SF Canada member Matthew Hughes‘s latest novel, What the Wind Brings, is a sweeping slipstream historical epic, with magical realism woven through alternate history.
Out of the fires of Caribbean revolution, shipwrecked onto the shores and jungles of Ecuador, a slave, a captive, and a shaman fight Inquisition-era Spain for freedom. In times like these, when power spends blood like pennies, what chance do these disparate underdogs have to create an independent nation?
Chance, no. Intelligence, daring, tactics, and magic, yes.
Matthew does an excellent job portraying the ambiguity and complexity of numerous ordinary individuals competing for prestige in a society where affront to reputation is taken very seriously indeed. As a result the political and social mores of the Nigua are every bit as convincing and real as the portrayal of the Spanish. No mean feat.
…the plot is neither straightforward or predictable. Matthew springs quite a few surprises…
…I was totally immersed in the book from beginning to end…I recommend this book. It’s a treat.
— Clubhouse review in Amazing Stories by R. Graeme Cameron
Matthew writes both fantasy (under Matthew Hughes) and suspense fiction (under Matt Hughes). He’s won the Crime Writers of Canada’s Arthur Ellis Award, and has been shortlisted for the Aurora, Nebula, Philip K. Dick, Endeavour, A.E. Van Vogt, and Derringer Awards. Matthew has made his living as a writer all of his adult life, as a journalist in newspapers, a staff speechwriter to the Canadian Ministers of Justice and Environment, and a freelance corporate and political speechwriter in British Columbia. He now writes fiction full-time. Find him at https://www.matthewhughes.org/.
What the Wind Brings will be available from Pulp Literature in October. Preorder today!