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…
My foray into the vintage fantasy of Fritz Leiber continues with Swords In The Mist. And while I’ve enjoyed my time with Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, I found Swords In The Mist to be the weakest of the first three books in the series. Like the first two books, Swords In The Mist is…
Swords Against Death is not a novel but rather a collection of ten short stories that Lieber authored between 1939 and 1970 (most were written in the 1940s) about his famous characters, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.
Of all the titans of fantasy fiction I read growing up – Howard, Moorcock, Eddings, Tolkien – Fritz Leiber was not among them. I knew of his most famous characters, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, yet somehow I never got around to reading any of his books. But when I discovered earlier this year that…
Of all the books I read in 2019, Lost Gods by Brom was my favorite. It’s rather mind-blowing that it’s taken me a half-year to blog about it, but then again, basically everything that’s happened in 2020 has been a distraction from writing. But as they say, better late than never! Long before I discovered…
It’s the middle of the holiday season, and although things are crazy-busy, I found some time to review Mirror Gate by Jeff Wheeler. Review The sequel to Storm Glass trades sky manors for a school of magic. Muirwood Abbey serves as Wheeler’s version of Hogwarts, and there is even a Dumbledore-like headmaster named the Aldermaston….
After finishing Traitor’s Blade, I moved right along to Knight’s Shadow, the second book in Sebastien de Castell’s excellent Greatcoats series. Here is my review. Review The mystery at the heart of Knight’s Shadow is even more complex and intriguing than the one behind Traitor’s Blade. Someone is murdering the dukes and their entire families….
I’m back again on the blog, and this time with a review of Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien de Castell, the first book in his four-part Greatcoats series. Review Traitor’s Blade is a swashbuckling adventure, filled with clever mysteries and thrilling swordfights, in the spirit of Alexander Dumas’ The Three Musketeers. Falcio val Mond, First Cantor of the Greatcoats,…
I’m glad to be back after a four-month hiatus from the blog! Writing my next novel is what’s kept me away, but I promise there’ll be several more posts before the year’s end. I’m kicking off my return with a review of a wonderful novel I just finished: Storm Glass by Jeff Wheeler. Review Imagine a…
George R.R. Martin promised a “bittersweet” ending to A Song of Ice and Fire. Nothing about that promise suggested there would be a fairy tale ending where Daenerys and Jon lived happily ever after. And after reflecting on the finale of Game of Thrones, I am convinced of one thing: Game of Thrones was meant…