Jm Landels – författare

When Allaigna was seven she almost sang her baby brother to sleep — forever.  She may be heir to neither her mother’s titles nor her secrets, but she has inherited her grandmother’s dangerous talent for singing music into magic.  As her education proceeds from nursery to weapons ground to the rank of royal page, it becomes increasingly hard to keep her heritage and abilities hidden.

Secrets, it seems, are stock-in-trade for her family, and as Allaigna works to keep her own, she uncovers two that will affect both her life and the unstable peace of the Ilmar nations.  One is the fate of her grandmother, who married a prince, turning the gift of the Sight into a double-edged weapon of state.  The other is the truth behind her mother’s two-week disappearance following an ambush by outlaws en route to her wedding.As she discovers who she is, Allaigna must decide what to become:  the skilled courtier her mother wants her to be, the political chess piece her father bargained on, or the hero her grandmother foresaw.  

Allaigna’s Song:  Overture  is a love story, a family saga, and a coming-of-age novel that braids together the stories of daughter, mother, and grandmother into a rich and deftly woven narrative.Readers are saying “Beautiful writing and gripping storytelling throughout.”“Allaigna, Lauresa, and Irdaign are tough, flawed, and appealing heroines.”“Great tension, big world, perfect pacing, intriguing politics and lovely magic.”“Magically unputdownable!”

In this issue: View mortality and morality through a different set of eyes with a classic SF story from Robert Silverberg and a brand-new one from Leo X Robertson; take a timeless bus ride with JTF King; visit 1930s Hollywood with Mel Anastasiou; experience dizzy heights in a comic collaboration from Matthew Nielson and Minna Hakkola; spin in a dangerous dance with Susan Pieters and Cheryl Wolner; hear the danger and magic in music with Kathryn Yelinek and JM Landels; and find gods, devils, and angels in poetry from Heather Christle, David Ly, and Mary Willis, all under the tantalizing cover Purple Siren by Herman Lau.

Allaigna has discovered that her family has lied to her about her parentage all her life.  Fuelled by anger and spurred by her betrothal to a neighbouring lord, Allaigna has packed her saddlebags and stolen away in the night. The perils of the road test her illicit ability to sing music into magic to its limit.  Unlikely allies, subterfuge, captivity, and assault conspire to change Allaigna’s status from mere runaway to fugitive. While Allaigna charts her dangerous course, the quieter tales of her mother and grandmother unfold in poignant vignettes that underscore the tensions of families and nations on the brink of war.

Praise for Allaigna

“Elegantly constructed”

“Brilliantly observed … subtle and powerful”

“Beautiful writing and gripping storytelling throughout.

”“JM Landels not only knows her magic, music, and swords, she knows how to weave all these elements into an exciting, enchanting, and uplifting tale.  More please!”  – CC Humphreys

“This beautifully-written high fantasy weaves together the tale of three generations of women, all of whom make very different life choices. It's rare to find a fantasy that focuses on female characters and their relationships, and even rarer to find one that does it so well. Magic and knights and swords and horses, yes, all of that is here, but this is definitely not your grandfather's old-school fantasy series. The story and the relatable characters will hook you right from the beginning, and leave you wanting to know more.” - Amazon reviewer

“The compelling plot kept me hooked for hours! It was addictive.” - Nabila Fairuz

“JM Landels writes with exquisite effect in this emotionally taut, action-imbued book set in a land that battles to come to terms with different forms of magic. Three intriguing women chart their own paths, creating a weave of intersecting consequences for the heroine. There is no shortage of surprises for the reader, in no small part because the characters in this tale refuse to fit into boxes. ” - Myst de Vana

In this issue:

In this issue

Savoury short fiction from Tomson Highway, Jakob Drud, Kim Harbridge, Hannah Van Didden, Dave Gregory, NRM Roshak and R Daniel Lester. Poetry from Erin Kirsh and Peter Norman.  Further adventures of Frankie Ray in The Extra from Mel Anastasiou and a brand new Allaigna novella from JM Landels.  Plus the winners of the Bumblebee Flash Fiction Contest and the SiWC runner up, capped off with a chilling tale from Kris Sayer.

