Tides of Fire Paperback Edition

The paperback of Tides of Fire will soon be available and I can’t wait to reach the e-reader-free audience.

Every fantasy writer knows the seduction of creating a universe, giving it laws, language, and history. As empire builders go I’ve tried to be a little restrained, not everything has to be explained. Much can be left to the reader’s imagination. I hope the reader will be too caught up in the epic tale of warring merfolk to wonder about certain aspects of daily life under the ocean – except, of course, for merfolk mating practices, upon which I dwell in glorious detail.

This book contains one of my favourite characters, Kahlutu, the bad boy of the Kiakhu Clan. Beautiful as a maiden, wickedly funny, tortured, always alone, and driven by desperation to rid the ocean of ‘the disease that calls itself my father.’ Finding a friend in Leelee, a warrior maiden from the enemy clan he blurts out, ‘He’s a monster and he loves me. What does that make me….I’ve killed too, Leelee, just as casually, killed and tortured. If I’ve never raped it’s only because Vahtu’s son is never refused. He has made me as much a monster as he is!’ Kahlutu is not the hero of the book but I’m proud of him and his story of redemption.