Library Journal: In this new collection, editors Butcher and Hughes introduce a dozen short stories by some of today’s best urban fantasy writers. Standouts include Anne Bishop’s “The Dark Ship,” where, across the ocean from her tales of the Others, an act from a young woman brings her, and her town’s troubles, to the attention of great powers. Two powerful women face grief and hope on a search for their daughter in Annie Bellet’s “Train to Last Hope.” Werewolf Asil discovers that online dating may not be the trial he believes it is in “Dating Terrors,” by Patricia Briggs. Jim Butcher centers “Little Things” on the pixie Toot-Toot as he defends Dresden’s new castle, with an uneasy ally in Mister the cat. Avid fans of these authors will enjoy where their stories intersect with favorite characters, while new readers will find the shorts accessible and filled with vivid worldbuilding and interesting figures.
VERDICT A resoundingly successful collection of stories focused on heart, humor, and the strength of courage.
Audio rights to New York Times bestseller Jim Butcher’s new novella THE LAW, with the author to narrate, to Kate Runde at Podium Publishing, in a six-figure deal, at auction, by Michael Curry and Jennifer Jackson. Limited edition rights to Bill Schafer at Subterranean Press.
French rights to Sturgeon Award finalist Vajra Chandrasekera’s THE SAINT OF BRIGHT DOORS, to Bragelonne, by Megan Husain at Anna Jarota Agency in association with Michael Curry.
Booklist: The second book in Hall’s Mkalis Cycle will not disappoint readers of her standout fantasy The Border Keeper (2019). When readers reenter this rich, complex world of twisting godly politics and rule-based realms, Hall zooms them in on Tyn. She’s still recovering from the last book’s events, hurt and reeling, trying to balance new revelations with her loyalty to Res Lfae, ruler of Tahmais. When a lying villain with an impossible weapon comes to her realm to tear it apart, Tyn has to band together with the reticent First Spear Vehn, who hates her, and the cynical Rion, who’s still new to Mkalis and completely lost. All three characters go through convincing transformations in this eerie, suspenseful story based in Hall’s deeply unsettling world that gleams at the corners. The scenes are cinematically visceral, with pages soaked in sensory detail, atmosphere, and the tense promise of danger lurking at the edges of every rule-bound realm. Readers will feel they’re dropped into the story—and that will undoubtedly make their skin crawl, in all the right ways. This horror-fantasy will have readers waiting impatiently for the next volume in Hall’s dark series.
Congratulations to Tamsyn Muir! Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower, narrated by Moira Quirk, published by Recorded Books, has been selected as a 2022 Audie Award Finalists in the Fantasy category.
For more than thirty years, the Liaden Universe® novels by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller have captivated readers with their unique blend of action adventure, science fiction, and interpersonal relationships. In addition to twenty-one novels (and counting), Lee and Miller have written dozens of shorter works based in the Liaden Universe®, featuring the strong characterization, detailed worldbuilding, wit, and derring-do that readers of the series adore.