast, or cross-over. I doubt it’s a reboot of Firefly. There are new Firefly Funkos coming out (announced last Summer). But the 2014 ones are still available. It will be disappointing if that’s all this is about. But it’s fun so far. I twas told Jewel is commenting on the reels.

CON MAN

Somewhat related, I’ll talk a little about Con Man. Tudyk talks about the making of this 2015-2017 web series, which was crowd funded and cost him his agents at the time. There are 25 episodes of about 12-15 minutes each, and it’s a pure homage to sci-fi/geek fandom. There are a TON of cameos (mostly sci-fi, but Sean Astin and Lou Ferrigno have big parts, for example). It’s very much a Firefly tribute, with Tudyk and Fillion’s characters’ having starred in a short-lived cult classic called Spectrum. Season two is about a Spectrum reunion, which every Firefly fan can relate to. There’s an amusing scene where Sean Mahan (as himself) corrects Tudyk’s character: “It’s Firefly. Serenity is the movie.” And Tudyk is like “Yeah, whatever.”

Casper Van Dien keeps popping up as the bartender (in different bars), and it’s a Who’s Who of sci-fi faces. Alan’s manager, played by Mindy Sterling, is beyond insanely funny. Amy Acker, Felicia Day, Tricia Helfer – some folks are in multiple episodes.

These are short, easy to binge episodes. Tudyk is simply fantastic (he yearns to be in a Clint Eastwood Western, not this sci-fi stuff). Tudyk had a superb one-episode guest stint on Justified (no humor at all), and he references that in his character’s woes. This is a really funny show which I appreciate on multiple levels.

I’ve watched it multiple times and am still looking for cameos. I know it streams on Prime, and the Roku Channel.

OTHER PODCASTS

I’m gonna write about two other geek podcasts (one ongoing, one dead) sometime.

The Psychologists are In is my all-time favorite podcast. It’s a dream come true. Maggie Lawson (Juliet) and Timothy Omundson (Lassiter) go through my all-time favorite show – Psych – episode by episode. Plus they do some other stuff. Partners on show, they are real life best buds, and it couldn’t come through more.

The behind-the-scenes info on Psych is priceless, and they have a slew of guests on. If a Psych fan asked for a podcast about the show, this is the best they could have hoped for. I love it.

 

The Friendship Onion was Lord of the Rings nerd heaven. Billy Boyd (Pippin) and Dominic Monaghan (Merry) are also real life friends who hang out together in LA. They did a video podcast which was nerd-filled fun. As a weekly feature, they had listeners suggest a food to try. They would picks something they’d never had, and record their reactions to it.

Behind-the-scenes money issues led to the show’s cancellation. Sounds like corporate shenanigans. They did well over a hundred episodes, and they really had fun. If you like the hobbits, or LoTR, you should go back and listen to the show. There’s a LOT to hear.

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.

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mark Lawrence was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, to British parents but moved to the UK at the age of one. After earning a PhD in mathematics at Imperial College London, he went back to the US to work on a variety of research projects, including the “Star Wars” missile-defense program. Since returning to the UK, he has worked mainly on image processing and decision/reasoning theory. He never had any ambition to be a writer, so he was very surprised when a half-hearted attempt to find an agent turned into a global publishing deal overnight. His first trilogy, The Broken Empire, has been universally acclaimed as a groundbreaking work of fantasy, and both Emperor of Thorns and The Liar’s Key have won the David Gemmell Legend Award for best fantasy novel. Mark is married, with four children, and lives in Bristol.
Publisher:Ace (March 24, 2026) Length: 416 pages Formats: all

I’ll read anything Mark Lawrence writes. This is partly loyalty, partly curiosity, and partly trust. Mark never writes the same book twice. His series always feel different from each other. Daughter of Crows might also have his best cover yet (which is impressive, given how good the Library trilogy looked). It’s also his best novel so far.
Now. I love The Book of the Ancestor with my whole heart, but this? This is bloody brilliant.
Rue is the reason. She is sharp, furious, stubborn, and held together by scars and bad memories. Fantasy rarely gives us elderly female leads, and almost never ones this dangerous or this compelling. I loved watching her limp, calculate, remember, and kill. The other half of fun is figuring out who she used to be.
The book runs on two timelines: present-day Rue hunting the mercenaries who destroyed her quiet life, and past Rue being forged into what she became. The past sections take us through a childhood that would make a nightmare ask for a night-light, and then to the Academy of Kindness - a school whose definition of kindness involves death rates. One hundred girls enter. Three leave. The rest, well, they contribute to the curriculum.
Interestingly, the past sections add backstory but also continue to reframe everything. The twists are all strong, starting early and tightening as the timelines converge. You can play detective if you want; the clues are there, but chances are just when you think you’ve solved it, another revelation will prove you were wrong.
I loved how Lawrence played with mythology here. Daughter of Crows incorporates a fascinating take on Furies, vengeance cults, divine bargains, and afterlife journeys. A heady mix, but it’s done well. The world runs on old laws, older gods, and the idea that justice and cruelty might be the same blade held at different angles. That theme shows up everywhere, from the Academy’s philosophy to Rue’s own moral math.
Daughter of Crows is dark. Children die. Mercy is rare and some scenes edge into horror. At times, it makes other grimdark novels look like they brought a candle. And yet the book still finds space for dry, perfectly timed humor. My favorite line comes when Rue considers bringing proof of her kills:
“She had considered bringing the heads from Debban's hut and tossing them before her when challenged, but the brothers had been balding beneath their caps, and heads without hair were awkward to carry.”
That line tells you everything about Rue. Practical. Violent. Mildly inconvenienced by logistics.
The story moves when it should and slows down only when it matters. The violence hits hard but never feels there just for shock value. The prose is sharp and purposeful. Lawrence always seems to know when to let a moment breathe and when to end it.
I finished it with one clear thought: I may have just found my favorite book of 2026. It’s going to take something extraordinary to beat it.