Mæj
Coming soon from tRaum Books
21 October 2024
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Hundred-day children are stolen from the Ilasghra every week. No one can stop it.
Madenhere sells mæjwerk; Taræntlere sells sex. Both young women have grown up seeing children kidnapped in their tentslum, a place where starvation and brutality run rampant, but this cannot go on forever…
When Madenhere learns of an imprisoned hundred-day child, her heart burns to act—but the consequences of freeing the girl will be dire. Meanwhile, Taræntlere’s molten fury leads her to join a secret insurrection whose implications neither woman is ready to face. Tying everything together is a power older than history which threatens to revolutionize an economy and spark a war—the power of mæj.
Told against a backdrop of hidden intrigues that may tear the city of Sforre Yomn apart, these intertwining plots mingle fine-spun characterization and sparkling wordplay in a standalone tale of literary high fantasy perfect for fans of A Stranger in Olondria or The Spear Cuts Through Water.
Maej has pages on Goodreads, Storygraph, LibraryThing, and Indie Story Geek. Rating and reviewing is the way to an author’s heart.
Tucker Lieberman interviewed me on Medium about the book and its characters. Now the interview is out in front of the paywall.
Advance praise for Mæj
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
“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
“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 Read and Then Burn This
“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