Win a copy of Kevin Hearne's INK AND SIGIL

I have a copy of Kevin Hearne's upcoming Ink and Sigil up for grabs, courtesy of the folks at Del Rey. For more info about this title, check out these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

Here's the blurb:

Al MacBharrais is both blessed and cursed. He is blessed with an extraordinary white moustache, an appreciation for craft cocktails—and a most unique magical talent. He can cast spells with magically enchanted ink and he uses his gifts to protect our world from rogue minions of various pantheons, especially the Fae.

But he is also cursed. Anyone who hears his voice will begin to feel an inexplicable hatred for Al, so he can only communicate through the written word or speech apps. And his apprentices keep dying in peculiar freak accidents. As his personal life crumbles around him, he devotes his life to his work, all the while trying to crack the secret of his curse.

But when his latest apprentice, Gordie, turns up dead in his Glasgow flat, Al discovers evidence that Gordie was living a secret life of crime. Now Al is forced to play detective—while avoiding actual detectives who are wondering why death seems to always follow Al. Investigating his apprentice’s death will take him through Scotland’s magical underworld, and he’ll need the help of a mischievous hobgoblin if he’s to survive.

The rules are the same as usual. You need to send an email at reviews@(no-spam)gryphonwood.net with the header "INK." Remember to remove the "no spam" thingy.

Second, your email must contain your full mailing address (that's snail mail!), otherwise your message will be deleted.

Lastly, multiple entries will disqualify whoever sends them. And please include your screen name and the message boards that you frequent using it, if you do hang out on a particular MB.

Good luck to all the participants!

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (August 3rd)

In hardcover:

Jim Butcher's Peace Talks is down seven spots, finishing the week at number 9. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

Stephen King's If It Bleeds is down two positions, ending the week at number 13. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora

You may recall that I enjoyed Suyi Davies Okungbowa's Nigerian god-punk fantasy debut, David Mogo, Godhunter, last year. And since he's part of this project, I figure it's the reason why I was invited to sample Dominion a few months before its release date. On the off chance of discovering the next Nnedi Okorafor, I was happy to give this one a shot!

Labeled as the first speculative fiction anthology completely comprised of works by African writers and authors from the African Diaspora, Dominion really intrigued me. To begin with, I was aware that it would probably be unlike any other SFF anthology out there. This could be construed as good thing. Understandably, it could also be detrimental to potential readers if the stories were too different, too unfamiliar. So I went into these short fiction pieces with an open mind and I thoroughly enjoyed my journey.

Here's the blurb:

Dominion is the first anthology of speculative fiction and poetry by Africans and the African Diaspora. An old god rises up each fall to test his subjects. Once an old woman’s pet, a robot sent to mine an asteroid faces an existential crisis. A magician and his son time-travel to Ngoni country and try to change the course of history. A dead child returns to haunt his grieving mother with terrifying consequences. Candace, an ambitious middle manager, is handed a project that will force her to confront the ethical ramifications of her company’s latest project—the monetization of human memory. Osupa, a newborn village in pre-colonial Yorubaland populated by refugees of war, is recovering after a great storm when a young man and woman are struck by lightning, causing three priests to divine the coming intrusion of a titanic object from beyond the sky.

A magician teams up with a disgruntled civil servant to find his missing wand. A taboo error in a black market trade brings a man face-to-face with his deceased father—literally. The death of a King sets off a chain of events that ensnare a trickster, an insane killing machine, and a princess, threatening to upend their post-apocalyptic world. Africa is caught in the tug-of-war between two warring Chinas, and for Ibrahim torn between the lashings of his soul and the pain of the world around him, what will emerge? When the Goddess of Vengeance locates the souls of her stolen believers, she comes to a midwestern town with a terrible past, seeking the darkest reparations. In a post-apocalyptic world devastated by nuclear war, survivors gather in Ife-Iyoku, the spiritual capital of the ancient Oyo Empire, where they are altered in fantastic ways by its magic and power.

