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Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of “The Spirit Eater” & “Spirit’s Oath” 
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Read "Why A Nice Dragon" by Rachel Aaron (Guest post)

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Rachel Aaron lives in Athens, Georgia with her family. She has graduated from University of Georgia with a B.A. in English Literature. She has been an avid reader since her childhood and now has an ever-growing collection to show for it. She loves gaming, Manga comics & reality TV police shows. She also posts regularly on her blog about publishing, books and several other intriguing things.

OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: The DFZ, the metropolis formerly known as Detroit, is the world’s most magical city with a population of nine million and zero public safety laws. That’s a lot of mages, cybernetically enhanced chrome heads, and mythical beasties who die, get into debt, and otherwise fail to pay their rent. When they can’t pay their bills, their stuff gets sold to the highest bidder to cover the tab.

That’s when they call me. My name is Opal Yong-ae, and I’m a Cleaner: a freelance mage with an art history degree who’s employed by the DFZ to sort through the mountains of magical junk people leave behind. It’s not a pretty job, or a safe one—there’s a reason I wear bite-proof gloves—but when you’re deep in debt in a lawless city where gods are real, dragons are traffic hazards, and buildings move around on their own, you don’t get to be picky about where your money comes from. You just have to make it work, even when the only thing of value in your latest repossessed apartment is the dead body of the mage who used to live there.

FORMAT/INFO: Minimum Wage Magic is 286 pages long divided over fourteen numbered chapters. Narration is in the first person via Opal Yong-ae solely. This is the first volume of the DFZ series.

November 9, 2018 will mark the e-book & paperback publication of Minimum Wage Magic and it will be self-published by the author. Cover art is by Tia Rambaran.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Rachel Aaron is a special talent and it has been highly evident with all of the sixteen books she has written so far. With this book, she does something unique as she writes a sequel series for the very first time since she started writing professionally nearly a decade ago. While also making this new series more grounded within its genre and less of the eclectic genre mixes that she’s known to write.

The story opens up with Opal Yong-ae, a sub-contractor for the DFZ’s Habitation Management. The DFZ being the Detroit Free Zone which was created by Algonquin the spirit of the great lakes. She was brought back to life by the sudden reappearance of magic after a millennium in 2035. She razed the city of Detroit and in its place stand the DFZ, a city state that was ruled by Algonquin for the next sixty years. Things however have changed thanks to the events seen/read in the Heartstrikers books and now DFZ is its own beast wherein Peacekeeper aka the Dragon of Detroit also resides (readers of the Heartstrikers saga will know who this is). Set twenty years after the events of Last Dragon Standing, the readers are introduced a completely new DFZ wherein things are wilder and crazier than before.

Opal is one of its nine million residents, a cleaner who basically buys up delinquent properties in a city wide auction and then proceeds to sell of the possessions to make a profit. This being the DFZ, things are zanier than usual and one never knows what one might unearth. Opal’s most recent acquisition has a dead body of a mage rotting in the sub-subbasement that she bought in an auction. Unable to find anything of value and needing to pay ten thousand dollars as part of her debt (within a week’s time). Things look very dire for Opal but there might be a way and it might involve getting her hands dirtier than usual. However faced with resolving her debt or losing an important part of her life, Opal will try do the impossible, but soon she finds out how much of a big quagmire she has landed in.

This is a super fun entry in to the city of the DFZ and marks a return to the world of the Heartstrikers. While this is also the first time that Rachel Aaron has written a sequel.  This book is a complete standalone story that doesn't require any background knowledge of the events showcased within the Heartstrikers Saga. The author purposefully set out to craft a tale that would explore the craziness of the DFZ and she does this very strikingly.

Featuring a mystery of a murdered mage, and the main mystery of to whom Opal owes a debt? Minimum Wage Magic is a solid urban fantasy thriller that excited me and kept me turning the pages. The plot pace was smooth all the way as we along with Opal slowly get to know who the murdered mage was and what he was up to. I consider Rachel Aaron to be one of best storytellers alive and she doesn't disappoint with this low key (as compared to her previous works) thriller plot that is all about living in a hyper-capitalistic city wherein anything and everything is allowed. This book came with a very high set of personal expectations as it was set in the same world as the Heartstrikers and being one of Rachel Aaron's creations. Though the author wonderfully cuts these expectations by making this book a very different read than any of the Heartstriker titles and also more of a traditional urban fantasy read. The plot focus is very tightly kept on Opal and her misfortunes. Unlike all her previous books wherein the plot usually explodes to an end of the world scenario. This one stays on a personal level through out and the stakes while being raised aren't the world-shaking kind.

