Spring is upon us, and the very air is seething with opportunity and possibility. The time has come to breathe deep the heady atmosphere of narrative and float away into a new book or two!
We begin with a wonderful novella from Adrian Tchaikovsky called Elder Race. It seems to be a standard fairy tale, complete with a princess, a sorcerer and a demon…but in this story things are very much not as they seem. This novella contains one of the most brilliant “split-screen” moments I have ever seen in print. This is the story you get if you take the phrase “from a certain point of view” and spin it out to the logical conclusion, and at just 198 pages in paperback, it’s the perfect book to read at the park.
If you’re in the mood for something quite a bit darker, huddle a little closer to the light and mind the shadows; things are about to get intense. A decade ago, some college students discovered a way to slip into different universes. Sliding into these “alts” is fraught with danger, as absolutely anything could be there. They set out with an idea to make things better, and failed spectacularly. Lives and loves were shattered in the process. Now, some rough beast slouches toward our reality, and those that once fought must stand or all will be consumed. Max Gladstone has written a wonderfully taught tale in Last Exit full of darkness that creeps in from the edges.
We’ve got all kinds of reading material at the Lair, including full length novels and novellas that have been carefully selected for their content and excellence. Stop by sometime and check them out!
-Article By Rob H.