The Qwillery

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

July 1, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Ones Who Look: A Tor.com Original (e)	Katharine Duckett	SF
Memory and Utopian Agency in Utopian/Dystopian Literature: Memory of the Future	Carter F. Hanson	LC
Scarlet Odyssey (D)	C. T. Rwizi	F/CoA/FairyT/FolkT/LM - Scarlet Odyssey 1

July 2, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The House on Widows Hill	Simon R. Green	SupM - An Ishmael Jones Mystery 9
Dark Harvest	Cat Sparks	SF/PA

July 7, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Aftermath of an Industrial Accident: Stories	Mike Allen	H/DF
The Vanished Seas	Catherine Asaro	SF/SO - Major Bhaajan 3
In the Palace of Shadow and Joy	D. J. Butler	SF/SO
Hollow Kingdom (h2tp)	Kira Jane Buxton	LF/F/HU/SF/AP/PA
Whispers in the Mist	Darcy Coates	H/Occ/Sup/AP/PA/SupTh/Dys - Black Winter 3
The Librarians Trilogy (e)	Greg Cox	F/MTI
Kill Orbit (e)	Joel Dane	SF - Cry Pilot 3
Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders (e)	Aliette de Bodard	DF/H - Dominion of the Fallen Story
Little Brother & Homeland	Cory Doctorow	SF/CyP
Unconquerable Sun	Kate Elliott	SF/SO - The Sun Chronicles 1
Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air	Jackson Ford	SF/CyP/GenEng/HU - Frost Files 2
The Bright Lands (D)	John Fram	SupTh
At the End of the World	Charles E. Gannon	SF/AP/PA - Black Tide Rising 8
A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor	Hank Green	CoA/SF/CF
Titandeath	Guy Haley	SF/SO - Horus Heresy 53
Genetics and the Literary Imagination	Clare Hanson	SF/HC - Oxford Textual Perspectives
The Strawberry Thief	Joanne Harris	LF
The Big Book of Mars: From Ancient Egypt to The Martian, A Deep-Space Dive into Our Obsession with the Red Planet	Marc Hartzman	PopCul/Astronomy/Science History
Children of Dune (ri)	Frank Herbert	SF - Dune 3
Heretics of Dune (ri)	Frank Herbert	SF - Dune 5
Chapterhouse: Dune (ri)	Frank Herbert	SF - Dune 6
God Emperor of Dune (ri)	Frank Herbert	SF - Dune 4
Dune Messiah (ri)	Frank Herbert	SF - Dune 2
Mephiston: City of Light	Darius Hinks	SF/SE - Warhammer 40,000
Haunted Heroine	Sarah Kuhn	UF/RF/CF - Heroine Complex 4
The Name of All Things (h2tp)	Jenn Lyons	F - Chorus of Dragons 2
Branwell: A Novel of the Brontë Brother	Douglas A. Martin	LF/AH
Where the Veil Is Thin	Cerece Rennie Murphy (Ed) Alana Joli Abbott (Ed)	F - Anthology
Binti: The Complete Trilogy (h2tp)	Nnedi Okorafor	SF/SO/AC
The Need	Helen Phillips	LF/SpecFic
Every Sky a Grave	Jay Posey	SF/SO - The Ascendance 1
Cinderbiter: Celtic Poems	Martin Shaw Tony Hoagland	Poetry
Things From the Flood	Simon Stålenhag	SF/AP/PA
The Book of Dragons: An Anthology	Jonathan Strahan (Ed)	F
Battle Luna	Travis S. Taylor Timothy Zahn Michael Z. Williamson	SF/HSF
Growing Things and Other Stories (h2tp)	Paul Tremblay	Occ/Sup
A Peculiar Peril	Jeff VanderMeer	YA/F/AH - Misadventures of Jonathan Lambshead 1
The Beast of Blackmoor (e)	Milla Vane	F/P/PNR
Or What You Will	Jo Walton	CF
Arms of the Ocean (e)	Jamie Webster M. Dalto	F
Red Dust	Yoss David Frye (Tr)	SF - Cuban Science Fiction

July 8, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Necessary Arthur: A Tor.com Original (e)	Garth Nix	ScF

July 14, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Jest Right (ri)	Piers Anthony	F/HU - Magic of Xanth 43
ReV: The Machine Dynasty	Madeline Ashby	SF/AP/AP/CyP - The Machine Dynasty 3
When Jackals Storm the Walls	Bradley P. Beaulieu	F - Song of Shattered Sands 5
Unicorn Mountain (ri)	Michael Bishop	SF/AC
Peace Talks	Jim Butcher	UF - Dresden Files 16
The Amberlough Dossier: Amberlough, Armistice, Amnesty (e)	Lara Elena Donnelly	HistF
Final Fantasy XV: The Dawn of the Future	Jun Eishima Final Fantasy XV Team	F/MTI - Final Fantasy XV
The Vessels	Anna M. Elias	SupTh/VM/F - Vessels 1
Queen of Storms	Raymond E. Feist	F - Firemane Saga 2
Silver Ravens	Jane Fletcher	F/MR
His Dark Materials and Philosophy	Richard Greene (Ed) Rachel Robinson-Greene (Ed)	Philosophy - Popular Culture and Philosophy 132
The Only Good Indians	Stephen Graham Jones	H
The Relentless Moon	Mary Robinette Kowal	SF/AH/HSF - Lady Astronaut 3
The Dragon Republic (h2tp)	R. F Kuang	HistF - Poppy War 2
In the Kingdom of All Tomorrows	Stephen R. Lawhead	F/HistF - Eirlandia 3
The Adventures of Arabella Ashby: Arabella of Mars, Arabella and the Battle of Venus, Arabella The Traitor of Mars (e)	David D. Levine	SF/SP
The Passengers (h2tp)	John Marrs	TechTh/Sus/SF
The Dreaming Tree (h2tp)	Matthew Mather	M - Delta Devlin Novels 1
The Storyteller’s Daughter (e)	Victoria McCombs	RF
Star Trek: Discovery: Die Standing	John Jackson Miller	SF - Star Trek: Discovery 7
Utopia Avenue	David Mitchell	LF/SF/Dys
Gideon the Ninth (h2tp)	Tamsyn Muir	SF/SO/F - The Locked Tomb Trilogy 1
Red Noise (D)	John P. Murphy	SF/SO/AP/PA
At the Lucky Hand: aka The Sixty-Nine Drawers	Goran Petrović Peter Agnone (Tr)	MR/LF
All Up	J. W. Rinzler	AH
Just Make Believe	Maggie Robinson	PCM - Lady Adelaide Mysteries 3
Road Seven	Keith Rosson	MR/LF
Shadows Rising	Madeleine Roux	F - World of Warcraft Shadowlands 3
Best of British Science Fiction 2019	Donna Scott (Ed)	SF - Anthology
Heart of Gold (e)	Sharon Shinn	SF/CyP
Hell Divers VII: Warriors	Nicholas Sansbury Smith	SF/CyP - Hell Divers 7
Knaves Over Queens (h2tp)	Wild Cards Trust	SH/SF - Wild Cards 22

July 15, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Everything's Fine: A Tor.com Original (e)	Matthew Pridham	SF

July 20, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
All the Dead Men	Errick Nunnally	H - Alexander Smith 2

