The Qwillery

Happy Monday!

For genre fans - Dark Shadows (all 1,225 episodes) is available on Amazon Prime Video! So if you've got a Prime account you can stream the series for free. I adore this show! Season 1 can be found here.

There are

Markswoman (Asiana 1) by Rati Mehrotra;

and

The Sky is Yours by Chandler Klang Smith.




From formerly featured DAC Authors:

Roar of the Storm (The Fracture Worlds 2) by Adam Burch;

Devoted to Destiny (Muse Chronicles 5) by Lisa Kessler;

Creatures of Light (Creatures of Light 3) by Emily B. Martin is out in digital format;

Siege Mentality (ReMade Season 2 #10) by Andrea Phillips;

Smoke City by Keith Rosson;

The Tree (The Wrath & Athenaeum 2) by Na'amen Gobert Tilahun;

and

The Raptor & the Wren (Miriam Black 5) by Chuck Wendig.

Debut novels are highlighted in blue. Novels, etc. by formerly featured DAC Authors are highlighted in green.

January 22, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Knight Magic (e)	Yasmine Galenorn	PNR - Otherworld
Devoted to Destiny (e)	Lisa Kessler	PNR - Muse Chronicles 5

January 23, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Warden of the Blade (h2tp)	David Annandale	SF - Castellan Crowe 1
The Only Harmless Great Thing	Brooke Bolander	AH
The Martian Simulacra: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery	Eric Brown	M/SF - NewCon Press Novellas Set 3
Roar of the Storm	Adam Burch	SF/SO - The Fracture Worlds 2
Miranda and Caliban (h2tp)	Jacqueline Carey	HistF
The Juniper Tree (ri)	Barbara Comyns	Fict/Myth/FolkT
House of Echoes (h2tp)	Brendan Duffy	Th/LF
Judgment Road	Christine Feehan	PNR - Torpedo Ink 1
Dark Imperium	Guy Haley	SF - Dark Imperium 1
Pandora: Outbreak	Eric L. Harry	SF/PA
Rogue Trader: The Omnibus	Andy Hoare	SF - Rogue Trader
The King of Bones and Ashes	J.D. Horn	CF - Witches of New Orleans 1
Fury	Craig Martelle	Dys/PA - End Times Alaska 4
Creatures of Light (e)	Emily B. Martin	F - Creatures of Light 3
Markswoman (D)	Rati Mehrotra	F - Asiana 1
SINthetic	J.T. Nicholas	SF/GenEng/CyP - New Lyons Sequence 1
The Memory Detective (e)	T. S. Nichols	SF/GenEng/Th
Elysium Fire	Alastair Reynolds	SF
Smoke City	Keith Rosson	MR/GB
Cast in Deception	Michelle Sagara	F - The Chronicles of Elantra 13
Cast in Shadow (ri)	Michelle Sagara	F - The Chronicles of Elantra 1
Cast in Courtlight (ri)	Michelle Sagara	F - The Chronicles of Elantra 2
The Sky Is Yours (D)	Chandler Klang Smith	LF/GB/PA
Her Beautiful Monster	Adi Tantimedh	M - Ravi PI 2
The Tree	Na'amen Gobert Tilahun	UF - The Wrath & Athenaeum 2
Starlings (e)	Jo Walton	F - Collection
The Raptor & the Wren	Chuck Wendig	SupTh - Miriam Black 5
Destiny's Conflict	Janny Wurts	F - The Wars of Light and Shadow 10: Sword of the Canon 2
Hug Chickenpenny: The Panegyric of an Anomalous Child	S. Craig Zahler	FairyT/FolkT/LM/Gothic

January 24, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Siege Mentality (e)	Andrea Phillips	SFTh - ReMade Season 2 #10

D - Debut
e - eBook
Ed - Editor
h2mm - Hardcover to Mass Market Paperback
h2tp - Hardcover to Trade Paperback
ri - reissue or reprint
Tr - Translator



AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternate History
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CW - Contemporary Women
CyP - CyberPunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FiaryT - Fairy Tales
Fict - Fiction
FL - Family Life
FolkT - Folk Tales
GB - Genre Bender
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GH - Ghost(s)
Gothic - Gothic
GothicR - Gothic Romance
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HistM - Historical Mystery
HU - Humor
LF - Literary Fiction
LM -  Legend and Mythology
M - Mystery
Meta - Metaphysical
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
Myth - Mythology
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PCM - Paranormal Cozy Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PopCul - Popular Culture
Psy - Psychological
PsyTh - Psychological Thriller
Ref - Reference
SH -Superheroes
SF - Science Fiction
SFTh - Science Fiction Thriller
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SO - Space Opera
SocSci - Social Science
SP - SteamPunk
SpecFic - Speculative Fiction
Sup - Supernatural
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy
UFR - Urban Fantasy Romance

Note: Not all genres and formats are found in the books, etc. listed above.

Happy Monday!

There is one debut this week -

Autonomous by Annalee Newitz.




From formerly featured DAC Authors:

Of Sand and Malice Made (A Shattered Sands Novel) by Bradley P. Beaulieu is out in Trade Paperback;

Wickedly Spirited (A Baba Yaga Novella ) by Deborah Blake

Danger's Halo (Holly Danger 1) by Amanda Carlson

Blade of Darkness (Immortal Guardians 7) by Dianne Duvall

Demon Hunting with a Sexy Ex (Demon Hunter 5) by Lexi George

Light of the the Spirit (Muse Chronicles 4) by Lisa Kessler

The Imperial Radch Boxed Trilogy: Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, and Ancillary Mercy by Anne Leckie;

Null States (The Centenal Cycle 2) by Malka Older

Into the Woods (Bookburners Season 3 #10) by Andrea Phillips;

The Exiled King (Bone Magic 4) by Sarah Remy

Debut novels are highlighted in blue. Novels, etc. by formerly featured DAC Authors are highlighted in green.

