2019 Favorites
1. CODA: A graphic novel series from BOOM! Studious about a thieving bard who rides a monstrous unicorn through a post-apocalyptic fantasy world in search of the means to cure his wife of a bloodthirsty rage. Written by Simon Spurrier and drawn by Matias Bergara, it’s reflective, humorous, and gorgeous to look at.
2. KINGDOM: BY FAR my favourite new show on Netflix this year, KINGDOM is a beautifully-shot Korean show featuring swordfights, a plethora of incredible hats, and a shit-ton of zombies—but zombie with a VERY COOL TWIST you’ve never seen before. The production value of this show is out of this world. The sets, the costumes, the acting…everything is perfect.
3. PRIEST OF LIES: PRIEST OF BONES was one of the best audiobooks I listened to last year and I bought the sequel as soon as I could. It’s like a fantasy PEAKY BLINDERS: occasionally brutal, often hilarious, and so tightly written. This series by Peter McLean is a must-read, I think.
4. THREE KINGDOMS: TOTAL WAR: GOD I LOVE TOTAL WAR GAMES! Every one of them. They are literally what I was born to do. And while Warhammer probably remains Creative Assembly’s crowning achievement, the latest installment does everything right. It doesn’t hurt that the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is among my favourite historical periods of all time.
5. SEVEN BLADES IN BLACK: Final Fantasy in book form.
What? You want more? Fine. A wise-cracking warrior named Sal the Cacophony is out for revenge against those who wronged her, armed with a gun that shoot magic bullets and a sword named Jeff. Go read it!
6. CHILDREN OF MORTA: I’ve only just started this, but it’s already shaping up to be one of my favourite games of the year. It features a family of warriors charged with keeping tabs on an ancient evil in case it stirs to life. And guess what? IT STIRS TO LIFE. Best of all, this one has couch co-op, so my brother and I can play it together.
Looking Forward to in 2020
If you’re not counting down the days until CYBERPUNK 2077 then you seriously need to get your priorities in order. The futuristic RPG from the studio that made THE WITCHER will almost certainly be among the best video games of all time. The remake of FINAL FANTASY 7 also arrives this spring, and while I’m not chomping at the bit for it I certainly hope that it’s as amazing as everyone hopes it will be.
NICHOLAS EAMES is the author of THE BAND series, which includes Kings of the Wyld and Bloody Rose. He is hard at work on a third book, and when he isn’t writing he spends his time reading, playing games, drinking coffee, or some combination of the three.
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2019 Favorites
My reading list is desperately behind
the times and a bit all over the place as far as genres (I’m currently on an
Agatha Christie kick). Looking it over, it appears crime and science fiction
were the big areas that drew my interest the most this past year. But three in
particular got my 5-star stamp, while a few others really stuck with me.
1: “Caliban’s War” by James S.A.
Corey. I’m a huge fan of The Expanse television series, so while
patiently waiting on the next season, I decided to give the books a spin.
They’re all wonderful, but the second book in the series has impressed me the
most.
2: “A Short History of Nearly
Everything” by Bill Bryson. This is a non-fiction book covering science and
the history of scientific discovery. While that might sound a bit dry and boring,
the book is everything but. Bryson’s enthusiasm and humor made this book an
incredible pleasure to read. I hadn’t been this thoroughly entertained while
learning since watching Sesame Street as a kid.
3: “Good Omens” by Neil Gaiman
and Terry Pratchett. This was one of those books that’s been on the “To Read”
list for a long time, but with the TV adaptation on its way, I finally got
around to it. Brilliant and highly entertaining book. It was an absolute
pleasure to read.
4: “Out of the Dark” by Greg
Hurwitz. This is probably the only book I read that was released in 2019. I’m a
big fan of Hurwitz’s Orphan X series. They’re over-the-top fun like a good 80’s
action TV show. I’d been a little disappointed in the third book, but Hurwitz
nailed Book Four and I’m looking forward to more adventures in this series.
5: “Dark Run” by Mike Brooks.
While this isn’t what I’d call a great book, I enjoyed the hell out of it. It
hits that same vein that Firefly did, and I quickly followed it up with the
other two books in the series. It was one of those novels that didn’t leave the
biggest impression on me while I was reading it, but afterward, I found myself
wanting to revisit it, so it got two reads in 2019.
Looking forward to in 2020
I’m crossing my fingers that 2020 is
when Scott Lynch’s “The Thorn of Emberlain” releases. It’s suffered
several delays, but rumors say that this is the years we get the next episode
in Jean and Locke’s misadventures.
Now, while it’s releasing in late 2018,
that’s still the future as of this particular moment in time, so I’m going to
list The Expanse Season 4 as something I’m looking forward to. Once I’ve
enjoyed that, I’ll be having a chaser of “Cibola Burn” by James
S.A. Corey, which is the book it’s based on.
On the Horizon for Seth Skorkowsky
My novel “Ashes of Onyx” will be
releasing in January 28 through City Owl Press and Blackstone Audio. It’s about
a former sorceress named Kate who lost her powers and is spiraling into serious
drug addiction. Then she gets an offer she can’t refuse: the return of her powers
in exchange for hunting the magic thief across the multiverse to Lost Carcosa.
About the Author
Raised in
the swamps and pine forests of East Texas, Seth Skorkowsky always gravitated to
the darker sides of fantasy, preferring horror and pulp heroes over knights in
shining armor.
His debut novel, “Dämoren”,
was published in 2014. He has now released four urban fantasy novels and two
sword-and-sorcery short story collections. Seth's next novel, “Ashes of Onyx”,
will release in 2020.
When not writing, Seth enjoys cheesy movies,
tabletop role-playing games, making YouTube videos, and traveling the world
with his wife.
Order The Gutter Prayer over HERE
Preorder The Shadow Saint HERE
Read Gareth Hanrahan's Top of 2019 list
OFFICIAL AUTHOR INFORMATION: Gareth Hanrahan is a writer & game designer. Everything else, by induction. On twitter (and everywhere else) as @mytholder.
Thank you for agreeing to this interview. Before we start, tell us a little bit about yourself. Feel free to brag.
Feel free to brag? You clearly don’t know me at all. Ego does not come naturally to me.
Let’s see. I’m in my 40s. No, that can’t be right. Stupid linear time. I’m primarily a writer for tabletop roleplaying games, with the occasional dabble in computer games and other fiction.
When and why have you decided to become an author?
