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2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - December 2013 Winner



The winner of the December 2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover wars is Darkwalker by E. L. Tettensor with 80% of the votes.



2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - December 2013 Winner





The Final Results
2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - December 2013 Winner





The December Debut Covers
2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - December 2013 Winner





Thank you to everyone who voted, Tweeted, and participated. The 2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars for DEBUT COVER OF THE YEAR will start this weekend!

Interview with Sonja Condit, author of Starter House - December 13, 2013


Please welcome Sonja Condit to The Qwillery as part of the 2013 Debut Author Challenge Interviews. Starter House will be published on December 31st by William Morrow.



Interview with Sonja Condit, author of Starter House - December 13, 2013




TQ:  Welcome to The Qwillery. When and why did you start writing?

Sonja:  I wrote my first novel at age seven, about the life and adventures of a trap-door spider, an animal whose lifestyle interested me strongly. Then I wrote another one, about an Egyptian cat mummy who lived in a museum and came out at night to have adventures with other museum artifacts and also with the nearby cats. Then it was dinosaurs, then unicorns, and eventually I started to write about people.



TQ:  What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

Sonja:  I'm very boring and have no quirks. I can't write without coffee--but then, I can't really do anything without coffee. Also I need a cat nearby. Fortunately we have plenty so there's always one available.



TQ:  Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Sonja:  I'm a rebellious plotter. I plot like mad, in agonizing detail, and then when I write it all goes to pieces and the book ends up different. Every now and then I stop writing and adjust the outline to reflect what's actually there.



TQ:  What is the most challenging thing for you about writing?

Sonja:  Every day, the first one hundred words are the hardest. Deadlines help. I belong to two wonderful writing groups, so there's always a workshop coming up, and that keeps me working.



TQ:  Describe Starter House in 140 characters or less.

Sonja:  Pregnant woman buys house haunted by jealous child.



TQ:  What inspired you to write Starter House?

Sonja:  I absolutely love ghost stories. But there are certain haunted-house traditions that disturb me, such as, that the houses are so horrible and dangerous, why would any reasonable person choose to live there? And the ghosts are so hateful and angry. So I tried to make it different. The house is an ordinary, pleasant suburban home, and the ghost is motivated by love, not hate.



TQ:  What sort of research did you do for Starter House?

Sonja:  None! I'd much rather make things up. Actually, that's not true; as part of plotting and outlining, I had a timeline, and made sure I knew what was going on with Lacey's pregnancy in every scene.



TQ:  Who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?

Sonja:  Lex was easy to write, because he was so different. I made a few rules for his language--he rarely uses names; his sentences are short and simple--and tried to understand what he was thinking. Eric was hard. My early readers found him very unsympathetic. This was disturbing, because I quite like him, and I wanted my readers to sympathize with him even when he's wrong.



TQ:  Without giving anything away, what is/are your favorite scene(s) in Starter House?

Sonja:  The dreams. I rarely write dream scenes, and usually don't enjoy them as a reader, but I think they worked and that made me happy.



TQ:  What's next?

Sonja:  I'm working on another book; right now I'm partway through the second draft, and am just discovering that my timeline is in ruins and nothing makes sense! It'll work out in the end, though.



TQ:  Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

Sonja:  Thank you.






Starter House

Starter House
William Morrow Paperbacks, December 31, 2013
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

Interview with Sonja Condit, author of Starter House - December 13, 2013
Her dream home is about to become a house of nightmares...

From the moment Lacey glimpses the dusty-rose colonial cottage with its angled dormer windows and quaint wooden shutters, she knows she's found her dream house. Walking through its cozy rooms, the expectant mother can see her future children sitting on the round bottom step of the house's beautifully carved staircase, and she imagines them playing beneath the giant maple tree in the warm South Carolina sun. It doesn't matter to Lacey and her husband, Eric, that people had died there years before.