September 18, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Danger's Halo (e)	Amanda Carlson	SF/AP/PA - Holly Danger 1
An Orchard in the Street (e)	Reginald Gibbons	LF/VM/SS - American Readers Series
Witches Brew: Stories for the Season	Paula Guran (Ed)	F - Anthology
Light of the Spirit (e)	Lisa Kessler	FR - Muse Chronicles 4
An Unkindness of Ghosts (e)	Rivers Solomon	SF/SO/LF/AP/PA

September 19, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Of Sand and Malice Made (h2tp)	Bradley P. Beaulieu	F/DF - A Shattered Sands Novel
Wickedly Spirited (e)	Deborah Blake	PNR - A Baba Yaga Novella
Successor's Promise	Trudi Canavan	F - Millennium's Rule 3
House on the Forgotten Coast	Ruth Coe Chambers	M/PNR/RSus
Wicked Abyss (h2mm)	Kresley Cole	PNR - Immortals After Dark 17
Trinity (ri)(e)	Lauren Dane	PNR - de La Vega Cats 1
Blade of Darkness	Dianne Duvall	PNR - Immortal Guardians 7
Whispers of Warning	Jessica Estevao	Hist/M - A Change of Fortune Mystery 2
Kung Fu High School (ri)	Ryan Gattis	Cr/Dys
Demon Hunting with a Sexy Ex	Lexi George	PNR - Demon Hunter 5
Wicked Deeds	Heather Graham	SupTh - Krewe of Hunters 23
Grave Danger	S.K. Gregory	PNR - Aurelia Graves
A Dream Given Form: The Unofficial Guide to the Universe of Babylon 5	Ensley F. Guffey K. Dale Koontz	LC/SF
Dark Debts (h2tp)	Karen Hall	Th
The Wicked (e)	Thea Harrison	PNR - Elder Races Novella
Strangers of the Night and Witch's Hunger	Megan Hart Deborah LeBlanc	PNR
Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction	Grady Hendrix	LC/H/Sup
Blood of Sanguinius	Darius Hinks	SF - Mephiston 1
The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2017 Edition	Rich Horton (Ed)	SF - Anthology
The Legion Prophecy	Mark A. Latham	UF - Lazarus Gate 3
The Imperial Radch Boxed Trilogy: Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, and Ancillary Mercy	Ann Leckie	SF - Imperial Radch
Stranger of Tempest	Tom Lloyd	F - God Fragments 1
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld	Patricia A. McKillip	F/MR/HistF/FR
New Fears - New horror stories by masters of the genre	Mark Morris (Ed)	H - Anthology
Autonomous (D)	Annalee Newitz	SF
Null States	Malka Older	SF/CyP/TechTh/Pol - The Centenal Cycle 2
The Two of Swords: Part Eighteen (e)	K. J. Parker	F - Two of Swords
Poison	Sarah Pinborough	DF - Fairy Tales 1
The Exiled King (e)	Sarah Remy	F - Bone Magic 4
A Small Charred Face	Kazuki Sakuraba	Gothic
Words of Radiance (ri)	Brandon Sanderson	F - Stormlight Archive 2
Zero-G: Green Space	William Shatner Jeff Rovin	SF - Samuel Lord 2
Sisters of Battle: The Omnibus	James Swallow	SF - Sisters of Battle
Desert Wolf and Protector Wolf	Linda Thomas-Sundstrom Linda O. Johnston	PNR

September 20, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Into the Woods (e)	Andrea Phillips	UF/M - Bookburners Season 3 #10

September 22, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Runabout (e)	Kristine Kathryn Rusch	SF - Diving 6

D - Debut
e - eBook
Ed - Editor
h2mm - Hardcover to Mass Market Paperback
h2tp - Hardcover to Trade Paperback
Illus - Illustrator
ri - reissue or reprint
tp2mm - Trade to Mass Market Paperback
Tr - Translator



Absurdist - Absurdist
AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternate History
AP - Apocalyptic
CB - Coloring Book
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
CW - Contemporary Women
CulH - Cultural Heritage
CyP - CyberPunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FolkT - Folk Tales
FR - Fantasy Romance
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GH - Ghost(s)
Gothic - Gothic
H - Horror
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HU - Humor
LC - Literary Criticism
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legends and Mythology
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PI - Private Investigator
PM - Paranormal Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
Pol - Political
PopCul - Popular Culture
PRS - Paranormal Romantic Suspense
PsyTh - Psychological Thriller
R - Romance
RSus - Romantic Suspense
Satire - Satire
Sc - Science
SH -Superheroes
SF - Science Fiction
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
SpecFic - Speculative Fiction
SS - Short Stories
Sup - Supernatural
SupM - Supernatural Mystery
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy
UFR - Urban Fantasy Romance
VM - Visionary and Metaphysical

Note: Not all genres and formats are found in the books, etc. listed above.

Happy Monday! May the 4th be with you!


There are 6 debuts this week:

• Hugo & Rose by Bridget Foley
• The Brass Giant (Chroniker City 1) by Brooke Johnson
• Unexpected Rain by Jason LaPier
• The Waterborne Blade (Waterborne 1) by Susan Murray
• Revision by Andrea Phillips
• Cash Crash Jubilee (Jubilee Cycle 1) by Eli K. P. William

And from formerly featured Debut Author Challenge Authors:

• Corsair: A Science Fiction Novel by James L. Cambias
• Seriously Wicked by Tina Connolly
• Three Slices by Delilah Dawson, Kevin Hearne and Chuck Wendig  (Blud, Iron Druid, Miriam Black novellas)
• Seventh Grave and No Body (Charley Davidson 7) Darynda Jones is out in Mass Market Paperback
• The Venusian Gambit (Daedalus 3) by Michael J. Martinez
• Sword of the North (The Grim Company 2) by Luke Scull
• Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Thomas Sweterlitsch is out in Trade Paperback
• Blackbirds (Miriam Black 1), Mockingbird (Miriam Black 2) and The Cormorant (Miriam Black 3) by Chuck Wendig are re-released by their new publisher in digital format with new covers. Print editions will be available later this year.

