Epic fantasy featuring warrior priestesses, and fickle gods at war, for readers of Brian Staveley's Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne.
In a world of hostile clans loyal to meddling gods, Hessa is an Eangi: priestesses of the Goddess of War with the power to boil a man's brain and turn his bones to dust with a scream. Banished for disobeying her Goddess's command to murder a traveller, Hessa prays for forgiveness alone on a mountainside.
Until raiders burn her village to the ground, leaving nothing of her future but ash. Without her Goddess's favor, Hessa has no place beside her family in the High Halls of the afterlife. She is the last of the Eangi.
Warriors from the cities to the south plow through her homelands, slaughtering everyone in their path. With legionaries, deceitful gods, and newly-awakened demons at every turn, Hessa burns through her enemies with the Eangi Fire in her soul. But her journey reveals a harrowing truth: the gods are dying. The High Halls of the afterlife are fading. And Hessa's trust in her Goddess weakens with every unheeded prayer.
Thrust into a battle between her Goddess and the old gods she imprisoned, Hessa realizes there is far more on the line than earning her place in the afterlife. Bigger, older powers slumber beneath the surface of her world. And they're about to wake up.
Read more: Hall of Smoke - H. M. Long
Review: Hex Life: Wicked New Tales of Witchery (edited by Christopher Golden and Rachel Autumn Deering)
- Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
- Category: Reviews
Hex Life: Wicked New Tales of Witchery was published by Titan Books in October 2019.
Information about the editors:
Christopher Golden is the New York Times bestselling author of Snowblind, Ararat, Of Saints and Shadows, and many other novels. As editor, his anthologies include Seize the Night, Dark Cities, and The New Dead, among others. Golden has also written screenplays, radio plays, an animated web series, short stories, non-fiction, and video games. He is one-third of the popular pop culture podcast Three Guys with Beards.
Rachel Deering is a rising star, first coming to prominence as part of the Kickstarter hit, Womanthology. Since then, she has done very well with her self-published horror anthology, In The Dark, and short stories for DC/Vertigo’s Magenta series.
Information about Hex Life: Wicked New Tales of Witchery:
These are tales of witches, wickedness, evil and cunning. Stories of disruption and subversion by today’s women you should fear. Including Kelley Armstrong, Rachel Caine and Sherrilyn Kenyon writing in their own bestselling universes.
These witches might be monstrous, or they might be heroes, depending on their own definitions. Even the kind hostess with the candy cottage thought of herself as the hero of her own story. After all, a woman’s gotta eat…
Eighteen tales of witchcraft from the mistresses of magic:
Ania Ahlborn
Kelley Armstrong
Amber Benson
Chesya Burke
Rachel Caine
Kristin Dearborn
Rachel Autumn Deering
Tananarive Due
Theodora Goss
Kat Howard
Alma Katsu
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Sarah Langan
Helen Marshall
Jennifer McMahon
Hillary Monahan
Mary SanGiovanni
Angela Slatter
Bring out your dread...
REVIEW: HEX LIFE: WICKED NEW TALES OF WITCHERY (EDITED BY CHRISTOHER GOLDEN AND RACHEL AUTUMN DEERING)
Double Deal: Resilient and Dreamstate by Toni Cox
- Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
- Category: Others
Double Deal:
Resilient and Dreamstate
by Toni Cox
(This double deal is active between March 3rd and March 12th.)
Resilient: Survival Is Everything
S1 Virus wiped out everyone, leaving me alone in an Africa that is suddenly not as friendly as I remember it.
Amid trying to deal with the death of my parents, finding shelter, and looking for food, I discover horrors I wish I had never seen.
Haunted, hunted, and scared, I only have one thing going for me – I am resilient.
“Resilient is awesome, disturbing, clever, and character driven. There were scenes that made my hair stand on end.” – Reviewer
Resilient - Excerpt
My heart is hammering wildly in my chest as I drive past the shops and the police station. A line from an old movie floats up in my memory. I see dead people.
There, at the restaurant on the corner, are two bodies on the pavement. A man and a woman. From the look of it, he had her in his arms before she died. I swallow the lump in my throat, terrified.
Putting my foot hard on the pedal, I speed around the corner with screeching tires. I don’t know what is going on and I just want to get away from here.
Haring down the road, I fix my eyes in front of me, ignoring the crazy world around me. When I finally reach the Murray & Roberts building, I zoom into the underground parking, coming to a squealing stop right in front of the elevator.
I sit there for a moment, breathing heavily. I don’t know what to think. Am I still hallucinating from the fever I had?
“Pull yourself together,” I tell myself.
Shaking, I climb out of the car and look around the deserted parking. Besides my Polo, there are only four other cars here. I see Stephan’s SUV and hope moves my feet towards the elevator.
I push the button, but the light does not come on. Of course, no electricity. I climb the stairs to the first floor where the reception is. It is empty, not even the security guard is by the entrance door.
Closing the door again, I carry on up the stairs to the second floor to where the offices are. An eerie silence greets me as I open the door to the large, open-plan office. The only light comes from the windows and the shadows I cast on the office desk dividers as I walk past is just creepy.
“Shit.”
I drop my bag and rush into Stephan’s private office. My boss is slumped over his desk, head tilted at an uncomfortable angle.
“Stephan.” I touch his shoulder. It is cold, even through his shirt. “Stef?”
Bracing myself, I take him by the shoulders and push him back in his chair. A scream escapes me when I see his bloated face and I suddenly become intensely aware of the smell. I gag.
Crying, I run from his office, past the deserted work stations, and back down the stairs. Only when I am back in my car and the doors are locked, do I stop to think about what I just saw.
