A strong ending to 2025 and start to 2026! Lots of highly-anticipated new books in this collection.
Featuring: RJ Barker, Tiffany Hanssen, Jason M. Hough, Allen Iverson (w. Ray Beauchamp), Ken Jaworowski, Michael McFaul, Michael Schur & Joe Posnanski, David R. Shedd & Andrew Badger, Caitlin Shetterly, Richard Swan, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Jason Zengerle
Featuring: Valerie Babb, RJ Barker, Jonathan D. Beer, Scott Eyman, Chris Hadfield, Darius Hinks, J. Robert Lennon, John Sargent, Martha Wells
Featuring: Joe Abercrombie, Shane Anderson, Carmelo Anthony, RJ Barker, Nicholas Bowling, Michael Carroll, Charles Cumming, Scott Eyman, John Higgins, Richard Kadrey, Anita Kopacz, Devin Madson, William McIlvanney, Premee Mohamed, Scotto Moore, Abir Mukherjee, Ian Rankin, Joe Mungo Reed, James Rollins, John Sandford, Dan Shaughnessy, Defne Suman, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Tade Thompson, Lavie Tidhar, Stevie Van Zandt, Matthew Ward, D. Watkins
Welcome back to CR! For newcomers, let’s start with an introduction: Who is RJ Barker?
Probably a bit of an oddball. I’m English, I live in Yorkshire, in Leeds, in an old house with lots of weird taxidermy, strange art, noisy music, my family and a very pretty but unpleasant cat. I also write books. But you probably knew that if you’re realising this here as it’s all about books. Or maybe you didn’t. If so, books are great, buy loads. You literally can never have enough
The second novel in your Tide Child series, Call of the Boneships, is due out on November 24th via Orbit. How would you introduce the series to a new reader? And what can fans of book one expect from the follow-up?
Right at the beginning I sort of described it as Hornblower vs. Godzilla. Which makes me laugh and is kind of true but like everything I do it’s about people and how they react to the world. It’s all set in a world that will be very unfamiliar to most people, full of strange creatures and a Matriarchal society that isn’t like ours and people that don’t think in quite the same way we do. But they still have relationships, and they still fear and they still fight for what they believe to be right. And there are massive sea dragons. Absolutely huge. Continue reading
Featuring: David Baldacci, RJ Barker, Ronald Brownstein, Kacen Callender, M. A. Carrick, Joe Clifford, Sam Cohen, Robert A. Dahl, Laura Dave, J. S. Dewes, Craig DiLouie, Peter Fehervari, Chris Fraser, David Guymer, David Hair, Matthew McConaughey, Ben McPherson, Kristyn Merbeth, Liz Moore, Marcus J. Moore, Nick Nurse, RV Raman, Corbin Reiff, Rebecca Roanhorse, Doug Smith, Bruce Sterling, Stuart Turton, Matthew Ward, Tyler Whitesides, Evan Winter,
Today, we have the honour of sharing an annotated excerpt from RJ Barker‘s highly-anticipated novel, The Bone Ships! The novel is due to be published by Orbit Books this week in both the UK and North America. First, though, here’s the synopsis:
A brilliantly imagined saga of honour, glory, and warfare…
Two nations at war. A prize beyond compare.
For generations, the fleets of the Hundred Isles have built their ships from the bones of ancient dragons to fight an endless war.
Then the dragons disappeared. But the battle for supremacy on the high seas persisted.
When the first dragon in centuries is spotted in far-off waters, both sides see a chance to shift the balance of power in their favour. Because whoever catches it will win not only glory, but the war.
Now, I’ll turn it over to RJ…
Featuring: Joe Abercrombie, Taylor Anderson, RJ Barker, Karen Cleveland, Ben Coes, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Amal El-Mohtar, Shamini Flint, Alexander Freed, Max Gladstone, Steven Goldstein, Thomas Harris, Scott Johnston, Joanna Kavenna, Mark Lawrence, Fonda Lee, Sarah Lotz, Dale Lucas, Ed McDonald, Emily Nussbaum, Dana Schwartz, L.C. Shaw, Sherri Smith, Anna Smith Spark, Charles Soule
The brutal, engrossing, twisty finale to the Wounded Kingdom trilogy
Assassin Girton Club-Foot has lived in relative peace for many years, but now his king, Rufra ap Vthyr, eyes the vacant High-King’s throne and will take his court to the capital. In a viper’s nest of intrigue, the endgame of twenty years of politics and murder will be played out in the bid to become the King of all Kings.
Friends become enemies, enemies become friends, and the god of death stands closer than ever, casting his shadow over everyone Girton holds dear.
And so the Wounded Kingdom trilogy comes to a close… It’s been a fantastic journey, to follow these characters from their youth to the ultimately tragic end of King of Assassins. Easily one of my favourite recent fantasy series, this finale did not disappoint. Continue reading
Featuring: Mark Adams, Tom Barbash, RJ Barker, Laird Barron, Terry Brooks, Jim Butcher, Gail Carrier, Bill Clinton, Nadia Dalbuono, Sebastien de Castell, Nicholas Eames, Joseph Fink, Lauren Groff, Nick Harkaway, Max Hastings, Jon Hollins, A.M. Homes, Phil Kelly, Harrison Scott Key, Steve Kornacki, Dale Lucas, Brian McClellan, David Mealing, Lawrence Osborne, James Patterson, Joanne Proulx, Vivian Shaw, Anna Smith Spark, Tasha Suri, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Tade Thompson, Patrick S. Tomlinson, Jennifer Wolfe
Girton Club-Foot returns
In a desperate bid to escape the bounty on his head, assassin Girton Club-Foot has returned to Maniyadoc, but the kingdom he knew no longer exists.
Three kings battle for supremacy in a land ravaged by war-and one of them is his old friend Rufra. With threats inside and outside the war encampment, Girton races to find the traitor behind an assassination plot. But his magic can no longer be contained and Girton may not be able to save even himself.
It’s assassin versus assassin for the life of a king.
RJ Barker’s Age of Assassins is one of the best debut fantasies I’ve read in some time. At a time when I’ve been struggling with the genre, Barker’s debut caught my attention from the opening scenes — it was amusing, the characters were very well-drawn, and the story was far more focused than many fantasies I’ve tried recently. In Blood of Assassins, Barker returns readers to Maniyadoc, five years after the events of the first novel. I enjoyed this novel a great deal. Continue reading
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