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A SEA OF BROKEN GLASS by Sonya M. Black
392 pages, published on March 29, 2019, Order it here

Secrets have a price.

After enduring weeks of torture and being convicted of witchery, Ris escapes, only to discover the Darkness and the Lady are hunting her. They need the magic that sings within her.

A TALE OF STARS AND SHADOW by Lisa Cassidy
502 pages, published on May 18th, 2019, Order it here

The Shadowhawk lives a life in the shadows. Constantly hunted for his criminal exploits, yet desperate to help the human folk of Mithranar who are oppressed by their winged folk rulers, he haunts the streets of Dock City. The arrival of a foreign warrior threatens to upset the carefully balanced life he leads, but when she begins to offer a hope for the humans he’s only ever dreamed of, can he risk trusting her?

And unbeknownst to both, a mysterious foe stalks the dark corners of Dock City. One that answers to a single purpose…

Vengeance.

BEGGAR'S REBELLION by Levi Jacobs
368 pages, published on February 17th, 2019, Order it here

BLADE'S EDGE by Virginia McClain
314 pages, Published on January 23rd, 2015, Order it here

Mishi and Taka live each day of their lives with the shadow of death lurking behind them. The struggle to hide the elemental powers that mark the two girls as Kisōshi separates them from the other orphans, yet forges a deep bond between them.

When Mishi is dragged from the orphanage at the age of eight, the girls are unsure if or when they will find each other again. While their powers grow with each season-cycle, the girls must come to terms with their true selves--Mishi as a warrior, Taka as a healer--as they forge separate paths which lead to the same horrifying discovery.

BLOOD OF HEIRS by Alicia Wanstall-Burke 
323 pages, published on October 23rd, 2018, Order it here

Lidan Tolak is the fiercest of her father’s daughters; more than capable of one day leading her clan. But caught between her warring parents, Lidan’s world begins to unravel when another of her father’s wives falls pregnant. Before she has time to consider the threat of a brother, a bloody swathe is cut through the heart of the clan and Lidan must fight, not only to prove her worth, but simply to survive.

Ranoth Olseta wants nothing more than to be a worthy successor to his father’s throne. When his home is threatened by the aggressive Woaden Empire, Ran becomes his city’s saviour, but powers within him are revealed by the enemy and he is condemned to death. Confused and betrayed, Ran is forced to flee his homeland, vowing to reclaim what he has lost, even if it kills him.

FORTUNE'S FOOL by Angela Boord
737 pages, published on May 18th, 2019, Order it here

Cast out of the safe and luxurious world of silk to which she was born, played as a pawn in a game of feuding Houses, Kyrra navigates a dangerous world of mercenaries, spies, and smugglers while disguising herself as a man.

War destroyed her family and the man she loved.

Vengeance is within her grasp.

But is she willing to pay its price?

Ein is on a mission from God. A God of Death.

Time is up for the Emperor of Ten Kings and it falls to a murdered eight year old boy to render the judgement of a God. Ein knows he can't do it alone, but the empire is rife with heroes. The only problem; in order to serve, they must first die.

SPARK CITY by Robert J. Power
421 pages, published on March 1st, 2018, Order it here

Welcome back to Fantasy Book Critic James. Thank you for your time. It’s been over a decade since we had you over for some questions. Since then you have racked up many an accomplishment. What would you say has been your most fun thing in this past decade?

JR: Thanks, Mihir. It has been a busy decade—both writing-wise and personally. During the first decade or so of my career, I was writing a fantasy novel (under “James Clemens”) and a thriller (under “James Rollins) every year. Then these past ten years, I’ve still been doing two books per year, but it’s been a thriller and some “other” project: stand-alone novels, middle-school fantasy adventures, co-written projects. So, I’m exciting as I start my 21st year as a published author to return to my roots, to writing a fantasy novel and thriller every year. As to what has been the most fun over the past decade, personally it’s been getting to know many of my readers over a longer breadth of time that can only come from writing for so many years. I’ve made many enduring friendships, some that started as email exchanges and have evolved to staying at each other’s houses.

Just a few weeks ago, the fantasy landscape was rocked by the EW announcement about your triumphant return to the realms of fantasy. Can you walk your fans about how this return was initiated?

JR: I’ve never fully strayed away from fantasy. Many of my “other” projects have had a distinctly fantastical edge: from the middle-school adventures of Jake Ransom to a co-written trilogy of novels that dealt with vampires. But there’s been a unique story that’s been building for 7-8 years. It started as an idea that got imbedded in my head, and once that happened, I had a hard time dislodging it. The only way to address it was to begin building that world, populating it, layering its history, even consulting a few scientists. Eventually it became too large to ignore and I knew it had to be written.

