Gillian Philip was born in Glasgow, lived for twelve years in Barbados, and now lives in the north of Scotland with her husband, twin children, three dogs, two sociopathic cats, a slayer hamster, three chickens, and a lot of nervous fish. Gillian Philip ghostwrites fiction for companies including Hothouse and Working Partners – she’s written as Gabriella Poole (Darke Academy) and as Erin Hunter (Survivors). She has written short fiction, too, for secondary Key Stage 3. Life Of The Party, Mind’s Eye, Sea Fever and Cyber Fever have been published by Evans Brothers, and short stories The Changeling, Rockface, Misty and The Kindest Cut appear in their sci fi, crime, ghost and comedy collections. Her books have been shortlisted for prizes including the Royal Mail Scottish Book Award, the North East Book Award and the Angus Book Award; She’s been nominated for the Carnegie Medal (for Crossing The Line) and the David Gemmell Legend Award (for Firebrand). Learn more at 
When Firebrand opens, Seth, a 16-year-old Sithe, has a crossbow trained on his brother, Conal. Conal is thin, his face half-blacked and bloody, his hair shaved from his head. Conal is about to be burned as a witch at the tail-end of the sixteenth century at the urging of a minister who smiles at the thought of the horrible deaths his victims are about to endure. Seth will kill his brother to spare him the agony of burning at the stake.
It’s a prologue that grabs the reader’s attention firmly.
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Thanks, Kat, great input!
Marion, thanks for the audiobook article! Interestingly, they list All Systems Red by Martha Wells. Here's part of my review…
And, oh...as to that 2.5-star rating: I think I gave Damon Knight's "Beyond the Barrier" a similar halfhearted rating earlier…
And speaking of mixed, that's how the book left me...mixed! As in MIXED UP!
[…] marketing materials for itself, the ultimate cargo cult, dedicated to spam, stranded on the terminal beach at time’s end.…