The Unwritten, Vol.2 – “Inside Man” (Vertigo)

Writer: Mike Carey | Artist: Peter Gross

Tom arrives at Donostia prison in southern France and falls into the orbit of another story: The Song of Roland. Unfortunately for Tom, it’s an epic that ends with a massacre…

This series is going to be a real pain in the ass to review. There’s almost no way to write about it without throwing out spoilers left right and centre. Therefore, I shall keep my reviews of this and subsequent books as succinct as possible. Needless to say, this second collection continues the excellent story of Tom Taylor’s surprise, literary-fantasy quest. This is fast becoming a firm favourite of mine.

Guest Post: “The Fantastical 18th and 19th Centuries, or, Dragons Dancing at Almack’s” by Daniel A. Rabuzzi

Today I bring you a guest post by author Daniel Rabuzzi, who read my post on the Jo Fletcher Books Blog and had some more to add to the topic. So, naturally, I let him guest on the blog…

Thank you Stefan for inviting me to guest-post at Civilian Reader, on the occasion of Chizine/CZP publishing my fantasy novel, The Indigo Pheasant (sequel to 2009’s The Choir Boats).

I want to start by quoting you (if I may), when you guest-posted at Jo Fletcher Books in July this year:

“Is it just me, or are 18th/19th Century-style worlds absent from the fantasy genre? I don’t profess to have read every fantasy novel, so it could well be that I’ve missed a swathe of series and novels set in time periods inspired by the 18th and 19th Centuries. But, from my reading, I think their absence is a considerable oversight, and also an area for exploration and exploitation.”

Given that my novels are set in the early 19^th century (the action starts in London, and involves characters whose origins are British, West African, Chinese, Indian, German – ­and from elsewhere altogether), you will not be surprised that I agree with you.