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Book Review: Dragon Heart by Cecelia Holland

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A fantasy kingdom under threat, avaricious and grasping scions of an Empire seeking their ambitions and desires, and an implacable dragon come together in Dragon Heart, the first fantasy novel from Cecelia Holland. Holland is best known for a long string of historical fiction novels set across history and time such as The Secret Eleanor, looking at the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine. The Angel and the Sword is set in 9th Century France,  a telling of the female knight legend of Roderick the Beardless. Pillar of the Sky details the construction of Stonehenge, and Until the Sun Falls goes deeply into the life of Psin, a General in the Mongol horde in the time after Genghis’ death. In Dragon Heart, King Reymarro, the King of Castle Ocean, at the edge of the sea, is dead. The grasping, avaricious Empire to the East has seized the opportunity to exert dominion over this last outpost of land in the west. Queen Marioza and her children face the scions of the Empire come to take control of the land and the Castle. These scions themselves have ambitions, plans and desires of their own, and struggle and conflict amongst themselves as well as the royal family. Control of a kingdom like Castle Ocean could be a stepping stone to challenging the Emperor for supremacy, after all, or at least to keep in his good graces.

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Book Review: Cities and Thrones by Carrie Patel

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Revolt and revolution are only the beginning of the troubles facing Malone, Jane and the other characters in CITIES AND THRONES, the follow-up to THE BURIED LIFE by Carrie Patel. Taking place on the heels of the prior book, while the first novel is a New Weird murder mystery with a large side of political revolution and unrest, Cities and Thrones explores the consequences, causes and calamities when political revolution happens. Malone has prospered, in a way, in the wake of the political changes occurring in the prior volume, having risen to a position of power and authority over the Inspectors that she didn’t quite want, but is the only person trusted for the job, anyway. Jane Lin and her companion Anders, on the other hand, having gone on the run, give the reader a view into a completely different city — Medina. While Medina is another underground city in the same vein as Recoletta, its culture and setup are very different. Lin’s talents for espionage and getting wrapped up in the councils of power do not fail her in Medina, and Lin soon finds herself caught in them in her new city in short order.

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Skiffy and Fanty Interview with author Jamie Wyman

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Paul: So, for those readers unfamiliar with you, who is Jamie Wyman? Jamie: Jamie is the geeky, chai-swilling writer of urban fantasy, Sherlock spec fic and a variety of flash fiction. Paul: Your urban fantasy revolves around a couple of characters and series. Tell us about Catherine Sharp, your protagonist in the Etudes in C# series.

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In the Duke’s Sights: Books of Note for 8/21/15

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It’s that time again.  Time for more books.  These magic monsters appeared all at once in the office of my apartment complex, presumably having arrived a while ago only to collect in a dark closet or something.  But now they’re here. So, without further delay, here they are.  Leave a comment if something looks interesting to you!

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Mining the Genre Asteroid: Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle

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In our world, the duchy of Burgundy, the Middle Kingdom, has had a fascinating, and often strange history. Wedged in the middle of Europe, from the Mediterranean and up toward the North Sea, parts of which are now France, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, the Dukes of Burgundy have often been as powerful or more powerful than some of the full blown kingdoms they have dealt with. Burgundy is a hell of a lot of fun to play in the computer game Crusader Kingdoms 2. By accidents and turns of fortune, Burgundy disappeared from our history in a rather sudden fashion. That sudden disappearance of Burgundy from history is the historical seed for Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle. Gentle uses secret history, alternate history, and the moldability of history to explore a 15th century that wasn’t … but perhaps once was.

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My Superpower: Djibril al-Ayad (Ten Years of The Future Fire)

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My Superpower is a regular guest column on the Skiffy and Fanty blog where authors and creators tell us about one weird skill, neat trick, highly specialized cybernetic upgrade, or other superpower they have, and how it helped (or hindered!) their creative process as they built their project. Today, we welcome Djibril al-Ayad to talk about how the power of invisibility relates to Ten Years of The Future Fire. If I were to choose my own superpower, it would probably be flight — not the most useful ability in this day and age, but I bet the most fun! Even in dreams I can only fly a few inches off the ground, and then only with increasing, agonising concentration after a few seconds. It enables me to cross a wide street while only stepping on the kerbs, but not much else. I guess we don’t get to choose our own superpower.

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