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Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon by Wole Talabi – #WyrdandWonder

By John Folk-Williams

Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon by Wole Talabi

In Wole Talabi’s exciting fantasy adventure, Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, the spirit world has fallen on hard times. With dwindling followers to make faith offerings, the companies of the gods have to make do with diminished income, and their powers are not quite what they used to be. Shigidi is an ex-god […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Fiction, Wyrd and Wonder Tagged With: Afrofuturist, gods, heist, imagination, magic, sexuality, spirits, transformation, Wole Talabi

The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez

By John Folk-Williams

The Spear Cuts Through Water

Impressed as I was by Simon Jimenez‘ beautiful and moving first novel, The Vanished Birds, I have to say I’m just staggered by his second, The Spear Cuts Through Water. Using the second person, the narrator lures “you” with intensely lyrical but dramatically apt prose into a world between worlds. One of several story tellers […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Fiction Tagged With: dreams, epic fantasy, family, gods, magic, myth, shape-shifting, Simon Jimenez

The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford – A Review for Wyrd & Wonder

By John Folk-Williams

The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford

John M. Ford’s The Dragon Waiting is a brilliant reshuffling of fantasy tropes and alternate history but at heart also a beautiful study of a group of extraordinary characters. First published in 1983, this is the first of Ford’s novels to be republished since his death in 2006 when, apparently because no one could trace […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Fiction, Wyrd and Wonder Tagged With: alternate history, deception, dragons, empire, England, fantasy, John M. Ford, magic, power, vampire

Spear by Nicola Griffith – A Review

By John Folk-Williams

Nicola Griffith Spear

Nicola Griffith’s short novel Spear takes us on a luminous journey deep in Welsh roots of Arthurian legend to record the exploits of Peretur as she seeks to understand her nature and the fate that awaits her at Caer Leon, the stronghold of Arturus and his Companions. As Griffith explains in her afterward, she has […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Fiction Tagged With: Arthurian fantasy, gods, magic, nature, Nicola Griffith, primal Britain, sapphic love

Servant Mage by Kate Elliott – A Review

By John Folk-Williams

Servant Mage by Kate Elliott

In a recent interview at Before We Go Blog, Ken Liu mentions Kate Elliott as one of the very best fantasy writers of today and Servant Mage, this gem of a short novel, reveals Elliott as a master story-teller. Servant Mage tells the story of a young woman raised in servitude and taught to despise […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Fiction Tagged With: class structure, demons, fantasy, mage, magic, power, self-worth, unmasking

Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky – A Review

By John Folk-Williams

Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky

In Adrian Tchaikovsky’s tour de force, Elder Race, we first encounter Lynesse (Lyn), Fourth Daughter of the tough minded Queen of Lannesite, climbing the steep rugged slopes of a mountain to call forth a powerful wizard. As only the fourth daughter, Lyn is never taken seriously, but she is determined to change that by destroying […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Fiction Tagged With: Adrian Tchaikovsky, communication, fantasy, language, magic, science, science fiction, technology

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Something is struggling to be born in this damaged and inspiring world, and I believe science fiction and its speculative cousins are helping us figure out what it is. It’s pushing the imaginations of fiction writers to bend and twist familiar forms to try to capture the forces that are hurling us into a barely conceivable future. This blog is my small way of exploring the half-perceived … Read More about About

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