July 21, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Saturnine	Dan Abnett	SF/SO - The Horus Heresy: Siege of Terra 4
MEG: Generations	Steve Alten	SupTh/SF - Meg 6
Uranus	Ben Bova	SF/HSF/AC - Outer Planets Trilogy 1
Alpha Omega	Nicholas Bowling	SF/TechTh/H
The Killing Light (h2tp)	Myke Cole	F - Sacred Throne  3
Fearful Symmetries (e)(ri)	Ellen Datlow (Ed)	H - Anthology
John Landis Presents The Library of Horror Haunted Houses: Classic Stories of Doors that Should Never Be Opened	DK	H - The Library of Horror
The Pull of the Stars	Emma Donoghue	Hist/Dys
Axiom's End (D)	Lindsay Ellis	SF/AC/Th
The Year of the Witching (D)	Alexis Henderson	H/Occ/Sup/DF
A Summoning of Souls	Leanna Renee Hieber	GH/Gaslamp - A Spectral City Novel 3
I Come with Knives	S. A. Hunt	H/CF - Malus Domestica 2
Trouble the Saints	Alaya Dawn Johnson	HistF/LF
Darkdawn (h2tp)	Jay Kristoff	F - The Nevernight Chronicle 3
Inch by Inch (h2tp)	Morgan Llywelyn	SF/AP/PA - Step by Step 2
Malorie: A Bird Box Novel	Josh Malerman	Sus/H/SF/AP/PA - Bird Box 2
Quantum Shadows	L. E. Modesitt Jr.	SF
Restoration	Angela Slatter	UF - Verity Fassbinder 3
Vigil	Angela Slatter	UF - Verity Fassbinder 1
The Rightful Queen	Isabelle Steiger	F - Paths of Lantistyne 2
Annihilation Aria	Michael R. Underwood	SF/SO - Space Operas 1
The Sin in the Steel (D)	Ryan Van Loan	F - The Fall of the Gods 1
The Big Book of Modern Fantasy	Ann VanderMeer(Ed) Jeff VanderMeer (Ed)	F - Anthology
A Touch of Stone and Snow	Milla Vane	FR/F/PNR - A Gathering of Dragons 2
Mean Machine	Aleksandr Voinov	Dys
Savage Legion	Matt Wallace	F - Savage Rebellion 1
South of the Buttonwood Tree	Heather Webber	CW/MR/STR
Ashes of the Sun	Django Wexler	F - Burningblade & Silvereye 1

July 23, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Chimera Code (e)	Wayne Santos	SF - Witchware 1

July 27, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
House of the Rising Sun	Richard Cox	SF/AP/PA
The Best of Greg Egan: 20 Stories of Hard Science Fiction	Greg Egan	SF/HSF

July 28, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Doctor Who: Pirate Planet	Douglas Adams James Goss	SF - Doctor Who
The Technician (tp2mm)>	Neal Asher	SF/SO - Polity 4
The Butterfly Lampshade	Aimee Bender	LF/MR/FL
Afterland	Lauren Beukes	Sus/Dys
The Baron of Magister Valley	Steven Brust	F - Dragaera 4
Reaping Willow (e)	Boone Brux	UF - Grim Reality 4
Lies of Descent (h2mm)	Troy Carrol Bucher	F/DF - Fallen Gods' War 1
My Enemy's Enemy (tp2mm)	Robert Buettner	SF
Kushiel's Chosen (ri)	Jacqueline Carey	RF/F - Kushiel's Legacy 2
The Perfect Wife (h2tp)	JP Delaney	Sus/Psy/GenEng
Empire of Wild (D - US)	Cherie Dimaline	Native American & Aboriginal/STR/SupTh
William Shakespeare's The Merry Rise of Skywalker: Star Wars Part the Ninth	Ian Doescher	SF/SO - William Shakespeare's Star Wars 9
Doctor Who: The Crimson Horror	Mark Gatiss	SF - Doctor Who
The Imago Stage	Karoline Georges Rhonda Mullins (Tr)	LF/Dys/FL
Spells for the Dead	Faith Hunter	UF - Soulwood 5
A Lush and Seething Hell: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror (h2tp)	John Hornor Jacobs	H
Flyaway	Kathleen Jennings	CF/DF/Gothic
At Death's Door (hmm)	Sherrilyn Kenyon	HistF/FR/PNR - Deadman's Cross 3
Cold Storage (h2mm)	David Koepp	Sus
Kinsman's Oath (e)(ri)	Susan Krinard	PNR - The Kinsman  2
Prince of Shadows (e)(ri)	Susan Krinard	PNR - Val Cache 3
The Forest Lord (e)(ri)	Susan Krinard	PNR - Fane 1
Star-Crossed (e)(ri)	Susan Krinard	SF
Prince of Dreams (e)(ri)	Susan Krinard	PNR - Val Cache 2
Prince of Wolves (e)(ri)	Susan Krinard	PNR - Val Cache 1
Twice a Hero (e)(ri)	Susan Krinard	PNR
Body & Soul (e)(ri)	Susan Krinard	PNR
Kin	Snorri Kristjansson	Cr/Hist/HistTh - Helga Finnsdottir Mysteries 1
Crossings (D)	Alex Landragin	LF/MR
Sabella (ri)	Tanith Lee	SF/SO
Bound by Shadows (ri)	Kathy Lyons	PNR - Grizzlies Gone Wild  1
The Dawn of a Nazi Moon	Douglas MacKinnon	SF - Dawn of the Nazi Moon 1
Tyger Burning (tp2mm)	T. C. McCarthy	SF
The Five Books of (Robert) Moses	Arthur Nersesian	AH/LF/AB/Sagas
Chaos Vector	Megan E. O'Keefe	SF/SO/SE/GenEng- Protectorate 2
The Memory Police (h2tp)	Yoko Ogawa Stephen Snyder (Tr)	LF/SF/Dys
River of Night (h2mm)	John Ringo Mike Massa	SF/AP/PA - Black Tide Rising 8
Deal with the Devil (h2tp)	Kit Rocha	SF/SFR - Mercenary Librarians 1
Demon in White	Christopher Ruocchio	SF/SO/HSF/AC - Sun Eater 3
Relentless: A Drizzt Novel	R. A. Salvatore	F - Generations  3
Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds (h2mm)	Brandon Sanderson	SF - Collection
Doctor Who: Dalek	Robert Shearman	SF - Doctor Who
Automatic Reload	Ferrett Steinmetz	SF/CyP/HSF
Privateer (h2mm)	Margaret Weis Robert Krammes	F - The Dragon Corsairs 2
The Worst of All Possible Worlds	Alex White	SF/GenEng/SO - Salvagers 3
Doctor Who: The Witchfinders	Joy Wilkinson	SF - Doctor Who
Master of the World (tp2mm)	Edward Willett	F - Worldshapers 2

July 31, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Gray Matters (D)	John Webster Gastil	SF/CyP/Medical/PolTh
Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 3	William Schafer (Ed)	DF - Anthology

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



AB - Absurdist
AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternative History
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
Cr - Crime
CW - Contemporary Women
CyP - CyberPunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FL - Family Life
FolkT - Folk Tales
FR - Fantasy Romance
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GH - Ghost(s)
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HistTh - Historical Thriller
HSF - Hard Science Fiction
HU - Humorous
LC - Literary Criticism
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legend and Mythology
LMF - Legends, Myths, Fables
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PCM - Paranormal Cozy Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PolTh - Political Thriller
PopCul - Popular Culture
Psy - Psychological
RF - Romantic Fantasy
ScF - Science Fantasy
SE - Space Exploration
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SH - Superheroes
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
SpecFic - Speculative Fiction
STR - Small Town and Rural
Sup - Supernatural
SupM - Supernatural Mystery
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
UF - Urban Fantasy
VM - Visionary and Metaphysical

On June 8th the winners of the Australian SF (“Ditmar”) Awards for 2019 for works published in 2018 were announced at the 2019 Australian National SF Convention, (Continuum 15).

Winners in green.




Best Novel

• Devouring Dark, Alan Baxter, Grey Matter Press.
• The Subjugate, Amanda Bridgeman, Angry Robot.
• Faerie Apocalypse, Jason Franks, IFWG Publishing Australia.
• City of Lies (Poison Wars 1), Sam Hawke, Tom Doherty Associates.
• The Beast's Heart, Leife Shallcross, Hodder & Stoughton.
• Tide of Stone, Kaaron Warren, Omnium Gatherum.

Best Novella or Novelette

• "Triquetra", Kirstyn McDermott, in Triquetra, Tom Doherty Associates.
• "Cabaret of Monsters", Tansy Rayner Roberts, in Cabaret of Monsters, The Creature Court.
• "The Dragon's Child", Janeen Webb, in The Dragon's Child, PS Publishing.

