A brilliantly told majestic and ambitious collection of short stories…
Lander brings this marvelous collection of ten stories set in a highly realistic and credible alternate world shaped by the rise and fall of hemomancers. It’s the 21st century, and the hemomancers—individuals born with the enigmatic and frightening power to manipulate blood, are at the brink of extinction. Encumbered by crimes committed by their ancestors, hemomancers must find their own ways to survive the modern age. In “D’sang” a man sacrifices his own life to protect his family and the downtrodden of Europe from the clutches of a ruthless tyrant. In “Twenty Eighth Verse,” a hero is burdened by a murder he committed decades ago. “The Black Viscountess” is the story of a powerful hyacinth who is an expert at manipulating situations in her own favor. In “Cauterize” a disgraced scientist reluctantly joins a shady organization and finds a purpose worth living for. “The Wages of Her Sins” tells the story of a hemomancer who tries to have a normal life living among humans but fails. In “Zero Tolerance” a hemomancer cleverly takes down school bullies. In “We Fill the Gaps” the writing turns dark as Lander vividly depicts a United States senator’s struggle to choose between his own life and lives of common people. The title story tells the tale of a hemomancer who finds it difficult to choose the survival of humanity over his morals. It also sets the stage for A Rose to the Torch, a full-length novel that follows key characters from this collection into the bloody conclusions of a secret war for the future of the hemomancer race. Lander’s confident prose vividly evokes his characters’ profound emotions and dark politics of the hemomantic universe. Although the ten stories deal with different characters, who live through each story as ordinary humans, hemomancers, and hyacinths or powerful tyrants, they intertwine to tell the tale of a hundred-year war between two powerful hemomancer bloodlines that threatens to spill out of the shadows and shroud the entire world. Lancer’s descriptions not only make the suffering of humans and lesser hemomancers profound they also portray human strength and hope successfully. In creating this vividly realized and complicated portrait of hemomantic politics, Lander has fashioned a titillating tale of an alternate world, brimming with genuine emotions, inspiring philosophy, shrewd politics, and soulful theology. The novel will appeal to fans of science fiction and everyone else who simply likes to read.
All Bleeds Through
Ten Stories of Hemomancy and the World it Shaped
by Bartholomew Lander
Lunarium Books
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Pub date September 30, 2019
ISBN 9784908656903
PRICE $0.99 (USD)
Categories: Science Fiction
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