City of Lies by Sam Hawke
Charlie Hopkins
City of Lies was entertaining from start to finish. It was incredibly refreshing to see poison front and centre in a book. City of Lies follows the two viewpoints of…
fantasy
Duel of Fire by Jordan Rivet
JC Kang
Jordan Rivet’s book one of the Steel and Fire series, Duel of Fire, has a familiar premise: a girl living in an idyllic mountain kingdom, who can’t live up to…
Small Press, Big Stories: Detox In Letters by Cheryl Low – Cover Reveal and Excerpt!
Steven Poore
When I spoke to Sarena at World Weaver Press last year we talked about Cheryl Low’s Vanity in Dust, which I reckoned was pitched like Moorcock’s End of Time characters…
Orconomics: A Satire by J. Zachary Pike
Dungeons & Dragons meets The Big Short. As I have confessed in previous reviews, I am shallow in my book buying habits. All it takes for me to snap up…
Candy by Lavie Tidhar
Jonathan Thornton
“A long buffet table on the other side was laden with sweet pastries, chocolate and cream, in flagrant violation of Prohibition. They must have been brought in from out of…
Great Fantasy Films From Yesteryear
A. M. Justice
Before I begin, as I wrote this title I thought, “How did the 1970s become yesteryear?” I have to keep reminding myself that there are adults out there—many of them…
Albion Online – First Impressions
Geoff Matthews
I started playing MMOs back when Ultima Online (UO) was only one world, when a red name struck fear into my heart and my armour consisted of a death shroud,…
Monthly Short Story Winner: Rebirth/Renewal
Xiagan
This is a broad theme and it doesn’t have to deal with spring, people, or the New Year. After all, what can’t be renewed? What doesn’t have the right to…
An Introductory Guide to Reading Fantasy
R. S. McCoy
Editor’s Note: Fantasy encompasses a HUGE body of works. There is literally something in fantasy for everyone. But where to begin if you’ve never tried fantasy before? Here is one…
The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi
Pippa
Originally written in Japanese and published in 2006, this edition of The Beast Player is translated by Cathy Hirano. At the heart of this book is a coming of age…
Golden Age by James Maxwell
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them meets 300. No, not, really. James Maxwell’s Golden Age shares only two things in common with JK Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to…
Knocking People Out: Easier In Fiction Than In Real Life
Nicola Alter
It’s a common scenario in many kinds of fiction, including fantasy: a character passes out, either because they’ve been knocked on the head or injured or drugged, and the world…