I’ve always had a little taste for the macabre or the spooky. While I went through my Goth phase post high school and fell deeply in love with Anne Rice’s vampire series, I left the supernatural behind for a good while. Probably it was college. Entering an English Lit program drove me to read “serious” books, and I had to slake my thirst on the ghost scene in Hamlet or Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. While I didn’t really return to the supernatural until recently, my love for it was always there. I’ve especially always enjoyed a good intersection of epic fantasy and the paranormal.

In recent years I’ve been getting my fix through Gail Z. Martin’s Chronicles of the Necromancer. I’m excited to see where she takes the new arc. Gail has been kind enough to provide us with a sneak peek of her new book, The Sworn, coming in February next year:

As plague and famine scourge the winter kingdoms, a vast invasion force is mustering from beyond the northern seas. And at its heart, a dark spirit mage wields the blood magic of ancient, vanquished gods. Summoner-King Martris Drayke must attempt to meet this great threat, gathering an army from a country ravaged by civil war. Drayke must seek new allies from among the living – and the dead –- as an untested generation of rulers face their first battle. Then someone disturbs the legendary Dread as they rest in a millennia-long slumber beneath sacred barrows. Their warrior guardians, the Sworn, know the Dread could be pivotal as a force for great good or evil. But if it’s the latter, could even the Summoner-King’s sorcery prevail?

Gail Z. Martin is the author of The Summoner, The Blood King and Dark Haven in the Chronicles of the Necromancer series, published by Solaris Books. The Sworn marks her move to Orbit Books. The books have garnered praise from reviewers as well as strong sales and spots on several bestseller lists. Learn more at www.ChroniclesOfTheNecromancer.com

Gail might finally be the reason I get dragged onto Twitter, as she’s going to twitter the first chapter of The Sworn on June 21st (www.Twitter.com/GailZMartin). I’m hoping we’ll see more Tris’s power set, and see wider application of his summoning abilities.

One place Gail really shines is settings: she’s created a great religious division based on various aspects of a single goddess. With her exploring various kingdoms in the world of the Summoner, I’m anxious to see how the goddess takes to these vanquished gods infringing on her territory. Martin is upping the stakes, which can only be a good thing for a series. Hope you join us for the ride!