I always had a vague plan of writing as a hobby – I was always good at writing, and thought I’d do a little freelance game design on the side while having a real grown-up job in IT. However, the IT company I was working for downsized in 2003, and I decided to see how long I could survive on freelancing money before I had to be sensible and get another real job.
That experiment is still ongoing.
How old were you when you first sat down to write a fantasy story or novel? And how old were you when you made your first professional sale?
Specifically fantasy fiction? I’m not sure. 2005, maybe? Or maybe some fan fiction, around 2000 or a little earlier. I didn’t make any serious attempts at a novel until 2010 or so.
My first freelancing sale would have been in 2001, I think, but that was gaming material, not fiction.
Serious writing takes not only a story to tell, but the craft of writing to tell it well—can you comment on your journey as a writer?
I learned on the job – my earliest lesson were primarily about being a good freelancer, which meant hitting word count, hitting deadlines, communicating with editors and the like. And if you want to make a career of writing, all those qualities count for more than prose style. An editor can only fix and give feedback if there’s an actual document on their desk.
Tell us a little bit about your writing process. When and where do you write? Do you start with a character, an image, or an idea? Talk a little bit about how a novel “grows” for you.
My current system seems to be „write a chunk, write a rough outline, write the next chunk, revise outline as foreseen from the current situation”. I tend to start more with situations or premises than character, which is a legacy of my approach to game design where you can’t start with character. But every novel’s different and disturbingly unconstrained.
Do you give yourself mini-deadlines (e.g. must have chapters x-y written by January 1st) or do you progress with an ultimate deadline in mind?
I use Scrivener, which lets you set a deadline and calculates daily word count based on that. I then set my deadline well before the actual deadline, to allow room for editing and general life-slippage.
What was your initial inspiration for The Black Iron Legacy series?
There really wasn’t one single inspiration – it was more of a collision of half-a-dozen concepts. I had a few images of a fantatical steampunk-ish city; some left-over Lovecraftiana; the idea of talking to bells. And the irritating desire to write a novel.
Please, tell our readers what do your characters have to overcome in the series? What challenges did you set before them?
The end of the rational world as the gods go mad and tear reality apart from the inside. Malign eldritch horrors that feast on death. Corrupt governments and corporations grubbing for coin. Thieves and tyrants. Y’know, everyday life stuff.
If I boil the series down, it’s about the interaction of power and history – about how different powers rise and fall, and about individuals either seize control of those powers, or rise and fall with them, or adapt to the vicissitudes of an unpredictable and unfriendly world. Different characters get challenged by those concepts in different ways. In the first book, for example, Carillon tries to define herself as someone without a past, without a history, by presenting herself as a runaway orphan, but she has unwanted power thrust upon her by the machinations of her grandfather, who wants her to fulfill her purpose as part of a sorcerous ritual. In The Shadow Saint, Cari’s cousin Eladora starts off believing herself to be someone who stands aside and just observes the course of history, but eventually realises that she’s the smartest person in the room and her role is to take the reins of power and start directing events…
What unique challenges did the first book pose for you, if any?
It was easily the longest piece of fiction I’d written – and it was all done without any plan for publication. As I’m a freelance writer by trade, I’m used to having a contract in hand before I write anything. It felt immensely selfish to take extra time to work on a novel.
The world you’ve created is unique and unlike any setting I know from fantasy books. Is it based / inspired by your game designer or did you imagine it from scratch? How did you create it?
It’s not directly based on anything from games. Some elements did crop up in games before – I’ve worked on a lot of Lovecraftian stuff, so things like the ghouls and Crawling Ones crossed over from there. And there are very early versions of the gullheads and tallowmen in an obscure d20 bestiary. I did, however, draw a lot on my experience in running games and building game setting when writing the novel – I knew I could throw wild ideas and concepts up into the air, and that I’d be able to catch them and work them into a coherent story. A lot of it, honestly, is just a cross-section of interests of mine – I like industrial archaeology and weird gods and monsters and alchemy and backroom politics and secret histories. Put it all in a big pot and stir!
One of the things that distinguishes The Gutter Prayer from most modern fantasy is the narration. Why did you pick the present tense for the story, instead of the more usual past tense?
Two answers. First, the story is very concerned with its own fictional past. There’s a lot of digging through archives, uncovering secret histories, characters musing about their own pasts and the history of the city. So, putting the narration in the present tense meant I could draw a clear contrast between those explorations of the past and the immediate action of the present.
The other reason is that present tense is what I’m used to writing in for roleplaying games (in fact, the common mode of a tabletop game is the second person present tense – you enter the dungeon, you hit the dragon – which is exactly what I used for the opening of the novel…)
Your vocabulary is incredibly rich. Are you in love with Thesaurus? How important is the prose (its rhythm, structure, richness) for you?
I do love obscure yet apt words. There’s a sort of psychic weight to real words that made-up terms can’t match, and there’s a precision that comes with the exact right word to convey a concept or appearance.
Prose is a tool for me. I really envy writers who are capable of being more poetic and impressionistic – I try to do that, but I always feel the urge to explain, to elaborate or clarify. I’m always worried about leaving the reader behind, which is a disservice on my part that I’m trying to correct.
Writing the sequel to a well-received book can be stressful :) How was writing The Shadow Saint different from The Gutter Prayer? Did the final version of this book differ from how you envisioned it as you were completing The Gutter Prayer and looking ahead to the Black Iron Legacy series as a whole?
Well, The Gutter Prayer was written as a stand-alone, and didn’t change much after I signed a two-book deal. I knew there were places the world could go, though, and The Shadow Saint is the first step. It went very smoothly (the third book, which I’m writing now, feels like it’s being much more troublesome, but I don’t know if that’s just because I’m in the throes of writing the damn’d thing.) The biggest change, really, was that I could now allocate daytime hours to working on fiction, as opposed to stealing time from sleep!
The Gutter Prayer is a fascinating and deliciously dark and weird book with plenty of twists, reveals and unique ideas. Tell us if we’ll learn more about it in the sequel?
Yes. :P
Two of three major plot threads in The Shadow Saint expand the world, as they’re outsiders to the city of Guerdon, but the third point of view – Eladora – was a character in The Gutter Prayer, and her story loops back to explore more of her backstory and give a different perspective on the events of the first novel.
The godswar’s drawing closer, and various factions are looking for ways to tip the conflict in their favour. What challenges await your POV characters? Can we expect you’ll tie the story in The Shadow Saint?
