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Tag Archives: Lyz Russo


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‘The Solar Wind IV’ finds a place in the heart.

solar-wind-ivReviewer Colleen Chesebro recently had the following to say about the fourth in the Solar Wind series by Lyz Russo:

Volume Four brings the pirate assassin, Federi, and his wife, the lovely genetic engineer/musician, Paean, back together at long last. When these two are apart, the Solar Wind never rides smooth on the waves beneath its bow. Something is off, though, and Federi’s gypsy intuition is pushed into overdrive to figure out what is wrong.

Suddenly, a new threat surfaces when Dana, an alien from the planet New Dome, arrives aboard the ship with an agenda all her own. The hauntingly beautiful Dana disrupts the newfound relationship between the Captain and Perdita when it is revealed that she is Rushka’s mother. Perdita is stunned and watches, filled with fury, as the Captain succumbs once again to Dana’s evil charms. Meanwhile, Rushka, pregnant with her first child remembers the cruelty she suffered at the hands of her alien mother when she was a young child.

And, if that wasn’t enough drama, mutant creatures are menacing the crew, threatening their very lives. The beings can’t be destroyed, and they regenerate themselves from a single living cell. They multiply into the thousands with only one thing on their mind – to kill. When one of the creatures attacks Federi, the team battles for his and their lives looking for solutions to save the world from certain destruction.

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Lyz Russo

Perdita is the key to protecting humankind from Dana’s malevolence. If they can save Federi, there is still hope…

I have been reading the Solar Wind Series for some time now, and I must say, I enjoyed Book IV, Raider, the best! The characters have long ago found a place in my heart. Once again, it is the relationship between Paean and Federi that steer the crew into new adventures. The addition of space travel and the ability to beam to any location in an instant added another layer of mystique to the plot.

Lyz Russo has created a science fiction series that continues to entertain and invite the reader into the world of the Solar Wind, and its crew. This futuristic pirate fantasy is one of my favorites!

Read more about Solar Wind IV here.


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A great review for Lyz Russo’s ‘Freedom Fighter’!

Lyz Russo’s Solar Wind novels form a series of futuristic adventures – it would be unfair to hang the simplistic label ‘fantasy’ on them – that take its principle characters on a journey of piracy and political intrigue, mystery and mayhem, revolution and romance, through an unfamiliar seascape. Latter-day Romany errants cruise the currents of the yet-to-come, running from and striking back at the world’s ruthless rulers, the Unicate. That, and more, is what the reader gets in the pages of these books. The original Mystery of the Solar Wind was the book that the word ‘unputdownable’ was invented for, and each sequel has pushed the envelope a little further.

The third book in the series, Freedom Fighter, was recently put under scrutiny by writer and reviewer Colleen M. Chesebro, and it received an almost perfect score, 4-and-a-half stars! Believe it. Click on the picture below to read the review for yourself on Colleen’s lively blog…

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A review of ‘The Assassin’by Lyz Russo

It’s well worth sharing this review of Lyz Russo’s novel, part of her wonderful fantasy series. The review comes from the ‘Goodreads’ site.

sw2flat400.jpgCaptain Radomir Lascek and his band of unruly pirates, sailing upon his ship, the Solar Wind, continue to hide from the Unicate and their evil associates. However, there is more at stake now. Two data capsules in the Captain’s possession explain that the Rebellion is on a similar path as the Unicate, and both forces could spell the end of the world if the Captain doesn’t act soon.

When the Captain’s secret station in Antarctica is attacked, he is forced to take matters into his own hands. He employs Federi, the part-time gypsy chef/master assassin and Paean, a ship’s musician and budding genetic scientist to embark on a mission to assassinate as many of the top Unicate Officials as they can. Reluctantly, Federi teaches Paean the art of killing, something the fifteen-year-old finds to be a necessary evil in this futuristic world they are forced to survive in.

Struggling to deal with the burgeoning feelings he has for Paean, Federi confronts the “killing animal” that dwells within his heart. He knows he has the soul of an assassin. His greatest fear is that he will lose the love and admiration from the young girl, a certain loss he knows he could not endure.

As the story unfolds the reader discovers Federi and Paean share a type of gypsy intuition, a mystical connection that belongs only to them. This psychic ability blossoms into a deep love between the two, even though Federi is much older than Paean. This is gypsy love at its finest, and I was bewitched by the touching love story that drew me deeper into the adventure.

