The Qwillery

Happy penultimate Monday in May! There are 3 debuts this week and we will have interview with each of these debut authors! Reset by Sarina Dahlan; The Lights of Prague by Nicole Jarvis; and Anna by Sammy H.K. Smith.

From formerly featured DAC Authors: The Unwilling by Kelly Braffet is out in Trade Paperback; The Blacktongue Thief (Blacktongue 1) by Christopher Buehlman; Revelations (Netherspace 3) by Nigel Foster; Dawnrise (Chaos Queen 5) by Christopher Husberg; A Murder in Time (A Kendra Donovan Mystery 1) by Julie McElwain is out in Mass Market Paperback; See Something (A Witch City Mystery 11) by Carol J. Perry; and A Chain Across the Dawn (The Universe After 2) by Drew Williams is out in Mass Market Paperback.

Debut novels are highlighted in blue. Novels, etc. by formerly featured DAC Authors are highlighted in green. May 25, 2021

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
MEG: Generations (tp2mm)	Steve Alten	SupTh/SF - Meg 6
From Blood and Ash	Jennifer L. Armentrout	FR/PNR - Blood and Ash 1
The Damnation Game (ri)	Clive Barker	H/SupTh/Sus
Power Challenges	Ben Bova	Power 5
The Unwilling (h2tp)	Kelly Braffet	F/HistF
The Uplift War (e)(ri)	David Brin	SF - Uplift Saga 3
Heaven's Reach (e)(ri)	David Brin	SF - Uplift Saga 6
Infinity's Shore (e)(ri)	David Brin	SF - Uplift Saga 5
Brightness Reef (e)(ri)	David Brin	SF - Uplift Saga 4
Startide Rising (e)(ri)	David Brin	SF - Uplift Saga 2
The Uplift Storm Trilogy: Brightness Reef, Infinity's Shore, Heaven's Reach (e)(ri)	David Brin	SF - The Uplift Saga
The Last Druid (h2mm)	Terry Brooks	F - Fall of Shannara 4
The Blacktongue Thief	Christopher Buehlman	F/H/HU - Blacktongue 1
Scorpion	Christian Cantrell	SF/TT/TechTh
Reset (D)	Sarina Dahlan	SF
New Welsh Reader 126: Speculative Fiction from Wales (e)	Jo Dahn Gee Williams	SpecFic - Anthology
Chance of a Lifetime	Jude Deveraux Tara Sheets	Women/TT/MR/HistR - Providence Falls 1
The Apocalypse Seven	Gene Doucette	SF/AP/PA
Claws on the Plain	James Dunbar	F - Kings of War
How to Mars	David Ebenbach	SF/AC/MHU
Revelations	Nigel Foster	SF/AC/SO - Netherspace 3
1636: The Atlantic Encounter (h2mm)	Eric Flint Walter H. Hunt	SF/TT - Ring of Fire 25
Richards & Klein	Guy Haley	SF/CyP/PI
Honeycomb	Joanne M. Harris	DF
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires (h2tp)	Grady Hendrix	H/SupTh/Southern
Chaos Queen - Dawnrise	Christopher Husberg	DF/F - Chaos Queen 5
The Lights of Prague (D)	Nicole Jarvis	F/Gaslamp/HistF/FR
The Promised Queen	Jeffe Kennedy	FR - Forgotten Empires 3
On the Origin of Species and Other Stories	Bo-Young Kim Sora Kim-Russell (Tr)	SF - Collection
The House of Styx	Derek Künsken	SF - Venus Ascendant 1
Déjà Doomed	Edward M. Lerner	SF/HSF/AC
A Murder in Time (ri)	Julie McElwain	Women/HistM - Kendra Donovan Mystery 1
Shakespeare for Squirrels (h2tp)	Christopher Moore	F/HU
Witness X	SE Moorhead	SF/Cr
The Legacy of Heorot	Larry Niven Jerry Pournelle Steven Barnes	SF - Heorot Series 1
See Something	Carol J. Perry	PCM - A Witch City Mystery 11
The Lost Future of Pepperharrow (h2tp)	Natasha Pulley	HistF/Gay/MR/Hist
The Kingdoms	Natasha Pulley	F/AH/HistF/MR
Burn-In (h2tp)	P. W. Singer August Cole	TechTh - A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution
Anna (D)	Sammy H.K. Smith	Women/Dys
Battle Luna (h2tp)	Travis S. Taylor Timothy Zahn et al.
The Chalk Man (ri)	C. J. Tudor	PsyTh/Sus/H
Hard Reboot	Django Wexler	SF/SE
A Chain Across the Dawn (ri)	Drew Williams	SF/SO/HU - The Universe After 2
Version Zero	David Yoon	TechTh/Sus/SF