It’s tricky to address this without spoilers – the three point-of-view characters are all on different sides of the conflict, and all of them have different objectives and challenges as they try to manipulate events to their own ends. None of them come out unscathed (I don’t know if I’ve a higher body count in Shadow Saint than Gutter Prayer, but going into more detail on that is a spoiler too!).
The story does tie up – I’m trying to avoid cliffhangers or unsatisfying endings in each book, instead of going to new states of equilibrium with a few lingering questions…
Who is your favorite character to write, and why? And least favorite?
Oh man, it depends on the situation. For example, Carillon is a highly propulsive character – she can’t sit still. Her reaction to any situation is to stab someone, explode something, steal something, insult someone – or, if she’s on her very, very best behaviour, lie through her teeth. Sometimes, that’s great – I barely need to plot her chapters, as she charges off and does stuff of her own accord. At other times, she’s immensely frustrating to work with, as she refuses to engage with the plot or consider the bigger picture. Every character has their own moments when they’re fun to write, or frustrating.
Would you say that The Black Iron Legacy series follows tropes or kicks them?
I don’t know. I find it tricky to taxonomise my own story like that – I’m too close to it. I could certainly find tropes in there if I look, but I can’t tell how obvious they are to an external reader. I certainly don’t try to be fiercely original, but at the same time, one of my schticks is taking fantastical elements and extrapolating mundanity from them, which may lead in some interesting directions.
Is that a non-answer? I don’t know.
Which question about the series do you wish someone would ask? Ask it and answer it!
How many books are in the series, Gar?
Five, I hope. At least, that’s my current plan, but it’s dependent on the whims of the market and the publishing industry.
What’s your publishing Schedule for 2020/2021?
THE SHADOW SAINT is out in January 2020.
The currently unnamed third book in the series will be out January 2021.
Putting my roleplaying hat on – my Fall of Delta Green 1960-spies-vs-the-Cthulhu-mythos campaign will be out sometime next year, along with the Book of the Underworld for 13th Age. I’ll have some Warhammer 40k short fiction coming out from Black Library. And up until last week, I’d have talked about having two Middle-earth books coming out next year (Moria and Errantries of the King), but those are on hold while issues with the publisher of the One Ring line get resolved.
Do you have any other authorial goals that you are striving towards that you want to talk about?
My big challenge for next year is going to be starting something new on spec. This whole idea of writing a book and then selling it runs against the grain for me.
Can you name three books you adore as a reader, but that make you feel inadequate as a writer?
I always point at Mike Harrison’s Virconium books here – there’s one section of a short story of his that I reread every so often, because I know there’s no earthly way I’d be able to start a piece of fiction like that.
"THE HORSE OF IRON AND HOW WE CAN KNOW IT And be changed by it forever
Recently I switched on in the middle of a television arts programme. Two men were molding in brass something that looked at first sight like the stripped carcass of a turkey, that exact, sharp-edged cage of bone which reveals itself so thoroughly through all the strips and flaps of flesh after Christmas dinner. It turned out, though, to be something less interesting, a classical figurine, a Poseidon or Prometheus which systematically lost its magic as the layers of casing material were knocked away carefully with the back of an axe. This was so essentially disappointing - a striptease by which, by removing veils of strangeness and alien signification, the sculptor revealed a value ordinary and easily understood - that to replace it I turned off the TV and imagined this:
Another foundry, somewhere in the night, somewhere in history, in which something like a horse's skull (not a horse's head:a skull, which looks nothing like a horse at all, but an enormous curved shears, or a bone beak whose two halves meet only at the tip, a wicked intelligent-looking purposeless thing which cannot speak) came out of the mold, and all the founders were immediately executed to keep the secret. They had all known this would happen to them. These men were the great craftsmen and engineers of their day. They could have looked for more from life. Yet they crammed down their fear, and got on with the work, and afterwards made no attempt to escape.This was how I learned the secret of the horse, which I now give here, after folding it across itself like a slip of paper, in a further indicating gesture:"
I mean, look at that. Just look at that. Even if we assume that it actually happened to him, that he did have those thoughts while randomly watching tv, and he had the presence of mind to think ‘hey, this is a interesting response I’m having’, then the writerly courage it takes to start a story with that passage staggers me – especially as the rest of the tale has next to nothing to do with that opening, except in mood.
What else? I’m envious of Josiah Bancroft’s prose in his Books of Babel. I’m ok with, say, Douglas Adams or PG Wodehouse being able to do stuff like that, as they’re old and dead and come from different eras. Bancroft’s about the same age I am. It shouldn’t be allowed.
I’m also humbled by Mark Z Danielowski’s House of Leaves, just the sheer artefact of it. „I’m going to spend years writing an insanely complex puzzlebook/typographical labyrinth/academic joke/horror novel, told mainly in footnotes” – who the hell thinks like that?
Finally, can you tell us a couple of fun facts about yourself that are not already available on the internet?
Um. Honestly, I’m not sure. I’m both somewhat quiet and extremely online. And I’ve got two six-year-olds and a zero-year-old, so it’s not like I have much free time to do exciting wacky stuff that would look good on a dust jacket. I listen to more podcasts than is healthy? I’ve technically won an award for my knees? I get extremely uncomfortable when asked to write about myself, and you can almost envision me squirming at the keyboard as I type this?
Thank you so much for agreeing to this conversation, Gareth! We greatly appreciate your time and thoughts.
2019 SF/F Favourites
Wearing my Reviews Editor hat for Anime UK News, I’m going to enthuse about some amazing fantasy manga that I’ve had the pleasure to review this year. Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama (Kodansha) tells the story of young Coco, a girl born in a world where only witches can wield magic, according to strict laws. A tragic occurrence leads Coco to the atelier of kindly Master Qifrey where she becomes one of his student apprentices and learns some very surprising secrets about magic (and gains a witch hat of her own!).
The story is lively and engaging, the magic systems well worked-out and the intricate artwork is exquisite, reminding this reader of the drawings of H.R. Millar for the E. Nesbit books like Five Children and It and The Story of the Amulet. (The talented mangaka also draws for Marvel and DC Comics.)
Our Dreams at Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare by Yuhki Kamatami (Seven Seas) is a four-volume LGBTQ+ tale that can loosely be described as magic realism but is painful, relevant, thought-provoking and ultimately life-enhancing. It’s set in the here and now, it’s beautifully drawn, and impossible to read without being moved to tears.
