Gail Z. Martin - Chronicles of the Necromancer, The Sworn, The Fallen Kings Cycle

Book Two in The Fallen Kings Cycle

The DREAD

Summoner - King Tris Drayke takes what remains of the Margolan army north to fight a war. But he's heading for a fight they are ill-prepared to win, and spies confirm Tris's worst fear. A dark summoner is gathering his forces and plans to exploit the Winter Kingdoms' weakness.

And in Isencroft, King Donelan is assassinated. Tris's queen, Kiara, must return and claim her father's crown - but the summoner's agents will do anyting to stop her. Kiara and Tris must discover his secrets, find the mysterious power surrounding their infant son, and face the awesome power of the Dread as they rise from their barrows for the first time in over a millennium. And if the summoner claims the Dread for his own, only old magic can hold back the nightmare.

The SWORN

Book One in The Fallen Kings Cycle

Summoner - King Martris Drayke must attempt to meet this great threat, gathering an army from a country ravaged by civil war. Tris seeks new allies from among the living - and the dead - as an untested generation of rulers face their first battle. Meanwhile, the legendary Dread are stirring in their burrows after millennia of silence and no one knows what hand wakes them and whom they will serve when they rise.

Now, Drayke turns to the Sworn, a nomadic clan of warriors bound to protect the Dread. But even the mighty Sworn do not know what will happen when the Dread awake. All are certain, though, that war is coming to the Winter Kingdoms.

THE SWORN is the beginning of a new adventure set in the world of The Chronicles of the Necromancer.

DARK LADY'S CHOSEN

Treachery and blood magic threaten King Martris Drayke’s hold on the throne he risked everything to win. As the battle comes to its final days, war, plague and betrayal bring Margolan to the brink of destruction. And in Dark Haven, Lord Jonmarc Vahanian has bargained his soul for vengeance as he leads the vayash moru against a dangerous rogue who would usher in a future drenched in blood.

DARK HAVEN

In Dark Haven, the effects of Jared the Usurper's reign of terror strike at the stability of the Winter Kingdoms. Undead forces align against Lord Jonmarc Vahanian of Dark Haven in a struggle for power between mortals and the vayash moru. Some among the vayash moru are unhappy that a mortal lord is returning to Dark Haven. Jonmarc must win the trust of Dark Haven's mortal residents while playing a dangerous game of politics with its vayash moru. As everyone keeps reminding him, the last four lords died young.Throughout the Winter Kingdoms, magic has become a dangerous and unpredictable force.

The Flow, a river of magical e nergy, was badly damaged when Arontala ripped the Soulcatcher orb from beneath Dark Haven years ago. Now, the Flow is unstable, threatening the lives and sanity of the mages who draw on it for power. As King Martris Drayke prepares for his wedding, he must also prepare for war against rebels still loyal to Jared. Isencroft is on the brink of civil war over the looming reality of a joint kingdom.

Only one thing is certain-the Winter Kingdoms will be changed forever, and innocence is the first casualty.

I know you read a LOT of books in a year.
So I’d like to introduce you to some of my author friends and their books.

Paul Kearney

Corvus

It is twenty-three years since a Macht army fought its way home from the heart of the Asurian Empire. The man who came to lead that army, Rictus, is now a hard-bitten mercenary captain, middle-aged and tired. He wants nothing more than to lay down his spear and become the farmer that his father was. But fate has different ideas. A young warleader has risen to challenge the order of things in the very heartlands of the Macht. A soldier of genius, he takes city after city, and reigns over them as king. What is more, he had heard of the legendary leader of the Ten Thousand. His name is Corvus, and the rumours say that he is not even fully human. He means to make himself absolute ruler of all the Macht. And he wants Rictus to help him.

Rowena Cory Daniells

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.