But soon their warm and welcoming house turns cold. There is something malevolent within the walls—a disturbing presence that only Lacey can sense. And there is Drew, a demanding and jealous little boy who mysteriously appears when Lacey is alone. Protective of this enigmatic child who reminds her of the troubled students she used to teach, Lacey bakes cookies and plays games to amuse him. Yet, as she quickly discovers, Drew is unpredictable—and dangerous.

Fearing for her baby's safety, Lacey sets out to uncover the truth about Drew and her dream house—a search for answers that takes her into the past, into the lives of a long-dead family whose tragic secrets could destroy her. To save her loved ones, Lacey must find a way to lay a terrifying evil to rest...before she, Eric, and their child become its next victims.





About Sonja

Interview with Sonja Condit, author of Starter House - December 13, 2013
Photo by Brent Coppenbarger
Sonja Condit received her MFA from Converse College, where she studied with Robert Olmstead, Leslie Pietrzyk, R. T. Smith, and Marlin Barton. Her short fiction has appeared in Shenandoah magazine, among other publications. She plays principal bassoon in the Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra and the Greater Anderson Musical Arts Consortium. She teaches at the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities.

Website  Facebook




Guest Blog by Mark H. Williams - John Masefield and The Box Of Delights - December 12, 2013


Please welcome Mark H. Williams to The Qwillery as part of the 2013 Debut Author Challenge Guest Blogs.  Sleepless Knights was published in September 2013 by Atomic Fez Publishing.  You may read an interview with Mark here.



Guest Blog by Mark H. Williams - John Masefield and The Box Of Delights - December 12, 2013




John Masefield and The Box Of Delights

Like many British children of the 1980s, I first encountered the work of John Masefield through the BBC’s 1984 adaptation of his novel, The Box Of Delights. Since then, Masefield has been a constant presence in my life; not least when a project based on his work was a key element in my development as a theatre writer. It was then that I discovered the poetry of this one-time Poet Laureate, in particular Salt-Water Ballads, and found myself entranced by the musical ease with which he evokes a bygone sea-faring age. His Arthurian poems became part of my research for Sleepless Knights, and The Sailing Of Hell Race, a reworking of an Otherworldly expedition, informed my own take on the Grail quest.

But more than anything, it’s The Box Of Delights that has remained with me over the years – particularly the TV adaptation, although the book is no less memorable – a core influence that’s resonated in my writing in countless ways. Re-watching the TV version is an annual ritual as much as decorating the tree, and Christmas doesn’t feel like it’s properly started until those opening titles begin.

Ah, those opening titles. Aside from the Doctor Who theme, I can’t think of another series where music and visuals so perfectly distill the essence of the show they introduce. A spine-tingling arrangement of The First Noel from Victor Hely-Hutchinson’s Carol Symphony (apparently the suggestion of actor Robert Stephens – more on him later) accompanies a selection of dream-like images from the story. Further description wouldn’t do it justice, so if you’ve never had the pleasure, head to YouTube for a moment. I’ll wait here.

Back in 1984, The Box Of Delights was a groundbreaking big-budget bonanza of a production, paving the way for the BBC’s equally ambitious adaptations of The Chronicles Of Narnia, which began four years later. Mixing live action and animation, it’s a period piece on many levels. The 1930s setting throws up Blyton-esque archaic gems, from buttered eggs to bullseye sweets. Then there’s the treasure trove of words and phrases – “that’s just the purple pim!”, and the brilliant “scrobbled”, used to describe the tale’s numerous kidnappings. Some of the special effects, too, belong to a lost world. But, thanks to the fine artistry of the animation in particular, they continue to impress those who refuse to let anything spoil their enjoyment of a good story.

And The Box Of Delights is a good story; albeit one that would barely tick a single box, delightful or otherwise, on today’s screenwriting checklists. But just as a well-structured story offers pleasures all of its own, so do enchanting imagery and dazzling imagination. And when it comes to imagery and imagination, The Box Of Delights is, to borrow a phrase used to describe Phillip Pullman’s Northern Lights, a rich casket of wonders.