And just to mention ongoing two fantasy series: The Ancient Magus’ Bride by Kore Yamazaki (Seven Seas) which currently has heroine and Sleigh Beggy Chise attending a school for mages beneath the British Library – and the chilling The Girl From The Other Side by Nagabe (also Seven Seas). Both come highly recommended for their distinctive art and an imaginative approach to the way magic, fairytale and folklore are woven into the narrative.
On the anime front, Sarazanmai (from Kunihiko Ikuhara of Mawaru Penguindrum and Utena fame) achieved a bewilderingly bonkers blend of folklore (cucumber-obsessed kappa!) screen musical (there are song and dance numbers!) humour, LGBTQ+ themes, all bound together by fluid, colourful animation.
And just to mention ongoing two fantasy series: The Ancient Magus’ Bride by Kore Yamazaki (Seven Seas) which currently has heroine and Sleigh Beggy Chise attending a school for mages beneath the British Library – and the chilling The Girl From The Other Side by Nagabe (also Seven Seas). Both come highly recommended for their distinctive art and an imaginative approach to the way magic, fairytale and folklore are woven into the narrative.
On the anime front, Sarazanmai (from Kunihiko Ikuhara of Mawaru Penguindrum and Utena fame) achieved a bewilderingly bonkers blend of folklore (cucumber-obsessed kappa!) screen musical (there are song and dance numbers!) humour, LGBTQ+ themes, all bound together by fluid, colourful animation.
Looking Forward to in 2020
Top of my list is The Lost Future of Pepperharrow, Natasha Pulley’s third novel, due out in February. I loved The Watchmaker of Filigree Street and The Bedlam Stacks, so I’m inevitably impatient to read her third, especially as it moves the central narrative to Japan. The presence of a certain octopus on the front cover image is a tantalising hint for fans (like me) of the first novel. I’d love to mention lots of upcoming SFF works by friends and relations but will restrict myself to looking forward to Teresa Frohock’s next Los Nefilim novel Carved from Stone and Dream (also due in February 2020). And also to mention a promising writer, Deck Matthews, for his Varkas Chronicles and longer ongoing fantasy series The Riven Realm. So much to read!
Official Author Website
Sarah Ash has lived most of her life in the UK. She's a lifelong comics and manga fan and has written over 11 novels most of which have been set in her eclectic world of Artamon. She has co-written several musicals for young performers, and also been a finalist of the Guardian Children’s Fiction award. She currently lives in Bath and is going to continue to write more books in her main Artamon series.
About The Author
Official Author Website
Sarah Ash has lived most of her life in the UK. She's a lifelong comics and manga fan and has written over 11 novels most of which have been set in her eclectic world of Artamon. She has co-written several musicals for young performers, and also been a finalist of the Guardian Children’s Fiction award. She currently lives in Bath and is going to continue to write more books in her main Artamon series.
First of all, thank you for asking me to participate in this, FBC! It’s an honor to be included with so many incredible authors.
So, what stood out to me in 2019...
So, what stood out to me in 2019...
BOOKS
I actually read quite a few books in 2019 (for me that is. I read every day but I’m a very slow reader). I’ve ordered the ones that really stood out for me by when I read them, beginning in January:
Beyond Redemption by Michael R. Fletcher - I was blown away by the originality of the magic system, uniqueness of the characters, and the sheer, raw, grim power of the story.
The Half-Killed by Quenby Olsen - wonderful prose and sense of place, and creepy as hell.
Malice by John Gywnne - this is flat-out classic epic fantasy at its best.
River of Thieves by Clayton Snyder - original, gross, and funny as hell.
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins - this book is insane and bizarre, in every way that I love.
The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood - thrilling and strange and wonderful.
Twilight of the Gods by Scott Oden - a primary world fantasy with an absolutely amazing conception of the transition between the old gods and the new One God.
The True Bastards by Jonathan French - One of my most anticipated books of the year. I had pretty high expectations, and it exceeded them all.
God of Gnomes by Demi Harper - I honestly did not expect to like a litrpg novel, but I simply could not put this down.
Legacy of Ghosts by Alicia Wanstall-Burke - Wanstall-Burke is, in my opinion, one of the best new fantasy writers working today.
The Traitor God by Cameron Johnston - super refreshing and fast-paced fantasy that breaks from the epic journey and focuses on a simple plot but a thrilling story of redemption and revenge.
The Half-Killed by Quenby Olsen - wonderful prose and sense of place, and creepy as hell.
Malice by John Gywnne - this is flat-out classic epic fantasy at its best.
River of Thieves by Clayton Snyder - original, gross, and funny as hell.
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins - this book is insane and bizarre, in every way that I love.
The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood - thrilling and strange and wonderful.
Twilight of the Gods by Scott Oden - a primary world fantasy with an absolutely amazing conception of the transition between the old gods and the new One God.
The True Bastards by Jonathan French - One of my most anticipated books of the year. I had pretty high expectations, and it exceeded them all.
God of Gnomes by Demi Harper - I honestly did not expect to like a litrpg novel, but I simply could not put this down.
Legacy of Ghosts by Alicia Wanstall-Burke - Wanstall-Burke is, in my opinion, one of the best new fantasy writers working today.
The Traitor God by Cameron Johnston - super refreshing and fast-paced fantasy that breaks from the epic journey and focuses on a simple plot but a thrilling story of redemption and revenge.
MOVIES
Oddly enough, I haven’t seen that many this year. It’s been a very busy year! It will probably be no surprise to anyone that the one that really stands out for me is Avengers: Endgame. Shocker!
Jeez, this is hard. It’s been a crazy year for me, with highlights definitely being attending six conferences and two in Ireland, and a Super Relaxed Fantasy Club meet-up in London. Getting all the 217 signatures for the #KINGGONEWYLD project this year has been an absolute blast. And a shockingly successful Kickstarter for Paternus: Rise of Gods Hardbacks! Wow, it really has been a crazy year...
Jeez, this is hard. It’s been a crazy year for me, with highlights definitely being attending six conferences and two in Ireland, and a Super Relaxed Fantasy Club meet-up in London. Getting all the 217 signatures for the #KINGGONEWYLD project this year has been an absolute blast. And a shockingly successful Kickstarter for Paternus: Rise of Gods Hardbacks! Wow, it really has been a crazy year...
