This Census-Taker, in its novella length, provides the reader with a glorious and powerful enigma of a story. It is haunting, chilling, disturbing and touching and mesmerizing and absolutely beautiful. I could not stop reading this as I just craved to understand what was going on. It starts with a young boy running faster than he has ever run. Running from some unimaginable horror, and then we find out it involves his parents. The boy has trouble keeping his story straight as he is scared to death, but between this and a lack of evidence, the town dismisses his story and he is sent back to live with a parent that, at least from his perspective, is violent and deranged. Perhaps psychopathic. First, I will be very straight forward, I have only read one other book by Miéville and that was his first novel, King Rat, which I have heard is not indicative of the works he is best known for.  So, for this reason I can offer no comparison between this and a typical Miéville book (if there can be a typical, from what I hear unpredictable is a signature). What I can tell you is that this book is not at all…

The boys are back! When I heard Michael J. Sullivan was going to take his next Hadrian and Royce adventure to Kickstarter in the summer of 2015, I happily forked over the cash to support this brilliant project by one of my favorite authors. I’ve read and loved every Riyria novel and I couldn’t have been more excited about The Death of Dulgath. As part of my backer rewards, I received an early digital copy of the book, but I later also picked up the audiobook version because of Tim Gerard Reynolds, the narrator who brings Sullivan’s wonderful characters and world to life. I was not disappointed. The Riyria Revelations ranks high among one of my favorite fantasy series, so naturally when Sullivan went on to write two more books in The Riyria Chronicles, I read those too. Chronicles is meant to be a prequel series, comprised of stand-alone tales featuring Hadrian and Royce before the events of Revelations, and The Death of Dulgath is the third of these. As thieves for hire, our protagonists are always getting into trouble involving daring heists and other shenanigans, which is another reason why these side stories about their “time before” have always…

I almost didn’t write a review. I wasn’t sure if I should be reviewing something that was important enough to me that I contributed to a kickstarter for the first time.   But upon reflection I realized that was pretty silly; of course it is ok for me to review The Labyrinth of Flame. After all I am not profiting from it and in reality my contribution just amounted to a long term pre-order of the e-book. That said, consider this a disclosure for those who may think one was needed. A quick rundown for those not in the know. The Labyrinth of Flame by Courtney Schafer is the third book of the series The Shattered Sigil. Despite getting rave reviews from everyone that matters (oops, personal bias coming through) the series was unfortunately caught in the fiasco that came from Night Shade shutting down; two books released and one short of a finished story.   For various reason Schafer decided to take the self-published route for book three. This series has always been a buddy adventure taken to an extreme level.   It is the story of Dev and Kiran, best friends after two books who will do anything for each other,…

This compact novella was my first experience reading Catherynne M. Valente, and I was literally blown away (pun intended). Six-Gun Snow White has all the familiar elements from the fairy tale—a young girl abused by her stepmother, a magic mirror, seven dwarves, a poisoned apple, a huntsman—and yet it’s completely new and fresh and unlike any other Snow White story you’re likely to read. Valente arms her Snow White with a revolver called Rose Red and gives her a trusty horse named Charming, then sets her off into the world. The fantasy elements are subtle, and even readers who don’t like speculative fiction will appreciate the real-life struggles that Snow White goes through in this story. I loved the fact that Snow White is a half Crow, half white girl with dark skin, who never really feels like she fits in anywhere. Add in a thoroughly engaging western sensibility and you have one hell of a story. Snow White’s father is Mr. H, a successful prospector who has made a fortune mining whatever precious materials he can find. One day, he meets and becomes instantly smitten with a Crow woman named Gun That Sings, and he decides to do whatever…