Book Review: "Dragon * Princess" by S. Andrew Swann

Let's end the month with a book review!

This is the first book by S. Andrew Swann that I've read, continuing my attempt to read new-to-me authors this year. And it was a blast! Definitely a fun romp through fantasy tropes with a twist.





Premise: Frank Blackthorne is a not-so-great thief on the run after accidentally disrupting a virgin sacrifice to a Dark Lord. After rescuing the virgin, he finds himself in need of an escape from an entire kingdom. When a wizard approaches him with an offer to help save a princess from a dragon in exchange for the princess' hand in marriage, he's rightfully suspicious, but also out of options. Of course, the rescue goes horribly wrong and suddenly he finds himself trapped in the princess' body and deposited in the middle of nowhere. Now he has to find his way back, find the wizard, and hopefully get his own body back!

Again, this is intended to be a fun, glorious romp through all of the fantasy tropes you've grown to love and it's exactly that. The twist, of course, is the body swapping, which S. Andrew Swann handles wonderfully. The moment I started reading, I was caught up in the story and the adventure dragged me along and kept me interested, with likeable characters (a must for these types of books) and a plot that unravels and gets more complicated the more Frank finds out in his search for the wizard. The best part of the novel is that the plot hinges completely on the four major characters involved (princess, dragon, wizard, thief) and that each of those characters has their own story, their own motivations, and all of them are completely believable.

If you like fun, humorous fantasy, I'd definitely recommend this book (and its sequel, which I've already read). I'm now waiting impatiently for the third book in the series.

ZNB Announces New Anthology Projects!

Zombies Need Brains LLC, my SF&F themed anthology publishing company, is getting ready to run a new Kickstarter and has announced the TWO anthology themes that we'll be trying to get published. The Kickstarter will likely start sometime in August (I'm shooting for August 15th, but that may change) and if it's successfully funded there will be an open call for submissions for the two anthologies after that. In an attempt to give writers a chance to come up with a cool idea, write a story, and revise it before the submission deadline, I'm announcing the two themes now. So here they are:

Alien Artifacts: Life is out there. Alien civilizations have grown and died and been reborn again since the dawn of the universe. Some of those civilizations have left behind signs of their existence, hidden in the ruins on unexplored planets or floating in space in the form of ghost ships. In this anthology, 14 of today’s best short story writers will tackle what could happen if, in our exploration of space, we run across some of these ancient alien artifacts. Will they catapult humanity to new technological heights . . . or reveal our darkest secrets and destroy us? Edited by Patricia Bray and Joshua Palmatier, this anthology will contain approximately 14 stories with an average length of 6000 words each.

Were-: We’ve all read hundreds of stories about werewolves . . . but what about the less famous of the were-clans—the werelions, wereducks, and wereferns? These underrepresented families need to come out of the dark, full moon or not! From light and humorous to dark and serious, this anthology will explore other varieties of were-creatures and tell their stories. No werewolves allowed! Edited by Joshua Palmatier and Patricia Bray, it will contain approximately 14 stories with an average length of 6000 words each.

So, all of you writers out there, put on those thinking caps and start cogitating! And keep track of Zombies Need Brains at their website (www.zombiesneedbrains.com) and on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/zombiesneedbrainsllc) and Twitter (@ZNBLLC) so you know when the Kickstarter kicks off AND, if it's successful, when the deadline is for the open call. Swing on by the ZNB online store to check out their two previous anthologies and ZNB merchandise!