The book is long but filled with so much intrigue and suspense you gladly read on to unravel the various mysteries that are part of the whole adventure aboard the Solar Wind. For me, this book delves deeper into the characters and gives you a glimpse into the mechanics of their personalities. I like these pirates. Their humanity speaks to me. I can’t wait to dive into the third book in the series, Freedom Fighter. Stay tuned…

STAR-4.5


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News from P’kaboo

We picked up the following news of planned publications from the personal blog of Lyz Russo, who heads P’kaboo Publishers:

dsc_0446Split Decision by Carmen Capuano is only a proof-edit and a cover short of e-publication.  The cover artist will be available only at the end of June; however this gives us time to raise some publicity.  Split Decision is YA, though I’d actually like to classify it as YA crime fiction; a girl (Natalie) is faced with a choice of two dates, and decides to…  go on both.  That is, the author follows this young lady down both possible decisions, and while the one date very quickly turns sinister, the other, apparently sweet and halcyon, has its surprises too, things that in an ideal world, a young girl just short of sixteen should never have to encounter.  Capuano manages to balance these two contrasting paths with delicate skill, not losing traction in either for even a moment.  A manuscript I could not put down, even though it was long past midnight and I was overtired.

Carmen Capuano is also a popular indie author, which makes P’kaboo very proud to publish her.  Her science fiction series, “The Owners”, is regularly attracting attention.  Read more here about Carmen.

pink-wish-catPink Wish Ice Cream by Andrea Kaczmarek, illustrated by Eva Kuenzel, is due for e-publication – a last proof-edit, and then some publicity, and this lovely children’s book will be on its way.

Pink Wish Ice Cream deals with a sweet, rounded, good-natured Polly Pink Witch teaching some brats to be nice.  It is a classic kiddies book with classic morals, the type your mom, grand-mother and aunt would have instilled in you.  It’s really simple:  Say “please” and “thank you”, and your wish will be granted; be rude and obnoxious and you forfeit your wish.  This even applies if you’re a mommy trying to bend the rules a little for the sake of your kid…  I’m curious which lessons the other witches will be instilling in potential sequels.

The illustrations are simply delightful.  We’re very happy to be introducing these two fresh creative spirits to our readership.

durbslaunchles1Darx Circle by Leslie Hyla Winton Noble has been waiting far too long, and many of you have been following its development from the very first idea, on Colonialist’s blog.  It is darker and far more serious than the light-hearted YA fantasy we are used to from this versatile author.  I’m almost tempted not to place it in YA at all but into general fantasy; but it would be doing it an injustice as firstly the protagonists are young teenagers, and secondly it relates closely to the fantasy worlds he created in “Baa Baa Black Belt”, “Regina” and “Forest Circle Quest”.  Tyrannical young Tyrentia accompanies the dreamer Hugh and his friend Dengana onto a quest to discover what is going wrong in the Darx realm.  Their epic journey, laced with danger and heartbreak, leads them into the dark heart of the realm, and straight into the palaces of the evil forces trying to corrupt the very core of nature.  During this journey Tyrentia also undergoes an inner journey, coming to terms with the evil that lies in her own personal past…

morrigancoversmfrontlThe Morrigan (Solar Wind 5) by yours truly, Lyz Russo – is not yet ready.  It has been professionally edited; notwithstanding this, I am still going to go through it in the July holidays, because something about it bothers me.  I’ll find it, and then the first cycle of Solar Wind can (hopefully) finally receive its final volume – no promise yet as to the time frame!  (After all I don’t know yet what it is that I’ll find to fix.)

The Morrigan:   The Solar Wind is headed into space, on a helter-skelter trip chasing after a “Morrigan Treasure” that may or may not exist – Dana’s treasure.  But things get weird pretty quickly.  The limited experience of space the crew has from Captain’s Earth-based Space Base falls far short.  A species of “space crawlers” starts colonizing the ship; interstellar phenomena are not what they are supposed to be; and an evil entity with a deity-complex demands blood.  The politics aboard the ship get loopy as Dana, Perdita and Captain wrestle for the command.  Federi’s mission is to keep himself and Paean sane and the Captain on his toes.  The return to Earth fails to shake off the Morrigan, leaving Federi with a riddle to solve.

fmcuh-bookseeker-imageAnd then there is Marie Marshall’s gripping new YA vampire novel,

From My Cold, Undead Hand.  Two generations on, and darkness has fallen (quite literally) over the world.  Vampires rule supreme; there seems to be no escape whatsoever.  In KWIREBOY vs VAMPIRE, the grandson of the brave heroine Chevonne Kusnetsov from the first volume grasps at a lifeline that is thrown to him, and makes his near-lethal way right across the American continent to find out if there is any hope for the survival of humankind.

Drowned in the kind of bathos we have come to expect from Marshall, the ending – no, I’m not going to spoil it!  You will have to be patient – barring fires, floods and it being found by a larger house, we’re looking at October.

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