Thanks to retired reviewer Justin Blazier who recently caught up with Kevin Hearne at his local bookstore. Kevin is celebrating the release of Staked, the next installment in his popular IRON DRUID CHRONICLES. Leave a comment for a chance to win one of three paperback copies of Hounded, the first book of the series, or one hardcover copy of Staked. This giveaway is open to readers in the U.S. and Canada... And here's Justin:Last week, Kevin Hearne, author of THE IRON DRUID CHRONICLES, was scheduled for a book signing in Crescent Springs, KY, which just happens to be about a mile from my house. I had just recently discovered Kevin’s work at that very book store,... Read More

A warm welcome to Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne, co authors of the July 17 released fairytale farce extraordinaire Kill the Farm Boy. Kevin kindly returns to the FanLit interview seat where we've spoken to him in the past about his fabulous IRON DRUID series. 

Taya: Tell us about the genesis of Kill the Farm Boy. Whose idea was the premise and how did it evolve?

Kevin: Delilah and I were in the Dallas airport after a signing and killing time before our flights in a seedy barbecue joint. We were discussing how it would be fun to do an anthology of trope-flipping fantas... Read More

Hounded by Kevin Hearne

The young-Irish-lad façade does not stand me in good stead when I’m trying to appear scholarly at my place of business — I run an occult bookshop with an apothecary’s counter squeezed in the corner — but it has one outstanding advantage. When I go to the grocery store, for example, and people see my curly red hair, fair skin, and long goatee, they suspect that I play soccer and drink lots of Guinness. If I’m going sleeveless and they see the tattoos all up and down my right arm, they assume I’m in a rock band and smoke lots of weed. It never enters their mind for a moment that I could be an ancient Druid — and that’s the main reason why I like this look. If I grew a white beard and got myself a pointy hat, oozed dignity and sagacity and glowed with beatitude, people might start to get the wrong — or the right — idea.

Atticus O’Sullivan is a 2100-year-old Druid. He’s been lying low f... Read More

Hexed by Kevin Hearne

Turns out that when you kill a god, people want to talk to you. Paranormal insurance salesmen with special “godslayer” term life policies. Charlatans with “godproof” armor and extraplanar safe houses for rent. But, most notably, other gods, who want to first congratulate you on your achievement, second warn you not to try such shenanigans on them, and finally suggest that you try to slay one of their rivals — purely as a shenanigan, of course.

It’s been three weeks since Atticus O’Sullivan slew two gods. This has made him more visible in the supernatural world, and now he’s got a whole new crop of problems. German witches have moved to the area and are attacking him and the Polish witches. Bacchants have arrived, too, and are spreading chaos in Scottsdale. The Morrigan and Brighid are having a power struggle, with Atticus caught in the middle. Coyote wants him to help vanquish a demon... Read More

Hammered by Kevin Hearne

First things first: This one’s more serious.

Oh, there’s still humor here — and to butcher the nursery rhyme, when Kevin Hearne is funny, he’s very, very funny. I cackled madly as Atticus geeked out over his favorite author and demonstrated his knowledge of Internet memes. On the whole, though, Hammered is a much more serious story than either Hounded or Hexed. While giving us two books’ worth of side-splitting entertainment, Hearne has been sneakily laying the groundwork for Hammered, building up characters and friendships and subplots so that we care deeply about what happens here.

We begin in medias res. Atticus is climbing the World Tree to Asgard so that he can keep his promise to the witch Laksha by bringing her back one of Idunn’s apples. The trip become... Read More

Tricked by Kevin Hearne

Atticus O’Sullivan, the 2000 year old druid who looks like he’s 22, has just pissed off a bunch of Old Norse gods (for details, read Hammered) and now he must go into hiding. It’s a good time for that because what he really wants to do is spend the next 12 years training his gorgeous and smart apprentice, Granuaile. Fortunately his werewolf lawyer can fix up some new identities, but first he has to fake his own death so the gods will stop hunting him, and then he needs to do a favor for Coyote, the Navajo trickster god.

Of course, this doesn’t go as easily as he hopes. The favor that wily Coyote demands involves befriending an elemental that Atticus doesn’t know, transferring a vein of gold to a Native American reservation, sabotaging a coal mining company, fighting off some scary skinwalkers, and battling some “locusts of unusual size.” And he’s also a little worried about the new vampire... Read More

Two Ravens and One Crow by Kevin Hearne

You could think of Two Ravens and One Crow as book 4½ in Kevin Hearne’s IRON DRUID CHRONICLES series. It’s a novella that takes place halfway between book 4, Tricked, and book 5, Trapped. I don’t always read these “extra” stories, but I think fans of THE IRON DRUID CHRONICLES will want to read this one because 12 years passes between Tricked and Trapped —Atticus is training Granuaile to be a druid during this time —and readers will want to see get a glimpse of what was happening all those years.