All your fantasy fans (yes we Clemens fans are outnumbered by your Rollins ones) have been patiently awaiting you to return to your fantasy roots since 2006. However, you are writing your new series under your Rollins pseudonym, what lead to this shift?

JR: Mostly for the sake of transparency. It’s been a poorly kept secret that James Rollins and James Clemens are indeed the same person. Its mentioned at every book-signing and comes up often during discussions online. So, it seemed disingenuous after so long to pretend this new series was not being written by me and publishing it under the Clemens penname. Also from the sake of practicality, it’s easier to keep everything under one name versus schizophrenically splitting my writing into two artificially constructed camps.

From what has been revealed so far, it’s pretty obvious that this book is an amalgam of many genres. It has many aspects that make your titles so alluring: 
- A vast character cast of both antagonistic and sympathetic folks, 
- An environment that plays a central factor within the story, 
- A magic system that’s unique and yet complex as well 
What would you say is compelling about this story and why you choose to write this for your comeback?

JR: The storyline drew me for many reasons. The setting is unlike any seen in fantasy before, so the challenge of breathing life into this world was undeniably compelling. But it’s also the characters that always draw me in. I was living with Elena (from the “Banned and Banished” series) for years before setting her story to paper. Same with Tylar from the “Godslayer Chronicles”  It’s when you know those characters so well that they go from whispering in your ear to demanding to be heard that I can’t help but write them and share them with the world. For this new series, it wasn’t just one character clamoring in my ear, but a whole diverse and unique cast. How could I not write them into existence?

Was the writing process any different for this new book and did you face any challenges with this genre shift especially after having written the SIGMA thrillers as well the horror tinged Sanguine books over the last decade?

JR: Not really. There are unique challenges in every genre, and one of my joys of writing is to mix and merge genres. My Sigma thrillers are part historical mystery, part scientific speculation, and part adventure fiction. Even for my fantasy novels under James Clemens, I drew upon my veterinary background to make the “creatures” in my books as realistic as possible. And for this new series, I take a similar approach—but in a much more extreme and challenging way.

You know I’m probably one of the (if not the biggest fan) of your Godslayer Chronicles. So I have to ask this question on behalf of all of those who are waiting for the next book(s) in the saga? What can you reveal about the future of Myrillia literally & figuratively? When can we expect to read God Sword?

JR: Like I mentioned, I can’t ignore those characters demanding for their stories to be told. In the background, I’ve been continuing the story of Tylar ser Noche. The rough draft for the third book in the “Godslayer” series (tentatively titled God Sword) is finished, as is about half of the fourth book. My longterm plan is to finish all five books before putting them out in the world.

I’d like to see the entire remainder of the Godslayer Chronicles all published en-masse, or at least spaced close together, like 4-5 months apart. As big and complex as this series becomes, I think it would be best to be consumed more quickly than spaced a year apart. That’s why I’d like to get the entire five books written before starting the publication conveyor belt. What year will we see that happen? It’s hard to say until I get a better feel on balancing a thriller and fantasy per year and see how much extra time I have to work.

How will your writing schedule be for the next few years? Can fans expect a fantasy & thriller release every year similar to what you did from 1999 to 2006?

JR: That is the plan—both for this new series and beyond.

Can you share something about the book that’s not mentioned in the blurb and why fans of your previous works should be excited for this new story?

JR: Hmm, I’m somewhat under some restraint on what I can and can’t reveal. But I will offer one bit of extra information. I mentioned above that I love to create fully realized creatures in my books. For this new series, I’m working with a brilliant graphic artist to create biological sketches for the bestiary of this series. Those sketches will be part of each novel as one of the characters in the new series is a naturalist who will be journaling the quest, revealing in stunning detail the beauty and horrors of this new world.

What are your currently writing? What will be next for you under your Rollins name?

JR: My next Sigma thriller, The Last Odyssey, comes out next March, which marks a major turning point in the series. And I’m currently writing the follow-up, tentatively titled The Savage Zone.

Thank you again for taking the time to chat with us, Jim. 2021 can’t come soon enough for The Starless Crown’s release? Anything else you have going on right now that you'd like the world to know about?

JR: Not that I’m at liberty to speak about right now. But stay tuned (and yes, that’s a hint)!

Official Author Website
Pre-order Ashes Of Onyx over HERE
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of Dämoren
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of Hounacier
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of Ibenus 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of Redemptor Read Fantasy Book Critic interview with Seth Skorkowsky
Read Building The Perfect Revolver by Seth Skorkowsky (guest post)

Seth Skorkowsky is an author who has wowed us since his debut. Since the release of Dämoren, his Valducan series has gone from strength to strength.

