Black Blade Blues takes the reader on a rollicking adventure full of pathos and humor. A fresh look at some classic themes, Black Blade Blues will delight readers seeking the thrill of fantasy amid the everyday reality of overdue bills, bad traffic, and ancient plots to overthrow the order of the world.' -Jay Lake, author of Escapement 'Pitts is an exciting new voice on the fantasy scene. 'Pitts combines Norse mythology, smith-lore and a deep love of the Pacific Northwest in this fast-paced urban fantasy about dragons posing as investment bankers, Hummer-driving giants, and the woman who must defeat them while fighting her own demons of doubt and self-identity.

And suddenly what was unthinkable becomes all too real.and Sarah will have to decide if she can reject what is safe and become the heroine who is needed to save her world. It is at this moment, when she has lost everything she has prized, that one of the dragons makes their move. As her life begins to fall apart, first her relationship with Katie, then her job at the movie studio, and finally her blacksmithing career, Sarah hits rock bottom. Could the sword really be magic, as the dwarf claims? Are dragons really living among us as shapeshifters? And as if things weren't surreal enough, Sarah's girlfriend Katie breaks out the dreaded phrase. And that's when things start to get weird. One of the extras, who claims to be a dwarf, offers to help. avoid reshooting scenes, Sarah agrees to repair the blade. The lead actor breaks Sarah's favorite one-of-a-kind sword, and to. Anyway, the dialog is more comfortable on the SCA/Valkyrie end of the story than on the modern end (contractions: they are our friends), but the forging and the fighting balance that out for sure.Sarah Beauhall has more on her plate than most twenty-somethings: day job as a blacksmith, night job as a props manager for low-budget movies, and her free time is spent fighting in a medieval re-enactment group. There's an ending to this story, certainly, but there's room for it to be a series. The characterization gets a little heavy on telling- plus-showing sometimes, but I kind of think that's a first novel hitch that will ease out as Pitts gets more comfortable in this series-it's a series, right? I expect it's a series. And the action scenes are well worth the price of admission.

There's a movie set and a couple of Jotuns named Ernie and Bert and various other things.

It's the story of a modern-day blacksmith, Sarah Beauhall, and her girlfriend's family, an SCA fighting group with some secrets around the edges. Black Blade Blues does this admirably with Norse myth: the sword Gram yes, Niddhogg yes, Freyja no, Hel no. Part of creativity is knowing what to leave out.

One of the things I like about seeing more of a mythology I'm fond of is when an author does not feel the need to have every single story and every single figure in the entire mythology make cameos.

Black Blade Blues by J.A. Pitts