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Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of A Dance Of Blades
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of A Dance Of Mirrors 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of A Dance Of Shadows
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Q] Many congratulations on the launch of your new series. Can you talk to us about its inception & how you developed it from the core idea?

DD: For a good year The Seraphim was just a vague idea in my head, something I hoped I might one day write (I still had two Shadowdance novels to finish up at the time). I knew at some point I needed to branch out into a brand new world. After something like twenty novels in the same world, I needed the chance to start from scratch. For both good and bad, my Dezrel stuff is based on a world I first created when I was seventeen. Well. I’m not seventeen anymore. Time to see what happened if I left the standard Tolkien-esque fantasy world.

Anyway, I knew I wanted magic and swords and whatnot, but more restricted, more controlled, and with detailed rules for how everything worked. I bounced ideas around, and it wasn’t until a single image popped into my head on a walk one day that I knew I had to write this story. It was of two children sitting at the edge of the world, watching the night sky be swallowed by fire. Even in the middle of writing the sixth Shadowdance book, I took a break to bang out that first chapter, and was pretty much in love with the book ever since.

Q] What were some of the main inspirations for you with regards to this series? Specifically what were you aiming for?

DD: I’ll freely admit my love of the classic SNES RPG Chrono Trigger and its influence on me, not just in this book but my storytelling as a whole. And my favorite part was in the city of Zeal, this giant floating island in the sky, lush and green and with rivers running off the sides and down to the ocean below. Loved it, absolutely loved it. Even as a kid I wanted to tell some sort of story using that type of setup as a backdrop. Upon committing to such a world, the development of the Seraphim and a caste of flying warriors came naturally.

Q] You are known for your high-octane fight sequences and epic-action in you books. With these books, what new barriers are you trying to break?

DD: The big goal was mass aerial combat. Tricky enough trying to ensure readers can visualize a large scale battle, but one happening in all directions? It turned out to be as hard to write as I expected, but the end product exceeded my hopes as well. The mere idea of soaring through the air is exhilarating, but to have magical elements flying in all directions, bodies dropping, soldiers keeping in tight formations prior to frantic, desperate mid-air melee? So much fun.

Q] How many books are planned in this series? Will this just be a trilogy or do you have more books in mind?

DD: I’m writing it as a trilogy, so the third book will have a nice, definitive ending. I may continue to do more in the world, but it’d likely be with new characters and a significant time jump forward.

Q] Please tell us a bit about your main characters and the world they inhabit?

DD: Humanity’s been all but decimated, the remnants living on six floating islands surrounded by an endless ocean. What keeps the islands afloat, what powers the magical gauntlets and wings granting flight, are all carefully guarded by the ruling religious class, the theotechs, in the largest of the islands. The five outlying minor islands are their own independent nations, and their aerial armies are known as the Seraphim. The two main characters are twins, Kael and Breanna Skyborn. Their parents were both Seraphs, slain in battle against another island. The story follows their attempts to enlist as Seraphim, to learn to fly and throw ice and fire as a way to find vengeance for their parents’ deaths.

Q] You mention that you current series’ protagonists are orphans. Your debut series also featured orphans as well Shadowdance (to be fair Haern wasn’t technically an orphan but he thought of himself as one). Why is this theme about orphans running so strong among many of your stories?

DD: The main characters in both The Paladins and The Half-Orcs are also orphans, now that I think about it. People are going to assume I have parental issues (it’s not true, I swear, my parents are awesome!). I wish I had a good answer. Part of it is when you have main characters you want to go on sweeping adventures, it’s easier if there isn’t anything to tie them down and hold them back. In case of Skyborn, it allows some intrigue and motivation depending on how the parents’ died. Maybe it’s just a theme I enjoy exploring. I don’t know.

Q] Once again as was the case with the Shadowdance books, Orbit has really aced the covers. What were your thoughts about it? What input did you provide to Kirk & the artist?

DD: As much as I love the Shadowdance covers, the covers for Skyborn and Fireborn are just…unreal. I can’t say enough good things. As for my input, it’s been pretty light overall, mostly in detailing the outfits and the wings. Everything else is all Orbit, and they thoroughly nailed it.

Q] Congratulations on the new addition to your family. How has fatherhood been for you? Has it made you look back at any writing choices that you made previously in your books? Did you want to change them now?

