REVIEW: BEWARE US FLOWERS OF THE ANNIHILATOR BY ALEXANDER ZELENYJ

Alexander Zelenyj is one of the finest and most talented authors of literary speculative fiction and strange fiction I have ever come across. I find his stories utterly compelling and highly original. After reading this new collection, I can say that I consider him to be the best writer of modern weird fiction, because his stories are so creative, intelligent, imaginative, unflinching and unsettling that nobody else is a match to him.

Alexander Zelenyj's fiction is not easy to classify in merely one genre, because his stories are vastly different from each other and encompass elements ranging from fantasy and horror to science fiction and literary fiction. What unites his stories is his elegant, intelligent and thought-provoking prose that resonates with the reader on a deep level. His singular ability to convey a tintillating sense of unease and wonder to the reader is stunningly effective. There is a distinct sense of strangeness to his fiction that I find highly compelling, because he avoids easy resolutions and boldly explores the boundaries of weird fiction and even pushes them to new and exciting directions.

One of the best things about the author's stories is that he is capable of creating deep characters that feel alive and realistic. His characters have their own dreams, hopes, problems and lives that make them compelling and humane. Reading about their lives and feelings is fascinating and rewarding.

The author also delves into combining the mundane with the strange in a highly unique, unpredictable and original way that seduces the reader. His ability to combine various elements to create imaginative stories is impressive, because he is not afraid of writing his own kind of stories.

Beware Us Flowers of the Annihilator demonstrates how much Alexander Zelenyj has developed as a writer over the years. He has always been an excellent writer, but now his stories feel even more polished and stylistic than before, and there is a stingingly sharp and unyielding edge to some of them that adds a definite touch of finesse to them. In my opinion, this book is his strongest and most powerful collection to date.

The stories in this collection are deep, intelligent and thought-provoking in the best possible way. Reading them is both rewarding and satisfying, because you never know what you may find in them or what will happen to the protagonists. Anything is possible in these stories. The author delivers such amazing sights, captivating events and terrifying visions that you will be utterly impressed and spellbound by his stories and their contents.

This new collection of stories is a welcome sight to everybody who loves the stranger side of literary speculative fiction and modern weird fiction. You will not be disappointed by this collection and its diversity.

The following stories can be found in this collection:

- Peacekeeper and the War-Mouth
- The Deathwish of Valerie Vulture
- Maleficia Falling
- Houses Within Houses Within Houses Within
- Silver the Starfallen
- Young, But Tomorrow
- Little Boys
- Peace Machines
- Oppenheimer's Door
- The Threat from Earth
- The Electric Voice of Summer
- Bright Sons of the Morning
- Spiders in the Temple
- Love-Goggles 1966
- Laundromatricide and the Wrath
- Gods Great and Gods Small
- Wild Animals at Play
- People-Eater & The Wolf Inside
- Sister-Biter
- Rat-Eaters in Lucifer’s Land
- A Savage Path
- Cry For Mother
- We Are Alone
- The Punished World
- Roads of Peace

These stories form a collection that is unlike anything I have ever read. It is similar to the author's previous collections, but also different from them. If you are familiar with the author's previous collections, you will love these diverse stories, because they will astound you and leave you wanting more.

This collection has a feel of distinct darkness to it that I find captivating. Because I have always loved dark and disquieting stories, I was impressed by the dark stories and their atmosphere.

Here is a bit of information about the stories and my thoughts about them:

Peacekeeper and the War-Mouth:
- In this opening story, Peter - a descendant of Czech immigrants - is being constantly bullied at school by Darren. Peter has noticed that a deformity has appeared on his body. It has kept on growing and has developed into a mouth.
- I find this story excellent, because the author writes well about how it feels to be bullied and what happens when the bullied person defends himself.
- The brutal ending of this story feels fully satisfying, because it is a combination of self preservation, vengeance and victory with a strong dash of hope for a better tomorrow.

The Deathwish of Valerie Vulture:
- In this story, Thomas is a cartoonist who has taken over the Valerie Vulture comic strip after its creator has died. Valerie Vulture is a popular comic strip and it has made Thomas rich and famous. Thomas is surprised to find out that he meets Valerie in person and she desperately needs his help to kill her.
- I was impressed by how realistic Valerie felt to me when I read the story. Her desperation feels convincing.
- This story is a wonderful example of the author's imagination, because it is wholly different from the other stories, but just as amazing and captivating as them.

