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Candlemark & Gleam is known for finding exciting new voices. Yet an equally integral part of our vision is to give shuttles to bold experienced astrogators.
A talent I’ve always tracked closely is Melissa Scott, one of the brightest stars in the SFF firmament, a pioneering forerunner who opened new paths in the genre way ahead of trends. With a PhD in Comparative History from Brandeis, she has published more than thirty original novels, most with queer themes and characters. She is known for her remarkable world-building, has won a slew of awards, and most of her short stories (including those I elicited for The Other Half of the Sky and To Shape the Dark) have appeared in “Best of” compilations.
So I was thrilled when Melissa chose Candlemark as the launch pad for her mythic space opera Finders (first of the series Firstborn, Lastborn—the second sibling, Fallen, is slated to appear in December 2023). I was equally thrilled when she sent me her magic-drenched fantasy novel, The Master of Samar, a fusion of Erikson’s Malazan and Kushner’s Riverside in a vivid alt-universe Venice where power is based on dangerous covenants. Here’s the appetite-whetting synopsis:
Rejected by his aristocratic family, Gil Irichels has been content to make his living as a traveling cursebreaker, working with his lover, the feral mage Envar Cassi, and their bodyguard, swordswoman Arak min’Aroi. After a series of deaths leave him the sole heir to the family’s house and fortune, Irichels’s main concern is to do whatever he must to settle the estate and return to his previous life. But these is something very wrong in seaborne Bejanth, starting with the deaths of his kin and spreading into the complex web of politics and magic that holds the city together. As he struggles to discover the truth behind his family’s losses, he realizes that there is more at stake than the fall of one house. Someone is unraveling the web of curses on which the city depends, and Irichels is the only person who can stop them—if it’s not already too late.
Such a riveting work calls for a cover artist of equally potent talent. Today I get to share the stunning cover of The Map and the Territory, created by H. Won, which distills the content of the work and brings its protagonists brilliantly to life. H. Won also graced Candlemark with the equally amazing cover to A.M. Tuomala’s The Map and the Territory.
The Master of Samar will launch on June 5. Until then, keep your wards in good repair and your diplomatic acumen sharp!