DD: There’s one very specific death in a very early book I wrote where a young child of a main character drowns. At the time I wasn’t even married yet, but upon editing it up to self-publish it, I actually had my own two year old daughter. Suddenly it was her face I was seeing while editing it, and dear lord, I’m not sure I could write that scene now. I could barely endure editing it.

But would I change it? Nah.

Q] Will you be returning to the world of your previous series? What other books are you currently writing?

DD: My fans have actually been rather patient with me, God bless ‘em. They waited two years for the seventh Half-Orc book, and once I finish up the third Seraphim book, Shadowborn, I’ll be right back to writing the eighth. By the time I finish, it’ll likely be closing in on a year and a half. Perhaps not the longest of wait compared to most of the industry, but for me, that’s practically a lifetime.

Q] How long do you think this series will go or how much more magical mayhem can the world of Dezrel withstand?

DD: I’ve got at least three more books planned out in my head, the most interesting dealing with a bit of a teaser I snuck into the very end of the sixth and final Shadowdance book. But honestly, I can go for a while so long as readers are still willing to tag along. Sure, I blew up the world, but there’s still plenty to do in attempting to pick up the pieces.

Q] Many thanks for your time and any parting thoughts for your legion of fans?

DD: Thanks so much for coming into my silly little worlds. I’ll do all I can to entertain, so long as you’re willing to give me the chance.

Official Author Website
Order Library Of Souls HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Ransom Riggs grew up in Florida, where he spent his formative years making silly movies with his friends in their various backyards, snorkeling, and complaining about the heat. He studied English at Kenyon College and film at the University of Southern California. He lives in Los Angeles. He makes films you can watch on his YouTube page. He enjoys traveling to exotic lands and complaining about the heat. He would like to thank you for reading this short biography.

OVERVIEW: Picking up right where Hollow City left off, this conclusion to the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children trilogy follows sixteen-year-old Jacob as he attempts to save his peculiar friends from the hands of their enemy, the Wights. Together with Emma Bloom, a girl who can create fire at will, and Addison MacHenry, a talking dog, Jacob must venture back in time to the labyrinthine alleys of Devil’s Acre, the worst slum in all of Victorian London, where the fate of not just his friends but all of Peculiardom rests in his hands.

FORMAT: Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs is the conclusion to the bestselling trilogy, Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children. This 464 page, young adult novel is narrated by the protagonist, Jacob Portman, and illustrated throughout with vintage, black-and-white photographs. The book was published by Quirk Books on September 22, 2015 in Hardcover and as an e-book and audiobook.

ANALYSIS: The final installment in the Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children trilogy has been eagerly awaited by millions of fans, including myself. Sadly, though, it failed to meet my expectations.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, the first book in the series, drew readers in with a unique plot, a deliciously dark atmosphere, and a collection of bizarre, black & white vintage photos that illustrated the book and from which the author created the story. The characters were complex and interesting, the story was fast-paced and engaging, and the ending was the sort that left me gaping at the last page like a fool, unsure how I could possibly survive the wait for Hollow City, the next book in the series.

Library of Souls, unfortunately, did not live up to its predecessor. That isn’t to say that there wasn’t much to love about the story. The setting of the book, one of the worst slums of Victorian London, was very well realized, and it fit perfectly with the dark tone of the series. Additionally, the story sheds light on the history of Peculiardom, something I always found interesting that the other books in the series only scraped the surface of. And the story was far from boring. The novel wasted no time getting started, picking up on the very first page and quickly moving from one adventure to the next until the conclusion. Yet despite the good writing and quick pacing, it failed to meet my expectations.

For one, the legend of the Library of Souls, which is essential to this story, came out of nowhere. There was no mention of it, as far as I can remember, in the first two books, and its sudden importance in this book made the entire novel feel like one of those filler episodes on a super hero television series that introduces a new villain in the beginning and deals with him or her by the end. The fact that it was so crucial to the events of the entire series and yet introduced almost randomly in the final book was a bit disappointing. It would have been great if the author had mentioned the Library of Souls earlier on, perhaps keeping it a mystery until Library of Souls to build suspense. But even more disconcerting was the peculiars’ seemingly lack of interest in the library, and what its existence could mean for them. Not a single one seemed even slightly interested in it.

