Some reviews and responses...

From the esteemed Erudite Ogre,  a thoughtful reflection on his reading experience of my first novel, LAST DRAGON, which -- as we all should know by now -- had just come back into print from Apex books:

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J. M. McDermott's Last Dragon starts off by making you worried. After the first several pages you wonder if you have entered into ametafictional puzzle, some sort of stereotypically-postmodern labyrinth that wants you to feel lost, worried, and perplexed. You are drawn into parallel stories of a dying, bitter empress writing to her lost lover and of the woman she was in her youth, tackling a quest that seems simultaneously foolish and impossible to fulfill. Names of characters and scenes from her past life are written in her letters out of sequence, mixed in with longing and regret and guilt. While there are two stories that emerge here, they are not the point of the novel. This is an ambitious work that wants us to reflect on how we make sense out of our lives and constantlystrive to bring all of its disparate elements into a whole that inevitably slips away from us, regardless of desire or intent.
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One thing he mentions and celebrates is the interior art, original to this edition, that was done by the amazing and talented Angela Giles of Flying Tangerine Studios! I was very excited to see the gorgeous interior work, and I know I look forward to many collaborations in the future with her. (You see, we're getting married...)

Read the full response?

Visit Flying Tangerine Studios?

Here's a review of NEVER KNEW ANOTHER posted from Fantasy Book Review:

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Never Knew Another is a stunningly beautiful novel.

There are few other words that I can think that would be describe reading this quick 200 + page book besides them although I would add eloquent, original, and intriguing.

The reader is invited into the world of two walkers (humans that can change into wolf form with the help of a skin across their backs) on a journey to hunt out demon children and cleanse the earth.

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Read the full review?

One of these reviewers recently sent me a homemade, hand-stitched octopus that tore his way out of the padded envelope and immediately scurried into hiding in the apartment.   I managed to catch a single, somewhat blurry picture just before he slipped into the liquor cabinet (which apparently is his right and proper domain, and he's a big fan of Crown Royal, apparently...)