Our journey begins under the gaze of The Faery Godmother by cover artist Ashley Rose Goentoro. We step into a ghost story ''Man with Golden Helmet'' by feature author Renée Sarojini Saklikar. Dawn Lo in ''Little Snowflake Girls'' and Weiwei Xu in ''Chimera'' introduce us to young people exploring meaningful questions of identity and belonging. Like trailside inukshuks, memories pile up and tumble away in ''Moons of Saturn'' by James Dorr, ''Practising the Art of Forgetting'' by Soramimi Hanarejima, and ''Starry Nights'' by David Milne. AJ Lee, in ''What Kind of Story'', and Magpie winners Charlene Kwiatkowski, Maria Ford, and Cara Waterfall delight with their bewitching words. Solutions to two very different puzzles emerge with Susan Pieters in ''Hoax'' and Cameron MacDonald in ''Mourgadze''. Whether by way of closet or carriage, keeping safe means keeping up appearances for Frankie Ray in ''The Sleuth with the Platinum Hair'' by Mel Anastasiou and Toinette in ''The Shepherdess: Versailles'' by JM Landels.

In this issue, a giant feline swats us into the void with ''Space Cat'' by Bronwyn Schuster. And feature author Kate Heartfield leads us on a daring escape through the universe in ''And in the Arcade, Ego''. Hitch a ride into the heat - and heart - of the desert with Kevin Sandefur''s ''Out in the Sticks''. And it all goes up in flames in ''Paper, Candles, Hearts & Other Combustible Materials'' by Anne Baldo. Natalie Harris-Spencer, in ''The Art of Ironing'', and Cara Waterfall, in ''Vessel'', illustrate ways of navigating relationships and bodily autonomy. And friendship transcends time and place in ''Fate of Chickens'' by Krista Jane May. We delve into familial grief and sacrifice in ''Sap and Seed'', by H Pueyo and Dante Luiz, and the opening chapters of ''Allaigna''s Song: Chorale'' by JM Landels, while ''Pale Pony Express'' by Lulu Keating and ''The Echo of Light Footsteps on Parchment'' by Kimberley Aslett explore memory and loss through storytelling. Strange science brings us ''The Magic Shuffling Machine'' by Derek Salinas Lazarski but can''t explain the tiny home intruder in ''The Switch Fairy'' by Monica Wang or the supernatural occurrences in ''Pretty Lies: Eyes Full of Moon'' by Mel Anastasiou.

Under the wise gaze of ''The Butterfly Witch'' by Melissa Mary Duncan, this issue promises at least two sides to every story.

Siblings work through past hurts and begin new journeys in ''Old Gifts'' by feature author James Sallis and ''Can-on-a-String'' by Alex Kitt. Meanwhile, zombies do double duty in ''Ambience'' by Jason P Burnham and ''Caught Dead'' by Shawn L Bird. We navigate new lands with Pete Barnstrom in ''Oeufs Dangereux'' and Cheryl Skory Suma in ''Adrift off the Shore of Alzheimer Island''. And Anna Zumbro in ''The Dump ''Em Dog'' and Mikael Lopez and Enrico Orlandi in ''Forgive My Delay'' remind us that, no matter the world in which we live, breaking up is hard to do. Next, triple your literary delight with historical fiction: ''The Shepherdess: Grandmère Paris'' by JM Landels, ''Pretty Lies: I Can See for Miles'' by Mel Anastasiou, and ''Once Upon a Time in Camelot'' by GD Litke. Three''s the charm for poetry too, with our Magpie Award winners Cara Waterfall''s ''griefbody'' and ''Harvest'' and Kevin Spenst''s ''BigGermanDialectWordClankinglyInsertedHere!''.