Articles
GUEST POST: Green Jay and Crow by DJ Daniels
- Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
Risingshadow has the honour of publishing a guest post by DJ Daniels.
Information about DJ Daniels:
DJ Daniels is an Australian author and musician. She writes when she manages to get her husband and two daughters out of the house and during lulls in the ongoing dog-lizard war. (Lizards are well ahead.) Her first novel, What the Dead Said, was followed by a raft of short stories which have appeared in publications such as Aurealis, Andromeda Spaceways Magazine, and So It Goes. She was a judge for the 2012 Aurealis Awards and is one of the Sydney Story Factory's Ambassadors of Ink.
Her novel Green Jay and Crow was published by Abaddon Books (Rebellion Publishing) in December 2018.
Click here to visit her official website.
Click here to read a review about Green Jay and Crow.
Information about Green Jay and Crow:
“I WAS MEANT TO COME TO BARLEWIN. BUT I WAS NEVER MEANT TO STAY”
The half-forgotten streets of Barlewin, in the shadow of the High Track, are a good place to hide: among the aliens and the couriers, the robots and the doubles, where everyone has secrets.
Like Eva, a 3D-printed copy of another woman, built to be disposable. She should have disintegrated days ago... and she hasn’t.
And now her creator wants her back.
In Green Jay and Crow, DJ Daniels presents a powerful tale of humanity, identity, and the hope that drives us all.
GUEST POST: Green Jay and Crow by DJ Daniels
Read more: GUEST POST: Green Jay and Crow by DJ Daniels
Review: Blacker Against the Deep Dark by Alexander Zelenyj
- Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
Alexander Zelenyj's Blacker Against the Deep Dark was published by Eibonvale Press in December 2018.
Click here to watch the trailer for this collection.
Information about Alexander Zelenyj:
Alexander Zelenyj is the author of the books Blacker Against The Deep Dark, Songs For The Lost, Experiments At 3 Billion A.M., Ballads To The Burning Twins: The Complete Song Lyrics Of The Deathray Bradburys, and Black Sunshine. He lives in Windsor, Ontario, Canada with his wife, Elizabeth.
Click here to visit his official website.
Information about Blacker Against the Deep Dark:
From a man having a conversation with the shadow of a human being blasted into a wall by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, to a pastor giving shelter to the most bizarre individual to ever walk the Earth; from a secret group at war with the physical manifestations of disease that have run rampant for ages, to a pair of detectives trying to solve the mystery of a deadly otherworldly drug that legend says holds the power to open the gates to Paradise. These, and other dark and weird tales...
"There are no holds barred in these stories, just a rawness that underpins his soaring talent. Alexander Zelenyj is a poet. His work is detailed, descriptive and devastating... The reader is swept into worlds of possibility where nothing is as it seems... In this latest collection he conveys desire, agony and horror with the ease of a master craftsman. His work is subtle yet brutal. It changes as quickly and unexpectedly as his imagination." - Trevor Denyer, Editor-in-Chief of Midnight Street Press, from his introduction
REVIEW: BLACKER AGAINST THE DEEP DARK BY ALEXANDER ZELENYJ
Read more: Review: Blacker Against the Deep Dark by Alexander Zelenyj
Toni Cox - Elemental Trilogy Cover Reveals
- Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
Toni Cox, author of The Elemental Trilogy series has decided to rebrand and here is what they look like
Elemental Rising:
Maia, Elf princess of Elveron, has studied for almost a century to become a Prime Elemental but, when she finally completes her final test, which she had to take on Earth, something unexpected happens, and she brings with her the very thing she tried to leave behind.
Now she is faced with responsibilities she thinks she is not ready for, a love she does not reciprocate, and a threat to her people that might kill them all. Young, inexperienced, and unsure of her powers, she only has her desire to save her people that drives her into battle. But she is not alone. She has her mentor, Silas, and her dragon, Midnight, who stand by her side as she embarks on an adventure to save not just herself, but the rest of the nation of Grildor as well.
Elemental Betrayal:
The nation of Grildor still reels from the War of Greystone. They spent the winter Moons mourning their dead. Now it is spring and time to drive the last of the enemy off their planet. Maia has sunken into a pit of despair during the harsh Moons of Winter, not only mourning the people that died, but also the absence of Blaid. Would he ever come back to her? Lord Longshadow, Lord Regent of Grildor, decides it is time to act and sends Maia and Jaik as ambassadors to the various cities within Grildor. The aim is to reassure the people that the Longshadow Clan is there to protect them, but as Maia and Jaik travel, they learn that the situation is far worse than they had anticipated.
They have been betrayed and their nation is threatened with war a second time. Desperately, she searches for the strength to save her people. And, although she has her dragon, Midnight to help her, the responsibility of being a Prime rests heavily on her shoulders.
Will her magic be strong enough to save them this time?
Forbidden Elemental:
Two battles are behind them and now the true war with the Vampyres is about to start. Elveron will succumb unless the Prime Elementals can become as one. Maia deserts her people to find Blaid, for only as one will they have the power to defeat the Vampyres amassing at Greystone. It is Forbidden for them to be together and yet their connection is all that stands between victory and eternal defeat. With her dragon, Midnight, Maia sets off on a journey that will change the future for everyone. Lord Longshadow, the Lord Regent, invokes the Rule of Kings and travels to every country of Greater Grildor. He needs the Lords to pledge their armies. Jaik Longshadow rules in his father’s stead and faces the greatest test of his life, while Aaron Nightingale, believing he is the reason Maia left, races across Grildor to find her. The arrival of winter means the Vampyres will be less active. Amid snow and ice, it is time for Elveron to prepare. But the Vampyres have a different agenda and winter will no longer stop them. As desperation and fear takes hold, Maia understands that to save her people she needs a new plan.