Maleficia Falling:
- A story about Emperor Hadrian and his quaestor Casteleo, who appraise sculptures that are different incarnations of God.
- I enjoyed this story a lot and was fascinated by it, because the protagonists wonder about the meaning of the sculptures, because they are blasphemous and they seem to contain some kind of a secret.
- I think that readers will find this story especially intriguing, because it is boldly different from the other stories.

Houses Within Houses Within Houses Within:
- In this story, Peter and Audrey have an ancient alien presense in their house. The being is intrigued about the house Peter has built and gives him an ultimatum.
- The author writes excellently about how Peter and Audrey interact with the being and how they deal with what being wants them to do.
- I was deeply captivated by this story, because it is something different. I don't recall reading anything quite like this before.
- This story is an astonishing combination of weird fiction and science fiction with a strong dash of apocalyptic elements.

Silver the Starfallen:
- An excellent story about a Dane chieftain Heimdall and his warriors who have been separated from the main body of the army after a defeat during a battle. They have a small child-like warrior, Silver, among them who is different from the rest of them.
- This historical fantasy story is delightfully different and thought-provoking. It is fascinating in its depiction of skirmish between the Saxons and the Heathen, and it does not shy away from visceral descriptions about what men have done to the wyrmkind. It can be seen as a tale of honour and vengeance, but it also has elements of longing.
- The conversation between Silver and the Ultek, the great wyrm, is well fantastic as it portrays how the wyrm feels about what has been done to his tribe by unhonorable men.
- There is something in this story that vaguely reminds me of classic fantasy pulp fiction, especially Robert E. Howard.

Young, But Tomorrow:
- A story about Chuck who is a loner and lives in poverty. Chuck can see a floating skull outside his apartment window.
- This is a fascinating exploration of social isolation, loneliness and poverty with a distinct touch of strangeness.
- I honestly think that this story is one of the best examples of modern weirdness that I have read recently, because it is boldly original and compellingly strange.

Little Boys:
- Colonel Paul Tibbets is about to leave on a plane to Japan towards Hiroshima and admires the vast Pacific Ocean ahead of him. There is a strange flower in the cockpit which unsettles him. Soon, something weird happens and the members of the crew find themselves in a very strange predicament.
- This is one of the most memorable WWII tales about Enola Gay and Little Boy that I have ever read, because it differs vastly from other stories by incorporating elements of weirdness to the story arc and making the whole scenario intriguingly strange.
- In this story, the author offers the reader such amazing and stunning vistas that you will be impressed by his writing skills.
- I liked the ending very much, because it fits the story perfectly.
- This is one of the best stories in this collection.

Peace Machines:
- In this science fiction tale, Bin is a feeder - a Ridder - who works at the ridding pits where enemies are being fed to. He is a servant of the Ganshars and he does his brutal work for the greater good.
- I am honestly amazed at the author's writing skills, because he writes excellent science fiction with visceral and thought-provoking elements.
- One of the best things about this story is that the author describes how Bin and his partner, Lolisr, survive in their world and how they are looking forward to retiring, because amidst all brutality there is life and hope.
- This hard-hitting science fiction tale will stick to your mind with its savage imagery and brilliant ending.

Oppenheimer's Door:
- A short story about Leo Green, who is a sole survivor of an apocalyptic event that has rendered the landscape vastly different and devoid of people.
- I consider this story to be a wonderful slice of dark science fiction, because it has a mesmerisingly strange allure to it.
- This is a memorable vision about the end of the world, and the ending is perfectly disquieting.

The Threat from Earth:
- Brent and Patrick are talking about things and hiding in their foxhole while shooting birds.
- This story has a nostalgic feel to it, because the boys are spending the summer together and create their own private space where they hide without being seen.
- An excellent and captivating story.

The Electric Voice of Summer:
- In this story, a bunch of children arrive at Camp Chipmunk for the summer. One of them is Jane who has to share the bunk bed with another girl, Lila. The cicadas make a lot of noise with their loud singing in the camp area.
- This is an excellent portrayal of friendship between two girls who are spending the summer at camp. Both girls have their own problems and the author writes about what their lives are like in a touching way that lends the story a sorrowful edge.
- This story has an interesting element of haunting to it, but in fear of revealing too much about the story, I'll only mention that it is handled well.
- Just like the previous story, this story also has a nostalgic and atmospheric feel to it that I find captivating.

