I can’t recall ever starting to read a book with a nice cup of tea, with rose scented candles flickering on the table and soft Celtic melodies playing in the background. But there was something about this cover. A hint of magic as I touched it. Hauntingly beautiful, a friend said once, which is all …
I recently read two short stories by Mark Lawrence, which left me with a distinct certainty, that if someone had made a decision for me, ruling that I was only allowed to read Mark Lawrence for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t even object. The first of these stories was Bad Seed. ‘Bad Seed’ …
They say everything happens for a reason, but they never tell you what that reason is. As if they have just given you the first part of a story and it is now up to you to finish it. It’s half past six on the evening of 12th August as I join a seemingly never-ending …
As a fan of the Broken Empire series I started Prince of Fools with some mild apprehension. I love the way Mark Lawrence writes, but other people, who already read the book, often used the word ‘different’ to describe it and I didn’t like different. I wanted the same, whatever this particular blend was I …
Hesitant we may be, but when God opens a door for us, we eventually go through – whether it leads to life or death. But what might that life be like, if we are given half the blessings others were so generously granted? A life of shadows. A life of shame. Until one day the …
When three weeks ago at Bloody Cake News the idea came up to interview a series of editors and ask them about some of their authors and their work relationships, I wholeheartedly volunteered to write a short introduction about Jane Johnson for this article. Little did I realise how I had just made a decision …
In the end it came to one last game of life and death. Colours of sixty-four squares alternated between light and dark, but every move was painted sharper, every piece was coated brighter, than ever before. Gentle harmonies lulled me into an uneasy dream, softening my heart with beauty and laughter, closing my eyes to …
I don’t quite remember anymore how I came upon The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey. I was looking for something new, something different. There was something about the little girl on the cover, calling to me ‘Me! Pick me!’ And I did. I probably won’t be the first to advise new readers …
Once upon a time there was a Prince of a Thousand Promises. He was told to be brave, he was told to be ruthless, he was told to be immoral, he was told to be the greatest. Truly he did not look like much to me the first time, so I walked past him and …
Luke Scull is one of a handful of authors whom I got to know first as a person to some extent before actually reading his book, having last year interviewed him for Bloody Cake News’s Facebook page and then spent two hours sitting next to him chatting at BristolCon, in the company of his wife, Yesica and two …
Mitriel Faywood 