Scourge of the Betrayer is Jeff Salyard’s debut novel and the first book in a new fantasy series, Bloodsounder’s Arc. (Though additional books in the series are forthcoming, I haven’t been able to find much information about them.) When I received it I was interested because it was said to be a “gritty” fantasy novel, and I hadn’t read one of those in awhile. While I thought there was some decent parts about Scourge of the Betrayer, I ended up […]

Today I’m one of the participants in SF Signal’s Mind Meld, which is about monarchies in fantasy. The question we’re responding to is: Q: Why are kingdoms with monarchs the default political setup in many secondary fantasy world novels? What are the advantages and disadvantages of such political structures? What are some exceptions to this? It’s a pretty interesting question to consider, especially since I decided my initial response to it was only a piece of the puzzle. There are […]

The Leaning Pile of Books is a feature where I talk about books I got over the last week – old or new, bought or received for review. Since I hope you will find new books you’re interested in reading in these posts, I try to be as informative as possible. If I can find them, links to excerpts, author’s websites, and places where you can find more information on the book are included. This week I bought two books […]

Instead of writing one huge post of all the books I’m looking forward to in 2012 with info on them, I had decided to highlight some of these books in their own posts throughout the rest of 2011. I’ve decided to carry this feature forward into this year as I discover new books coming out this year that sound interesting and continue with books of 2013 as it gets closer to the end of the year. This has very quickly […]

No Peace for the Damned is an urban fantasy debut by Megan Powell. It was just released in trade paperback, ebook, and audio book this week. The second book in The Damned series, No Rest for the Damned, will be released later this year. Ever since she was a little girl, Magnolia Kelch has been tortured and experimented on by her powerful father. All she has ever wanted is to escape from the clutches of her supernatural family and one […]

The Leaning Pile of Books is a feature where I talk about books I got over the last week – old or new, bought or received for review. Since I hope you will find new books you’re interested in reading in these posts, I try to be as informative as possible. If I can find them, links to excerpts, author’s websites, and places where you can find more information on the book are included. This week brought 2 review copies […]