To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the publication of Jill Williamson's first novel, By Darkness Hid, she is offering special limited HARDCOVER editions of her popular Christian Fantasy trilogy as a reward in her Kickstarter campaign to fund audiobook recordings of the series ...

"Waiting on Wednesday"/"Can't Wait Wednesday" is a weekly meme now hosted by Wishful Endings, where you feature a yet-to-be-released title you're anticipating!


Title: Blood of Kings Trilogy
Author: Jill Williamson
Re-Release Date: Fall 2019 by Enclave Publishing

About By Darkness Hid (Book #1):

"Given the chance to train as a squire, kitchen servant Achan Cham hopes to pull himself out of his pitiful life and become a Kingsguard Knight. When Achan's owner learns of his training, he forces Achan to spar with the Crown Prince--more of a death sentence than an honor. Meanwhile, strange voices in Achan's head cause him to fear he's going mad. While escorting the prince to a council presentation, their convoy is attacked. Achan is wounded and arrested, but escapes from prison--only to discover a secret about himself he never believed possible."

Why I'm WoW about The Blood of Kings Trilogy:
I think I won a copy of By Darkness Hid from a book blog or some giveaway.  I had seen the book online before, but it was published by Marcher Lord Press (now known as Enclave), a smaller, kind of indie Christian Speculative Fiction press and ... I don't know, I never thought to give it a shot.  I still remember being only a few chapters into the book and thinking, "This is pretty mature for Christian Fantasy," --but in a good way!  Most of the Christian Fantasy I'd read previously were aimed at kids or teens, but reading this as an adult, I felt like it was an engaging read for teens and adults equally.

 (While I later found and enjoyed authors like Patrick W. Carr, who writes Christian Fantasy aimed at adults and teens, his first book wasn't published until 2013.)  The world-building is wonderfully done and best of all the characters:  Jill writes some of the best, most real, and believable teen male protagonists I've seen in Christian Fiction.  Her female protagonists are wonderful too, as well as the supporting cast of characters, but for some reason, I'm always drawn to her teen male characters, which is unusual for me ...

Anyway, Jill's Kickstarter to create audiobooks of this amazing trilogy has been fully funded for ALL THREE BOOKS!  But there's still just under two days left if you want to join in a snag a copy of the series in hardcover AND get the audiobook versions as well (the lowest tier for that is $80, but it breaks down to about $13.33 each for 6 books, which is a pretty great price for a hardcover and audiobook on discs.  I'm also excited since Jill revealed on social media that the hardcovers will have a new author's note and upgraded map as well.

There's some other cool rewards like these book cover pillows too!!!

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A post shared by Jill Williamson (@jill_williamson_author) on May 1, 2019 at 11:59am PDT

 So awesome, right???  If you're interested, you can learn more about the different reward tiers and all the details about this Kickstarter campaign, but be sure to join in quick, since there's just under two days to go! 


  [No compensation from the author or publisher etc. was received for this post, I'm just a fan who really loves this series!!!]

(c.) 2003 by Dark Horse Comics

This review was first written for my Special Topics in Librarianship: The Graphic Novel class in September 2014.

Title: Usagi Yojimbo: Duel at Kitanoji (Book 17)
Author/Illustrator: Stan Sakai
Published: 2003 by Dark Horse Comics

Usagi Yojimbo (Book 17) Duel at Kitanoji is the collected issues #53-60 of Usagi Yojimbo, Volume Three.  Published in 2003, over 10 years after Stan Sakai began this fabled series, it’s safe to assume that Sakai has hit his stride in his writing and illustration style.

Compared to other contemporary comics I’m familiar with, Sakai uses a traditional style of panels.  In this book, I never observed any bleeds or open panels; only simple, rectangular and square-shaped closed panels bound by gutters.  Though using only a single color (black) in his illustrations (minus the color cover), Sakai is a master with pen and ink.  He judiciously incorporates linework, hatching, and other techniques to create a variety of patterning that helps to identify different characters and figures (e.g. the group of mountain bandits in “Vendetta” all sport unique designs on their happi coats and tunics).

He is also able to get a variety of tones and shades by varying the weight and spacing of his lines.  On page 62, to illustrate a montage type of sequence in “Images from a Winter’s Day,” Sakai uses thin, sketch-like linework to depict Usaji speaking with various people as he searches for a Patriarch’s son.  A normally-inked Usagi walks in the center of this panel, illustrating his travels and the time passing as his journey continues.  Sakai also incorporates some manga iconography or symbols, but my favorite is one I think he made up himself!  In “Vendetta” on page 27, he uses a huge black question mark superimposed on a white exclamation point to describe the surprise the mountain bandits have at being surrounded by law enforcement officers, which I thought was very clever.

I also enjoyed the episodic nature of the series.  Even though I came into Usagi Yojimbo “mid-series,” I didn’t have any problems following along with the story.  Each issue seems to contain one story arc, occasionally branching into more than one issue (e.g. “Crows” has 3 parts).  However, the narrative reminded me a bit of of Abarembo Shogun, a Japanese television show my dad and grandparents loved to watch.

Sakai’s work also reminds me of Brian Jacques’ Redwall novels.  They both use anthropomorphic animal characters, don’t shy away from showing the consequences of combat (including death), and incorporate elements from historical worlds and codes of honor: Jacques’ drawing from medieval Europe and their knights, while Sakai draws from Feudal Japan and their samurai.  Having loved Redwall since middle school, I think I’ve found a new series to fill the void left by Jacques’ death several years ago.  I can’t wait to read Usagi Yojimbo from the beginning.

Have you heard of Usagi Yojimbo?  Do you have a favorite book or comics series featuring anthropomorphic characters?

Image c. 2007 - Thomas Nelson Publishing