Bright Sons of the Morning:
- This is a story about Mackey and Cerberus, a military police investigator and his dog, who are searching for an ancient evil in the Iraqi desert and discover that what they are searching for is something far worse that they could have possibly imagined.
- I find this story excellent, because the author masterfully evokes a sense of great evil awaiting the man as the events unfold and things are revealed about the man's life and his past.
- I like the way the author writes about the man's bond with the dog, because it feels realistic.
- This is an effective and well written story that will stick to your mind with its weirdness and unsettling ending.
- There is something about this story that is vaguely reminiscent of Laird Barron and Clive Barker.
- One of the longest and also one of the best stories in this collection.

Spiders in the Temple:
- In this story, and old man called Patrick is making his way towards a bench in the park that he considers to be his own bench. When he arrives there, the bench is occupied by the kind of a person that he hates. Suddenly, something happens and he sees something deeply unsettling.
- The author's observations about the human condition are spot-on in this story. His descriptions about the protagonist and his feelings are fascinating.

Love-Goggles 1966:
- This story tells of Stanley who is Christmas shopping. After being surprised by a salesman, he buys glasses that are very different from ordinary glasses, because they alter their wearer's vision in a unique way.
- I find this story fascinating, because it is something different and entertaining, but offers food for thoughts.
- The childhood memories of the protagonist add compelling nostalgia to the story.

Laundromatricide and the Wrath:
- This is a brilliantly disturbing and memorable story about the Great Cleanser and his followers who sacrifice women for the greater good. Their purpose is to cease life.
- I think that many readers will find this story and its imagery memorable.
- This story is a marvellous example of original and thought-provoking modern strange fiction that has an unyielding edge to it.
- There is something about this story vaguely reminds me of films directed by David Cronenberg.

Gods Great and Gods Small:
- The events in this story take place in ancient Rome.
- In this story, a shaken farm boy who has witnessed mindless death and destruction meets another traveler, a decapitated Saint.
- I find the depiction of Nero's Rome intriguingly brutal and unnerving, because the author writes unflinchingly about the persecution of Christians by Roman soldiers.

Wild Animals at Play:
- A story about Mark Shadley who observes a group of children. The children are gathered around a girl and are mercilessly and violently beating her, not caring about her health.
- This is a tale about feral-like boys who treat others in an animalistic way. Their behaviour is clearly disturbing and they only care about themselves.
- A hard-hitting story with elements of violence, survival and the law of the wild.
- This story will surely stick to your mind, because it is brutal and unyielding in every regard.

People-Eater & The Wolf Inside:
- In this story, a man and a woman are gathered around a campfire in the woods. They call themselves People-Eater and The Wolf Inside.
- The relationship between the protagonists is described remarkarbly well, because both of them are old souls and different from other people. They have found each other the old-fashioned way.
- Without giving away any further details about the story, I can mention that this story is simply excellent, because what is revealed about the protatonists is surprising and unsettling. The author excels at writing about what happens between the protagonists.
- Despite the story being unsettling and strange, there is a captivating feel to the twisted relationship between the man and the woman. This is quite an achievement, because not many authors can write something like this.
- I think that many readers will find themselves thinking about the contents of this story, because it offers its readers an exceptional glimpse into a different kind of a relationship.

Sister-Biter:
- In this story, Julie has a brother, Stanley, who bites her. Stanley's behaviour becomes increasingly disturbing as he and his sister grow older. Stanley firmly believes that his sister is evil.
- I was wholly captivated by this story, because it tells about  a sister and a brother whose relationship is not normal.
- As the Brother-Sister War escalates into a terrifying confrontation and certain things revealed, the reader is rewarded with a memorable story arc that has a perfect and satisfying ending.
- This story is one of my personal favourites, because it has a subtle feel of cosmic strangeness to it. It's one of the most intriguing modern weird fiction stories I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

Rat-Eaters in Lucifer's Land:
- This story begins with Captain Patrick Denning dreams about a field strewn with dead and hears a crunching and chewing sound that comes from something eating the dead. Then the focus shifts to the war and the desperate situation of the soldiers who are the last remnants of the company known as the Death Angels.
- The author creates a stunningly effective and feverish vision of World War II in this story as he tells of how the men survive in the trenches and how bleak their survival may be, because their enemy is approaching them.
- I was impressed by this story, because the author's unyielding way of writing about the savage and unexpected horrors or war is approriately terrifying and memorable. I have read a few weird fiction stories that take place during World War II, but none of them has left such an everlasting impression on me as this story.
- This story has a harsh bleakness to it which I find thrilling.