This book also explores the DFZ and I mean really explores it. We get to see its subterranean grottoes, the newer formed religions and cultures it cultivates and also how traffic is bungled when several buildings and locations get moved magically. Plus dragons who now are welcome in the DFZ can cause several log jams and many more zany things. Previously the author had mentioned how she always wanted to give the readers a more on the ground look into the city and we get it in spades in this opening volume. Opal as a protagonist is an interesting person, in the start while we don’t know much about her except that she’s of Korean descent and in a huge debt. I really didn’t understand her motivations and was annoyed by her pertinacity as it seemed that she's just making things harder for herself unnecessarily. It’s only when the main reveal goes down, that’s when you realize her line of thinking and I for one, really enjoyed her character arc. Unlike Marci Novalli, who has a similar strange background, Opal’s persona is much different than Marci’s and maybe unconsciously I was comparing them both. Opal even while being reckless and foolishly stubborn, has reasons and once they are made clear. The readers will truly root for her as she strives to overcome Herculean odds.

The best side character was Opal's AI Sibyl as she/it frequently tries to provide help, comfort & even scold Opal for her silly mistakes. There are two other characters (Peter and Nik) who are introduced within the plot and are equally intriguing. I would love if the author further explores their background in the future sequels. Peter is a priest for the Empty Wind and Nik, who is also a mercenary/cleaner and a Luddite to boot. Their interactions with Opal add to the comedic tones and also introduce some interesting romantic set up. There are a few other characters introduced but we don’t get much about them. Now onto the big question, are there any cameos or appearances from the characters we love and have read about before? I’m not saying anything but you will be surprised when they are referenced or make their appearances. This book is quite on the smaller side and comes with a solid dose of comedy as is the precedent with Rachel Aaron's writing. This book was a much different read than what I was expecting but it was one that I enjoyed reading. I hope the author explores more of the DFZ geography and showcases its unique nature.

Things that didn't work for me were just a couple of things, primarily the protagonist is slightly unlikeable and does redeem herself by the end but many readers might find her a bit jarring from all the protagonists come before. Secondly this story structure and plot focus is very narrow and sometimes I wanted it to expand beyond its tight structure. Lastly I miss the characters who we have read in the Heartstrikers saga and here I was left bereft of their presence while only hearing or catching glimpses of them.

CONCLUSION: Minimum Wage Magic is a lively start to a brand new series in a world that’s very familiar to her fans. The story, the plot and setting are refreshing so that newer readers will find things get excited about Rachel Aaron and older readers will jump along for the ride because they know how awesome her books are. A  catchy title, a plucky protagonist and a maximum effort by the author, honestly readers can't ask for more in the urban fantasy  genre.

Kingdom of Thieves, by Mitchell Edward Bell

Genre: High Fantasy/Sword and Sorcery

Standalone/Series: Book 1 of the Kingdoms of Ol’World series

The beautiful, evocative cover art and solid premise put Kingdom Of Thieves in good shape for potential readers to dive headlong into the fantasy equivalent of The Mod Squad. Patticus Mysticus is a thief trying to take back his nation from a tyrannical king, and his chance meeting with magician Tage and her barbarian bodyguard Iceskgard set the stage for what could have been an epic saga, reminiscent of the sword and sorcery classics of Leiber and Salvatore but with a dash of high fantasy.

Unfortunately, Bell’s writing lacks the kind of polish that would set him apart in this contest. The interactions of the book’s characters feel unnatural, forced even, as does the dialogue. The main characters feel shallow, lacking the depth so necessary to any novel in today’s literary climate, while side characters are so black and white as to seem satirical. It became apparent within the first few chapters that Kingdom Of Thieves would not beat out some of the fierce competition set against it.

Secret Realms of the Hidden Elves, by Jonathan J. Bowerman

Genre: Children’s Fantasy

Standalone/Series: Presumably a series, this being “The Beginning”

Secret Realms of the Hidden Elves draws inspiration from some of the greatest fantasy novels of all time - The Chronicles of Narnia first among them. It is clear from the start that Bowerman is writing to a young audience that he holds dear. His main character is a 12-year old girl named Jasper, who, as in so many fantasy stories, moves into a new house and discovers that it houses a doorway to another world.

Perhaps if this contest were called Self-Published Children’s Fantasy Blog-Off, Secret Realms might have stood more of a chance. As it stands, the writing style, in a contest where in our batch this showed as the only children’s novel, is simplistic and overly familiar. There is tense switching that jars the adult eye, and a crossing of the fourth wall that is even more damaging. In short, Secret Realms could not advance when pit against the ruthless authors of the SPFBO.

