Sunday, October 29, 2017

Book in the Spotlight #OurAuthorGang

Book in the Spotlight  #OurAuthorGang


Mad Shadows II: Dorgo the Dowser and The Order of the Serpent
by
Joe Bonadonna

Cover and interior map by Erika M. Szabo

“This eagerly awaited follow-up volume to Joe Bonadonna’s classic, Mad Shadows: The Weird Tales of Dorgo the Dowser, is exactly what I hoped for. This continuation of Dorgo’s chronicle is comprised of three novellas: “The Girl Who Loved Ghouls,” “The Book of Echoes” and “The Order of the Serpent.” This is razor-edged fantasy at its best. In the first tale, Dorgo has some romance going on in his life, with a witch. This is not a Harlequin romance. Bonadonna’s masterful prose is ripe with images, appropriately gothic, spooky as hell, and a delight for fans of classic fantasy-adventure fiction. I love Bonadonna’s world building. Laced with autumnal winds and lonely graveyards, Dorgo’s world is chilling and often deadly: “What little was left of Glacken lay to the south, between Widow’s Fell and Baloo Fen. The fire blackened ruins of Sahn Magnor, the old Estaerine church, stood on the outskirts of the ghost town. The cemetery lay behind the church and had been part of its once-sacred ground. I gave the supposedly haunted hamlet a wide birth, not wanting to encounter any demons or devils…” (p.30) I love this type of natural exposition where the writer can so deftly transport us into an imaginative and exotic locale. Dorgo never has an easy time of it, but I’m always rooting for him to overcome his tribulations. Bonadonna pits Dorgo against some fairly wicked creatures. In “The Book of Echoes” Dorgo learns about “The Book of Echoes” which seems to be on everyone’s mind. After being nearly killed, Dorgo learns that the book can open realms beyond time and space, and holds answers to all the riddles of the Echoverse, the secrets of life and death, and the Nine Levels of Attainment. But such knowledge has a price. Those who are pure of heart will become the Crystal Children, while those with evil intent will become Endarkened Ones. Bonadonna brilliantly structures the tale and populates it with plenty of weird characters, nasty monsters and rising tension. The third novella, “The Order of the Serpent,” ties it all together and pits Dorgo against a warlock, the leader of the Order of the Serpent. Engaging characters, artful construction, scenes dripping with mood, and a world of castles, goblins and wild monsters are all hallmarks of Joe Bonadonna’s Dorgo the Dowser tales. Impossible to put to down, Mad Shadows II: Dorgo the Dowser and The Order of the Serpent is a richly imagined collection. The great cover artwork is by Erika M. Szabo.” — Amazon review by Thomas McNulty, author of Showdown at Snakebite Creek, Trail of the Burned Man, Coffin for An Outlaw, Werewolves!, Wind Rider, and The Life and Career of Errol Flynn.

Magic, murder, mystery, monsters and mayhem all await you in Mad Shadows II: Dorgo the Dowser and the Order of the Serpent. Available in paperback, Kindle, and Nook editions.



#heroicfantasy  #swordandsorcery  #occult  #paranormal  #adventure  #horror


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