Juliet McKenna

Irons in the Fire

The country of Lescar was carved out of the collapsing Tormalin Empire by ambitious men who all felt entitled to seize power for themselves. Now six rival dukedoms are ruled by their descendants, who all lay claim to the crown of high king. Dukes pursue their ambitions through strategic alliances and strength of arms while their duchesses plot marriages and discreet pacts. As long as the battles stay inside Lescari borders, neighbouring powers are content to buy up whatever the dukedoms can produce and sell their rulers whatever they can afford by way of luxuries or necessities. Amoral opportunists come from far and wide to seek their fortunes in the mercenary bands who ride the successive tides of warfare. All the while the ordinary people struggle to raise their crops and families amid the turns and chances of uncaring uncertainty. Many leave, preferring to live abroad as exiles, poorer but safer. Those who can afford to send whatever coin they can spare back to family and friends still labouring to pay the dues and levies that the dukes demand. Now a mismatched band of exiles and rebels are agreed that the time has come for change. Can a small group, however determined, put an end to generations of intractable misery? Perhaps. After all, a few stones falling in the right place can set a landslide in motion. But who can predict what the consequences will be, when all the dust has settled?

Faith Hunter

BloodRing

In a novel filled with exhilarating action and lush imagery, Faith Hunter portrays a near-future world caught in the throes of an ambiguous apocalypse-where a woman with everything to hide finds her destiny revealed...

No one prophesied an apocalypse like this. The world didn't end. The appearance of seraphs heralded three plagues and a devastating war between the forces of good and evil. Over a hundred years later, the earth has plunged into an ice age, and seraphs and demons fight a never-ending battle while religious strife rages among the surviving humans.

Thorn St. Croix is no ordinary neomage. All the others of her kind, mages who can twist leftover creation energy to their will, were gathered into Enclaves long ago; There they live in luxurious confinement, isolated from humans and exploited for their magic. When a unique battle-mage gift nearly drives her insane, Thorn escapes, and now she lives disguised as a human, a fugitive, channeling her gifts for war into stone-magery and the pacific tasks of jewelry making. But when Thaddeus Bartholomew, a dangerously attractive policeman, implies she kidnapped her ex-husband, Lucas, Thorn retrieves her weapons and risks revealing her identity to find him.

And for Thorn, the punishment for revelation is death...

The Rogue Mage Series: BloodRing, Seraphs, Host

Misty Massey

Mad Kestrel

"In a world where infants with magical powers are torn from their parents to be raised by the mysterious and powerful Danisoba, who have a monopoly on magic, Kestrel has managed to keep her abilities concealed—and herself free. First hiding in back alleys as a street urchin, she hid when they killed her parents, and then served as a young tavern maid before escaping to sea, where magic is cancelled by water.

Now an adult, as the quartermaster of a pirate ship, Kestrel loves the freedom of living on the seas. But her way of life could end if anyone on board learns her closely guarded secret—that she has magical control over the wind. When Kestrel's captain is led into a trap and is arrested, she gathers her crew and sets sail in relentless pursuit."

Jean Marie Ward / Teri Smith

With Nine You Get Vanyr

Sometimes you make a wish. Sometimes you wish you hadn't.

A fateful wish transports nine American women to a world of magic and superstition, where the immortal sons of the goddess Reyah fight a never-ending war--mostly against each other. Reyah thinks her boys will settle down once they meet the right girls, and she'll do everything in her considerable power to get the new arrivals in line with her program.

But Earth girls aren't that easy. They've got serious issues with this gig. They miss their computers, their cell phones, two-ply toilet paper.

And they don't believe in fate.

James Maxey

Cherry Red Rocket Ship

Cherry Red Rocket Ship is a rather retro look at the future, with parking lots full of rocket ships, sexy and flexible alien babes, and space gorillas. It takes about five minutes to read, and those five minutes are packed with an escape from jail, trips to Mars and Saturn, a critique of modern physics, a primer on alien biology, two decapitations, one dinosaur attack, a fun fact about intestines, and coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

Jeri Smith - Ready

The Reawakened

The stunning conclusion to the award-winning ASPECT OF CROW trilogy The Reawakened.
At one time the Spirits united the land and its people.

Then came the dark days.

She is Rhia, bound to the Spirit of Crow and gifted with vision. In a world besieged by escalating conflict, fate has marked her to deliver the Reawakened from oppression.

Now, with a mighty army of Descendants threatening to crush what's left of her people's magic, she must trust an ancient prophecy and accept the power that is her birthright-the power of life and death itself.

For while the storm of revolution rages, the legacy of the Reawakened is about to be rewritten...in her family's blood.