The King’s Voice, by Karen Peradon

Genre: Fairy Tale

Standalone/Series: Standalone

The premise and style of The King’s Voice are unique in FBC’s batch of books. Fairy tales can be tricky to novelize, despite the glut of movies renditions we’ve been forced to endure in the past decade. These types of books require more suspension of disbelief than the ordinary fantasy novel. Peradon’s fairy tale takes place in Goaero. The king’s voice has been literally lost, and his evil brother seeks to find it and thus claim the land’s throne for himself. He sends Mallory, an Indiana Jones-like adventurer, out into the wild to find it.

Despite a fun and promising premise, The King’s Voice is troubled by its very format. Fairy tales, in general, are stories told, which works in a short-form format like that found in their genre. When entire chapters become told, it becomes problematic from a storytelling standpoint. Fantasy, and literature, greatly benefits from being shown action, and from a careful doling out of exposition. The King’s Voice, regrettably, could not stand up to the finely-crafted entries in our batch.

And now for our, perhaps predictable, final semi-finalist.

Next up is Bring The Fire by Craig Schaefer, the trilogy is a highly anticipated one and promises a lot of reveals regrind a whole lot of Craig’s books. James T. Egan knocked this one out of the park as has been the case with all of his previous work and yet this one takes the cake.

Craig revealed the cover a few days ago however the blurb is yet to be released. We can surmise though that the this book will bring to an end to Nessa and Marie’s sojourn for their curse. All will be revealed about the nature of the Schaefer-verse, the absence of heaven, and the nature of the Kings. Plus a lot more details here and there, this book promises to be one hell of a climax.

Craig Schaefer hasn't disappointed with his past eighteen books so you can see why my expectations are so sky high. Bring The Fire promises to bring Prometheus' gift in spades, I can't wait to see who all survive it.

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David MacPherson is the author of one of Fantasy Book Critic’s SPFBO semi-finalists, Here Be Dragons, and is a full-time writer out of Edinburgh, Scotland. David loves dragons, donkeys, and defying genre and the publishing industry. David was kind enough to sit down with FBC contributor D. C. Stewart to speak about his SPFBO entry, his great loves, and the meaning of life.

FBC] Hi David. Thanks so much for hanging out and answering some questions. Your book has made quite an impression on the SFBPO. What can you tell us about yourself? Is writing your full time gig?  From where do you hail?

DM] No problem. It’s been brilliant to see people enjoying Here Be Dragons and SPFBO has been a great experience right from the start. I grew up in the Highlands of Scotland, sometimes I say in the middle of nowhere, but that’s not really true. The Highlands is definitely Somewhere and a special Somewhere at that, particularly for a fantasy fan. Crumbling castles, towering mountains, haunted glens, spooky stone circles and murky forests, it was all on my doorstep so maybe it’s not such a surprise I have a taste for the fantastical. It’s also a place with great heart and a knowing, bone dry wit, which I like to think have both influenced my writing.

I live in Edinburgh now, another fantasy capital, and just a few months ago moved to writing full time (at least until my savings hold out). Over the last few years I felt I’d really progressed and I hit some big milestones so this summer I decided it was time to go all in. And so far it’s going surprisingly well (that should set the hubris hippo stirring).

FBC] It’s interesting that you say that because so many of us, particularly in these “new” United States, have the same desire for those fantasy castles but a real lack of them. How long have you been writing?

DM] It’s a funny thing calling yourself a writer. I have been working my way towards that title for about eight or nine years and it’s only recently that I feel comfortable saying it out loud. I spent a long time waiting for permission and then I eventually realised the only person that could give me that permission, was me.

FBC] Do you have any formal training? Do you see writing as your “real job?”

DM] I have done the odd writing class or writing retreat here and there, but most of my learning has been through self-directed reading and lots and lots of practise (much of it probably pretty awful). And lots of feedback from trusted friends.

FBC] How does it feel to be compared to Terry Pratchett?

DM] Humbling. And happy because I wouldn’t be who I am without him. And sad because I miss him.

FBC] You’re not alone there. Where did the inspiration for Here Be Dragons come from (and my sincere apologies for bringing up Shrek in my review, even if I think it might have given you a laugh)? Why tell yet another story about dragons (I am in no way reprimanding you for this as I would like to see dragons in everything, even textbooks)?

DM] Now there’s a question. I must admit, I started the book so long ago I’m not actually sure where the exact inspiration came from. There are lots of different things that fed into the finished novel – people I know, societal themes like the rise of the reality TV star, and fantasy tropes that I just wanted to play around with – but I guess the main inspiration was to write a book where the heroes were ordinary people. People without any superhuman skills or magical powers, but who become heroic through the force of their intellect, their heart and their compassion for others. Because those are the kind of people who have been the heroes in my life, and in the glut of superheroes at the cinema and on TV, I think sometimes we forget that.

