Skip to main content

Bookburners Episode One: Book, Badge and Candle

Book, Badge and Candle by Max Gladstone, Bookburners #1 

Some books have teeth.

Magic is real, and hungry—trapped in ancient texts and artifacts, only a few who discover it survive to fight back. Detective Sal Brooks is a survivor. Abruptly thrust into the battle between nefarious forces trying to unleash this power onto the world and those trying to stop them, she joins a Vatican-backed black-ops anti-magic squad: Team Three of the Societas Librorum Occultorum. Together they stand between humanity and magical apocalypse. Some call them Bookburners. They don’t like the label. 

Not that long ago I found out about a new publishing group and the idea that they are bringing starting this April. Serial Box and the first serialized fiction call Bookburners led by Max Gladstone who you all should know from his Craft Sequence series. The Bookburners series is written by multiple authors, each contributing an episode to the series. I really like this idea, as I currently try to post a Short Fiction story every Friday in the dedicated feature. I will try to manage to do the same with the Bookburners, dedicate a feature to it. So here is the first one Bookburners: Book, Badge and Candle.

In the first episode we get introduced to female detective Sally Brooks, who well as she describes herself on the verge of a breakdown, her latest case wasn't well easy.  All of a sudden Sal receives a phone call from her brother Perry who is also already quite conveniently onto his way to her apartment. Both haven't spoken for over a month. Perry isn't without a reason at Sally's place as he needs help in some form, he roommates are up to some weird things and Perry have escaped with a very old book and is now being followed by the Bookburners. The next things all happen in a flash, a knock on the door, Sally dialing 9-1-1 and eventually being knock out by a chinese women with a bob haircut. Waking up in a hospital without her brother and no evidence that Perry was ever there. Sally known what she saws and is more than determined to get down to the bottom of this. The only way to get it is to go to Perry's home and look for him or ask his roommates which she, with her explosive nature does... And there she comes across a typical van for a look and and once again lives up to her nature and charges in. Her she finds the two persons who were looking for Perry, the Chinese woman, Grace, and the man, Father Menchu, who knocked on the door... Here Sally learns just what has happened and is about to happen. Her brother stole a very powerful book and as the synopsis says "Some books have teeth". But not only teeth in a figurative way, also literally, they can influence their carries and exert demonic powers over them. It's up to Father Menchu and his gang to keep the world safe of these powers... But it's a tough job, more and more of these cases are happening... 

Max Gladstone kicks of the Bookburners series with a lot of action. Lets see what Sally's career change will have in store for her!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Short Fiction Friday: Selfies

Selfies by Lavie Tidhar "Selfies", by Lavie Tidhar, is a creepy little horror tale about the fate of a young woman who makes the mistake of a lifetime when she buys a new phone in the local mall. It is only a few weeks back that I read a different but very interesting short story of Lavie Tidhar, Dragonkin . I found this story directly to my liking, the synopsis and build up of the story was unique and got me excited by it's less is more writing style. In the end this story for me had so much going on that I hope to see Lavie Tidhar exploring it even further. That aside, now its time for Selfies . I think I can now safely say that Lavie Tidhar is an author to watch out for, his stories will get you thinking and will scare you twice over.  I have been thinking a lot of the current situation with always being connected on social media and the likes. It's unavoidable. One thing that is connected with all of this is of course your smartphone, yes no longer a cell

Author interview with John Gwynne

Author interview with John Gwynne Author Bio: I was born in Singapore while my dad was stationed there in the RAF. Up until he retired that meant a lot of traveling around, generally a move every three years or so. I live with my wife and four wonderful (and demanding) children in East Sussex. Also three dogs, two of which will chew anything that stands still. I have had many strange and wonderful jobs, including packing soap in a soap factory, waitering in a french restaurant in Canada, playing double bass in a rock n roll band, and lecturing at Brighton University. I stepped out of university work due to my daughter’s disability, so now I split my time caring for her and working from home - I work with my wife rejuvenating vintage furniture, which means fixing, lifting, carrying, painting and generally doing what my wife tells me to do... And somehow during this time I started writing. I’ve always told my children stories at bed-time, and they pestered long and hard for me to

Author Interview with Christopher Fowler

Author interview with Christopher Fowler. Author bio:  Christopher Fowler is an English novelist living in London, his books contain elements of black comedy, anxiety and social satire. As well as novels, he writes short stories, scripts, press articles and reviews. He lives in King's Cross, on the Battlebridge Basin, and chooses London as the backdrop of many of his stories because any one of the events in its two thousand year history can provide inspiration In 1998 he was the recipient of the BFS Best Short Story Of The Year, for 'Wageslaves'. Then, in 2004, 'The Water Room' was nominated for the CWA People's Choice Award, 'Full Dark House' won the BFS August Derleth Novel of The Year Award 2004 and 'American Waitress' won the BFS Best Short Story Of The Year 2004. The novella 'Breathe' won BFS Best Novella 2005. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi Christopher, welcome over to The Bo