What book should I read after Brigands & Breadknives?
Love on a Lute String by Rowan Kramer is a slow-paced fantasy novel that contains many of the same elements as Travis Baldree’s latest book:
- Character-focused storytelling
- Cosy vibes
- Less-popular fantasy races, like gnomes and birdkin
- LGBTQIA+ relationships.
I want a fantasy book that’s a little bit cosy, but also has some high stakes
Love on a Lute String by Rowan Kramer might be exactly what you’re looking for. Its protagonist, Dash, is someone who’d love to live a simple life – and is instead drawn into chaos and mayhem at the hands of evil magics. He’s a monk who loves to make up herbal remedies and heal people. The story is told with a lot of focus on the relationships between characters, as they learn to like and trust each other.
Why is Love on a Lute String listed as having two authors on Amazon, but one elsewhere?
Because the ‘two authors’, Naomi Kramer and Rowan Kramer, are the same person! Naomi Kramer – author of the Deadish series of Australian murder mysteries – came out as trans masc a few years ago, and starting using the name Rowan instead. Because of some peculiarities in Goodreads’ connection to Amazon, showing two co-author profiles was the only way to have the book listed under Rowan’s old author name.
Are there any fantasy novels set somewhere based on Australia?
Yes, there are! You can sometimes find them by searching for the antipodean tag on book retailers. Here are a few examples:
- The Doubles by Jacob K Gallagher: On the Liverpool Plains, near the town of Werris Creek, the Veil that separates the mortal realm from the Outside is wearing thin. Children have been disappearing and turning up dead. Someone – or something – is responsible; taking them from their beds in the middle of the night and sending a message no one can understand.That’s all Kring knows when she gets the case. That’s all she needs to know.
- Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina: Nothing’s been the same for Beth Teller since she died. Her dad, a detective, is the only one who can see and hear her – and he’s drowning in grief. But now they have a mystery to solve together.
- This All Come Back Now, anthology edited by Mykaela Saunders: The first-ever anthology of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander speculative fiction – written, curated, edited and designed by blackfellas, for blackfellas and about blackfellas. In these stories, ‘this all come back’: all those things that have been taken from us, that we collectively mourn the loss of, or attempt to recover and revive, as well as those that we thought we’d gotten rid of, that are always returning to haunt and hound us.
- Love on a Lute String by Rowan Kramer: Replete with gnomes, dwarves, elves, halflings, and birdkin, this book clearly takes some liberties with its setting. However, it’s also full of flora and fauna with a distinctly Australian flavour.