Tanya Lisle

  • I’m talking about a new release for once! Well, new-ish. Witches of Ash and Ruin came out about a month ago and it was a fantastic read! Which, well, I really liked The Strange and Deadly Portraits of Bryony Grey, so I came in with high hopes which were met. 

    The story mostly follows Dayna, a witchling in a small town in Ireland, as she and her coven get swept up in trying to get to the bottom of a returning serial killer that is targeting witches in their small town. Three witches from another coven join them, including an old woman that had been previously exiled, and her two witchlings that have their own baggage to contend with. (I’m not actually sure if the three of them are the entire coven, of if they are just a representation of it, now that I think about it. It didn’t ultimately matter in the narrative.)

    I really enjoyed Dayna and her way of experiencing the world. She has a lot going on and also struggles with OCD and a fear of what medication for it might do to her, which is displayed on the page in really interesting ways. She also has a romantic subplot ((A love triangle, I guess? Except it’s really not…)) that I thought did a good job of not getting in the way of the narrative, but also showcasing how she approaches things like boundaries. I feel like all of her interactions with the people around her, and the different relationships she had throughout the book, really helped to illustrate her as a character. 

    Not that she’s the only perspective character in the book. Meiner’s chapters in particular also did a really nice job of showcasing how the interactions with other people really help to show what a character is really like through their actions and reactions. 

    The story also unfolded in a really interesting way, especially with the changing perspectives allowing the audience to get a fuller understanding of everything that was happening and why. It still leaves enough room to keep you guessing, though, and more than enough mystery to last a whole other book. Which I’m really hoping will happen! There’s a lot to like, from references to old gods that you don’t see as often in literature and representation in a way that is part of the character rather than a defining feature, which I’m always a fan of. I highly recommend it!

    Witches of Ash and Ruin on Amazon

  • I missed doing this! Quote graphics are a ton of fun. Here’s a roundup of the ones from this month!

    Get Looking Glass Saga

  • Today in I have had this on my TBR list forever and I’m finally getting around to reading it, Dying for a Living finally made it! The more I’m going through this list, the more I’m realizing I should have gotten to more of these books sooner.

    The story follows a woman named Jesse, a death replacement agent with a very particular ability. A small percentage of the population has a rare genetic ability to survive death and to stop someone else from dying. Jesse works for the NRD, an organization that arranges this service to the highest paying clients who they have found are going to die soon. Unfortunately, Jesse gets set up to be killed permanently on a job and the story follows her and her friends as they try to figure out why, and who. And, of course, her past comes back to haunt her. 

    Jesse is a total dick and I love it. I have a thing for protagonists who are terrible as people, but who are that way for ultimately understandable reasons. She’s under stress for the entire story, and deals with it by lashing out at the people around her, being sarcastic, and making poor choices. It all feels very realistic, especially as you get into her backstory and how she came to be in this position in the first place. 

    And now I’m going to talk about the bisexual love triangle. I never felt that it intruded on the narrative, but that I have thoughts about it as a whole is a pretty good sign. Namely, Ally deserves someone much better than Jesse, let Jesse just be with the bland but also kind of an asshole Lane. 

    Overall, it was a really fun story, even though the ending felt a little… well, given that this is a series I guess it had to end that way, but I would have liked a little more consequence at the end. I still liked it and the rest of the series looks like it has a lot of great promise to it.

    Get it on Amazon!

  • I’ve started writing little bits of microfiction ((Small scenes that don’t appear in The Looking Glass Saga.)) that are 250 characters or less. Because I like a challenge. Here is one from during Jabberwocky’s Book, when Sarah is taken by the Bandersnatch.

    “Please don’t eat me!” Rob yelled as he ran away.

    Those words doomed Sarah to a lifetime of being frozen. Not eaten, but forever still with only her thoughts. She would never be free again.

    But the words that trapped her…

    She would have done the same.

    The Looking Glass Saga

  • Yes, I realize I didn’t actually make this announcement yet, so here it is! Gentle Current Into Danger, the eighth book in The Looking Glass Saga, is coming out on April 15th, 2020!

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is gentlecurrent-679x1024.jpg
    

    If there was one thing Alice was good at, it was lying.

    When Alice swears that she is done with Wonderland, Adrianna wants to believe she is telling the truth. Alice has stopped going to Wonderland, stopped vanishing at a whim, stopped ignoring her teachers in class. It’s like she’s a whole new girl, one that is ready to move on with her life and start working toward her future.

