Queen of Static: Book Two of the Worldmender Trilogy

Product Description Queen Mashit has usurped the throne of Sheol from Ashmedai, who now swings in a cage above a river of fire. Mashit wants to bring life to Sheol and the myriad Shards—shattered universes where demons dwell in abject misery. Mashit has captured a quartet of Lamed Vav—special humans with the power to sustain universes—and tries force them to her will. Meanwhile, she sends her daughter, Daphna, to Earth, hoping to establish rule over humanity there. But Daphna, long estranged from her mother, is not keen on her mother’s schemes. And neither is the imprisoned Ashmedai. While Ashmedai and Daphna hatch plans of their own, Daniel Fisher, once a Lamed Vavnik himself but beset by a dark and all-consuming curse, travels to the far corners of Earth seeking a doorway to Sheol, determined to save humanity no matter the cost.Queen of Static continues the Worldmender Trilogy, a series that The Huffington Post has referred to as a “unique fantasy cosmos” and that NPR has said is a “feast for hardcore fantasy fans.”Praise for King of Shards“A surreal and exotic adventure in a unique mythological setting. Scary, exhilarating fun!” – N.K. Jemisin, multiple Hugo Award-winning author of The Broken Earth trilogy“His skill at extrapolating traditional religious lore into the stuff of fantasy bodes well for future books in the series.” — Publishers Weekly“With surprising twists and a deep and detailed universe, King of Shards, the first in a trilogy, is likely to be remembered for more than its Jewish roots.” – Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog Review Praise for King of Shards"A surreal and exotic adventure in a unique mythological setting. Scary, exhilarating fun!" - N.K. Jemisin, multiple Hugo Award-winning author of The Broken Earth trilogy"A fantastic twist on Jewish mythology...a radical reinvention of Jewish faith and folklore, not to mention the portal fantasy..." One city's rubble is the next city's foundation," Kressel writes. Not only does that simple, profound idea underpin King of Shards' plot, it's the method to the book's majestic, resonant, reality-twisting madness." - NPR Books"Kressel draws heavily on Hebrew legend and biblical lore to build a robustly imagined fantasy world...Kressel advances his plot briskly through a series of alliances, betrayals, separations, and reunions, and the veiled motives of several of his characters keep his story pleasingly unpredictable. His skill at extrapolating traditional religious lore into the stuff of fantasy bodes well for future books in the series." - Publishers Weekly"With surprising twists and a deep and detailed universe, King of Shards, the first in a trilogy, is likely to be remembered for more than its Jewish roots." - Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog About the Author MATTHEW KRESSEL is a writer and a software developer. He is a three-time Nebula Award Finalist, a World Fantasy Award Finalist, and a Eugie Award Finalist. NPR Books called his first novel King of Shards, Majestic, resonant reality-twisting madness. His many works of short fiction have appeared in such publications as Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, Analog, Tor.com, Nightmare, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and multiple Year's Best anthologies, as well as many other anthologies and magazines. His work has been translated into French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Czech, Romanian, Polish, and Japanese. As a software developer, he created the Moksha submissions system (moksha.io), in use by many of the largest fiction publishers today. And he is the co-host of Fantastic Fiction at KGB reading series in New York beside Ellen Datlow.Find him at @mattkressel or at www.matthewkressel.net.