Before we start: An LGTBQ All Genre Giveaway and a Sci Fi/Fantasy Giveaway.

At long last, the 4th Misfits of Carnt novel is here and the tension is really ratcheting up in this one. As you know, the series is about endings and beginnings. And now we are square in the middle of that story. For this one, I really wanted to pay out some threads that I planted in the first couple novels about the nature of Carnt, its relation to Earth, and how the landscape will forever change.

While inspiration for the series was wanting to see the “Breaking of the World” from the Wheel of Time” series, an event so significant it alters everything, even the landscape, I also was inspired because we were watching The Magicians. I love The Magicians, I’ve already seen it twice through, and it probably won’t be the last time I watch the series. Now, I haven’t read the books yet, it’s on my audiobook wishlist, but there’s a part of me that hesitates, only because I heard that the Magicians books are really nothing like the TV series.

I completely respect Lev Grossman, the writer. Without him, the TV series wouldn’t have been possible, but there is a part of me that has some trepidation about going to the books after falling in love with the TV series. There’s a weird fear that I won’t find what I found in the show, when the reality is that I’ll probably love the books too, and it will be just more Magicians, which is a good thing.

Is it better to leave the cat inside the box for fear of being disappointed or let the cat out because it very well may be alive and better than the TV show ever was? You already know my thoughts that collective art is in a lot of ways better than any one single human can do (ie Silo series), but there are also times when collective art fails. There are TV shows based on books that fail in the first season, where you wonder if they ever read the book they were making the show about.

That’s why I haven’t read the Magicians yet. It feels like an unknown quantity. I do want to say that at least in the TV show, Fillory is one of the best parts. It’s a unique rich fantasy world, but also a parody of Narnia among other fantasy worlds, though I would say it’s heaviest in Narnia. And well, if you are reading this email you probably know that I’m a big comedy blended into fiction fan. 

That’s what Carnt is for me. It’s primarily a parody of Middle Earth from the Tolkien world, as Fillory is to Narnia. While the Magicians takes it a step further and ties a meta narrative about the writer of Fillory also being a participant of the world, I didn’t want a meta narrator as I was already weaving so much into so few pages. But I did parody events like Sauron waiting in his tower for something to happen, elves and dwarves, the party coming together, and even a little Harry Potter with the third book.

But now that events are getting more serious in the story line, the jokes are getting further in between and the characters are going through some deep shit, which is kinda what happened in the Magicians. The story started off like Harry Potter but in grad school, and the humor elements were high (yes double meaning, get it?), but as the story progressed even the characters like Elliot and Margo, who by far were the most entertaining in the first season, got all serious with emotional plotlines.

That’s what’s happening here too in Book 4 of the Misfits of Carnt. What seemed maybe not as serious is suddenly threatening. This one will tighten those screws as the story careens to the ending. If you liked the others, you’ll love this one too. There may not be as many jokes, but its definitely heading to the end, but not yet, there are still more books to come in this series, but with Office Maxi, and another super-secret project I’m writing, I can probably only get to one Carnt book a year. But I will finish them. I don’t like leaving a series unfinished. It just takes me a while because I want to do it right.

Books to Consider

A cache of magical weapons just might save the world from an apocalypse that could leave both Earth and Carnt in ruins.

Read The Golden Assault Rifle today!

Above the cliffs where the sea meets the sky, Fauna weaves life into existence.

Read Breath today!

The Fimmara convoy carries a treasure. It’s well guarded and impossible to steal. But Jac Kanto is determined.

Read The Fimmara Raid today!

Commander Sorăna Mirra has spent years leading a hand-picked team of marine special operators.

Read The Blade Within today!

Liv at the End of the World is a funny, absurd and hopeful story, sure to make you laugh and cry.

Read Liv at the End of the World today!

Kayn dreams of a world beyond the shelter walls, a world full of sin—yet he yearns for its freedom.

Read Wine & Smoke today!

In this tale of space opera and cosmic adventure, the Ambassador of a mysterious and ancient family must forge a path through chaos to overcome the terrible enemies that desire humanity’s destruction.

Read The Survivors today!