Review: ‘The Vast Clear Blue’ by Karen Winters Schwartz

Genre: Contemporary fiction Description: Mark arrives in Belize, and almost at once becomes a catalyst for change among a love triangle of ex-pats already in country. Belize is a big part of this book, to the extent one feels it could not have been set anywhere else. Only a flawed paradise like this could enable

‘Call of the Merry Isle: 1 (The Larus Series)’ by Kathy Sharp

This is a gentle, mystical, tale about a young clergyman – the Reverend Patience Pontius – who does not really know his own mind. He should marry the girl who has been picked out for him and settle into a small living in the country. But something keeps calling to him. He should facilitate communications

‘The Spirit Child’ (Seven Realms of Ar’rothi, Book 1) by Alison Naomi Holt

This book is fantasy-ish, in that it is a couple of worlds we know pretty well melded together. The setting is somewhere between mediaeval, and American West circa 1880. The book seemed to have a bit of trouble sorting out what it wanted to be and where it was going in the early stages. The

‘The Last Tudor’ by Philippa Gregory

I like Philippa Gregory’s historical fiction a lot. I couldn’t put The White Queen down. Most of what I know about Tudor history I have learned from Philippa Gregory’s meticulously researched books about said Tudors. Meaty books, they are, full of action and intrigue. Gregory has a gift for supposing how the vital (and numerous)

‘Flight of the Falcon’ by Daphne du Maurier

I forget how I came across this, but it was until recently unknown to me. I have always enjoyed Du Maurier’s books – the usual suspects, that is: Jamaica Inn, Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel, Frenchman’s Creek, ‘The Birds’ and other of her short stories. Checking now I see there are many, many more to choose

‘The Dagger of Trust’ by Chris Willrich

This substantial novel is one of many ‘Pathfinder Tales’, a series of novels which support the eponymous gaming system. I love me some Chris Willrich. That man does not write novels half quick enough for my liking. He is much more visible in the fantasy magazine world. He has been a regular in ‘Beneath Ceaseless

Book Review: ‘Doctor Alien, Three Tales’ by Rajnar Vajra

Genre: SF Description: an alien species, the ‘Tsf’ has begun trading with Earth. They find single members of three other alien species adrift in space and bring them aboard their own space craft. The three appear to have no physical injuries, but perhaps some mental defect? The psychiatrist of the title is deputed to travel

Book Review: ‘Wyrd Gods: Timelessness Book 1’ by Susana Imaginário

Genre: Myth and legend Description: the author says this book “combines mythology with science fiction and slipstream fantasy in a strange and introspective way”. This is the first book in a tetralogy. Susana Imaginário wrote all four as a single 300,000+ word novel, then took pity on readers and cut the result up into more

Book Review: ‘Ghosts of Sherwood’ by T S Maynard and W J McNally

Genre: Folklore mashup Description: This little book is not what I was expecting. The well known and loved characters from Sherwood Forest are present, sometimes in a book of stories about their deeds, sometimes as LRP gamers, sometimes in ways that are less easy to explain. So mashed up is the book that I cannot

Book Review: ‘The Broken Heart of Arelium’ by Alex Robins

Genre: Epic fantasy Description: This is Alex Robins first novel, and the first in a series of four (over arching title ‘War of the Twelve’). This one was published in March 2021, the fourth in June 2022. All have been brought out by Bradypus Publishing. It is not giving away anything you won’t discover in