Best Short Story

• "The Art of Broken Things", Joanne Anderton, in Mother of Invention, Twelfth Planet Press.
• "A Man Totally Alone", Robert Hood, The Mammoth Book of Halloween Stories: Terrifying Tales Set on the Scariest Night of the Year!, Skyhorse Publishing.
• "The Heart of Owl Abbas", Kathleen Jennings, in Tor.com.
• "Junkyard Kraken", D.K. Mok, in Mother of Invention, Twelfth Planet Press.

Best Collected Work

• Sword and Sonnet, edited by Aidan Doyle, Rachael K. Jones and E. Catherine Tobler, Ate Bit Bear.
• Mountains of the Mind, Gillian Pollack, Shooting Star Press.
• Mother of Invention, Rivqa Rafael and Tansy Rayner Roberts, Twelfth Planet Press.
• A Hand of Knaves, Leife Shallcross and Chris Large, CSFG Publishing.
• Tales from the Inner City, Shaun Tan, Allen & Unwin.

Best Artwork

• Cover art, Likhain, for Mother of Invention, Twelfth Planet Press.
• Cover and internal illustrations, Shauna O'Meara, for A Hand of Knaves, CSFG Publishing.

Best Fan Publication in Any Medium

• Earl Grey Editing, Elizabeth Fitzgerald.
• Pratchat, Elizabeth Flux, Ben McKenzie, Splendid Chaps Productions.
• SF Commentary, Bruce Gillespie.
• Galactic Suburbia, Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, and Tansy Rayner Roberts.

Best Fan Writer

• Liz Barr, for writing in squiddishly.
• Bruce Gillespie, for writing in SF Commentary and ANZAPA articles.

Best New Talent

• Elizabeth Fitzgerald
• Sam Hawke
• Bren MacDibble (aka Cally Black)
• Leife Shallcross

William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review

• Damien Broderick, for Pscience Fiction, McFarland.
• Damien Broderick, for Consciousness and Science Fiction, Springer.
• Tansy Rayner Roberts, for Gentlewomen of the Press, Sheep Might Fly.
• Cat Sparks, for "The 21st Century Catastrophe: Hyper-capitalism and Severe Climate Change in Science Fiction" PhD exegesis.

The Baltimore Science Fiction Society has announced the 2018 Nominees for the Compton Crook Award 36:

Nicky Drayden for The Prey of Gods published 6/13/2017 by Harper Voyager with ISBN-13: 978-0062493033

Elan Mastai for All Our Wrong Todays published 2/7/2017 by Dutton with ISBN-13: 978-1101985137

Robyn Bennis for The Guns Above: A Signal Airship Novel published 5/2/2017 by Tor Books with ISBN-13: 978-0765388766

Karin Tidbeck for Amatka published 6/27/2017 by Vintage with ISBN-13: 978-1101973950

Vic James for Gilded Cage (Dark Gifts) published 2/14/2017 by Del Rey with ISBN-13: 978-0425284155

Theodora Goss for The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter published 6/20/2017 by Saga Press with ISBN-13: 978-1481466509

Cat Sparks for Lotus Blue published 3/7/2017 by Talos with ISBN-13: 978-1940456706

The members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, Inc. (BSFS) created the Compton Crook Award in 1982 to honor the best first novel of the year written by an individual author (collaborations are not eligible) in the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror genre. Since its inception, the award has been presented at Balticon — the four-day annual Maryland regional science fiction convention produced by BSFS, currently held on Memorial Day weekend in the Baltimore, MD area.

The Award was named in memory of Towson State College Professor of Natural Sciences Compton Crook, who wrote under the name Stephen Tall, and who died in 1981. Professor Crook was active for many years in the Baltimore Science Fiction Society and was a staunch champion of new works in the fields eligible for the award.

The Prey of Gods
Harper Voyager, June 13, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

*A Wall Street Journal "Summer Reading: One expert. One book" pick for 2017!

*The RT Book Reviews "June 2017: Seal of Excellence" pick!

*A B&N Sci Fi and Fantasy Blog "Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of 2017 So Far" pick!

*A Book Riot Best Books of 2017 Pick!

*A Vulture "The 10 Best Fantasy Books of 2017" Pick!

From a new voice in the tradition of Lauren Beukes, Ian McDonald, and Nnedi Okorafor comes The Prey of Gods, a fantastic, boundary-challenging tale, set in a South African locale both familiar and yet utterly new, which braids elements of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and dark humor.

In South Africa, the future looks promising. Personal robots are making life easier for the working class. The government is harnessing renewable energy to provide infrastructure for the poor. And in the bustling coastal town of Port Elizabeth, the economy is booming thanks to the genetic engineering industry which has found a welcome home there. Yes—the days to come are looking very good for South Africans. That is, if they can survive the present challenges:

A new hallucinogenic drug sweeping the country . . .

An emerging AI uprising . . .

And an ancient demigoddess hellbent on regaining her former status by preying on the blood and sweat (but mostly blood) of every human she encounters.

It’s up to a young Zulu girl powerful enough to destroy her entire township, a queer teen plagued with the ability to control minds, a pop diva with serious daddy issues, and a politician with even more serious mommy issues to band together to ensure there’s a future left to worry about.

Fun and fantastic, Nicky Drayden takes her brilliance as a short story writer and weaves together an elaborate tale that will capture your heart . . . even as one particular demigoddess threatens to rip it out.

All Our Wrong Todays
Dutton, February 7, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 384 pages
Trade Paperback published February 20, 2018

One of Wall Street Journal’s Best of 2017

“Entertainingly mixes thrills and humor.”—Entertainment Weekly

“[An] amazing debut novel. . . . Dazzling and complex. . . . Fearlessly funny storytelling.”—The Washington Post

“Instantly engaging. . . . A timeless, if mind-bending, story about the journeys we take, populated by friends, family, lovers, and others, that show us who we might be, could be—and maybe never should be—that eventually leads us to who we are.”—USA Today

Elan Mastai’s acclaimed debut novel is a story of friendship and family, of unexpected journeys and alternate paths, and of love in its multitude of forms.

It’s 2016, and in Tom Barren’s world, technology has solved all of humanity’s problems—there’s no war, no poverty, no under-ripe avocadoes. Unfortunately, Tom isn’t happy. He’s lost the girl of his dreams. And what do you do when you’re heartbroken and have a time machine? Something stupid.

Finding himself stranded in a terrible alternate reality—which we immediately recognize as our 2016—Tom is desperate to fix his mistake and go home. Right up until the moment he discovers wonderfully unexpected versions of his family, his career, and the woman who may just be the love of his life.

Now Tom faces an impossible choice. Go back to his perfect but loveless life. Or stay in our messy reality with a soulmate by his side. His search for the answer takes him across continents and timelines in a quest to figure out, finally, who he really is and what his future—our future—is supposed to be.

Filled with humor and heart and packed with insight, intelligence, and mind-bending invention, All Our Wrong Todays is a powerful and moving story of life, loss, and love.

The Guns Above
A Signal Airship Novel 1
Tor Books, May 2, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 352 pages
Trade Paperback to be published April 17, 2018

Robyn Bennis’s THE GUNS ABOVE is an adventurous military fantasy debut about a nation's first female airship captain.

They say it’s not the fall that kills you.

For Josette Dupre, the Corps’ first female airship captain, it might just be a bullet in the back.

On top of patrolling the front lines, she must also contend with a crew who doubts her expertise, a new airship that is an untested deathtrap, and the foppish aristocrat Lord Bernat, a gambler and shameless flirt with the military know-how of a thimble. Bernat’s own secret assignment is to catalog her every moment of weakness and indecision.

So when the enemy makes an unprecedented move that could turn the tide of the war, can Josette deal with Bernat, rally her crew, and survive long enough to prove herself?
“Full of sass and terrific characters. Great storytelling. Loved it.” —Patricia Briggs

Amatka
Vintage, June 27, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 224 pages

ONE OF THE GUARDIAN’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY BOOKS OF 2017

A surreal debut novel set in a world shaped by language in the tradition of Margaret Atwood and Ursula K. Le Guin.

Vanja, an information assistant, is sent from her home city of Essre to the austere, wintry colony of Amatka with an assignment to collect intelligence for the government. Immediately she feels that something strange is going on: people act oddly in Amatka, and citizens are monitored for signs of subversion.

