dawn.vogel | October 14, 2020
Tower of Mud and Straw by Yaroslav Barsukov (Metaphorosis Publishing, 2021) is a beautiful blend of steampunk and fantasy together in a novella that both asks and answers many questions. The main character, Shea Ashcroft, is a diplomat who made a choice to save lives that resulted in him being “politely” exiled, sent away from […]
dawn.vogel | September 30, 2020
Magnificent by Novae Caelum (2020) is a wonderful novella of a young non-binary superhero discovering their powers, recognizing their identity, and figuring out how those two aspects of their life inform each other. The main character, whose original name is not identified until late in the book, is part of a family of superheroes who […]
dawn.vogel | September 23, 2020
Emily C. Skaftun’s Living Forever & Other Terrible Ideas (Fairwood Press, 2020) is a collection of 18 of her short stories, which range from hilarious to heartbreaking. It’s a lovely mix of previously published and brand new stories, all dazzling in their prose. One trend that her modern fantasy stories, and some of the sci-fi stories, […]
dawn.vogel | September 2, 2020
Tamora Carter: Goblin Queen by Jim C. Hines is an exciting middle-grade urban fantasy book with plenty of mythical creatures and adventure for the young protagonist and her friends! Tamora Carter’s best friend Andre is missing, and she’s hopeful that he’ll be found. Until he is, she’s still got roller derby(*) practice and taking care […]
dawn.vogel | July 29, 2020
High Noon on Phobos, the debut novella from space western author Jude K. Justice, is a rollicking adventure of twists and turns that will appeal to fans of the western genre and fans of science fiction. Blaise McGregor (who went by Blaze McGregor as a gunfighter) is a retired gunfighter, waiting for his ship to […]
dawn.vogel | July 22, 2020
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (Macmillan 2019) has garnered a lot of attention, receiving nominations for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. As of this writing, it has won the Locus Award and is in the running for the Hugo Award. The praise is well deserved, as this novel of space lesbian necromancers is […]
dawn.vogel | June 10, 2020
Weird Dream Society: An Anthology of the Possible and Unsubstantiated in Support of RAICES (Reckoning Press, 2020), edited by Julie C. Day, is an anthology of weird speculative fiction stories that run the gamut from unbelievably surreal to quite believable. The twenty-three stories range in length and scope, but they come together to form a […]
dawn.vogel | May 20, 2020
The Kiminee Dream by Laura McHale Holland (WORDforest, 2020) is a surreal and beautiful slipstream novel about the inhabitants of a very unusual small town in Illinois. The novel primarily follows the story of Carly Mae from her birth (a momentous occasion for the town) through her early teen years. Along the way, she exhibits […]
dawn.vogel | April 29, 2020
The Witches of St. Petersburg by Imogen Edwards-Jones (Harper Paperbacks, 2019) is a beautifully crafted novel of historical fiction, holding closely to actual historical events while concocting a more fantastical explanation behind some of them. Set during the reign of Russian Tsar Nicholas, the story revolves around two Montenegrin princesses, Militza and Stana, who have […]
dawn.vogel | April 8, 2020
The Sparrow in Hiding by J. Kathleen Cheney (2016) is a historical fantasy novella that blends Russian history and fairy tale into a gorgeous story about secrets, love, and recovery. The story is told from the perspective of two characters, Irina and Evgeny. Irina is a wealth young widow staying at her family’s summer estate, […]
