About the book…
Join the library and raise hell in the first book of a stunning new fantasy series, where books unfinished by their authors reside within the Unwritten Wing of the devil’s own library, and restless characters will emerge from out of their pages…
Every book left unfinished by its author is filed away in the Unwritten Wing, a neutral space in Hell presided over by Claire, its head librarian. Along with repairing and organizing books, her job consists of keeping an eye on restless stories whose characters risk materialising and escaping the library.
When a Hero escapes from his book and goes in search of his author, Claire must track and capture him with the help of former muse and current assistant Brevity and nervous demon courier Leto. But what should have been a simple retrieval goes horrifyingly wrong, in a chase that threatens to reshape the boundaries between Heaven, Hell… and Earth.
Published by Titan on 1st October 2019, in paperback and e-book formats, ‘The Library Of The Unwritten’ is the opening salvo in a trilogy which continues with ‘The Archive Of The Forgotten’ and concludes with the forthcoming ‘The God Of Lost Words’
An intriguing concept, beginning with the fact that Hell has what can be considered a ‘neutral space’ , the Library Of The Unwritten. It contains started, but not yet finished, stories which are all too important to be disregarded and so, stay in some type of limbo, until their authors are ready to finish them.
They pose a greater risk to the wider population whilst the author is alive, than when they are dead, which is why when a main character becomes a little rowdy and mobilises the energy of the book, they can take a form and walk out of the pages . and go Earth side.
It is this errand that demon, Leto, has been tasked with taking to head librarian , Claire. She needs to go to Seattle, retrieve Hero before he meets his maker, literally.
Through Leto’s eyes we, the readers see the mechanisms by which Claire, and her former muse assistant, Brevity (or Brev,for short), carry out their jobs. For example, the ghostlight candles which are needed for those who straddle the human world, cannot be realistically expected to wander around the streets of Seattle with a lit candle in their hands, so this transforms into a not-to-lent-to-anyone lighter.Or they cannot return Hellside!
Claire, Brev and Leto go forth to try and prevent calamity, find they are in the middle of it, and then even more weighs into the mix with the appearance of a Watcher, a fallen angel.
It quickly becomes apparent that the status quo between Heaven, Hell and Earth are precariously tipped towards an out and out, end of times-esque situation if they do not intervene, and intervene fast.
It is impossible, in this humble reader’s opinion, not to become completely submerged in this world and each little detail about the library, Claire’s hinted at past, the job of the librarian and so forth, just enriches what is a whirlwind of a tale. It does so fantastic work in world building, you meet some wonderful creations and gain even more of an appreciation for the worlds which books transport you to. And in this case, it means ‘transport’ajhackwith literally.
About the author…
A. J. Hackwith is (almost) certainly not an ink witch in a hoodie. She’s a queer writer of fantasy and science fiction living in Seattle, and writes sci-fi romance as Ada Harper.
She is a graduate of the Viable Paradise writer’s workshop and her work appears in Uncanny Magazine and assorted anthologies. Summon A.J. at your own peril with an arcane circle of fountain pens and classic RPGs, or you can find her on Twitter and other dark corners of the Internet.
Links-http://www.ajhackwith.com/
Twitter @ajhackwith @TitanBooks
Author
bridgeman.lenny@gmail.com