The Fireshrike is a Dark Gaslamp Fantasy based on the legend of America's first female serial killer. A great read for fans of Christina Henry, The Lies of Locke Lamora, The Witcher, and Chaos Walking.
The beasts in the forests drive Viking warriors, colonists, and a gang of shipwrecked criminals into war for a chance to survive on this Queen-forsaken continent.
A pair of convicts wash up onshore, the stone-faced Lavinia DeWitt and the manipulative Zavier Nicholas. Branded with a mysterious symbol, they have no recollection of their arrival. Freezing and afraid, their memories are hazed with the sins of their long-lost lives. Only they're not alone.
Life is hard on the frontier of Ta'er Fraedinn. The creatures in the dark forests are fierce, the native Fenrir are hungry for war, and a gang of rogue arsonists struggle to survive on the fringes of the barren waste they've created.
But the moment Lavinia sees the mysterious brand on the face of a beautiful woman, she realizes what atrocities she must commit to stop the pangs of hunger in their hearts and bellies. Perhaps her efforts can redeem her soul after a lifetime of sin . . . or perhaps she'll become the worst sinner there is.
Inspired by Terrance Zdunich and Saar Hendelman's American Murder Song and Lee Martin's novella The Six Mile Inn, the Tangled Weave series combines the legend of Lavinia Fisher with Norse culture, gritty steampunk technology, and colonial American aesthetics to create a fantasy frontier fraught with trauma, redemption, and rebirth.