In addition to the flaws surrounding the Library of Souls, there were a number of other issues I had with the book. It was incredibly predictable and completely devoid of suspense, with most of the story feeling like irrelevant fluff before the final showdown between the peculiars and the Wights. And the vintage, black and white photographs the author uses to illustrate his books, an aspect of the series that has always been a personal favorite, were severely lacking. Only a few of them managed to capture the bizarre eeriness of the photographs used in the prior two novels; the rest were just a collection of landscapes and portraits with little or no intrinsic peculiarity. On top of that, there are a number of copyediting errors, such as the inclusion of unnecessary articles and several double negatives. An unsatisfactory and fairly anticlimactic ending is just the icing on the cake.

CONCLUSION: Despite my issues with Library of Souls, I still believe the series, as a whole, is fantastic, and I am quick to recommend it to younger and older readers alike. The story is original, the characters are relatable, and the writing is smooth and a pleasure to read.

Fantasy novels need proper villains. Or do they? What is a villain these days, and does every story need one central, unifying enemy?

Villains in science fiction and fantasy come in many shapes and sizes, but one thing is certain: these days, they are rarely black and white characters. It’s pretty unusual now to find a totally evil warlord or dark wizard or whatever pitted against a band of merry good guys, at least among the big names in the genre.

The enemy in today’s fantasy books tends to fall into one of three broad categories: an interesting, perhaps conflicted, representative of dark forces; a misguided person, who sees his or her actions as part of a greater good; or a terrible, irreconcilable evil, but one who is just one dark force among many greyer elements.

The first category is perhaps the most common, and refers to those villains who know they are villains, want to be villains, are cool with being villains, and yet have been built into interesting and well-rounded characters. They don’t simply sit in a dark tower, chewing over their machinations. I think the Falconer in Scott Lynch’s Gentleman Bastard sequence is a case in point. He’s not the most likeable wizard ever created, but he has great depth.

The second category covers those who come to evildoing along a kind of crooked path: they see their actions as part of a greater good, at least initially. Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader might slot into this group.

Finally, there are the irredeemable, straight-up bad guys, who nevertheless form just one thread in an intricate tapestry of badness. The Others in A Song of Ice and Fire are always hovering in the background, threatening general destruction on Westeros, yet there are so many other brilliantly twisted and dark characters in the foreground that it’s difficult to know who is ‘good’ and who is ‘bad’.

These categories are pretty broad-brush, and I’m sure I’m missing out on other excellent examples, but that’s not really the point. What matters is this: it just isn’t enough to have a simplistic Big Bad. People want their villains to have broad personalities and varied motivations, because that’s what it’s like in the real world.

This makes the process of creating villains that much more challenging. You want them to be interesting, with maybe a bit of light mixed in with the dark. In fact, you have to take exactly the same approach you adopt when forming your ‘good’ characters. People should be able to imagine them existing in the real world (within reason). You might want to base aspects of them on people you’ve met – erm, on second thoughts, that might not be such a good idea. But they need to feel real.

Besides, this makes things more fun for the writer. If all the reader expected was a two-dimensional, scenery-chewing, dark-hearted villain, you could more or less use the same one in every novel. But your enemy is unique to your book, allowing you an infinite range of possibilities. OK, it’s harder work to flesh them out, but it’s so much more satisfying when you’re done.

In many ways, creating a solid villain is much easier than the opposite task: creating a believable hero or heroine. It’s very easy to end up with a simpering, angelic central character, who in no way behaves like a real person. In fact, it can be more difficult to inject a little badness into a good character than to do the opposite. Again, though, it’s an enjoyable process.

I think what really matters is tension. There should be tension within all your characters, but there should also be a fundamental tension at the heart of the novel, which drives the narrative. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a tension between ‘good’ characters and ‘bad’ characters: it could be between a society in decline and one on the rise, or a world of rules and a world of magic, etc. At any rate, today’s fantasy readers want – and expect – their characters to have depth.

Official Author Website
Order The Machinery HERE
Read chapter one of The Machinery HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Gerrard Cowan is a writer and editor from Derry, in the North West of Ireland. His debut fantasy novel, The Machinery, is out now from HarperVoyager UK. It is the first in a trilogy.

His first known work was a collection of poems on monsters, written for Halloween when he was eight; it is sadly lost to civilisation. He can be found at his website, on FaceBook and is @GerrardCowan on Twitter. Gerrard lives in South East London with his wife Sarah and their two children.

