Michael M. Jones of Schrödinger’s Bookshelf has posted a new review of my novel The Black Fire Concerto, and gamely posted it to Amazon and Goodreads, too. It’s thorough, honest, and quite a lot of fun:
 

His traveling duo, the seemingly ageless Olyssa and the young Erzelle, are a mismatched pair as fitting as those who once strode the pages of sword and sorcery novels and pulp magazines. It’s an almost refreshingly retro feel; though the modern sensibilities can be seen, this is the sort of eldritch nightmare H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, or Clark Ashton Smith might have appreciated. Allen spins scenes of obscenely-repurposed mobile body parts, unholy constructions built of still-living flesh, armies of the shambling dead. … One of the things I appreciate about this book is that it lacks romance; the most powerful thread here is the love Olyssa has for her missing sister. Even after the enigmatic Lilla’s fate is discovered, that familial bond never wavers. It’s almost unsettling for something as pure and basic as family duty and connect to be the underlying core of such a bizarre story.

 
I’ve mentioned before that I’ve actually drafted the sequel, The Ghoulmaker’s Aria. (It’s much longer and, well, even weirder and gorier, heh, heh.) There are questions to be resolved about when and how it will be published, but trust me when I say that behind-the-scenes skullduggery is afoot to positive purpose. Hopefully it will tunnel to the surface next year.
 
#SFWApro
 

Posted in Fiction, Novels, The Black Fire Concerto, The Ghoulmaker's Aria, Writing