Intending to stay just a short while, Vanja falls in love with her housemate, Nina, and prolongs her visit. But when she stumbles on evidence of a growing threat to the colony, and a cover-up by its administration, she embarks on an investigation that puts her at tremendous risk.

In Karin Tidbeck’s world, everyone is suspect, no one is safe, and nothing—not even language, nor the very fabric of reality—can be taken for granted. Amatka is a beguiling and wholly original novel about freedom, love, and artistic creation by a captivating new voice.

Gilded Cage
Dark Gifts 1
Del Rey, February 14, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 368 pages
Trade Paperback published July 25, 2017

MAGIC RULES. WE SERVE.

In a darkly fantastical debut set in modern-day Britain, magic users control everything: wealth, politics, power—and you. If you’re not one of the ultimate one-percenters—the magical elite—you owe them ten years of service. Do those years when you’re old, and you’ll never get through them. Do them young, and you’ll never get over them.

This is the darkly decadent world of Gilded Cage. In its glittering milieu move the all-powerful Jardines and the everyday Hadleys. The families have only one thing in common: Each has three children. But their destinies entwine when one family enters the service of the other. They will all discover whether any magic is more powerful than the human spirit.

Have a quick ten years. . . .

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter
Saga Press, June 20, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 416 pages
Trade Paperback to be published on February 27, 2018

Based on some of literature’s horror and science fiction classics, this is the story of a remarkable group of women who come together to solve the mystery of a series of gruesome murders—and the bigger mystery of their own origins.

Mary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents’ death, is curious about the secrets of her father’s mysterious past. One clue in particular hints that Edward Hyde, her father’s former friend and a murderer, may be nearby, and there is a reward for information leading to his capture…a reward that would solve all of her immediate financial woes.

But her hunt leads her to Hyde’s daughter, Diana, a feral child left to be raised by nuns. With the assistance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Mary continues her search for the elusive Hyde, and soon befriends more women, all of whom have been created through terrifying experimentation: Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherin Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein.

When their investigations lead them to the discovery of a secret society of immoral and power-crazed scientists, the horrors of their past return. Now it is up to the monsters to finally triumph over the monstrous.

Lotus Blue
Talos, March 7, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 388 pages

“Imaginative and richly rendered . . . Sparks frames all of this in haunting, near-poetic detail, such that the readers can smell the toxic red sand and perhaps taste the blood. Recommended for people who crave fresh post-apocalypse chaos—because Sparks’s post-apocalyptic chaos is pretty fresh, at that.”—NK Jemisin, The New York Times

Powerful war machines of the far-future collide across a barren desert world in this post-apocalyptic debut novel from award-winning Australian author Cat Sparks.

Seventeen-year-old Star and her sister Nene are orphans, part of a thirteen-wagon caravan of nomadic traders living hard lives travelling the Sand Road. Their route cuts through a particularly dangerous and unforgiving section of the Dead Red Heart, a war-ravaged desert landscape plagued by rogue semi-sentient machinery and other monsters from a bygone age.

But when the caravan witnesses a relic-Angel satellite unexpectedly crash to Earth, a chain of events begins that sends Star on a journey far away from the life she once knew. Shanghaied upon the sandship Dogwatch, she is forced to cross the Obsidian Sea by Quarrel, an ancient Templar supersoldier. Eventually shipwrecked, Star will have no choice but to place her trust in both thieves and priestesses while coming to terms with the grim reality of her past—and the horror of her unfolding destiny—as the terrible secret her sister had been desperate to protect her from begins to unravel.

Meanwhile, something old and powerful has woken in the desert. A Lotus Blue, deadliest of all the ancient war machines. A warrior with plans of its own, far more significant than a fallen Angel. Plans that do not include the survival of humanity.

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

Cat:  According to some of my old school friends, I always wrote stories and shared them around, but I don't remember entertaining early ambitions of being a writer. What I wanted was to be a filmmaker, so I went to art school to learn the nuts and bolts. Turned out I was truly terrible at it. I didn't have the skill set, the patience or the vision. I didn't really fit in with the film crowd. So at the tender age of 21, I threw in the towel, feeling like a complete failure of course, but in hindsight I'm so glad I didn't waste the next decade trying to hammer square pegs into round holes.

Being a fan of science fiction and fantasy eventually nudged me in the direction of writing it myself. I sold my first story in 2000 after many years of rejection and disappointment. I think I'm what you call a late bloomer.



TQ:  Are you a plotter, a pantser or a hybrid?

Cat:  A plotter – totally. Years of random, unfocused pantsing brought me nothing but trouble. I didn't know what I was doing, and consequently hundreds of thousands of words from early drafts of Lotus Blue and the abandoned novels that preceded it ended up in the bin. What's that saying – you need to write a million words of rubbish before you succeed? I well and truly wrote a load of rubbish.

My last couple of short stories have been bashed out pantser style after doing a ton of research, so who knows -- perhaps it's time for a sea change?



TQ:  What is the most challenging thing for you about writing? How does being an editor affect or not your writing?

Cat:  It is so much easier to determine what works or doesn't work in somebody else's story rather than your own, because of the lack of emotional attachment. As an editor, my duty is first and foremost to the reader. But as a writer, I get carried away by rhythm and flow. I'm a bit of a style pig and sometimes I end up drowning in it. There is nothing more helpful to me than a professional editor who knows what they're doing when it comes to slash and burn.



TQ:  What has influenced / influences your writing?

Cat:  The spectacular prose of other, better writers. I stand in utter awe of authors such as David Mitchell, Margaret Atwood, Simon Ings, Margo Lanagan and Michael Marshall Smith. True artists, I salute them all.



TQ:  Describe Lotus Blue in 140 characters or less.

Cat:  In a war-ravaged future, 17-y-o Star & a disparate crew fight to stop an ancient, deadly weapon before it wakes & remembers what it’s for.



TQ:  Tell us something about Lotus Blue that is not found in the book description.

Cat:  In my head, the port town of Fallow Heel that Star winds up in was designed as a hybrid of real world C17th and C18th whaling ports. The hunting of rogue tankers was based on pre-factory ship whaling, back in the days when it really was man against monster with not much technology between them. I read a bunch of old mariner’s diaries. Whaling was a deadly, dirty, batshit crazy business.



TQ:  What inspired you to write Lotus Blue? What appeals to you about writing post-apocalyptic fiction?

Cat:  I've been wallowing in post-apocalypse narratives since I was a kid. Something about the end of the world and the crumbling ruins of civilization has always appealed to me, possibly the graphic contrast between such landscapes and my own safe suburban childhood. I guess wanting to contribute to the genre I adored was my main inspiration for writing the novel. Of course, the last thing I ever actually want to experience is an apocalypse for real. Climate change, big business and weak governments are pushing us pretty close to the line.



TQ:  What sort of research did you do for Lotus Blue?

Cat:  My research included: development and advances in military technology, transportation vehicles, self-repairing building materials, artificial intelligence, weather modification and potential weaponization, climate change, refugees, the Tuareg people who live in the Sahara and that desert itself, war poetry and the aforementioned whaling.



TQ:  Please tell us about Lotus Blue's cover.

Cat:  I love the cover to this book so much. The artist is Lauren Saint-Onge [www.laurensaintonge.com]. My editor Cory and I were in utter agreement as to which scene from the novel should be depicted on the cover: the moment where my protagonist, Star, and her people watch an ancient ‘Angel’ satellite falling to earth, an action with severe ramifications that kick starts her epic journey.



TQ:  In Lotus Blue who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?

Cat:  The easiest was the stowaway-grifter-street kid Tully Grieve – he just kind of tumbled out onto the page, possibly because I've known a few guys like him in real life. Grieve’s a good guy at heart, but flawed by hardship and circumstance. Trusting the wrong person in his world will get you killed. He's become very practiced at looking after number one. Caring for anyone else does not come easy.

The hardest was definitely Star. Many authors project elements of themselves through their protagonist, however I'm not anything like Star, and so I had to figure out how to free her up to make choices I would never make myself -- and do things I would never do. She's much tougher than I could ever be. Everyone’s tough in Lotus Blue. This future is particularly harsh and unforgiving.



