Jennifer Jackson – Literary Agent

Diving Mimes, Weeping Czars and Other Unsusual Suspects by Ken Scholes

A mysterious voice, an alien songstress, a postapocalyptic Santa Claus, and a host of other bizarre creatures come together in Scholes’s lively, arresting and gleefully offbeat second short story collection (after 2009′s Long Walks, Last Flights), which equally startles with profound emotion and revels in absurd humor. In the brilliant “A Weeping Czar Beholds the Fallen Moon,” a tearful ruler encounters a strange object and a young woman that bring both doom and renewal. “Invisible Empire of Ascending Light” concerns a violent contest to take the place of a dying god. “Four Clowns of the Apocalypse and the Mecca of Mirth” is a wide-eyed, bizarro-style caper involving the misadventures of four clowns in a wasted, radioactive America. By turns baroque, off-kilter, and haunting, Scholes’s writing will delight lovers of the unusual and wildly imaginative. — Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Antiphon by Ken Scholes

The third installment of Scholes’s grand-scale Psalms of Isaak saga (after 2009′s Canticle) expands the genre-blending narrative in glorious style. The secret revival of the bloody Y’Zirite religion, which may be an elaborate conspiracy created generations ago to bring down the Androfrancine Order, has brought madness to the Named Lands. Gypsy King Rudolfo, whose infant son is being called the “Child of Promise” by the cultists, finds blood-magicked spies in his home and enemies in his forest. And as the invisible enemy furthers its masterfully orchestrated invasion, Rudolfo and others hear an ethereal music that seems to require some kind of response. A diverse cast of dynamic characters, a tantalizingly labyrinthine mystery, a world full of wonders, and powerful symbolism and imagery power this seamless merging of epic fantasy and science fiction. –Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Read Lamentation and Canticle (released today in paperback) — Book 1 and Book 2 of the Psalms of Isaak, both of which also garnered Starred Reviews.

Also, a special e-book offer this month for the first book, Lamentation, for just $2.99 Kindle | Nook | Sony

Canticle (The Psalms of Isaak)

In the second Psalms of Isaak volume, civil war rages across the Named Lands. Following the annihilation of Windwir, an ancient metropolis preserving precious Old World knowledge, the Y’Zirite religious cult responsible for the city’s destruction reveals itself by assassinating the guests at a feast held by Gypsy King Rudolfo. As battle lines are drawn and new alliances are formed, other principals face their own struggles. Windwir survivor Neb seeks his fate in the Churning Wastes. Neb’s beloved, the Marsh Queen Winters, discovers Y’Zirite members among her people. Scholes adds new layers of mystery and intrigue while fleshing out the compelling characters of one of speculative fiction’s most spellbinding new sagas. — Booklist

Canticle (The Psalms of Isaak)

The conspiracy deepens in this sequel to Scholes’ epic, marvelously complex fantasy debut (Lamentation, 2009).

In the previous installment, ancient spells of the Wizard King Xhum Y’Zir leveled the city of Windwir, repository of knowledge from the Old World. The instigator of the destruction, a Y’Zirite cult, reveals itself as the sequel opens by assassinating several major political figures, an act which the cult sees as the necessary prelude to the advent of its prophesied Crimson Empress. As civil war spreads across the Named Lands, nobleman schemer Vlad Li Tam and his extensive family search for the stronghold of their foe; the Gypsy King Rudolfo seeks a cure for his ailing infant son Jakob, heralded by Y’Zirites as the Child of Promise; Windwir survivor and prophetic dreamer Neb seeks his destiny in the Churning Wastes; and his beloved, the young Marsh Queen Winters, faces the unpleasant, deadly truth that the Y’Zirite cult sprang from her own people. Not only is Scholes a capable world builder, he ably handles the tough task of keeping the series momentum going, intensifying the mystery so deftly that even if readers can’t foresee where the story’s going, it’s clear that the author knows exactly what he’s doing.

– Kirkus, Starred Review

Canticle (The Psalms of Isaak)

The sequel to Scholes’s stellar debut 2008′s Lamentation ingeniously fuses epic fantasy and postapocalyptic science fiction.

Magicked assassins kill numerous leaders from across the Named Lands and send the region into economic and political turmoil. Amid the chaos, Jin Li Tam gives birth to General Rudolfo’s son, sickly Jakob. As Rudolfo sets out in search of a cure, young Marsh Queen Winters ascends the throne of her people only to realize her past has been an elaborate lie; former Androfrancine Pope Petronus risks his life to bring some semblance of peace to the realm; and Nebios ben Hebda uncovers bombshell revelations regarding the Order’s “metal men” and the history of the Old World. Abounding in prophecy, myth and mystery, this grand-scale saga is a towering storytelling tour de force.
– Publishers Weekly, Starred Review