Photos from the Brooklyn Book Festival

"Alexei" and I as the Brooklyn Book Fair is about to open (September 2016)

“Alexei” and I as the Brooklyn Book Fair is about to open (September 2016)

It was humid–but the rain held off! The Brooklyn Book Festival 2016 is now one for the history books! “Alexei” met me at Booth #242 and then proceeded to wander the festival grounds, bringing new readers to share his adventures in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Bohemia.

Missed the festival? You can still get your copy of Storm Wolf — AND read some great new readers’ reviews here!

"Alexei" and I taking a break during the Brooklyn Book Festival (September 2016)

“Alexei” and I taking a break during the Brooklyn Book Festival (September 2016)

Brooklyn Book Festival

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I will be at the Brooklyn Book Festival on Sunday, September 18! Drop by Booth #242 and get your autographed copy of Storm Wolf! What have readers been sayng so far? See for yourself:

NEW REVIEWS FOR STORM WOLF:

“Morris’ werewolf isn’t a fur-coated romantic, but a refreshingly murky protagonist who’s both flawed and sympathetic; he kills innocents, but never intentionally. There are quite a few werewolf onslaughts, which the author unflinchingly portrays as bloody and brutal…. A dark supernatural outing, featuring indelible characters as sharp as wolves’ teeth.” — Kirkus Reviews

“…a unique weaving together and retelling of central and eastern European werewolf folk tales. Set in 1890, when such tales were still being told, Storm Wolf stands apart from contemporary myth and legend retellings… The magic–Alexei’s battles with storm creatures, the conjuring of a snake demon from pipe smoke, a witch’s talisman of skin stripped from a sailor–is extraordinarily well imagined and described here. Dollops of regional history and glimpses of customs and legends are fascinating.” — Blue Ink Review

“…the beginning of the book also serves to give us a thorough grounding in the setting, which is impressively fleshed out by Morris, and provide an unusual as well as detailed folkloric background for the tale. Morris has done extensive research about the folklore, customs, daily lives, and language of the people of 19th-century Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and it shows. Morris’s initial premise—that of a man who becomes a werewolf willingly to protect others—also puts a welcome and unusual spin on things.

Alexei is also a highly sympathetic, realistically flawed character who the author is clearly invested in, and this enthusiasm is infectious. Trouble seems to hound Alexei (forgive the pun), both as a result of his inner wolf and some seriously bad luck, and it’s easy to root for him to find peace with himself and the world. Morris also takes care to give us enough information about secondary characters for readers to care about what happens to them, sometimes—perhaps especially—when they are in danger of meeting bad ends.

Filled with details that make for a sincerely rendered world, peopled with characters who breathe; STORM WOLF is a thoughtfully constructed fantasy tale filled with emotion and action.” – Indie Reader

Brooklyn Book Fair 2015

Ready to meet new readers at the Brooklyn Book Fair on Sunday, September 20, 2015. (photo by Elliot Kreloff)

Ready to meet new readers at the Brooklyn Book Fair on Sunday, September 20, 2015. (photo by Elliot Kreloff)

Thanks to everyone who stopped by Booth #152 at the Brooklyn Book Fair on Sunday, September 20! It was great to meet new readers and chat with old friends as well. One friend that stopped by was a high school English teacher who had gotten a set of the Come Hell or High Water trilogy last year for his students to read and he reported that the students had all LOVED the books and that they had been passed around through the whole class and were now dog-eared and well worn. That’s great! (Maybe next year he will even have to get a new set to replace that one?)

It was a beautiful day, sunny and with no humidity and an occasional breeze. The fair was extended a block further north than usual due to construction at was had been the southern end of the fair, so everything got moved north just a bit. But it was a great day and a wonderful opportunity to meet new folks — the Brooklyn Book Fair is always a highlight of the year.