Tag: Fantasy Page 7 of 54

BBNYA SEMI-FINALIST SPOTLIGHT: The Godsblood Tragedy by Bill Adams

On October 27, 2025

In Book Tour, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction

I’m very pleased today to welcome The BBNYA Semi-Finalist Spotlight Tour for Bill Adams’ The Pandora’s Box! It looks to be a very different kind of thing than the book I read co-written by him, but looks pretty cool. This book has made it to the semi-finals, so you know there’s something good going on–but before getting to this Spotlight, let’s start with a word about BBNYA.

BBNYA:

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 (17 in 2025) finalists and one overall winner.

If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official.

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Book Details:

Title: The Godsblood Tragedy by Bill Adams
Series: The Divine Godsqueen Coda
Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fantasy, Dark Fantasy
Age Category: Adult
Format: Paperback/Ebook
Length: 595 Pages
Publication Date: July 23, 2024

About the Book:

An orphan, without a trueborn name, returns to the city of her birth to uncover her past. Hounded by the servants of the Dark God and dying from the poisonous mist that covers the land, her path leads to one of the magical seals protecting the holy ruin of Eminence.

A father, murdered and reborn, aims to bring down the floating fortress hovering over his homeland. Burdened by loss, he’s willing to sacrifice his soul to free his city and get revenge for the destruction of his family.

A mother, captured and bonded to a daemon, kills in the name of the Dark God so she can free her tortured daughter. Relentless in her vengeance, she hunts the one person who could end her suffering: the man who would destroy her vile master.

A drake, the banished hatchling of a failed advisor, seeks his father’s stolen horns. Untested, he desires to right his father’s wrongs in the eyes of the gods and restore his family’s honor.

As all converge in the occupied desert city where the world’s fuel source is mined, one family’s bond will be tested. Old betrayals will resurface, anger and resentment will flourish, but one thing remains clear: blood rules all.

Book Links:

Amazon Canada ~ Amazon US ~ Amazon UK ~ Goodreads ~ The Story Graph

About the Author:

During his collegiate days at the turn of the century, he began to develop his passion for writing, specifically within the epic fantasy genre about unlikely heroes. Aside from writing, Bill loves movies and reading, especially SFF B-movies. He is a master at Scene It. Bill’s few other hobbies include soccer, a good whiskey, a slice of pizza, and growing a beard. It is the little things he enjoys most. Bill currently lives in the greater Chicago, IL area with his wife, goblin (aka toddler) son, & daughter.

Willow Wraith Press ~ Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Bluesky

My thanks to The Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided.

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Opening Lines: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

By HCNewton

On October 24, 2025

In Fiction, News/Misc., Opening Lines, Quotations

We all know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover (yet, publishing companies spend big bucks on cover design/art and we all do judge them that way). But, the opening sentence(s)/paragraph(s) are fair game. So, when I stumble on a good opening (or remember one and pull it off the shelves), I like to throw it up here (especially if I’m out of time to come up with a post that involves writing on my part). Today seemed like a good day for this.

from Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury:

First of all, it was October, a rare month for boys. Not that all months aren’t rare. But there be bad and good, as the pirates say. Take September, a bad month: school begins. Consider August, a good month: school hasn’t begun yet. July, well, July’s really fine: there’s no chance in the world for school. June, no doubting it, June’s best of all, for the school doors spring wide and September’s a billion years away.

But you take October, now. School’s been on a month and you’re riding easier in the reins, jogging along. You got time to think of the garbage you’ll dump on old man Prickett’s porch, or the hairy-ape costume you’ll wear to the YMCA the last night of the month. And if it’s around October twentieth and everything smoky-smelling and the sky orange and ash gray at twilight, it seems Halloween will never come in a fall of broomsticks and a soft flap of bedsheets around corners.

But one strange wild dark long year, Halloween came early.

One year Halloween came on October 24, three hours after midnight.

At that time, James Nightshade of 97 Oak Street was thirteen years, eleven months, twenty-three days old. Next door, William Halloway was thirteen years, eleven months and twenty-four days old. Both touched toward fourteen; it almost trembled in their hands.

And that was the October week when they grew up overnight, and were never so young anymore….

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Locks & Keys edited by Bill Adams: These Scribes Shouldn’t Be a Secret!

By HCNewton

On October 24, 2025

In Fantasy, Fiction

Yeah, yeah…lame post title.