May 5, 2015

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The New World	Chris Adrian	LF
The Dark Between the Stars (h2mm)	Kevin J. Anderson	SF/SO- Saga of Shadows 1
Straits of Hell	Taylor Anderson	SF - Destroyermen 10
Deadly Shores (h2mm)	Taylor Anderson	SF - Destroyermen 9
Immunity	Taylor Antrim	LF/NF/Dys
Day of Atonement	Alex Archer	FairyT/FolkT/ L&M - Rogue Angel 54
Forbidden Trespass	James Axler	Dys - Deathlands 122
Hell's Maw	James Axler	SF - Outlanders 73
The Windup Girl (2nd Edition)	Paolo Bacigalupi	SF
The Boost (h2mm)	Stephen Baker	TechnoTh/NF
Grave Phantoms	Jenn Bennett	PNR - Roaring Twenties 3
Shadows (h2mm)	E. C. Blake	F - The Masks of Aygrima 2
Some Like It Witchy	Heather Blake	PM - Wishcraft Mystery 5
If There Were Demons Then Perhaps There Were Angels: William Peter Blatty's Own Story of the Exorcist (e)	William Peter Blatty	Film
Mirror Sight (h2tp)	Kristen Britain	F - Green Rider 5
Corsair: A Science Fiction Novel	James L. Cambias	SF
Thief's Magic (h2tp)	Trudi Canavan	F - Millennium's Rule 1
Earth Awakens (h2mm)	Orson Scott Card	SF - The First Formic War 3
Gateway to Never	A Bertram Chandler	SF - John Grimes 6
Seriously Wicked	Tina Connolly	F/YA
1882: Custer in Chains	Robert Conroy	AH
Cibola Burn (h2tp)	James S.A. Corey	SF - Expanse 4
Within (e)	Keith Deininger	H
Three Slices (Ke)	Delilah Dawson Kevin Hearne Chuck Wendig	F - Novellas (Blud, Iron Druid, Miriam, Black)
Releasing the Shifter	Summer Devon	PNR - Solitary Shifters 3
Unseemly Science	Rod Duncan	HistF - The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire 2
The Waking Engine (h2mm)	David Edison	F
The Mystwalker Series, The Complete Collection (e)	Leigh Evans	PNR - Mystwalker
Winterwood (e)	JG Faherty	H - Childhood Fears
Hugo & Rose (D)	Bridget Foley	LF
Blood Sisters: Vampire Stories by Women	Paula Guran (ed)	F/P - Anthology
Day Shift	Charlaine Harris	UF - Midnight, Texas 2
The Gospel of Loki	Joanne M. Harris	F
Midnight's Kiss	Thea Harrison	PNR - Elder Races 8
The Merchant Emperor (h2mm)	Elizabeth Haydon	F - Symphony of Ages 7
Scarecrows	Christine Hayton	H - Childhood Fears
Witches with the Enemy	Barb Hendee	F - Mist-Torn Witches 3
Alias Hook (h2tp)	Lisa Jensen	HistF
The Brass Giant (D) (e)	Brooke Johnson	SP - Chroniker City 1
Seventh Grave and No Body (h2mm)	Darynda Jones	PM - Charley Davidson 7
Revival (ri)	Stephen King	H/Sus
Alien Separation	Gini Koch	SF - Alien 11
Black Ice (tp2mm)	Susan Krinard	CF - Midgard 2
The Dhulyn and Parno Novels: Volume Two	Violette Malan	F - Dhulyn and Parno Omnibus
The Venusian Gambit	Michael J. Martinez	SF - Daedalus 3
Ultimatum (e)	Annmarie McKenna	PNR - Graham Pack Mates 3
The Mirror (e)(ri)	Marlys Millhiser	M/TT
The Threshold (e)(ri)	Marlys Millhiser	M/TT
The Bear Who Wouldn't Leave	J.H. Moncrieff	H - Childhood Fears
Corum - The Knight of Swords: The Eternal Champion	Michael Moorcock	F - Eternal Champion
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage	Haruki Murakami	MR
The Waterborne Blade (D)	Susan Murray	F - Waterborne 1
The Book of Phoenix	Nnedi Okorafor	SF/Ap/PA - Who Fears Death prequel
Chasers of the Wind (h2mm)	Alexey Pehov	F - Cycle of Wind and Sparks 1
Revision (D)	Andrea Phillips	SF
The Guardians of Ascension Series, Books 1-3 (e)	Caris Roane	PNR - Guardians of Ascension
Gifts of Darkover (Ke)	Deborah J. Ross	F - Darkover 15
Binary	Stephanie Saulter	SF - Revolution 2
Gemsigns (h2tp)	Stephanie Saulter	SF - Revolution 1
Sword of the North	Luke Scull	F - The Grim Company 2
Nightmare in Greasepaint	L.L. Soares	H - Childhood Fears
Phoenix in Shadow	Ryk E Spoor	F - Balanced Sword 2
Tomorrow and Tomorrow (h2tp)	Thomas Sweterlitsch	NF/Th/Ap/PA
Her Wild Hero	Paige Tyler	PNR - X-Ops 3
Blackbirds (e)(ri)	Chuck Wendig	UF - Miriam Black 1
The Cormorant (e)(ri)	Chuck Wendig	UF - Miriam Black 3
Mockingbird (e)(ri)	Chuck Wendig	UF - Miriam Black 2
Oracle	Michelle West	F - House War 6
Cash Crash Jubilee (D)	Eli K. P. William	SF/Ap/PA - Jubilee Cycle 1
A Long Time Until Now	Michael Z Williamson	SF/TT - Temporal Displacement 1

May 6, 2015

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Two Weddings of Bronwyn Hyatt: A Tor.Com Original (e)	Alex Bledsoe	F
At the End of Babel: A Tor.Com Original (e)	Michael Livingston	F
Hollywood Presents Jules Verne: The Father of Science Fiction on Screen	Brian Taves	HC

May 7, 2015

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
City of Fae (e)	Pippa DaCosta	UF/NA
Lord of Ashes (e)	Richard Ford	F - Steelhaven 3
Unexpected Rain (D) (e)	Jason LaPier	SF

May 10, 2015

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Mermen	Mimi Jean Pamfiloff	PNR - Mermen Trilogy 1
MerMadmen	Mimi Jean Pamfiloff	PNR - Mermen Trilogy 2

D - Debut
e - eBook
ed - Editor
h2mm - Hardcover to Mass Market Paperback
h2tp - Hardcover to Trade Paperback
Ke - Kindle eBook only
ri - reissue or reprint
tp2mm - Trade to Mass Market Paperback


AH - Alternate History
Ap - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tale
FolkT - Folk Tale
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
HistF - Historical Fantasy
L&M - Legend and Myth
LF - Literary Fiction
MR - Magical Realism
NA - New Adult
NF - Near Future
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PM - Paranormal Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
SF - Science Fiction
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
Sus - Suspense
TechnoTh - Technological Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy
YA - Young Adult

Catherine Chanter

The Well
Atria Books, May 19, 2015
Hardcover and eBook, 400 pages

From the winner of the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize, a brilliantly haunting and suspenseful debut set in modern-day Britain where water is running out everywhere except at The Well—the farm of one seemingly ordinary family whose mysterious good fortune leads to suspicion, chaos, and ultimately a shocking act of violence.