There’s the Box itself, of course – small, slightly scruffy, apparently unremarkable. But, much like another fantastical box, its battered everyday exterior hides a doorway into all of time and space. To open it is to step back into the Roman Empire, or onto a dim and distant desert island; or to conjure up a majestic Phoenix within the flames of a fireplace. In one of the series’ still-breathtaking set-pieces, it even lets our hero, Kay Harker, run through a wild wood with Herne The Hunter, transforming himself, in a manner Ted Hughes would surely have approved of, into a stag, a fish, and a wild duck. And that’s not all. Press the outer catch of the Box to the left, and you go swift – flying away from danger in the nick of time. Press it to the right, and you go small – shrunk down into a Borrowers world of ice-skating mice and rancid-cheese-scoffing rats.

The Box is the property of Cole Hawlings, played – in one of those decisions that makes you think if there is a God, he works in casting – by Patrick Troughton. A mysterious Punch & Judy showman, Cole enlists Kay Harker’s help in keeping the Box safe from villain Abner Brown and his cohorts. The twinkle Troughton brought to his Second Doctor is very much in his eye throughout. But his performance here is tempered by a tired vulnerability, not too far from John Hurt’s recent turn as a war-weary Time Lord. And, just as Hurt’s War Doctor was in need of friends to light his darkest hour, so too does Troughton’s ancient magician need Kay’s help; a kindred spirit in his fight against the forces of evil.

As for those forces, Abner’s motive for wanting the Box may appear, on the surface, to be fairly one-dimensional – the non-specific Bond villain staple of “power… over all!” It’s testament to Masefield’s skill as a writer, and Robert Stephens’ commitment as an actor, however, that the question of who possesses the Box of Delights is of vital, world-shattering importance. In the hands of a lesser performer, Abner Brown might provoke the hisses and boos beloved of pantomime baddies. But Stephens never sends up the role. Not for one second does he ‘act down’ to either the material or the audience. His intensity – not least his hatred for the “interfering Kay Harker!” – is chillingly sustained. Even a final scene that threatens to undermine his malevolent menace can’t rob Stephens, or us, of his total conviction.

He’s supported in this by a story that hints, with a subtlety at times comparable to the ghost stories of MR James, at dark and indefinable forces stirring in the bleak midwinter. Abner Brown is a man in league with a witch, summoning imps and demons who predict the future and manipulate the elements. His henchmen can transform themselves into wolves – but this is never seen, or even directly stated. All we have is the shivery ambiguity of the phrase “the wolves are running” – and I’ll take that over any number of psychologically satisfying expositional speeches.

But despite the scares in the dark, Masefield never lets us forget to “look out for fun.” And it’s in this “looking out” where the heart of the story lies for me, an invitation to approach the world with our ears and eyes fully open. It’s there in Kay’s surname – Harker – and in the name of his house, Seekings. It’s there in the affinity between “pagan times” Cole Hawlings and the Christian Bishop – a happy accommodation between different traditions, united in their shared goal of defeating evil in time to celebrate Christmas Eve together. And it’s there in Masefield’s refreshingly modern celebration of family, as being those who are simply your nearest and dearest, heedless of convention – orphan Kay, foster-guardian Caroline Louisa, and fellow parentless adventurers, the Jones children.

That’s why I keep returning to Masefield’s delightful winter’s tale, discovering something new with each visit. It’s a story that inspires us look at the world with fresh eyes. A manifesto of the marvelous, which tells us that, if we only remain alive to meaning, sensitive to subtlety and hungry for enchantment, then all of us can be poets.





Sleepless Knights

Sleepless Knights
Atomic Fez Publishing, September 24, 2013
Trade Paperback and eBook, 418 pages

Guest Blog by Mark H. Williams - John Masefield and The Box Of Delights - December 12, 2013
Sir Lucas is butler to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table — the person who managed every quest from behind the scenes. He’s a man whose average working day involved defeating witches and banishing werewolves, while ensuring the Royal pot of tea never crossed the thin line separating ‘brewed’ from ‘stewed.’ What’s more, 1,500 years after that golden age, he’s still doing it — here in the modern world, right under our noses.