J.F. Lewis

Staked

In Void City, the vampires run the town, the cops are on the take, and the werewolves have found religion… but Eric doesn’t give a damn about any of that. He just wants to run his club, drink a little blood, and be left alone. Yeah. Not gonna happen. After killing a werewolf in self-defense, Eric is in for one hell of a hard time. He must survive car crashes, enchanted bullets, sunlight, sex magic, and werewolves on ice, not to mention his own nasty temper and forgetfulness.

Because being undead isn’t easy, but it sure beats the alternative.

Janny Wurts

Stormed Fortress

Though Athera may be free, the fight is far from over...

The heartstopping conclusion to the Alliance of Light series brings Lysaer's army of Light to besiege the great citadel at Alestron.

Master of Shadow, Arithon, with barely a moment's recuperation from his voctory over the necromancers, has discovered that young Jeynsa s'Valerient, whom he has sworn to protect, has joined the ranks of his disowned allies within the threatened citadel. Worse, following a failed rescue attempt, his beloved Elaira, his double Fionn Areth, and the spellbinder Dakar are also trapped within Alestron's walls.

Arithon stands alone at the hour of reckoning as the true purpose of the Koriani enchantresses becomes, at long last, fully unveiled - with the covetous Prime Matriarch poised to snatch a prize, a prize beyond that of merely integrity and life...

David B. Coe.

The Sorcerers' Plague

How long is too long to wait for vengeance? How far would one woman go to avenge a wrong that others have long since forgotten? How much would one man sacrifice to save the lives of people he doesn’t even know? These questions lie at the heart of The Sorcerers’ Plague, book one in David B. Coe’s Blood of the Southlands trilogy, the eagerly anticipated follow-up to Coe’s critically acclaimed Wind of the Southlands sequence. The Sorcerers’ Plague is now available in hardcover and will be released in paperback in February 2009. And The Horsemen’s Gambit, the second book in the trilogy, will be published in January 2009. www.davidbcoe.com

Coffee Shop of Horrors

Reanimator

Settle down with a good book and a steaming cup of fresh roasted coffee! Pre-order Dark Haven - Book Three of the Chronicles of the Necromancer by Gail Z. Martin - and receive a 10% discount on your next order from Coffee Shop of Horrors.

Coffee Shop of Horrors is the official supplier of coffee to all creatures of the night. All of our terrifyingly delicious coffee is roasted fresh to order from the finest beans available worldwide."

Order THE DREAD now and get a virtual basket of goodies from my author friends as my “thank-you” absolutely FREE.

What international reviewers are saying about the Chronicles of the Necromancer series:

With creepy ghosts, nefarious undead, magic, plenty of intrigue, and even a little romance, high fantasy fans shouldn’t miss this series.

--Sci Fi Chick (about Dark Haven)

This saga is far too good to simply let it pass by unread. It is full of drama, magic, and amazing battles. I gladly lost a lot of sleep just so I could read "just a few pages more." Brilliant!

--Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews (about Dark Haven)

I loved the story, I would still gladly pick up this book and read it again. I love her writing style; it's very fluid, dynamic, and involving, never lagging or tiring. The world she has created is beautiful and rich in texture, always getting better with each book. The characters are truly three dimensional and enjoyable. But, with all the trials and tribulations the characters are involved in it's easy to get entranced by the events unfolding. She is definitely making an impact in the fantasy genre as her stories change, evolve, bringing a degree of tension and drama that still maintains the classic fantasy feel. Definitely something I'd recommend to fantasy and non-fantasy readers, especially when her next book comes out.

--Epheros (about Dark Haven)

My recommendation for this series gets stronger with each book, so just buy it now before I start going door-to-door!

--Neolibrarium (about Dark Haven)

Gail Martin has the rare ability to make you love her characters in a short amount of time. I’ll definitely be waiting with baited breath for the next installment. I highly recommend this series.

--WaitingForFairies (About Dark Haven)

This is an exciting opening fantasy thriller with an intriguing premise. (The Summoner)

The sequel to THE SUMMONER, THE BLOOD KING is an exciting quest fantasy... The story line is action-packed from the opening... this is a terrific tale.

--Harriet Klausner, Merry Genre Go Round Reviews

Along with the intrigue, the action is often dark and bloody and should satisfy the demands of those in need of an intense sword and sorcery fix. Dark Haven is a thoroughly entertaining page turner filled with engaging good guys and suitably dangerous bad guys.