Atticus and Granuaile have faked their deaths and are living in a trailer under the false names Sterling Silver and Betty Baker. (If it’s not obvious, these names were supplied by Coyote the Navajo trickster god.) Oberon the Irish Wolfhound is with them, too, of course. Granuaile has been getting mentally and phy... Read More

Trapped by Kevin Hearne

It’s been a long 12 years, but finally Atticus O’Sullivan is finished training his druid apprentice, Granuaile. Atticus and Granuaile faked their deaths and have been living in a trailer under the names Sterling Silver and Betty Baker, hoping they can get the training done before the gods find out they’re not really dead. (Kevin Hearne doesn’t tell us much about what happened during those 12 years, but he did write a novella, Two Ravens and One Crow, about an adventure that Atticus and the Morrigan had at about the halfway mark. You don’t have to read Two Ravens and One Crow before reading Trapped, but if you plan to read the novella anyway, it would work best to read it first since the adventure told in Two Ravens and One Crow is relevant to the plot of Trapped.)

... Read More

The Grimoire of the Lamb by Kevin Hearne

I don’t think it’s possible to get too much Atticus and Oberon.

That’s why I love these little novellas that Kevin Hearne has been putting out while we wait for his next IRON DRUID novel.

For those of you who don’t know, Atticus is an ancient druid who runs a bookstore in modern-day Arizona. His dog Oberon, a large Irish Wolfhound, is his humorous sidekick. In each novel, Atticus and Oberon have to deal with some sort of supernatural threat involving gods from various pantheons.

In The Grimoire of the Lamb, an Egyptian wizard steals an ancient text from Atticus, so Atticus and Oberon transport themselves to Alexandria where they plan to steal it back. Not only must they deal with the evil wizard and his underground lair, but they are also now in the territory of the goddess Bast who has all the cats of the city under her command. When the kitti... Read More

Hunted by Kevin Hearne

It seems like everyone is out to get Atticus and Granuaile, the world’s last two druids. They’re running from the goddesses Artemis and Diana, the vampires and dark elves want them dead, and Loki and his daughter Hel need to kill Atticus so they can unleash Ragnarok on the world. As the title tells, Atticus, Granuaile and their dog Oberon are being hunted in this sixth novel of Kevin Hearne’s IRON DRUID CHRONICLES. The hunt takes them across Europe, including the English Channel. It’s stressful for our heroes, but the gods find the whole thing pretty entertaining.

I don’t want to mention much more of the plot of Hunted — you’ll understand why when you read it. If you’re a fan of the series, you probably don’t need any encouragement to pick up this book. Likely all you really want to confirm is that Hearne is keeping up his end of the author-reader bargain: we’ll buy his books if ... Read More

Shattered by Kevin Hearne

When Kevin Hearne’s IRON DRUID CHRONICLES series started with Hounded a few years ago, the story starred Atticus O’Sullivan, the world’s last druid, and his funny movie-watching Irish Wolfhound, Oberon.

In Shattered, the seventh novel (and the first one released in hardback!), we now have two more point-of-view characters. One is Granuaile, the former barmaid who became Atticus’ apprentice and is now a druid in her own right and has her own hound (Orlaith) that she can mind-speak to. The other is Owen, Atticus’ mentor who has just escaped the Morrigan’s time stasis spell. All three of our human POV characters share page space in Shattered as each goes about his or her own dangerous mission.

Atticus spends his time helping Owen acclimate to modern times, getting his magical tattoos fixed, and trying to figure out what Loki is up to and how the... Read More

The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne

Kevin Hearne has written several short stories and novellas set in his IRON DRUID CHRONICLES universe. These make a great introduction to the series for new readers and they give fans (like me) a little fix while we wait for the next novel to appear. Who wouldn’t want to spend an hour or two with Atticus O’Sullivan, the world’s oldest druid, and Oberon, his trusty Irish Wolfhound on a lazy afternoon?

“The Chapel Perilous” was originally published in Shawn Speakman’s Unfettered anthology and is now available as a 99₵ ebook. The lovely cover art was painted by Galen Dara. In this story, which is only 33 pages long, and which takes place (or at least the frame of the story does) between Tricked and Trapped Read More

Two Tales of the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne

Well, I just can’t get enough of the Druid Atticus O’Sullivan and Oberon, his Irish Wolfhound. So, when I saw that two of Kevin Hearne’s IRON DRUID CHRONICLES short stories were recently produced in audio format and narrated by the amazing Luke Daniels, I had to have them. These stories have also been released in ebook format.

