If it was possible I would love to have a room
decorated with the artworks of Raymond Swanland. I affirmed my admiration of Raymond Swanland’s exceptional talent
on plenty of occasions before and I’ll repeat it with every chance I get,
although lately I find myself more often speechless and left in mute reverence
before his wonderful art. As is the case with the latest two examples, the book
covers of K.V. Johansen’s “The Lady” (Pyr Books) and R.S. Belcher’s “The Shotgun Arcana” (Tor Books). Both writers benefited from the
artwork of Raymond Swanland on their book covers before, K.V. Johansen on “Blackdog” and “The Leopard”, the first novel in the “Marakand” series, R.S. Belcher on “The Six Gun Tarot”, the prequel novel of “The Shotgun Aracana”, so
these two new ones are a welcomed continuation. Not only that, after all only a
glimpse of these two covers makes my fingers twitchy with the desire to hold
the books and look closer at their covers and makes my wish to dig within the
pages of the said books stronger. I simply cannot offer much resistance to
Raymond Swanland’s artworks.
Possessed
by a ghost who feeds on death, the undying assassin Ahjvar the Leopard has been
captured by the Lady of Marakand, enslaved by necromancy to be captain of her
Red Masks. His shield-bearer Ghu, a former slave with an uncanny ability to
free the captive dead, follows Ahjvar into the war-torn lands of the Duina
Catairna to release him, even if that means destroying what is left of Ahj's
tormented soul.
Deyandara,
the last surviving heir of the Catairnan queen, rides into a land ravaged by
disease and war, seeking the allies she abandoned months before, though they
have no hope of standing against the army led by the invulnerable Red Masks of
Marakand and the divine terror of the Lady.
In
the city of Marakand, former enemies ally and old friends seek one another's
deaths as loyalists of the entombed gods Gurhan and Ilbialla raise a revolt,
spearheaded by the Grasslander wizard Ivah, the shapeshifting Blackdog, and the
bear-demon Mikki. The Lady's defenses are not easily breached, though, and the
one enemy who might withstand her, the Northron wanderer Moth, bearer of the
sword Lakkariss, has vanished.
R.
S. Belcher's debut novel, The Six-Gun Tarot, was enthusiastically greeted by critics and readers,
who praised its wildly inventive mixture of dark fantasy, steampunk, and the
Wild West. Now Belcher returns to Golgotha, Nevada, a bustling frontier town
that hides more than its fair share of unnatural secrets.
1870.
A haven for the blessed and the damned, including a fallen angel, a mad
scientist, a pirate queen, and a deputy who is kin to coyotes, Golgotha has
come through many nightmarish trials, but now an army of thirty-two outlaws,
lunatics, serial killers, and cannibals are converging on the town, drawn by a
grisly relic that dates back to the Donner Party...and the dawn of humanity.
Sheriff
Jon Highfather and his deputies already have their hands full dealing with
train robbers, a mysterious series of brutal murders, and the usual outbreaks
of weirdness. But with thirty-two of the most vicious killers on
Earth riding into Golgotha in just a few day's time, the town and its people
will be tested as never before - and some of them will never be the same.
The Shotgun Arcana is even more spectacularly ambitious and imaginative
than The Six-Gun Tarot, and confirms R. S. Belcher's status as a rising star.
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