Q] Welcome to Fantasy Book Critic. To start with, could you tell us what inspired you to be a writer in the first place, what experience you went through in finding a publisher, how you ended up with Ragnarok Publications, and anything else you’d like to share about yourself?

CTP: Oh, I think I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I wrote my first (terrible) book when I was six-years-old and I’ve been inspired to try to do it ever since. I didn’t make a serious attempt until I was done with college and I made quite a few mistakes on my way to finding a publisher. If I were to give any recommendations to fledgling authors, it’s to seek out other authors for their advice and attend seminars.

Don’t try to do this on your own but learn from the voices of experiences. I owe a lot to finding very helpful friends amongst already-published authors who helped me refine my craft before they introduced me to Permuted Press, Ragnarok Publications, and Jim Bernheimer (owner of Amber Cove Publishing and writer of Confessions of a D-List Supervillain).

Q] “The Rules Of Supervillainy” is a straightforward comedic urban fantasy book, while “Esoterrorism”, is a much darker urban fantasy-thriller hybrid. Can you tell us how & why there was such drastic shift between books?

CTP: I think the difference between the books is a good illustration of the nature of the writing process and how it can be more than you expect it to be. When I set down to write Esoterrorism after several other attempts at writing the Great American Fantasy Novel TM, I had the idea it would be my big epic work. It was the one I was focused on making it my “signature” piece.

While doing so, I became mentally drained and decided to write something just for fun. You know, just to clear my brain so I could work on Esoterrorism some more. The Rules of Supervillainy was the result, being, essentially, a love-letter to everything I loved about superhero comics and a sort of madcap comedic romp.

It was written before the Avengers movie which makes someone’s early comment on the manuscript (It’s like superheroes written by Joss Whedon) all the more funny. It was just pure entertainment and nothing I really expected to be a big success. Still, every time I shared it with someone, people loved it and told me I should publish it so I decided to give it a try alongside Esoterrorism.

Much to my surprise, I found out it was every bit as popular, if not more so, than Esoterrorism now I have two very different but awesome groups of fans. It’s given me encouragement to follow my instincts and write whatever genres I feel inspired to try my hand at. Next year, I’m going to be releasing my dark fantasy novel, Wraith Knight, for example, which is going to be entirely different from both.

Q] Esoterrorism is the first volume in the Red Room series. Could you give us a progress report on the next book, offer any details about the sequel and outline your plans for the series as a whole?

CTP: The sequel to Esoterrorism, Eldritch Ops, is done and already set for publication in 2016. It follows series protagonist, Derek Hawthorne, as he (badly) adjusts to being one of the House’s Committee. It’s a bit like being a board member of the Illuminati and he’s less than pleased by the moral compromises and ruthless decisions he has to make. Given an opportunity to do some fieldwork after discovering his ex-partner is still alive (albeit as a vampire), he leaps at the opportunity to determine if there's a conspiracy within the world's most powerful conspiracy.

Derek has to determine whether it’s possible to reform the House as a force for good or whether the organization has become so obsessed with power that the only option is to try and tear it down. I have a lot of fun examining the politics and world-building of my setting as well as Derek’s past as an operative. We also get some good developments on fan favorites Shannon, Lucy, and Penny.

I have the third volume of the book, Operation: Otherworld, in manuscript form and that will be the focus for all of the major events in the series to come to a head. After that? Who knows. It may be a trilogy or it may turn into an ongoing series. I’m still undecided.

Q] You also have a sort of comedic superhero book out called The Rules Of Supervillainy. What was the inception for this story and what was it about this idea that you HAD to write it?

CTP: I like to think of The Rules of Supervillainy as part of an emerging genre called "capepunk." Capepunk books are those prose superhero books which attempt to seriously examine the underpinnings of superhero worlds both silly and serious. Because book series tend to be finite creator-owned content, they can have serious changes and developments which comic books don't have as serialized corporate-owned IP.

The first capepunk book was, IMHO, Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman and it’s gone on to inspire many other similar works. I, myself, was inspired by works like Marion G. Harmon's Wearing the Cape, Confessions of a D-List Supervillain by Jim Bernheimer, and Peter Clines' Ex-Heroes.

What actually inspired The Rules of Supervillainy and the Supervillainy Saga as a whole was my thinking about the mechanics of a comic book world from the person on the ground. One thing I loved about the early seasons of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer is they took an irreverant post-modern look at what it would be like to live in a world where every horror movie was true. Being an ardent lover of comic books and superheroes, I had the idea of sticking a character who was as familiar with superhero tropes and comic book geekery as the average fan into a world where he was one.

