#FearlessWomen Blog Tour: BY FIRE ABOVE by Robyn Bennis

Welcome to this week’s #FearlessWomen post, where for the next several months, I’m celebrating the releases of some Tor Books Fearless Women authors! I’m thrilled to be sharing this week’s book drop with you, By Fire Above by Robyn Bennis. First, in case you haven’t heard about #FearlessWomen yet, here’s what the campaign is about:

---

Women are shining in every genre of speculative fiction, and it is no longer enough to say “Women are here.” Instead, #FearlessWomen everywhere are taking a stand to say “Women will thrive here.”

Highlighting major titles from bestselling authors V.E. Schwab, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Jacqueline Carey as well as titles from acclaimed and debut authors such as Mary Robinette Kowal, Tessa Gratton, Sam Hawke, and Robyn Bennis, #FearlessWomen will be a coordinated social media celebration encouraging fans to start a dialogue about women in publishing, their worlds, their voices, and their unique stories.

Tor Books’ handles across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (@torbooks) will be using the hashtags #FearlessWomen (and #FearlessFantasy and #FearlessSF) to promote excerpts, exclusive content, quizzes and giveaways beginning in May. There will also be exclusive giveaways at BookCon, San Diego Comic-Con, and New York Comic Con. Follow Tor Books online, join the conversation – and get reading!

---

And now for this week’s highlighted book, By Fire Above which releases TODAY! Check out the cover, read the story blurb, and don’t forget to read my exclusive excerpt from the book:

By Fire Above is the rip-roaring new adventure in Robyn Bennis’s Signal Airship military fantasy series that Patricia Briggs hails as “full of sass and terrific characters.”

“All’s fair in love and war,” according to airship captain Josette Dupre, until her hometown of Durum becomes occupied by the enemy and her mother a prisoner of war. Then it becomes, “Nothing’s fair except bombing those Vins to high hell.”

Before she can rescue her town, however, Josette must maneuver her way through the nest of overstuffed vipers that make up Garnia’s military and royal leaders in order to drum up support. The foppish and mostly tolerated Mistral crew member Lord Bernat steps in to advise her, along with his very attractive older brother.

Between noble scheming, under-trained recruits, and supply shortages, Josette and the crew of the Mistral figure out a way to return to Durum—only to discover that when the homefront turns into the frontlines, things are more dangerous than they seem.

Exclusive excerpt:

Mistral steered straight down the Secana River, but between the force of the headwind and her much-reduced airspeed, Mistral was being overtaken by steam barges on the river below, and by some of the faster donkeys on the road beside it. One donkey cart ahead of them matched the ship’s ground speed almost exactly, and the driver kept looking back over his shoulder at the airship, as if he suspected it of pursuing him.

By five o’clock, Josette’s weather instinct was confirmed. The western horizon boiled with darkening clouds as they came within sight of the air base. Before they could even rig the signal lamp, however, a message was flashed to them, asking why they were off station.

Josette, manning the signal lamp herself, dearly wanted to signal them back with a request to look out a goddamn window. Instead, she sent Mistral request landing due to worsening weather.

The answering message was: Clear weather expected. City officials have complained your absence. Mistral return to station.

Now she really wanted to send her preferred signal, but by a heroic exertion of self-control, she refrained. She only acknowledged the message, stowed the signal lamp, and ordered Mistral about.

“If I die because some goddamn paper-pusher can’t be bothered to glance at the fucking horizon,” she said, “I will patiently for his arrival at the gates of hell, and then he’ll be in for it.”

About the author:

ROBIN BENNIS has done research and development involving human gene expression, neural connectomics, cancer diagnostics, rapid flu testing, gene synthesis, genome sequencing, and systems integration.

She wrote most of The Guns Above within sight of Hangar One at Moffett Airfield, which was once the West Coast home to one of America’s largest airships, the USS Macon.

She currently resides in Madison, WI, where she has one cat, two careers, and an apartment full of dreams.

You can find her online at according2robyn.blogspot.com or on Twitter at @According2Robyn.

---

And you can follow the other #FearlessWomen participants as well! Each one will have exclusive content on their blog posts, so check them out:

This is a Metaphor
Dark Faerie Tales
Cherry Blossoms & Maple Syrup
SciFi Chick
The Bibliosanctum
Tenacious Reader
Itching For Books
Across the Words
Fantasy Literature

---

Have you read the first book in the series, The Guns Above? Are you excited for this book?