Ruth Ardingly has just been released from prison to serve out a sentence of house arrest for arson and suspected murder at her farm, The Well. Beyond its borders, some people whisper she is a witch; others a messiah. For as soon as Ruth returns to The Well, rain begins to fall on the farm. And it has not rained anywhere else in the country in over three years.

Ruth and her husband Mark had moved years before from London to this ancient idyll in the hopes of starting their lives over. But then the drought began, and as the surrounding land dried up and died, and The Well grew lush and full of life, they came to see their fortune would come at a price. From the envy of their neighbors to the mandates of the government, from the fanaticism of a religious order called the Sisters of the Rose to the everyday difficulties of staying close as husband and wife, mother and child—all these forces led to a horrifying crime: the death of their seven-year-old grandson, drowned with cruel irony in one of the few ponds left in the countryside.

Now back at The Well, Ruth must piece together the tragedy that shattered her marriage, her family, and her dream. For she believes her grandson’s death was no accident, and that the murderer is among the people she trusted most. Alone except for her guards on a tiny green jewel in a world rapidly turning to dust, Ruth begins to confront her worst fears and learns what really happened in the dark heart of The Well.

A tour de force about ordinary people caught in the tide of an extraordinary situation, Catherine Chanter’s The Well is a haunting, beautifully written, and utterly believable novel that probes the fragility of our personal relationships and the mystical connection between people and the places they call home.

Rachelle Dekker

The Choosing
Seer 1
Tyndale House, May 19, 2015
Trade Paperback, 448 pages

Like all citizens since the Ruining, Carrington Hale knows the importance of this day. But she never expected the moment she’d spent a lifetime preparing for—her Choosing ceremony—to end in disaster. Ripped from her family, she’ll spend her days serving as a Lint, the lowest level of society. She knows it’s her duty to follow the true way of the Authority.

But as Carrington begins this nightmare, rumors of rebellion rattle her beliefs. Though the whispers contradict everything she’s been told, they resonate deep within.

Then Carrington is offered an unprecedented chance at the life she’s always dreamed of, yet she can’t shake the feeling that it may be an illusion. With a killer targeting Lints and corruption threatening the highest levels of the Authority, Carrington must uncover the truth before it destroys her.

Bridget Foley

Hugo & Rose
St. Martin's Press, May 5, 2015
Hardcover and eBook, 352 pages

Rose is disappointed with her life, though she has no reason to be - she has a beautiful family and a perfectly nice house in the suburbs. But to Rose, this ordinary life feels overshadowed by her other life - the one she leads every night in her dreams.

After a childhood accident, Rose's dreams take her to a wondrous island fraught with adventure. On this island, she has never been alone: she shares it with Hugo, a brave boy who's grown up with her into a hero of a man.

But when Rose stumbles across Hugo in real life, both her real and dream worlds are changed forever. Here is the man who has shared all of her incredible adventures in impossible places, who grew up with her, even if they aren't what either one imagined. Their chance encounter begins a cascade of questions, lies, and a dangerous obsession that threatens to topple everything she knows. Is she willing to let go of everything she holds dear to understand their extraordinary connection? And will it lead her to discover who she truly wants to be?

Nathan Garrison

Veiled Empire
Harper Voyager Impulse, May 26, 2015
eBook

The Empire is Shrouded, not only by the barrier that covers the land, but by the lies and oppression of the mierothi regime. Magic is the privilege of the elite, and the people of this shadowed country have forgotten what it means to hope under their rule.

But there are some who would resist, with plans put into motion millennia before. For returned to the Empire is a valynkar, servant of the god of light, and with him come the strength and cunning that could tip the scales to end the Emperor's reign. He has gathered a group of heroes ready to ignite the flame of rebellion and fight against the dark power that has ruled for nearly two thousand years. A power that has champions of its own.

Nathan Garrison's Veiled Empire throws a mythical land into chaos, with races long thought forgotten, and magics only just discovered. Steel and sorcery clash as brave souls vie for freedom and control in this astonishing debut novel.

Sophie Jaff

Love is Red
The Night Song Trilogy 1
Harper, May 12, 2015
Hardcover and eBook, 384 pages

Redefining the thriller's tale of the hunter and the hunted, This electrifying, hypnotically beautiful debut spins dark suspense and literary fantasy into a mesmerizing story of survival.

Katherine Emerson was born to fulfill a dark prophecy centuries in the making, but she doesn't know it yet. However, one man does: a killer stalking the women of New York City, a monster the media dubs the "Sickle Man" because of the weapon he uses to turn his victims' bodies into canvases for his twisted art. People think he's the next Son of Sam, but we know how he thinks and how he feels . . . and discover that he is driven by darker, much more dangerous desires than we can bear to imagine. He takes more than just his victims' lives, and each death brings him closer to the one woman he must possess at any cost.

Amid the city's escalating hysteria, Katherine is trying to unknot her tangled heart. Two very different men have entered her previously uneventful world—handsome and personable David, alluring yet aloof Sael—and turned it upside down. She finds herself involved in a complicated triangle . . . but how well does she really know either of them?

Told from the alternating viewpoints of Katherine and the Sickle Man, Sophie Jaff's intoxicating narrative will pull you in and hold you close. As the body count rises, Katherine is haunted by harrowing visions that force her to question her sanity. All she wants is to find love. He just wants to find her.

Ablaze with fear, mystery, and possibility, Love Is Red is the first book in the Night Song trilogy. With this unforgettable novel—one that combines the literary and the supernatural, fantasy and horror, the past and the present—Katherine's moment of awakening is here. And her story is only just beginning.

