Michael Ehart‘s new Sword-and-Sorcery book, The Tears of Ishtar, published by Ancient Tomes Press,  is a novelization of all the stories featuring his heroine/anti-heroine Ninshi, who previously appeared in The Servant of the Manthycore. This volume will include the tales from the former book, plus, according to the author, “a ton of new stuff.”

Here’s the blurb:

From the sands and cities of the ancient middle-east comes an epic story of bloodshed, love and betrayal. Award-winning fantasy author Michael Ehart spins a tale that echoes with the blood and thunder of the golden age.

Bound by an ancient curse, serving her master in bitter unwillingness, the Servant of the Manthycore must lure the greedy, the unsuspecting and the unwary into the desert to feed the insatiable beast to whom she is bound. Centuries of combat and murder have made her a swordswoman whispered of in the marketplaces, feared in the back-alleys and sung about by the campfires of the caravans. The passing centuries of betrayal and death have stolen her humanity and even her name, leaving only a glimmer of who she once was. Her only hope is to someday meet a greater warrior than she, and so be freed.

Striding across the background of civilization in its youth, in the time of the first great heroes and the cities they built, she becomes more than a woman, and as her legend grows so does her determination to someday be free of the great beast who she serves. Goddesses, bandits, soldiers and kings fall beneath her sword as she fights her way to discover a path to freedom.

Two tales starring Ninshi were included in the Sword-and-Sorcery anthologies edited by Jason M. Waltz and published by Rogue Blades Entertainment, Return of the Sword and The Rage of the Behemoth. Both volumes were (favorably) reviewed last year by my fellow blogger Deuce Richardson here and here on The Cimmerian.

The cover is by Johnney Perkins, who was the cover artist for Return of the Sword and who painted multiple covers for The Rage of the Behemoth. The inside illustrations are by Michael “Miko” Mikolajczyk, who previously worked for the defunct Flashing Swords magazine and on the graphic novel adaptation of Bruce Durham‘s story “The Marsh God.” A free preview of The Tears of Ishtar can be read here.