The two editors, Zelda Knight and Ekpeki Oghenechovwe Donald, compiled short fiction tales that cover the length and breadth of everything that falls under the speculative fiction umbrella. Such a convergence of genres and subgenres makes for captivating reading. Though most of the pieces are not culturally familiar in style, tone, or context to Western SFF readers, they all have something that can appeal to a broader audience. I'm persuaded that I couldn't understand and invariably missed some of the references and nuances found throughout the book. And yet, that never prevented me from enjoying the stories found within its pages.

Anthologies and collections of short fiction can be tricky things. Most of them consist of a few gems and some other quality reads, but inevitably these works are padded with filler material that takes something away from the overall reading experience. Not so with Dominion. It would be a lie to say that it's all killer material. That would have been too good to be true. But even though some stories stand out and resonated more with me, I felt that every piece contained in this anthology had something to offer and was a worthwhile addition to the project.

Dominion features quite a few post-apocalyptic stories in which the protagonists, their societies, their nations have to deal with profound emotional and psychological scars from the past that can never fully heal. Many of these tales are about dealing with or confronting these wounds, so people can move forward, and how difficult and life-changing that journey can be. Some are about evolution and transcendence. All in all, these short stories can be quite compelling and thought-provoking.

Another facet which I liked was the fact that many of the tales don't shy away from exploring sensitive issues such as domestic violence, abortion, sexual assault, violence against women and children, racism, and sexism, etc. This is no YA fare, so consider yourself warned. These stories tackle serious subject matters without sugarcoating everything to make it easier for the reader to deal with them.

My favorites include "The Unclean" by Nuzo Onoh, "A Mastery of German" by Marian Denise Moore, "The Satellite Charmer" by Mame Bougouma Diene, "Clanfall: Death of Kings" by Odida Nyabundi, and "Ife-Iyoku, The Tale of Imadeyunuagbon" by Ekpeki Oghenechovwe Donald.

Do yourself a favor and pre-order Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora. It's an entertaining, stimulating, and inspiring collection of stories that will force you to look at the world in a different way. Moreover, it shows once again that international talent can take speculative fiction to new heights! Here's to hoping that there will be more such anthologies in the future so that we can discover yet more foreign talents that deserve to be more widely read.

Highly recommended.

The final verdict: 8/10

For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (July 27th)

In hardcover:

Jim Butcher's Peace Talks debuts at number 2. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

Stephen King's If It Bleeds maintains its position at number 11. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic is down four spots, finishing the week at number 14.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download Charlie Jane Anders' The City in the Middle of the Night for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

"If you control our sleep, then you can own our dreams... And from there, it's easy to control our entire lives."

January is a dying planet—divided between a permanently frozen darkness on one side, and blazing endless sunshine on the other. Humanity clings to life, spread across two archaic cities built in the sliver of habitable dusk.

But life inside the cities is just as dangerous as the uninhabitable wastelands outside.

Sophie, a student and reluctant revolutionary, is supposed to be dead after being exiled into the night. Saved only by forming an unusual bond with the enigmatic beasts who roam the ice, Sophie vows to stay hidden from the world, hoping she can heal.

But fate has other plans—and Sophie's ensuing odyssey and the ragtag family she finds will change the entire world.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (July 20th)

In hardcover:

Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic is down one spot, finishing the week at number 10.

Stephen King's If It Bleeds maintains its position at number 11. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Robin Hobb's Fool's Assassin for only 3.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link!

Here's the blurb:

Nearly twenty years ago, Robin Hobb burst upon the fantasy scene with the first of her acclaimed Farseer novels, Assassin’s Apprentice, which introduced the characters of FitzChivalry Farseer and his uncanny friend the Fool. A watershed moment in modern fantasy, this novel—and those that followed—broke exciting new ground in a beloved genre. Together with George R. R. Martin, Robin Hobb helped pave the way for such talented new voices as Scott Lynch, Brandon Sanderson, and Naomi Novik.

