Vicious Circle by Linda Robertson

The bare bones of this story will be familiar to urban-fantasy devotees: Werewolves, vampires, faeries, and witches all exist and have become public knowledge in recent years. Girl, tough and feisty, takes it upon herself to dispense justice in a supernatural murder case. Girl is chosen against her will to play a major role in paranormal affairs. Girl is wooed by attractive werewolf and attractive vampire. I was worried Vicious Circle would be just like a hundred other novels with a similar premise, but Linda Robertson does some really interesting things to make her story stand out.

First, she realistically explores what might happen if supernatural races existed and came out of the closet. Vampires are well-regarded in society due to the glamorous image they have cultivated; faeries have gained acceptance by pretending to be harmless. Weres, however, are treated as secon... Read More

Hallowed Circle by Linda Robertson

Linda Robertson’s first novel, Vicious Circle, was a fun read, and its sequel, Hallowed Circle, is even better. In this second installment, Robertson spins a highly original plot (if this has been done in urban fantasy before, it was in a book I missed!), further develops her characters and the relationships among them, and as an added bonus, passes the Bechdel Test with flying colors.

Persephone Alcmedi is still reeling from the discovery that she is the Lustrata, a “chosen one” sort of figure. Plus, she’s still getting used to having her grandmother, a foster-daughter, and a puppy under her roof, not to mention the latest ups and downs in her relationship with Johnny the guitar-playing werewolf. So when she... Read More

Fatal Circle by Linda Robertson

Persephone Alcmedi stirred up a whole cauldron of trouble when she killed an irate fairy at the end of Hallowed Circle. Now, the fairies want Seph dead, and Xerxadrea thinks there’s a traitor in the ranks of the witches. So, in order to protect Seph and her family, Menessos will name Seph his court witch so that it looks like she acted on his orders, thereby bringing the fairies’ wrath down on him instead. Meanwhile, Xerxadrea will use this as a pretext to exile Seph from the witches (also for Seph’s protection), while she, Xerxadrea, tries to sniff out the traitor.

All of this is a little confusing but what it amounts to is that Seph goes to live in Menessos’ underground domain and is cut off from her support system. All except Johnny, that is, since a vampire’s court witch is traditionally allowed a “pet.” Johnny bristles at being thought of as a pet, obviou... Read More

Arcane Circle by Linda Robertson

Fatal Circle ended on a cliffhanger, with Menessos’ fate uncertain after a sacrifice he made during the battle with the fairies. In Arcane Circle, the fourth in Linda Robertson’s Circle series, we learn what has become of Menessos and see some of the battle’s repercussions in vampire politics. We also briefly revisit witch politics, as the lucusi react to a revered crone’s death, and encounter a new Homeland Security agency devoted specifically to dealing with the paranormal. Then, too, there’s the exotic menagerie that has taken up residence on Seph’s land, and by “exotic” I mean dragons, unicorns, phoenixes…

It’s the werewolf politics, however, that take center stage in Arcane Circle. The Rege, a werewolf ruler described by one were as “Pope-Czarzilla,” ... Read More

Where the Veil Is Thin edited by Cerece Rennie Murphy & Alana Joli Abbott

Where the Veil Is Thin (2020), an anthology of stories about fairies and spirits, began as a Kickstarter. The project was successful, and the book is now widely available. Editors Cerece Rennie Murphy and Alana Joli Abbott have brought together a diverse group of authors with a wide variety of writing styles and approaches to the fae. While the tag line on the back cover says “These are not your daughter’s faerie tales,” some of the stories do read as if they might be intended for a youthful audience, while others are definitely not for kids. The stunning cover art is by Anna Dittmann.

The collection begins with a brief introduction by Jim C. Hines. In it, he di... Read More