Smorgasbord Fantasia

"Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that first originated at Breaking the Spine but has since linked up with “Can’t Wait Wednesday” at Wishful Endings now that the original creator is unable to host it anymore. Either way, this fun feature is a chance to showcase the upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on! The fourth book in The Song of Shattered Sands series—an epic fantasy with a desert setting, filled with rich worldbuilding and pulse-pounding action. When a battle to eradicate the Thirteenth Tribe goes awry, the kingdoms bordering the desert metropolis of Sharakhai see the city as weak and ripe for conquest. Çeda, now leader of the Shieldwives, a band of skilled desert swordswomen, hopes to use the growing chaos to gain freedom for Sehid-Alaz, the ancient, undying king of her people. Freeing him is only the beginning, however. Like all the people of her tribe on that fateful night four centuries earlier, Sehid-Alaz was cursed, ...

Bradley Beaulieu is one of my go-to-authors in present day fantasy - breaking new grounds with every single release of his - and so, it was with barely restrained excitement, that I plunged back into the ruthless but gloriously realized desert world of Sharakhai, Of sand dunes and dark horrifying prophecies, of blood magic and the terrifying consequences. Of demons and their curses. It was a welcome return back to the wind-lashed sand-dunes in the Mother of Sand, the sheesha-dens and the roaring fighting-pits - right back into the lives of  Cedahmin Ahyanesh  and her friends, one more time. Ceda was one of the most formidable heroines/protagonists introduced to the fantasy genre last year and I was more than happy to partner up again, this time against demoniacal forces formed of the whims of the desert-gods who decides to wreck havoc in her life. Of Sand and Malice Made is a three-part novella that traces the life of our protagonist, a couple of years before the event...

Bradley is one of the genre's finest talents pushing the boundaries and scope of fantasy. And he proves it again in fantastic style with the Twelve Kings in Sharakhai , first book in the Song of the Shattered Sands series. His first series,  Lays of Anuskaya introduced us to a russo-mythology inspired world with a touch of the forgotten Ottoman culture in lush detail. The Twelve Kings takes a step further and takes us right into the heart of a captivating and wondrous world of a desert civilization where Gods grant power to mortals, the undead walk the sands at night and subterfuge and intrigue rule the day. So Twelve Kings is set in the bustling desert metropolis of Sharakhai , a trading city in the middle of the great sprawling desert. A city that has slums, fighting pits, sprawling mansions, sheesha-denns and tea houses, communal baths and palaces on the hills jostling for the attention of the citizens. The fighting pits sees brutal competitions between champions of ...

September looks to be dishy month in terms of some great books coming out in SFF Genre. I've listed a few on my most-wanted list, top of the TBR pile. Twelve Kings of Sharakhai by Bradley P Beaulieu   Sharakhai, the great city of the desert, center of commerce and culture, has been ruled from time immemorial by twelve kings—cruel, ruthless, powerful, and immortal. With their army of Silver Spears, their elite company of Blade Maidens, and their holy defenders, the terrifying asirim, the Kings uphold their positions as undisputed, invincible lords of the desert. There is no hope of freedom for any under their rule. Or so it seems, until Çeda, a brave young woman from the west end slums, defies the Kings’ laws by going outside on the holy night of Beht Zha’ir. What she learns that night sets her on a path that winds through both the terrible truths of the Kings’ mysterious history and the hidden riddles of her own heritage. Together, these secrets could finally break the iro...

Mark Lawrence ( Broken Empire , remember that vicious sociopath the charmer, Prince Jorg, who is slowly growing up fulfill his destiny built on broken bones? interviews Bradley P Beaulieu (The acclaimed author of the russo-inspired fantasy series, Lays of Anuskaya full of political intrigue and one of the finest wrought magic systems I've read!) What is the big deal ? It pays to listen to these two gentlemen who have cut thier teeth on writing and almost perfected that art of expanding the genre fiction; not to mention, in that process, having given us two of the most fantastic trilogies ever written in today's fantasy fiction. They exchange thoughts on writing, the publishing industry, book trailers and lots more exciting stuff that any true blue speculative fiction junkie should care two hoots about. I have read the first two books of the Broken Empire and consider it to be a modern day classic. Its dark, twisted and disturbingly fearsome in some sense but its finely...

I still haven’t come to terms with this question, do I love Russian literature? I tried Tolstoy’s epic, War and Peace. Not once but twice. And I failed both times to complete it. Dostoevsky’s short stories made me a fan but his longer books had just too much going on to invest me in as a serious reader, all this at a younger tender impressionable age. As an adult my tastes veered away from the contemporary into speculative and I was yet to find anyone who brought in the flavors or Russia – the strong smells of vodka, the white snow and the bleak grey hopelessness - into Fantasy or Science Fiction. And then came Bradley P. Beaulieu – who has written a deep, well researched fantasy novel set in an alternate world of mountainous archipelago completely inspired by the Russian and East European settings. Then more recently, Peter Higgins brought the love and intrigue back to that Soviet-Russian hitting us squarely between the eyes with his excellent oddball genre-bending Wol...

Apologies! I know the blogs been empty for a while after the last windstorm called The Bonehunters passed this way. So here's whats been happening in my busy life: 1) Finished "Long Tail" by Chris Anderson - a revised edition : a look at the new-age economy super stars of retail - like Google, eBay, Amazon, iTunes etc that have re-written the rules of engagement by unlocking the much-forgotten "Long tail" of customer demand. Anderson argues that with the advantages of infinite storage space ( esp if your products are purely "digital" - think music? ) retailers can afford to cater to the "niches" - that form micro-categories in that long tail of demand instead of being selective and pruning out a vast majority of products from that "Hit" list. It's a fantastic read - Anderson tries to illustrate his points by pain-staking data points from his wonderfully deep research and presents the same without being too pedantic and...