(Author picture courtesy of Brenda Cooper)

Bradley P. Beaulieu is an author who has taken a slightly skewed route in regards to his epic fantasy debut The Winds Of Khalakovo. His debut trilogy takes after a strong Russian influence and that helped distinguish his debut book amid the vast field of epic fantasy. He’s recently came up with a Kickstarter campaign for his first short story collection called “Lest Our Passage Be Forgotten & Other Stories”. The cover as seen below is titled Dark Valkyrie and is by Sang Han.

It has the following lineup of stories in it:
 - “In the Eyes of the Empress’s Cat”. First printed in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show.
 - “Lest Our Passage Be Forgotten”. First printed in Realms of Fantasy Magazine.
 - “Sweet as Honey”. First printed in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show.
 - “Shadows in the Mirrors”. First printed in Dimensions Next Door by DAW Books.
 - “Parting the Clouds”. First printed in Time-Traveled Tales.
 - “Flotsam”. First printed in Writers of the Future XX.
 - “A Trade of Shades”. First printed in Alien Skin Magazine.
 - “Good Morning Heartache”. First printed in Spells in the City by DAW Books.
 - “Cirque Du Lumière”. First printed in Fellowship Fantastic by DAW Books.
 - “How Peacefully the Desert Sleeps”. First printed in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show.
 - “Foretold”. First printed in Steampunk’d by DAW Books.
 - “From the Spices of Sanandira”. First printed in Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
 - “An Instrument of War” (Previously unpublished).
 - “Prey to the Gods” (Previously unpublished).


The original goal of the campaign was to reach $1,000 that it reached on the first day itself (which by the way is a fantastic achievement in itself). There are some stretch goals that have been set up by the author:
 1) $1,500 — Unlocked! — I'll write a brand new story set in The Winds of Khalakovo universe.
 2) $2,000 — Unlocked! — Everyone will receive an e-copy of The Winds of Khalakovo as part of their ePack.
 3) $2,500 — Unlocked! — I'll write a second story set in The Winds of Khalakovo universe.
 4) $3,000 — Everyone will receive an e-copy of The Straits of Galahesh as part of their ePack.
 5) $3,500 — I'll write a third story set in a brand new middle-grade world I'm working on, a world that's loosely based off of Norse mythology.
6) And in the event we get even higher, I'll add additional stretch goals, which will probably be art renderings for some of the stories in the anthology.

The campaign is on track to reach the fourth stretch goal (atleast) and so all backers will receive a free e-copy of Bradley’s second book The Straits of Galahesh that was released earlier this year. I’m hoping that this campaign breaks as many stretch goals as possible and so I would invite all the readers of this blog to join me and the other backers to contribute and be a part of this wonderful kickstarter campaign.

Teresa Frohock, author of the wonderfully dark Miserere has come up with a very cool giveaway. She’s giving away THREE SIGNED COPIES OF MISERERE and today (10th December) is the last day to enter this awesome giveaway. Also did I mention that it is open WORLDWIDE!

So hop over to her blog and leave a comment to enter this giveaway and be sure to let her how you found out about this contest as it's a requirement (not that we want you all to blab about us). That’s it and best of luck to all the entrants!!!

Kevin Hearne recently announced this piece of wonderful news, Del Rey Books have signed him on for six more books. Three of which will be the last three books in the Iron Druid Chronicles as was his plan all along and detailed over in his interview with us last year. In addition to the earlier good news, there’s also the added tidbit of the Iron Druid Chronicles being published in hardcover for these titles and the title of the seventh book is revealed to be Shattered. Kevin previously had also revealed that in this book Atticus will be moving away from his familiar haunts on to newer geographical locations due to events that take place in Trapped and Hunted.

Also in regards to the remaining three books (of the six-book deal), Kevin has mentioned that they will be a bit epic and so I’m thinking they could be something to do with epic fantasy. For Kevin Hearne fans, this is simply fantastic and I can imagine everyone is as stoked as me for these future books.

Lastly there’s this small interview with Jen Kirchner, author of the comic urban fantasy The Fourth Channel done by Candice Bundy. I’m very very curious about this debut and will be reviewing it here in the near future. Until then for those wanting to get their hands on it, author Candice Bundy is running a wonderful contest to give away two free e-copies of The Fourth Channel.

So click over here (scroll all the way down) for a chance to win a copy of this comic debut about the world’s worst necromancer who won’t kill anyone and her talking, sacrificial knives who won't stop talking her ear off.