Author to Author with Amanda Hocking (Between the Blade and the Heart Blog Tour)

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I had the pleasure of reading an eARC of Between the Blade and the Heart (2018) by Amanda Hocking. It’s an urban fantasy about Valkyries whose purpose is to send immortals back to the underworld. There are secrets, tension, and really cool fight scenes galore. I especially loved how differently Malin approaches her relationship with Quinn and her relationship with Asher. Her relationship with her mother is particularly compelling.

As part of the blog tour, Amanda answered some questions about the craft and inspiration for this Scandinavian-inspired urban fantasy. The book comes out January 2nd.

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Author to Author with S.A. Chakraborty

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Happy book day to Shan Chakraborty’s City of Brass, a lush epic fantasy about a con artist whisked off to an enchanting world to discover who she really is. There is magic, sword fights, and political intrigue sprinkled throughout and finely woven together. As the book is also Shan’s debut, I invited her to take time to talk about world-building, process, critique groups, and publishing. Shan and I are also part of the Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers group together, an excellent community of writers working on projects in science fiction, fantasy, and everything in between.

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