Risingshadow - Articles

A review of Laird Barron's The Imago Sequence and Other Stories

Details: Written by Seregil of Rhiminee; Published: 11 June 2010

Laird Barron's The Imago Sequence and Other Stories was published in 2007. It's Laird Barron's first short story collection and the winner of the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Collection.

Here's my short review of Laird Barron's first short story collection. Several people have already written fantastic reviews about this collection, so I don't have anything new to add, but I'll write a short review anyway, because every horror fan should read The Imago Sequence and Other Stories.

A REVIEW OF LAIRD BARRON'S THE IMAGO SEQUENCE AND OTHER STORIES

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An interview with Anthony Huso

Details: Written by Seregil of Rhiminee; Published: 09 June 2010

Risingshadow.net is proud to present an interview with a gifted new fantasy author, Anthony Huso.

Anthony Huso's debut novel, The Last Page, will be published in August 2010 by Tor Books.

Anthony Huso's official website can be found here.

AN INTERVIEW WITH ANTHONY HUSO

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A review of David Moles' Seven Cities of Gold

Details: Written by Seregil of Rhiminee; Published: 29 May 2010

David Moles' Seven Cities of Gold will be published by PS Publishing in May 2010.

Here's a description of Seven Cites of Gold from the publisher's website:

A gem of alternate history by one of SF's brightest rising stars; a searing journey into a very different yet strangely familiar North America...

In anno domini 714, seven Catholic bishops fleeing the Muslim invasion of Spain set sail across the Western Ocean. There, in a new world, they founded seven legendary cities – and a legendary Christian empire.

Now, twelve centuries later, war rages across that new world: a culture war, a clash of civilizations, as the armies of the Caliphate of al-Andalus invade a failed state become a terrorist safe haven, a breeding ground for global reconquistadores.

Doctor-Lieutenant Chië Nakada is a physician with the Relief Ministry of the Regency of Japan. In the war of Muslims and Christians, Buddhist Japan is officially neutral. But when a mysterious weapon of mass destruction razes the Muslim-occupied city of Espírito Santo, Nakada is tasked to travel up the great river Acuamagna, seek out the messianic leader of the Christian resistance, and put a permanent end to that leader's apocalyptic delusions.

But the burnt-out, opium-addicted Nakada has her own delusions to contend with. And as she proceeds upriver, witness to spectacles dreadful and magnificent, ominously authentic and luridly misleading, Nakada learns that she is only another pawn in a savage game of Belief played across the millennia and across all the permutations of history.

Drawing on the enigmatic legend of Cibola, the mirage that lured baffled conquistadors into the heart of America five centuries ago, Seven Cities of Gold is deft, finely written, full of emblematic violence and acute symbolism, a meditation on 9/11, the War on Terror, Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, and much besides. Novel in scope and universal in impact, it is the first masterpiece by David Moles, and surely not the last.

A REVIEW OF DAVID MOLES' SEVEN CITIES OF GOLD

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A review of Anthony Huso's The Last Page

Details: Written by Seregil of Rhiminee; Published: 03 June 2010

Anthony Huso is a new fantasy author. His official website can be found here.

His debut fantasy book, The Last Page, will be published in August 2010 by Tor Books.

Here's the official description of The Last Page:

A stunning new voice in fantasy

The city of Isca is set like a dark jewel in the crown of the Duchy of Stonehold. In this sprawling landscape, the monsters one sees are nothing compared to what's living in the city's sewers.

Twenty-three-year-old Caliph Howl is Stonehold's reluctant High King. Thrust onto the throne, Caliph has inherited Stonehold's dirtiest court secrets. He also faces a brewing civil war that he is unprepared to fight. After months alone amid a swirl of gossip and political machinations, the sudden reappearance of his old lover, Sena, is a welcome bit of relief. But Sena has her own legacy to claim: she has been trained from birth by the Shradnae witchocracy – adept in espionage and the art of magical equations writ in blood – and she has been sent to spy on the High King.

Yet there are magics that demand a higher price than blood. Sena secretly plots to unlock the Cisrym Ta, an arcane text whose pages contain the power to destroy worlds. The key to opening the book lies in Caliph's veins, forcing Sena to decide if her obsession for power is greater than her love for Caliph.

Meanwhile, a fleet of airships creeps ever closer to Isca. As the final battle in a devastating civil war looms and the last page of the Cisrym Ta waits to be read, Caliph and Sena must face the deadly consequences of their decisions. And the blood of these conflicts will stain this and other worlds forever.

A REVIEW OF ANTHONY HUSO'S THE LAST PAGE

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