TQ:  Why have you chosen to include or not chosen to include social issues in Lotus Blue?

Cat:  I have a great personal interest in social justice themes and my previous short fiction has always reflected this – in fact, I've been criticized for it in the past (your fiction is always about something, Cat – what’s with that?) Some people prefer fiction to be as light and escapist as possible. I'm not much interested in storytelling that doesn't resonate real-world concerns. Our world is in trouble and it needs all the help it can get. That's not to say that fiction should be preachy or didactic, or that fantasy shouldn't be full of… fantasy. My aim is to build real-world concerns into the narrative landscape at a cellular level, allowing readers to feel wider perspectives.



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

Cat:

Q: How influential was the Mad Max film franchise upon Lotus Blue?

A: Not at all – although I don't expect anyone to believe me! All up, the novel took about 10 years to write – and get right. In my head, I was always writing a Dune homage. I delivered the completed manuscript to my agent before Fury Road hit the cinemas. It's a fabulous film – they're all fabulous films, particularly #2, but I didn't see the similarities myself until first readers started mentioning it. Go figure.



TQ:  Give us one or two of your favorite non-spoilery quotes from Lotus Blue.

Cat: 

Lucius waved and brought his camel closer. “Coming up on Axa,”
he shouted again for the benefit of those who’d never passed this way.
Not that there was much to see. A stark black cylinder surrounded
by sun-baked flats. Star stared hard at the shimmering thing. So little
was known about the fortress cities. The flats surrounding Axa were
booby-trapped with mines. That much she knew was true—that’s how
Kendrik lost his arm.

and

Mighty tankers were on the move, travelling in tight formation
grids. Working together, not attacking each other. Not something you
saw every day. Those mechabeasts had once roamed wild and free,
following their own whims, their own flights of fancy. But something
had changed. Something had gotten hold of their minds. Synchronous
rhythm locked them into step. For Marianthe, the sight brought on a
stream of flashbacks: glory days, when command and strategy spiked
through her arteries like a virus. Like a drug. A platoon full of hearts
beating in syncopation. You could feel your brother and sister soldiers,
know they had your back, your breath, your sweat.



TQ:  What's next?

Cat:  Next up, I need to finish my PhD which is over a year past due. My exegesis examines speculative fiction’s role in regards to the future. I've enjoyed the research immensely but I'm looking forward to reading, writing and researching other things. I have an idea for a new book – a sci fi thriller set in the present day -- completely different to Lotus Blue in every possible way. Can’t wait to get stuck into it!



TQ:  Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

Cat:  You're most welcome!

Lotus Blue
Talos, March 7, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 388 pages

Powerful war machines of the far-future collide across a barren desert world in this post-apocalyptic debut novel from award-winning Australian author Cat Sparks.

Seventeen-year-old Star and her sister Nene are orphans, part of a thirteen-wagon caravan of nomadic traders living hard lives travelling the Sand Road. Their route cuts through a particularly dangerous and unforgiving section of the Dead Red Heart, a war-ravaged desert landscape plagued by rogue semi-sentient machinery and other monsters from a bygone age.

But when the caravan witnesses a relic-Angel satellite unexpectedly crash to Earth, a chain of events begins that sends Star on a journey far away from the life she once knew. Shanghaied upon the sandship Dogwatch, she is forced to cross the Obsidian Sea by Quarrel, an ancient Templar supersoldier. Eventually shipwrecked, Star will have no choice but to place her trust in both thieves and priestesses while coming to terms with the grim reality of her past—and the horror of her unfolding destiny—as the terrible secret her sister had been desperate to protect her from begins to unravel.

Meanwhile, something old and powerful has woken in the desert. A Lotus Blue, deadliest of all the ancient war machines. A warrior with plans of its own, far more significant than a fallen Angel. Plans that do not include the survival of humanity.

About Cat

Cat Sparks is a multi-award-winning Australian author, editor and artist whose former employment has included: media monitor, political and archaeological photographer, graphic designer, Fiction Editor of Cosmos Magazine and Manager of Agog! Press. She’s currently finishing a PhD in climate change fiction. Her short story collection The Bride Price was published in 2013. Her debut novel, Lotus Blue, will be published by Skyhorse in March, 2017.







Website  ~  Facebook  ~  Twitter @catsparx

Each month you will be able to vote for your favorite cover from that month's debut novels. At the end of the year the 12 monthly winners will be pitted against each other to choose the 2017 Debut Novel Cover of the Year. Please note that a debut novel cover is eligible in the month in which the novel is published in the US. Cover artist/illustrator information is provided when we have it.

I'm using PollCode for this vote. After you the check the circle next to your favorite, click "Vote" to record your vote. If you'd like to see the real-time results click "View". This will take you to the PollCode site where you may see the results. If you want to come back to The Qwillery click "Back" and you will return to this page. Voting will end sometime on March 31, 2017.

Vote for your favorite March 2017 Debut Cover!

The Beachhead

Before This Is Over

The Case of the Green-Dressed Ghost

Eggshells

Himself

The Hour of Daydreams

Hunger Makes the Wolf

The Impossible Fairy Tale

Lotus Blue

The Lucky Ones

The Mermaid's Daughter

The Return

The Roanoke Girls

Sonora

Space Tripping

Spaceman of Bohemia

Taduno's Song

The Vine That Ate the South

 

pollcode.com free polls

Happy 1st Monday in March. Only 14 days until Spring!


There are 10 Debuts this week:

Taduno's Song by Odafe Atogun;

The Case of the Green-Dressed Ghost (Dr Ribero's Agency of the Supernatural 1) by Lucy Banks;

The Mermaid's Daughter by Ann Claycomb;

Space Tripping by Patrick Edwards;

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel;

Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar;

The Lucky Ones by Julianne Pachico;

Lotus Blue by Cat Sparks;

Hunger Makes the Wolf by Alex Wells;

and

The Impossible Fairy Tale by Han Yujoo.




From formerly featured DAC Authors:

iD (Machine Dynasty 2) by Madeline Ashby is out in Mass Market Paperback;

The Devil's Bible (Bohemian Gospel 2) by Dana Chamblee Carpenter;

Saint's Blood (The Greatcoats 3) by Sebastien de Castell is out in Trade Paperback;

Standard Hollywood Depravity (A Ray Electromatic Mystery) by Adam Christopher;

Archangel (Spectre War 2) by Margaret Fortune;

Smells Like Finn Spirit (The Familia Arcana 3) by Randy Henderson;

The Holver Alley Crew (Streets of Maradaine 1) by Marshall Ryan Maresca

Sins of Empire (Gods of Blood and Powder 1) by Brian McClellan;

The Malice (The Vagrant Trilogy 2) by Peter Newman;

Three Queens in Erin (Something Red 4) by Douglas Nicholas;

Seven Surrenders (Terra Ignota 2) by Ada Palmer;

The Song Rising (The Bone Season 3) by Samantha Shannon;

and

The Last Days of Magic by Mark Tompkins is out in Trade Paperback.

