Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy award-winning writer Kij Johnson’s debut solo novel, The Fox Woman, was first published in the year 2000. It’s based on the traditional Japanese fairy tale about Kaya no Yoshifuji and incorporates the author’s research on Heian-era Japan and foxes. Though artfully written, I have mixed feelings about The Fox Woman, which is good story hindered by its slow pace. The tale of The Fox Woman is told by alternating between the journals of three unhappy individuals: Kaya no Yoshifuji, his wife Shikujo, […]

Masks and Shadows is the first published adult novel by Stephanie Burgis, author of the award-winning Kat, Incorrigible series. This historical fantasy, set almost entirely within the Eszterháza Palace in Hungary in 1779, is an enjoyable story with conspiracy, romance, and music—the latter of which Stephanie Burgis has firsthand experience with since she studied music history as a Fulbright Scholar and worked for an opera company. Shortly after becoming a widow, Baroness Charlotte von Steinbeck is invited to visit Eszterháza Palace by her […]

Book Description from Goodreads: Set in 1800 in Britain, Mad King George is on the throne with Napoleon Bonaparte knocking on the door. Unregistered magic users are pursued to the death, while in every genteel home resides uncomplaining rowankind bondservants who have become so commonplace that no one can recall where they came from. Meanwhile, Rossalinde Tremayne is satisfied with her life as a cross-dressing privateer captain on the high seas. But a bitter deathbed visit to her estranged mother […]

Book Description from Penguin Group Website: In this sparkling debut, magic and mayhem clash with the British elite… The Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers, one of the most respected organizations throughout all of England, has long been tasked with maintaining magic within His Majesty’s lands. But lately, the once proper institute has fallen into disgrace, naming an altogether unsuitable gentleman—a freed slave who doesn’t even have a familiar—as their Sorcerer Royal, and allowing England’s once profuse stores of magic to […]

Today I’m delighted to be revealing the cover of Winterwood by Jacey Bedford! This historical fantasy is the first book in a new series, Rowankind—and it both looks and sounds wonderful (the tagline on the cover mentions many things that are fun to read about). Winterwood will be released on February 2, 2016, but one person reading this will have the chance to read it early: I have one ARC (advance copy) to give away, courtesy of DAW Books! ABOUT […]

In Midnight’s Silence is the first book in the series of Los Nefilim novellas by T. Frohock. The second book in the series, Without Light or Guide, is scheduled for release on November 3 with the third, The Second Death, planned for March 2016. These are only available in ebook, and although I very much prefer print and rarely read books unavailable in that format, I made an exception for this one since I loved the author’s debut novel, the […]