deborahjross | New author to watch

davetrow and I both enjoyed the debut novel from J. A. Pitts, Black Blade Blues.

Here's a short review:

I admit it, I love a gutsy, smart, competent heroine. I'm even more a sucker when she's battling inner as well as outer demons. The back cover copy piqued my interest with a woman protagonist who is a blacksmith moonlighting as a props manager for a movie company. What the blurb didn't tell me, what I got to discover to my unfolding delight, is that she hangs out with Society for Creative Anachronism players (who are much more then weekend warriors), that she's a lesbian in a tender and loving relationship that pits her heart against her repressive upbringing, that dragons are not only real but walk among us as investment bankers, ditto dwarves and trolls only as other things, like movie extras. Throw in Nordic gods masquerading as homeless people, some awesomely sexy Valkyries, stir it all up with "the situation getting rapidly worse" and the result is a wonderfully entertaining and thoughtful book.