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
BHU - Black Humor
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CM - Crime & Mystery
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)
GothicR - Gothic Romance
GW&CC - Global Warming and Climate Change
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HistM - Historical Mystery
HistR - Historical Romance
HistTh - Historical Thriller
HSF - Hard Science Fiction
HU - Humorous
LC - Literary Criticism
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legend and Mythology
M - Mystery
Med - Medical
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
MU - Mash-Up
NF - Near Future
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PCM - Paranormal Cozy Mystery
PF - Paranormal Fantasy
PNR - Paranormal Romance
Pol - Political
PolTh - Political Thriller
PopCul - Popular Culture
PP - Police Porcedural
Psy - Psychological
R - Romance
RF - Romantic Fantasy
ScF - Science Fantasy
SE - Space Exploration
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SFTh - Science Fiction Thriller
SH - Superheroes
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
SpecFic - Speculative Fiction
SS - Short Stories
STR - Small Town and Rural
Sup - Supernatural
SupM - Supernatural Mystery
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
TTR - Time Travel Romance
UF - Urban Fantasy
VM - Visionary and Metaphysical
WS - Women Sleuths

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

Happy Monday!

There are 3 debuts this week:

All City by Alex DiFrancesco;

The Record Keeper by Agnes Gomillion;


and

The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull.




From formerly featured DAC Authors:

Men In Black International: The Official Movie Novelization by R.S. Belcher;

Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone;

Chaos Queen - Fear the Stars (Chaos Queen 4) by Christopher Husberg;

The Poison Thread by Laura Purcell;

and

Coil by Ren Warom.

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

June 18, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Men In Black International: The Official Movie Novelization	R. S. Belcher	SF/HU/MTI
Mystic Dragon (h2tp)	Jason Denzel	F - Mystic Trilogy 2
All City (D)	Alex DiFrancesco	SF/AP/PA
The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with Her Mind	Jackson Ford	SF/GenEng/CyP
Hangman's Gate	R.S. Ford	F - War of the Archons 2
Empress of Forever	Max Gladstone	SF/SO
The Record Keeper (D)	Agnes Gomillion	Dys/SF
Homer's Daughter	Robert Graves	FairyT/FolkT/LM/LF
The Porpoise	Mark Haddon	LF/Hist/MR
The Affair of the Mysterious Letter	Alexis Hall	HistF/DF/M
The Girl in Red	Christina Henry	SF/AP/PA/FairyT/FolkT/LM/F
The Final Days of Magic	J. D. Horn	UF/P/Occ/Sup - Witches of New Orleans 3
The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2019 Edition	Rich Horton (Ed)	SF/F - Anthology
Chaos Queen - Fear the Stars	Christopher Husberg	DF/F - Chaos Queen 4
Kingdoms of the Cursed	Greg Keyes	F - High and Faraway 2
FKA USA	Reed King	SF/Dys/Satire
The Brink	James S. Murray Darren Wearmouth	SupTh - Awakened 2
Broken Places & Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the Unexpected	Nnedi Okorafor	Memoir - TED Books
The Poison Thread	Laura Purcell	HistF/Gothic/GH
The Sisters of the Winter Wood (h2tp)	Rena Rossner	HistF/FairyT/FolkT/LM
All the Names They Used for God: Stories (h2tp)	Anjali Sachdeva	MR/SS/LF - Collection
The Crimson Shadow: The Complete Series (e)	R. A. Salvatore	F - The Crimson Shadow
The Sword of Bedwyr (ri)	R. A. Salvatore	F - Crimson Shadow 1
Stealing Worlds	Karl Schroeder	SF/HSF
Silver in the Wood	Emily Tesh	Gaslamp/FR
The Lesson (D)	Cadwell Turnbull	SF
Coil (e)	Ren Warom	SF/Noir
War	Michelle West	F - House War 8