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2020
I didn’t release any books in 2019, but I’m thrilled to finally be almost done with Paternus: War of Gods, book three of The Paternus Trilogy, and still on schedule for the June 23rd release. Wrapping this story up has been a hell of a job. Book one was ~135,000 words, book two ~155,000. Book three will be over ~200,000. I almost faint every time I see that number.
I’ve had my head down and typing so much, I don’t even know what books and movies are coming in 2020! So, you all tell me - what am I looking forward to?!
Thanks everybody!
I’ve had my head down and typing so much, I don’t even know what books and movies are coming in 2020! So, you all tell me - what am I looking forward to?!
Thanks everybody!
About The Author
Official Author Website
Dyrk Ashton is a writer, educator, filmmaker and former actor active in storytelling and media making. Born and raised in the Ohio, he spent his formative years in the American Midwest wherein he got a BFA, Masters & PhD in the field of filmmaking & Movie studies. Dyrk loves the outdoors and even more the genre of speculative fiction. He currently resides in Ohio, but the fantasy landscape is the place he calls his true home.
Dyrk Ashton is a writer, educator, filmmaker and former actor active in storytelling and media making. Born and raised in the Ohio, he spent his formative years in the American Midwest wherein he got a BFA, Masters & PhD in the field of filmmaking & Movie studies. Dyrk loves the outdoors and even more the genre of speculative fiction. He currently resides in Ohio, but the fantasy landscape is the place he calls his true home.
Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach: Our GamerLit Favorites of 2019
Travis: Ever since I wrote Forever Fantasy Online, I’ve been diving into the world(s) of litrpg, isekai, and gamer fiction. By the way, if the terms litrpg (literary rpg) and isekai (new world) are unknown to you, that’s awesome! There’s a vast, unexplored, and exploding world of new sub-genres that you might love. If you need some help with this, please check out this twitter thread I posted a while back. It’s a quick 101 on this new landscape.
I reached peak fervor in 2019. My reading and watch lists were dominated by these genres this year!
Rachel: Fun fact: Travis is my cool finder. Most of the things I watch and read are stuff he finds first, which means my 2019 was also dominated by gamer fiction/fantasies where people get reborn to a new world. There were hits and misses, but overall we found some really great stuff! (Note: It might not all have been *published* in 2019, but this was the year we found it, so totally counts.)
So, without further ado, here are the titles we felt were the best of our shared 2019 obsession.
I reached peak fervor in 2019. My reading and watch lists were dominated by these genres this year!
Rachel: Fun fact: Travis is my cool finder. Most of the things I watch and read are stuff he finds first, which means my 2019 was also dominated by gamer fiction/fantasies where people get reborn to a new world. There were hits and misses, but overall we found some really great stuff! (Note: It might not all have been *published* in 2019, but this was the year we found it, so totally counts.)
So, without further ado, here are the titles we felt were the best of our shared 2019 obsession.
Favorite Books
Travis: I wish I could list Rachel’s books but that would be cheating, haha. Hrm...authors-not-Rachel...
So, my favorite read of the year has to be Sarah Lin’s New Game Minus which is a LitRPG where an evil lich NPC gets body-swapped into a player’s body and becomes the hero. It’s hilarious, unusual, tells a good progression story, and even three books (finished series) weren’t enough for me to tire of Bloodwraith’s antics.
My second favorite read, but it’s really splitting hairs, is also a Sarah Lin novel - Street Cultivation. This one came out of nowhere for me since I’m not on Royal Road. It’s a fantastic urban wuxia wrapped around a progression fantasy with some really excellent world-building, tons of fights, and an extremely lovable main character who really deserves to have someone buy him lunch.
Rachel: This is super cheating since I’ve actually been reading this for years and it’s not technically a book, but my favorite read of 2019 was (yet again) Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Yes, it’s a Harry Potter fanfic, and yes you should absolutely read it. I came back to this story after letting it sit for many years because I got tired of keeping up with weekly updates, but the story is now complete, so I came back for the finish and just freaking loved it.
The story actually reminds me a lot of an isekai, which is both true and my flimsy excuse for including it in this list. No one is actually reborn or teleported to another world, but HPMOR’s premise--what if Harry Potter was raised by a kind profession of rationality instead of beastly relatives--creates the same effect that makes isekai so addictive. You get to watch a brilliant, rational person with knowledge of the modern world wreak hilarious and incredibly satisfactory havoc on what is essentially a low technology magical setting. It’s fun, it’s satisfying, it’s well written, and it’s online for free! What more could you want?
Rachel: This is super cheating since I’ve actually been reading this for years and it’s not technically a book, but my favorite read of 2019 was (yet again) Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Yes, it’s a Harry Potter fanfic, and yes you should absolutely read it. I came back to this story after letting it sit for many years because I got tired of keeping up with weekly updates, but the story is now complete, so I came back for the finish and just freaking loved it.
The story actually reminds me a lot of an isekai, which is both true and my flimsy excuse for including it in this list. No one is actually reborn or teleported to another world, but HPMOR’s premise--what if Harry Potter was raised by a kind profession of rationality instead of beastly relatives--creates the same effect that makes isekai so addictive. You get to watch a brilliant, rational person with knowledge of the modern world wreak hilarious and incredibly satisfactory havoc on what is essentially a low technology magical setting. It’s fun, it’s satisfying, it’s well written, and it’s online for free! What more could you want?
Favorite Anime / Shows
Travis: That Time I was Reborn as a Slime was a lot of fun to watch as it does the reborn/isekai formula well and without killing the audience with stats. It was a tad too far on the fan service side of things for my comfort at times but I found the main character to be a really likable, friendly, and caring guy which made the antics and progression pretty enjoyable. I was sad when I hit the last episode but that’s the sign of a good show.
Restaurant to Another World enraptured me by combining portal fiction and slice-of-life with a healthy serving of food porn. It’s only 12 episodes long and I wish there were 1200 instead because I could watch critters from a fantasy realm eating modern cooking all day long. I hope there’s a good Japanese restaurant nearby if you watch this cause it’s gonna cause some hella bad food cravings. (Like pork cutlet and beer. MMmmmmm. You’ve been warned.)
Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku is one of my favorite gamer/nerd shows now. It’s basically a SitCom except the escapades involve Monster Hunter and other games. I’m not normally a SitCom or RomCom fan so I was surprised by how much I liked this. I guess the moment the situations are about gamer stuff I actually care about, I’m in. 200%.
