Peadar

I finally finished "An Litir" ("The Letter"), a boy's own adventure set in the earlyish 1600s in Galway. Plenty of fencing involved, a beautiful girl to be admired and a dastardly villain. There are three in the series. I may read the second one in a few months.

Will do!

Up next for me, An Litir by Liam Mac Cóil, an Irish language historical novel, set in 1612. It's years since I last read a book in Irish, so I hope I'm still capable of it. Use it or lose it!

I loved Adrian Tchaikovsky's City of Last Chances. Very reminiscent of late, great Tanith Lee's "Secret Books of Paradys". Highly recommended for lovers of top class world building. My favourite of his since Cage of Souls.

"Guns of the Dawn" is brilliant. However, if you want to read one of his SF books, my personal favourites are "Dogs of War" and "Cage of Souls".

I started Adrian Tchaikovsky's City of Last Chances. Loving it so far. Really delivers on the worldbuilding.

To be fair, the book is factually wrong about lots of things. As somebody who can speak Irish and has an MA in Italian linguistics, I spotted a lot of errors in these areas. I'm sure that people here who are experts in other fields will find issues too. However, it's a big book with such a wide scope that it would have been (in my opinion), impossible to research everything to sufficient depth to avoid making mistakes. Such is the fate of an author!

I finished The Last Blade Priest by W.P. Wiles. Very enjoyable with a great low-fantasy take on elves. Up next, historical fiction with Rose Tremain's Restoration. Great start.

I figured it wasn't his first rodeo. Very well written, but also great worldbuilding so far -- only about a fifth of the way through it.

I have just started The Last Blade Priest by W.P. Wiles. I think I'm going to like it, but early days yet.

I ended up really enjoying Paul M. Duffy's Run with the Hare, Hunt with the Hound. It came from a small press I'd never heard of, but it's so rare to see this setting in fiction, I took a risk. Set in Medieval Ireland at the time of the Norman invasion, it is written by an archaeologist who really knows the period well. At one point -- not a spoiler -- there is a scene where the hero comes upon a woman washing bloody clothing in a stream. This is an image straight out of Irish mythology (the goddess of war is always doing this). The novel is wonderfully poetic; full of fascinating characters and a love story that is everything you expect, until it becomes something very different -- and no, not that other thing you were expecting. It's not really a battle book, though there are a few battles and many action scenes. And TW for violence, including of a sexual kind.

I enjoyed Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I thought there were a few genuinely moving moments towards the end. Now, I'm starting an Irish historical novel called Run with the Hare, Hunt with the Hound by Paul M. Duffy.

Lots of great suggestions here! I would recommend The Quincunx by Charles Palliser. Lots of it does not take place in winter, but it feels wintry and brutally cold. Also, in an SF vein, there's probably no future city I'd love to live in more than David Zindell's Neverness. You have to skate everywhere! Furs obligatory. Hot chocolate. Oh, and wonderful, mind-blowing worldbuilding.

I too am reading Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Strong start.

I used to read them all the time -- back when I wrote them more often. These days, unfortunately, I tend only to look at the ones on the Hugo list every year or, if one of my favourites, like Ted Chiang or Adam Roberts has a collection out, I might get that. However, I agree with you that Beneath Ceaseless Skies is a great little website.