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



AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternative History
AP - Apocalyptic
BH - Black Humor
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
Cr - Crime
CW - Contemporary Women
CyP - CyberPunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FolkT - Folk Tales
FR - Fantasy Romance
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GH - Ghost(s)
H - Horror
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HSF - Hard Science Fiction
HU - Humorous
LC - Literary Criticism
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legend and Mythology
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PCM - Paranormal Cozy Mystery
PerfArts - Performing Arts
PM - Paranormal Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PolTh - Political Thriller
PopCul - Popular Culture
PsyTh - Psychological Thriller
SE - Space Exploration
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SO - Space Opera
SocSci - Social Science
SS - Short Stories
Sup - Supernatural
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
UF - Urban Fantasy

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

Christopher Brown (2017)

Rule of Capture
Harper Voyager, August 13, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 336 pages

Better Call Saul meets Nineteen Eighty-Four in this first volume in an explosive legal thriller series set in the world of Tropic of Kansas—a finalist for the 2018 Campbell Award for best science fiction novel of the year.

Defeated in a devastating war with China, America is on the brink of a bloody civil war. Seizing power after a controversial election, the ruling regime has begun cracking down on dissidents fighting the nation’s slide toward dictatorship. For Donny Kimoe, chaos is good for business. He’s a lawyer who makes his living defending enemies of the state.

His newest client, young filmmaker Xelina Rocafuerte, witnessed the murder of an opposition leader and is now accused of terrorism. To save her from the only sentence worse than death, Donny has to extract justice from a system that has abandoned the rule of law. That means breaking the rules—and risking the same fate as his clients.

When Donny bungles Xelina’s initial hearing, he has only days to save the young woman from being transferred to a detention camp from which no one returns. His only chance of winning is to find the truth—a search that begins with the opposition leader’s death and leads to a dark conspiracy reaching the highest echelons of power.

Now, Donny isn’t just fighting for his client’s life—he’s battling for his own. But as the trial in the top secret court begins, Xelina’s friends set into motion a revolutionary response that could destroy the case. And when another case unexpectedly collides with Xelina’s, Donny uncovers even more devastating secrets, knowledge that will force him to choose between saving one client . . . or the future of the entire country.

Sebastien de Castell (2014)

Queenslayer
Spellslinger 5
Orbit, May 21, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

A failed mage learns that just because he’s not the chosen one it doesn’t mean he can’t be a hero in the fifth book of an adventure fantasy series from Sebastien de Castell.

Kellen Argos is an outlaw spellslinger with a bad reputation, a long list of enemies, and zero luck. When he accidently smears blood on the Daroman flag, he’s dragged before the queen to be executed for his act of treason.

Face-to-face with the young monarch, Kellen is offered a chance to save himself. If he can defeat the queen at a game of cards, he’ll walk free…if not, his life is forfeit. But what begins as a game reveals a conspiracy against the queen’s life. And now, Kellen is not only playing for his own freedom, but also for the future of an empire.

