James Nicoll Reviews

The Bloody and the Damned by Becca Coffindaffer (April 2026)

An assassin with outlawed, magical abilities will do anything to get their kidnapped sisters back in this dystopic-fantasy standalone, perfect for fans of Iron Widow and Hell Followed With Us. 

Mercy has no place here. 

On Trinity, a metal world where the privileged live in the skies and the rest fight for water below, you do what you can to survive.18-year-old Val knows this better than anyone. They’ve sacrificed everything to provide for their younger sisters. Using their outlawed teleportation powers, they’ve become the most infamous assassin-for-hire on Trinity, known as the Butcher. 

No one should be able to trace the Butcher to Val. But when a gang retaliates against The Butcher by killing Dani, their only friend, and kidnapping Val’s sisters, it means that someone has to know the truth. 

Desperate and completely alone, Val has no one to turn to but their ex-childhood best friend turned vigilante thief. He broke their heart, but he owes them. 

But as Val fights for the return of their sisters, they start to realize there might be something much bigger at play… something that could upend everything they’ve ever known about Trinity. 

Val’s journey will take them from a maximum security prison transport to the headquarters of the most powerful gang on Trinity, and all the way to the Gate of Heaven. Each more heavily guarded than the last. 

Good thing the Butcher has never blinked at an extra casualty. 

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Secrets, Spells, and Chocolate by Marisa Churchill (December 2025)

Outcast Sylvie must survive her first year at her magical culinary school in this fast-paced, whimsical fantasy.

The culinary world is full of secrets. For one, recipes can become powerful spells. Of course, fourteen-year-old Sylvie Jones knows this. Sylvie has been dreaming of attending her mom’s alma mater, Brindille School of Culinary Arts and Magic, since she was old enough to reach the stove. Unfortunately, the last name Jones has a horrible stain on it — something that could destroy her dream. So, when Sylvie is given the opportunity to prove that she’s got the skills to be a great chef and put an end to the rumors that her famous chef mother cheated her way to victory at the world’s greatest magical cooking competition, The Golden Whisk, she takes it.

But the opportunity she’s been given may not be all that it’s cracked up to be. If Sylvie truly wants to make her own mark and earn a place at Brindille, she needs to uncover the truth about what happened all those years ago. But some will go to great lengths to ensure Sylvie fails, and she soon finds herself tangled in a web of deceit.

With the unlikely help of frenemy Georgia Shaw and rising-star-student Flora Jackson, Sylvie must find a way to get to The Golden Whisk All-Star competition and uncover the past before time runs out. Will she be able to redeem her family’s name and save her future, or will it all end in burned butter and broken dreams? 

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FIYAH No. 35: Black Isekai published by FIYAH Literary Magazine (July 2025)

Issue #35 of FIYAH Literary Magazine 

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