The story starts off a little slowly, with little action to speak of and a heavy dose of character-building. However, the writing style and endlessly interesting characters will distract you enough that you don’t even realize that you’re a third of the way through the book before any of the real action begins. The reader sees through the eyes of Arki, a scribe assigned to a group of Syldoon warriors in order to make a record of their actions. Arki is not a fighter, is not used to hard travel or harsh situations, but he takes to the task willingly, seeking a bit of adventure in his life. Between the action of battles and the political intrigue, he certainly gets more than he bargained for as the plot and motivation of the Syldoon around him slowly unfolds, pulling Arki deeper into a situation he’s not quite sure that he wants to be that much a part of.” Read more.

THOMAS WORLD by Richard Cox starts off with a wonderful quote attributed to a much-missed fictional character (Fox Mulder, for those of you wondering …) that sets the tone for the surrealistic story that follows: ‘They say when you talk to God it’s prayer, but when God talks to you, it’s schizophrenia.’” Read the full review at Bookgasm.

There are assumptions and expectations made every time a potential book buyer picks up a novel and in the case of Scourge of the Betrayer – which is barely more than 250 pages – the majority of readers (I believe) will be anticipating a breakneck-paced, action-packed, raucous, “military fantasy in the tradition of Glen Cook.”

Fittingly, I suppose because this is an undeniably bloody novel, an old song lyric from the Rolling Stones’ Let It Bleed album comes to mind: “You can’t always get what you want but if you try sometimes, well you just might find, that you get what you need…”

Scourge of the Betrayer is neither breakneck paced nor action packed – but ultimately that doesn’t even matter. This novel is essentially the (very well written) introduction to a much more grand-scale storyline, one with a potential narrative magnitude to rival any shelf-bending fantasy.” Read more of Paul Goat Allen’s fantastic review of Scourge of the Betrayer at B&N.com.

I thought I’d start off this interview with something easy: Who is Stina Leicht?

I’m tempted to give you a Steve Martin quote, but I won’t.

When I was very small I studied monsters. I wanted to know what the silver bullet was in order to protect myself, you see. So, I poured over encyclopaedia entries and conducted research at the library. Understand, my mother dressed me. (Thus, there was no advanced warning for innocent bystanders.) No one knew of my obsession. I didn’t think to tell anyone. One day my fourth grade teacher announced that we were studying Egypt. She made the mistake of asking the class if anyone knew anything related to the topic. My hand shot up. “Oh! I do! I know how mummies are made!” Then I enthusiastically launched into a detailed description of the process – the lengthy ritual, the bitumen-soaked cloth, the organs placed in jars, the iron hook up the nose to scrape the brains out… I was most of the way through when I noticed that the teacher’s face had gone a bit green and the class was very, very silent.

There was a parent-teacher conference after that, because I remember having a long talk with Mom and Dad about my reading material. It wasn’t the last time.” Check out the full interview at Civilian Reader.

I can identify. I try to be funny around here sometimes and my success rate is probably in the neighborhood of an Orson Scott Card keynote speech at the Democrat National Convention. I’m going to stop typing for a minute to give everyone a minute to recover from that hilarious image….

Good?

Interestingly, I feel like 2012 has a chance to be revitalizing year for comedic science fiction. As Koch points out, “For a long time, it seemed like Robert Lynn Asprin was the only one ‘writing funny’ and then Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett arrived, and then Adams and Asprin died and it was only Pratchett out there. My world will be a little darker when we have no more of Pratchett’s Discworld series to read.” Some have dabbled — Lois McMaster Bujold at times in her Miles Vorkosigan series or Connie Willis in To Say Nothing of the Dog or Tom Holt in Snow White and the Seven Samurai, to name a few — but saying such titles are scattered and intermittent would be an understatement.” Read more at Staffer’s Book Review.

Here’s the blurb:

A gritty new fantasy saga begins . . .

Many tales are told of the Syldoon Empire and its fearsome soldiers, who are known throughout the world for their treachery and atrocities. Some say that the Syldoon eat virgins and babies–or perhaps their own mothers. Arkamondos, a bookish young scribe, suspects that the Syldoon’s dire reputation may have grown in the retelling, but he’s about to find out for himself.

Hired to chronicle the exploits of a band of rugged Syldoon warriors, Arki finds himself both frightened and fascinated by the men’s enigmatic leader, Captain Braylar Killcoin. A secretive, mercurial figure haunted by the memories of those he’s killed with his deadly flail, Braylar has already disposed of at least one impertinent scribe . . . and Arki might be next.

Archiving the mundane doings of millers and merchants was tedious, but at least it was safe. As Arki heads off on a mysterious mission into parts unknown, in the company of the coarse, bloody-minded Syldoon, he is promised a chance to finally record an historic adventure well worth the telling, but first he must survive the experience!

