PUBLICATION DATE: 17th JULY 2025 HARDBACK ORIGINAL | £ 16. 99 | ORENDA BOOKS
November, 1967, Iceland.
Fourteen-year-old Marsí has a secret penpal – a boy who lives on the other side of the country – but she has been writing to him in her older sister’s name. Now she is excited to meet him for the first time.
But when the date arrives, Marsí is prevented from going, and during the night her sister Stína goes missing – her bloodstained anorak later found at the place where Marsí and her penpal had agreed to meet.
November, 1977.
Stína’s disappearance remains unsolved. Then an unexpected letter arrives for Marsí It’s from her penpal, and he’s still out there…
Desperate for news of her missing sister, but terrified that he might coming after her next, Marsí returns to her hometown and embarks on an investigation of her own.
But Marsí has always had trouble distinguishing her vivid dreams from reality, and as insomnia threatens her sanity, it seems she can’t even trust her own memories.
Expected publication July 15, 2025 by Flame Tree Press
ISBN 9781787589452
Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer member’s striking new book of time travel and biological science fiction is a thrilling ride.
Kezza, an aerialist in the Martian circus, can never return to Earth – but she can assassinate the man she blames for her grim life on the red planet. Her murderous plans take an unexpected turn, however, when she uncovers a sinister secret.
A thousand years into the future, Azad lives a safe but controlled life on the beautiful desert planet of Nabatea. His world is upended when he joins a crew of space-traveling historians seeking to learn the true reason that their ancestors left Mars
Separated by time and space, Kezza and Azad’s stories collide in the Martian desert.
Ava must fight an entity locked in on taking out the crew of the Eden, a moon-sized cemetery in space, as it brings back the souls of the dead buried aboard. One such soul is Ava’s lost love, Roland.
The spirits of the interred on the Eden haunt those aboard, including a visiting musician is tasked with writing a new song for the dead. Her Requiem calls a cosmic entity that illuminates their darkest fears and secrets. One by one, they’re driven mad. Ava fights her grief and must rise up before they’re lost and the entity reaches Earth.
Books can change lives. Magic books can change everything.
In a tiny, miserable farm on the edge of the tiny, miserable village of East Grasby, Isabella Nagg is trying to get on with her equally tiny and miserable existence. Dividing her time between enduring her feckless husband, inadequately caring for the farm’s strange collection of animals, cooking up ‘scrunge’, and crooning over her treasured pot of basil, Isabella can’t help but think that there might be something more to life. So, while she’s initially aghast when Mr. Nagg comes home with a spell book purloined from the local wizard, she soon starts to think: what harm could a little magic do?
As Isabella embarks on a journey of self-discovery with a grouchy cat-like companion, Darkshire’s imagination runs wild, plunging readers into a delightfully deranged world full of enchantment, folklore, and an entrepreneurial villain running a magical Ponzi scheme.
My Review
I found out about this book on Saturday from the Hodderscape Instagram feed and ordered it straight away from the local Waterstones. I picked it up after I went to The Festival of the Sea, got home, and read it in a single sitting.
I was promised Pratchettian humour.
There were footnotes. The footnotes were funny. There was a lot of folklore drawn on as well as invented. Which does smell of Discworld, but doesn’t quite scratch the itch. I did not get my Pratchettian story.
The story is of Isabella Nagg realising she doesn’t have to be a farmer’s wife after reading a magic book (stolen from the local wizard by her useless husband), fighting goblins and grifters, and dealing with past events as they come home to roost. There is a mysteriously disappearing wizard and a mysteriously appearing pony, a talking donkey, a grifter looking to set up a ‘new goblin market’ and the eponymous pot of basil.
It was quite, quite silly and I enjoyed the story immensely, even if it did at first feel contrived. Once I got into it, I could see the charm in this cosy fantasy. The social commentary and observations of life in small rural villages was pointed and entertaining, while the criticisms of unequal marriages was sharp.
‘Times like these you wish you had something to pray to’
Idolfire is an epic sapphic fantasy inspired by the fall of Rome from the author of the Frontier and Floating Hotel.
ON ONE SIDE OF THE WORLD, Aleya Ana-Ulai is desperate for a chance. Her family have written her off as a mistake, but she’s determined to prove every last one of them wrong.
ON THE OTHER, Kirby of Wall’s End is searching for redemption. An ancient curse tore her life apart, but to fix it, she’ll have to leave everything behind.
Fate sets them both on the path to Nivela, a city once poised to conquer the world with the power of a thousand stolen gods. Now the gates are closed and the old magic slumbers. Dead—or waiting for a spark to light it anew . . .
My Review
I listened to this over several days, usually while walking to the pool and back. I’ve also got an special edition of the hardback on the shelves. I have all of Grace Curtis’ books and I’ve noticed a theme running through them. All of them contain people on a journey who learn about themselves in the process of completing their journey.
In this book we find Kirby who discovers that the world is bigger than she thought it was, and that there are more options than marrying a local boy. Aleya discovers an internal source of strength to make the changes she knows her city of Ash needs. Nylo learns to stop being a bigoted prat, just before he dies in battle.