Over the years, Hobb’s imagination has soared throughout the mythic lands of the Six Duchies in such bestselling series as the Liveship Traders Trilogy and the Rain Wilds Chronicles. But no matter how far she roamed, her heart always remained with Fitz. And now, at last, she has come home, with an astonishing new novel that opens a dark and gripping chapter in the Farseer saga.

FitzChivalry—royal bastard and former king’s assassin—has left his life of intrigue behind. As far as the rest of the world knows, FitzChivalry Farseer is dead and buried. Masquerading as Tom Badgerlock, Fitz is now married to his childhood sweetheart, Molly, and leading the quiet life of a country squire.

Though Fitz is haunted by the disappearance of the Fool, who did so much to shape Fitz into the man he has become, such private hurts are put aside in the business of daily life, at least until the appearance of menacing, pale-skinned strangers casts a sinister shadow over Fitz’s past . . . and his future.

Now, to protect his new life, the former assassin must once again take up his old one. . .

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download James Islington's The Shadow of What Was Lost, first volume in the Licanius trilogy, for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada. It's supposed to be a must for fans of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time.

Here's the blurb:

It has been twenty years since the god-like Augurs were overthrown and killed. Now, those who once served them - the Gifted - are spared only because they have accepted the rebellion's Four Tenets, vastly limiting their powers.

As a Gifted, Davian suffers the consequences of a war lost before he was even born. He and others like him are despised. But when Davian discovers he wields the forbidden power of the Augurs, he sets into motion a chain of events that will change everything.

To the west, a young man whose fate is intertwined with Davian's wakes up in the forest, covered in blood and with no memory of who he is...

And in the far north, an ancient enemy long thought defeated begins to stir.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things for only 3.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link.

Here's the blurb:

Fragile Things is a sterling collection of exceptional tales from Neil Gaiman, multiple award-winning (the Hugo, Bram Stoker, Newberry, and Eisner Awards, to name just a few), #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Graveyard Book, Anansi Boys, Coraline, and the groundbreaking Sandman graphic novel series. A uniquely imaginative creator of wonders whose unique storytelling genius has been acclaimed by a host of literary luminaries from Norman Mailer to Stephen King, Gaiman’s astonishing powers are on glorious displays in Fragile Things. Enter and be amazed!

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download Margaret Weis and Robert Krammes' The Dragon Corsairs trilogy omnibus, comprised of Spymaster, Privateer, and Kingmaker, for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb for the first novel:

The start of a swashbuckling adventure from New York Times bestselling author Margaret Weis and Robert Krammes.

Captain Kate Fitzmaurice was born to sail. She has made a life of her own as a privateer and smuggler. Hired by the notorious Henry Wallace, spymaster for the queen of Freya, to find a young man who claims to be the true heir to the Freyan, she begins to believe that her ship has finally come in.

But no fair wind lasts forever. Soon Kate’s checkered past will catch up to her. It will take more than just quick wits and her considerable luck if she hopes to bring herself—and her crew—through intact.

"A solid addition to a new series, with a cliffhanger ending promising more intrigue and adventure in the next installment."--Booklist

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (July 13th)

In hardcover:

Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic debuts at number 9.

Stephen King's If It Bleeds is down four positions, ending the week at number 11. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (July 6th)

In hardcover:

Stephen King's If It Bleeds is down one position, ending the week at number 7. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now download Kate Elliott's Cold Magic for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. You can also get your hands on both sequels for 1.99$ each.

Here's the blurb:

The Wild Hunt is stirring - and the dragons are finally waking from their long sleep...

Cat Barahal was the only survivor of the flood that took her parents. Raised by her extended family, she and her cousin, Bee, are unaware of the dangers that threaten them both. Though they are in beginning of the Industrial Age, magic - and the power of the Cold Mages - still hold sway.

Now, betrayed by her family and forced to marry a powerful Cold Mage, Cat will be drawn into a labyrinth of politics. There she will learn the full ruthlessness of the rule of the Cold Mages. What do the Cold Mages want from her? And who will help Cat in her struggle against them?

You can also get your hands on the digital edition of Richard Morgan's excellent Altered Carbon for only 1.99$ here.