A Savage Path:
- In this story, Abigail is reading a manuscript, which is to be her final book.
- The author writes excellently about Abigail and what she decides to do after she has finished the manuscript.
- This brief story feels thrillingly brutal and has a fitting ending.

Cry For Mother:
- In this story, Audrey wakes up in the middle of the night. When she sees the note from her daughter on the freezer door and an old pain grows inside her again...
- This brilliant story is told from the perspectives of the mother and the daughter (and his brother) in an impressive way.

We Are Alone:
- A story about Bradley who watches a video about his  father announcing that he has done something and explains what has happened...
- I find this story compelling due to Bradley's father experimenting with a new technology that has not yet been tested and the results are surprising.
- An excellent science fiction story with fascinating undertones of environmental pollution and humankind's place in the universe.

The Punished World:
- A well written, impressive and thought-provoking poem.
- In this short poem, the author packs a lot of elements into a few stanzas.

Roads of Peace:
- In this short story, the world is desolate and devoid of life, but new life awaits its turn to spring forth.
- A rewarding and beautifully written final story.

The cover image design by David Rix looks beautiful. The use of the paintings by Carl Lavoie ("Night" and "Dusk") adds a distinct touch of style to the cover art, because the paintings are darkly beautiful and atmospheric. I like the artist's way of using colours.

Alexander Zelenyj's Beware Us Flowers of the Annihilator is a masterpiece of modern literary weird fiction. It is a memorable reading experience that rewards the reader with satistyingly strange and compellingly unsettling stories that sparkle with imagination, wonder and striking prose.

Very highly recommended!

- Could you briefly tell us something about yourself in your own words?

I’ve been writing all my life, and my first book, a secondary world fantasy for children, came out in 1997. I’ve written everything from picture books to literary criticism, but fantasy remains my first love. The five-book epic fantasy series Gods of the Caravan Road is probably my best-known work outside of Canada. My academic background is in Medieval Studies. I also dabble in art, mostly digital painting, these days, and I play classical guitar, electric guitar, and bass. I like trees!

- Your new fantasy book is called The Wolf and the Wild King. What can readers expect from this book?

The Wolf and the Wild King is a secondary world fantasy set in a northern land called only the Forest, which surrounds a great freshwater sea. It’s ruled by an apparently immortal and nameless Queen. When one of her earls is murdered in what looks like an unsanctioned sacrifice, the Queen sends her son Mairran, her assassin and executioner, to investigate. Meanwhile, a couple of centuries earlier, a young man, Lannesk, and his brother Anzimor are outlawed after their stepfather is killed by a rival earl. Hunted through the Forest for weeks, they swear to join the warband of the Immortals called the Grey Hunter and the Wild King against an invasion of dragon-worshippers long ago exiled, who are attempting to seize the Holy Isle and wake the ancient dragon who once ruled the Forest. It’s a very atmospheric book, a forest in winter, long dark nights, ancient rites, snow and firelight -- and swordfights under the trees, a settlement besieged, a desperate winter battle against vicious enemies.

- Is The Wolf and the Wild King in any way different from your previous fantasy books?

Gods of the Caravan Road was epic fantasy, five long books set at different points of a conflict that spanned centuries and covered a continent the size of Eurasia, with excursions to other continents, too, and with a number of narrative threads interwoven. The Wolf and the Wild King is more closely focussed. Aside from a glimpse of Lannesk’s childhood, it’s set all in one land; even though there are two timelines separated by a couple of centuries, those eventually come together. It also follows only two characters, Mairran and Lannesk, who are telling you the story -- though Lannesk’s thread, in this book, is in the third person, but there’s a reason for that, which will eventually become apparent. One of them cheats a little and tells you parts of someone else’s story, to give you what Sage, a young Forest-blessed fox shapeshifter, has told them, fleshed out by their instinct to tell a good story and maybe include some of their own deductions and suppositions. I’d call it “high fantasy” rather than “epic fantasy” because of its close focus on only two people, and how they affect events. It’s a very northern story; in part it grew out of a desire to tell a story of forests and winter and the north, whereas Gods of the Caravan Road grew out of the silk road and a natural history book and TV series, Realms of the Russian Bear. (Though that of course included northern forests, with a chapter on Siberia.) The Forest of The Wolf and the Wild King is a very Canadian forest, too, in its natural history, though I included some European elements, as I like the idea of aurochsen.