    But there are cracks appearing in the mirrors–and in Alice’s facade. There is more to that growing illness than she is letting on. But Adrianna has other problems, from Arthur blackmailing her into a relationship to her brother still being possessed. It’s only a matter of time before Wonderland comes knocking again, and someone will answer its call.

    Preorder Gentle Current Into Danger now!

  • I always like helping people figure out how to write stories and how to put their narratives together in a cohesive way. And I’ve also had a surprising amount of time on my hands lately, so I made a thing!

    The Storyteller’s Workbook is a journal designed to help you to plan and write your novel with simple worksheets for characters, setting, plots, and writing session tracking. However you plot and plan your stories, this workbook has spreads that will work for you.

    This Journal Contains:

    • A table of contents that you can fill out for easy reference
    • Story planning spreads
    • Setting and location spreads
    • Character spreads
    • Writing session tracker
    Get The Storyteller’s Workbook

  • I know, it’s been a while on this one! I’ve been working hard to finish off the series and I’ve gotten a little distracted. My bad! But I finally have the title and cover more or less finalized for the next book!

    If there was one thing Alice was good at, it was lying.

    When Alice swears that she is done with Wonderland, Adrianna wants to believe she is telling the truth. Alice has stopped going to Wonderland, stopped vanishing at a whim, stopped ignoring her teachers in class. It’s like she’s a whole new girl, one that is ready to move on with her life and start working toward her future.

    But there are cracks appearing in the mirrors–and in Alice’s facade. There is more to that growing illness than she is letting on. But Adrianna has other problems, from Arthur blackmailing her into a relationship to her brother still being possessed. It’s only a matter of time before Wonderland comes knocking again, and someone will answer its call.

    Get the story so far on Amazon!

  • You guys know I love a good reimagining, and this one is Peter Pan! IN SPACE! I haven’t done a lot of science fiction lately, and it felt like it was calling to me. Like a transmission from deep space. Or my phone. One of the two of those.

    Fair warning, there’s spoilers in the footnotes this time around. You’ve been warned.

    The story focuses largely on Peter, a mechanic on the Jolly Roger who discovered that the dear Captain Hooke was a traitor and getting the ship stranded on a strange planet in an unexplored sector of the universe. While he and the Lost Boys that he rescued from the ship have learned to survive on the planet away from the remainder of Hooke’s crew, he eventually learns that Captain Hooke has gotten a transmission out, one that might cause problems and might also be their way off the planet of Neverland.

    This is when we meet Wendy, brightest of the Academy and recently promoted to Captain and given the mission to recover the renown Captain Hooke, who has been missing for 100 years. She and her crew, including Johns and Michael, make their way to the strange sector of the universe and promptly get stranded themselves.

    The story follows a very different pattern, with Peter helping Wendy and her crew so that he might be able to get home, and a fantastical element being brought in with the introduction of the Natives and the strange god that they must make a sacrifice to.

    I really liked the way it was done. There are a lot of nice nods and homages to the original story that you do really feel like you’re being brought into a version of Neverland, with very similar characters. The story still feels very unique, however, and it follows some of the patterns that I’ve gotten more comfortable with in Neverland retellings. ((The shadow as a bad guy, and Peter and Wendy falling for one another))

    I have my problems with the resolution, but it worked really nicely for the story and I assure you that it is not a problem that anyone else is going to have. ((Peter has fallen in love with Wendy and that’s what really saves the day. Which. Well.)) It didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book, which is ultimately the most important thing.

    Overall, I really liked it and I’d say it’s definitely worth adding to my list of great retellings.

    Get Second Star on Amazon!

  • A while back, I did a reading for a podcast. Since I can’t find the podcast any longer, and I still have the audio, I thought I’d throw it up here! Let me know if you want me to do more of these and… I’ll probably keep doing more of them, honestly. It’s fun.

    Check out City Without Heroes

  • Magic can end up in the hands of anyone if they know where to look. Magical items litter the streets if you know where to look, and will work for anyone who happens upon them. While the Syndicate tries to keep them from falling into the wrong hands – or any hands at all – even they don`t know how many remain outside of the Evidence Locker at the back of the office.

    Evidence looks at the stories of some of the magical artifacts that the Syndicate has yet to track down. Wands and pendants often find their way into the possession of people who don’t fully understand their potential or the consequences of using them.

    The Evidence paperback is out at last! I’m slowly getting this whole series into print and I’m getting so close to done! For now, though, enjoy getting your very own paperback of my Canadian supernatural horror anthology series!

    Get Evidence Now!

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