Tag Archives: Fantasy

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Matthew Ward Talks Legacy of Steel

Welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, in which I’m talking to Matthew Ward about his new novel Legacy of Steel, the sequel to 2019’s Legacy of Ash (which I spoke to Matthew about in a previous interview). It’s due out from Orbit in both hardback and ebook in early November, so whether you’ve read and enjoyed Legacy of Ash and have been looking forward to book two, or are coming to the Legacy Trilogy for the first time, it’s a great opportunity now to find out more about this brilliant epic fantasy series.

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QUICK REVIEW: A Dead Djinn in Cairo – P. Djèlí Clark

When a djinn is found dead – exsanguinated, to be precise – it’s Fatma el-Sha’awari’s task, as an investigator for Egypt’s Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, to find out how and why, in P. Djèlí Clark’s intriguing urban fantasy A Dead Djinn in Cairo. What at first appears to be a simple case of suicide (however unlikely that may be among immortals) quickly develops into a mystery involving djinn mythology, mechanical angels and flesh-eating ghuls rising from Cairo’s slums. Whatever it is that’s stirring amongst the city’s supernatural denizens, it’s up to Fatma to put a stop to it.

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The Head of Mimir – Richard Lee Byers

The first novel in Aconyte Books’ new Marvels: Legends of Asgard series, Richard Lee Byers’ The Head of Mimir is a fun, fast-paced fantasy adventure. With Asgard under siege by armies of Frost Giants, and Odin trapped in an unusually long Odinsleep, the thoughtful young warrior Hemidall worries that his fellow Asgardians are underestimating their enemies. Speculating that something supernatural is affecting his king’s sleep, Heimdall and his sister Sif slip into Odin’s inner sanctum and find that the Head of Mimir, a powerful relic said to possess great wisdom, has been stolen. Despite the evidence of an intruder, and the suggestion of a traitor in Asgard’s court, Heimdall and Sif soon find themselves on the path to Jotunheim alone, desperate to recover the relic, foil the Jotuns’ plans, and redeem themselves in the eyes of Asgard.

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The Doom of Fallowhearth – Robbie MacNiven

Robbie MacNiven’s first novel for Aconyte Books, The Doom of Fallowhearth is the first in a new series of novels set in Terrinoth, the world of Descent: Journeys in the Dark. When Lady Kathryn, the Baroness of Forthyn’s daughter, disappears under strange circumstances, three of the legendary Borderlands Four reunite to search for the missing noblewoman. While their best years might be behind them, these most famous of adventurers bravely (or rather reluctantly, in the case of ageing rogue Logan Lashley) head north to the town of Fallowhearth to search for signs of what caused Lady Kathryn’s disappearance. Little do they appreciate the danger they’re stepping into, however, as their search brings them into conflict with suspicious locals, lurking monsters and a powerful darkness hiding in the sinister Blind Muir forest.

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Notes From Small Planets – Nate Crowley

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if you crossed a travel guide with a load of well-trodden sci-fi/fantasy tropes and the wild imagination of a born storyteller…it turns out you’d get Nate Crowley’s Notes From Small Planets! Spanning eight fictional worlds, from the high fantasy Mittelvelde to the hard sci-fi SPACE¹ and so much more in between, it’s both a loving homage to and merciless satire of the highs and lows of genre fiction. Coming from a writer capable of work as dazzlingly diverse as revolutionary zombie novel The Death and Life of Schneider Wrack and alternative gaming history 100 Best Video Games (That Never Existed) it’s exactly as bonkers and brilliant as you’d imagine.

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QUICK REVIEW: Watch The Flank – Thomas Parrott

Thomas Parrott’s first story published via his Curious Fictions page, Watch The Flank introduces his The Sundering War setting with a punchy, action-packed military science fantasy tale of giant warmachines and aetheric energy. Cocooned within the huge frame of her Stormcaller giganphract, Bond-Pilot Leyna Raskin roams ahead of her regiment as they make for the safety of Fort Rigour. What started off as a tedious, dull posting, however, quickly becomes a frantic struggle for survival as Leyna finds herself facing off against a mysterious enemy every bit as massive and powerful as her own phract.

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Curse of Honor – David Annandale

David Annandale’s novel Curse of Honor kicks off the new range of Legend of the Five Rings fiction from Aconyte Books with a sinister tale of duty, ambition, misplaced pride and monstrous darkness. Lieutenant Hida Haru is destined to one day become the daimyō of Striking Dawn Castle, but before then he has to somehow prove himself to his family, a task at which he has spectacularly failed thus far. When he stumbles upon a foreboding city hidden within the Twilight Mountains, he sees a chance to make a name for himself and strike a blow against the Shadowlands, but his ill-timed actions only lead to disaster. With cracks forming in the fragile alliances within Striking Dawn, and a horrifying evil unleashed upon the castle, its defenders must find a way to guard against terrible enemies both within and without.

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Gods of Jade and Shadow – Silvia Moreno-Garcia

A darkly beautiful fairy tale set in 1920s Mexico, Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Gods of Jade and Shadow melds fantasy with Maya mythology in a gorgeous story of quiet dreams, unexpected adventure and fratricidal gods. Living a quiet life of drudgery tending to the needs of her unkind grandfather in a drab, nowhere town, young Casiopea Tun keeps her hopes and dreams pragmatically simple. That all changes when she accidentally frees Hun-Kamé, the dethroned Mayan god of death, from where his spirit has been kept prisoner for decades. With her life bound to Hun-Kamé, the two of them embark on a quest to retrieve the dark and brooding god’s throne from his brother, an adventure that takes them from rural Yucatán to Mexico City and beyond.

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Harrow the Ninth – Tamsyn Muir

Carrying on where the fabulous Gideon the Ninth left off, Tamsyn Muir’s second novel Harrow the Ninth continues to explore the setting and mythos of the Locked Tomb series while taking the narrative in an unexpected direction. Having attained Lyctorhood, Harrow finds life as one of the Emperor’s Saints to be not what she expected. There’s something strange going on with both her memories and her powers, someone appears to be trying to kill her, and of all people the entirely untrustworthy Ianthe is proving (much to Harrow’s disgust) to be the closest thing she has to an ally amongst the deeply dysfunctional family of the Emperor and his Lyctors. To make matters worse, an impending apocalypse is looming over them all in the shape of a deadly Resurrection Beast.

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QUICK REVIEW: The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex – Tamsyn Muir

Tamsyn Muir’s short story The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex, part of the Locked Tomb series, is a prequel of sorts to the fantastic Gideon the Ninth, featuring the thirteen year-old incarnations of the Sixth’s House’s Camilla Hect and Palamides Sextus. When the study of a long-dead Library tutor (the brilliantly-named Doctor Donald Sex) is finally reopened, 460 years after his death, Camilla and Palamides are among the lucky few to examine the dusty, intriguing old office. What they find within reveals an unexpected locked-room mystery, and while their elders proceed to trawl through academic bureaucracy the two youngsters set about unravelling the puzzle themselves.

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