Salvation's Fire Read online

Thank you to my patrons at Patreon for their cheerleading and just for being there at all. It means a lot every day.

  Finally thanks to my mother and her constant and unwavering support, both emotional and financial, which has enabled me to have any kind of writing career at all.

  About the Author

  JUSTINA ROBSON WAS born in Yorkshire, England in 1968. After completing school she dropped out of Art College, then studied Philosophy and Linguistics at York University. She sold her first novel in 1999 which also won the 2000 amazon.co.uk Writers’ Bursary Award.

  She has been a student (1992) and a teacher (2002, 2006) at The Arvon Foundation, in the UK, (a centre for the development and promotion of all kinds of creative writing). She was a student at Clarion West, the US bootcamp for SF and Fantasy writers, in 1996.

  Her books have been shortlisted for most major genre awards. An anthology of her short fiction, “Heliotrope”, was published in 2012 and she continues to write a couple of short pieces a year. In 2004 Justina was a judge for the Arthur C Clarke Award on behalf of The Science Fiction Foundation.

  Her novels and stories range widely over SF and Fantasy, often combining the two and often featuring AIs and machines who aren’t exactly what they seem.

  She is also the proud author of “The Covenant of Primus” (2013) beckermeyer USA—the Hasbro-authorised history and ‘bible’ of The Transformers.

  Ten years ago, the Kinslayer returned from the darkness. His brutal Yorughan armies issued from the pits of the earth, crushing all resistance, leaving burnt earth and corruption behind. Thrones toppled and cities fell.

  And then he died.

  Celestaine—one of the heroes that destroyed him—has tasked herself with correcting the worst excesses of the Kinslayer’s brief reign, bringing light back to a broken world. With two Yorughan companions, she faces fanatics, war criminals and the Kinslayer’s former minions, as the fragile alliances of the War break down into feuding and greed.

  The Kinslayer may be gone, but he cast a long shadow: one from which she may never truly escape.

  “Great pace, compelling characters, some serious ethical arguments to make, and amazing action scenes. And it’s startlingly fun.”

  Tor.com

  “Tchaikovsky interleaves graphically violent scenes of war with penetrating philosophical insights.”

  The Guardian

  www.solarisbooks.com

  Corran, Rigan and Kell Valmonde have been orphaned—their father murdered by the city guard, their mother slain by monsters—and left to run the family business alone. Undertakers, gifted with ancient grave magic, they help souls pass into the After.

  Their home city of Ravenwood is a battleground for decadent princes and powerful guilds, and for Lord Mayor Ellor Machison, who crouches at the heart of it all like a bloated spider. The city has long been beset by monsters—flesh-eating ghouls, hideous snake-fiends, monstrous maggots—yet the city guards do nothing.

  When the toll climbs too high, it’s up to the people to take arms and defend themselves. But in fighting for their lives, the Valmonde brothers become targets in a deadly game, and must risk everything to survive.

  ‘Vivid battle scenes, with terrifying fantastic creatures.’

  Publishers Weekly on War of Shadows

  ‘Fantasy adventure with whole-hearted passion.’

  SFX on The Blood King

  ‘Begins with a dramatic chase and doesn’t slow down from there.’

  Amazing Stories on Iron & Blood

  www.solarisbooks.com

  Byren never wanted the throne. It was destined for Lence, his twin brother, older by seven minutes and the rightful heir to Rolencia. But the royal heir resents Byren’s growing popularity, and in the court of King Rolen, the shadows are thick with enemies plotting revolution.

  Darkness stirs across Rolencia and untamed magic of the gods wells up from the earth’s heart, twisting the minds of men with terrible visions. The touched must learn to control their gift – or die. Disharmony stirs within Rolen’s household, and as magic, madness and political machinations threaten to tear Rolencia apart, King Rolen’s children must do all they can to restore their father’s kingdom...

  “Pacy and full of action and intrigue.”

  Trudi Canavan, author of the Black Magician trilogy

  “The King’s Bastard is a fabulous, rollicking, High Fantasy adventure that will keep you up at night, desperate to find out what happens next.”

  Jennifer Fallon, author of The Demon Child trilogy.”

  www.solarisbooks.com