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

March 6, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Nuala: A Fable	Kimmy Beach	LF/MR/FairyT/FolkT/LM

March 7, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
iD (tp2mm)	Madeline Ashby	SF - Machine Dynasty 2
Taduno's Song (D)	Odafe Atogun	LF/Hist/CulH
Little Green Men--Attack!	Robin Wayne Bailey (ed) Bryan Thomas Schmidt (ed)	SF
The Case of the Green-Dressed Ghost (D)	Lucy Banks	UF - Dr Ribero's Agency of the Supernatural 1
Etched in Bone	Anne Bishop	F/DF - A Novel of the Others 5
Gather Her Round	Alex Bledsoe	CF/FairyT/FolkT/LM - Tufa Novels 5
Silence Fallen	Patricia Briggs	UF - A Mercy Thompson Novel 10
Hekla's Children	James Brogden	H
Witchy Eye	D.J. Butler	F
The Devil's Bible	Dana Chamblee Carpenter	Th - Bohemian Gospel 2
Saint's Blood (h2tp)	Sebastien de Castell	HistF - The Greatcoats 3
The Erstwhile	Brian Catling	F/Hist/LF - Vorrh 2
Standard Hollywood Depravity	Adam Christopher	SF/Noir/M - A Ray Electromatic Mystery
The Mermaid's Daughter (D)	Ann Claycomb	CW
Space Tripping (D)	Patrick Edwards	F/HU/SF/SO
The Roanoke Girls (D - Adult)	Amy Engel	Sus/Th/Psy/CW
The Night Ocean	Paul La Farge	LF/Hist/M
Archangel	Margaret Fortune	SF/SO - Spectre War 2
Souljacker	Yasmine Galenorn	PNR/UF/P - Lily Bound 1
The Unforgettable Wolf	Jane Godman	PNR
Firestorm	Donna Grant	PNR - Dark Kings 10
Firestorm: Volume 4: A Dragon Romance (e)	Donna Grant	PNR - Dark Kings
Eleanor	Jason Gurley	F/LF/VisMeta
Smells Like Finn Spirit	Randy Henderson	F/HU/UF - The Familia Arcana 3
Rescued by the Wolf	Kristal Hollis	PNR
Sanctuary Cove	Kate James	PNR
Spaceman of Bohemia (D)	Jaroslav Kalfar	LF
Delusion's Master	Tanith Lee	DF/Dys - Flat Earth 3
The Progeny (h2tp)	Tosca Lee	Sus - Descendants of the House of Bathory 1
Rosemary's Baby (50th Anniversary Edition)	Ira Levin	Sus/Sup/H
The Holver Alley Crew	Marshall Ryan Maresca	UF/M - Streets of Maradaine 1
Hisses and Honey	Shannon Mayer	UF - The Venom Trilogy 3
Sins of Empire	Brian McClellan	F - Gods of Blood and Powder 1
Magic For Nothing	Seanan McGuire	UF - InCryptid 6
Forges of Mars Omnibus	Graham McNeill	SF - Forges of Mars
The Malice	Peter Newman	DF  - The Vagrant Trilogy 2
Three Queens in Erin	Douglas Nicholas	HistF - Something Red 4
Cursed Command	Christopher Nuttall	SF - Angel in the Whirlwind 3
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours (h2tp)	Helen Oyeyemi	MR/FairyT/FolkT/LM
The Lucky Ones (D)	Julianne Pachico	MR/LF/CulH
Seven Surrenders	Ada Palmer	SF - Terra Ignota 2
The Lovecraft Squad	John Llewellyn Probert	H - All Hallows Horror Trilogy 1
The Song Rising	Samantha Shannon	F - The Bone Season 3
Lotus Blue (D)	Cat Sparks	SF/AP/PA
How to Tame a Beast in Seven Days	Kerrelyn Sparks	FR - The Embraced 1
Challenges of the Deeps	Ryk E. Spoor	SF - Grand Central Arena 3
Warbeast	Gav Thorpe	F - The Realmgate Wars 6
The Last Days of Magic (h2tp)	Mark Tompkins	HistF/Hist/Occ/Sup
Her True Match	Paige Tyler	PRS - X-Ops 6
Deathwatch: Ignition	Various	SF - Deathwatch
Above His Proper Station	Lawrence Watt-Evans	F - The Fall of the Sorcerers 2
Hunger Makes the Wolf (D)	Alex Wells	SF/SO
The Impossible Fairy Tale (D)	Han Yujoo	LF

March 8, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Come See the Living Dryad: A Tor.com Original (e)	Theodora Goss	F
Pressed to Death	Kirsten Weiss	PM - A Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum Mystery 2

March 10, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Behold the Void	Philip Fracassi	H

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



AB - Absurdist
AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternate History
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CulH - Cultural Heritage
CW - Contemporary Women
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FL - Family Life
FolkT - Folk Tales
FR - Fantasy Romance
GH - Ghosts
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HU - Humor
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legends and Mythology
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PM - Paranormal Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PopCul - Popular Culture
PRS - Paranormal Romantic Suspense
Psy - Psychological
PsyTh - Psychological Thriller
SF - Science Fiction
SO - Space Opera
Sup - Supernatural
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy
VisMeta - Visionary and Metaphysical

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

Hannah Lillith Assadi

Sonora
Soho Press, March 28, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 208 pages
     Coming Of Age, Magical Realism, Literary Fiction

Ahlam, the daughter of a Palestinian refugee and his Israeli wife, grows up in the arid lands of desert suburbia outside of Phoenix. In a stark landscape where coyotes prowl and mysterious lights occasionally pass through the nighttime sky, Ahlam’s imagination reigns. She battles chronic fever dreams and isolation. When she meets her tempestuous counterpart Laura, the two fall into infatuated partnership, experimenting with drugs and sex, and watching helplessly as a series of mysterious deaths claim high school classmates.

The girls flee their pasts for New York City, but as their emotional bond heightens, the intensity of their lives becomes unbearable. In search of love, ecstasy, oblivion, and belonging, Ahlam and Laura’s drive to outrun the ghosts of home threatens to undo them altogether.

Odafe Atogun

Taduno's Song
Pantheon, March 7, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 240 pages
     Literary, Historical, Cultural Heritage

HERE IS THE STUNNING DEBUT from a fresh Nigerian literary voice: a mesmerizing, deceptively simple, Kafkaesque narrative, resonant of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and lightly informed by the life of Nigerian musical superstar Fela Kuti—powerful story of love, sacrifice and courage.

The day a stained brown envelope is delivered from Taduno’s homeland, he knows that the time has come to return from exile. Arriving full of hope, the musician discovers that his people no longer recognize him, and no one recalls his voice. His girlfriend, Lela, has disappeared, abducted by government agents. Taduno wanders through his house in search of clues, but all traces of his old life have been erased. As he becomes aware that all that is left of himself is an emptiness, Taduno finds new purpose: to unravel the mystery of his lost life and to find his lost love. But soon he must face a difficult decision: to fight the power or save his woman, to sing for love or for his people.

Lucy Banks

The Case of the Green-Dressed Ghost
Dr Ribero's Agency of the Supernatural 1
Amberjack Publishing, March 7, 2017
     Urban Fantasy, Ghosts, Supernatural, Occult

Kester Lanner didn’t know what to expect when he followed his mother’s dying request to contact the mysterious Dr. Ribero, but he wasn’t expecting to find his long lost father. Nor was he expecting to join the family business: catching supernatural spirits.

Kester is intrigued despite his fear, and finds himself drawn into an ancient ghost story that will test the entire agency.He soon becomes enmeshed in a struggle with the spirit, who is so malevolent and haunting that his first real case might just be his last.

Ann Claycomb

The Mermaid's Daughter
William Morrow Paperbacks, March 7, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 448 pages
     Contemporary Women

A modern-day expansion of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, this unforgettable debut novel weaves a spellbinding tale of magic and the power of love as a descendent of the original mermaid fights the terrible price of saving herself from a curse that has affected generations of women in her family.

Kathleen has always been dramatic. She suffers from the bizarre malady of experiencing stabbing pain in her feet. On her sixteenth birthday, she woke screaming from the sensation that her tongue had been cut out. No doctor can find a medical explanation for her pain, and even the most powerful drugs have proven useless. Only the touch of seawater can ease her pain, and just temporarily at that.

Now Kathleen is a twenty-five-year-old opera student in Boston and shows immense promise as a soprano. Her girlfriend Harry, a mezzo in the same program, worries endlessly about Kathleen's phantom pain and obsession with the sea. Kathleen's mother and grandmother both committed suicide as young women, and Harry worries they suffered from the same symptoms. When Kathleen suffers yet another dangerous breakdown, Harry convinces Kathleen to visit her hometown in Ireland to learn more about her family history.

In Ireland, they discover that the mystery—and the tragedy—of Kathleen’s family history is far older and stranger than they could have imagined. Kathleen’s fate seems sealed, and the only way out is a terrible choice between a mermaid’s two sirens—the sea, and her lover. But both choices mean death…

Haunting and lyrical, The Mermaid’s Daughter asks—how far we will go for those we love? And can the transformative power of music overcome a magic that has prevailed for generations?

