This week, I’m reading two new fantasy novels that I’m eager to read. One was published yesterday and one is scheduled for publication in September. Both are by authors who I’ve read and enjoyed before. One immerses me in a war between gremlins and humans that the humans are losing. The other introduces me to the supernaturals who use the mists of San Francisco to hide their world from human eyes.
I hope both of them will whisk my away from my day-to-day world and engage me in different realities.
“The Daughters’ War“ (2024) by Christopher Beuhlman
I read two of Christopher Buehlman’s books back in 2021. They were both five-star reads. ‘The Lesser Dead‘ was an exciting and refreshing take on vampires in Manhattan. ‘The Blacktongue Thief‘ was an extraordinary sword and sorcery fantasy that was like nothing I’d read in the genre before. I would have bought Christopher Buehlman’s next book regardless of what it had been about but I’m excited that he’s chosen to return to the world of ‘The Blacktongue Thief‘, going back to the calamitous goblin war that had shaped the world ‘The Blacktongue Thief‘ was set in. I already know that it was a vicious, desperate war, fought mainly by women. I’m expecting a bloody, violent story of loss, betrayal and the kind of bravery that comes with the certainty of defeat rather than the hope of victory.
Christopher Buehlman is an American poet, playwright, Medieval Renaissance performer and novelist based out of St. Petersburg, Florida.
In 2007, he won the Bridport Prize in poetry in 2007.In 2011, he published his first novel, ‘Those Across The River’. He has now published seven novels. He is best known for his fantasy novel ‘The Blacktongue Thief‘ (2021) and his New York vampire novel ‘The Lesser Dead’ (2014)
“The Others” (2024) by Evette Davis
I read Evette Davis’ thriller ‘48 States‘ last year and was surprised it hadn’t reached a much larger audience. It was a tense thriller set in an all too credible near-future USA. It was well-written, had an original premise and a believable strong female main character.
I added ‘Woman King‘, the first book in her Dark Horse trilogy, to my shelves after finishing ‘48 States‘. I had expected it to be my next Evette Davis read. Then I was offered an ARC of ‘The Others‘, the first book of her The Council trilogy, a paranormal urban fantasy set in an alternative contemporary San Francisco and grabbed it with both hands.
Evette Davis is an American author and Public Affairs consultant based out of San Francisco and Sun Valley, Idaho.
She is the author of 48 States, Woman King and Dark Horse, the first two instalments of the Dark Horse Trilogy. ‘The Others’ the first book in The Council trilogy is scheduled for publication in September 2024 with the next book, ‘The Gift’, scheduled for March 2025.
Davis is a consultant and co-owner of BergDavis Public Affairs. She has also worked in Washington as a press secretary for a member of Congress and as a reporter for daily newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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