The Border Keeper by Kerstin Hall

Title: The Border Keeper
Series: Mkalis Cycle #1
Author:  Kerstin Hall
Source/Format: Tor.com ebook club; ebook
More Details: Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Tor.com; July 16, 2019

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

She lived where the railway tracks met the saltpan, on the Ahri side of the shadowline. In the old days, when people still talked about her, she was known as the end-of-the-line woman.

Vasethe, a man with a troubled past, comes to seek a favor from a woman who is not what she seems, and must enter the nine hundred and ninety-nine realms of Mkalis, the world of spirits, where gods and demons wage endless war.

The Border Keeper spins wonders both epic—the Byzantine bureaucracy of hundreds of demon realms, impossible oceans, hidden fortresses—and devastatingly personal—a spear flung straight, the profound terror and power of motherhood. What Vasethe discovers in Mkalis threatens to bring his own secrets into light and throw both worlds into chaos.

The second Tor.com ebook club title that I tackled at the end of April was Kerstin Hall’s The Border Keeper. It was another quick read, and I was drawn in by how the world was introduced. There was plenty of lore basically from the first page, and I was intrigued by the titular border keeper as well as the various worlds and people that inhabited them. The other main character, Vasethe, had his secrets/reasons for seeking out the border keeper. It served as the catalyst for the subsequent events. The questions I had about his motivations was one of the main reasons I kept reading.

 
If I have to describe this novella as anything, it would be the kind of story that has the characters traveling to various places for the majority of the time. These locations were interesting, detailed, and unique from one another. The rest of the story was explained in scattered pieces, while the ending was just kind of abrupt. And I closed the novella feeling as if I had missed half of the action. So, the story was just fine this time.

Short Stories I Read In April

It’s the twenty-ninth of May. So it’s time to talk about the short stories, miscellaneous posts, and podcast episodes I read or listened to in April.

Your Wings a Bridge Across the Stars by Michelle Denham (Apex Magazine; April 6, 2023)

The first story I read in April was Michelle Denham’s Your Wings a Bridge Across the Stars. It was a really lovely read that seemed to be over far too soon. Part coming of age tale, this story explored love and duty through the eyes of Park Yunhee, who sought to understand the importance of the job of being one of the “Star’s Magpies.” With a setting brimming with magic and a folkloric atmosphere, there was so much I loved about this one.

Did You Hear About The Neighbors? By Seth Wade (Strange Horizons; Issue: 24 April 2023)

This next (and last) one I read in April isn’t short fiction but instead a piece of poetry. I happened to scroll through Strange Horizons, and, I was not only hooked by the first couple of lines of this poem, I devoured the rest of it! The imagery invoked was vivid and proved to be in excellent company with the somber feeling—some language leaned toward bleak. After all, it is a poem with themes about death. Still, it’s one of my favorite pieces of poetry that I’ve read this year.

From around the web…

• American Narnia: T. Kingfisher’s Summer in Orcus [Judith Tarr; Tor.com; April 11, 2023]
• Interview with Artist Dee Nguyen [Dee Nguyen; Apex Magazine; April 17, 2023]
• Gods, Monsters, and Totoros: Exploring Miyazaki’s Fantasy World [Austin Gilkeson; Tor.com; April 14, 2023]
• What the Universal Translator Tells Us About Exploring Other Cultures [Charlie Jane Anders; Tor.com; April 24, 2023]
• Brains In A Jar, Video Games In A Petri Dish [Priya Sridhar; Clarkesworld Magazine; Issue 199—April 2023]

The Friday 56 (234) & Book Beginnings: The Border Keeper by Kerstin Hall

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

She lived where the railway tracks met the saltpan, on the Ahri side of the shadowline. In the old days, when people still talked about her, she was known as the end-of-the-line woman.

Vasethe, a man with a troubled past, comes to seek a favor from a woman who is not what she seems, and must enter the nine hundred and ninety-nine realms of Mkalis, the world of spirits, where gods and demons wage endless war.

The Border Keeper spins wonders both epic—the Byzantine bureaucracy of hundreds of demon realms, impossible oceans, hidden fortresses—and devastatingly personal—a spear flung straight, the profound terror and power of motherhood. What Vasethe discovers in Mkalis threatens to bring his own secrets into light and throw both worlds into chaos.

Beginning: "She lived where the railway tracks met the saltpan, on the Ahri side of the shadowline."

56: "Vasethe rested the oars above the water and allowed the current to guide their boat into the channel."

Comments: The Border Keeper is another one of the Tor.com ebook club titles that had sat on my ereader for way too long. I'm glad I can mark this one off my TBR. The story was fine. What are you reading this weekend?

Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell

Title: Witches of Lychford
Series: Lychford #1
Author: Paul Cornell
Source/Format: Tor eBook Club; ebook
More Details: Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Tor.com; September 8, 2015

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Traveler, Cleric, Witch.

The villagers in the sleepy hamlet of Lychford are divided. A supermarket wants to build a major branch on their border. Some welcome the employment opportunities, while some object to the modernization of the local environment. Judith Mawson (local crank) knows the truth -- that Lychford lies on the boundary between two worlds, and that the destruction of the border will open wide the gateways to malevolent beings beyond imagination. But if she is to have her voice heard, she's going to need the assistance of some unlikely allies...

I still have some Tor.com ebook club titles that I never read, and toward the end of April I finally read two of them. One such novella was Paul Cornell’s Witches of Lychford. It was a one-sitting kind of read, and it was a story I had a lot of fun with.

The basic premise of the story is a big supermarket chain wanted to come to a hamlet, Lychford, and that provided all the drama and bickering that those sorts of decisions entail. But, even from the very beginning, there was a clear sense of something otherworldly going on. Right away, I was charmed by the characters. Lizzie with her doubts, Autumn with her troubles and magic shop, and Judith with her ghosts and reputation for eccentricity. Though introduced separately, some of the best parts of the novella were when the crew got together, all doubts were settled, and the magical aspects were fully explored. The ending happened quite quickly, but, overall the resolution provided for the troubles affecting Lychford were satisfying enough that I’m interested in the sequels.

 

The Friday 56 (233) & Book Beginnings: Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Traveler, Cleric, Witch.

The villagers in the sleepy hamlet of Lychford are divided. A supermarket wants to build a major branch on their border. Some welcome the employment opportunities, while some object to the modernization of the local environment. Judith Mawson (local crank) knows the truth -- that Lychford lies on the boundary between two worlds, and that the destruction of the border will open wide the gateways to malevolent beings beyond imagination. But if she is to have her voice heard, she's going to need the assistance of some unlikely allies...

Beginning: "Judith Mawson was seventy-one years old, and she knew what people said about her...."

56: "Lizzie was looking around at a workshop full of bubbling test tubes and beakers with things dripping into them."

Comments: Witches of Lychford was one of the old Tor.com ebook club titles I had. I finally got to it, and I had a fun time reading this novella.