My feelings about Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros are complicated. At first, I found the book incredibly entertaining, and I was really invested in the story. But the second half disappointed me, and the more I sat with this story afterward, the more I questioned my experience. As many, many people praise this book, I…
Martha Wells, of All Systems Red fame, is putting out a new stand-alone book about witches, kings, and murder. Everything in that sentence excited me, and I could not wait to get my hands on this new story about an amnesia-riddled demon on a quest for truth. The book turned out to be very different…
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…
Bite-sized gothic tales are appropriate for light summer reading lists, as long as you like things dark and twisty all year round as I do. Before you jump into warmer water, dip your toe in the cold lake and mystery surrounding Lacrimore by S.J. Costello. A medium named Sivre travels across the lake to a…
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…
Folks, I bamboozled myself. A book sauntered its way into my smoke filled office, almost spilling out of its dress. There was a look in its eyes, one of deep need, tinted with a mysterious vengeance. I poured the book and myself a drink. We both needed one. Theirs was for the hard days of…
Welcome…to the FUTURE. Hold up a minute, though, because we need to take a brief journey to the past. Namely, way back in 2022, when I reviewed Writers of the Future Volume 38. Back then, I reviewed the anthology by selecting three of my favorite stories within it. If you liked that format, great news:…
Continue reading ➞ Writers Of The Future Volume 39 – On The Up & Up
N.E. Davenport meshes a technologically advanced world with the magical powers of the gods in her novel, The Blood Trials. Despite the protagonist being 19 years old, the book skewed more toward adult with its darker content and horror elements stemming from both humans and monsters. The book is action-packed and loves to shock the…
As I was reading The Warden by Daniel Ford, I couldn’t put my finger on what it reminded me of. The back of the book bills it as Twin Peaks but with wizards, but that wasn’t quite right. Eventually, after hours of immersing myself in its mixture of cute slice-of-life drama and horrifying war veteran…
Africa Risen is a sizable collection of stories from Africa and the African Diaspora edited by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, and Zelda Knight. The featured stories are a mixture of science fiction, fantasy and even some horror. Though a few fell flat for me, the majority of the pieces grabbed my attention and…