Brooke Johnson

The Brass Giant
A Chroniker City Story
Harper Voyager Impulse, May 5, 2015
eBook

Sometimes, even the most unlikely person can change the world

Seventeen-year-old Petra Wade, self-taught clockwork engineer, wants nothing more than to become a certified member of the Guild, an impossible dream for a lowly shop girl. Still, she refuses to give up and tinkers with any machine she can get her hands on, in between working and babysitting her foster siblings.

When Emmerich Goss—handsome, privileged, and newly recruited into the Guild—needs help designing a new clockwork system for a top-secret automaton, it seems Petra has finally found the opportunity she's been waiting for. But if her involvement on the project is discovered, Emmerich will be marked for treason, and a far more dire fate will await Petra.

Working together in secret, they build the clockwork giant, but as the deadline for its completion nears, Petra discovers a sinister conspiracy from within the Guild council…and their automaton is just the beginning.

Aer-ki Jyr

Apex
Harper Voyager Impulse, May 12, 2015
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 448 pages

A new dawn is coming.

It's been eons since Humans controlled the universe, after their defeat by a mysterious enemy. With their downfall came a virtual dark age in which culture and technology stagnated. But now trade is once again flourishing as Human artifacts resurface throughout the galaxy, resurrecting long-forgotten advancements.

And one such discovery may very well alter the course of the future forever.

An epic space adventure, Aer-ki Jyr's Apex is a breathless race to the ultimate prize, with the very fate of the stars hanging in the balance.

Renée Knight

Disclaimer
Harper, May 19, 2015
Hardcover and eBook, 352 pages

A brilliantly conceived, deeply unsettling psychological thriller— already an international sensation—about a woman haunted by secrets, the consuming desire for revenge, and the terrible price we pay when we try to hide the truth.

Finding a mysterious novel at her bedside plunges documentary filmmaker Catherine Ravenscroft into a living nightmare. Though ostensibly fiction, The Perfect Stranger recreates in vivid, unmistakable detail the terrible day she became hostage to a dark secret, a secret that only one other person knew—and that person is dead.

Now that the past is catching up with her, Catherine’s world is falling apart. Her only hope is to confront what really happened on that awful day . . . even if the shocking truth might destroy her.

Jason LaPier

Unexpected Rain
Harper Voyager (UK), May 7, 2015
eBook, 400 pages

In a domed city on a planet orbiting Barnard's Star, a recently hired maintenance man named Kane has just committed murder.

Minutes later, the airlocks on the neighbourhood block are opened and the murderer is asphyxiated along with thirty-one innocent residents.

Jax, the lowly dome operator on duty at the time, is accused of mass homicide and faced with a mound of impossible evidence against him.

His only ally is Runstom, the rogue police officer charged with transporting him to a secure off-world facility. The pair must risk everything to prove Jax didn’t commit the atrocity and uncover the truth before they both wind up dead.

Kirsty Logan

The Gracekeepers
Crown, May 19, 2015
Hardcover and eBook, 320 pages

For readers of The Night Circus and Station Eleven, a lyrical and absorbing debut set in a world covered by water

As a Gracekeeper, Callanish administers shoreside burials, laying the dead to their final resting place deep in the depths of the ocean. Alone on her island, she has exiled herself to a life of tending watery graves as penance for a long-ago mistake that still haunts her. Meanwhile, North works as a circus performer with the Excalibur, a floating troupe of acrobats, clowns, dancers, and trainers who sail from one archipelago to the next, entertaining in exchange for sustenance.

In a world divided between those inhabiting the mainland ("landlockers") and those who float on the sea ("damplings"), loneliness has become a way of life for North and Callanish, until a sudden storm offshore brings change to both their lives--offering them a new understanding of the world they live in and the consequences of the past, while restoring hope in an unexpected future.

Inspired in part by Scottish myths and fairytales, The Gracekeepers tells a modern story of an irreparably changed world: one that harbors the same isolation and sadness, but also joys and marvels of our own age.

K.M. McKinley

The Iron Ship
The Gates of the World 1
Solaris, May 26, 2015
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 672 pages

An incredible epic fantasy begins!

The order of the world is in turmoil. An age of industry is beginning, an age of machines fuelled by magic. Sprawling cities rise, strange devices stalk the land. New money brings new power. The balance between the Hundred Kingdoms is upset. For the first time in generations the threat of war looms.

In these turbulent days, fortunes can be won. Magic runs strong in the Kressind family. Six siblings strive – one to triumph in a world of men, one to survive murderous intrigue, one to master forbidden sorcery, one to wash away his sins, one to contain the terrible energies of his soul.

And one will do the impossible, by marrying the might of magic and iron in the heart of a great ship, to cross an ocean that cannot be crossed.

Susan Murray

The Waterborne Blade
Waterborne 1
Angry Robot Books, May 5, 2015
       (North America Print and eBook)
Mass Market Paperback and eBook,
Cover: Paul Young at Artist Partners

The citadel has long been the stronghold of Highkell. All that is about to change because the traitor, Vasic, is marching on the capital. Against her better judgement, Queen Alwenna allows herself to be spirited away by one of the Crown’s most trusted servants, safe from the clutches of the throne’s would-be usurper.

Fleeing across country, she quickly comes to learn that her pampered existence has ill-equipped her for survival away from the comforts of the court. Alwenna must toughen up, and fast, if she is even to make it to a place of safety. But she has an even loftier aim – for after dreaming of her husband’s impending death, Alwenna knows she must turn around and head back to Highkell to save the land she loves, and the husband who adores her, or die in the attempt.

But Vasic the traitor is waiting. And this was all just as he planned.

File Under: Fantasy

Andrea Phillips

Revision
Fireside Fiction Company, May 5, 2015
Trade Paperback and eBook, 230 pages

Mira is a trust fund baby playing at making it on her own as a Brooklyn barista. When Benji, her tech startup boyfriend, dumps her out of the blue, she decides a little revenge vandalism is in order. Mira updates his entry on Verity, Benji’s Wikipedia-style news aggregator, to say the two have become engaged. Hours later, he shows up at her place with an engagement ring. Chalk it up to coincidence, right?

Soon after, Benji’s long-vanished co-founder Chandra shows up asking for Mira’s help. She claims Verity can nudge unlikely events into really happening — even change someone’s mind. And Chandra insists that Verity — and Mira’s newly minted fiance — can’t be trusted.