Gary was born and raised in a world where men can fly, women can punch through walls, and a guy stalking the streets in a black cape is "normal." Analyzing what sort of place that it is and how this came to be seemed like it would be really fun to right. I also decided to make him a (reluctant) supervillain rather than a superhero since we'd seen everymen become heroes in the Marvel movie franchise. I was interested in seeing how the reverse would be true, basically Scarface meets Spiderman. Gary is a little nicer than Tony Montana, though.

Wittier too.

Q] In the preface for The Rules Of Supervillainy, you very clearly wonder about the world of superheroes and as to why anyone would want to be a villain? Yet you then explore how Gary Karkofsky decides to become one? What made you choose Gary to explore this dichotomy?

CTP: To go with my earlier Spiderman example, Peter Parker's initial reaction to being bitten by a radioactive spider wasn't to fight crime. No, his initial reaction in the comics was to decide to use his newfound powers to get rich. It took the death of his Uncle Ben to become devoted to the principles of "with great power comes great responsibility."

For me, I'm cynical enough to believe the majority of people in the world would be interested in using their abilities for self-interest before anything resembling the Batman's heroic resolve to rid the world of crime. I love crime fiction and over-the-top stories of colorful gangsters so it was interesting to see if I could combine those to do a "supervillain" origin story the same way so many superhero movies are hero origins.

The thing is, I play with the concept a bit as while Gary is evil enough to be a wannabe bank-robber and thief, he's not quite bad enough to be a monster like so many of his world's villains. More Catwoman than Joker.

Q] What are your plans for Gary and rest of the cast of TROSV? Can you tell us about the The Games Of Supervillainy and the series beyond?

CTP: Well, I'm pleased to say The Rules of Supervillainy audio book is coming out this month and The Games of Supervillainy is coming out early this November. I have plans for two books a year at present. The Supervillainy Saga books are extremely easy to write since I’ve got my entire childhood and seventy years of comics to draw from.

As for The Games of Supervillainy’s plot, it picks up immediately after the events of Rules, dealing with the fact Falconcrest City has become overrun with zombies and an evil cult. Gary’s wife, Mandy, has since gone on to become a superhero in her own right and the tensions between the couple will be a focus of the book as they try to figure out if a marriage can survive being on opposite sides of the superhero/villain divide.

Further books will get into showing the world going through a transition as the setting’s people try to figure out just what sort of world they want to live in. Do they want idealistic superheroes like Ultragod (the setting’s resident Superman) or something more vicious and brutal (like the Extreme). Gary as the outsider to all of this will serve as a wildcard and we get to see him develop fully into his role as a supervillain in a world which is well and truly sick of them.

We’re also going to get some fun character development from Cindy (a.k.a Red Riding Hood), Gabrielle (a.k.a Ultragoddess), and Diabloman—people who have been effected by Gary’s good-natured antiheroism. Some will get better and some will get worse. Some will even fall in love.

Q] You have used this quote by R. Chandler in one of your articles: “Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man.” Please tell us what about it struck you and how did you utilize it in your writing (if any?)

CTP: I think, for me, Raymond Chandler's quote encapsulates something I love about my writing, which is the fact my (anti)heroes journey into gritty and dark worlds not of their own making. Gary, Derek, and my upcoming Wraith Knight hero Jacob are all flawed protagonists with qualities that would make them villains in other series. However, at the end of the day, we're walking through their shoes and we understand where they're coming from. The world around them is also far more corrupt and entrenched in its troubles than anything they bring to it.

For me, I like to write about heroes who don't necessarily have the ability to slay the dragon and rescue the Princess. In Esoterrorism, the House is a ruthless and corrupt institution which is still (arguably) a necessary evil to protect society from the supernatural. In The Rules of Supervillainy, we have genuine superheroes but they seem to be overwhelmed by the endless numbers of bad guys who just keep popping up. In Wraith Knight, we have a world which is full of all the corrupt institutions of real-life Medieval history AND supernatural evils akin to orcs and Ringwraiths.

My heroes are never cowardly but they're sometimes self-serving and rarely have the answers to solving problems. They muddle their way through the complex social and moral ills of their setting as best they can. What they do which separates them from the rest of us is they meet it head on and that makes them heroes, whether they're bad or good.

