Monthly Wrap Up: August 2018

Technically this was a July read, but my review went up in August. I received an ARC from Devin and my only regret is that I didn’t start to read it sooner.

“We Ride the Storm is a strong first book, which builds up the conflict and leaves plenty of questions to be answered for the next installment in the series. It’s a bloody, character driven, headless… err, endless fun. The hype is real and well earned. I wouldn’t be surprised if it landed on many lists at the end of the year as one of the best fantasy books in 2018.”

I was excited about this one and I’m happy Emma choose it as FBR’s first semi-finalist in SPFBO.

“Hero Forged is a fast paced, unique, entertaining urban fantasy. It has everything from a villain with blood lust, to an information dealer giant locust, some monsters from your nightmares, gods, a succubus, and a snarky main character being thrown in the middle of it all. If you are bored with the usual UF tropes, you might find this book quite refreshing. A warning: there might be quite a few dead bodies scattered along Gabe’s path.”

I’ve read this back in February, when I was in a reading slump and the only reason I finished this one book at all was a read along organised on Goodreads by the authors responsible for this anthology. It introduced me to a lot of nice people 🙂

“You are looking for something new to sink your teeth into? Don’t look anymore! Lost Lore has it all:  mythology, epic fantasy, grimdark, twisted fairy tales, cool assassins, unusual worlds, humor and a lot to think on! Sure, some of them has flaws, and won’t be your taste, but on the other hand, you’ll find some treasure which will make it worth. Besides, it’s free and all of these indie authors are talented as hell. Give them a chance and you might find your next favorite author/series!”

I’ve got an early copy of this one. Reading a book from Ulff is always fun, especially because I can pick his mind along the way 🙂 Also, check out the aknowledgements part, when you get your copy 😉

“Shattered Hopes is a cleverly written second book, which not only grew up to the first one, but managed to surpass it. Aside from Drangar starting to wear me down by the end, and the fact that I have to wait to find out some answers, I can’t really complain.”

C.T. Phipps is the author of the Supervillainy Saga, the Bright Falls Mysteries, the Cthulhu Armageddon series, the Agent G series and the Lucifer’ Star series as well as Wraith Knight and a few other books. Besides of being a writer, he also loves all geeky stuff 🙂 Also, he is one of the nicest people I got to know during my short blogging career.

Josh Erikson spent twelve years in the hospitality industry before life gave him a swift enough kick to propel him toward publishing his first book, Hero Forged. Now he splits his days between thinking up stories for awesome people, and spending time with his wife and two young children. He lives in rural Nebraska, does not own any livestock or cowboy boots, and likes corn a perfectly regular amount, thank you very much.

All of us got pet peeves, aren’t we? My newest guest, Andy Peloquin decided to write up an article about anti-stereotypes he enjoys reading about. Let’s face it, we all like to turn our back on stereotypes and find something new and fresh wich twists these tropes we know too well.

Ulff shares a short story with us about the real evil behind the mask of kindness. This is not a fantasy story but deals with a very serious topic. How far would you go to keep your family out of harm’s way? And what would you do if the worst already happened?

So you want to be an author? Awesome! Keith McArdle, author of SPFBO4 entrant Fallen Empire, the first book of the Ironstone Saga and a few other books besides has some advice for you! Personally I dig this article.