After fifteen years of posting positive book reviews and recommending around 250 books by other authors, I hope I may be forgiven for mentioning one of my own books. My novel Invisible Frogs, which is mainly set in the world of Ancient Egyptian Myth, is now out in paperback. An eBook version will be available… Continue reading
This December I’m recommending an enchanting Classic Fantasy novel for children by American author, Edward Eager (1911-1964). Half Magic was published in 1954 and is the first in a series of seven interlinked novels now known as Edward Eager’s Tales of Magic. These are available in all the usual formats in America but are harder… Continue reading
This month I’m keeping a promise by recommending a Cozy Fantasy novel set in a fortune-telling tearoom in 19th century Chicago. The Crescent Moon Tearoom by American author Stacy Sivinski was published in 2024 and is readily available in all the usual formats. It was the first volume in a series to be known as… Continue reading
This month I’m recommending a challenging novel by Mark Lawrence, an author who was born in America but now lives in England. The Book That Wouldn’t Burn was published in 2023 as the first volume in The Library Trilogy. It is readily available in paperback, ebook or audio formats and was followed by The Book… Continue reading
This month I am recommending a distinctive novel by British author Hannah Mathewson set in a magical version of London known as the Witherward. The early chapters of Wayward (2022) may resemble a Harry Potter story but this book ends in a very different place. Witherward (2021), another novel set in the same world, was… Continue reading
While I wait for spring to arrive in my part of the world, I’m recommending a novel full of wintery delights. The Winter Garden by British author Alexandra Bell has a plot which genuinely surprised me. When you read as much Fantasy as I do, that doesn’t often happen. The Winter Garden was published in… Continue reading
My recommendation for February is a Victorian Faerie Tale with a strong romantic element and an unusual heroine. Cruel Magic (2022) by American author E.B.Wheeler is the first in the Iron and Thorns trilogy. The second volume, Wild Magic was published in 2023 and the third, Fierce Magic, in 2024. All three volumes are easily available in… Continue reading
I’m starting the new reading year with a recommendation for The Crow Folk (2021) by Mark Stay, a story I’d classify as Horror with humour and heart. This is the first book in The Witches of Woodville, a series set in a far from ordinary English village during World War II. Four volumes have been… Continue reading
Since I’m recovering from surgery this month, here is a briefer than usual recommendation for something short and strange – Lady Into Fox by David Garnett (1892-1981). This prize-winning novella was first published in 1922, illustrated with charming woodcuts by Garnett’s first wife, Rachel Marshall Garnett. It has rarely been out of print since. You… Continue reading
Is Elizabeth Bennet the new Sherlock Holmes? I ask because she has escaped from her original home (in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice) to star in numerous recent novels. Many of these Jane Austen Variations include Mystery and/or Fantasy elements. The contrast between the polite and prosaic settings and the wild magic woven into the… Continue reading