Kickstarter Day 2 Mountain Pic & Book Rec

24 hours since I hit launch, and Labyrinth of Flame's kickstarter is at $3100: wow!!! Can't believe there's only $900 to go and this book can be a reality.  HUGE thanks to all of you who pledged so far - I am so grateful for your support.  Keep on spreading the word and you'll be sure to have the book in your hands! 

Also, artist Dave Palumbo gave me the okay to offer prints of Whitefire Crossing and Tainted City's cover art along with Labyrinth of Flame's - have I mentioned how awesome Dave is?  Anyway, for $5 each you can add prints onto any reward level and enjoy Dave's excellent art along with the book.

As promised, I'll be posting mountain pics and book recommendations every day until the Kickstarter ends.  For the first installment, I thought it'd be appropriate to choose a pic from the Sierra Nevada (the inspiration for the Whitefire Mountains of my series).  This one was taken during my 3-week backpacking trip doing part of Steve Roper's High Route, which travels along the crest of the range.

Evening light after a thunderstorm on the Sierra crest

For my first book recommendation, I'm doing not just one book but two: Alex Bledsoe's The Hum and the Shiver, and the related novella Hisses and Wings that he and Teresa Frohock wrote together.  I'd loved Teresa's work since I first read her debut Miserere: An Autumn Tale, so when I heard she and Alex had written a novella together I snapped it right up.  But since the novella is a melding of Teresa's Los Nefilim and Alex's Tufa worlds, I decided I first wanted to read one of his Tufa novels.  This isn't necessary - Teresa and Alex assured me the novella was written so it could be read independently, and they are right - but I do think it adds an extra layer of resonance to a shared-world work when you're familiar with the worlds involved. 

In any case, I'm very glad I did read The Hum and the Shiver.  It's a subtle, thoughtful book that explores the aftereffects of war and trauma in a way that few fantasy novels do.  I particularly liked the rural Appalachian setting and the lovely blend of the mundane and the magical.  Reminded me of one of my favorite fantasy series as a teen, Tom Deitz's David Sullivan series (first book Windmaster's Bane), which is set in rural Georgia and also combines faerie lore with modern dilemmas.

Which leads me to Hisses and Wings, which I also thoroughly enjoyed and left me wanting more of Teresa's Los Nefilim in particular.  (There are several Tufa novels out, but not yet a Los Nefilim book!)  The sense of history among her characters is so rich and deep that I am dying to find out more about them.  I also love the use of magic and music, and that the story doesn't end in the way a fantasy reader might be conditioned to expect.  The novella's only 99 cents on the Kindle, so if you've never read either author's work, it's a great way to get started.  Me, I'm looking forward to enjoying more Tufa novels, and hoping for more Los Nefilim stories from Teresa very soon!