2020 romantic fantasy. Stephen was a paladin, but his god has died: he still has the potential for berserk rage, but not the assurance that he's being used for the right. Grace is a perfumer with a supernal sense of smell and a habit of stumbling into trouble…
2017 fantasy, first of a tetralogy. Nahri is a successful con artist in 18th-century Cairo, but she knows that all magic is trickery. But when she accidentally summons a djinn, she steps into a larger world…
2024 pair of romance/fantasy stories. Feora steals the king's gold and uses it to buy books; Zenira tries to survive on piecework while hiding her magic. Spoilers.
2021 mystery, sixth in its series. It's 1965, and the old impresario has died—of rat poison. DI Edgar Stephens and his team investigate, and his wife's own private enquiry agency gets involved too…
2024 romantic comic fantasy. Caroline is trying to write an enemies-to-lovers fantasy story, but her heroine Lady Rosamund keeps objecting.
2002 horror, tenth and last in Saberhagen's loose Dracula series. Dickon, a cowardly ancient vampire, brings a friend to visit Dracula (still living in Chicago as "Matthew Maule"); in the morning, the friend is dead and Dickon has vanished. But what does this all have to do with alchemy and ancient Egypt?
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved list counting. (Note that this ends today.)
2021 alternate-history novel, fanfic of the Brontës' Gondal, among others. Every puissant prince must be in want of a wife.
More gaming with some nearby friends, and this time it was cool enough to think.
2021 Regency romance, third and last in a loose series. Sophie Roseingrave's family lost their money, and she lost her musical confidence, to a swindler; now she wants to make sure that doesn't happen to anyone else. Maddie Crewe didn't set out to be a thief, but her fellow weavers are depending on her…
I went to Airecon Northwest again, this time in August rather than December but still in the convention centre in central Manchester. With images; cc-by-sa on everything.
2021 SF, first of a duology. Zetian's older sister died as a pilot-concubine, co-piloting a giant mecha to fight off the aliens from beyond the Wall. She knows she will also die, but she plans to take someone down with her…
2023 romance/SF/mystery; 56th novel of J. D. Robb's In Death series (SF police procedurals). The famous actress throws a party to celebrate a new project; then her husband drops dead of a champagne cocktail meant for her.
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved string-searching integers and bouncing around a keyboard. (Note that this ends today.)
1996 horror, ninth in Saberhagen's loose Dracula series. Phil Radcliffe, on his honeymoon, finds himself and his new wife politely but weirdly kidnapped "for his own good". Who's responsible, and who wants to drink his blood—and why?
1994 mystery, sixth of Granger's novels of Chief Inspector Alan Markby and non-detective Meredith Mitchell. A young woman's body is dumped near a playing field, and it appears she may have been up to something dodgy. Meanwhile there are goings-on at the local stately home…
More gaming with some nearby friends, on another horribly hot evening.
2020 SF, last of its trilogy. This time Thorn is mucking about with time.
2023 science fiction, last of its series. The Gods have withdrawn their protection from the planet Jai, just as the Keres is coming. What can Yasira Shien and her band of renegades do?
2000 romance/SF/mystery; first of a series. After an unfortunate incident in an alien tomb, Lydia Smith is finding it hard to get work. So she can't afford to turn down the one client who's willing to employ her, even if he clearly isn't telling her everything…
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved chess-related problems. (Note that this ends today.)
1958 collection of two novellas. A man convicted of murder summons those who have wronged him to meet him post-mortem at "The Assize of the Dying"; and the novelist husband of "Aunt Helen" explains in detail how he could be murdered, then turns up dead. (Later republished as by Ellis Peters.)
2020 Regency romance, second in a loose series. Agatha Griffin has made a success of the printing-house that she ran with her late husband, but she's not ready to deal with bees in the archive. Penelope Flood lives uncomfortably on the edge between gentry and trades, but mostly wants to get on with beekeeping…
2021 YA SF, first of a trilogy. Tina has never been ordinary: she was left on Earth by aliens, and knows they'll come back for her one day. But when that day comes, it's far more dangerous than she expected…
2017 fantasy romance. In Angland in the 19th century, gentlemen are magicians, while ladies wield political power. Cassandra Harwood was never one for following the rules.
2023 fantasy, first of a planned trilogy. Back in the day, Amina al-Sirafi was a pirate captain, a terror of the waves. Now she just wants to raise her daughter and see the rest of her family prosper. But the mother of an old crewmate comes to her with a generous offer for one last job…
2019 urban fantasy, second of its series. Lydia Crow is working as a private investigator, trying to hide her magical abilities from people who'd take advantage of them. But in between following potentially erring spouses, she can't resist looking into someone found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge.
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved character repetition and a basic string parse. (Note that this ends today.)
2018 SF, second of a trilogy. Thorn comes back to civilisation to end slavery, and the long-running war.
More gaming with some nearby friends, on a horribly hot evening.
2023 fantasy/horror anthology. There are things out there thave have no interest in humans, and other things that have too much.