Marguerite Reed

Archangel
Archangel 1Arche Press, May 12, 2015
Trade Paperback and eBook, 298 pages

Earth is dying, and we have begun the search for a new home. Our hopes are pinned on Ubastis, an untamed paradise at the edge of colonized space. But such an influx of people threatens the planet’s unstudied ecosystem–before these settlers arrive, a tenuous research colony must complete its essential and desperate analysis, lest humanity abandon one planet only to die on another.

The Ubasti colonists barely get by on their own. To acquire the tools and supplies they truly need, the colonists are relegated to selling whatever they can to outside investors. For xenobiologist Vashti Loren, this means bringing Offworlders on safari to hunt the specimens she and her fellow biologists so desperately need to study.

Haunted by the violent death of her husband, the heroic and celebrated Lasse Undset, Vashti must balance the needs of Ubastis against the swelling crush of would-be settlers. As she negotiates her grief, Vashti struggles in her role as one of the few colonists licensed to carry deadly weapons, just as she struggles with her history of using them. And when she discovers a genetically engineered soldier smuggled onto the surface, Vashti must face the nightmare of her husband’s murder all over again. Vashti must protect herself, her daughter, and all of Ubastis as she is forced to draw alliances with old enemies, re-evaluate old friends, and take planet-wide action against those who threaten her world. Vashti stands at the threshold of humanity’s greatest hope, and she alone understands the darkness of guarding paradise.

Marc Turner

When the Heavens Fall
The Chronicles of the Exile 1
Tor Books, May 19, 2015
Hardcover and eBook, 544 pages

If you pick a fight with Shroud, Lord of the Dead, you had better ensure your victory, else death will mark only the beginning of your suffering.

A book giving its wielder power over the dead has been stolen from a fellowship of mages that has kept the powerful relic dormant for centuries. The thief, a crafty, power-hungry necromancer, intends to use the Book of Lost Souls to resurrect an ancient race and challenge Shroud for dominion of the underworld. Shroud counters by sending his most formidable servants to seize the artifact at all cost.

However, the god is not the only one interested in the Book, and a host of other forces converge, drawn by the powerful magic that has been unleashed. Among them is a reluctant Guardian who is commissioned by the Emperor to find the stolen Book, a troubled prince who battles enemies both personal and political, and a young girl of great power, whose past uniquely prepares her for an encounter with Shroud. The greatest threat to each of their quests lies not in the horror of an undead army but in the risk of betrayal from those closest to them. Each of their decisions comes at a personal cost and will not only affect them, but also determine the fate of their entire empire.

The first of an epic swords & sorcery fantasy series, Marc Turner's When the Heavens Fall features gritty characters, deadly magic, and meddlesome gods.

Eli K. P. William

Cash Crash Jubilee
Jubilee Cycle 1
Talos Press, May 5, 2015
Hardcover and eBook, 392 pages

A cyber-dystopian world unlike any other

In a near future Tokyo, every action from blinking to sexual intercourse is intellectual property owned by corporations that charge licensing fees. A BodyBank computer system implanted in each citizen records their movements from moment to moment, and connects them to the audio-visual overlay of the ImmaNet, so that every inch of the metropolis crawls with information and shifting cinematic promotainment.

Amon Kenzaki works as a Liquidator for the Global Action Transaction Authority. His job is to capture bankrupt citizens, remove their BodyBank, and banish them to BankDeath Camps where they are forever cut off from the action-transaction economy. Amon always plays by the rules and is steadily climbing the Liquidation Ministry ladder.

With his savings accumulating and another promotion just around the corner, everything seems to be going well, until he is asked to cash crash a charismatic politician and model citizen, and soon after is charged for an incredibly expensive action called "jubilee" that he is sure he never performed. To restore balance to his account, Amon must unravel the secret of jubilee, but quickly finds himself asking dangerous questions about the system to which he's devoted his life, and the costly investigation only drags him closer and closer to the pit of bankruptcy.

In book one of the Jubilee Cycle, Cash Crash Jubilee, debut novelist Eli K. P. William wields the incisive power of speculative fiction to show how, in a world of corporate finance run amok, one man will do everything for the sake of truth and justice.

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

Andrea:  Hello, and thank you for having me! I've been writing since at least the third grade — back then it was stories about being kidnapped by an alien civilization. By eighth grade I wrote a ton of what I know realize was the worst kind of self-insertion fanfic for ElfQuest. I'm a lucky one who always had supportive family and teachers telling me, "Andrea, when you grow up, you should be a writer."



TQ:  Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Andrea:  When I wrote Revision, I was a pantser. Basically I wrote interesting scenes and chapters as they came to me, and then tried to put them into something like a causation order. Frankly all the worst problems in the book are a result of this. There are some structural hiccups I couldn't smooth out entirely; reviewers have said the first couple of chapters are a leeeetle too slow, and they're 100% right — because I wound up with four chapters that all wanted to go third for pacing!

Since then I've done more writing from a detailed outline, and I love it. It's faster for me, and comforting to be certain where it's all headed. I'm not sure I'll ever go back!



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

Andrea:  The single most challenging thing is just… doing the work at all. Putting the hours in, day in and day out, no matter how I feel or what else I have going on. Isn't that the hardest part for everyone?!



TQ:  Who are some of your literary influences? Favorite authors?

Andrea:  My #1 literary influence is probably Naomi Alderman, because she's a dear friend and we've spent so much time talking about the mechanics of writing over the years. If you happen to have the opportunity to befriend a highly acclaimed literary author and talk about writing over the course of years, I recommend it; your writing cannot fail to improve.

The whole world influences me and how I approach writing. Elizabeth Bear and Jennifer Crusie write about writing on their blogs, and I learn from them constantly. I read Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass many years ago and finally understood pacing and tension for the first time.

And then there's the stuff you learn from by way of example: Sean Stewart, Tim Powers, Roger Zelazny for showing me how magic can be hidden in the now, and not just long-ago and far-away. Anne McCaffrey and Marion Zimmer Bradley for showing me that you can write SF/F about women and women's concerns. Not just literature, either — the game Ultima IV showed me what moral ambiguity is and how to use it, for example. The whole world is constantly teaching you how to be a better writer, the trick is learning how to see it.



TQ:  Describe Revision in 140 characters or less.

Andrea:  Revision is about a wiki where your edits come true. Also snark, startup culture, and bad relationships.