Here's the blurb:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW AN EXCITING NEW SERIES FROM NETFLIX • The shell that blew a hole in his chest was only the beginning in this “tour de force of genre-bending, a brilliantly realized exercise in science fiction.”—The New York Times Book Review.

In the twenty-fifth century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, religion, and class still exist, advances in technology have redefined life itself. Now, assuming one can afford the expensive procedure, a person’s consciousness can be stored in a cortical stack at the base of the brain and easily downloaded into a new body (or “sleeve”) making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen.

Ex-U.N. envoy Takeshi Kovacs has been killed before, but his last death was particularly painful. Dispatched one hundred eighty light-years from home, re-sleeved into a body in Bay City (formerly San Francisco, now with a rusted, dilapidated Golden Gate Bridge), Kovacs is thrown into the dark heart of a shady, far-reaching conspiracy that is vicious even by the standards of a society that treats “existence” as something that can be bought and sold.

You can also download Guy Gavriel Kay's excellent Sailing to Sarantium for only 3.99$ here! Don't miss out on this amazing two-volume series!

Here's the blurb:

Sarantium is the golden city: holy to the faithful, exalted by the poets, jewel of the world and heart of an empire. Artisan Caius Crispus receives a summons from the emperor and sets off on a journey toward the Imperial city. But before Crispin can reach Sarantium, with its taverns and gilded sanctuaries, chariot races and palaces, he must pass through a land of pagan ritual and mysterious danger.

In Sailing to Sarantium, the first volume of the brilliant Sarantine Mosaic, Guy Gavriel Kay weaves an utterly compelling story of the allure and intrigue of a magnificent city and the people drawn into its spell.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can get your hands on the digital edition of Glen Cook's The Chronicles of the Black Company for 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link.

Here's the blurb:

Darkness wars with darkness as the hard-bitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must. They bury their doubts with their dead.

Then comes the prophecy: The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to embody good once more…

This omnibus edition comprises The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose—the first three novels in Glen Cook's bestselling fantasy series.

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (June 29th)

In hardcover:

Stephen King's If It Bleeds is up one position, ending the week at number 6. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

Max Brooks' Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre debuts at number 10.

The Diamond Age

Oh boy, The Diamond Age was a veritable chore to get through. The forced isolation caused by the coronavirus pandemic has pushed me into depression and I needed something that would allow me to regain a more positive outlook on life. Neal Stephenson has always managed to entertain me, so I elected to finally give The Diamond Age a shot. It had been sitting on my shelf for years and it felt like the perfect opportunity to read it.

Alas, after a fun and interesting start, the author loses control of his story and the second half of this novel is an awful mess. So much so that it took everything I had to simply finish the book. This works weighs in at 499 pages and it took me six weeks to read it. You do the math. . .

Here's the blurb:

Vividly imagined, stunningly prophetic, and epic in scope, The Diamond Age is a major novel from one of the most visionary writers of our time.

Decades into our future, a stone’s throw from the ancient city of Shanghai, a brilliant nanotechnologist named John Percival Hackworth has just broken the rigorous moral code of his tribe, the powerful neo-Victorians. He’s made an illicit copy of a state-of-the-art interactive device called A Young Ladys Illustrated Primer Commissioned by an eccentric duke for his grandchild, stolen for Hackworth’s own daughter, the Primer’s purpose is to educate and raise a girl capable of thinking for herself. It performs its function superbly. Unfortunately for Hackworth, his smuggled copy has fallen into the wrong hands.

Young Nell and her brother Harv are thetes—members of the poor, tribeless class. Neglected by their mother, Harv looks after Nell. When he and his gang waylay a certain neo-Victorian—John Percival Hackworth—in the seamy streets of their neighborhood, Harv brings Nell something special: the Primer.

Following the discovery of his crime, Hackworth begins an odyssey of his own. Expelled from the neo-Victorian paradise, squeezed by agents of Protocol Enforcement on one side and a Mandarin underworld crime lord on the other, he searches for an elusive figure known as the Alchemist. His quest and Nell’s will ultimately lead them to another seeker whose fate is bound up with the Primer—a woman who holds the key to a vast, subversive information network that is destined to decode and reprogram the future of humanity.