--SciFiGuy

This saga is far too good to simply let it pass by unread. It is full of drama, magic, and amazing battles. I gladly lost a lot of sleep just so I could read "just a few pages more." Brilliant!

--Detra Fitch, Huntress Reviews (about Dark Haven)

If you’re already a fan of this series, this book is one you should not miss. If you haven’t read any of them yet, I encourage you to start at the beginning of the series and give it a chance. If you’re a fan of Terry Goodkind’s “Sword of Truth” series or Robert Jordan’s “Wheel of Time” series, I think you owe it to yourself to try this series as well. The world is vividly described, the character development is supreme …a very incredible read.

--Amy Weidenhaar for Patricia’s Vampire Notes (about Dark Haven)

This is a super third tale that fans of the Necromancer fantasy saga will enjoy. Exciting and well written, Gail Z. Martin provides a deep tale that makes the case that John Milton’s “Better to rule in Hell than to serve in Heaven” omits how much more difficult to rule is than to serve.

--Harriet Klausner, Merry Genre Go Round Reviews

Rather than get bogged down in details or endless back-and-forth dialogues between characters for the sake of argument, Martin keeps things zipping along. For the type of reader who views plot as a way to get the various characters on stage and interacting; however, Dark Haven will be heavenly. The characters are undeniably strong and distinctive, and they get to show off in interesting ways on a regular basis.

--Richard Dansky, Fantasy Magazine

The Blood King is a highly addictive novel, easy to read despite its length and following a rational and decent story. Mrs. Martin has succeeded in bringing a solid plot with serious denouement and quality twists; and shows endowment for writing fantasy fiction. The writer’s style is clear; the characters show progress during the following events. I was pleasantly surprised by the finale of the novel and I’m definitely looking forward to the third volume of Chronicles of the Necromancer trilogy. Its title will be Dark Haven, so vampire fans – rejoice over the Blood Council’s return.

--Vasil Toskov, Starlighter

“The prose is tight and well executed and at times you feel like magically going from pages 214 to 355. If you truly like high fantasy with all its glory of the golden days, when it ruled the publishing business, then by all means this book will transport you back there. It's a promising debut. Gail Z. Martin is here to stay.”

--Harry Markov, Temple Library Reviews

As epic dark fantasy goes, The Blood King was entertaining and satisfactory. Martin's strengths lie in worldbuilding and the big picture. I'll be interested in seeing what Martin does next, as I believe she has a lot of potential.

--SF Signal

The Blood King is the riveting sequel to The Summoner. It entertained and kept me spellbound to the end. When I turned the last page I couldn’t help but wish for more.

--Victoria Kennedy, Midwest Book Review

Gail Z. Martin’s The Blood King is a fantastic sequel to The Summoner. This book is as wonderfully rich and full fantasy, and you become so attached to the characters that you don’t want it to end. Armchair Interviews says: Another great series for Fantasy fans.

--Jennifer Johnson, Armchair Interviews

This is a THICK book, but I never grew bored, not once. Hand-to-hand combat, necromancy, goddesses, good and bad spirits, magical combat, betrayal... I cannot begin to describe all the different elements that the author, Gail Z. Martin, has spun together to create this outstanding tapestry. The book ends in, what I believe to be, the perfect place. When I finished reading the last page and closed the book, I sat for several minutes just thinking it all. I am in awe of this author's talents and have to wonder if she may be a sorceress herself. In a word, "PERFECT!"

--Detra Fitch, Huntress Reviews

I loved this story from beginning to end. Packed with suspense, excitement, and colorful characters, The Summoner is a true epic fantasy. Gail Martin has done a wonderful job of taking well-known story elements and infusing them into a truly magical tale.

--SciFiChick

Complex and believable characters will have you supporting their crusade for justice from the very first pages. You will believe communicating with those passed is possible and believe it is possible to harness magic within. The Summoner is a fast paced, gripping read that will make it hard for you to put it down. Gail’s original story writing is fantasy at its best. I can’t wait to read Book 2 of the Chronicles of the Necromancer. Bring it on!

-- Natalie Cain, Dark Animus

Martris' powers of necromancy and his interactions with ghosts along the way are a good touch…the prose is competent and certainly a cut above…if not outstanding in its own right.

--Justin, Fantasy Book Critic

Order THE DREAD now and get a virtual basket of goodies from my author friends as my “thank-you” absolutely FREE.