TQ:  Tell us something about Revision that is not in the book description.

Andrea:  One of my goals with Revision was to write a book from a decidedly feminine point of view, that is also unquestionably science fiction. Alas some readers may be put off by the first couple of chapters because of this, because yeah, it feels like chick-lit. Not going to lie, that's a little scary, because "chick-lit" means a bunch of things that we tend to think are the exact opposite of "serious science fiction." So there's the terror that people won't take the book seriously purely because of tone.

But the truth is, it's a book I would love to read, and I can't be alone. So I'm trying to shrug off that reflexive sense of shame. And c'mon, let's be real — if I get a fraction of the readership of a Marian Keyes or Helen Fielding, I'll be selling beyond my wildest dreams.



TQ:   What inspired you to write Revision? What do you hope that readers will take away from Revision?

Andrea:  The intersection between magic and technology has fascinated me since I was a kid playing Trinity (the Infocom game), and first came across that famous Arthur C. Clarke quote: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." That comes out in my writing in lots of ways; AIs that do spellcraft, for example, or ghosts that send email.

Along those lines, I'm fascinated by the process by which technologies slowly accrete a sense of magic. We have ghost ships and ghost trains; mirrors that show the truth or take you somewhere else; phone calls from the dead; dolls that take on a life of their own. But it takes a while for a technology to reach that eerie tipping point, and some technologies never really become magical at all. Who writes about ghost ATMs, or light bulbs? Has anyone ever written about a magical blender or flush toilet? We have endless stories about books where their contents come true; so why not… a wiki instead?



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

Andrea:  I'm not typically much of a researcher, honestly. I'm more likely to draw from the well of things I already know in the heat of writing.

There's one thing, though, I researched exhaustively — data center disaster recovery systems, building codes, water sprinklers, halon. For the most part, Verity technology in the book is what I say it is and I can wave my hands and tap-dance until it works the way I want. But for this one particular scene, if I got it completely wrong, I knew someone would be annoyed. And who wants to annoy their readers?



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

Andrea:  The easiest character was Mira herself. Which is a good thing, since the book is first person! Since I spent so much time in her head, I developed a really solid sense of what she's like and how she thinks: she has generally low expectations for herself and for the world, she's a little too self-centered, she has a bunch of principles but isn't great at living up to them. She's very human, I think.

It was much harder to write Benji, though, Mira's boyfriend. He's meant to be a bad boyfriend — patronizing and kind of douchey, but with enough heat and magnetism that you see why Mira would stay with him. It's funny, because people cling to bad relationships allllll the time in real life, but in fiction you have to work hard to make a character's terrible life choices seem plausible.



TQ:  Which question about Revision do you wish someone would ask? Ask it and answer it!

Andrea:

Q: Wait, your book has a content note? What's that all about?

A: You know how some people don't want to read a book if it has a pet die in it, that kind of thing? No animals are hurt in Revision, but there are some things that happen in the book that might be upsetting to some readers, and the publisher and I thought it would be kind to provide some sort of warning. We felt it was the right thing to do, and so we did it!



TQ:  Give us one or two of your favorite non-spoilery lines from Revision.

Andrea:  In terms of sheer lyricism, I love this one the most:

I found myself craving the earthy flavor of truthful words.



TQ:  What's next?

Andrea:  Right now I'm writing a YA novel about the Luckiest Girl in the World (literally), which has a mythology involving luck-eating magicians, the Ancient and Honorable Order of Turtles, and attempted human sacrifice. If things go according to plan I should be done writing it this summer, and then… I'll try to sell it, I suppose!

After that I have an experimental story I want to do called Attachment Study. It'll be told in emails and text messages to the reader in real time. One of the characters will fall in love with the reader over the course of the story. Speaking as an artist, that's a very interesting emotional dynamic, and you can only really explore it in a work that feels interactive.



TQ:  Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

Andrea:  Thank you so much for having me! Eeee! This has been a delight.

Revision
Author:  Andrea Phillips
Publisher:  Fireside Fiction Company, May 5, 2015
Format:  Trade Paperback and eBook, 230 pages
List Price:   $14.99 (print);  $6.99 (digital)
ISBN:  9780986104015 (print)
Review Copy:  Provided by the Publisher

Mira is a trust fund baby playing at making it on her own as a Brooklyn barista. When Benji, her tech startup boyfriend, dumps her out of the blue, she decides a little revenge vandalism is in order. Mira updates his entry on Verity, Benji’s Wikipedia-style news aggregator, to say the two have become engaged. Hours later, he shows up at her place with an engagement ring. Chalk it up to coincidence, right?

Soon after, Benji’s long-vanished co-founder Chandra shows up asking for Mira’s help. She claims Verity can nudge unlikely events into really happening — even change someone’s mind. And Chandra insists that Verity — and Mira’s newly minted fiance — can’t be trusted.

Melanie's Review

Mira does what every heart broken girl does when her boyfriend says the fateful words 'its over'. She cries her eyes out, looks in the freezer for the largest tub of ice cream available, drinks too much and then hits social media with a declaration of the scoundrel's undying love and imminent engagement. No one is more surprised than Mira when the very recently ex-Ben turns up on her doorstep on bended knee to propose. Pure coincidence or something more sinister? Mira soon learns that Verity, the news aggregating software Ben's company has developed can turn statement into fact. Science or magic? Is it good or evil? Is Ben involved? Mira is about to find out.

Revision is Phillips' debut novel and she does an admirable job of setting the scene and further chain of events that lead Mira on her journey to discover the truth. The plot is punchy and the dialogue is witty, especially Mira's inner dialogue. Phillips carefully builds the plot and leaves the reader so many breadcrumbs that its not difficult to figure out what the Verity software is capable of and what Ben's role in it really is. It is therefore, quite surprising that Mira seems almost the last to know or should I say, last to believe the truth that is practically slapping her in the face. When Chandra, the former Verity employee that everyone thinks is dead shows up and tries to convince Mira that all is not as it seems she is still reluctant to believe. After a near fatal car accident of a dear friend and the death of a loathed one Mira is forced to face the facts of what Verity can do and what Ben is capable of.