A gripping military fantasy in the tradition of Glen Cook, Scourge of the Betrayer explores the brutal politics of Empire–and the searing impact of violence and dark magic on a man’s soul.

To learn more about Jeff Salyards and his work, check out his official website.

Enjoy!
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Braylar ordered me to remove the body from the wagon. I balked, but he insisted, claiming I was lucky that was the full extent of my punishment, given my incompetence during the battle and foolishness after. There wasn’t much I could say to that.” Read more at Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist.

Darger and Surplus are gentleman con men. Working only at the highest levels of society for the biggest prizes, they are the best, and their exploits are legendary. For their latest con, they’ve infiltrated the Byzantinian court and gotten themselves assigned as aides to the ambassador to Russia. Their target is nothing less than the greatest library in the world, a library that has been lost for many decades.

But that’s the simple part of the book. The party is attacked by a cyber-wolf in the wastes, leaving the ambassador dead and Darger and Surplus in charge of the Pearls, women genetically engineered to be the epitome of beauty and accomplishment, and their Neanderthal bodyguards. The Pearls are meant for the Duke of Muscovy to cement relations between When they arrive in Moscow, however, their plans immediately begin to fray, and they find themselves drawn into the biggest, most desperate adventure of their lives. Mankind isn’t the only thing out there, and the machines are hungry for destruction. There is also the stranniks, madmen bearing a drug that opens the user’s mind to godhood and reduces them to the mindless need for pleasure.

Any summary of Dancing With Bears will be unfortunately bare of what makes this book so enjoyable. Revenant Lenin, giant sleeping men with omnipotent minds, cyberwolves, humans mutated in all directions, dogs genetically engineered to human size and function, mad stranniks, holy drugs, love-stricken boys, lost cities, robots and fabulous riches…Dancing With Bears has everything. At times, the story itself gets a little lost in the sensory overload, but it never becomes boring.” Read the full review at SF Signal.

I was initially worried about all the Joe Abercrombie comparisons. As most of you know I’m not in any way, shape or form a fan. I needn’t have fretted though, Salyards is head and shoulders above Abercrombie. Think, Glen Cook with a side of Stephen Erikson and a pinch of Daniel Polansky. Yes, it’s ‘gritty’ (I hate that word these days, extreme overuse-in-fantasy syndrome?) and violent, but it’s not the showy ‘Look at me reader, see how I shock thee!’ style of violence I’m tired of and always griping about. The violence here is portrayed as real and devastating, and forms a stark contrast to the gentle and bookish nature of Arki, which is of course the prime strength of the narrative.” Read more at Fantasy Bytes.

The protagonist and narrator of the story is Arki (short for Arkamondos) the scribe (embedded journalist) responsible recounting Syldoon military campaign led by Captain Braylor Killcoin. Arki is a bit hesitant about joining a military campaign, though he does wish to see more of the world. As the story progresses, the reader learns more about the Syldoons, Braylor and the realities of how much orders are followed when a military troop is a far distance from those superiors – in this case the Emperor – who issued the orders.

The plot is fairly linear as Braylor and his men journey across the land sowing discord and getting in and out of trouble with other lawmakers of the land. Salyards doesn’t offer up very much information about the world in which the novel takes place, but I found this to be very effective. With Arki providing the first person narration of the novel, why would he transcribe in great detail the history and culture of a world which the audience of his war notes would already know? Some may consider this a cheat for a new fantasy writer, but from my perspective, this allows the weight of Arki’s words, experience, and most importantly, his interactions with Captain Killcoin to possess the necessary weight of the narrative.

I found the strength of the novel to be the characters, how well they were drawn and how much I was able to sympathize, empathize, and ultimately believe in them as real people. Arki was annoying at times, Braylor was often less than personable; essentially both were flawed, imperfect human characters. The closest thing Arki had to a friend in Braylor’s crew was the enigmatic Lloi, who does draw some comparisons to or at least resonates with Joe Abercrombie’s Monza from Best Served Cold. One thing both Arki and Braylor share is an overriding sense of persistence. Braylor continues on with his orders despite the hardships and challenges that get in his way and Arki continues to inquire and basically ask “why” when he knows Braylor would end him without hesitation, after all, Arki is the fourth scribe Braylor has had to take into his unit.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Bloodsounder, the flail Braylor uses which doubles as the title of the series. Bloodsounder is a powerful enchanted weapon that doesn’t quite give its bearer the benefits one might typically associate with a magical weapon. Sure it might warn of him of pending violence, but the toll it takes on Braylor’s soul and body after it is used is very exacting. Another layer setting this world outside of our own is the hint of a possibly magical barrier known as the godveil which does not do pleasant things to those who cross its threshold. It is viewed with fear and reverence and I can only draw a parallel to a war-torn regions where nuclear devices have detonated.” Read more at SFF World.