Thomas Olde Heuvelt - HEX (2016)

My review of 'HEX' by Thomas Olde Heuvelt is up at Fantasy Faction. Olde Heuvelt is a bestselling author in the Netherlands, but this is his international debut. It's a chilling and unsettling Horror story about how quickly fear can spread through a community of normal, down to earth people and cause them to do all manner of terrible things. It's also an exploration of the tropes and ideas around witches, from history through to Horror through to the fairy-tale, as well as a modern Horror story that makes good use of modern technology and how it shapes our lives. Read more at the link.

Tor Novellas: Kai Ashante Wilson - The Sorcerer Of The Wildeeps (2015)

I am thrilled to announce a new series of articles I shall be running at Fantasy Faction, in which I review the Tor novellas line. Tor have launched a line of novellas, aiming to promote this shorter medium, and focusing on bringing new authors from diverse backgrounds to attention as much as more established names. I really like this series because the shorter novella form frequently allows writers to experiment and take risks that they might not be so comfortable taking with longer works, resulting in a number of really interesting and exciting reads. First up is 'The Sorcerer Of The Wildeeps' by Kai Ashante Wilson, a writer whose short fiction I have admired for some time. Here he experiments with the forms and assumptions of the Sword and Sorcery genre to create a beautifully written tale of bisexual and gay love with a diverse cast. Read more at the link.

Ken Liu - The Paper Menagerie And Other Stories (2016)

Apologies for the radio silence, I have been writing but a combination of poor internet and real life have prevented me from updating the blog as regularly as I should. In the meantime, my review of Ken Liu's short story collection 'The Paper Menagerie And Other Stories' has gone up at Fantasy Faction. I have been a fan of Liu's short fiction for a while, and was very impressed by his novel-length debut, 'The Grace Of Kings'. The stories collected in 'The Paper Menagerie' cover a staggering stylistic and emotional range, and confirm Liu as one of the masters of the form. Read more through at the link.