A Book of Tongues: Volume One of the Hexslinger Series

(A) boundary-busting horror-fantasy debut . . . Files smoothly weaves an unusual magic system, Aztec mythology, and a raunchily explicit gay love story into a classic western tale of outlaws and revenge . . . this promising debut fully delivers both sizzling passions and dark chills.
–Publishers Weekly Files' poetic prose is pitch-perfect: languid, precise and full of dark imagery. . . . (A) brooding and deeply sinister novel, which will undoubtedly be a challenging read for some, but Files has definitely managed to create a world complex enough to sustain the series that this book initiates.
–Justine Warwick, Rue Morgue (#102) (T)he easily offended or those put off by a challenging narrative need not apply . . . Gangs of New York rubs against the cross-genre cheek of True Blood, mashed with a healthy dollop pf J.R.R. Tolkien by way of a dusty, mud- and semen-caked Deadwood . . . power-blending pulp fiction with profound, often poetic prose that does what all good horror fiction should do, which is mirror our collective humanity while jettisoning us into the black, blood-drenched ether . . . truly one-of-a-kind, violent, carnal and creepy.
–Chris Alexander, Fangoria Even Clint Eastwood's stoic gunslinger from those spaghetti westerns might blanch at some of the doings here, as Files describes them with a graphic, unflinching eloquence . . . But a kind of natural poetry runs through even the worst of it, combined with an imaginative view of magic. It's there in the title taken from one of its epigraphs, a poem by Gwendolen MacEwen. That quote opens with the title phrase and ends: "Beware! I know a language so beautiful and lethal / My mouth bleeds when I speak it." Such an image transcends mere gore, and so does this debut novel.
–Faren Miller, Locus Magazine sheer drama and lyrical, gorgeous prose—Files hooks the reader, hard, and never lets go.
–Brit Mandelo, Tor.com This book picked some TNT, struck the match and stuffed it in my skull. It blew my mind. Her prose is pure creative opium and aphrodisiac. You must have more and more.
–The Book Smugglers Darn’ tootin’ evil, blasphemin’, Bible-quotin’, hex-slingin’ gay bandits wreak destruction across pantheons, life, death.
–The Write Thing Gemma Files writes her words and her images as deftly as a straight razor, slicing so surely that the reader isn't even aware that the protective skin of his imagination has opened into two neatly divided flaps, (with) a few seconds of red grace before the pain comes and the screaming begins.
–Michael Rowe, editor of Queer Fear I and II Boldly, brazenly, Gemma Files pushes her hands deep into the red and seeping unconscious places and finds the bits of treasure worth pulling back out into the light.
–Caitl√≠n R. Kiernan, author of The Red Tree This is history turned on its head with its chest ripped open and its heart offered to the gods.
–Midlist Writer (T)his book blew me away . . . The plot is fascinating, a sort of magical what-if about gunslingers with strange and wondrous magics, the characters are vivid and over-the-top and yet still believable . . . it's an amazing read. So worth picking up, and my favorite book of the month. I'm sure it's going to be in my list of favorite books of the year.
–Lane Robbins Truly a remarkable, bloody and visceral read."
–Chadwick Ginther, mcnallyrobinson.com