My journey with Uhtred of Bebbanburg has finally reached its end with War Lord, the thirteenth and final book in one of the greatest historical fiction series of all time. I began my foray into Cornwell’s The Saxon Tales back in 2005. Thirteen books later, I’ve followed the life of Uhtred of Bebbanburg, one of…
This month, my new novella, Hela’s Bane, is being featured in a BookFunnel promotion called “Witch’s Brew.” All the featured stories involve witches or witchcraft of some type in a mix of genres, from urban fantasy to epic fantasy, paranormal romance, historical fantasy (like Hela’s Bane), and some dark fantasy too. But best of all, they’re…
Twelve books into his Saxon Tales series, Bernard Cornwall has delivered one of his best Uhtred tales yet in Sword of Kings. The novel combines the Game of Thrones-style politics of The Empty Throne with the desperate circumstances of The Pale Horseman. It’s a page-turner too, and I ripped through this book in a few…
It’s been more than a year since I finished reading War of the Wolf, the 11th book in Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Tales series. For some reason, I never got around to writing a review. Perhaps it was the pandemic, which broke out right about the time I finished this book. But as they say, better…
Saint Patrick’s Day is one of my all-time favorite holidays, so today, I’m re-posting an article about Stephen R. Lawhead’s Patrick: Son of Ireland. I had little appreciation for Saint Patrick’s story until I began my research for Enoch’s Device. The novel tells the story of two Irish monks who try to prevent the apocalypse at the end…
As soon as I finished Ken Follett’s The Evening And The Morning, I dove headfirst into the final novel in his Kingsbridge series: A Column Of Fire. I’m glad I did—it might be the best one yet. A Column Of Fire stands out as markedly different from the rest of the Kingsbridge series. While The…
Hot on the heels of finishing Ken Follett’s World Without End, I devoured The Evening And The Morning, the gripping prequel to The Pillars of the Earth. The Evening And The Morning tells the tale of how the fictional town of Kingsbridge came to be. Many of the novels’ elements are similar to those in…
After months of exploring vintage fantasy, my pendulum has swung back 180-degrees to pure historical fiction, having just finished World Without End by Ken Follett. I’ve had this book since 2007, so reading it has been a long time coming. But I’m very glad I did. World Without End is the sequel to The Pillars…
Finally, with The Swords of Lankhmar, I’ve discovered a complete novel about Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser instead of a collection of novellas and short stories! Apparently, this is the only novel Fritz Leiber ever wrote about his famous pair of rascally rogues, which makes this book unique among the series. And fortunately, it’s one…
Fritz Leiber’s stories about Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser have kept me coming back for more. So this week, I’m exploring Swords Against Wizardry. As soon as I finished the underwhelming Swords In The Mist, I dove into the fourth book in the series. More so than any of the books since Swords And Deviltry,…
My recent foray into the works of Fritz Leiber inspired me to re-read one of my favorite fantasy series of all time. So, this weekend I dove into Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné. I grew up on Elric. There was no hero more complex, more tragic, or more dangerous than he was. Elric is a…