“Kaibab Unbound” is Kevin Hearne’s first short story. It takes place just a couple of weeks before the events of the first IRON DRUID CHRONICLES novel, Hounded. Atticus and Oberon are driving from Phoenix, where they live, to the Grand Canyon for a little nature retreat. When they stop in at their favorite coffee shop, Atticus notices a pretty young witch with a bad aura. As they’re driving on the interstate, t... Read More

Staked by Kevin Hearne

Note: Contains mild spoilers for previous books in the series.

Staked is the eighth novel of Kevin Hearne’s extremely popular IRON DRUID CHRONICLES. When this series started with Hounded back in 2011, the story focused on Atticus O’Sullivan, a two-thousand-year-old Druid (the last one on Earth) who owned a bookshop in Arizona. Hiding from Aenghus Óg, the Celtic god that wanted to kill him, Atticus was living a quiet life with his hilarious bacon-loving Irish wolfhound named Oberon.... until Aenghus Óg found him. Since then, Atticus has once again become embroiled in godly politics because it looks like Ragnarök is on the horizon and everyone is trying to get into the most advantageous position. Atticus has prepared by training up a pretty girl named Granuaile to be the world’s second druid. He has also freed his mentor, Owen, from ... Read More

Scourged by Kevin Hearne

Scourged (2018)is the ninth and final novel in Kevin Hearne’s IRON DRUID CHRONICLES. This has been a great series and I have looked forward to the release of each book as well as all of the related novellas and short stories. The IRON DRUID CHRONICLES is especially wonderful in the audio versions (Random House Audio) performed by the fabulous Luke Daniels. I'm absolutely certain I enjoyed them even more in audio than I would have in print format.

Scourged begins with Oberon, Atticus's adorable canine familiar, helpfully giving us a quick but detailed recap of the story so far. (Thanks, Oberon!) Then we get down to business. Ragnarok is finally here and Loki is letting loose all sorts of chaos all over the earth. Atticus and his supe... Read More

Besieged by Kevin Hearne

In Besieged, Kevin Hearne has collected nine short stories that take place at different times in his popular IRON DRUID CHRONICLES saga. On his website, Hearne labels Besieged as book #8.5 in the series while GoodReads amusingly lists it as #4.1, #4.2, #4.6, #4.7, #8.1, and #8.6. I’d recommend reading Besieged after Staked (novel #8) or, better yet, use it as a companion collection as you read through the series. That way you could read each of the stories in Besieged in their proper timeline…

But it doesn’t matter that much. In fact, probably even a newcomer to the series would be fine to start here. The stor... Read More

The Demon Barker of Wheat Street by Kevin Hearne

When you need your next Atticus and Oberon fix from Kevin Hearne, I recommend The Demon Barker of Wheat Street. This short IRON DRUID CHRONICLES story first appeared in Carniepunk, an anthology devoted to urban fantasy stories about carnivals. It can be purchased separately in a 35-page ebook format for 99c... Read More

The Purloined Poodle by Kevin Hearne

If you haven’t been reading Kevin Hearne’s IRON DRUID CHRONICLES series, you are really missing out. These are fun fantasy adventures featuring a cool modern-day druid named Atticus and his canine familiar, an Irish Wolfhound named Oberon, possibly the most awesome sidekick in all of fantasy literature.

Everyone loves Oberon, so it’s not surprising that Hearne would spawn a series (called OBERON’S MEATY MYSTERIES) that gives Oberon center stage. As the name of the series implies, these are fantasy mysteries and the first one, a novella, is called The Purloined Poodle. You do not need to be familiar with the IRON DRUID CHRONICLES to enjoy The Purloined Poodle, and it might be a nice way to introduce... Read More

The Squirrel on the Train by Kevin Hearne

Kevin Hearne’s IRON DRUID CHRONICLES (IDC) series is immensely popular, partly because of the Iron Druid’s hilarious canine side-kick, Oberon the Irish Wolfhound. The IDC novels are especially good in audio format, thanks to Luke Daniel’s amazing performance. His characterization of Oberon is particularly excellent.

Hearne and Daniels have smartly capitalized on Oberon’s popularity by spinning off a delightful series of novellas that feature Oberon as the protagonist and narrator. You do not need to read these in publication order; each can stand alone. However, it’s helpful (but not at all necessary) to be caught up with the IDC novels since some of the characters (e.g. Orlaith and Starbuck) are introduced in those books. Read More

A Plague of Giants by Kevin Hearne

Displaying his versatility, Kevin Hearne turns his pen to epic fantasy in A Plague of Giants (2017), the first novel in his SEVEN KENNINGS series. It follows a large cast of characters who live in different kingdoms on a continent that has just been invaded by a race of strange-looking people who are tall, thin and white-skinned. These Bone Giants, as they come to be called, came from across the water in ships and landed in several seaside towns. Except for the one place where they were mostly destroyed by a woman whose “kenning” allowed her to control the river and prevent the landing, the Bone Giants have sacked the towns and killed all the people who lived there. They speak a different language and seem uninterested in peaceful coexistence. Why have they come and what do they want?
Read More

A Blight of Blackwings by Kevin Hearne

A Blight of Blackwings is the second novel in Kevin Hearne’s SEVEN KENNINGS series, following A Plague of Giants which you’ll need to read first because this novel jumps in right where the first one left off. Hearne uses the same structure and frame story, with Fintan the bard using a magical device to turn himself into the image of each point-of-view character.