- Could you tell us something about the protagonists in this book? What kind of characters are they?

Mairran is a Forest-blessed shapeshifter who is wolf and raven as well as human; as both wolf and raven, he’s female. He says, boy, girl, he doesn’t much care what you call him, but he really takes issue when someone calls him a “good birdie” at one point. He’s his mother’s executioner and assassin, and her priest for the human sacrifice offered at the solstices. He has a very ironic self-presentation; you don’t necessarily want to trust what he says of himself, as he’s prone to cutting himself down. He’s been very messed up by his mother’s use, or abuse, of him, in shaping him into this weapon of her rule; he also has at least one ghost in his head. He’s very fragile and brittle, someone more likely to shatter than to bend and spring back, and sad, though he does have his loyal shield-companion, an older woman, Nowa, who began as his weapons-tutor and whom he calls his keeper. She’s the reason he’s not what his mother wanted to make him, the reason he’s still a good person. He desperately wants to save people and things; he has pet ravens he rescued as nestlings and adopts the teenage Sage when he finds her starving in the Forest. For all his self-deprecation, he’s a very dangerous man. You see him fight his way out of an ambush and think, whoa, people fear him in a sort of contemptuous way because he’s the priest of the sacrifices, but they’re not paying attention; he’s not counted one of the Queen’s swordtheyns as a mere courtesy.

Lannesk, on the other hand, is much more quiet and straightforward, at least, he looks that way on the surface. He’ll set his back to the storm and keep rooted. He’s an oak, if Mairran is glass. He spent his youth trying to look after his little brother Anzimor and his feckless mother when they were vagrants, doing whatever they could to survive. His mother’s marriage to an old sweetheart, a man who had claimed an earldom he had debatable title to, elevated him and Anzimor to lordly status as the stepsons of the earl, but that isn’t where Lannesk belongs, he feels. He has the heart of a Singer, as the bards of the Forest are called, but he and Anzimor as young men are warriors of their stepfather’s tower, his scouts and spies. When their stepfather is overthrown by his cousin they go on the run and end up swearing themselves to the Immortals called the Wild King and the Grey Hunter, joining an army to fight the dragon-kin. Lannesk is mute from an injury to his throat as a boy, but he plays the harp (by which I mean the true harp, the northern lyre!), and the Grey Hunter recognizes in him, or draws out of him, the ability to make magic from his music. When all is lost, Lannesk is someone who will still carry on, breaking himself -- even oaks can fall -- to salvage something, however small, from ruin.

- What inspired you to write The Wolf and the Wild King?

Landscape is always an important part of a story for me. I wanted to write a northern book, a forest book. I also wanted to do something where music played a part in the magic, so this is a book with the idea of music woven through, as well as forest and winter and long nights. I’ve put musicians of one sort or another into a lot of my writing; I also keep coming back to shapeshifters. I think Mairran is the last working-out of an ur-character I’ve been writing, or have been mining as the raw material of characters, since I was in high school, the last things I hadn’t explored with that.

- What kind of magic can readers expect to find in this book?

Some of the magic of the Forest is inherent in the Immortals, who aren’t gods but are more rooted in the land, genii loci who may have been human or animal once, or who perhaps never were and were just born out of the land. In the past there were more inhuman inhabitants of the Forest, like the faylings; many were slain fighting against Erryth the Golden, the dragon who was one of the Immortals but who became a tyrant over the Forest long ago. Human magic is mostly a thing of music, a power drawn from the land and shaped by music and song, and by will, by those who have some talent for that and have reached some -- probably inarticulate -- understanding of it. Lannesk makes songs out of thought and harping, and sometimes his brother is able to be his voice in that; his songs are able to counter the magic of the dragon-kin sorcerer-priests, who work their magic with song and the sacrifice of human lives. There are also witches, who may have skill in tracking, or in calling winds, or in seeing or scrying by offering a little of their own blood to the Dark Mother, a goddess associated with death and sleep and dreams. There are those who are Forest-blessed, born with some ability that seems more than human. It might be as small as having an ability to tame animals, or as overwhelming as being a Seer; it might be something like being a shapeshifter, debatably not even human, and by Mairran’s time, feared, even cast out or killed rather than respected. It’s never a systematized magic, not something that can be set down in rules.

- The Wolf and the Wild King is the first half of The Forest duology. Will you be writing more books that are set in the same fantasy world?

