The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron

In the opening scene of The Spirit Thief, Rachel Aaron’s charming debut novel, the notorious thief Eli Monpress is trying to escape from the royal dungeon of Mellinor. Since he’s not just a thief but also a wizard, he does this by quite literally trying to charm the dungeon’s door into opening: not by casting a spell on it, but rather by persuading, cajoling and wheedling it into letting him through, explaining that it really would be much better off without those annoying nails keeping it together (which results in the memorable line “Indecision is the bane of all hardwoods.”).

After all, in the fantasy world of THE LEGEND OF ELI MONPRESS, every single object, from the tiniest pebble to the largest mountain, has a spirit. A wizard’s power derives from the ability to enter into a mutual contract with these spirits, although oth... Read More

The Spirit Rebellion by Rachel Aaron

Just a few weeks ago saw the release of Rachel Aaron’s entertaining and light-hearted debut novel The Spirit Thief. Now, fast on its heels, we already have the sequel The Spirit Rebellion — and even better, the third book, The Spirit Eater, will be here around Thanksgiving. Isn’t it wonderful when you don’t have to wait a whole year for the next novel in a series?

This second installment in THE LEGEND OF ELI MONPRESS takes place right after the events in the first book. Spiritualist Miranda Lyonette, heading back to the Spirit Court, finds herself on the wrong end of a political witch hunt after her involvement in the recent events in Mellinor, more specifically the escape of the notorious wizard thief Eli Monpress. Eli, meanwhile, is on the road with his companions, the sword... Read More

The Spirit Eater by Rachel Aaron

The Spirit Eater is the third installment in Rachel Aaron’s THE LEGEND OF ELI MONPRESS series. Just like the first two books, The Spirit Thief and The Spirit Rebellion, it’s an entertaining, fast-moving fantasy story, although this newest novel does have a considerably darker edge to it.

The darkness starts right away with the novel’s prologue, in which we learn more about Nico, the girl who contains a demonseed, and about how she met Josef Liechten, the swordsman with the legendary Heart of War sword. Berek Sted, no longer a member of the League of Storms and out for revenge against Josef, makes a deal with a demon (and of course we all know how those tend to work out...). Meanwhile Eli, Josef and Nico are on the run (the high bounty placed on Eli’s head makes staying undiscovered harder ... Read More

Some of your favorite authors take some time to answer our questions:
Got any news to share?
Gail Carriger: I'll be at the Nimrod Conference for Readers & Writers in Tulsa, OK October 26-27. And the National Council of Teachers of English convention in Las Vegas, NV November 17-18.

Alex Bledsoe: I'll be a guest of honor at HalCon in Halifax, Nova Scotia this October 26-28. My third FIREFLY WITCH three-story chapbook, Back Atcha, is now available. My short story "Sprig" will be in an upcoming issue of Apex. I'll have a Christmas collection of three stories, including a TU... Read More

Some of your favorite authors take some time to answer our questions:


Got any news to share?
Alma Alexander: Short stories all over the place -- I have stories in the anthologies Dark Faith: Invocations, Scheherazade's Facade, and Airships and Automatons, all either coming o... Read More

Some of your favorite authors take some time to answer our questions:
Got any news to share?
Jesse Bullington: My third novel, The Folly of the World, will be released by Orbit on December 18th. I'm really excited about this one, which is more of a late medieval crime novel with some weird flourishes than a straight-up fantasy along the lines of my first two projects.

Rachel Aaron: My final ELI MONPRESS novel, Spirit's End, comes out November 20! This the conclusion to the series, and I think readers are really going to like it. At least, I hope readers are going to like it, otherwise December is going to be a rough month of angry emails!




What are you working on these days?

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