When King Arthur and six of his knights are exposed as living among us, Merlin is unleashed and a grim apocalypse unfolds, uncovering secrets from the past that King Arthur would rather stay buried. When Lucas is forced to confront his own peculiar destiny, will he choose to sacrifice his true love and lay down his life in the service of his master?

Sleepless Knights is a tale of high adventure and warm humour, with a spring in its step, a twinkle in its eye and, at its heart, the ultimate butler.





About Mark
(from the Author's website)

Guest Blog by Mark H. Williams - John Masefield and The Box Of Delights - December 12, 2013
I’m a freelance writer of scripts, books and plays.

Forthcoming productions include Here Be Monsters (Theatr Iolo, touring Wales, July – August 2013) and a stage adaptation of Jason & The Argonauts (Courtyard Hereford, touring England, September – autumn 2013).

My debut novel Sleepless Knights, a fantasy novel about King Arthur’s butler, is published in August 2013 by Atomic Fez books.

I’ve written two UK-touring stage adaptations for The Birmingham Stage Company. Horrible Histories: The Frightful First World War (2009;  nominated for a Manchester Evening News award for Best Family Show) and Horrible Science (2010). Both plays were based on the best-selling books published by Scholastic. Horrible Science is re-touring the UK in the autumn of 2013.

Past theatre projects include The Theatre Of Doom! for the Courtyard Hereford, Zufall for Cwmni Theatr 3D, Young Merlin for the Sherman Theatre Company, Everything Gets Eaten with the Desperate Men Theatre Company, Use It Or Lose It for Dirty Protest and Opera Max: 9 Stories High for Welsh National Opera.

I’ve written extensively for radio, including My Dog’s Got No Nose, Weekend Film Matinee and My Kind Of Wales for BBC Wales, and The Bethan & Huw Show for BBC Radio One. Television work includes the sketch show Lucky Bag, and I was a sitcom finalist in the inaugural BBC Talent scheme.
I’m currently developing new projects with National Theatre Wales, and a main-stage play for a family audience based on Arthurian legend with the Torch Theatre.

Website  ~  Twitter @markhwilliams

Listen to an interview with Mark at Bell, Book & Candle here!


Interview with E.L. Tettensor, author of Darkwalker (Nicolas Lenoir 1) - December 9, 2013


Please welcome E.L. Tettensor to The Qwillery as part of the 2013 Debut Author Challenge Interviews. Darkwalker (Nicolas Lenoir 1) was published on December 3, 2013 by Roc.


Interview with E.L. Tettensor, author of Darkwalker (Nicolas Lenoir 1) - December 9, 2013



TQ:  Welcome to The Qwillery.

E.L.:  Thanks! It’s nice to be here.



TQ:  When and why did you start writing?

E.L.:  I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, on and off. I think I got serious about it in the third grade, following my triumph in a poetry contest dedicated to the wonders of mud. I won this amazing dragon kite. It was a kaleidoscope of colours and had a thirty-foot tail, and it was by far the coolest kite in the neighbourhood. That really opened my eyes to the glory and riches that come with writing.

True story.

Anyway, my first memory of consciously trying to write a novel was around the age of thirteen. I was going through this Star Trek phase, and I decided to write a Star Trek book. I sat down with my mom’s old Smith-Corona typewriter and pecked out a few chapters. I never finished it, but that was the beginning of a long-standing pattern – starting, and eventually abandoning, various sorts of spec fic novels. I guess the whole writing thing was sort of pre-programmed.



TQ:  What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

E.L.:  I’m not sure if it’s interesting, but I use a lot of semi-colons. I try to keep it in check, but it’s hard; they’re just such so much more organic than full stops.



TQ:  Are you a plotter or a pantser?

E.L.:  Plot, followed by pants, followed by plot. I get a nice, detailed outline going, and for a while, I follow it pretty closely. Usually, though, when the momentum really starts to pick up, I veer off track – sometimes way off track – and when the train starts to slow down, I have this moment of panic that I’m way off course. That’s when the outline saves the day. It’s not a map, but it is a compass: it shows you where you want to go, if not how to get there. Then it’s just a question of finding that switch – that plot point, that bit of dialogue – that puts you back on course.



