FLAME AND FORTUNE REVIEWED BY PIERS ANTHONY
Posted on April 2, 2012
I send my books to my favorite writer from my childhood, his Xanth books were among my favorites when I was a teen, and he has written nice things about every single book I've sent him. This time, it was a beta copy of FLAME AND FORTUNE. Here's what he had to say on his website:
"I read Flame And Fortune, by Brian Clopper, published by Behemoth Books last year. This is a fabulous story, full of imagination. It features the fire elemental Flame, whose mere touch burns what he touches, and his friend Fenris Fortune, a were-elf, and a will-o'-wisp Maleeka, a tiny girl who lives in a lamp. This unlikely trio is good-hearted but tends to blunder constantly into trouble. Maybe one example will do to illustrate the tapestry of magic here. At one point they are trekking toward their destination when a storm comes up and they must take shelter in a house with an odd old woman; she is hospitable, but says don't even look at the papers on her desk. Naturally Fenris is curious, so he waits until the others are asleep then starts reading the letter on the desk. And it starts Dear Stranger, I hate that you have decided to read my words... What's going on here? Well, it seems that whoever reads the letter to the end will get trapped inside it, and that last victim doesn't want to do that to him so is trying to dissuade him. But he can't stop reading. I love the imagination of that sequence. To my mind, Clopper is emerging as a significant fantasy writer, not just for children."
Makes me want to do the rewrites and get it out there as an e-book soon.