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Stina Leicht is an award-nominated sf/fantasy writer. When she was small she wanted to grow up to be like Vincent Price. Unfortunately, there are no basements in Texas -- thus, making it impossible to wall up anyone alive in the cellar. Alas, she'll have to resign herself to going quietly mad while wearing a smoking jacket. Too bad Texas is hot, she doesn't smoke and therefore, doesn't own a smoking jacket.
Bibliography: Her next project is Helix Falls, another Space Opera which will debut in 2025 from Simon and Schuster's Saga Press Loki's Ring is "...a riveting cocktail of high-stakes adventure, philosophical musing, complex family dynamics, and cloak-and-dagger intrigue. Readers won’t want to put this down." (Publisher's Weekly) Persephone Station is a "thoroughly enjoyable" (NPR) take on space opera for fans of The Mandalorian and Cowboy Bebop in this high-stakes adventure. Other series: The Malorum Gates Cold Iron Blackthorne The Fey and the Fallen Of Blood and Honey And Blue Skies from Pain Stories: Forgiveness is Warm Like a Tear on a Cheek (Evil in Technicolor--Joe M. McDermott, editor) A Siren's Cry is a Song of Sorrow (Apex Magazine) Texas Died for Somebody's Sins but Not Mine (Rayguns Over Texas--Rick Klaw, editor) Last Drink Bird Head (Last Drink Bird Head--Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, editors) Acknowledgements and Awards: And Blue Skies from Pain was featured on the Locus Recommended Reading list Astounding Award Nominee (2013 and 2012) Crawford Award short list (2012) How to correctly pronounce my name My last name is German. People always mispronounce it. I'm used to that, but now it's come to a point where bets are being placed re: who is right. So, I'll let you in on the secret, Dear Reader. My first name is pronounced "Steena." Think of it as Tina with an extra-added S. My last name is pronounced "Lite" like the beer. Go forth and win that bet! Reviews: "Leicht strikes a solid balance between grimdark reality and the hope that people will choose, against all odds, to be their better selves." -- Kelly Anderson review of Blackthorne for Barnes and Noble "I don't think I've ever seen a fictional book address some of these issues (erasure/assimilation, particularly) so well in the text. I love that these issues are presented as conflicts between well-meaning "good guys" - rather than a villain and a paragon of enlightenment and virtue - and that no one is right all the time, and that they respond to criticism by seeking to be better to their allies." -- Mike, GoodReads, about Blackthorne "Whether you want conflict at sea against storms, fights against malorum, or action on the mean streets of Nova Salerum, the author has got all the bases covered..." -- Paul Weimer review of Blackthorne, Skiffy and Fanty "..fast-paced story contains all the trappings of exciting epic fantasy..." --Publisher's Weekly review of Blackthorne. NPR says that Cold Iron is "...an impressively character-driven doorstop with which to launch a new series. I look forward to the next." And Barnes and Noble says that Cold Iron Is a Flintlock Fantasy Unafraid to Upend Genre Conventions. And Little Red Reviewer says that in Cold Iron "Leicht created a magic filled fantasy world, one where blood remembers and swords and knives carry memories, a world where water-weavers can control the weather and speak to creatures of the ocean deep. And then she had a non-magical culture (humans!) invade it with muskets and small pox. Yep, small pox. And that’s not a spoiler, by the way. The Eledorians are used to fighting with magic, but how do you magic away a high mortality infectious disease to which no one has immunity?" And Blue Skies from Pain (a sequel to Of Blood and Honey) was released March 22, 2012 and is available via Indie Bound, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Night Shade Books, BookPeople and Powell's. Of Blood and Honey was released in February of 2011 and is available via Indie Bound, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Night Shade Books, BookPeople and Powell's. Ranting Dragon review:"The pacing and atmosphere of Of Blood and Honey are truly phenomenal, making it a contender for 2011’s best debut." Examiner.com gave it 5/5 stars: – "One of the more striking and appropriate titles I've come across in recent reads. … Brutal in spots. Surprisingly tender in others. As a debut goes for Stina Leicht, it's a marvelous one." 4/5 stars at SFReviews. net Her portrayal of the people, the culture, and the cities feels indisputably authentic and absorbs you fully into the story. "Gritty" has become a lame cliché in the urban fantasy field, but this book sells it. It's all vividly realized, down to every grimy rain-slicked street and dingy flat. Likewise, Leicht's prose has a rough-hewn, textured quality that's hard to define, except to say that without any obvious attempt at creating a "style," her storyteller's voice has a raw immediacy. Many genres have given themselves a self-flattering "whatever-punk" label, but Leicht's writing actually feels like rock and roll. Blend of Celtic Myth and Irish History Makes Stina Leicht’s Dark Fantasy Debut Simply Extraordinary I love picking up a debut novel and just being blown away by the narrative within. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen all that frequently – more often than not, I experience an entertaining but not all that memorable read. But I’m happy to report that Stina Leicht’s debut novel Of Blood and Honey – a dark fantasy that brilliantly and violently blends Celtic mythology with the entho-political turmoil of 1970s Northern Ireland – is simply extraordinary reading fare. It’s like a literary kick to the groin, with Leicht’s unapologetic writing style the steel-toed boot. A Dribble of Ink review: here. "Stina Leicht’s Of Blood and Honey is different,” I respond. It’s alive. It has a message. It’s violent because life is violent. There’s sex because the politics of it help define us as humans. More guns are loaded with rubber bullets than silver. No vampires are in sight, and the only werewolf is the shadow of the protagonist’s inner-demons. Throw your misconceptions aside, forget about Sookie Stackhouse and Anita Blake, and explore a whole other facet of the sub-genre." I've a short story in Jeff and Ann VanderMeer's anthology titled "Last Drink Bird Head." It can be ordered at Wyrm Publishing's website. |