TQ:  What is the most challenging thing for you about writing?

E.L.:  Titles. Oh, how I loathe them! I got lucky with DARKWALKER, and I can only hope it’s the start of a new trend. But up until now, titles have been the bane of my writing existence.



TQ:  Describe Darkwalker in 140 characters or less.

E.L.:  Sherlock Holmes meets X-Files, with a distinctively African flavour.



TQ:  What inspired you to write Darkwalker?

E.L.:  I tend to be a very visual writer. Long before an actual idea takes shape, my head gets cluttered with images – characters, landscapes, colours – that don’t necessarily fit together right away. For DARKWALKER, I think I was originally inspired by the visuals in films like Underworld and Van Helsing. There was something about those bleak, cinder-and-ash palettes that really appealed to me. And once you start playing with that imagery, you can’t help being drawn to a lot of the tropes of gothic literature – the corruption, the ‘outsider’ protagonist, the fixation with the occult. And of course, the monster.



TQ:  What sort of research did you do for Darkwalker?

E.L.:  I think the biggest source of research for DARKWALKER was my own travels. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve taxed the patience of family and friends by lingering a little too long at a castle, running my hands along the stone, or wandering around the dark nooks of a cathedral, smelling the damp air. There’s a scene in DARKWALKER that’s straight out of my own experience of walking into a magic shop in Johannesburg, South Africa. Traditional research is important, but when it comes to describing the taste of absinthe or the sound of a flintlock rifle firing, you just can’t beat first-hand experience.



TQ:  Who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?

E.L.:  Lenoir is the easiest to inhabit for me. He’s actually a lot of fun to write, because he gets to say the kinds of things I’ve often been tempted to say, but thought better of. We all have our inner snark, and if you want to know what mine sounds like, spend a little time with Lenoir. He’s the grumpy, pre-coffee E.L. Tettensor.

The hardest to write was Zach. One of my pet peeves in literature is badly written children, and I really didn’t want to fall into that trap. I wanted Zach to be remarkable for his age – clever, resourceful, street savvy – but he’s still a nine year-old, and making that authentic was a real preoccupation for me.



TQ:  Without giving anything away, what is/are your favorite scene(s) in Darkwalker?

E.L.:  There’s a scene where Zach takes Lenoir to a rough part of town to try to recruit some muscle, and something happens that really rattles Zach. The essence of that scene was actually suggested to me by a friend, and I love it because it shows us so much about Lenoir, about his relationship with Zach. It’s the first time Lenoir really pauses to think about why the boy matters to him, and it’s crucial to understanding what drives him later on. It also shows us a softer side to Lenoir, and lets us glimpse how much is going on beneath that stoic surface.



TQ:  What's next?

E.L.:  The sequel to DARKWALKER is almost done, and I’m really excited about it. The characters are starting to fit like well-used baseball gloves, and that means I can focus on taking them to new places, literally and figuratively. There are some new faces, too, characters who appeared in DARKWALKER but play a much more pivotal role in the sequel. I can’t wait to introduce them to the world!



TQ:  Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

E.L.:  Thanks for having me!






Darkwalker

Darkwalker
Nicolas Lenoir 1
Roc, December 3, 2013
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 368 pages

Interview with E.L. Tettensor, author of Darkwalker (Nicolas Lenoir 1) - December 9, 2013
He used to be the best detective on the job. Until he became the hunted...

Once a legendary police inspector, Nicolas Lenoir is now a disillusioned and broken man who spends his days going through the motions and his evenings drinking away the nightmares of his past. Ten years ago, Lenoir barely escaped the grasp of the Darkwalker, a vengeful spirit who demands a terrible toll on those who have offended the dead. But the Darkwalker does not give up on his prey so easily, and Lenoir has always known his debt would come due one day.

