Risingshadow: April 2022 Edition

[author_1298_quote_right]  In these twenty tales of the weird and twisted you will visit temples dedicated to the worship of dark gods spawned under the diseased light of long-dead stars; find yourself lost in damned places where truth and sanity vanish like mist in sunlight; meet strangers who make you pray that all you think you know is wrong; and discover that love is really just another gateway to unending despair. You may even find confirmation of the dreadful fact that you are what you ... [read more]

HorrorShort StoriesWeird Fiction

This double feature - review and excerpt from the novel - is part of The Shadow Glass Blog Tour with Josh Winning. Josh Winning's The Shadow Glass was published by Titan Books in March 2022. [author_8584] [book_63535_quote_right] REVIEW: THE SHADOW GLASS BY JOSH WINNING [read more]

Risingshadow has the honour of participating in J.L. Worrad's Pennyblade Blog Tour. [author_11801] [book_63421_quote] Guest post: Fantasy and Vulgarity by J.L. Worrad [read more]

(The Raven Rings #3)

“Imagine being an icon for a dreaded people. The symbol that unites them in hatred and vengeance. As the daughter of a dead born warlord in exile, your destiny is to mark the beginning of the end.” Hirka prepares to meet the ruling house of a cold, hierarchical world where contempt for weakness is paramount. Reluctantly, she accepts her fate, hoping to keep Rime alive and Ymslanda safe. But the dead borns thirst for the Might is absolute and Hirka realize that war she wanted to prevent, is ... [read more]

FantasyYoung AdultEpic FantasyHigh FantasyTranslation

(The Primal Hunter #1)

On just another average day, Jake finds himself in a forest filled with monsters, dangers, and opportunity... It was a day like any other when suddenly the world changed. The universe reached a threshold humanity didn’t even know existed, and it was time to finally be integrated into the vast multiverse. A place where power is the only thing anyone can truly rely on. Jake, a seemingly average office worker, finds himself thrust into this new world. Into a tutorial filled with dangers and ... [read more]

FantasyUrban FantasyLitRPGDystopia

(Blood and Ash #4)

From the desperation of golden crowns… Casteel Da’Neer knows all too well that very few are as cunning or vicious as the Blood Queen, but no one, not even him, could’ve prepared for the staggering revelations. The magnitude of what the Blood Queen has done is almost unthinkable. And born of mortal flesh… Nothing will stop Poppy from freeing her King and destroying everything the Blood Crown stands for. With the strength of the Primal of Life’s guards behind her, and the support of ... [read more]

FantasyRomanceVampiresRomantasy

(Mambo Reina #1)

A practitioner of Vodou must test the boundaries of her powers to solve a ritual murder in New Orleans and protect everything she holds sacred. Haitian-American Vodou priestess Mambo Reina Dumond runs a healing practice from her New Orleans home. Gifted with water magic since she was a child, Reina is devoted to the benevolent traditions of her ancestors. After a ritual slaying in the French Quarter, police arrest a fellow vodouisant. Detective Roman Frost, Reina’s ex-boyfriend — a ... [read more]

FantasyUrban Fantasy

"Engrossing, character-rich, powerful. Sten is on a roll."—Publishers Weekly(starred review) Crimson Peak meets The Sanatorium in The Resting Place, a heart-thumping, unforgettable novel of horror and suspense by international sensation Camilla Sten. Deep rooted secrets. A twisted family history.And a house that will never let go. Eleanor lives with prosopagnosia, the inability to recognize a familiar person's face. It causes stress. Acute anxiety. It can make you question what you think ... [read more]

ThrillerHorrorMystery

(Terrible Worlds: Revolutions #3)

Ogres are bigger than you. Ogres are stronger than you. Ogres rule the world. It’s always idyllic in the village until the landlord comes to call. Because the landlord is an Ogre. And Ogres rule the world, with their size and strength and appetites. It’s always been that way. It’s the natural order of the world. And they only eat people sometimes. But when the headman’s son, Torquell, dares lift his hand against the landlord’s son, he sets himself on a path to learn the terrible truth about the Ogres, and about the dark sciences that ensured their rule. [read more]

Science FictionDystopiaNovellaSocial Science Fiction

(The Sun Eater #4)

The fourth novel of the galaxy-spanning Sun Eater series merges the best of space opera and epic fantasy, as Hadrian Marlowe continues down a path that can only end in fire. Hadrian Marlowe is trapped. For nearly a century, he has been a guest of the Emperor, forced into the role of advisor, a prisoner of his own legend. But the war is changing. Mankind is losing. The Cielcin are spilling into human space from the fringes, picking their targets with cunning precision. The Great Prince ... [read more]

Science FictionSpace Opera

From the critically acclaimed author of The Book of M, a highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father’s belongings holds an incredible, deadly secret—one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family’s dark history.  What is the purpose of a map?  Nell Young’s whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field, and Nell’s personal ... [read more]

Fantasy

(Brotherband Chronicles #9)

The next tale in the Brotherband Chronicles--following the Brotherband and their ship, the Heron, in a battle against an Iberian pirate raiding ship! The Herons are home in Skandia--preparing to celebrate two of their own and working on sea trials in the newly constructed Heron. But during a short excursion, they encounter an Iberian pirate ship raiding the coast of Sonderland, so Hal and his crew take action. Though the Herons quickly triumph, the Iberians voice their fury at the Herons, ... [read more]

