Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series has eaten me alive. Are you sick of fantasy where brown people are either evil or nonexistent? Did you stop reading the genre because there were too many evil/tragic gay characters? Are you tired of 'realism' which boils down to 'heartless, cold, and humorless?' Does the Dark Elf trope give you hives? Wouldn't it be nice to have more than one -- or one *type* -- of strong female character? Do you get a little chub for discussions of philosophy, theology, and sociology? Wouldn't it be nice if the writer talking about lost/ancient civilizations had any idea whatsoever how that sort of thing worked?

If you answered yes to any or all of those questions *and* you still have a soft spot for sword and sorcery somewhere within your embittered soul... you might want to give these books a try. The first eight books are available here, the ninth is available in the UK, and the tenth -- and last -- *will* be out next year. No waiting, baby.

Jack and I have been devouring these books with unholy glee for the last several weeks, and we are in love. We've been using the ILL system, but we *will* be buying copies of all of them as money becomes available, because, yes, they *do* get even better once you reread them. It's like *that*.

Here's the wiki. Be careful of spoilers as you ramble around.

Here's a lovely fandom_of_one introduction.

NOTE: I have not yet finished Book #7: Reaper's Gale. Spoil me and I bugger you with a short-sword.

So, I've pimped. What's the other point of this post? Jack's birthday was yesterday and I was unable to get the DCU story I'd planned to work for me, so... I wrote one for *this* universe. Nice and short and just a little dirty, featuring two of our -- many, many, *many* -- favorite characters.

( You interested? )