I actually got an ARC of this book from Netgalley, but then found we had the audio at my local library, so I plumped for that instead, as I listen to way more audio these days as I have less time to sit on my butt and read. I was excited to get this one. Steven Pressfield has been on […]
Why Self-Published Authors are Awesome
There’s a lot of snobbery around books. People don’t like e-books, people don’t like audiobooks, people don’t like certain genres. It’s okay to have opinions, but some people wield them like facts, and this really bugs me. The target of much of this snobbery tends to be self-published authors. Why is this? Why are independent musicians or filmmakers lauded and […]
We Men of Ash and Shadow by HL Tinsley
This is my third review for Self-Published Authors Appreciation Week, and this time around I’m introducing a debut author – I got this ARC from Booksprout, essentially Netgalley for self-published authors. I don’t use them often, but I have found some gems there – like this book. This is the first book by the author, HL Tinsley, who has done […]
Ascendant by Michael R Miller
Post #2 of Self-Published Author Appreciation Week belongs to Michael R Miller and his book Ascendant. I’ve been reading self-published books for maybe five years, and I feel like MRM has been around forever. This isn’t the first book of his that I have read (some may argue otherwise), but he kindly gave me an audio copy of his Dragon’s […]
The Dragon’s Trail by Joseph Malik
As I like to do things in weird order (arse about-face, as we say in Ireland), I read the sequel to this, The New Magic, back in 2018. I really enjoyed it, giving it four stars (in retrospect, I think it was worth five). Anyway, the author was so pleased with my review, he sent me an ARC of the […]
God of Broken Things by Cameron Johnston
I reviewed the excellent The Traitor God back in 2020, so, based on my current rate of reviewing, I probably read it in 1920. However, despite reading the book in the previous millennium, I remember it well as it was great. The God of Broken Things, the sequel and seemingly final book in the series, is even better. In TTG, […]
Wrath of N’Kai by Josh Reynolds
One of my last ARCs from Netgalley, for reasons only beknownst to me. As per usual, all opinions are my own, although I can’t guarantee that since my recent COVID vaccination. Anyway… Who doesn’t love a bit of Lovecraftian writing? Yeah, well what would you know? I digress. This is a new entry into the Arkham Horror series by the […]
Of Honey and Wildfires by Sarah Chorn
If you’re a regular reader of self-published or independent fantasy (if not, why not?), you’ve probably heard of Sarah Chorn, an editor par excellence for many of the big names such as Rob J Hayes and Michael R Fletcher. Turns out she is quite the author too. This is the first of her books that I have read, and it […]
Blood Feud by JW Webb
I’ve been a fan of JW Webb’s work for a while now. He sets his books in a world called Ansu, which is akin to early CE Celtic through to Viking times, in my amateur opinion. While the enjoyable Corin an Fol has been his primary character for a while, he broadens his world’s horizons with a new MC, Jaran […]
Molls Like it Hot by Darren Dash
I reviewed a book for the author Darren Dash (aka teen horror author Darren Shan) back in 2018, the wonderful Midsummer’s Bottom (Goodreads review here). I was more than pleased when he reached out again last year with another review request. This time, it was the very different Molls Like it Hot, a London-noir novel about a taxi driver who […]