FantasyYoung Adult

(Stars and Bones #1)

From the multi BSFA award-winner comes a stunningly inventive action-packed science-fiction epic adventure. A brand-new series for fans of Becky Chambers and Ann Leckie. Seventy-five years from today, the human race has been cast from a dying Earth to wander the stars in a vast fleet of arks ― each shaped by its inhabitants into a diverse and fascinating new environment, with its own rules and eccentricities. When her sister disappears while responding to a mysterious alien distress call, ... [read more]

Science FictionSpace Opera

(Skandar #1)

Soar into a breathtaking world of heroes and unicorns as you’ve never seen them before in this fantastical middle grade debut perfect for fans of the Percy Jackson and Eragon series! Skandar Smith has always yearned to leave the Mainland and escape to the secretive Island, where wild unicorns roam free. He’s spent years studying for his Hatchery exam, the annual test that selects a handful of Mainlander thirteen-year-olds to train to become unicorn riders. But on the day of Skandar’s ... [read more]

FantasyMiddle Grade

A novel of art, time travel, love, and plague that takes the reader from Vancouver Island in 1912 to a dark colony on the moon five hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and space. Edwin St. Andrew is eighteen years old when he crosses the Atlantic by steamship, exiled from polite society following an ill-conceived diatribe at a dinner party. He enters the forest, spellbound by the beauty of the Canadian wilderness, and suddenly hears the notes of a violin echoing ... [read more]

Science Fiction

(He Who Fights with Monsters #5)

Jason has discovered that his homeworld is not what he thought. What’s more, the rest of the planet is on the precipice of sharing his revelation. With magic on the rise and forces pulling him in multiple directions, Jason is faced with challenges greater than ever before. Even as his power reaches new and incredible heights, he is faced with the realization that going beyond his best is still not enough. [read more]

FantasyLitRPG

(Lightfall #2)

In the second installment of the award-winning, critically acclaimed Lightfall series, Bea and Cad continue their quest to stop Kest, the mythic bird who stole the sun. Perfect for middle grade fans of Amulet and Avatar the Last Airbender, Lightfall: Shadow of the Bird is another breathtaking journey into the magical world of Irpa, where epic battles and powerful creatures abound. After a battle that nearly cost them their lives, Bea and Cad awaken in the hidden settlement of the Arsai, ... [read more]

FantasyComicsMiddle GradeGraphic Novels

(Dream-Hunter #6)

#1 New York Times bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon returns with a brand-new entry in her Dream-Hunter series For centuries, Ariel has fought the forces of evil. Her task was to protect the souls of innocent mortals when they die. Captured by a powerful sorceress, she is transformed into a human who has no memory of her real life or calling. And is plunked into the middle of the Norman invasion of England. Cursed the moment he was born with a "demonic deformity," Valteri wants nothing of ... [read more]

FantasyRomanceParanormal RomanceUrban Fantasy

(Lady of Darkness #3)

She will not be the same as when she left. Fire and Shadows.Scarlett Semiria knew the cost of her actions the day she sacrificed everything to keep her family, her Courts, and her twin flame safe. At least she thought she did. When she discovers the cost was more than she could have ever anticipated, she finds herself once again forced to choose between saving innocents or saving the ones she loves. But this choice might just leave her so broken, even the stars won’t be able to bring her ... [read more]

FantasyRomanceParanormal RomanceDark Fantasy

With her signature mix of the grim and the delightful, award-winning author T. Kingfisher takes the old bones of fantasy and fairytale and makes them into something entirely new in this enchanting adventure. After years of seeing her sisters suffer at the hands of an abusive prince, Marra ― the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter ― has finally realized that no one is coming to their rescue. No one, except for Marra herself. Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the ... [read more]

FantasyHugo Award

(Bloodsworn Saga #2)

The Hunger of the Gods continues John Gwynne’s acclaimed Norse-inspired epic fantasy series, packed with myth, magic and bloody vengeance. Lik-Rifa, the dragon god of legend, has been freed from her eternal prison. Now she plots a new age of blood and conquest. As Orka continues the hunt for her missing son, the Bloodsworn sweep south in a desperate race to save one of their own – and Varg takes the first steps on the path of vengeance. Elvar has sworn to fulfil her blood oath and ... [read more]

FantasyEpic FantasyHigh Fantasy

(Between Earth and Sky #2)

Return to The Meridian with New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Roanhorse’s sequel to the most critically hailed epic fantasy of 2020 Black Sun—finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Lambda, and Locus awards. There are no tides more treacherous than those of the heart. —Teek saying The great city of Tova is shattered. The sun is held within the smothering grip of the Crow God’s eclipse, but a comet that marks the death of a ruler and heralds the rise of a new order is imminent. The ... [read more]

FantasyEpic FantasyHigh Fantasy

(Vicious Lost Boys #2)

I spent most of my life feeling dead inside -- until I met Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. It wasn't until Pan and Neverland that I finally felt alive. But things are not all full of magic and sunlight on the island. There's something darker and more sinister haunting the forest. And worse, the fae queen and Captain Hook are ready to fight for control of Neverland and they will stop at nothing to get what they want. Including using the one thing Pan never thought he wanted or needed -- me. ... [read more]

FantasyRomanceParanormal RomanceDark Fantasy