Christmas Reading List

Ah, the holidays are almost upon us and there are a lot of folks like me who are still pondering what to get their loved ones. Panic hasn't -- quite -- set in. After all, there's still time. It's not Christmas Eve yet. Still, waiting until the last minute doesn't always work. And the crowds...the crowds!!!! Oh, wait, that's my nightmare. Any way, to help find that perfect book for friends and loved ones, here's a partial list of books published by members of the MGC crew and links of where to find them.

Dave Freer:

Dragon's Ring (available now in hard cover and for pre-order in paperback.) Tasmarin is a place of dragons, a plane cut off from all other worlds, where dragons can be dragons and humans can be dinner. It’s a place of islands, forests, mountains and wild oceans, filled with magical denizens. Fionn—the black dragon—calmly tells anyone who will listen that he’s going to destroy the place. Of course he’s a joker, a troublemaker and a dragon of no fixed abode. No one ever believes him.

He’s dead serious.

Slow Train to Arcturus - The planet Miran had sent a spaceship to rendezvous with the enormous vessel that was approaching their star system. The vessel's design was odd—a multitude of separate globular habitats in a framework—and most of the alien team that entered one of the habitats were slaughtered by savage creatures called “humans.” One alien had barely managed to escape to another habitat where the humans were more friendly, if rather technologically backward. But he needed to get back to his spaceship, and he would need one human's help to do that.

They would have to travel through several more habitats, each one isolated from the other, each with its own bizarre dangers and customs. And friendliness toward strangers was not one of those customs. . .

The Goth Sex-Kitten & Other Stories (also available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but if you order through Naked Reader Press, Dave -- and all our authors -- get a larger % of the royalties.) A collection of six short stories by Dave Freer. A sorcerer's familiar finds himself thrust into a New York populated by magical beings and zombie bartenders after getting into trouble -- again. A mysterious silkie haunts the seaside. A lawyer does battle with the Devil. A mysterious tune leads a woman to her long missing lover. A man's journey to meet his death leads instead to an encounter with the dreaded Jack o' Lantern. A man's good deed in aiding an injured fay leads to a reunion with a past love and possible death.


Rowena Cory Daniells:

King Rolen's Kin: The King's Bastard.

The Kingdom of Rolencia sleeps as rumours of new Affinity Seeps, places where the untamed power wells up. By royal decree all those afflicted with Affinity must serve the Abbey or face death. Sent to the Ab­bey, the King’s youngest son, Fyn, trains to become a warrior monk. Elsewhere others are tainted with Affinity and must fight to survive. Political intrigue and magic combine in this explosive first book in an exciting new fantasy trilogy.

King Rolen's Kin: The Uncrowned King.

Rolencia's ancestry enemy, Merofynia, has invaded and marches on King Rolen's castle. Powerless to help, thirteen yeard old Piro watches as her father, King Rolen, listens to poisoned whispers against Bryen. How could the King doubt his second son? De­termined to prove his loyalty, Bryen races across the path of the advancing army to ask the Abbot to send the warriors monks in defence of the castle.

King Rolen's Kin: The Usurper.

Now a slave, Piro finds herself in the Merofynian Palace where, if her real identity is discovered, she will be executed. Meanwhile, Fyn is desperate to help his brother, Bryen, who is now the uncrowned King. Bryen never sought power but now he finds himself at the centre of a dangerous resistance movement as the people of Rolencia flee vicious invaders. How can Byren defeat the invaders, when half his warriors are women and children, and the other half are untrained boys and old men?

Sarah A. Hoyt:

Darkship Thieves.

Athena Hera Sinistra never wanted to go to space. Never wanted see the eerie glow of the Powerpods. Never wanted to visit Circum Terra. Never had any interest in finding out the truth about the DarkShips. You always get what you don’t ask for. Which must have been why she woke up in the dark of shipnight, within the greater night of space in her father’s space cruiser, knowing that there was a stranger in her room. In a short time, after taking out the stranger—who turned out to be one of her father’s bodyguards up to no good, she was hurtling away from the ship in a lifeboat to get help. But what she got instead would be the adventure of a lifetime—if she managed to survive. . . .

French Polished Murder (Book 2 of the Refinishing Mysteries, written as Elise Hyatt).

Divorced mom, Candyce "Dyce" Dare is the owner of the furniture refinishing store Daring Finds. When she discovers decades-old letters inside an antique piano she's renovating, she becomes distracted by an investigation that puts her at odds with the letter-writer's very powerful local family.





A Touch of Night by Sarah A. Hoyt & Sofie Skapski. (Also available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble. But, as with Goth Sex Kitten, the authors get a larger share of the royalties if you purchase directly from Naked Reader Press.)

In a world where magic reigns and being a shape shifter is the only crime that warrants immediate execution, this is how Pride and Prejudice would be written. The novel is set in the world of Sarah A. Hoyt's Magical British Empire.




Kate Paulk:

Knights in Tarnished Armor. (Also available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble)

In this comedy of errors, er, letters, the knights aren't quite as shiny and the maidens aren't quite as fair as one would expect. Add in dragons, plotting parents and more and you have a ribald tale of fun and unexpected love.






Born in Blood (Also available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble)

Vlad Dracul, known later in life as Vlad the Impaler, suffered more than any should at the hands of Mehmed, son of Sultan Murad. Of all the pain and indignities brought upon him at the behest of the future ruler of the Ottoman Empire, the curse was the worst. All the young Vlad can do is try to survive and plot his vengeance.

This is the prequel to Kate's upcoming novel, Impaler.




Chris McMahon:

Daikaiju! 2 - Revenge of the Giant Monsters

The first much-anticipated sequel to the award-winning anthology Daikaiju! Giant Monster Tales. Stories of impossible dimension, startling invention and big-budget spectacle by an international line-up of authors!







The Calvanni

The time is Storm Season on the world of Yos, when the twin suns eclipse and the planet is plunged into bitter cold. It is usually a time of quiet, when the wise lock their doors, praying for the demons of the red sun-Goddess Uros to pass them by. Yet deep in the Caverns of Maht, Hukum, the Sorcerer-Lord of cavern-dwelling Eathal, plots his Vengeance.
Cedrin, a street-wise calvanni (knife-fighter), is summoned to the secret underground tunnels of the Brotherhood of the Night. There, Cedrin is forced to join in a rebellion against the rulers of his native Athria. Caught between the threat of death and his suspicions that all is not what it seems, he must try to keep his friends alive and escape.
Ellen, daughter of the assassinated Athrian Sarlord, is named as heir before his death. She struggles to assert herself as the new ruler, little suspecting the civil war that will be unleashed on Athria within days.

If you happen to enjoy short stories, Naked Reader Press has released a collection of stories, including titles from Dave, Sarah and Kate entitled Night Whispers. As with all our works, you can also find it at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

The world is never what it seems. There are things out there that go bump in the night. The shadows are alive and you never know what sort of strange creatures an all too curious cat might bring in. Take a trip through the incredible with this collection of short stories.


Hope this helps.