Mæj

Maej has pages on Goodreads, Storygraph, LibraryThing, and Indie Story Geek. Rating and reviewing is the way to an author’s heart.

The Night Beats collective interviewed me about Maej and its world and linguistics. They let me go peak geek. You can read the interview here.

Tucker Lieberman interviewed me on Medium about the book and its characters. Now the interview is out in front of the paywall.

I interviewed artist and designer Rachel A. Rosen about the process she used to design the book cover for Mæj (yes, that gorgeous image you see above). Here is a gift link to the interview on Medium.

I interviewed artist and novelist Marten Norr about the process he used to create the map for Maej, and about his work more generally. Here is a gift link to the interview.

The Night Beats collective posted a recipe for “meersaw-gossamy”, a stew the characters in Maej eat. It looks delicious. You can try your hand at whipping some up, even if you don’t have any rhinocerote milk handy.

I have posted a voice memo to Google Drive demonstrating the pronunciation of principal characters and places in the story. Click here and (hopefully) the audio will play in your browser. More info in this blog post.

“Maej is an intricate story of eloquence and intrigue. Of low magic and high politics. Streets you can lose yourself in and maybe never be found again.”

—Steve Toase, author of To Drown in Dark Water

“A work of very unapologetic genre fiction that’s equally unapologetic in its intelligence and dedication to doing strange, creative things with language, and a meaty commentary on the social construction of sex, sexuality, and gender. The plot is a delightful Rube Goldberg machine, elaborate and surprising, filled with political intrigue, action, twists, tragedy, and even a touch of romance.”

—Briar Ripley Page, author of Corrupted Vessels

“Maej is a beautifully crafted tale of bravery, compassion, oppression, injustice and liberation that builds a volatile and compelling climax. The world these characters inhabit is unsparingly detailed, rich in history, culture, exotic customs and languages, and every other seasoning possible for the highest of high-fantasy writing.”

—Adrian Howell, author of the Psionic Pentalogy

“A luminous and lilting debut novel. An intricate, glowing landscape, crackling with reality-benders and powered by courageous rebellion. Every time I read Mæj, the ley lines point me somewhere surprising.”

—Tucker Lieberman, author of Most Famous Short Film of All Time

“Maej is a complicated story of many characters, all of them shaped by their histories, their people, and their dreams of something more. It is a tale woven with threads of suffering, despair, injustice, intrigue, tragedy, and rage, but also with friendship, love, redemption, and the lingering sense of hope.”

—Hengtee Lim, author of Something Like Hope

“A shining example of what high fantasy can be, and what it so rarely is—a stunning exploration of a radically different world that holds a funhouse mirror up to our own. At once an ambitious, densely plotted adventure, a commentary on gender and class, and a linguistic tour de force, this is a true work of art.”

—Rachel A. Rosen, author of Cascade

“Stromberg wields the pen of a poet and the mind of a craftsman, creating an intricate puzzle-box of a book. This is no-holds-barred fantasy of the likes that comes around once in a generation, infectious and inspiring.”

—Ryszard Merey, author of A + E 4ever