At the end of A Plague of Giants, the bard dropped a bombshell on the crowd listening to his story, informing them that there’s a traitor in their midst -- someone working with the invading Bone Giants. The crowd is angry at the unknown traitor, and they also realize that their ruler must know ... Read More

Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah S. Dawson & Kevin Hearne

Usually, any book that deals with cheese and has a talking goat will win me over. 2018’s Kill the Farm Boy has a talking goat, and it devotes many pages to thoughtful discussions of cheese. It looks deeply into the tropes of epic fantasy and fairy tales, then turns them upside down and inside out. Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne give us gonzo variations on conventional characters, lots of flatulence and poo jokes, and plenty of puns, all the while providing nudges, raised eyebrows and smirky grins from not very far on the sidelines.

Fair warning: It is difficult to review this book without spoiling the plot, but I will try. I fully plan to spoil several of the puns... Read More

Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne

Fans of Kevin Hearne’s popular IRON DRUID CHRONICLES will be thrilled to learn that Hearne has a new spin-off series: INK & SIGIL. The first novel, Ink & Sigil (2020), introduces Al MacBharrais, an older widowed gentleman who has a unique talent. He uses special inks to create sigils that hack the brain through the ocular nerve. For example, the Sigil of Porous Mind makes the target open to suggestion, the Sigil of Certain Authority makes the caster appear to have the authority to do whatever they’re doing, and the Sigil of Quick Compliance makes the target want to do whatever the sigil writer asks.

Al is ready to retire, but every time he’s got an apprentice nearly trained up, the apprentice dies in some freak accident. As Ink... Read More

Paper & Blood by Kevin Hearne

Paper & Blood is the second novel in Kevin Hearne’s INK & SIGIL series which is a spin-off of his very popular IRON DRUID CHRONICLES. In the first INK & SIGIL novel, Ink & Sigil, which you’ll want to read first (though Hearne thankfully gives us a “The Story So Far” summary – thank you!), we met Al MacBharrais, a sigil agent who uses ink and paper to create magic spells. We watched Al and some of his colorful colleagues solve a mystery and stop the trafficking of, and unethical experimentation on, fae creatures such as pixies.

In Paper & Blood, Al gets some bad news: some of his fellow sigil agents are missin... Read More

A Question of Navigation by Kevin Hearne

While on a hike, Clint Beecham gets abducted by aliens. The aliens have decided that humans are tasty and that Earth will make a wonderful buffet for them. Along with Clint, they’ve kidnapped 50,000 humans and are on their way back to their mother planet where they will report the location of this big delicious feeding trough.

Most of the captured humans have been put into a cargo hold and are being harvested for food, but Clint and a few others have been set aside for a special purpose. They are scientists and mathematicians and are not only required to help the aliens with their calculations, but are also providing the entertainment. Because it’s fun for them, the aliens give them just enough hope and resources to induce these smart humans to try to get out of their predicament.

Can Clint and his new allies save themselves from being eaten by aliens? And do they care en... Read More

There is so much free or inexpensive short fiction available on the internet these days. Here are a few stories we read this week that we wanted you to know about. 

"Clan Rathskeller" by Kevin Hearne (2010, available at Kevin Hearne's blog, audio available)

“Clan Rathskeller” is one of Kevin Hearne’s short stories set in his IRON DRUID CHRONICLES world. This one takes place before the events of the first book, Hounded. Atticus, the last druid, and his Irish Wolfhound Oberon, are in Tempe Arizona, trying to lay low and avoid the attention of any ancient gods. But then they notice some gnomes disguised as Santa’s elves and they end up getting involved in their fight against an evil creature who stole something from them.

All of Hearne’s IRON DRUID stories are entertaining. Attic... Read More

Here's another installment of FanLit Asks. Instead of asking one author several questions, we’ve asked several authors just one question. Please leave a comment or suggest a question for us to ask in the future. We’ll choose one commenter to win a copy of Jack Vance's The Eyes of the Overworld (one of my favorites!) on audio CDs (or, if you've got bad taste, something else from our stacks).

Question: Which speculative fiction writer has had the greatest influence on your own writing style and what, specifically, do you find most inspirational about that writer’s style?

Alex Bell: Definitely Terry Pratchett. His Read More