Book Reviews and More: Djinn A Short Story - Cedar Sanderson as Lilania Begley

Saturday, 13 January 2024

Djinn A Short Story - Cedar Sanderson as Lilania Begley - Sumire Book 1

Djinn: A Short Story

Sumire Book 1

Cedar Sanderson

Sanderley Studios.

ASIN B0CRVTL8Y1

This story released just after New Year’s, and I picked it up the day it released and read it as soon as I finished the book I had been working on. As soon as I started reading I knew I would love this story. It is an excellent. And I look forward to reading other works published by Cedar Sanderson as Lilania Begley.

The description of this volume states:

“The planet Sumire's dry surface holds many surprises. Seona's academic background hasn't prepared her for what happens when her flitter crashes, and she nearly lands on top of Henry. Henry has his own secrets, but first, they have to survive...”

We are informed about the author that:

“Lilania Begley is the open penname of Cedar Sanderson. The author has a long-held love for all things Western, having grown up in Oregon, Alaska, and finally settling in Texas after a lifetime of moving from coast to coast. As she is also a romantic soul, writing Western Romances came naturally to her pen. Now that she's inspired anew by the wide-open landscapes of North Texas with the horses and longhorns wandering the range, you can expect to see more from Lilania!”

And in the introduction Cedar lays the blame clearly at certain authors feet, when she states:

“To begin with, this is Dorothy’s fault.

And to go on with, it’s CV Walter’s fault, too.

Without them, I might never have become interested in writing romance again, at least, not seriously enough to start doing it again. But here it is, the third of the stories under my middle-and-married penname.

It is a short story (and for less money than a candy bar costs these days) and I don’t currently plan any novels. Maybe next year.

If you’d like to explore my work further, you will find much, much more under Cedar Sanderson. At least for now. Thanks to Dorothy and CV, I plan to make 2024 a year for love. Of a man for a woman, but also, for love of writing just to have fun again.

Enjoy!”

And enjoy it I did. It was an excellent read and I can easily recommend it to you. I went hunting and found that one is published as a short story like this one and one is in the Raconteur Press Anthology18 He Was Dead When I Got There. I had already picked up the anthology but had not read it yet, and the I grabbed the other story under this pen name. But back to this story.

This story was masterfully written. As soon as I finished it I wanted to give it another read. And I desperately hope we get more stories with these characters. It sort of feels like it could be a story in the Firefly universe or even Babylon 5. The characters are well written. The story fast paced and full or surprises. It is an exciting story with a bit of mystery and a bit of romance or mutual attraction. However the story does end leaving us with many unanswered question. So let’s hope there are more.

The cover by Sanderson has such a classic Science Fiction look and feel to it. Just looking at the cover took me back to learning to read 40 years ago and all the Sci-Fi I read back then.

This is an excellent short story. Writing short stories is a very different skill and craft than writing novels. From what I have read by Sanderson she is a master of both. I have greatly enjoyed everything from Sanderson’s pen that I have read and look forward to reading more offering by her under the name of Lilania Begley. A n excellent short story that I can easily recommend!

Books by Cedar Sanderson:

Lab Gremlins

Warp Resonance

The Dwarf's Dryad

One-Eyed Dragon

Memories of the Abyss

Little Red-Hood and the Wolf-man

The Violet Mouse

Stargazer

The Eternity Symbiote

Plant Life

Sugar Skull