Today we are proud to exclusively reveal the cover for his newest book Ashes Of Onyx. With design provided by Mibl Art, Ashes Of Onyx is a deep, dark dive into many genres. So checkout the striking cover below and be sure to pre-order it when it releases on 28th January 2020.

Welcome back to Fantasy Book Critic Seth. Thank you for your time. Can you tell us what you have been up to in the past year?

SS: The past year has been really busy for me. Apart from writing, I have a regular YouTube channel that mostly covers Tabletop Roleplaying Games. It won the Gold ENnie Award from Best Online Content this past GenCon, and takes a lot of my time. But it’s been a whole lot of fun to do.

Since you signed with City Owl Press for Ashes Of Onyx, can you tell us about this title and how this story came to be?

SS: Like any novel, it didn’t really come from a single idea, but a combination of lots of different ones. I’ve always been a fan of Clive Barker and enjoyed the way he regularly blended Horror and Portal Fantasy in many of his novels, and I’ve always wanted to try that. I also wanted to pull in certain elements of the occult as well as my own spin on the Carcosa mythology.

From the blurb, it’s pretty obvious that this book is an amalgam of many genres. You have also called it “new weird”. What would you say is unique about this story and its genre?

SS: New Weird is a term used to describe works that break genre molds. Back in the early 20th Century, Fantasy was called Weird Fiction. They didn’t have the sub-genre limits that we have today, and authors mixed contemporary fantasy, horror, and science fiction freely. It was like the Wild West of speculative fiction. Only later did the massive number of sub-genre categories emerge, which are nice for identifying which stories are similar to each other, however, they also created constraints and rules. New Weird is a return to that style.

Ashes Of Onyx begins as Urban Fantasy but then shifts to more and more High, Portal, and Epic Fantasy, with Horror and even a dash of Sci-Fi for flavor. I hadn’t planned on it being New Weird story, as much as I wrote the story I wanted, and once it was done, I realized it didn’t really fit in the normal sub-genres. That made selling it a bit difficult. One rejecting editor even explained that he just didn’t know what genre to put it in.

Was the writing process any different for this new book and did you face any challenges with this subgenre shift?

SS: The biggest shift for me was Kate. She’s very different than my normal protagonists in that she’s tough, but comes with a lot of baggage. I wanted to show her addiction problem in a realistic way, in how she constantly justifies her behavior in a way that makes sense, but is also clearly a mask for her real desire to use the drugs she’s addicted to.

The biggest challenge in the genre shift was showcasing new and interesting worlds that follow some of the rules as our own, but clearly don’t in others. It was a bit of a dance to make them as strange as I could without making them too alien and not losing attention to the story itself.

Let’s talk about that striking cover. How did it all come together? What were your instructions/suggestions for it? How did you and the designer collaborate to create the cover?

SS: For the cover, I said I wanted Kate as well as the Viatoric glyph in her hand. I mentioned elements I’d also like to see, such as the ruins of Carcosa and swirls of misty, black aether. When they showed me the original draft, I loved it. My only suggestion was to add one or more moons behind her to show that the world the story takes place in isn’t Earth. They did, and I’m very happy with the final result.

Can you share something about the book that’s not mentioned in the blrb and why fans of your previous works should be excited for this new story?

SS: The blurb nails a lot of the big points, but one that it doesn’t is the monsters. Like with my Valducan stories, I have some gruesome monsters, many of which are based off of creatures from folklore, but from older interpretations than are normally seen in popular fiction. My fans should be happy to not just see the monsters, but the fight scenes. As they might expect, characters will die.

Is this story a standalone or part of a new saga?

SS: It’s a stand-alone, but I’ve got ideas for a sequel. We’ll just have to see how it plays out.

What are you currently writing? What will be next for you after this release?

SS: Currently, I’m working on some Tabletop RPG scenarios. Due to contracts, I’m not at liberty to say much about the project, but I’m very excited to be working in the industry that’s brought so much entertainment to my life. As far as my normal writing, I’ve been tooling around with a story about Fantasy-era spies. Sort of a James Bond Flintlock Fantasy.

Thank you again for taking the time to chat with us, Seth. When can we get our hands on Ashes Of Onyx? Anything else you have going on right now that you'd like the world to know about?

SS: Thank you very much for having me. The book is set to release January 28, 2020. Physical, e-book, and audiobook. Pre-orders have already opened for the Kindle edition.

Anyone who enjoys TTRPGs should swing by my YouTube channel. I try to make it both informative and entertaining (meaning I wear a lot of silly costumes). It’s fun.

Pre-order Ashes Of Onyx over HERE

Official Book Blurb: They stole her magic.

