Discovering a local author

A while ago, Joey posted about a book “Confessions of a Gourmand, or How to Cook a Dragon” published by Gloucester author Tom Bruno. It looked interesting; I am a big fan of fantasy and science fiction, and the description of the book made it sound like an unlikely and original entry in the fantasy genre. However, I forgot about it after I downloaded it to my Kindle…

Then, a few months later (back in April), Joey posted about another short story by the same author, this time in the realm of scifi: “Bibliophile (L is for librarian)” I dutifully clicked over to Amazon.com and downloaded the Kindle edition… and only got around to reading it over the past week or so! But I’m glad I did. The story’s protagonist is a librarian on a rural colony on a far distant planet, where he has taken on the personal mission to provide good books and to kindle an enthusiasm for literature in the local population. His endeavors are impeded by local culture and by galactic politics, but he is not easily daunted. It’s a well-crafted and fun read, with likable characters and a satisfying conclusion. He promises a sequel, so I’ll have to keep my eye out for it!

So, now have started to read the longer book I downloaded earlier in the year. A word to the squeamish: you might not want to read the beginning of the book, which is a detailed explanation of how to butcher and cook a dragon, while you eat lunch, as I did (fortunately I’m not very squeamish). I’ll post a full review when I finish! Thanks to Joey for sharing the links to these stories; otherwise I would not have discovered them.