Jennifer Jackson – Literary Agent

Sixty-One Nails

This book is magnificent in every way, it is an incredible work of fiction that draws you in from the very beginning and holds your undivided attention until the very last page, leaving you with a distinct feeling of loss knowing there are no further words to caress your grey matter. The protagonist is a much more everyday Joe than many writers choose to portray – divorced father of one, with an ex-wife he clearly doesn’t get on with, Naill and his life are not perfect and it’s these imperfections that ground the story. Combine this some very well researched real-world locations and you get a very believable story that you can’t help but relate to. Sixty One Nails is a novel I will remember for a very long time. 5***** — Science Fiction & Fantasy

Read the first chapter.

By the Mountain Bound

In this complex prequel to Hugo-winner Bear’s All the Windwracked Stars (2008), Ragnarok has already occurred, but the world must still be cleansed of the residue of the former realm. When immortal einherjar war-leader Strifbjorn rescues a strange woman from drowning, she claims to be the Lady, a long-awaited deity, and defeats Strifbjorn’s champion and lover, Mingan the Gray Wolf, to take command. The ensuing internal power struggles set the einherjar at odds while the Lady attempts to rally the community against a supposedly imminent attack by giants. Numerous fantasy authors adopt the tropes of Norse mythology, but Bear actively pursues them, channeling those myths directly rather than overlaying them on more familiar ones. The result demands much from readers, but repays it in vivid, sensual imagery of a wholly different world. –Publishers Weekly

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

Flesh and Fire: Book One of The Vineart War

With a unique, pleasingly consistent magic system based on the production and consumption of wine, urban fantasist Gilman (the Retrievers series) turns a standard coming-of-age tale into something wholly new. Young Jerzy, a vineyard slave, possesses the rare and extraordinary ability of the Vinearts, magicians who create spellwines from the most potent grapes. When someone begins sabotaging the fields of the traditionally reclusive winemakers, it is up to Jerzy and his master to save their way of life. A slow build of tension as Jerzy progresses from slave to student to spy keeps the reader engaged without any need for frenetic fight scenes. The tale is dominated by vivid, absorbing characters, and Jerzy’s powerful narrative voice makes his joys and sorrows dramatic, authentic and potent. This intoxicating high fantasy will satisfy oenophiles and bibliophiles alike. –Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Also, see A Potent Vintage: PW talks with Laura Anne Gilman

Readers unfamiliar with 2006’s Trial of Flowers will be baffled by this sequel; those who have read the former are likely to be both delighted and flabbergasted by the latter. The City Imperishable is the decadent relic of a magical empire in which human and numinal forces struggled until the Old Gods were almost forgotten—but this familiar-sounding background doesn’t set up a predictable heroic fantasy yarn. The city’s diverse inhabitants, including demigods and manmade dwarves, are subject to violent physical and moral transformations, and Lake’s lushly energetic writing pulls readers through startling developments. Major concerns this time include bloody political intrigue, a blockade by corsairs and an expedition to the North that may lead to the city’s rebirth or its doom. The result is exuberantly odd, melodramatically ironic and dangerously wonderful. –Publishers Weekly, Starred Review