Q] When you start out writing, do you have an overall plan for the book? How much of the plot do you plan out? Or to quote George R.R. Martin, “are you a Gardener or an Architect” when it comes to your writing?

CTP: It depends, really, on the work. I am definitely a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants author when I write Gary and that results in quite a few rewrites as I have to herd the cats my main characters turn out to be. Wraith Knight is a very structured sort of story and I know exactly where each little piece goes. Esoterrorism is more of a mixture of the two, conversations being freeform and the general story being carefully plotted out.

In general, I like to think that I am more of a Gamemaster (to reference Dungeons and Dragons). I create the set up for my characters and then I imagine how they would react to it. When you have characters that are really well-developed in your mind, I believe they tend to take the initiative with plotting and interaction.

Q] Please tell us about the books and authors who have captured your imagination and inspired you to become a wordsmith in your own right. Similarly, are there any current authors you would like to give a shout out to?

CTP: If I had to thank any particular author for setting me on my present path, it would definitely be Jim Butcher for the fact The Dresden Files were the first books which made me think, "I could do this." I just loved the blender of sticking together snark, a hodge-podge of mythology, 1st person narration, oddball characters, and humor with a very serious world. Esoterrorism also owes a bit to Charles Stross as he created a semi-serious take on spies with The Laundry Files which included more than a few "take that" shots at James Bond-style superspies. I wrote Esoterrorism as a counterpoint to TLF as a result, saying, essentially, "What's wrong with James Bond-style superspies?"

In terms of local influences, I would like to, again, give a shout-out to Tim Marquitz (Demon Squad, The Blood War Trilogy), Jim Bernheimer (Prime Suspects: A Clone Detective Mystery, Confessions of a D-List Supervillain), Rob J. Hayes (The Ties That Bind trilogy), Kenny Soward (GnomeSaga), and Seth Skorkowsky (Tales of the Black Raven, Valducan). These authors have not only been influences in me and good friends but I enjoy they’re work too.

Q] I believe you have a fantasy series coming out later this year or early next year as well. Can you talk to us about it and what will be your elevator pitch for it?

CTP: Wraith Knight follows Jacob Riverson, an epic hero of the past, who wakes up two-hundred-years later after his death and discovers he’s a Wraith Knight. A sort of legendary monster created by the King Below to be generals to his armies of monsters and created from the enslaved souls of heroes. The King Below is dead, albeit not exactly gone either, and his armies are scattered.

The heroes who defeated him have since used their defeat of the King Below to justify building an empire which is attempting to instill the values they hold into all of the formerly enslaved followers of the King Below as well as other “heathens.” Jacob gets roped into assisting a rebel against their reign, Regina Whitetremor, despite the fact it’s not exactly a straight contest between good and evil. It also may be a road to hell as the King Below’s ghost encourages him to take up the mantle of Dark Lord.

Maybe fantasy peoples need a Devil to blame everything on.

Q] Amidst all your writing, you also actively review books, movies and more on your blog page. How do you find the time to do all of it? Which recent reads have caught your eye that you would like to spotlight for our readers?

CTP: I find a lot of reviewers make the mistake of trying to take on too much at a time. It's understandable if your blog or review site is your life but if it's a hobby, it's important to pace yourself. One of the more interesting criticisms I received was someone mentioning I didn't do very many reviews of stuff I didn't like and that caused them to question my integrity. My response was, "Well, I tend to review stuff I like since I don't really want to waste my time writing about stuff I think stinks."

If I had to recommend some recent reads, aside from those authors I thanked above, then I could be here all day. I would, however, like to recommend Devan Sagliani and Shana Festa if you like horror and zombies. If you love dark fantasy, like I do, then check out Mark Lawrence and Scott Lynch. If you want a fun urban fantasy romp then I would be remiss if I didn’t suggest you check out Craig Schaefer. I won’t lie to you, I also go to Fantasy Book Critic to get a lot of reviews about stuff I want to check out too.

Hehe.

Q] In closing, do you have any last thoughts or comments you’d like to share with our readers?

CTP: Read what you love, write what you love, and make no apologies.