Will Blaid help her? Will she have enough time?
WHAT OTHER SAY ABOUT THE ELEMENTAL TRILOGY?
“Cox has created characters; a world; a story that is Tolkien worthy. She has developed something unique and rich in imagination.” Sian B. Claven (Author of The Butcher books)
“Maia is an incredible character to follow. Toni Cox has managed to bring something new, exciting, and seriously addictive to the fore.” Robyn Victoria Castles (TBB)
Elemental Trilogy Bundle:
PURCHASING LINKS
About Toni Cox
Born in Germany in 1976, 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 - give the stories life. When she was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis in 2013, she decided life is too short not to follow her dream. So, 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 – The Milky Way Chronicles (including The Elemental Trilogy), Young Adult Fantasy – (including The Elemental Short Stories), Sci-Fi Fantasy – The Andromeda Saga, Fantasy – The Dragonlore Series, Dystopian Fantasy – these are set on Earth, the first one (Resilient) will be released in 2019).
FOLLOW TONI ON
FACEBOOK TWITTER INSTAGRAM GOODREADS
GIVEAWAY
Review: The Empty Throne by David M. Allan
- Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
David M. Allan's The Empty Throne was published by Elsewhen Press in a digital edition in August 2018 and the paperback edition was published in October 2018.
Information about David M. Allan:
David got hooked on reading at a young age by borrowing to the max - 3 books, twice a week - from the public library. He was caught up and transported to fabulous other worlds by the likes of Wells, Verne and Burroughs (and later by Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, Heinlein, Le Guin, Wyndham…). Alas, the journeys were temporary and he had to return to Earth.
His love affair with science fiction and fantasy had him thinking vaguely about writing but he didn’t follow through until after retirement and his relocation, with wife and cat, to a houseboat on the Thames. It was reading one book which he didn’t think was very good that led him to say “I could do better than that” and then setting out to prove it. David has since had a number of short stories published in online magazines, but The Empty Throne will be his first published novel.
Click here to visit his official website.
Information about The Empty Throne:
Three thrones, one of metal, one of wood and one of stone, stand in the Citadel. Between them shimmers a gateway to a new world, created four hundred years ago by the three magicians who made the thrones. When hostile incorporeal creatures came through the gateway, the magicians attempted to close it but failed. Since that time the creatures have tried to come through the gateway at irregular intervals, but the throne room is guarded by the Company of Tectors, established to defend against them. To try to stop the creatures, expeditions have been sent through the gateway, but none has ever returned.
On each throne appears an image of one of the Custoda, heroes who have led the expeditions through the gateway. While the Custoda occupy the thrones the gateway remains quiet and there are no incursions. Today, Dhanay, the newest knight admitted to the Company, is guarding the throne room. Like all the Tectors, Dhanay looks to the images of the Custoda for guidance.
But the Throne of Stone is empty. The latest incursion has started; a creature escaping into the world, a kulun capable of possessing and controlling humans.
The provincial rulers, the oldest and most powerful families, ignore the gateway and the Tectors, concentrating on playing politics and pursuing their own petty aims. Some even question the need for the Company, as incursions have been successfully contained within the Citadel for years. Family feuds, border disputes, deep-rooted rivalries and bigotry make for a potentially unstable world, and are a perfect environment for a kulun looking to create havoc…
REVIEW: THE EMPTY THRONE BY DAVID M. ALLAN
Read more: Review: The Empty Throne by David M. Allan
Review: Resurrection Men by David Craig
- Written by Seregil of Rhiminee
David Craig's Resurrection Men was published by Elsewhen Press in a digital edition in August 2018 and the paperback edition was published in October 2018.
Information about David Craig:
Aside from three months living on an oil tanker sailing back and forth between America and Africa, and two years living in a pub, David Craig grew up on the west coast of Scotland. He studied Software Engineering at university, but lost interest in the subject after (and admittedly prior to) graduation. He currently works as a resourcing administrator for a public service contact centre, and lives near Glasgow with his wife and two rabbits.
Being a published writer has been a life-long dream, and one he is delighted to finally realise with his debut novel, Resurrection Men, the first in the Sooty Feathers series.
Information about Resurrection Men:
There’s a supernatural war brewing...
...for control of the Second City of the British Empire
Glasgow 1893.
Wilton Hunt, a student, and Tam Foley, a laudanum-addicted pharmacist, are pursuing extra-curricular careers as body snatchers, or ‘resurrection men’, under cover of darkness. They exhume a girl’s corpse, only for it to disappear while their backs are turned. Confused and in need of the money the body would have earnt them, they investigate the corpse’s disappearance. They discover that bodies have started to turn up in the area with ripped-out throats and severe loss of blood, although not the one they lost. The police are being encouraged by powerful people to look the other way, and the deaths are going unreported by the press. As Hunt and Foley delve beneath the veneer of respectable society, they find themselves entangled in a dangerous underworld that is protected from scrutiny by the rich and powerful members of the elite but secretive Sooty Feathers Club.
Meanwhile, a mysterious circus arrives in the middle of the night, summoned as allies to help avenge a betrayal two centuries old…
Resurrection Men is the first book in David Craig’s Sooty Feathers series, a masterful gothic tale about a supernatural war for control of the Second City of the British Empire, and the struggle of flawed characters of uncertain virtue who try to avert it. It is set in a late 19th century Glasgow ruled by the undead - from the private clubs, town houses and country estates of the privileged to the dung-choked wynds and overcrowded slums of the poor. Undead unrest, a fallen angel, and religious zealots intent on driving out the forces of evil, set the stage for a diabolical conflict of biblical proportions.
REVIEW: RESURRECTION MEN BY DAVID CRAIG
Read more: Review: Resurrection Men by David Craig