Reviews
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The House of the Four Winds by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory : Review
The rulers of tiny, impoverished Swansgaard have twelve daughters and one son. While the prince’s future is assured, his twelve sisters must find their own fortunes. Disguising herself as Clarence, a sailor, Princess…
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Review: William Shakespeare’s Star Wars: The Jedi Doth Return, by Ian Doescher
Once more unto the Death Star, dear friends! The epic trilogy that began with William Shakespeare’s Star Wars and continued with The Empire Striketh Back concludes herein with the all-new, all-iambic The Jedi Doth Return — perchance the…
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Elderwood Manor by Christopher Fulbright and Angeline Hawkes : Review
Things fall apart—Bruce Davenport knows this all too well. On the heels of his wife’s death, laid-off and penniless with an eviction notice on the door, the only thing left for him and…
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The Exiled by William Meikle : Review
When several young girls are abducted from various locations in Edinburgh, Detective John Granger and his brother Alan, a reporter, investigate the cases from different directions. The abductor is cunning, always one step…
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The Wurms of Blearmoth by Steven Erikson: Review
Tyranny comes in many guises, and tyrants thrive in palaces and one-room hovels, in back alleys and playgrounds. Tyrants abound on the verges of civilization, where disorder frays the rule of civil conduct…
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Relic of Death by David Bernstein : Review
When two mob enforcers take care of a hit in the suburban countryside, they stumble onto a seemingly abandoned house. While searching the place, they find a simple leather briefcase full of what…
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Magic City: Recent Spells edited by Paula Guran : Review
Bright lights, big city… magic spells, witchcraft, wizardry, fairies, devilry, and more. Urban living, at least in fantasy fiction, is full of both magical wonder and dark enchantment. Street kids may have supernatural…
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A Dance of Cloaks by David Dalglish : Review
Thren Felhorn is the greatest assassin of his time. Marshalling the thieves’ guilds under his control, he declares war against the Trifect, an allegiance of wealthy and powerful nobles. Aaron Felhorn has been…
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The Treasury of the Fantastic edited by David Sandner and Jacob Weisman : Review
The fantastic, the supernatural, the poetic, and the macabre entwine in this incomparable culmination of storytelling. Imaginative stories of wit and intelligence weave through vivid landscapes that are alternately wondrous and terrifying.…
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Review: William Shakespeare’s Star Wars: The Empire Striketh Back, by Ian Doescher
The saga that began with the interstellar best seller William Shakespeare’s Star Wars continues with this merry reimagining of George Lucas’s enduring classic The Empire Strikes Back. Many a fortnight have passed since the destruction of…
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Writing "Flawed" Characters
Rule number one of writing a character: that character must have flaws. It’s probably the most basic fact of writing, and yet is very easy for a poor or inexperienced writer to get…
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Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
Saladin Ahmed’s Throne of the Crescent Moon is his debut novel and the first of the Crescent Moon Kingdoms trilogy. Its very title declares its departure from the usual Euro-centric fantasy. We read…
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The Polaris Whisperer by Kenneth Gregory : Review
It is a dark time. For decades Hakon the Black, the most feared Norse Lord of the ninth century, has conducted bloody and gruesome raids throughout Europe, and laid his claim upon the…
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Prince Thief by David Tallerman : Review
(This is the 3rd book in a series. My review for book two, Crown Thief can be found here.) Altapasaeda, capital of the Castoval, is about to be besieged by its own king –…
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Review: What the Faeries Left Behind, by Amber Michelle Cook
After coming home from a monotonous office job to the apartment where she lives alone, thirty-something Abigail Watson is having a tough day in a hard week in a rotten month, and don’t…
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The Boleyn King by Laura Anderson : Review
Just seventeen years old, Henry IX, known as William, is a king bound by the restraints of the regency yet anxious to prove himself. With the French threatening battle and the Catholics sowing…
