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 time spent musing about my favourite Fantasy heroes has made me want to return to Lois McMaster Bujold’s World of the Five Gods. In April 2014 I wrote about her novel The Curse of Chalion, praising its complex plot, sympathetic characters and, most of all, the fascinating religion she had created. Now I’m… 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
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
For this coronation month I’m recommending Miss Sharp’s Monsters, a trilogy by Australian author Suzannah Rowntree which has an unusual take on Europe’s royal families. The series begins with The Werewolf of Whitechapel, continues with Anarchist on the Orient Express and comes to a dramatic conclusion in A Vampire in Bavaria. All three volumes were… Continue reading
My recommended read this month is Dragonsbane (1985) by the versatile American author Barbara Hambly. In some ways this is a very traditional Fantasy novel populated by heroes, dragons, witches and gnomes; in others it is still ahead of its time. Dragonsbane can be enjoyed as a stand-alone story but there have been three sequels… Continue reading