Stealing Into Winter (Shadow in the Storm, Book 1) Graeme K. Talboys 9780008120443

A breathtaking tale of adventure, survival and loyalty.

When the thief Jeniche finds her prison cell collapsing around her, she knows it is not going to be a good day.

Certainly, the last thing she wanted once she escaped was to become involved with a group of monks and nuns being hunted by the Occassan soldiers who have invaded the city. Nor did she want to help the group flee by being their guide through the desert and mountains. Unfortunately, Jeniche's skills are their only hope of making it out alive.

But the soldiers are not the only danger waiting for them in the mountains.

Graeme K. Talboys was born in Hammersmith. In between teaching in schools and museums, he has published eight works of non-fiction (on museum education, drama, and matters spiritual). He has also written more than a dozen novels. The first (written when he was seventeen) was lost on a train. The next two (written in his early twenties) he wishes had been. Thankfully, he's had considerably more success with writing since then. His previous jobs have included stacking shelves, pot boy and sandwich maker, and sweeping factory floors. As an adult his first job was teaching Drama and English. Some of his pupils still speak to him.

'A first-class adventure which moves with a pace and panache rarely seen these days. If you like good future fantasy you'll love this. Reminiscent of M. J. Harrison or China Mieville at their fascinating best. I enjoyed Stealing into Winter a lot.'
Michael Moorcock

'Stealing into Winter is an evocative future fantasy. It follows the struggles of former thief Jeniche of Antar and her companions to maintain their humanity as, displaced by war, the odds seem stacked against them. Graeme K. Talboys has created engaging characters who live on in the reader's mind long after the last page has been turned.'
Susan Murray, author of The Waterborne Blade.

'As an author, [Talboys] has a strong, clear but not authoritarian sort of voice, and that carries over brilliantly into fiction. Stealing into Winter is a really interesting piece of future fantasy ... [I] am waiting impatiently to read the rest' Druid Life