Bursts of Fire

SUSAN FOREST is the author of dual Aurora Award-winners Bursts of Fire (2019) and Flights of Marigold (2020) as well as over 25 internationally published short stories (Analog, Asimov's, Beneath Ceaseless Skies). She edits an award-winning Laksa Anthology Series: Speculative Fiction anthologies for Laksa Media Groups, was Editor Guest of Honor at Keycon in 2022, and most recently co-edit Life Beyond Us: An Original Anthology of SF Stories and Science Essays (European Astrobiology Institute Presents). Susan loves travel and has been knows to dictate novels from the back of her husband's motorcycle.

Publishers Lunch Buzz Books 2019 selection. Recommended by Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Library Journal.Bursts of Fire begins an epic political fantasy of revenge, addictions, and redemption. In an empire where magic has become suspect, love and loyalty-for one's lover, one's family, one's country-are tested. If Heaven desires the very earth be burned, what place can those below hope for, when the flames come for them?The Falkyn sisters bear a burden and a legacy. Their mother, the imperial magiel of the kingdom of Orumon, protects her people from the horrors of the afterlife by calling upon the Gods with a precious Prayer Stone. But war among the kingdoms has brought fire and destruction to their sheltered world. When a mad king's desire to destroy the Prayer Stones shatters their family, the three girls are scattered to the wilderness, relying on their wits and powers they don't yet master.Assassin. Battle tactician. Magic wielder. Driven by different ambitions, Meg, Janat, and Rennika are destined to become all these and more. To reclaim their birth right, they must overcome doubtful loyalties within a rising rebellion; more, they must challenge a dogma-driven chancellor's influence on the prince raised to inherit his father's war: a prince struggling to unravel the mystery of his brother's addiction to Heaven.To survive. To fight. To restore balance.