As much as I enjoyed Revision and thought that Phillips had created an interesting concept with Verity I didn't warm to Mira. The trust fund heiress slumming it as a barista in a boutique coffee shop did not ring true. Mira comes across as being on the world's longest pity party and apart from a demanding mother I couldn't really see why she she disliked everything about her former life. She also lacking in empathy or true remorse. There is a whole series of events from her best friend almost dying to her witnessing the death of someone she knows from childhood, yet Mira shows very little in the way of feeling. She even makes a comment about her fiance almost killing her best friend and then continues on with her self involved life. As much as I think that her dialogue was, in parts, extremely funny she just isn't the heroine for me.

I like Revision and think it could have been an 'I love it' book had I liked Mira a bit more. Well done though to Phillips' on creating a great plot for her debut novel.

About Andrea

Andrea Phillips is an award-winning transmedia writer, game designer and author. She has worked on projects such as iOS fitness games Zombies, Run! and The Walk, The Maester's Path for HBO's Game of Thrones, human rights game America 2049, and the independent commercial ARG Perplex City. Her projects have variously won the Prix Jeunesse Interactivity Prize, a Broadband Digital award, a Canadian Screen Award, a BIMA, the Origins Vanguard Innovation Award, and others. Her book A Creator's Guide to Transmedia Storytelling is used to teach digital storytelling at universities around the world.

Her independent work includes the Kickstarted serial The Daring Adventures of Captain Lucy Smokeheart and The McKinnon Account, a short story that unfolds in your email inbox. Her debut novel Revision is out on May 5from Fireside Fiction Co. and her short fiction has been published in Escape Pod and the Jews vs. Aliens anthology.

You can find Andrea on Twitter at @andrhia. I mean, if you like that sort of thing.

I was finally quite productive this week both with reading and with writing reviews. I was starting to get worried that I had lost my reading and review writing mojo but its back. So what did I read?


I started the week with a debut novel that the lovely Qwill sent to me. Revision by Andrea Phillips is the very first novel to be published by Fireside Fiction Company and will be released on May 5th. I will be writing a full review of this book so keep your eye on the blog next week to find out what I thought about it.


I turned to my Amazon recommendations (again...very bad) and found that the next book in the Seven series by Dannika Dark had been released. It wasn't long before Three Hours was on my Kindle. I have mixed views of this series. I liked book 1 Seven Years, thought book 2 Six Months was OK, did not like book 3 Five Weeks and back to another OK review for book 4 Four Days. Part of me wants to continue reading this story just so I can find out if Dark can get her characters to fall in love in a matter of seconds. There are 2 more books in this series. It's going to have to be love at first sight by the time we get to book 7!

This instalment starts a few years after the end of book 4 with Lexi and Austin still in love, Izzy and Jericho and Ivy and Lorenzo both have young children and Lexi's human sister Maizy is a tweeny. The story is told mainly from Naya's POV. Naya has appeared in most of the novels as she is Lexi's friend and former neighbour. Naya is an exotic dancer and secret panther shifter. Panthers are feared for being too violent so she has kept her shifter identity secret. When young women start to go missing from her strip club Naya approaches the wolf Alpha Austin for help. He assigns the tattooed Wheeler to be her bodyguard. Naya and Wheeler do not get along and the fireworks start when they are forced to spend more time in each others company. Hiding secrets is the theme in Three Hours as Naya isn't the only one who is keeping secrets. Wheeler has almost as many secrets as he has tattoos and Naya is determined to find out each and every one of them. The other sub-plot is the shifter cage fighting and the seedy underworld that Naya and Wheeler find themselves reluctantly involved in.

This book gets another 'OK' for me. Unlike some of the other female characters Naya is a bit more complex and more developed. She is obviously the most noble and well centered stripper in town who helps out her local animal shelter and came to Lexi's aid more than once. I had a hard time imagining what Wheeler was like besides being covered in tattoos. He also kept saying 'preciate ya' and talked about 'his woman' which I found annoying and misogynistic. I can't understand why the female characters in this series are so objectified and are always getting into trouble when not shaking their 'booty'. I was fully expecting the one book of the series that involved a stripper to have the most hot and steamy but it really didn't. Yes, there is a smoking hot sex scene but really only the one. This is quite refreshing as there is more romance in this PNR.


My final book for this week was a little bit different. The good people at Curiosity Quills Press rescued my copy of I Kissed a Ghoul by Michael McCarty. I had received a copy from NetGalley in a format I couldn't open, I forgot I had it and then when I went back to sort it out the book had been archived. I apologised for not reading it in time and within an hour the publisher was sending me another copy in a different format. Hurrah!

If you are looking for a light hearted read look no further than McCarty's I Kissed a Ghoul. The 'big boned' teenager Tommy has been desperate to lose his virginity and every time he thinks he is going to get lucky he is thwarted by one of the many supernaturals in his small town. This book is a mere 120 something pages of Tommy's desperate attempts to seduce almost every female in town while fighting off vampires, werewolves and cannibals. Tommy doesn't seem to think that any of these supernatural encounters are anything out of the ordinary which makes it all the more amusing. One particularly funny scene occurs when Tommy's parents go on vacation leaving him home alone. He watches Tom Cruise in Risky Business and with the help of his father's credit card decides to re-enact the movie. This had me chuckling all the way through. Tommy isn't especially likeable and does seem to be either incredibly naive or incredibly dim but even so, you can't help but feel a bit sorry for him. He is just an overweight teenager looking for love (or a desperate girlfriend who wants to have a lot of sex). If you are looking for something different, a few laughs and a quick read then this is the book for you.


That is it for me for this week. I hope you have a great week ahead and Happy Reading.

Andrea Phillips

Revision
Fireside Fiction Company, May 5, 2015
eBook, 230 pages

Mira is a trust fund baby playing at making it on her own as a Brooklyn barista. When Benji, her tech startup boyfriend, dumps her out of the blue, she decides a little revenge vandalism is in order. Mira updates his entry on Verity, Benji’s Wikipedia-style news aggregator, to say the two have become engaged. Hours later, he shows up at her place with an engagement ring. Chalk it up to coincidence, right?

Soon after, Benji’s long-vanished co-founder Chandra shows up asking for Mira’s help. She claims Verity can nudge unlikely events into really happening — even change someone’s mind. And Chandra insists that Verity — and Mira’s newly minted fiance — can’t be trusted.