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8/10
Review: The Underwater Ballroom Society, Edited by Stephanie Burgis & Tiffany Trent
Reviews / April 16, 2018

When Stephanie Burgis contacted me to propose I read and review this collection of short stories from various authors, I was quite intrigued: I had enjoyed both her two historical fantasy novels (Masks and Shadows and Congress of Secrets) and her novella Snowspelled, with its alternate version of Regency England where magic is as common as teapots, so that I was fairly certain I would appreciate these short works centered on the shared theme of an underwater ballroom. The location itself would have been enticement enough as a narrative lynchpin, but once I learned from the preface that an underwater ballroom does indeed exist as the remnant of a once-lavish estate, my curiosity did skyrocket: I have by now learned that Ms. Burgis loves to employ true historical details as her writing’s cornerstones, and the fact that she proposed the same core theme to other writers, to do as they pleased within their stories, made for a potentially fascinating journey.  And that’s what this collection was, indeed. Each story is wildly different, ranging from steampunk fantasy to what I labelled as “fairy stories for grown-ups”, but each of them features the famous underwater ballroom in one way or another, and…

Upcoming Releases: January 8 – 14, 2017
Upcoming Releases / January 7, 2017

Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION           HORROR   FANTASY     URBAN FANTASY   SCIENCE FICTION HORROR     FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION           HORROR   Bookburners Gladstone, Max 1/10/2017 Chasing Shadows: Visions of Our Coming Transparent Future ed. David Brin & Stephen W. Potts 1/10/2017 Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day Seanan McGuire 1/10/2017 Little Heaven Cutter, Nick 1/10/2017 Octavia Butler’s Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation Damian Duffy & John Jennings 1/10/2017 RoseBlood A.G. Howard 1/10/2017 Sin du Jour: The First Course Matt Wallace 1/10/2017 The Bear and the Nightingale Katherine Arden 1/10/2017 The Burning Page Cogman, Genevieve 1/10/2017 The Cold Eye Gilman, Laura Anne 1/10/2017 The El Sombra Trilogy Al Ewing 1/10/2017 The Last Harvest…