And no worries about the Shrek comparison. It’s a great movie, although I reckon Thunder is more of an Eeyore.

FBC] A fair point. I certainly never heard Eddie Murphy in those italics. Aside from Pratchett, who inspires you? Who are your favorite authors?

DM] I like to read widely, across genre and non-fiction too. So while I love the fantasy big-hitters like Robin Hobb, Steven Erikson and Neil Gaiman, I also like to read Becky Chambers, Margaret Atwood, Michael Faber, Iain M. Banks, Emily St John Mandel, Roald Dahl (the children’s ones and the adult stories) and Patrick deWitt. I’ve just finished Robert Harris’ trilogy on the life of Cicero and loved it. It’s like a House of Cards for the Roman Republic and his writing is so good you can’t help but race through it. And inspiration comes from more than other books: the TV show Blackadder is a huge influence on my work, particularly the final series set in World War One. Richard Curtis and Ben Elton did an amazing job of letting you think you’re watching something fun and light, and then at the end just crushing you with the reality of the characters’ situation. I think that was an important lesson for me, that comedy lets you ease into really dark subjects but if you go down that route eventually you’ve got to let reality hit.

FBC] Do you have any plans for continuing with the characters or world in Here Be Dragons? It reads as a stand alone, but you have built a world that people want to see more of. Are you a fantasy author, through and through, or do you branch out?

DM] I am planning a follow up. It’ll be in the same world but not necessarily the same characters. I don’t want to say too much yet as I’m still working it out myself, but I know it’s going to involve the arrival in Drift of a certain class of people known for wearing capes, masks and underwear outside their trousers.

FBC] Oh boy. That might be a new genre. What made you decide to enter into the SFBPO? Have you ever submitted before? Have you tried traditional publshing?

DM] I was the lucky victim of good timing on that front. I first tried to get Here Be Dragons published traditionally about three years ago. After a lot of trying and failing I essentially gave up and left it to gather dust on my computer. Then at the end of last year I met a couple of friends who had tried self-publishing and had nothing but good things to say about it, so I thought, why not give it ago. I’ve very glad I did. I started getting the manuscript reading for publishing in Spring and searched through lots of self-publishing blogs and guides to find out the best route. Once I published in April I kept looking at those blogs and Facebook groups and that’s where I first saw SPFBO mentioned. Last year’s final round was still going on, so I started to follow it and read some of the finalists.

I’d been told by an agent in one of my many rejection letters that "there is no comedy fantasy market, there is only a Terry Pratchett market" but reading the SPFBO entrants and following the community I quickly realised that statement is a load of donkey droppings. Here was a whole community of people hungry for all kinds of fantasy, with far more variety than even the well-stocked book shops of Edinburgh were offering. That’s the great lesson of self-publishing for me, if you’re interested and passionate enough to write about something, chances are there are lots of people out there interested and passionate enough about the same things to read about it. My job is just to make sure it’s the best I can do and make sure they can find it.

FBC] That’s inspiring as hell (sincerely). If judging this contest has taught me as a reader anything, it’s that traditional publishing is missing some gems. Where does your cover art come from, and why is it such a perfect fit for this book?

DM] My cover was designed by Rachel Lawston. I found her through a site called Reedsy which is kind of like AirBnB for publishing freelancers. I found my proof-reader there too. I submitted a design brief to five designers and when Rachel came back to me and I discovered she’d actually worked on some of Sir Terry’s covers (the recent Johnny Maxwell reissues) it really had to be her.

We went through a lot of drafts of the cover because I knew I needed the design to make the tone of the book immediately clear. There’s little worse than picking a book thinking it’s one kind of story based on the cover and then finding out it’s something very different. Even if it’s still a good story, it throws you and it can be hard to get back into it.

FBC] What are you working on now?

DM] I am trying my hand at TV screenwriting at the moment and working on a pilot script for a series based on an oil rig. It’s about a rig off the coast of Scotland that gets mysteriously cut-off from all communications and the crew are forced into survival mode. There was a shipyard that built oil rigs near where I grew up and my dad works on them, so I’ve always been fascinated by what life is like out there.

FBC] What will you do if you win the SPFBO?

DM] Woah hubris hippo, woah girl… I’m not really sure. I’d certainly want to give something back to this great community, so I’d be doing a giveaway day for sure. And do some major celebrating of course (board games party anyone!). Then it’d be back to writing. The contest has already given me a massive jolt of energy and I’ve got lots more stories I want to tell so I need to get cracking.

NOTE: Sir Terry Pratchett picture courtesy of Boris Spermo & Toronto Star.