Lady Lazarus by Michele Lang
Lady Lazarus by Michele Lang is a historical fantasy set just before the beginning of World War II, in a slightly skewed version of our world. What makes it skewed is that in this alternate history, magic exists and plays a major role in world events. For example, Hitler’s werewolves are literal here.
Perhaps Lang’s most controversial decision is that Hitler is in league with, and sometimes possessed by, a demon. Some readers may see this as a cop-out. In my opinion, though, Lang wrote this in the only way that isn’t a cop-out. Namely, Hitler is the master, not the servant, in the relationship. Lang doesn’t use the demon to absolve Hitler of anything; this is no “the devil made him do it” scenario. It’s clear that he’d be just as evil without supernatural help and is simply using the demon as an additional tool in gaining power. And th... Read More
Dark Victory by Michele Lang
Magda Lazarus has killed Adolf Hitler’s pet wizard, the Staff, but not before the Staff stole a fragment of the powerful Book of Raziel and used magic to reconstitute a corrupted version that is now in the hands of the Reich. Dark Victory begins as the invasion of Poland is imminent, and Magda is trying to decide on her next course of action.
In the early chapters, it seemed that Dark Victory wouldn’t be as compelling as Lady Lazarus. Magda’s decision-making process is a large part of the problem. She has several choices: stay put and accept a dire fate, escape to safety, or use a dangerous magic to get information from the imprisoned demon Asmodel — a magic that could make everything worse instead of better. It’s understandable that Magda would have difficulty deciding what to do, but it has the side effect of maki... Read More
More books by Michele Lang
Sacred Circle — (2006-2011) Publisher: She’s running out of time… can Gwen stop an ancient curse from destroying Camelot and New York City? Gwen Dulak, high-powered Manhattan attorney, is running out of time — literally. Time to thwart an ancient curse, repair a legendary wrong and prevent an unthinkable future.
Netherwood — (2008) Publisher: NETHERWOOD tells the story of Talia Fortune, an intergalactic sheriff who hunts and falls for a cyber outlaw in an offworld, sentient Sherwood. I think of NETHERWOOD as a futuristic Robin Hood story. Talia Fortune has a lot to prove — she is the chief shareholder of world corporation FortuneCorp and has lived in the shadow of the company’s founder, Violet Fortune, all her life. She’s come to the planet of Fresh Havens to make her name and cover herself in glory. Unfortunately, Fresh Havens is no paradise — it’s more like a carnivorous plant hungry for its next human sacrifice. She finds an outpost of human rebels hiding in the Gray Forest, a dark and primeval jungle filled with sentient swarms of bugs and wracked by magnetic storms. Talia’s hunting a cyber outlaw named Kovner, aka The Avenger. And what she discovers when she finds him destroys her world and everything she thought she knew about herself.
The Walled Garden — (2011) Publisher: A young woman with a turbulent past discovers a secret world under New York City in the 1980s. Here there be magic, and monsters… After surviving a brutal attack at college, Mireya Rodriguez must choose whether she will live her life, or simply survive. A seemingly chance encounter with a man named Jonathan Mellon leads to magic, romance, and danger in a secret world hidden under the streets of NYC. This is an expanded version of the story that originally appeared in The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance, also available as a collection from Amazon.
Saint Valentine’s Day — (2011) Publisher: How strong is your love? Amy’s living in a New York City set a heartbeat into the future. When she’s trapped in an apocalyptic nightmare on the commute home from her job, Amy must draw on her strength, her love for her daughter, and on the old-school courage of Saint Valentine in order to survive… A story of love and techno-disaster in NYC. Author’s Note: I wrote this story in February 2011. At the time, we in New York were having a lovely winter, with weekly blizzards, massive shut downs, and general angst about the economy, terrorists, etc. My mood demanded an apocalyptic tale. Instead of writing a story set in a distant place and time, or one long after “the end,” I instead wrote a story that extrapolated from the crummier aspects of daily life, a tale that I could easily imagine happening down the street from here, next Thursday. But the story is about more than this. “Saint Valentine’s Day” is really about love, and the sacrifice that love demands. So often, the problems in our lives – the big ones, the little ones even more – blind us to the people who matter the most, the people who bring magic into the world, no matter how grim it can sometimes get during the daily grind. You might love a child the way that Amy loves Suki. Or it’s your passion for classical music that means everything to you. Or maybe you just love life itself, in all of its imperfect, crummy glory. When things go apocalyptic, it’s love that matters in the end…
The Upstanders: Silver — (2011) Publisher: Adventure, mystery, and fun…a tale of kids fighting bad guys on a frontier planet! Cal loves his life on the farming planet of Iridescent. Between jetpack practice, his best friend Fire, and his scary but awesome fifth grade teacher, Miss Madeline, Cal’s life seems just about perfect. But danger lurks just under the surface of daily life. Cal and his friends must battle the threat of space pirates and a mysterious blight in order to save their world. Warning: in this book, you’ll find a disturbing food fight, wicked jetpack flying, and a dangerous world of wonder. And you’ll also get to know kids — Cal, Fire, and Earther — who band together to stand up and do the right thing. Even if it gets them kicked off the planet…
Fade Away and Radiate — (2013) Publisher: No safe place… Acclaimed terraformer Anika Bowman runs from her husband’s killers to a remote, uninhabited planet. But then Captain Billy Murphy, the last man to see her husband alive, crash lands on her faraway haven and destroys her illusions of safety. Captain Billy Murphy knows who killed her husband. He wants to save Anika if he can, but first she has to let go of the past… This novelette first appeared in the Mammoth Book of Futuristic Romance, and is paired here with a bonus story — “The Triumph of Arachne,” first published in the June 2012 issue of Penumbra Magazine.
A Work of Darkness — (2013) Publisher: Trapped Between Love and Death… Jennifer Bridges wakes up in a hospital where she is the only patient. She can’t remember anything about the car wreck that killed her mother. And her nightmares speak of mysteries that she cannot solve alone. Jennifer must claim her inner dragon to survive, in a world full of pain and danger. Only one man can help her find a path to freedom…
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Michele Lang writes paranormal tales set in contemporary and futuristic places: the stories of witches, lawyers, goddesses, cops, bankers, demons, and other magical creatures hidden in plain sight. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School, and in addition to writing fiction, Michele has practiced the unholy craft of litigation in both Connecticut and New York.
