The Rook

People foolishly ask, what can you do with a Master's Degree in Medieval History from The Ohio State University?  You write a kick-ass debut fantasy book, that's what. Take one part Memento, one part X-Men and add lots of Britishness for good measure.  The main character, Myfawny, which must be a Welsh name, because that's just nuts, either has amnesia or has recently replaced her entire body.  In this book, either of those two things could happen.  She works as a "rook" for "her majesty's supernatural secret service." Rook refers to her rank, think chess pieces, not giant bird.  In this book, turning into a giant bird would be relatively normal. 

Myfawny's special powers have to do with her ability to mess people up when she touches them.  But her real power comes from her ability to do paperwork and statistics efficiently.  Seriously, this is her special power.  O'Malley probably thinks this is magic because all of us involved in the humanties suck at math and if you are good at it, well clearly that's because of magic.

Daniel O'Malley's day job is writing press releases regarding plane crash investigations for the Australian government.  After reading this book, I am thinking those must be fun to read.  It says here the plane went down because a self-aware blob caused it to crash.  Then his boss shakes his fist and says "O'Malley you've done it again!" (He smirks....then freeze frame). 

Drinks: Because this book involves possible memory loss, I highly recommend an Absinthe cocktail.  One of my favorites is a Sazerac. At least I think I remember liking it... Here's a recipe:  http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/ABSINTHE-SAZERAC-350802