Locks & Keys:
A Fantasy Anthology

by Bill Adams, Tom Bookbeard, L.M. Douglas, Bella Dunn, Dave Lawson, Sean O’Boyle, R.E. Sanders, R.A. Sandpiper, Alex Scheuermann, G.J. Terral

DETAILS:
Publication Date: October 28, 2025
Format: eARC
Length:319 pg.
Read Date: September 1-10, 2025

What’s Locks & Keys’s Blurb?

Will a persecuted witch give the kingdom’s heir what he deserves? Does the squad of plucky rebels find a way out of an infiltration gone wrong? How can a street urchin survive in the shadow of an infamous gang? Can a thief brave the belly of the beast in search of a treasure that will never be hers? How sinister can a bond be between an orphan and her mother?

Pirates raid a fishing island in the sky. A sickly girl pushes past the threshold for Demonsnight. An apprentice gloomsinger comes face to face with what he fears most. With her life on the line, a cook prepares one last dish. A demon girl flies to the city of humans, begging them to change.

Ten unique fantasy stories by ten different authors. Dragons, sky pirates, and even samurai inhabit these pages. Locks, keys, and secrets loom over all.

These authors are part of a group that calls themselves The Secret Scribes—and you should check them out.

Highlights for Me

Sometimes when it comes to collections like this, I write a paragraph or two about each story. I’m not going to do that this time, because 1-1.5 of these stories didn’t do much for me, and I really don’t want to say anything negative about the stories, nor do I want to say something tepid (which is really what I’d go for). Because even with those stories, there was something about the writing that made me want to root for the authors.

But I want to say some specific things—so I’m going to focus on just a couple of the stories.

“Rebels Without a Clue” by Seán O’Boyle
I was feeling pretty positive about the collection from the first story, but this sealed the deal for me—there was no way I wasn’t going to like the anthology. There’s some great satire where the revolutionaries are so caught up in notions of equality that they can’t do anything. There are…um, nope, can’t say that. Hilarious and bleak. And the ending was just fantastic. I own both of O’Boyle’s books, but just haven’t gotten to them yet—that’s changing really soon.

“Cold Mutiny” by Tom Bookbeard
Okay, Bookbeard has been tantalizing me and you readers the last two Julys by talking about his book about Space Pirates. Well, this short story gives us an idea what that novel could be like. And, yeah, I’m ready for it.

“Drakesong” by Bill Adams
I admit that at the beginning of this story, I chalked it up to “interesting, but whatever…” But before it was over, I’d moved into “interesting, and wow!” I don’t know how to talk about it without ruining the whole thing, so I’ll just say give this one a chance, you’ll be glad you did. (and most of you won’t need that encouragement anyway)

“You’re the Key” by Alex Scheuermann
It’d be easy to say that this collection saved the best for last (although the competition is stiff). Scheuermann takes you for a ride—the world is stunning, beautiful and broken, the characters are truly flawed (or worse), the plot takes directions you won’t see coming—and somehow, there’s a little bit of hope in the midst of a lot of darkness.

So, what did I think about Locks & Keys?

I had to force myself to stop there—if only because I kept reading bits and/or pages from those stories, and I was on the verge of re-reading the whole book again. And I just don’t have time for that.

Okay, one more quick thing—if all you know about Dave Lawson comes from the covers to his novels (which puts you in the same boat as me), you won’t expect his story to be what it is.

This is a strong collection—while I won’t say they’re all winners, none of them are losers. Not only are these stories solidly entertaining reads on their own—or as a whole—they’re great advertisements for the other stories/books by the individual authors.

I’ve built a shopping list while reading this—and I expect you will, too. And if you don’t? Well, you’ll have had a good time anyway. This is one you want to nab, folks.

Disclaimer: I requested (because I was curious) and received an ARC of this book from the Scribes. The opinions expressed are my own, and are freely given.

4 Stars

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BBNYA SEMI-FINALIST SPOTLIGHT: The Pandora’s Box by L.S. Franco

By HCNewton

On October 24, 2025

In Book Tour, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

I’m very pleased today to welcome The BBNYA Semi-Finalist Spotlight Tour for by L.S. Franco’ The Pandora’s Box! So, this book has made it to the semi-finals, so you know there’s something good going on–but before getting to this Spotlight, let’s start with a word about BBNYA.