Read more posts by the author of The Bad New Beginning * OR * I promise there is a contest hidden in this post if you read until the end,

The Bad New Beginning * OR * I promise there is a contest hidden in this post if you read until the end published on

Dear reader, I’m sure you thought I’d been lost to the outer darkness. Never to be heard from again.

You see, I’ve been very busy and ignoring you all, and that was irritating a Certain Person with Early Access to Books, who bribed me with a particularly coveted ARC (and more about this next week!). to come back and write for you all again. So here we are, and I’m trying to figure out where to begin, besides, of course, the beginning.

For those of you who know me, it isn’t going to be much of a shock that I can be bribed. I’m fairly easily bribed actually. Cookies, books, or a particularly delightful picture of Colin Farrell and my soul is yours; lock stock, and a bitter dose of sarcasm.

So where to begin?

What have I been reading? Well, so much actually. But I guess I should start with the most exciting (and as a reward for reading all this, I’ll be giving you an opportunity to get a free book too).

You see, earlier this year, I found out that the ever-delightful Robert Jackson Bennett, who may or may not be related to those delightful (and yes, I’m aware, they’re utterly fictional) Bennett sisters of Pride and Prejudice fame, had a new book coming out and I got to hear ALL ABOUT IT at ECCC this year.

Well, a cover blurb worth of all about it at least.

If you are new here, you may not understand, but I LOVE THIS BENNETT FELLOW’S BOOKS. While there’s not a windswept moor, or a star-crossed romance to be found, he maintains the (assumed) family tradition of brilliant writing. Seriously, he is criminally underrated. He should sell millions of books, and write 33 more books in the Divine Cities trilogy (and if you’re a Hugo voter, please please PLEASE read your packet and consider voting for him for best series, cause it’s amazing). I mean, I wanted him to write Divine Cities books until he got to ‘The City of Tired Tropes’ and ‘The City of Lost Inspiration’ and possibly even ‘The City of Just Paying My Mortgage’ because when I love a thing as much as I love that series, I am exactly the kind of reader who would buy them.

All you Robert Jordan fans know what I mean I think.

So, ANYWAY, after he broke my heart by confessing that the Divine Cities books would end after the third book(and not even in a long letter where he admitted I was his favorite fan in spite of my family and life circumstances!), and he refused my frequent and increasingly unhindged and desperate attempts to find out what the new book would be about, I was in despair. Seriously, his fictional aunt Lizzie would have been impressed by my despair it was so utter, and of course, it was dark like storm clouds over the English moors.

And it was then, in the depths of my deepest despair, (dear readers, understand, I was to the point of attempting to contact Danny Ocean or Locke Lamora to steal the manuscript for me!) that I was contacted by an angel in the guise of the delightful publicity person from Crown asking if I’d like to read and give an honest review of the first book in his new series.

Dear reader, understand please, that while I was desperately hoping he’d relented and decided to write ‘The City of Paying my Mortgage’ or something, I could not resist getting my fix, so of course I said yes.

(And then I gloated to everyone who knows me, because I’m a shockingly awful person.)

So, in short, I’ve read the new Robert Jackson Bennett book, ‘Foundryside’. And I have to tell you, this is no ‘Divine Cities’ book. No ‘City of Blades’, no ‘City of Stairs’, and no, not even a ‘City of I Just Have a Mortgage to Pay’.

It’s something new.

It’s something different.

And, I’m sure you’re probably not surprised to hear at this point, it’s something amazing.

This is a spoiler-free zone, or I’d be telling you about —-REDACTED—- or when —-REDACTED—- or how much I love —-REDACTED—— and think I want a fanfiction where Sancia and Sigrud team up and take over the world or something.

Any world.

So here’s the cover blurb:

“Sancia Grado is a thief, and a damn good one. And her latest target, a heavily guarded warehouse on Tevanne’s docks, is nothing her unique abilities can’t handle.

But unbeknownst to her, Sancia’s been sent to steal an artifact of unimaginable power, an object that could revolutionize the magical technology known as scriving. The Merchant Houses who control this magic–the art of using coded commands to imbue everyday objects with sentience–have already used it to transform Tevanne into a vast, remorseless capitalist machine. But if they can unlock the artifact’s secrets, they will rewrite the world itself to suit their aims.

Now someone in those Houses wants Sancia dead, and the artifact for themselves. And in the city of Tevanne, there’s nobody with the power to stop them.

To have a chance at surviving—and at stopping the deadly transformation that’s under way—Sancia will have to marshal unlikely allies, learn to harness the artifact’s power for herself, and undergo her own transformation, one that will turn her into something she could never have imagined.”

Sounds AMAZING doesn’t it? Well, it is, and it’s even better.

So, to celebrate my return to writing for you, and because the delightful people at Crown kindly provided a copy of the final book as a giveaway, I am running a contest for you lovely people.

To enter:

Drop me an email at fantasymiscellany@gmail.com with the subject ‘contest’ and include your name and the forthcoming book you are most excited about this year and Crown Publishing will be sending out copy of the book to one of you (US only please since it’s a US publisher giveaway)

And as an added bonus(or bribery to share this post far and wide), I will double your odds of winning if I get more than 75 entries. Because at that point I’ll also be sending out my ARC to a second person. All I ask (this isn’t a requirement but a courtesy) is that you provide an honest review on Goodreads, or Amazon, or some other format if you prefer.

This contest closes July 1st at midnight.

I’ll be back next week on Tuesday to talk about— Oh who knows what I’ll be talking about, check back in then and find out!