As is usually his wont, Neal Stephenson came up with another innovative book, whose backdrop is a meticulously researched premise on the potential utilizations of nanotechnology and the eventual social ramifications they would have on the world as we know it. How would society at large react and evolve if the economic and political underpinnings holding our countries together began to unravel and governments became obsolete? The author also explores themes such as education, sexism, social standing, and ethnicity. All of which made for a somewhat grand and fascinating beginning.

Unfortunately, for some reason everything goes down the crapper around the midway point and the author is never able to bring the train back on track. Never tries, really, if truth be told.

The characterization is quite uneven. Some protagonists are fleshed out and genuine, while others are cardboard cutouts that could have used a bit more work. John Percival Hackworth, the creator of the primer, was an interesting man to follow until his quest brought him in contact with the Drummers. Everything that followed that plotline was quite ridiculous and killed the novel to a certain extent. Miranda, the ractive actress who narrates most of the primer's stories, was by far the most compelling character, but she disappears at some point on a quest of her own and her reappearance does nothing to improve the tale. Nell, the little girl at the heart of this book, was also interesting in the first half, but the narratives within the narratives used to recount the stories from the primer gradually become a bit redundant and I lost interest. The same goes for Judge Fang and Dr. X. It's a major disappointment, because this cast had great potential.

The Diamond Age suffers from pacing issues, especially in the second half of the novel. While Stephenson kept things moving at a very good clip in the first part, the rest of the book gets bogged down by weird and often boring scenes featuring the Drummers, the many stories from the primer, the Fists of Righteous Harmony's revolt, and that over-the-top and ludicrous interactive boat theater play.

The second portion is such a chore to go through that whatever resolution results from the endgame and the finale is almost completely lost on the reader. Basically, I was just happy it was finally over. Everything about the ending was forgettable.

Very disappointing.

The final verdict: 5/10

For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

This week's New York Times Bestsellers (June 22nd)

In hardcover:

Stephen King's If It Bleeds is up one position, ending the week at number 7. For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associate links: Canada, USA, Europe.

Swan Song

Robert R. McCammon's Swan Song is often compared to Stephen King's The Stand. And though both novels bear similarities, they're also quite different in several ways. They are both post-apocalyptic reads with huge page counts, though this particular apocalypse is nuclear in nature instead of viral.

Both books recount the tales of those unlucky souls struggling to survive in a world where civilization has been brought on the brink of extinction. Both novels also feature a devil-figure antagonist bent on destroying what little is left of mankind. As a matter of course, factions will be created and a good vs evil showdown will be the culmination of each title.

And yet, though their premises are similar, Swan Song and The Stand have very little in common as far as their storylines are concerned. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, but I felt that The Stand has aged a lot better than McCammon's bestseller.

Here's the blurb:

Swan is a nine-year-old Idaho girl following her struggling mother from one trailer park to the next when she receives visions of doom—something far wider than the narrow scope of her own beleaguered life. In a blinding flash, nuclear bombs annihilate civilization, leaving only a few buried survivors to crawl onto a scorched landscape that was once America.

In Manhattan, a homeless woman stumbles from the sewers, guided by the prophecies of a mysterious amulet, and pursued by something wicked; on Idaho’s Blue Dome Mountain, an orphaned boy falls under the influence of depraved survivalists and discovers the value of a killer instinct; and amid the devastating dust storms on the Great Plains of Nebraska, Swan forms a heart-and-soul bond with an unlikely new companion. Soon they will cross paths. But only Swan knows that they must endure more than just a trek across an irradiated country of mutated animals, starvation, madmen, and wasteland warriors.

Swan’s visions tell of a coming malevolent force. It’s a shape-shifting embodiment of the apocalypse, and of all that is evil and despairing. And it’s hell-bent on destroying the last hope of goodness and purity in the world. Swan is that hope. Now, she must fight not only for her own survival, but for that of all mankind.