Rachel: Restaurant to Another World and Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku were also my favorites! They’re both lovely and endearing and funny and you should watch them both right now.
I’m also going to throw in Recovery of an MMO Junkie, a show about an office worker in Japan who mysteriously quits her job and moves into a tiny apartment to live off her savings and play a super generic MMO all day long. This story is less about the game (though the game is a hoot) and more about what would make someone give up their life and escape into video games. It’s GamerLit at its best: poignant and funny and way too real sometimes, but with a focus on the gamers as real characters with complicated lives that I really enjoyed. I wish there was more than one season!
Travis: How do I pick favorites here?! I read a lot of manga, widely across genres, and no...it’s not a problem, haha ha-- (scuttles up to a dark corner of the ceiling to read more.)
Tales of Gods and Demons goes top on this list cause I’m still reading it in 2019. It’s a reborn wuxia progression fantasy about a guy who wanders the wastes after his home city is demolished, he becomes an enormous badass and then is reborn to before it’s destruction to save it. As reborns and progression fantasies go, Tales is one of the best out there and it’s also a quality wuxia with one hell of a world. If you want some really unique world-building, this is gonna be your thing. It’s also super-mega long which I think of as a plus. I look forward to every update.
(Btw, the current title cover on the scanlation group is very pin-up girl for some reason. That’s not the original cover and it’s not representative of the contents of Tales. The MC is a stand-up guy chasing his one true love.)
The Gamer is about a gaming addict who becomes a character with stats IRL. Unfortunately for him, this opens up the world of the Abyss--the magical underbelly hiding behind barriers--and throws him into a life where leveling himself up is now an act of survival. This webcomic isn’t new in 2019 but damn it isn’t one of the best Litrpgs ever (IMHO). Stats, leveling, abilities, world-building, great combat, cool characters, etc this one has it all.
And since it’s still on-going, I’m taking liberties and putting it on my fav of the year list anyway.
Honorable Mention - In Another World, I'm Called: the Black Healer. This is a charming shoujo-focused isekai where the main character is a healer surrounded by very pretty men. It’s a refreshing change from the parade of shounen-focused ones where sword-mage dude is surrounded by girls. I found it fun to read and it was the manga that led me to realize “holy crap there are josei and shoujo isekai.” Which was a bit of a forehead-slap moment for me. How long have I been reading manga for, anyway? Josei is career-woman manga, it’s a vast ocean, and of course there’s a mountain of isekai that fall into that category too.
I could list manga forever, so I’m gonna drop a few other favs here and walk away slowly lest I get carried away:
Mage and Demon Queen (RomCom set in a JRPG fantasy world. What’s not to like?)
They say I Was Born a King’s Daughter (Imo, this is one of the greats. Isekai Reborn Josei)
Sleepless Domain (for those who liked Madoka Magicka and want more dark magical girls. I’ll say no more.)
Rachel: As you can see from Trav’s list, the isekai/GamerLit/LitRPG manga hole is a deep one. This style of story is absolutely dominating manga right now. You cannot escape it, and it’s not always good.
I read one about a girl who gets reborn as the villain of the fantasy RPG she was playing and decides to reform the kingdom the hero prevented her character from destroying back in the game with modern economics. Sounds great right? Yeah, it started great, but when she starts gathering her crew to actually put these reforms into action, it turns out everyone who works for her was an orphan she rescued from the streets.
(Travis: omg I remember that one. That lady has an orphan-hoarding problem!)
Leaving aside the character questions of why the noble lady whose body the MC was reborn into--who was supposedly the VILLAIN of the game!--was out there rescuing orphans, this trope quickly got way out of hand. By the time I stopped reading, we were up to a dozen named, beautiful, hyper-competent orphans. Lady, you were not an orphan rescuer. You were an orphan KIDNAPPER. I’m not reading your comic any more.
Restaurant to Another World enraptured me by combining portal fiction and slice-of-life with a healthy serving of food porn. It’s only 12 episodes long and I wish there were 1200 instead because I could watch critters from a fantasy realm eating modern cooking all day long. I hope there’s a good Japanese restaurant nearby if you watch this cause it’s gonna cause some hella bad food cravings. (Like pork cutlet and beer. MMmmmmm. You’ve been warned.)
Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku is one of my favorite gamer/nerd shows now. It’s basically a SitCom except the escapades involve Monster Hunter and other games. I’m not normally a SitCom or RomCom fan so I was surprised by how much I liked this. I guess the moment the situations are about gamer stuff I actually care about, I’m in. 200%.
Rachel: Restaurant to Another World and Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku were also my favorites! They’re both lovely and endearing and funny and you should watch them both right now.
I’m also going to throw in Recovery of an MMO Junkie, a show about an office worker in Japan who mysteriously quits her job and moves into a tiny apartment to live off her savings and play a super generic MMO all day long. This story is less about the game (though the game is a hoot) and more about what would make someone give up their life and escape into video games. It’s GamerLit at its best: poignant and funny and way too real sometimes, but with a focus on the gamers as real characters with complicated lives that I really enjoyed. I wish there was more than one season!
Favorite Mangas
Travis: How do I pick favorites here?! I read a lot of manga, widely across genres, and no...it’s not a problem, haha ha-- (scuttles up to a dark corner of the ceiling to read more.)
Tales of Gods and Demons goes top on this list cause I’m still reading it in 2019. It’s a reborn wuxia progression fantasy about a guy who wanders the wastes after his home city is demolished, he becomes an enormous badass and then is reborn to before it’s destruction to save it. As reborns and progression fantasies go, Tales is one of the best out there and it’s also a quality wuxia with one hell of a world. If you want some really unique world-building, this is gonna be your thing. It’s also super-mega long which I think of as a plus. I look forward to every update.
(Btw, the current title cover on the scanlation group is very pin-up girl for some reason. That’s not the original cover and it’s not representative of the contents of Tales. The MC is a stand-up guy chasing his one true love.)
The Gamer is about a gaming addict who becomes a character with stats IRL. Unfortunately for him, this opens up the world of the Abyss--the magical underbelly hiding behind barriers--and throws him into a life where leveling himself up is now an act of survival. This webcomic isn’t new in 2019 but damn it isn’t one of the best Litrpgs ever (IMHO). Stats, leveling, abilities, world-building, great combat, cool characters, etc this one has it all.