When Lenoir is assigned to a disturbing new case, he treats the job with his usual apathy—until his best informant, a street savvy orphan, is kidnapped. Desperate to find his young friend before the worst befalls him, Lenoir will do anything catch the monster responsible for the crimes, even if it means walking willingly into the arms of his own doom…





About E.L. Tettensor

Interview with E.L. Tettensor, author of Darkwalker (Nicolas Lenoir 1) - December 9, 2013
E.L. Tettensor likes her stories the way she likes her chocolate: dark, exotic, and with a hint of bitterness. She has visited fifty countries on five continents, and brought a little something back from each of them to press inside the pages of her books. She lives with her husband in Bujumbura, Burundi.







Website  ~  Twitter @ETettensor  ~  Facebook  ~  Goodreads







2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - December 2013


It's time for the 2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars for December 2013!




Since Cover Wars was so much fun as part of the 2012 Debut Author Challenge, we're doing it again for the 2013 Debut Author Challenge. Each month you will be able to vote for your favorite cover from each month's debut novels. At the end of the year the 12 monthly winners will be pitted against each other to choose the 2013 Debut Novel Cover of the Year. Please note that a debut novel cover is eligible in the month in which the novel is released in the US. Cover artist/illustrator information is provided when I have it.




















2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - November 2013 Winner


The winner of the November Debut Author Challenge Cover wars is Siren's Secret by Debbie Herbert with 58% of the votes.


2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - November 2013 Winner

Read about how the cover was created at "Behind the Scenes: SIREN’S SECRET" here.




The Final Results

2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - November 2013 Winner




The November Debut Covers

2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - November 2013 Winner




Thank you to everyone who voted, Tweeted, and participated. The 2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars will continue soon with voting on the December 2013 Debut covers.

Guest Blog by J. Kathleen Cheney - Secondary Characters - December 5, 2013


Please welcome J. Kathleen Cheney to The Qwillery as part of the 2013 Debut Author Challenge Guest Blogs. The Golden City was published by Roc on November 5, 2013. You may read an interview with Ms. Cheney here.



Guest Blog by J. Kathleen Cheney - Secondary Characters - December 5, 2013





Secondary Characters

       When readers pick up a book, the writer hopes their imagination is captured by the story of the main characters. The readers follow them along with the story's narrative, learn what they're thinking, and get told the outcome of their adventures. They're who the story's about, after all.

       But sometimes when I read, I find myself just as interested in one of the secondary characters. They may never get the POV job, so we may never see how they think about their world, but it's interesting to imagine what's going on inside their heads. So whenever I'm writing secondary characters, I want them to be as interesting as possible.

       Given, there are characters who merely come in to one scene, drop some information, carry out one little action, or reveal some backstory…and then disappear. But there are others who stick around, making little appearances, and constantly filling in those group scenes. And for those, I always wonder who and what they are.

       As the writer, I have to know.

       I was recently discussing this with another writer who felt guilty. She was writing some backstory scenes for her characters, delineating how they all met. Those scenes would never make it into her book, so why was she spending time writing them out? I understood completely, though. I do that, too. By sitting down and writing it out, we gain a clearer understanding of who those characters are. We have a better chance of knowing why they're in that group shot in the first place.

       In my recent book, one of the characters with a complex backstory, Alessio, is dead at the outset of the book. His death is what provokes his brother Duilio to return home. And while Duilio thinks he knows why his brother died, it turns out he was wrong. In addition, he finds himself dealing with his brother's lovers who fear that Duilio will reveal salacious details about their affairs with Alessio.

       As the writer, I have to know everything about Alessio: I have to know why he had so many lovers, why he wrote it down, and what he was doing that ultimately got him killed. I have to know his political beliefs, his relationship to the Church and to the Monarchy, how he feels about his family. All of that is involved in what brought about his death…and set up the rest of the story.

       So I do write out scenes that will never see publication. I joked with that other writer that I'm writing fan-fic about my own characters, because I'm exploring parts of the story that won't make it into any book (which is, more or less, what writers of fan-fic are doing.) But I think that understanding the characters (even the secondary ones) helps the writer make them more real for the reader.

       And sometime those secondary people become our favorites. Is there a secondary character that you find more intriguing than any of the main characters in their books?






