Written in 1987, Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner is an intimate fantasy novel set in a renascence world – a world full of swordsmen and challenges, nobles and intrigue, jewels and assassinations. The stunning opening line, “Let the fairy tale begin on a winter’s morning, then, with one drop of blood ...
We live in a world today that is growing rapidly more aware of the way it approaches issues of gender and sexuality. Despite some continuing controversies, there is an increasing acceptance of not only discussions of sexuality, but also of diverse sexual orientations. Dialogue about gender, too, has ...
Dark and twisted in its portrayal of a feud between Black and White witches, Half Bad by Sally Green has been sold in 42 countries, and the film rights were snatched up almost instantly by Fox Entertainment Group after its publication. Set in modern day England, this fantasy world features “good” ...
Before you all freak out about the 14-year-old protagonist in Andrew Smith’s novel Winger, as I did, I should point out that this book is a breath of fresh air in the Young Adult section. Now, I normally stay far away from this genre, as I find the protagonists to be whiny and immature – but it ...
It takes a certain kind of daring to make the main characters of your novel two of the most gifted writers in history: William Shakespeare and Kit Marlowe (more commonly known to us as Christopher Marlowe). Yet author Elizabeth Bear succeeds in this regard. Like Shakespeare’s plays, The Stratford ...
Rainbow Rowell’s new novel, Carry On, takes place at Watford, a magical school hidden in Scotland for wizards living in the United Kingdom. The protagonist is 18-year-old Simon Snow, an orphan who grew up among the “normals” before the mage scooped him up and took him to Watford, where he is now ...
English novelist David Mitchell has been known to tailor to everyone’s taste, be it traditionalist, postmodernist, realist or fantasist. A superb writer and storyteller, he understands how to please his readers. As he stated in an interview in The New Yorker, “One of the questions I always try to ...
A Place Called Winter is a tale of heartbreaking hardship, a book that seems to combine Pride and Prejudice with E.M Forsters’ Maurice, against the backdrop of the 1908 settlement of Winter, Saskatchewan, Canada – which is, in fact, a real place. Protagonist Harry Cane’s adventure is loosely ...