He’s dead. They’re all dead. My head reels. This must be some kind of nightmare.
With shaking fingers, I start my car, my thoughts turning to my parents.
Dreamstate
The monsters never rest. They lurk, waiting for me to go to sleep.
Already, I have lost everything in my fight with the monsters that haunt my dreams, but my nightmares are about to become a reality when I am kidnapped by a shadowy government agency called the IDA.
Drafted into the IDA’s army of dreamers, the monsters become more real than they have ever been before. I am beginning to learn who, or what, I am – and the responsibility it brings with it.
This is a fight we cannot lose because if we lose, we lose EVERYTHING.
Rafflecopter link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/8d79443a7/?
About the author:
Born in Germany in 1976, International Bestselling Author Toni Cox moved to South Africa in 1991. Although she has spent much of her working career in the timber wholesale business, she is also an accomplished horse rider, has a diploma in project management, photography, and nutrition, and has a passion for books and all things fantasy.
From a young age, her dream had always been to put her imagination into words. When she was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis in 2013, she decided life is too short not to follow her dream. With the support of her husband and three children, she began writing book 1 of the Elemental Trilogy in January 2015.
Toni Cox writes Epic Fantasy, YA Fantasy, Sci-Fi Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Dystopian Fantasy, Paranormal Fantasy, and Dark Fantasy. She is a firm believer in dragons.
Author links:
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ToniCoxAuthor
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonicoxelemental
- BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/toni-cox
- WordPress: https://tonicoxelemental.wordpress.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonicoxauthor/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authortonicox
- FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/toniselementals
- Website: https://www.tonicoxauthor.com
- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/tonicox
- GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/tonicoxauthor
- Pinterest: https://za.pinterest.com/tonicoxauthor/
- Newsletter: https://www.tonicoxauthor.com/subscribe
An interview with David R. Lord
- Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
- Category: Interviews
Risingshadow has had an opportunity to interview David R. Lord.
About the author:
David lives in South Gloucestershire with his partner. He enjoys acting and cosplaying, as well as writing. The Figment Wars: Through the Portals is his first book and The Figment Wars: Search for the Caretaker is his second book.
About The Figment Wars: Through the Portals:
There are two worlds, or realms if you will. There is the Realm of Reality, or the Human World, and there is the Realm of Imagination, populated by figments of our imagination. Bizarre animals, Imaginary Friends, Heroes and most unfortunately, the vile and loathsome Monsters we conjure up in our minds when we're most frightened.
Thomas Llewellyn doesn't know anything about this other world; neither does his brat of a little brother, Isaac nor their young cousin, Emily. They soon come to learn about the existence of this strange world when they are suddenly and violently pulled from their own by a turbulent vortex. Faced with having to prove just what they are, they must try to find a way home while all the while, someone plots to keep the human children where they are so that they can be used for a terrible purpose.
About The Figment Wars: The Search for the Caretaker:
Thomas and Isaac Llewellyn are having a terrible first day back at school and they haven’t even had their first lesson!
A dangerous enemy has resurfaced. They are miles away from their cousin, Emily, the only person who will believe them. They are cut off from their allies in the Realm of Imagination. Can they stop Torvik on their own? Who is it that conspires against them from behind the scenes?
Thomas, Emily and Isaac may be the only humans to ever have visited the Realm of Imagination, but they are not the only ones who know about it.
David R. Lord's books are published by Austin Macauley.
AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID R. LORD
Read more: An interview with David R. Lord
An interview with Lena Chere
- Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
- Category: Interviews
Risingshadow has had an opportunity to interview Lena Chere.
About the author:
Lena Chere is passionate about religion and the occult and once studied comparative religion at university. She also enjoys scenic walks, outdoor concerts and internet discussions. She has worked in offices and more recently in an educational centre and she lives on the south coast of England with her husband and grown-up son.
About Platara Mountain:
Imagine magicians of the modern-day internet becoming involved with a parallel world where human beings are still in the Stone Age.
Imagine this involvement precipitated by a kind but much-feared Horse Goddess who was created on Facebook.
Alexandra has just left school and is looking for love and a vocation in life when that scenario becomes her reality.
She comes to care deeply about both the Horse Goddess and a young family in the parallel world; it dramatically reveals her past and changes her future forever, transforming her into a magician.
Lena Chere's novella is published by Austin Macauley (click here to visit the book page on the publisher's website).
AN INTERVIEW WITH LENA CHERE
Read more: An interview with Lena Chere
An interview with Jay Miles
- Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
- Category: Interviews
Risingshadow has had an opportunity to interview Jay Miles.
About the author:
Jay Miles had many interests while growing up, video games and movies played a big role in developing his understanding of the world and led him to write The Mariverse. Jay had always been keen on making stories about worlds he could imagine, using inspiration from things that he'd watched and played, using logical thinking about how things work and function. This mixture is what creates his stories. In real life, Jay is a very creative, positive and happy person, with many secrets in his head, creating mysteries in his stories for other people to solve. That way, he could get people to think like he thinks, have them see the many worlds that he sees.
About The Mariverse:
Curiosity is like a bunch of doors waiting to be opened...
Are you willing to open this door?
When a young girl named V finds herself in a strange place with vague, jumbled-up memories in her head, she will discover a new life outside her own world, but when she finds out that she had died in the past, she wonders and finds out what happened to her as she meets new faces from different worlds. It's time to explore the worlds beyond worlds.
This book is based on the theory and imagination of Jay Miles, who wanted to show his thoughts and idea to others so they can understand him and how he sees the world and existence itself.
Jay Miles' novella is published by Austin Macauley.
AN INTERVIEW WITH JAY MILES
Read more: An interview with Jay Miles