Marshmallow God Productions

Remember that time I lost my house to a flood last year?

I evacuated with one book in my arms, and 'Dragon Virus' was it. It came out in eBook format Today over at Book View Cafe, and I would highly recommend snagging a copy.

Review and utterly shameless fangirling behind the cut.

( “They say the end is nigh. I think we’re living in the aftermath already" )

"They are the people you pass on the street, sit next to on the bus. They are the heroes of personal triumphs, victims of personal tragedy. This is a book of little things- small casts, snippets of lives- but the way Carroll writes them makes them so very grand. The fantastic is woven so adeptly into the mundane that you don’t even know it is there until you meet the Minotaur at the center of the Labyrinth, shatter a luck curse, hatch a fairy egg, or deal with the Devil at midnight."

Rest of the review can be found here!

Author Nerine Dorman has a new book, 'What Sweet Music They Make' out January 23 from Lyrical Press. I have her at the book blog for a guest post. Drop over to see what she has to say about her writing, her love of music, and comment for a chance to win a copy!

Pilgrim of the Sky is a trip through the looking glass and down the rabbit hole for a new audience of readers. It is a ethereal mirage of splintered gods, improbable magic, and the threads of humanity that weave us all together. Above all it is a story about love, in each of its aspects and all of its possibilities.

Rest of the review can be found here!

 New review up over on the book blog!

"It is obviously a sign from above that Maggie needs a change of scene when she is not only fired, but the ceiling of her bathroom collapses on top of her while she tries to take a consolatory bath. She packs a bag and leaves New York City for Vermont, intent on finding a Bed and Breakfast. What she finds instead is the Crossroads Theater and it's enigmatic director Rowan.

Spellcast is a fairy tale, and like all the best fairy tales it is dark and dangerous, and examines all of the things about ourselves we would rather not look at. It also glimmers with wide eyed wonder and rustles with restless energy. It is impossible to put down."

Read the rest of the review over here!

The wonderful thing about reviewing books is you often get to have fascinating conversations with authors. I am especially fond of getting in touch with newer authors to talk about their work and see what I can do to signal boost their releases. I was fortunate enough to run into Ms. Damask and merrily subjected her to a handful of questions.

Me- What has it been like, trying to publish an urban fantasy book in Singapore? What sorts of walls did you run into?

J. Damask- Brick wall. Singaporean publishers are more fixated on things that sell: recipe books, self-help books, poetry books and children's books. Add in horror - Singaporeans seem to like local horror. As for SF/F, nadah. I ended up publishing out of Singapore. I would say that there are many walls. Cultural wall and wall of ignorance. Not sure how we are going to change that - there are small presses/publishers who dare to publish genre fiction... but they are catering to a niche market.

Me- You have produced a good number of short stories, and now a novel, since having your daughters. How hard is it to find some good 'writing time' with children?

J. Damask- Very hard, especially when my girls are still young, my youngest being just one plus. They want my attention all the time. But I write at night, when they are in bed. It's do or do not, as Yoda would day. In this case, I do - I make the decision to write at night (or when I have some free time).

Me- Tell us about the World of the Lang

J. Damask- The Lang are Chinese wolves. They are Chinese and wolves. Their world is interwoven with Chinese traditions and traditions of the hunt. They celebrate all the lunar festivals as well as honoring their wolf nature. On the surface, they look like any ordinary Singaporean Chinese - but wolf hearts beat beneath their skin. The wolves co-exist with the humans, like two worlds intersecting. They are organized in family clans or packs.

Me- Tell us a bit about Jan Xu. How does Marianne fit into the picture?

J. Damask- Jan Xu belongs to one of the major wolf packs in Singapore. She is a bit of an anomaly in urban fantasy - she is married with two kids, juggling the roles of wife, daughter and wolf.
Marianne is her younger sister. As we know, there are always problems between sisters.

Me- What books or authors have influenced you the most? Are there any books you have utterly worn out from reading?

J. Damask- Anne McCaffrey, Robert Heinlein, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Octavia Butler, Charles de Lint ... to name a few. Books I find myself going to back and back again are The Mists of Avalon and Forests of the Heart.

 Looking for something that is a perfect mix of beautiful and horrifying and completely different from anything else you have ever read?

Laura Anne Gilman's 'Dragon Virus' is up for order, my friends, and it is well worth the purchase. It straddles that fine line between science fiction and horror and in the process looks very hard at humanity as a whole.

Order link (with fantastic cover art!) is here.

Imagine an eternal bar managed by Gilgamesh himself. It has existed everywhere and when, and always has exactly what its patrons need on tap (which sometimes differs from what they think they want). What started as an idea a group of authors came up with while in their cups translated magnificently into a collection that is the perfect combination of humorous and haunting. Each story has something new to offer- a bit of insight, a cunning use of Gil and his bar- and they all come together to build a beautiful look at humanity as a whole, the good and the bad. Snatches of life from a barkeeps eyes, without all of the cliché. It was a fun, often surprising, read from a very talented group of authors.

Benjamin Tate sets the scene in his "An Alewife in Kish". Here we meet Gilgamesh, and find out how exactly he came into possession of the bar. Immortality always come with a price and bargains seldom are without a catch.

S.C. Butler lays out just "Why the Vikings Had No Bars". Odin sees an opportunity to gather a good handful of warriors in Gil's bar. Drinking and hailing and berserking ensues.

Jennifer Dunne reminds the reader of the dangers in dealing with Gods in "The Emperor's New God". Mars is not a deity to be trifled with.

"The Tale that Wagged the Dog", by Barbara Ashford, is a brilliant look at Tam Lin and his selkie lover. I would suggest not drinking while reading this one. The biting humor will most likely lead to choking.

Maria V. Snyder writes a darker tale about a woman's place in Japanese society in "Sake and Other Spirits".

In "The Fortune-teller Makes Her Will" Kari Sperring moves us to 17th Century Paris and weaves a haunting story involving an innocent young girl who speaks with the voices of angels and the Poisons Affair.

"The Tavern Fire", by D.B. Jackson gives us a possible explanation for the fire that started at Boston's Brazen Head tavern in 1760, and its lack of casualties.

Patricia Bray reflects on the dangers of unicorn vomit as well as how rough a life of hunting the supernatural actually is in her story "Last Call".

In Seanan McGuire's "Alchemy of Alcohol" we meet the King of Summer and his Lady and their very unique problem.

"The Grand Tour" by Juliet E. McKenna walks the reader through the tensions of pre-World War Europe, through the eyes of two youths who experience the worst and the best strangers have to offer.

Dreams of glory are not all that they seem in "Paris 24" by Laura Anne Gilman.

"Steady Hands and a Heart of Oak" by Ian Tregillis looks at a talented sapper in WWII London and his drive for recognition (and penchant for womanizing).

"Forbidden" by Avery Shade is an eerie look at the 1980's from a far future point of view.

In "Where We Are Is Hell"  Jackie Kessler somehow managed to roll a story about loss and redemption into a couple thousand words without leaving anything out. (And managing a very 'Lady or the Tiger'- style ending.)

Anton Strout winds up the anthology with "Izdu-Bar"- a cunning combination of alcohol and zombies.

After Hours is released March 1st. Go forth and pre-order a copy. It is well worth the read.