I’m currently working on The Raven and the Harper, which is part II of The Forest. I think that Raven will finish the story of this world -- for now, anyway. It’s a very contained story, rather than history sprawling off and giving birth to new threads and new tangents the way Gods of the Caravan Road did. I have another big epic fantasy world I’m itching to write, though, and a sword and sorcery written and out on submission that I’d like to write sequels to as well, so for now, the duology will be it. In the future, though, the world of the Forest and the Lake could give birth to short stories quite easily, with different characters at different points in its history, past and future. I’d like to see Sage as an adult, or the Grey Hunter in the days when she and the Wild King were plotting to bring down Erryth. I wouldn’t say no to a return, especially as short stories.

- Did you have to do any research during the writing process?

The technology, the weapons and the fighting style is mostly Viking-era to thirteenth century, so that was an area I’ve been researching, or reading in, most of my adult life. Deciding the Forest was going to be mostly like forests I know meant the research there was more just experience of my native environment. However, there’s always more to learn! I grew up on the shores of Lake Ontario, which isn’t that northerly really, but I read a lot about Lake Baikal and Lake Superior, about ice, though the Lake of The Wolf and the Wild King is the size of the Baltic, actually. I read a fair bit about that, too! One thing I did a lot of research on was the Forest-harp, the northern/Germanic/Anglo-Saxon lyre. I read articles on the northern lyre in English and in German, I listened to recordings, I watched videos of musicians, and of amateurs and professional luthiers building them. I’m a guitarist of dogged persistence, some technical skill, and no musical talent; I built an electric guitar from a kit a few years ago, I have some woodworking skill, so now based on that experience I am seriously thinking about trying to build my own lyre, a Sutton Hoo or Trossingen model. That probably doesn’t count as research, as I haven’t done it yet, but maybe all the thinking about it does count!

- Is there anything else you'd like to add?

I hope The Wolf and the Wild King will be something people put on their shelves with McKillip’s or Cherryh’s fantasy!

It’s always a big deal for me as an author when a series ends, and in 2024, the last books in both the Darkhurst and the Assassins of Landria were published. I loved writing both series and am sorry to see them conclude, but I’m also happy because I’ve been able to share my vision for the story with readers and take them on the ride I envisioned from the start.

We also re-released the first four Chronicles of the Necromancer books with updated covers, as well as the first two Deadly Curiosities books and Iron & Blood. They had all been out for a while and it was time to freshen the look while staying true to the original art.

Tapestry became the newest book in the Deadly Curiosities series—and there will be more adventures to come!

I also had stories in three anthologies, Nevermore, Shapers of Worlds IV and Appalachian Strong. Anthologies are fun because I get to work with a group of my author friends, and sometimes the books are fund-raisers for a charity project.

What’s coming next? Lots of good stuff! The Deadly Curiosities series is ongoing, so there will be a new book in 2025. The next Spells, Salt, and Steel novella is supposed to come out by the end of 2024 and I hope to be turning in a new Joe Mack novella soon. I’m also overdue for a new book in the Night Vigil series, so watch for one in the near future. Plus, I’m really excited that Larry N. Martin will be bringing out the last two books in the Salvage Rat series in 2025 and unveiling a brand new cover for Book One!

I haven’t forgotten about doing a sequel series to Chronicles of the Necromancer and The Fallen Kings Cycle, but I want to get caught up on a few other projects first, so keep your fingers crossed!

On the behind-the-scenes side of things, we will be launching a Shopify site soon to give readers another purchasing option, and creating a Patreon as another community in which to share bonus material. I’m planning to attend at least half a dozen in-person sci-fi/fantasy conventions in 2025 as an author guest, which is always fun.

And I’m the con runner for ConTinual, the online, on-going, multi-genre convention that never ends, which is going into its sixth year with a full slate of recorded Zoom panels every month on fandom, fantasy, mystery, romance, horror, writing topics, featuring several hundred author-panelists from around the world!

There’s never a dull moment! Please keep an eye on my social media so you don’t miss an announcement.

You can find me online at www.GailZMartin.com, on X @GailZMartin, on Facebook.com/WinterKingdoms, and on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/GailZMartin. My Amazon author page is https://www.amazon.com/Gail-Z-Martin/e/B002BM8XSQ and I’m also on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morganbriceauthor/ My Facebook reader group is the Shadow Alliance https://www.facebook.com/groups/MartinShadowAlliance and the online convention I help run, ConTinual, can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/groups/ConTinual