Horror and Fantasy News from the Week That Was
Horror and Fantasy News from the Week That Was
New books, old books, free books, and a goofy skeleton
Greetings, fellow humans. I’m Caroline and I write fantasy and horror—my debut epic fantasy novel, The Obsidian Druid was released in April 2024. This is my newsletter.
This is going to be a shorter newsletter than I usually write. I solemnly promise that next time, I’ll get back to planning my upcoming cosy fantasy novel (there might be maps!).
I will share this goofy little skeleton with you, though. If you follow me on socials you might have seen him already, but he makes me want to laugh every time I look at him so I thought those of you that don’t would like to see him too.
I think he’s supposed to be a creepy version of Elf on the Shelf (which is creepy in its own right). He has bendable arms and Beetlejuice pajamas and is probably my new favourite thing.
The Undead Alliance
In my last newsletter, I discussed a zombie horror novella I’d been re-editing. I can now announce that it’s been stripped to its foundations, polished up, and sent back off into the world with a shiny coin in its pocket and a fresh brain sandwich in its backpack.
Gabriel thought waking up dead was the end of the world, but a new world was just beginning. Unfortunately, it’s an authoritarian hellscape ruled by a decomposing eccentric in a pirate costume.
When the dead rose and laid claim to the UK, Gabriel found himself in charge of the North Sector Harvesting Plant, overseeing the daily influx of the living. Disillusioned with the Undead Alliance and its practices, the arrival of the very human Daisy might be his salvation, but who could ever love a zombie? If he wants to convince her he’s more than just the sum of his maggot-infested parts, he’ll have to break her out of the harvesting plant and defy everything the Alliance stands for.
Is Gabriel strong enough to turn against his own rancid kind? Or will he ship Daisy off to the chop shop?
The Undead Alliance is a truly revolting novella you shouldn’t read if you have a delicate constitution, you’ve just eaten, or the thought of a shrieking head on a pike makes you nauseous.
The Undead Alliance is available on Kindle, and it’s currently only $0.99.
Micro-SPFNO - Week Ten
Shining a light on some excellent indie fantasy novels that weren’t chosen to compete in the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off by reviewing their first chapters.
Tangleweed & Waterbloom (The Garden Knight Book 1) by Justin Greer
Tangleweed & Waterbloom is a heroic fantasy adventure and the first book in The Garden Knight series. Here’s the blurb:
After years of travel in the wide world, Derry Melyvante has made his home near the quiet woodland village of Haverdell. Derry lives with his dog Barrow on a small island outside town and spends his days in singular pursuit of his craft and passion: Derry is a gardener, a master of woodlore and plants and green growing things, a man whose heart belongs in the trees and high hills and soft grassy meadows around sleepy Haverdell. He and Barrow have built a home and found friendship in Haverdell—a quiet, fulfilling life.
An unknown blight has taken hold in the Brightoak Tree. Derry's efforts to care for the great tree are interrupted by the appearance of a knight from the king's court with a summons for the gardener of Haverdell—a message specifically requesting Derry by name. The gardener is escorted to the capital by Caedan, Knight of Mira, where he is asked to investigate a similarly strange affliction in the holy gardens of the king. Derry performs his work, makes his recommendations for care, and thinks to return to Haverdell and the gentle calm of his chosen home.
But strange magic and stranger maladies are afoot, both in the king's court and in Haverdell. Derry and Barrow swiftly find themselves embroiled in affairs beyond their imagining, as monsters and blights and shadowy figures foment catastrophe throughout the land. Plants have begun to turn against the gardener. The king has been kidnapped. Allies have become traitors. Together, Derry, Barrow, and Caedan seek to end the mayhem and find a solution to the strange curse that has gripped the kingdom—before wild plant-monsters overrun everything and swallow the land into their greedy, leafy maw. Even if the trio is successful, they will have to contend with traitors in the king's court, magical devices now stolen by rebels, and ancient temples reawakened for unknown purposes…
I wanted to like Tangleweed & Waterbloom before I even read the first chapter because I loved the gently sloping grass and pink-hued clouds on the cover, and especially because the blurb promised wild plant monsters. The first chapter has no plant monsters, but it is a good introduction to who I’m sure will be an interesting character.
Derry is a master gardener, and when we first meet him, he’s surveying a friend’s cornfield strangled by tangleweed. You’d expect a gardener to have some form of handy weedkiller up his sleeve, but the chapter goes in a different direction. Derry tells Jeran the tangleweed flowers are beautiful: “A whole field of lovely white-and-yellow flowers on a bed of green.” He promises the corn will grow, and then they go to the pub (that’s my sort of gardener). This is a gentle, unrushed start to a novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It gives you a clear sense of place. It’s springtime, Derry has good friends and enjoys good food and ale in a village where everyone knows him, and he talks about his work in a way that makes you want to get your own hands in some soil.
The master gardener character and the peaceful setting wouldn’t be out of place in a cosy fantasy novel. Based on just the first chapter, you might be led to believe that’s exactly what this is going to be, but we know better. Plant monsters are coming. There’s going to be magical devices, ancient temples, and intrigue in a king’s court. This all sounds as though it might veer into sword and sorcery territory. A cosy character thrust into the harsh world of heroic fantasy would be a tantalising read, but if you want to see if my predictions are right, you’ll have to follow the link and get yourself a copy.
Favourite line: “Jeran ran his hands over his close-cropped hair, streaking more dirt. It gave him a look of wildness, of freedom, that matched the glint in his eyes as he squinted at the sun-drenched field of flowers.”
Tangleweed & Waterbloom is available in paperback and on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.
And if you sign up to the author’s mailing list, you’ll receive a free prequel novella.
So we’ve reached week ten, and the end of my micro-reviewing adventure. The best thing about doing this has been getting to explore such completely different fantasy novels, many in genres I haven’t read widely (but will now). I’ve reviewed dark fantasy twists on folklore, historical fantasy, romantic fantasy, and urban fantasy featuring cute pets, and they’ve all drawn me in with just the first chapter.
If you’d like to explore more SPFNO books, SFF Insiders published a list of SPFBOX Honourable Mentions that’s worth perusing for the beautiful cover art alone.
Have you been enjoying my micro-reviews? If you want to see more genre fiction reviews in the future, toss a comment to your writer.
Midnight Metropolis is a sci-fi/fantasy novel about daemons, hallucinogenic mushrooms, and the neon megacity sprawled on the blackened backside of a sunless planet. New chapters are posted every Friday and you can read all available chapters for free.
Want to download some awesome fiction for free? Check out the Fantasy, Horror, and More BookFunnel promotion.
That’s it for now.
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