They killed her friends.

Nothing in the multiverse will stop her quest for revenge.

Kate Rossdale once held all the promise of becoming Baltimore’s greatest sorceress. But promise is a hard thing to hold when your coven is murdered, your magic is stripped away, and the only solace left to you comes one powdered line at a time.

When she’s offered the restoration of her power by a man she doesn’t know or trust, Kate sets in motion the retribution of her enemies.

Soon she finds herself racing across the globe, and across worlds, venturing into exotic realms of forbidden dreams, to the spires of Lost Carcosa, hunting for the magic-thief who robbed her of everything she held dear, including the most dangerous magic any sorceress can possess—hope.

The first book in the series introduces Rayne Gray, the hero, and turns his world upside down. Rayne is a madman. When he's not killing, he's cheerful, charitable, and philosophical about his life of violence. He soon finds himself in a lot of troubles - three steps from madness, two steps from arrest, one step from death. 

To make matters worse (and interesting), he engages with a vampiric creature with entire clans of strange cousins. As a result, he has to deal not only with power-hungry maniacs obsessed with expanding their industrial empire but also with vampires. You'll see him fighting for his life, fleeing hunters, edging past madmen, brooding on poetry and whiskey and vengeance. And quoting Blake.

It's a surprisingly dark book that doesn't always feel this way because the voice of the narrator is humorous. Rayne's first-person narrative remains engaging, fun and light-hearted against all odds.  His observations are hilarious:

The Blood Tartan serves as an excellent introduction to St. Elmo's books, as it has a clear and well-pronounced plotline and intrigue. It doesn't shy away from philosophical ramblings and questions or literary references but is easy to read and follow. Witty references in the book (William Blake poetry, Occam's razor) won't be accessible to everyone. Once you get them, though, they add another layer of fun/meaning to the story. 

If, after finishing The Blood Tartan, you'll want more, you're in for a treat - you can immediately jump to the sequel. 

Overall, it's a great start to the series that will show you if St. Elmo's voice resonates with you. Even if it's not your cup of tea, chances are you'll remember at least a few great lines anyway.

The Moon Tartan (Quest of the Five Clans #2) by Raymond St. Elmo

279 pages, published on  January 1st, 2018

The Moon Tartan is an intriguing novel. It contains a lot of good things: Vampires, minotaurs, death, mayhem, poetry, beheading with a scythe, philosophical ramblings, and stuff. Plus, the ending. Things will get interesting for Rayne.

Rayne Gray has lived a violent life that earned him a deep enmity of numerous beings (living and dead). He slew countless individuals, both friends, and foes. He's no stranger to a bloodbath, but he's also appreciative of finer things in life: love, poetry, art. He's a kind of protagonist who'll behead a friend while quoting Shakespeare.

Rayne considers himself firmly grounded in reality; fairy tales, magic, or vampires may inspire poets, but it doesn't make them real. A sound approach to life. Albeit a bit tricky when your wife is a vampire.

The events presented in The Moon Tartan resulted in Harlequin clan members stealing Mr. and Ms. Gray's memories of each other. The question remains what will happen after his reunion with his wife - will he slay her as a monster, or will she devour him as an evening meal?

The Harlequin Tartan is more difficult than previous entries, parts of the book presenting Rayne's visions and dream landscapes were challenging to follow. In the end, though, things come together nicely in a happy disco dance on a cemetery. Vampires, undead, bankers join hands and dance, and... Nah, I'm just joking. There's no dance. But there is a final, surprisingly brutal (dismemberment, beheading and stuff) and passionate sequence taking place in the middle of the night on a cemetery where Rayne plans to kill those he had already killed.

Quality stuff.

Rayne leads an interesting life, as any self-respecting Spadassin should. He's no stranger to violence, fencing, fighting or poisoning. But nothing prepared him for being a husband and to deal with more of the clans nonsense. This time he faces the Clockmakers, his in-laws dabbling in automata and time travel. After a relatively normal beginning, things get complicated.

Rayne enters Halls of Time where different doorways lead to different pasts and futures. Some, he visits alone. Some with his unexpected companions.

It's the fourth book in the series. If you've read previous ones I won't have to convince you to try this one. If the adventure is still ahead of you, know this. The Quest of the Five Clans series blends classic adventure fantasy with magical realism elements, philosophy and profound love for the language. You'll observe characters fencing not only with sabers but also with quotes from famous poems. Moments of pure delight and deep reflection, all caught in elegant phrases. Strange visions and things that happen between dream and reality.

The Clockwork Tartan is, probably, my favorite entry in the series. I can't help but wonder what insanities await Rayne in the final tome of the series.