The world building draws heavily on the ancient world and the author’s note does explain their inspiration. Kirby feels like she’s from the north east of England (helped by the accent the narrator has), while Nylo screams of Sparta, and Aleya is from somewhere in Mesopotamia. The landscape is vividly described, as the group sail and walk across the world from their various homes to Nivela as they try to complete their individual quests. The land and seascapes are an important part of the plot, which adds to the tension (especially that undersea tunnel and the wastelands around Nivela!) in what is a pretty standard quest story.
The magical system, idolfire, is powered by worship and limited in scope. It drains the power source and can harm the person using it. Magic without limits is a deus ex machina. Aleya’s inability to use the idolfire at difficult moments brings tension to the plot. It also provides the odd last desperate attempt to survive.
I enjoyed the characters of Kirby and Aleya, while Nylo got on my nerves. He’s a tit, who’s perspective is egregiously clouded by his prejudices. Both Kirby and Aleya have their prejudices, but it doesn’t cloud their perspective as much as his does. There were other minor characters that I found entertaining, like the little seer who takes Kirby to see a sheep’s skull after calling Aleya a liar.
Overall, a good quest story set in a vaguely familiar world that isn’t pseudo-medieval north western Europe.
Sex and Sexuality in Medieval England allows the reader a peek beneath the bedsheets of our medieval ancestors, in an informative and fascinating look at sex and sexuality in England from 1250 to 1450. It examines the prevailing attitudes towards male and female sexual behaviour, and the ways in which these attitudes were often determined by those in positions of power and authority. It also explores our ancestors’ ingenious, surprising, bizarre and often entertaining solutions to the challenges associated with maintaining a healthy sex life. This book will look at marriage, pre-marital sex, adultery and fornication, pregnancy and fertility, illegitimacy, prostitution, consent, same-sex relationships, gender roles and much more, to shed new light on the private lives of our medieval predecessors.
My Review
Meh. Felt like more of a gazetteer of examples rather than an exploration of “marriage, pre-marital sex, adultery and fornication, pregnancy and fertility, illegitimacy, prostitution, consent, same-sex relationships, gender roles”.
The author covers sex and sexuality across the whole medieval period. This is a thousand years. Most of the examples are from the latter half of the period, as that’s what survives, and the author draws on academic work by modern researchers. While there are some interesting snippets of information, you can probably learn more from the ‘Betwixt the Sheets’ podcast.
I have books on similar subjects from Pen & Sword, that are either really well organised and explore the subject in detail, or they are more of the gazetteer type with a bit of discussion around lists of people who did things or got arrested for things. It’s repetitive and unhelpful. This is what really frustrates me about Pen & Sword books, they’re either really quite amateur or really professional, with very little in between.
Format: 342 pages, Paperback Published: March 21, 2019 by Two Roads ISBN: 9781473661233 (ISBN10: 1473661234)
From the first time he was stopped and searched as a child, to the day he realised his mum was white, to his first encounters with racist teachers – race and class have shaped Akala’s life and outlook. In this unique book he takes his own experiences and widens them out to look at the social, historical and political factors that have left us where we are today.
Covering everything from the police, education and identity to politics, sexual objectification and the far right, Nativesspeaks directly to British denial and squeamishness when it comes to confronting issues of race and class that are at the heart of the legacy of Britain’s racialised empire.
Natives is the searing modern polemic and Sunday Times bestseller from the BAFTA and MOBO award-winning musician and political commentator, Akala.
Release Date 2023-07-11 Formats: Ebook, Paperback EBook ISBN 11th July 2023 | 9781915202529 | epub & mobi | £4.99/$6.99/$7.99 Paperback ISBN 11th July 2023 | 9781915202192 | Paperback
Book I of The Nightingale and the Falcon
1260, Persia:
Due to the efforts of the great Genghis Khan, the Mongol Empire covers a vast portion of the known world. In the shadow of his grandfather, Hulagu Khan, ruler of the Ilkhanate, is determined to create a single empire that covers the entire world. His method? Violence.
His youngest son, Temujin Khan, struggles to find his place in his father’s bloody rule. After another failure, Temujin is given one last chance to prove himself to Hulagu, who is sure there is a great warrior buried deep inside. But there’s something else rippling under the surface… something far more powerful and dangerous than they could ever imagine…
Reduced to the position of one of Hulagu’s many wives, the famed Blue Princess Kokochin is the last of her tribe. Alone and forgotten in a foreign land, Kokochin is unwilling to spend her days seeking out trivial pursuits. Seeking purpose, she finds herself wandering down a path that grants her more power than a wife of the Khan may be allowed.
Kaivon, the Persian rebel who despises the Mongols for the massacre of his people, thirsts for revenge. However, he knows alone he cannot destroy the empire. When given the opportunity to train under the tutelage of Hulagu, Kaivon must put aside his feelings and risk his life for a chance to destroy the empire that aims to conquer the world.
