The work week begins. I quickly slip into my business suit and head back into the office to save a few innocent people. But while I try to fool myself into being excited about the grind, deep down, I’m not, so I’m going to escape dreary reality by reading some great books.

Well, this week things are looking a bit more positive.  Sure, I’m still running a bit behind schedule, but I’m definitely making progress.  Whether the kids returning to school this week will help my reading or hurt it only time will tell, but I’m trying to be pragmatic, so I’m only lining up two novellas.  Hopefully, I’ll fly through them and get to that growing pile of books I need to read.

Ghosts of the Tristan Basin by Brian McClellan

Genre: Fantasy – Flintlock

Series: Powder Mage #0.7

Publisher: Self Published (February 16, 2016)

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Length: 90 pages

Taniel Two-Shot is a powder mage with the Tristan Ghost Irregulars, a band of volunteers who have made a name for themselves fighting in the Fatrastan Revolution. They range through the swamps of the frontier, cutting off enemy supplies and raiding towns while Taniel hunts the Privileged sorcerers that make the Kez armies so powerful.

When a desperate call for help comes from the nearby city of Planth, the Irregulars aren’t the only ones to answer and Taniel must deal with another hero of the revolution: Mad Colonel Styke. But not all is well within the young Fatrastan government, and more hangs on the defense of Planth than Taniel and his companions could possibly know.

Occurs eight months before the events of Promise of Blood.

Purchase the novella at Amazon.

Sunset Mantle by Alter S. Reiss 

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Tor (September 15, 2015)

Length: 192 pages

With a single blow, Cete won both honor and exile from his last commander. Since then he has wandered, looking for a place to call home. The distant holdings of the Reach Antach offer shelter, but that promise has a price.

The Reach Antach is doomed.

Barbarians, traitors, and scheming investors conspire to destroy the burgeoning settlement. A wise man would move on, but Cete has found reason to stay. A blind weaver-woman and the beautiful sunset mantle lure the warrior to wager everything he has left on one final chance to turn back the hungry tides of war.

Purchase the novella at Amazon.