Review: The Book of Hidden Things by Francesco Dimitri

Written by Seregil of Rhiminee

Category: Reviews

Published: 13 August 2018

Francesco Dimitri's The Book of Hidden Things was published by Titan Books in July 2018.

Information about Francesco Dimitri:

Francesco Dimitri is an Italian author and speaker living in London. He is on the Faculty of the School of Life. He is considered one of the foremost fantasy writers in Italy, and his works have been widely appreciated by non-genre readers too. A film has been made from his first novel, La Ragazza dei miei Sogni. The Book of Hidden Things is his debut novel in English.

Information about The Book of Hidden Things:

Four old school friends have a pact: to meet up every year in the small town in Puglia they grew up in. Art, the charismatic leader of the group and creator of the pact, insists that the agreement must remain unshakable and enduring. But this year, he never shows up.

A visit to his house increases the friends’ worry; Art is farming marijuana. In Southern Italy doing that kind of thing can be very dangerous. They can’t go to the Carabinieri so must make enquiries of their own. This is how they come across the rumours about Art; bizarre and unbelievable rumours that he miraculously cured the local mafia boss’s daughter of terminal leukaemia. And among the chaos of his house, they find a document written by Art, The Book of Hidden Things, which promises to reveal dark secrets and wonders beyond anything previously known.

Francesco Dimitri’s first novel written in English, following his career as one of the most significant fantasy writers in Italy, will entrance fans of Elena Ferrante, Neil Gaiman and Donna Tartt. Set in the beguiling and seductive landscape of Southern Italy, this story is about friendship and landscape, love and betrayal; above all it is about the nature of mystery itself.

REVIEW: THE BOOK OF HIDDEN THINGS BY FRANCESCO DIMITRI

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Review: Drums in the Abyss by Michael W. Garza

Written by Seregil of Rhiminee

Category: Reviews

Published: 04 August 2018

Michael W. Garza's Drums in the Abyss was published by NeverHaven Press in July 2018.

Information about Michael W. Garza:

Michael W. Garza often finds himself wondering where his inspiration will come from next and in what form his imagination will bring it to life. The outcomes regularly surprise him and it's always his ambition to amaze those curious enough to follow him and take in those results. He encourages readers to peek at his latest work as well as the material he's published in the past. He sincerely hopes that everyone will find something that astonishes, surprises, or simply scares the heck out of you.

Click here to visit his official website.

Information about Drums in the Abyss:

Tread lightly those who seek the Darkness

Professor William Markinson’s lifelong research led him to the vast hidden caves beneath the sacred grounds west of Bursa. The true aims of his search are well hidden from the other members of the expedition team, but the lost city of Morgainok cannot be denied. The ancient roads echo with the drums of the abyss, leaving five lost souls at the mercy of the city. Horrors stand at every turn as elder things lurk in the shadows.

Lauren Miller is right to guard herself from the others. The dire situation has left the expedition team on the run. She will have to stave off the madness of what she has witnessed for any hope of escape. She must confront the caretakers of the unholy city or Morgainok will keep her forever.

Rise of the Elder

This Horror Survival Series documents the last days of those mortals foolish enough to pry into the affairs of the Cult of the Elder. The dark secrets are tempting, but few live to tell of the horrendous wonders beyond the void.

REVIEW: DRUMS IN THE ABYSS BY MICHAEL W. GARZA

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An interview with Brenda Cooper

Written by Seregil of Rhiminee

Category: Interviews

Published: 03 August 2018

Risingshadow has had the honour of interviewing Brenda Cooper about her latest science fiction novel, Keepers.

About Brenda Cooper:

Brenda Cooper is the author of Wilders, Book One of the Project Earth series; Edge of Dark and Spear of Light, Books One and Two of The Glittering Edge series; The Creative Fire and The Diamond Deep, Books One and Two of Ruby’s Song; and the The Silver Ship series. Her most recent short-story collection is Cracking the Sky. She is also the author of Mayan December and has collaborated with Larry Niven (Building Harlequin’s Moon). Cooper is a working futurist and a technology professional with a passionate interest in the environment.

Click here to visit her official website.

About Keepers:

Two sisters, one from a megacity and one from the wilderness, work together to protect the wilderness and the reintroduction of wolves from a group more interested in private property than public good.