Family and war collide in this thrilling and bloody reimagining of the Mongol Empire’s invasion of Persia.
Stephen Aryan is the author of The Coward and The Warrior (the Quest for Heroes Duology), as well as the Age of Darkness and Age of Dread trilogies. His first novel, Battlemage, was a finalist for the David Gemmell Morningstar Award for best debut fantasy novel. It also won the inaugural Hellfest Inferno Award in France. He has previously written a comic book column and reviews for Tor.com. In addition, he has self-published and kickstarted his own comics.
You can find out more about Stephen and his books on his website: Stephen-Aryan.com
Bedford Square Publishers 05 June 2025 £18.99 978-1-8350-1071-6 Hardback
The book Our names are a shadow we carry around with us. They are part of who we are. Our names are a marker of our self-identity and our sense of self. Our names have the power to shock. They have the power to heal, and they have the power to trigger conversations around race, class, social mobility and belonging. But what is a name? What do our names tell us about ourselves? And why do they matter?
Named is a fascinating exploration of names, global naming conventions and identity politics woven into a moving, personal narrative about the finding of family and self. At the intersection of memoir and social and cultural history it is a truly fascinating book about the seemingly ordinary and every day.
The author’s own narrative about her estrangement from her Nigerian father, the grapples with her Jamaican mother and her journey towards identity is woven through the chapters making it an engaging and intimate investigation of what makes us who we are.
Format: 469 pages, Paperback Published: September 7, 2023 by Cambridge University Press ISBN: 9781009429948
Providing an engaging and accessible introduction to the Fantasy genre in literature, media and culture, this incisive volume explores why Fantasy matters in the context of its unique affordances, its disparate pasts and its extraordinary current flourishing. It pays especial attention to Fantasy’s engagements with histories and traditions, its manifestations across media and its dynamic communities.
Matthew Sangster covers works ancient and modern; well-known and obscure; and ranging in scale from brief poems and stories to sprawling transmedia franchises. Chapters explore the roles Fantasy plays in negotiating the beliefs we live by; the iterative processes through which fantasies build, develop and question; the root traditions that inform and underpin modern Fantasy; how Fantasy interrogates the preconceptions of realism and Enlightenment totalisations; the practices, politics and aesthetics of world-building; and the importance of Fantasy communities for maintaining the field as a diverse and ever-changing commons.
Literary awards:
Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Myth and Fantasy Studies (2024)
My Review
I’ve been working my way through this book since last October, around blog tours, getting slightly too obsessed with YouTube , and a lot of crochet. I finished the last 40 pages this evening and now I need to tell you all about it. Matthew Sangster is a product of Glasgow University’s Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic, and the access to many fantasy novels and academic works show in the text. Sangster mentions works by some of the most well-known in fantasy, such as Le Guin and Tolkein, and some more unexpected authors, especially those from earlier centuries. He draws out six important points about fantasy, over the chapters of this books and they form his core arguments:
Fantasy arises from figurative language
Iteration is a defining technique – new stories build on old in new ways
Contemporary fantasy builds on some of the oldest forms
Fantasy exists in conversation with realism
Worldbuilding is both the prevailing metaphor of modern fantasy and used to develop plots and characters
Fantasy is a form practised in community rather than one by unique geniuses.
I had to read the ‘Envoi’ chapter to get that. Sangster helpfully lists these points for the reader. It certainly helps with the summary. He does try to be accessible throughout the book, and uses a lot of examples to make his points, referencing very well-known authors, TTRPG series, video games, and film franchises in the process. It was heavy going at times, but that might be my lack of formal education in Literature at University Level. My M.A. is in Creative Writing, not Literature, after all.
Sangster raises some good points, especially about the tendency of ‘literary’ culture to consider ‘genre’ fiction as lesser, as the mode of storytelling is not ‘realistic’ and therefore can’t possibly impact readers. Fantasy, Sangster argues, explores the real world using the fantastical as a foil, a universalising storytelling mode that draws on cultural language. Fantasy can tell stories in ways that resonate with people far more effectively than straight up realism. It digs down into the root, builds on older foundations and finds new ways to explore ancient concerns.
I certainly find fantasy a useful vehicle for understanding the world, particularly in the work of Terry Pratchett. Fantasy communities, whether specific fandoms, organisations for writers, or online groups (such as the BFS Discord – Join the BFS, and come to our Discord, we have quiz nights and shadow daddies!), work in dialogue with the stories and their creators. New worlds spin off from the original, and people have a shared language to communicate with, across time and culture (see: Vimes’ Boots Theory of Economics).
I found Sangster’s work thoughtful and interesting, although it is very much an academic text so possibly not something a casual reader might go for. Useful for those interested in SFFH in an academic setting e.g., if you’re doing your M.A. in Fantasy and Sci-Fi literature or as a basis for a Doctorate in the field. Yes, those do exist, and yes, they’re a bit serious. (Again, see Glasgow University).
Everything Is Better With Dragons 