Book Haul WorldCon part 2

I managed very well to not over do the buying of books at worldcon.  I did spend a couple of hours in the company of Womble and as often happens in these situations I did end up buying a couple of books on his very good recommendations.

First up is The Heart of Winter by Shona Kinsella. Published by Flame Tree Press and highly recommended by Womble. The Heart of Winter is about Brigit who has been promised in marriage, which is something she does not want.  She goes in search of the Queen of Winter the Cailleach to seek a way out and to gain her independence.  I have picked up a few things by Scottish authors at the con and this pinged my love of the fae so I had to pick it up.  I am very much in love with the cover of this and I will be getting to it just as soon as I can. 

Next up is Talonsister by the always wonderful Jen Williams.

Jen wasn’t at worldcon which is a shame because I would have loved to have caught up with her.  This novel though is her return to fantasy after writing some crime and I for one am here for it.  From what I can glean from the blurb and the maps this fantasy is alt-Roman empire ancient Britain with Griffens and I am really looking forward to seeing how this unfolds and how she will break my heart this time. There are three protagonists Leven a magical killing machine, Kaeto an envoy of the imperium,   and Ynis raised by griffens and is the one with a Talonsister. Yeah, I’m going to love this one – I just know it. Another recommendation from Womble but this was already on my list of things to get but I’ll give him this one too.

The Third one in this part of the haul is a final Womble rec and again from an author I have wanted to read for a while but for various dull reasons haven’t gotten around to yet. The Butcher of the Forest is a novella by Premee Mohamed.

There is a forest of wild magic that only one person has ever returned from Veris Thorn. The tyrant who rules the land to the south of the forest orders Veris to retrieve their children who have vanished or been taken into these dangerous magical place. Veris is given a day to find and return them, knowing that they will face monsters from fable and all sorts of chicanery. 

Again looking forward to this because it’s kind of giving me labyrinth vibes of a sort but with much more danger.

My “And finally” is one that I picked out for myself.  They had me at Space Lesbians and the novel is

called Ardulum First Don by J S Fields. From the blurb Neek is exiled from their homeworld for not believing in the Ardulans a race that gave her people technology and then disappeared.  Whilst the rest of her people worship them as gods Neek doesn’t.  Neek eeks out a living at the margins of society smuggling goods.

This is until she rescues a slave girl whose abilities are not dissimilar from the Arduluans which forces her to reconsider some beliefs and to protect the girl from harm.

This looks like a lot of fun and I’m told there is slow-burn sapphic romance and if I enjoy this one there are three more in the series to enjoy.

Overall very happy with the books brought back from Glasgow.  Huge shout-outs to Portal Books for stocking great novels and being one of the best queer bookshops in the galaxy.

Also shout out to Flame Tree Press for also publishing a quarter of my book haul.

Let the reading commence!