Kamil, a thirty-something medieval weapons trader resides in the notorious Red Light District in Prague. Despite his hatred for prostitutes, he accepts an offer from Ginny – a local sex worker. As their unusual friendship unfolds and Kamil witnesses several bizarre scenarios, he begins to suspect that Ginny might not be an ordinary prostitute… Having read Moribund Tales and The Pariahs, I jumped at the opportunity to take a look at Erik Hofstatter’s latest, Katerina. What begins as a relatively straightforward transaction, quickly evolves into something completely different and unexpected. Kamil comes across, as least initially, as cocky and self-assured while Ginny is far more cautious. As their relationship develops, it feels like there is a complete one eighty in this dynamic. Ginny grows in confidence while Kamil feels less and less certain of exactly what is going on. I’d like to tell you the reasons why these changes occur, but I fear this would be rather spoilery. Suffice to say, if you decide to read the novelette, more detail will be revealed. For me, it’s the interactions between both characters that are the highlight of the piece. There is an air of hesitation and distrust as Kamil and Ginny…

Ben McKelvie believes he’s moving up in the world when he and his fiancée buy a house in the cushy Washington, D.C., suburb of Barcroft. Instead, he’s moving down—way down—thanks to Madeleine Roux, the crazy neighbor whose vermin-infested property is a permanent eyesore and looming hazard to public health. First, Ben’s fiancée leaves him; then, his dog dies, apparently killed by a predator drawn into Barcroft by Madeleine’s noxious menagerie. But the worst is yet to come for Ben, for he’s not dealing with any ordinary wild animal. This killer is something much, much worse. Something that couldn’t possibly exist—in this world. Now, as a devilish creature stalks the locals, Ben resolves to take action. With some grudging assistance from a curator at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and the crackpot theories of a self-styled cryptozoologist, he discovers the sinister truth behind the attacks, but knowing the Beast of Barcroft and stopping it are two different animals. I’ll be honest; this novel caught me completely unaware. I was looking for something to fill a gap in my reviewing schedule, and was fortunate enough to pick up an e-copy via Net Galley. I had absolutely no idea what to expect going in…

Please note – Europe at Midnight is a sequel to Europe in Autumn and this review will likely contain spoilers if you haven’t read the first book in this series. Dont say I didn’t warn ya! In a fractured Europe, new nations are springing up everywhere, some literally overnight. For an intelligence officer like Jim it’s a nightmare. Every week or so a friendly power spawns a new and unknown national entity which may or may not be friendly to England’s interests. It’s hard to keep on top of it all. But things are about to get worse for Jim. A stabbing on a London bus pitches him into a world where his intelligence service is preparing for war with another universe, and a man has appeared who may hold the key to unlocking Europe’s most jealously guarded secret.. I only read Europe in Autumn last week. I enjoyed it so much I went straight from that into Europe at Midnight. Near future Europe is falling apart, nation by nation. The United Kingdom is now far from united, and on the European mainland many other countries are following suit. As if this constantly shifting political landscape wasn’t complicated enough, it…

A fractured Europe, a cook-turned-spy, a mighty web of espionage – but what happens when conspiracy threatens to overwhelm even reality itself? Europe in Autumn is a dystopian SF espionage thriller that evokes the Cold War novels of John Le Carré and the nightmarish world of Franz Kafka, taking place in a war and disease-torn Europe of hundreds of tiny nations. Rudi is a cook in a Kraków restaurant, but when boss asks him to help a cousin escape from the country he’s trapped in, a new career – part spy, part people-smuggler – begins. Recruited by the shadowy organisation Les Coureurs des Bois, Rudi is schooled in espionage. When he is sent to smuggle someone out of Berlin and finds a severed head inside a locker instead, a conspiracy begins to wind itself around him. With kidnapping, double-crosses and a map that constantly re-draws itself, Europe in Autumn is a modern science fiction thriller like no other. Ok, I’ll admit it. I am more than fashionably late when it comes to this particular party. What can I say? The life of a book reviewer is a battle against the same ever encroaching horror – so many books, so little…

The Society of Blood is a direct sequel to The Wolves of London. With that in mind it is highly likely that this review will contain something akin to spoilers if you haven’t read the first book in this series. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Transported through time to the dank streets of Victorian London, Alex Locke seeks to unravel the mysteries of the Obsidian Heart, the enigmatic object to which his fate is inextricably bound. When a string of grisly murders takes place across the capital, Alex follows a trail that will lead him through the opium dens of Limehouse into the dark and twisted world of the Society of Blood, and ever closer to unlocking the secret of the Heart. I read the first part of The Obsidian Heart trilogy, The Wolves of London, last year on a whim. I knew nothing about it and picked it up solely based on the fantastically gothic cover. It was an absolutely brilliant book that left me wanting more. Now, the second part of the trilogy is upon us and the good news is that it’s just as good as its predecessor. When we last left Alex Locke and Clover…