The Golden City

The Golden City
Roc, November 5, 2013
Trade Paperback and eBook, 384 pages

Guest Blog by J. Kathleen Cheney - Secondary Characters - December 5, 2013
For two years, Oriana Paredes has been a spy among the social elite of the Golden City, reporting back to her people, the sereia, sea folk banned from the city’s shores....

When her employer and only confidante decides to elope, Oriana agrees to accompany her to Paris. But before they can depart, the two women are abducted and left to drown. Trapped beneath the waves, Oriana’s heritage allows her to survive while she is forced to watch her only friend die.

Vowing vengeance, Oriana crosses paths with Duilio Ferreira—a police consultant who has been investigating the disappearance of a string of servants from the city’s wealthiest homes. Duilio also has a secret: He is a seer and his gifts have led him to Oriana.

Bound by their secrets, not trusting each other completely yet having no choice but to work together, Oriana and Duilio must expose a twisted plot of magic so dark that it could cause the very fabric of history to come undone....





About J. Kathleen Cheney

Guest Blog by J. Kathleen Cheney - Secondary Characters - December 5, 2013
J. Kathleen Cheney is a former teacher and has taught mathematics ranging from 7th grade to Calculus, with a brief stint as a Gifted and Talented Specialist. Her short fiction has been published in Jim Baen's Universe, Writers of the Future, and Fantasy Magazine, among others, and her novella "Iron Shoes" was a 2010 Nebula Award Finalist. Her novel, "The Golden City" will come out from Penguin, November 5, 2013.

Her website can be found at www.jkathleencheney.com

Twitter @jkcheney  ~  Facebook  ~  Tumblr

2013 Debut Author Challenge - December 2013 Debuts



2013 Debut Author Challenge - December 2013 Debuts


There are  debuts 3 debuts for December. Please note that I use the publisher's publication date in the United States, not copyright dates or non-US publication dates.

The December debut authors and their novels are listed in alphabetical order by author (not book title or publication date). Take a good look at the covers. Voting for your favorite November cover for the 2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars will take place later this month.




Sonja Condit

Starter House
William Morrow Paperbacks, December 31, 2013
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

2013 Debut Author Challenge - December 2013 Debuts
Her dream home is about to become a house of nightmares...

From the moment Lacey glimpses the dusty-rose colonial cottage with its angled dormer windows and quaint wooden shutters, she knows she's found her dream house. Walking through its cozy rooms, the expectant mother can see her future children sitting on the round bottom step of the house's beautifully carved staircase, and she imagines them playing beneath the giant maple tree in the warm South Carolina sun. It doesn't matter to Lacey and her husband, Eric, that people had died there years before.

But soon their warm and welcoming house turns cold. There is something malevolent within the walls—a disturbing presence that only Lacey can sense. And there is Drew, a demanding and jealous little boy who mysteriously appears when Lacey is alone. Protective of this enigmatic child who reminds her of the troubled students she used to teach, Lacey bakes cookies and plays games to amuse him. Yet, as she quickly discovers, Drew is unpredictable—and dangerous.

Fearing for her baby's safety, Lacey sets out to uncover the truth about Drew and her dream house—a search for answers that takes her into the past, into the lives of a long-dead family whose tragic secrets could destroy her. To save her loved ones, Lacey must find a way to lay a terrifying evil to rest...before she, Eric, and their child become its next victims.





Andrea Gillies

The White Lie
Mariner Books, December 3, 2013
Trade Paperback and eBook, 464 pages
(US Fiction Debut)

2013 Debut Author Challenge - December 2013 Debuts
“One hot summer day, Michael Salter, nineteen-year-old scion of a posh Highland family, disappears. When his childlike aunt claims she drowned him during a fight, the family close ranks. No police. No memorial service. No titbits for village gossips. A decade of deceit begins.” — Financial Times

The Salter family orbits around Peattie House, their crumbling Scottish highlands estate filled with threadbare furniture, patrician memories, and all their inevitable secrets. While gathered to celebrate grandmother's seventieth birthday, someone breaks the silence. The web begins to unravel. But what is the white lie? How many others are built upon it? How many lives have been shaped by its shadow? Only one person knows the whole truth. From beyond the grave, Michael loops back into the past until we see, beyond perception and memory, how deeply our decisions resound, and just what is the place—and price—of grandeur.





