My next two reviews (coming next week) are March releases from Night Shade Books — Pillars of Hercules by David Constantine and Jane Carver of Waar by Nathan Long. One thing NSB has been good about in the last 18 months is putting out great novels (for the most part). What they haven’t been very good about is keeping the community well informed about what’s coming. So, I guess I figured I’d bang the drum a bit for their May titles as I find all three rather intriguing.
In a world where nothing is quite what it seems, a young scribe takes a job that will change his life forever. Arkamondos is hired to chronicle the activities of a band of mercenaries, led by an enigmatic foreign military commander, Captain Braylar Killcoin. But, what starts out as a secret mission escorting mysterious cargo quickly escalates into murder and sedition! Arkamondos must gain the trust of his employer — the secrets that Braylar and his soldiers are hiding could lead to death, or worse. At the same time, Arkamondos must learn the skills that will allow him to survive in the violent, unpredictable world he finds himself in. Unexpected allies from within the company reveal themselves and their intentions just as things become more dangerous for everybody.
320 pages, Hardcover
Naples, the 19th Century. In the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, holy music has power. Under the auspices of the Church, the Sung Mass can bring about actual miracles like healing the sick or raising the dead. But some believe that the musicodramma of grand opera can also work magic by channeling powerful emotions into something sublime. Now the Prince’s Men, a secret society, hope to stage their own black opera to empower the Devil himself — and change Creation for the better! Conrad Scalese is a struggling librettist whose latest opera has landed him in trouble with the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Rescued by King Ferdinand II, Conrad finds himself recruited to write and stage a counter opera that will, hopefully, cancel out the apocalyptic threat of the black opera, provided the Prince’s Men, and their spies and saboteurs, don’t get to him first. And he only has six weeks to do it…
From the sell sheet:
550 pages, Trade Paperback
Strange things exist on the periphery of our existence, haunting us from the darkness looming beyond our firelight. Black magic, weird cults and worse things loom in the shadows. The Children of Old Leech have been with us from time immemorial. And they love us. Donald Miller, geologist and academic, has walked along the edge of a chasm for most of his nearly eighty years, leading a charmed life between endearing absent-mindedness and sanity-shattering realization. Now, all things must converge. Donald will discover the dark secrets along the edges, unearthing savage truths about his wife Michelle, their adult twins, and all he knows and trusts. For Donald is about to stumble on the secret…of The Croning.
From the sell sheet:
320 pages, Hardcover
Justin
Justin Landon is the Overlord of Staffer's Book Review. When he's not writing things of dubious value to the world, he's at the gym or being a dad. You can follow him on a multitude of social media, which is strongly suggested lest you miss out on vital information that could someday save your life.
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Is that a different Mary Gentle from the author who wrote Ash? It says shes a debut author.
Copy and paste error on my part. Yes, same Mary Gentle. I'll fix it.
Ok, cool. Just wondering if there was a new author by the same name. The Black Opera sounds pretty awesome. I wants it.
All three of these sound pretty cool, but then so do most of Night Stade's books these past couple of years.
Did you try out “Enormity”? That sounded rather off-the-wall.
Oh, and “endearing absent-mindedness” is what I'm aiming for in life, too.
I had not heard about any of these books. So yeah, NSB does need a better marketing scheme. Pyr is a little more agile that way.
Hmm. I want the Mary Gentle too. She hasn't let me down very often. And what a stylish cover.
Quite enticing. I want the Salyard and Gentle. And you're right : NSB are to be watched!
I really want to get into reviewing NSB stuff. I contacted them, but haven't heard back. In the meantime, I'll probably by a couple and review them. NSB seems like a small company to be making so many great books.
I'm glad to see there's some interest brewing for SCOURGE.
Night Shade really is committed to publishing and promoting their debut authors.
And you'd be hard pressed to find a publihser coming out with a slicker lineup of ocvers.
Best,
Jeff
Or authors who type worse. Sheesh.