A winner of the Bram Stoker Award and a finalist for the World Fantasy Award, Swan Song has become a modern classic, called “a chilling vision that keeps you turning pages to the shocking end” by John Saul and “a long, satisfying look at hell and salvation” by Publishers Weekly.

Robert R. McCammon's Swan Song was published in 1987 and is a product of the Cold War. The threat of nuclear warfare between the USA and the USSR was a constant premise in various works of fiction, movies, games, etc, throughout the 70s and the 80s. The world's socio-political landscape has changed a lot since then, and I'm not sure if someone who didn't live through those times will get as much out of Swan Song as someone who did. As mentioned, this novel hasn't aged as well as Stephen King's classic and it might appeal less to a younger crowd for whom the Cold War is just something they read about in their history class back in high school.

Although there are quite a few fantasy elements that allow McCammon to push the envelope, there are a couple of plot holes as well, mainly how most of the protagonists are not much affected by radiations and fallout. Still, these are minor nitpicking issues that don't take anything away from the overall reading experience.

Characterization is where the author truly shines, especially where the forces of good are concerned. A more likable yet disparate trio you can never hope to find. Swan is a little girl who has the power to make plants grow. Running away with her mom from an abusive boyfriend when the bombs start to fall, little does she know what destiny holds in store for her. Josh Hutchins, a down-on-his-luck professional wrestler on his way to his next gig, will be given the task of keeping the child safe. And Sister, a crazy homeless woman from NYC, who has found a gorgeous glass ring filled with jewels which seems to possess magical powers. Wandering across the country and looking for fellow survivors, they will cross paths with the Army of Excellence. Sadly, the forces of evil are not as well-drawn. Though they started off as more genuine protagonists, Colonel Macklin, a deranged Vietnam war veteran, and Roland Croninger, a teenage RPG enthusiast, grow into more caricaturesque characters.

Weighing in at more than 900 pages, Swan Song is a doorstopper of a novel. As such, it does indeed suffer from occasional pacing issues. Some portions drag more than others, and I have a feeling that certain scenes could have been removed completely without the book losing much. Having said that, the author keeps the tale moving at a relatively good clip and those rough areas are few and far between for the most part.

Even if it hasn't aged as well as I would have hoped and even if it's not exactly the classic that King's The Stand is, Robert R. McCammon's Swan Song remains one of the very best post-apocalyptic novels ever written. Compelling, vast in scope, and featuring an unforgettable trio of protagonists, I commend this one to your attention.

Highly recommended.

The final verdict: 8/10

For more info about this title, follow these Amazon Associates links: Canada, USA, Europe.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

You can now get your hands on the digital edition of Kameron Hurley's The Stars Are Legion for only 1.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

Somewhere on the outer rim of the universe, a mass of decaying world-ships known as the Legion is traveling in the seams between the stars. For generations, a war for control of the Legion has been waged, with no clear resolution. As worlds continue to die, a desperate plan is put into motion.

Zan wakes with no memory, prisoner of a people who say they are her family. She is told she is their salvation - the only person capable of boarding the Mokshi, a world-ship with the power to leave the Legion. But Zan's new family is not the only one desperate to gain control of the prized ship. Zan finds that she must choose sides in a genocidal campaign that will take her from the edges of the Legion's gravity well to the very belly of the world.

Zan will soon learn that she carries the seeds of the Legion's destruction - and its possible salvation. But can she and her ragtag band of followers survive the horrors of the Legion and its people long enough to deliver it?

In the tradition of The Fall of Hyperion and Dune, The Stars are Legion is an epic and thrilling tale about tragic love, revenge, and war as imagined by one of the genre's most celebrated new writers.

More inexpensive ebook goodies!

If you missed it last time, you can once again download Tamsyn Muir's Gideon the Ninth for only 2.99$ by following this Amazon Associate link. There is a price match in Canada.

Here's the blurb:

The Emperor needs necromancers.

The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman.

Gideon has a sword, some dirty magazines, and no more time for undead nonsense.

Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will be become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.

Of course, some things are better left dead.