THE TIGER AND THE WOLF by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Book blurb - In the bleak northern crown of the world, war is coming

Maniye’s father is the Wolf clan’s chieftain, but she’s an outcast. Her mother was queen of the Tiger and these tribes have been enemies for generations. Maniye also hides a deadly secret. All can shift into their clan’s animal form, but Maniye can take on tiger and wolf shapes. She can’t disown half her soul, so escapes – with the killer Broken Axe in pursuit.

Maniye’s father plots to rule the north, and controlling his daughter is crucial to his schemes. However, other tribes also prepare for strife. It’s a season for omens as priests foresee danger, a time of testing and broken laws. Some say a great war is coming, overshadowing even Wolf ambitions. But what spark will set the world ablaze?

This will be the start of a new epic fantasy series that is said to be “Game of Thrones's internecine rivalries meet Jean M. Auel's epic tales of a earlier world in turmoil.“

As a fan of his The Shadows Of The Apt series, we can’t wait to see what new devious fantasy story Adrian has come up with. The fantastic cover art and design is by Neil Lang.

THOSE BELOW by Daniel Polansky

Book blurb - For centuries beyond counting, humanity has served the Others, god-like Eternals who rule from their cloud-capped mountain-city, building a civilization of unimagined beauty and unchecked viciousness.

But all that is about to change. Bas Alyates, grizzled general of a thousand battles, has assembled a vast army with which to contend with the might of Those Above. Eudokia, Machiavellian matriarch and the power behind the Empty Throne, travels to the Roost, nominally to play peacemaker - but in fact to inspire the human population toward revolt. 

Deep in the dark byways of the mountain's lower tiers, the urchin Pyre leads a band of fanatical revolutionaries in acts of terrorism against their inhuman oppressors. Against them, Calla, handmaiden of the Eternals' king, fights desperately to stave off the rising tide of violence, which threatens to destroy her beloved city.

The story begun in Those Above comes to a stunning conclusion in this unforgettable battle for the hearts and minds of the human race, making The Empty Throne series the most exciting epic fantasies of recent times.

The gorgeous cover is a perfect complimentary one to its predecessor and is by Rhett Podersoo. After loving Daniel's take on war and elves in Those Above, I certainly will be very eager to see how it all ends for Pyre, Calla, Eudokia & Bas.

DEAD MAN'S STEEL by Luke Scull

Book blurb - In the City of Towers, former rebel Sasha and her comrade Davarus Cole struggle to keep the peace between the warring mages who vie for dominion. But when the White Lady sends Davarus south to the Shattered Realms to seek allies among the fallen kingdoms, he finds that his hardest battle may be one fought within. The godly essence now residing within him offers power that could be used against the Fade—but with every death that feeds It, Cole risks losing a part of himself.

An association with a Fade officer grants the Halfmage Eremul a position of privilege among Dorminia’s new masters. He witnesses firsthand the fate that awaits humanity. But with his magic pitiful in the face of the Fade’s advanced technology, the Halfmage must rely on his wits alone to save whom he can…

And in the frozen north, the legendary warrior Brodar Kayne fights a desperate battle for his people. He is running out of time: an ancient evil sealed beneath the mountains is about to break free, an evil that is older than humanity, older than the Fade, older even than the gods—and it will not stop until the entire world is drowned in blood…

This is the US cover art for the concluding volume of Luke Scull’s debut trilogy. It’s scheduled to be published in December of 2016 and looks like that’s Davarus Cole on the cover. 

SKULLS by Tim Maquitz

Book blurb - Life held little interest for Jacob...until he found death.

Abused and neglected, Jacob's only solace comes when he is alone in the woods or in the arms of his new girlfriend. But when he stumbles across a hidden bunker filled with human skulls, he learns what true suffering is. Drawn to examine the skulls, he finds there is more than just empty blackness behind their lifeless stares. Through their eyes he watches them die.

With every glance, he witnesses another murder, the memories of the dead playing out inside his mind until reality becomes a blur. A primal cruelty awakening, Jacob returns to the morbid comfort of the skulls, over and over again. But when he happens upon a fresh skull, a victim tortured and slain for his amusement alone, he knows his time has come. Face to face with death, Jacob must choose whether to resist the darkness that dwells inside or condemn himself forever, murdering his innocence on the edge of an axe.

This book is the revised edition with striking cover design by Shawn King and from while I certainly enjoyed the story in its previous iteration. I can’t wait to read the revised version which going by Tim’s horror writing will be smashing to say the least.