Fiction Vortex - December 2014 Read online

  The story picks up with Darrow thick in the world of the elite Gold society. It is the last day of Academy. He is the top of his class, dominating the space war games, trouncing his enemies, bringing glory to the House of Mars. There is no doubt he is going to win. Victory will be ultimate. Life for our Gold with a heart of Red couldn’t be better.

  Wrong.

  And that is why Pierce Brown is a cruel literary torturer. He is a killer of kittens. Of all kittens. Yes, the kitten genocide was led by Pierce Brown. Because Brown fills you with extreme hope, and triumph that crescendos to the point that you are giving yourself high-fives and chest bumps. Then Brown blitzkriegs you with tragedy. Like killing kittens.

  And that is only in the first chapter.

  This roller coaster of emotion is a pattern that continues through the whole book to the very end. What? Oh yes I did. Spoiler. But not really. This is the second book in a trilogy. Happy endings are not allowed. And the worst kitten-killing is the wait for book three.

  And wait you will. Golden Son only demonstrates Brown’s growing literary talent. The writing is beautiful, the narrative captivating. The twisting and turning of the plot won’t let you put down the book. And Darrow continues to be complex, intelligent, and moral hero that, despite all that he has suffered, still innocently believes in good. It’s that beautiful innocence that causes Darrow so much pain. But his pain always leads to epic action, and Darrow still has a few true friends to help him.

  All of your favorite characters from Red Rising are back and more surprising characters (good, sort of good, bad, and pure evil) are thrown in the mix. Of course, many of them die, but I won't give out any more spoilers.

  When Fiction Vortex did the review for Red Rising, Dan Hope, our managing editor, said that Red Rising is what Hunger Games should have been. Golden Son affirms that statement. Golden Son is not a footnote to the first book and is definitely not just a precursor to the third. Golden Son has broken the chains of mediocrity when it comes to second books in trilogies.

  Set to release January 6th of next year, Golden Son by Pierce Brown will prove to be one of the best adventures of 2015. Pre-order on Amazon.

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  About Fiction Vortex

  Fiction Vortex, let’s see …

  A fiction vortex is a tornado of stories that pick you up and hurl you through a barn to find enlightenment on the other side. It’s a whirlpool of fascinating tales so compelling that they suck you in, drag you down to the bottom of your mind, and drown you with incessant waves of glorious imagery and believable characters.

  Nope.

  A fiction vortex is an online speculative fiction magazine focused on publishing great science fiction and fantasy, and is run by incredibly attractive and intelligent people with great taste in literature and formidable writing prowess.

  Not that either. But we’re getting closer.

  Founded in the 277th year of the Takolatchni Dynasty, Fiction Vortex set out to encourage people to write and publish great speculative fiction. It sprang fully formed from the elbow of TWOS, retaining none of TWOS’s form but most of its spirit. And the patron god of writers, the insecure, the depressed, and the mentally ill regarded Fiction Vortex in his magic mirror of self-loathing and declared it good, insofar as something that gives writer’s undue hope can be declared good. Thereafter, he charged the Rear Admiral of the Galactic 5th Fleet to defend Fiction Vortex down to the last robot warrior.

  Now we’re talking.

  Take your pick. We don’t care how you characterize us or the site.

  Fiction Vortex focuses on publishing speculative fiction. That means science fiction and fantasy (with a light smattering of horror and a few other subgenres), be it light, heavy, deep, flighty, spaceflighty, cerebral, visceral, epic, or mundane. But mundane in a my-local-gas-station-has-elf-mechanics-but-it’s-not-really-a-big-deal-around-here kind of way. Got it?

  Basically, we want imaginative stories that are well written, but not full of supercilious floridity.

  There’s a long-standing belief that science fiction and fantasy stories aren’t as good as purely literary fare. We want you to prove that mindset wrong (not just wrong, but a steaming pile of griffin dung wrong) with every story we publish. It’s almost like we’re saying, "I do not bite my thumb at you, literary snobs, but I do bite my thumb," but in a completely polite and non-confrontational way.

  We've got more great stories online, with a new story twice a week. Visit our website FictionVortex.com, follow us on Twitter: @FictionVortex, and like us on Facebook: FictionVortex.

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