And since it’s still on-going, I’m taking liberties and putting it on my fav of the year list anyway.
Honorable Mention - In Another World, I'm Called: the Black Healer. This is a charming shoujo-focused isekai where the main character is a healer surrounded by very pretty men. It’s a refreshing change from the parade of shounen-focused ones where sword-mage dude is surrounded by girls. I found it fun to read and it was the manga that led me to realize “holy crap there are josei and shoujo isekai.” Which was a bit of a forehead-slap moment for me. How long have I been reading manga for, anyway? Josei is career-woman manga, it’s a vast ocean, and of course there’s a mountain of isekai that fall into that category too.
I could list manga forever, so I’m gonna drop a few other favs here and walk away slowly lest I get carried away:
Mage and Demon Queen (RomCom set in a JRPG fantasy world. What’s not to like?)
They say I Was Born a King’s Daughter (Imo, this is one of the greats. Isekai Reborn Josei)
Sleepless Domain (for those who liked Madoka Magicka and want more dark magical girls. I’ll say no more.)
Rachel: As you can see from Trav’s list, the isekai/GamerLit/LitRPG manga hole is a deep one. This style of story is absolutely dominating manga right now. You cannot escape it, and it’s not always good.
I read one about a girl who gets reborn as the villain of the fantasy RPG she was playing and decides to reform the kingdom the hero prevented her character from destroying back in the game with modern economics. Sounds great right? Yeah, it started great, but when she starts gathering her crew to actually put these reforms into action, it turns out everyone who works for her was an orphan she rescued from the streets.
(Travis: omg I remember that one. That lady has an orphan-hoarding problem!)
Leaving aside the character questions of why the noble lady whose body the MC was reborn into--who was supposedly the VILLAIN of the game!--was out there rescuing orphans, this trope quickly got way out of hand. By the time I stopped reading, we were up to a dozen named, beautiful, hyper-competent orphans. Lady, you were not an orphan rescuer. You were an orphan KIDNAPPER. I’m not reading your comic any more.
On a more positive note, I read a ton of isekai manga this year and my favorite hands down was They say I Was Born a King’s Daughter. This was the first reborn genre story I read and IMO it’s still the best. It’s incredibly tense, smart, and while the main heroine can come off as kind of overpowered, she needs that power to survive her insane situation. I really enjoyed this story and I heartily recommend it to anyone looking for a clever, well written, and entertaining reborn.
Travis: Due to the massive litrpg/isekai binge I’ve been on, my normal watchlist is hella backed up. I need to get caught up on Food Wars S4, My Hero Academia S4, Fire Force S1, She-Ra S2-4, and many other great shows before I even get to that live-action stuff all over HBO and Netflix. Though if Yuri On Ice S2 or One Punch Man S2 ever drops...well, sorry watchlist! (not sorry)
Rachel: I’m glad Travis is looking forward, because I’m still working my way through my TBR. I’ve got so much good stuff in there I’ve forgotten half of it, but that just means it’ll be a surprise, right?
Travis: Writing-wise, I’m so happy that everyone seems to love the last book of my Forever Fantasy Online series. It was a grand conclusion that I’m very proud of.
As for what’s next from me as an author - I have many ideas but nothing I’ve committed to enough to talk about online. Basically, there’s a long idealist and I need to play with many of them to see which has the legs to stand a 3 book story on top of. I might write a wuxia reborn, another litrpg, some portal fiction, a straight military scifi, or a kinda alternative urban fantasy.
If you want to listen to hints and obscure portents about my writings, check out my twitter @TravBach.
Rachel: On the writing horizon for me is finishing up the last book of my DFZ trilogy (which I’m currently editing the next to last chapter of and should be out in Spring 2020!) and then it’s on to something NEW! I don’t want to say too much since a lot of my ideas fall apart when I actually start to write them, but I am definitely giving my Epic Fantasy Western a serious go. I hope you’re all ready for a sprawling drama of magic and six-shooters!
If you want to know when I have new books out, the most reliable way is to sign up for my mailing list! I always announce everything there first and I send, like, 2 emails a year, so no worries about spam. You can also find me on Twitter @Rachel_Aaron. This is where I am most active and also where I gush about new stuff I find, so feel free to come hang out!
So that’s our list of awesome for 2019! We hope you enjoyed it and that your new years is full of amazing stories. Thank you so much for reading, and if you haven’t already, Travis and I both hope you’ll give our own GamerLit/LitRPG entry Forever Fantasy Online a try! We loved writing it, and now that the trilology is done, we couldn’t be prouder.
Thank you so much to Mihir and FBC for having us, and here’s to an amazing 2020!
Upcoming for 2020
Travis: Due to the massive litrpg/isekai binge I’ve been on, my normal watchlist is hella backed up. I need to get caught up on Food Wars S4, My Hero Academia S4, Fire Force S1, She-Ra S2-4, and many other great shows before I even get to that live-action stuff all over HBO and Netflix. Though if Yuri On Ice S2 or One Punch Man S2 ever drops...well, sorry watchlist! (not sorry)
Rachel: I’m glad Travis is looking forward, because I’m still working my way through my TBR. I’ve got so much good stuff in there I’ve forgotten half of it, but that just means it’ll be a surprise, right?
Travis: Writing-wise, I’m so happy that everyone seems to love the last book of my Forever Fantasy Online series. It was a grand conclusion that I’m very proud of.
As for what’s next from me as an author - I have many ideas but nothing I’ve committed to enough to talk about online. Basically, there’s a long idealist and I need to play with many of them to see which has the legs to stand a 3 book story on top of. I might write a wuxia reborn, another litrpg, some portal fiction, a straight military scifi, or a kinda alternative urban fantasy.
If you want to listen to hints and obscure portents about my writings, check out my twitter @TravBach.
Rachel: On the writing horizon for me is finishing up the last book of my DFZ trilogy (which I’m currently editing the next to last chapter of and should be out in Spring 2020!) and then it’s on to something NEW! I don’t want to say too much since a lot of my ideas fall apart when I actually start to write them, but I am definitely giving my Epic Fantasy Western a serious go. I hope you’re all ready for a sprawling drama of magic and six-shooters!
If you want to know when I have new books out, the most reliable way is to sign up for my mailing list! I always announce everything there first and I send, like, 2 emails a year, so no worries about spam. You can also find me on Twitter @Rachel_Aaron. This is where I am most active and also where I gush about new stuff I find, so feel free to come hang out!