Patrick Edwards

Space Tripping
Inkshares, March 7, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 265 pages
     Fantasy, Humorous

Chuck never gave much thought to whether aliens actually exist. Then an intergalactic transport pilot named Jopp drunkenly crashed into his life. Now Chuck finds himself roped into helping Jopp work off a debt to the universe’s most powerful corporation. Things are not as they seem, however, as the duo unwittingly finds themselves in possession of a mysterious black case. In order to survive long enough to enjoy their next drink, they have to navigate murderous marauders, an interplanetary police force, a peculiar crime boss, and greedy executives. Along the way, they’ll find allies in an alien redneck, a well-meaning scientist, and a hard-nosed intergalactic detective. It’s a big and scary universe out there, and Chuck and Jopp will be damned if they’re going to face it while sober.

Amy Engel

The Roanoke Girls
Crown, March 7, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 288 pages
     Suspense, Thrillers, Psychological, Contemporary Women
     (Adult Debut)

“Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die.”

After her mother’s suicide, fifteen year-old Lane Roanoke came to live with her grandparents and fireball cousin, Allegra, on their vast estate in rural Kansas. Lane knew little of her mother’s mysterious family, but she quickly embraced life as one of the rich and beautiful Roanoke girls. But when she discovered the dark truth at the heart of the family, she ran…fast and far away.

Eleven years later, Lane is adrift in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls to tell her Allegra has gone missing. Did she run too? Or something worse? Unable to resist his pleas, Lane returns to help search, and to ease her guilt at having left Allegra behind. Her homecoming may mean a second chance with the boyfriend whose heart she broke that long ago summer. But it also means facing the devastating secret that made her flee, one she may not be strong enough to run from again.

As it weaves between Lane’s first Roanoke summer and her return, The Roanoke Girls shocks and tantalizes, twisting its way through revelation after mesmerizing revelation, exploring the secrets families keep and the fierce and terrible love that both binds them together and rips them apart.

Joseph Helmreich

The Return
Thomas Dunne Books, March 14, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 256 pages
     Science Fiction, Thriller

During a live television broadcast on the night of a lunar eclipse, renowned astrophysicist Andrew Leland is suddenly lifted into the sky by a giant spacecraft and taken away for all to see. Six years later, he turns up, wandering in a South American desert, denying ever having been abducted and disappearing from the public eye.

Meanwhile, he inspires legions of cultish devotees, including a young physics graduate student named Shawn Ferris who is obsessed with finding out what really happened to him. When Shawn finally tracks Leland down, he discovers that he’s been on the run for years, continuously hunted by a secret organization that has pursued him across multiple continents, determined to force him into revealing what he knows.

Shawn soon joins Leland on the run. Though Leland is at first reluctant to reveal anything, Shawn will soon learn the truth about his abduction, the real reason for his return, and will find himself caught up in a global conspiracy that puts more than just one planet in danger.

Equal parts science-fiction and globe-hopping thriller, Joseph Helmreich's The Return will appeal to fans of both, and to anyone who has ever wondered... what’s out there?

Amanda Hickie

Before This is Over
Little, Brown and Company, March 28, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 400 pages
     Family Life

In the midst of a devastating epidemic, how far will a desperate mother go to keep her loved ones safe?

There is a deadly virus spreading around the world. At first it is a distant alarm bell in the background of Hannah's comfortable suburban life. Then suddenly, it has arrived on the doorstep.

The virus traps Hannah, her husband, and their young sons in their city, then their neighborhood, and finally their own home. As a formerly idyllic backyard and quiet street become battlefields, fear and compassion collide. But what happens when their water supply is cut, and then the power, and the food supply dwindles?

Chilling and suspenseful, at once deeply personal and terrifying in its implications, BEFORE THIS IS OVER invites us to imagine what a family must do to survive when pushed to the extreme.

Jaroslav Kalfar

Spaceman of Bohemia
Little, Brown and Company, March 7, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 288 pages
     Literary Fiction

An intergalactic odyssey of love, ambition, and self-discovery

Orphaned as a boy, raised in the Czech countryside by his doting grandparents, Jakub Procházka has risen from small-time scientist to become the country's first astronaut. When a dangerous solo mission to Venus offers him both the chance at heroism he's dreamt of, and a way to atone for his father's sins as a Communist informer, he ventures boldly into the vast unknown. But in so doing, he leaves behind his devoted wife, Lenka, whose love, he realizes too late, he has sacrificed on the altar of his ambitions.

Alone in Deep Space, Jakub discovers a possibly imaginary giant alien spider, who becomes his unlikely companion. Over philosophical conversations about the nature of love, life and death, and the deliciousness of bacon, the pair form an intense and emotional bond. Will it be enough to see Jakub through a clash with secret Russian rivals and return him safely to Earth for a second chance with Lenka?

Rich with warmth and suspense and surprise, Spaceman of Bohemia is an exuberant delight from start to finish. Very seldom has a novel this profound taken readers on a journey of such boundless entertainment and sheer fun.

Jess Kidd

Himself
Atria Books, March 14, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 384 pages
     Literary Fiction

“A highly unusual tale set in a highly unusual Irish village full of dark secrets…Lushly imagined, delightfully original, and very, very funny, it hurtles along from the very first page” (M.L. Stedman, author of The Light Between Oceans).

Having been abandoned on the steps of an orphanage as an infant, lovable car thief and Dublin charmer Mahony assumed all his life that his mother had simply given him up. But when he receives an anonymous note suggesting that foul play may have led to his mother’s disappearance, he sees only one option: to return to the rural Irish village where he was born and find out what really happened twenty-six years ago.

From the moment he sets foot in Mulderrig, Mahony’s presence turns the village upside down. His uncannily familiar face and outsider ways cause a stir among the locals, who receive him with a mixture of excitement (the women), curiosity (the men), and suspicion (the pious).

Determined to uncover the truth about what happened to his mother, Mahony solicits the help of brash anarchist and retired theater actress Mrs. Cauley. This improbable duo concocts an ingenious plan to get the town talking about the day Mahony's mother disappeared and are aided and abetted by a cast of eccentric characters, both living and dead.

Himself is a simmering mixture—a blend of the natural everyday and the supernatural, folklore and mystery, and a healthy dose of quintessentially Irish humor. The result is a darkly comic crime story in the tradition of a classic Irish trickster tale, complete with a twisting and turning plot, a small-town rife with secrets, and an infectious love of language and storytelling that is a hallmark of the finest Irish writers.

Caitriona Lally

Eggshells
Melville House, March 14, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 288 pages
     Contemporary Women, Humorous, Literary Fiction

Vivian doesn’t feel like she fits in — and never has. As a child, she was so whimsical that her parents told her she was “left by fairies.” Now, living alone in Dublin, the neighbors treat her like she’s crazy, her older sister condescends to her, social workers seem to have registered her as troubled, and she hasn’t a friend in the world.

So, she decides it’s time to change her life: She begins by advertising for a friend. Not just any friend. She wants one named Penelope.

Meanwhile, she roams the city, mapping out a new neighborhood every day, seeking her escape route to a better world, the other world her parents told her she came from.

And then one day someone named Penelope answers her ad for a friend. And from that moment on, Vivian’s life begins to change.

Debut author Caitriona Lally offers readers an exhilaratingly fresh take on the Irish love for lyricism, humor, and inventive wordplay in a book that is, in itself, deeply charming, and deeply moving.

Christopher Mari

The Beachhead
47North, March 21, 2017
Trade Paperback and Kindle eBook, 332 pages
     Science Fiction, Apocalyptic, Post-Apocalyptic
     (Solo Debut)

After Earth is decimated, the entire remaining human population is marooned on an unfamiliar beach. The enigmatic winged Orangemen leave the survivors with instructions to remake their society, basic tools and weapons, and a few thousand books, including Bibles in many languages. As two generations are born and raised, conflicting theories as to the nature of the apocalypse continue to simmer.

Fifty years later, the arrival of a new family that shouldn’t exist threatens the delicate peace holding humanity together. Two young soldiers, John Giordano and Kendra McQueen, venture into the unexplored wilderness beyond the city walls in search of answers. But their disquieting discoveries only raise more questions, forcing mankind to reconsider what it means to be human.

