In celebration of the recent North American release of Sam Sykes‘s Tome of the Undergates, Pyr Books has released the prologue on their blog. Sykes has been favourably compared to authors like Scott Lynch, Joe Abercrombie and Michael Moorcock. Not bad company to keep, huh?
If you’re interested in learning more about the book, why not check out my recent interview with Sykes?
Content Warning: Transphobia — In both my original post and comments in the discussion below, I make ignorant and hurtful anti-trans remarks. They are wrong now and were wrong at the time I wrote them. I was wrong—and Mr. Newton correctly called out my ill-informed and ill-considered words. I apologize to those hurt by my words and to the wider transgender community.
Trans women are women. Period.
If you would like more information about how to support the transgender community, please visit GLAAD’s page about “Things You Can Do For Transgender Equality.” – Aidan Moher, June 27, 2020
Knicked from The Mad Hatter:
The gods, makers of worlds, seek to create balance—between matter and energy; and between mortals who strive toward the transcendent, and the natural perils they must tame or overcome. But one of the gods fashions a world filled with hellish creatures far too powerful to allow balance; he is condemned to live for eternity with his most hateful creations in that world’s distant Bourne, restrained by a magical veil kept vital by the power of song.
Millennia pass, awareness of the hidden danger fades to legend, and both song and veil weaken. And the most remote cities are laid waste by fell, nightmarish troops escaped from the Bourne. Some people dismiss the attacks as mere rumor. Instead of standing against the real threat, they persecute those with the knowledge, magic and power to fight these abominations, denying the inevitability of war and annihilation. And the evil from the Bourne swells….
The troubles of the world seem far from the Hollows where Tahn Junell struggles to remember his lost childhood and to understand words he feels compelled to utter each time he draws his bow. Trouble arrives when two strangers—an enigmatic man wearing the sigil of the feared Order of Sheason and a beautiful woman of the legendary Far—come, to take Tahn, his sister and his two best friends on a dangerous, secret journey. Tahn knows neither why nor where they will go. He knows only that terrible forces have been unleashed upon mankind and he has been called to stand up and face that which most daunts him—his own forgotten secrets and the darkness that would destroy him and his world.
Kekai Kotaki, once again proving why he’s one of the best in the Fantasy art business. I’ve been a fan of his since I first saw his art for the Guild Wars RPG series, and I’m more a fan every day. I also appreciate that Tor Books lets Kotaki’s art speak for itself, rather than adorning it with overblown typography. Beautiful.
The book itself sounds good (as much as I’ve grown broader in my tastes, I’m still a sucker for big Epic Fantasy; plus, like forests and bows and stuff. Reminds me of Elves in D&D, which I’m also a sucker for). I dunno about that title, though. How do you ‘unremember’ something? Nevertheless, I’m sure the book will let us know. Lord knows I’ve ran across a few things on the Internet that I’d like to ‘unremember’… not to mention a few novels.
From the Angry Robot Books blog:
Yum. I don’t even know what these books are about, but I wanna read them. I love that Steampunk’s allowing designers to dip back into early-mid-Twentieth Century art styles. My favourite little easter egg is the lovingly integrated Angry Robot Books logo near the bottom.
The art is by John Coulthart.
Because of a thousand-year-old alliance between humans and pagasi, Princess Sylviianel is ceremonially bound to Ebon, her own Pegasus, on her twelfth birthday. The two species coexist peacefully, despite the language barriers separating them. Humans and pegasi both rely on specially-trained Speaker magicians as the only means of real communication.
But its different for Sylvi and Ebon. They can understand each other. They quickly grow close-so close that their bond becomes a threat to the status quo-and possibly to the future safety of their two nations.
Pegasus wasn’t on my radar until I ran across it on Iceberg Ink, but damn if that cover didn’t jump out at me immediately. When I bellyache that covers should be attractive, nicely designed and marketable, this is the type of cover I’m talking about. Just beautiful and eye-catching.