So that’s our list of awesome for 2019! We hope you enjoyed it and that your new years is full of amazing stories. Thank you so much for reading, and if you haven’t already, Travis and I both hope you’ll give our own GamerLit/LitRPG entry Forever Fantasy Online a try! We loved writing it, and now that the trilology is done, we couldn’t be prouder.
Thank you so much to Mihir and FBC for having us, and here’s to an amazing 2020!
About The Authors
Official Rachel Aaron website
Official Travis Bach website
ABOUT RACHEL AARON: Rachel lives in Colorado 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.
ABOUT TRAVIS BACH: Travis is a nerd who loves gaming, reading, writing & hiking. He’s Rachel’s husband as well as one of her strongest pillars. He shares her fascination with gaming and reading fantasy. He lives in Colorado with his wonderful family.
Official Travis Bach website
ABOUT RACHEL AARON: Rachel lives in Colorado 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.
ABOUT TRAVIS BACH: Travis is a nerd who loves gaming, reading, writing & hiking. He’s Rachel’s husband as well as one of her strongest pillars. He shares her fascination with gaming and reading fantasy. He lives in Colorado with his wonderful family.
2019 Favorites
I’m so pleased to say it has been another phenomenal year for Fantasy fiction! There’s been some really, really great stuff released again this year. In no particular order, these are some of my personal favourites.
1. Crowfall, by Ed McDonald. The third and final instalment in the Raven’s Mark trilogy, Crowfall is raw and emotional in a way I didn't expect. It's a very different book to its action-heavy predecessors, yet is still an almost inevitable conclusion to Captain Galharrow's character arc. Watching him fall apart through his own narrative brings a fresh edge of pain to the storytelling. This series is ultimately a story about love and remorse, culminating in one last moment of desperate defiance. And then, at last, there is hope. It’s splendid stuff, and a series that I’m sure to re-read in the future.
2. The House of Sacrifice, by Anna Smith Spark. Another series-ender, The House of Sacrifice concludes the glorious, thundering black metal opera that has been Smith Spark’s Empires of Dust trilogy. This is everything I could have hoped for and more. Smith Spark's soaring operatic prose really hits the high notes here, a pitch-perfect paean to death and corruption and ruin. Anyone who's been reading these books quietly to themselves as fantasy novels is missing out, in my opinion. This isn't modern fiction, this is the ancient mythology of a dead world. Empires of Dust deserves to be read aloud, to be performed even, in the epic poetry tradition of the tales of Achilles and Gilgamesh. There really is honestly nothing else quite like this series, and it has already become one of my all time favourites.
3. We Are the Dead, by Mike Shackle. From series ends to new beginnings, this is the first of a debut series from Shackle. In a world reminiscent of Warring States period Japan crossed with WWII Occupied France, the revolution is coming. This book has everything you could want from that premise: The Resistance. A Samurai general's disgraced daughter forced to face up to her responsibilities and become a hero. Faceless enemy stormtroopers and sadistic magic SS officers. A single mother forced into the Resistance against her will. Nightmarish genetically-engineered monsters. A teenage terrorist leading a cadre of suicide bombers. The choice between duty and starvation in a civilian reality where the Resistance are every bit as dangerous as the enemy. If you took Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, crossed it with David Gemmell and dropped it into a quasi-Asian fantasy setting this is what you’d get. Highly recommended.
4. A Little Hatred, by Joe Abercrombie. As a huge fan of the First Law series I must admit I was a bit nervous going into this one. What if the magic had died in the intervening years? Well I’m very glad to say it did nothing of the sort – this was splendid! I've always been impressed by Abercrombie's ability to switch from laugh-out-loud hilarity to utter horror and back again in the space of a few pages, but in this book it's stronger than ever. Never knowing which you're going to get next makes for an emotional rollercoaster ride that I can only liken to channel-flipping between Blackadder III and something by the Marquis de Sade. This is a splendid opening salvo in the new trilogy, and I'm eagerly looking forward to the next one.
5. The Bone Ships, by RJ Barker. Another series opener here, from the author of The Wounded Kingdom series. I liked those a lot, but this takes it to the next level. Imagine the naval sagas of Patrick O'Brian (the Aubrey–Maturin series, Master and Commander) in a fantasy world with a triumvirate of goddesses, avian wind-mages, and a fully matriarchal society. Imagine it told in the language of the sea, in rolling, rhythmic prose that crashes over you like breakers. Imagine the mythic grandeur of the last sea dragon, and the dragonbone ships that set out to hunt it - or to save it. Barker has created a living, breathing society here, with every turn of phrase and nuance of expression hand-crafted to draw you on and on into this world of women and men on the high seas; into an epic tale of duty and obligation and honour, and what bravery really means. It is truly magnificent, and I can't recommend it enough.
Looking Forward to in 2020
I’ve already managed to read a couple of 2020 releases, and enjoyed them both hugely:
There’s Highfire, the adult fantasy debut from Eoin Colfer of Artemis Fowl fame, for one. It’s a charming, funny, sometimes brutal look at poor Cajun life and crime in the Louisiana bayou – with a dragon in it. Yes, an actual live dragon. Called Vern. Trust me, it’s worth it.
I was also lucky enough to get an advance copy of The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold (yes, the actor) which is a splendidly bleak, noir thriller set in a high fantasy world where the magic has not so much gone away as been brutally murdered. It’s a great premise and the hardboiled voice is absolutely spot on.
I’m really hoping the next Bone Ships book makes it out in 2020 as well, as I can’t get my hands on that quickly enough!
On the Horizon for Peter McLean
Ah this is a difficult one - I’ve got lots of things going on at the moment, and I can’t talk about any of them just yet! Rest assured though I’m still working away on the third War for the Rose Throne book, which I expect will be out in 2021. The working title is Priest of Gallows, but don’t hold me to that as the title hasn’t had final approval from Our Lady of Eternal Editing yet. There will also probably be more Warhammer of some sort, as it’s just so much fun to write!
Peter McLean was born near London in 1972, the son of a bank manager and an English teacher. He went to school in the shadow of Norwich Cathedral where he spent most of his time making up stories.
He has since grown up a bit, if not a lot, and spent 25 years working in corporate IT. He is married to Diane and is still making up stories.
He is the author of the War for the Rose Throne series, beginning with Priest of Bones.
His is represented by Jennie Goloboy at DMLA.
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