In anticipation of book two in S.T. Gibson’s The Summoner’s Circle coming out in July, I decided to read the series’ prequel novella, Odd Spirits. Book one of the series, Evocation, was fantastic, and I was curious to see the characters before they became entangled in David’s deal with the devil. So let’s take it…
I recently finished a big sci-fi book and was looking for something short and sweet to help me come back down from the stars. While Uncommon Charm by Emily Bergslien and Kat Weaver is certainly short, its sweetness is contained in a friendship growing quietly in the backdrop of a sinister family secret that is…
The decadent debauchery of the 1920s has been put to bed, but Nghi Vo still has a story to tell. Vo returns to her Gatsby retelling with a companion novella, Don’t Sleep with the Dead, to expand on Nick Carraway’s story. I have avoided spoilers for The Chosen and the Beautiful in my review, but…
I have some ground to cover before our end-of-the-year wrap-up, so I am saving some space by talking about two great stories by the same author in a single review. It has been a big fall for Ryan, which means a great season for readers. Today’s books are both phenomenal, but are each a little…
Continue reading ➞ A Tide Of Black Steel + The Road of Storms – Anthony Ryan Double Hitter
Anyone who wants to put out any short-form content should be taking notes from Nghi Vo—her ability to put out consistently well-written and captivating stories at around the two-hundred-page mark. You might naively think that shorter books are easier to write than longer books, and I would think you are wrong. It takes extreme focus…
Continue reading ➞ The City In Glass – Break For A Good Time
Today we have an exciting novella called The Fireborne Blade by Charlotte Bond. It is the first in a novella series following the exploits of a dragonslayer named Maddileh. She is a rare lady knight, and there aren’t many women in her line of work. This comes with the classic fantasy period piece sexism package…
Boy, do I have a tasty box of treats for you today. Under My Skin, by K.J. Parker, is a collection of novellas and novelettes all taking place in the same collective universe and focusing on the subject of people who are not what they seem. Parker is a master of short stories and even…
Mammoth at the Gates, a Singing Hills novella by Nghi Vo, continues Vo’s tradition of absolutely killing it. Considering this is the fourth entry in my favorite novella series, no one should be surprised at this point. Vo has once again paved the way and led by example on what a novella series should look…
Since we’re fast approaching summer in the northern hemisphere, we should take some time to appreciate some of the things we associate with spring: the turn towards warmer weather, the blooming of flowers, and of course, the life-giving rains. However, Naomi Salman has chosen violence and made the rain something to fear in her debut…
In the back of my ARC of Untethered Sky, there was a short section from Fonda Lee about how she went to a con and got encouraged by authors there to try her hand at writing a novella. She said she had an idea for a short story about a girl who rode cool giant…