In a future Earth that’s run by brilliant green cities separated by open land held in common for the good of wild things, two sisters must work together across and between the vastly different environments to root out dangers to both. They must protect the cities and the wild from the Returners, who prefer the toxic past to the difficult present. The older sister, Lou, her protector Shuska, and biologist friend Matchiko have reputations as successful rugged environmentalists. They must stay safe, listen, work, and sleuth out hidden nests of Returners. Oh, and save a few wolves along the way. In the meantime, Lou’s younger sister, Coryn, is learning that working for the most powerful woman behind the scenes in a megacity is far harder than it looks. When the Returners threaten the city, the sisters must find a way to preserve both their ways of life.

Keepers asks, Do humans have enough creativity, responsibility, and generosity to survive?

AN INTERVIEW WITH BRENDA COOPER

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Review: The Gorgon Bride by Galen Surlak-Ramsey

Written by Seregil of Rhiminee

Category: Reviews

Published: 02 August 2018

Galen Surlak-Ramsey's The Gorgon Bride was published by Tiny Fox Press in July 2018.

Information about Galen Surlak-Ramsey:

When Galen’s not obsessing over his latest text, he’s likely throwing himself out of an airplane, teaching others how to throw themselves out of an airplane, playing something online, taking pictures of the heavens with his telescope, or wrangling his four children somewhere in Southwest Florida.

He also manages to pay the bills as a chaplain for a local hospice.

Click here to visit his official website.

Information about The Gorgon Bride:

THE GODS ARE FUNNY.

Except when you piss them off.

Then they suck.

They really, really suck.

(Really).

Alexander Weiss discovers this tidbit when he inadvertently insults Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, and she casts him away on a forgotten isle filled with statues.

Being marooned is bad enough, but the fact that the island is also the home of Euryale, elder sister to Medusa, makes the situation a touch worse. The only thing keeping Alex from being petrified is the fact that Euryale has taken a liking to the blundering mortal.

For now.

What follows next is a wild, adventurous tale filled with heroes, gods, monsters, love, and war that is nothing short of legendary.

REVIEW: THE GORGON BRIDE BY GALEN SURLAK-RAMSEY

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Review: City of Shards by Steve Rodgers

Written by Seregil of Rhiminee

Category: Reviews

Published: 31 July 2018

Steve Rodgers' City of Shards was published in January 2018.

Information about Steve Rodgers:

Steve Rodgers has been reading science fiction since he was old enough to carry a stack of hard-bound books out of the central library. He's been writing all his life, including a novel started when he was 18.

In his adult life, Steve is a writer of science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction whose short stories have appeared in Deepwood Publishing's "Ruined Cities" anthology, Cosmic Vegetable's "Anthology of Humorous SF", Longcount Press's "Songs of the Great Cycle (Mesoamerican Fantasy)", and "Dysfunctional Family: An Anthology", all for sale on Amazon. His short fiction has also appeared in several on-line magazines, such as Perihelion, Stupefying Stories, Black Denim Lit, Electric Spec, Newmyths, and many others. Steve has won several honorable mentions and silver honorable mentions from the prestigious Writers of the Future contest, and has attended the Viable Paradise science fiction writing workshop. He is currently working on a Fantasy novel series "Spellgiver".

Steve Rodgers lives in Southern California with his wife and dog.

Click here to visit his official website.

Information about City of Shards:

In the gang-ridden Wormpile District, 16-year-old Larin shouts nonsense words into the decaying alleyways, a magical tourette’s syndrome that has brought him grief from every neighborhood thug. Protected from the worst beatings by his drug-addicted warrior-uncle, Larin’s life is one of loneliness, trapped in his uncle’s four block safe zone where no gang member dares tread. But when he learns his words have marked him as servant to Lord of Demons, things go from bad to worse. For that phrase has shoved him into the middle of an ancient war between the Six-Legged gods and the Lord of Demons, both of whom regard humanity as mere playthings.

Meanwhile, far to the north and across the Great Chasm, the non-human six-limbed Lidathi prepare to make war on the Tanbar empire. Their leader Kemharak is determined to steal back what was stolen, for the four-limbed ones have taken everything that matters. Yet his Six-Legged Gods demand pain, and he knows he will never truly be free while they still hold him in their claws.

And in the King’s palace, treachery and hatred weaken the Tanbar empire against the coming invasion from the north and a second one from the south by another land in the claws of the Six-Legged Gods.

As Tanbar faces threats from every direction, Larin will have to tread the narrow path between two evils, his only allies his drug-addicted uncle, a permanently drunk priestess, and a high-born wizardress who must hold her nose and work with the street rabble she despises. For as bad as his Master is, refusing to follow him will only plunge his empire into a greater darkness - an abyss so deep, it will turn mankind’s soul to ash.

REVIEW: CITY OF SHARDS BY STEVE RODGERS

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