E.L. Tettensor

Darkwalker
Nicolas Lenoir 1
Roc, December 3, 2013
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 368 pages

2013 Debut Author Challenge - December 2013 Debuts
He used to be the best detective on the job. Until he became the hunted...

Once a legendary police inspector, Nicolas Lenoir is now a disillusioned and broken man who spends his days going through the motions and his evenings drinking away the nightmares of his past. Ten years ago, Lenoir barely escaped the grasp of the Darkwalker, a vengeful spirit who demands a terrible toll on those who have offended the dead. But the Darkwalker does not give up on his prey so easily, and Lenoir has always known his debt would come due one day.

When Lenoir is assigned to a disturbing new case, he treats the job with his usual apathy—until his best informant, a street savvy orphan, is kidnapped. Desperate to find his young friend before the worst befalls him, Lenoir will do anything catch the monster responsible for the crimes, even if it means walking willingly into the arms of his own doom…


2013 Debut Author Challenge Update - Starter House by Sonja Condit


2013 Debut Author Challenge Update - Starter House by Sonja Condit


The Qwillery is pleased to announce the newest featured author for the 2013 Debut Author Challenge.



Sonja Condit

Starter House
William Morrow Paperbacks, December 31, 2013
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

2013 Debut Author Challenge Update - Starter House by Sonja Condit
Her dream home is about to become a house of nightmares...

From the moment Lacey glimpses the dusty-rose colonial cottage with its angled dormer windows and quaint wooden shutters, she knows she's found her dream house. Walking through its cozy rooms, the expectant mother can see her future children sitting on the round bottom step of the house's beautifully carved staircase, and she imagines them playing beneath the giant maple tree in the warm South Carolina sun. It doesn't matter to Lacey and her husband, Eric, that people had died there years before.

But soon their warm and welcoming house turns cold. There is something malevolent within the walls—a disturbing presence that only Lacey can sense. And there is Drew, a demanding and jealous little boy who mysteriously appears when Lacey is alone. Protective of this enigmatic child who reminds her of the troubled students she used to teach, Lacey bakes cookies and plays games to amuse him. Yet, as she quickly discovers, Drew is unpredictable—and dangerous.

Fearing for her baby's safety, Lacey sets out to uncover the truth about Drew and her dream house—a search for answers that takes her into the past, into the lives of a long-dead family whose tragic secrets could destroy her. To save her loved ones, Lacey must find a way to lay a terrifying evil to rest...before she, Eric, and their child become its next victims.



2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - November 2013


It's time for the 2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars for November 2013!





Since Cover Wars was so much fun as part of the 2012 Debut Author Challenge, we're doing it again for the 2013 Debut Author Challenge. Each month you will be able to vote for your favorite cover from each month's debut novels. At the end of the year the 12 monthly winners will be pitted against each other to choose the 2013 Debut Novel Cover of the Year. Please note that a debut novel cover is eligible in the month in which the novel is released in the US. Cover artist/illustrator information is provided when I have it.











Cover art by Juliana Kolesova. Art direction by Katie Anderson.






Read about how the cover was created at "Behind the Scenes: SIREN’S SECRET" here.

2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - December 2013 WinnerInterview with Sonja Condit, author of Starter House - December 13, 2013Guest Blog by Mark H. Williams - John Masefield and The Box Of Delights - December 12, 2013Interview with E.L. Tettensor, author of Darkwalker (Nicolas Lenoir 1) - December 9, 20132013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - December 20132013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - November 2013 WinnerGuest Blog by J. Kathleen Cheney - Secondary Characters - December 5, 20132013 Debut Author Challenge - December 2013 Debuts2013 Debut Author Challenge Update - Starter House by Sonja Condit2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - November 2013

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