In this reflective, provocative postapocalyptic novel, John, Kendra, and the remnants of humanity must find the strength to love and the will to forgive—or they will all perish.

Julianne Pachico

The Lucky Ones
Spiegel & Grau, March 7, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 272 pages
     Magical Realism, Literary Fiction, Cultural Heritage

A literary jigsaw puzzle of a debut novel set in Colombia during the peak of its decades-long conflict, and in New York City

While her parents are away, a teenager finds herself home alone, with the household staff mysteriously gone, no phone connection, and news of an insurgency on the radio—and then she hears a knock at the door. Her teacher, who has been kidnapped by guerrillas, recites Shakespeare in the jungle to a class of sticks, leaves, and stones while his captors watch his every move. Another classmate, who has fled Colombia for the clubs of New York, is unable to forget the life she left behind without the help of the little bags of powder she carries with her. Taking place over two decades, The Lucky Ones presents us with a world in which perpetrators are indistinguishable from saviors, the truth is elusive, and loved ones can disappear without a trace.

A prismatic tale of a group of characters who emerge and recede throughout the novel and touch one another’s lives in ways even they cannot comprehend, The Lucky Ones captures the intensity of life in Colombia as paramilitaries, guerrillas, and drug traffickers tear the country apart. Combining vivid descriptions of life under siege with a hallucinatory feel that befits its violent world, The Lucky Ones introduces a truly original and exciting new voice in fiction.

Renee Macalino Rutledge

The Hour of  Daydreams
Forest Avenue Press, March 14, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 232 pages
     Literary Fiction, Small Town & Rural, Asian American, Magical Realism

Manolo Lualhati, a respected doctor in the Philippine countryside, believes his wife hides a secret. Prior to their marriage, he spied her wearing wings and flying to the stars with her sisters each evening. As Tala tries to keep her dangerous past from her new husband, Manolo begins questioning the gaps in her stories—and his suspicions push him even further from the truth. The Hour of Daydreams, a contemporary reimagining of a Filipino folktale, weaves in the perspectives of Tala’s siblings, her new in-laws, and the all-seeing housekeeper while exploring trust, identity, and how myths can take root from the seeds of our most difficult truths.

Cat Sparks

Lotus Blue
Talos, March 7, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 388 pages
     Science Fiction, Apocalyptic, Post-Apocalyptic, Genetic Engineering

Powerful war machines of the far-future collide across a barren desert world in this post-apocalyptic debut novel from award-winning Australian author Cat Sparks.

Seventeen-year-old Star and her sister Nene are orphans, part of a thirteen-wagon caravan of nomadic traders living hard lives travelling the Sand Road. Their route cuts through a particularly dangerous and unforgiving section of the Dead Red Heart, a war-ravaged desert landscape plagued by rogue semi-sentient machinery and other monsters from a bygone age.

But when the caravan witnesses a relic-Angel satellite unexpectedly crash to Earth, a chain of events begins that sends Star on a journey far away from the life she once knew. Shanghaied upon the sandship Dogwatch, she is forced to cross the Obsidian Sea by Quarrel, an ancient Templar supersoldier. Eventually shipwrecked, Star will have no choice but to place her trust in both thieves and priestesses while coming to terms with the grim reality of her past—and the horror of her unfolding destiny—as the terrible secret her sister had been desperate to protect her from begins to unravel.

Meanwhile, something old and powerful has woken in the desert. A Lotus Blue, deadliest of all the ancient war machines. A warrior with plans of its own, far more significant than a fallen Angel. Plans that do not include the survival of humanity.

Alex Wells

Hunger Makes the Wolf
Angry Robot, March 7, 2017
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 464 pages
     Science Fiction, Space Opera

The strange planet known as Tanegawa’s World is owned by TransRifts Inc, the company with the absolute monopoly on interstellar travel. Hob landed there ten years ago, a penniless orphan left behind by a rift ship. She was taken in by Nick Ravani and quickly became a member of his mercenary biker troop, the Ghost Wolves.

Ten years later, she discovers that the body of Nick’s brother out in the dunes. Worse, his daughter is missing, taken by shady beings called the Weathermen. But there are greater mysteries to be discovered – both about Hob and the strange planet she calls home.

File Under: Science Fiction [ Road of Fury | Hob’s Angels | Ghost on the Highway | The Weatherman Says ]

J.D. Wilkes

The Vine That Ate the South
Two Dollar Radio, March 14, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 218 pages
     Science Fiction, Absurdist, Magical Realism

With the energy, wit, and singularity of vision that have earned him a reputation as a celebrated and charismatic musician, The Vine That Ate the South announces J.D. Wilkes as an accomplished storyteller on a surreal, Homeric voyage that strikes at the very heart of American mythology.

In a forgotten corner of western Kentucky lies a haunted forest referred to locally as "The Deadening," where vampire cults roam wild and time is immaterial. Our protagonist and his accomplice—the one and only, Carver Canute—set out down the Old Spur Line in search of the legendary Kudzu House, where an old couple is purported to have been swallowed whole by a hungry vine. Their quest leads them face to face with albino panthers, Great Dane-riding girls, protective property owners, and just about every American folk-demon ever, while forcing the protagonist to finally take stock of his relationship with his father and the man's mysterious disappearance.

The Vine That Ate the South is a mesmerizing fantasia where Wilkes ambitiously grapples with the contradictions of the contemporary American South while subversively considering how well we know our own family and friends.

Han Yujoo

The Impossible Fairy Tale
Graywolf Press, March 7, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 192 pages
Translated from the Korean by Janet Hong
     Literary Fiction

A chilling, wildly original novel from a major new voice from South Korea

The Impossible Fairy Tale is the story of two unexceptional grade-school girls. Mia is “lucky”—she is spoiled by her mother and, as she explains, her two fathers. She gloats over her exotic imported colored pencils and won’t be denied a coveted sweater. Then there is the Child who, by contrast, is neither lucky nor unlucky. She makes so little impression that she seems not even to merit a name.

At school, their fellow students, whether lucky or luckless or unlucky, seem consumed by an almost murderous rage. Adults are nearly invisible, and the society the children create on their own is marked by cruelty and soul-crushing hierarchies. Then, one day, the Child sneaks into the classroom after hours and adds ominous sentences to her classmates’ notebooks. This sinister but initially inconsequential act unlocks a series of events that end in horrible violence.

But that is not the end of this eerie, unpredictable novel. A teacher, who is also this book’s author, wakes from an intense dream. When she arrives at her next class, she recognizes a student: the Child, who knows about the events of the novel’s first half, which took place years before. The Impossible Fairy Tale is a fresh and terrifying exploration of the ethics of art making and of the stinging consequences of neglect.

Cat Sparks

Lotus Blue
Talos, March 7, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 388 pages
     Science Fiction, Apocalyptic, Post-Apocalyptic, Genetic Engineering

Powerful war machines of the far-future collide across a barren desert world in this post-apocalyptic debut novel from award-winning Australian author Cat Sparks.

Seventeen-year-old Star and her sister Nene are orphans, part of a thirteen-wagon caravan of nomadic traders living hard lives travelling the Sand Road. Their route cuts through a particularly dangerous and unforgiving section of the Dead Red Heart, a war-ravaged desert landscape plagued by rogue semi-sentient machinery and other monsters from a bygone age.

But when the caravan witnesses a relic-Angel satellite unexpectedly crash to Earth, a chain of events begins that sends Star on a journey far away from the life she once knew. Shanghaied upon the sandship Dogwatch, she is forced to cross the Obsidian Sea by Quarrel, an ancient Templar supersoldier. Eventually shipwrecked, Star will have no choice but to place her trust in both thieves and priestesses while coming to terms with the grim reality of her past—and the horror of her unfolding destiny—as the terrible secret her sister had been desperate to protect her from begins to unravel.

Meanwhile, something old and powerful has woken in the desert. A Lotus Blue, deadliest of all the ancient war machines. A warrior with plans of its own, far more significant than a fallen Angel. Plans that do not include the survival of humanity.