Spellslinger Series
Spellslinger
Shadowblack
Charmcaster
Soulbinder
Queenslayer

For more from Sebastien de Castell, check out:

The Greatcoats Quartet
Traitor’s Blade
Saint’s Blood
Knight’s Shadow
Tyrant’s Throne

Spellslinger 1	Spellslinger 2
Spellslinger 3	Spellslinger 4

Christopher Husberg (2016)

Fear the Stars
Chaos Queen Quintet 4
Titan Books, June 4, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

The fourth book in the epic Chaos Queen series. "Perfect for fans of Daniel Abraham and Brandon Sanderson." (Library Journal on Duskfall)

All parties converge on the capital city, Triah - Cinzia and the Odenites to establish their new religion and appeal against a charge of heresy; Knot and Astrid to find answers in the vampire girl's past; and Winter has come to conquer the city, at the head of a tiellan army. But Winter is still struggling with her addictions and anger; Knot's efforts to be reunited with her can only lead to disappointment. Cinzia cannot free herself from a terrible bargain. And as the battle lines are drawn, the true nature of the goddess Canta, and the Odenites' final purpose, will soon be revealed...

Chaos Queen 1

Chaos Queen 2

Chaos Queen 3

Happy 1st Monday in June!

There are 6 debuts this week:

Treeborne by Caleb Johnson;

The Traitor God by Cameron Johnston;

The Hawkman: A Fairy Tale of the Great War by Jane Rosenberg LaForge;

Free Chocolate (The Chocoverse 1) by Amber Royer;

The Book of M by Pend Shepherd;

and

A People's History of the Vampire Uprising by Raymond A. Villareal.





From formerly featured DAC Authors:

Adrift by Rob Boffard;

The Visitors by Catherine Burns is out in Trade Paperback;

Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music, and the Decade Sci-Fi Exploded by Jason Heller;

An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard is out in Trade Paperback;

Chaos Queen - Blood Requiem (Chaos Queen 3) by Christopher Husberg;

Refugees (Born to the Blade Season 1, Episode 8) by Malka Older;

Outbreak (Nightshades 3) by Melissa F. Olson;

After On: A Novel of Silicon Valley by Rob Reid is out in Trade Paperback;

and

The Legion of Flame (The Draconis Memoria 2) by Anthony Ryan is out in Trade Paperback.

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

June 4, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
In Darkness Transformed (e)	Alexis Morgan	PNR - Paladin Strike Team 1

June 5, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Year's Best Military and Adventure SF, Volume 4	David Afsharirad (Ed)	SF - Year's Best Military & Adventure Science 4
Devil's Due (h2mm)	Taylor Anderson	SF/AH - Destroyermen 12
The Wisdom of Madness	C.J. Archer	HistF - Ministry Of Curiosities 10
Adrift	Rob Boffard	SF
Brothers in Arms (ri)	Lois McMaster Bujold	SF/SO - Vorkosigan Saga 9
The Visitors (h2tp)	Catherine Burns	PsyTh
Brief Cases	Jim Butcher	UF - Dresden Files Collection
Grantville Gazette VIII	Eric Flint (Ed) Walt Boyes (Ed)	SF/TT - The Ring of Fire 8
Denver Moon: The Minds of Mars	Warren Hammond Joshua Viola	SF/CyP - Denver Moon
Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music, and the Decade Sci-Fi Exploded	Jason Heller	SocSci/PopCul/LC/SF/F
An Unkindness of Magicians (h2tp)	Kat Howard	DF
A Peace Divided (h2tp)	Tanya Huff	SF/AC - Peacekeeper 2
Chaos Queen - Blood Requiem	Christopher Husberg	F/DF - Chaos Queen 3
Treeborne (D)	Caleb Johnson	LF/FL
The Traitor God (D)	Cameron Johnston	F/DF/UF
The Mist (ri)	Stephen King	Th
Carrie (ri)	Stephen King	H
The Hills Have Spies	Mercedes Lackey	F/FR - Valdemar: Family Spies 1
The Hawkman: A Fairy Tale of the Great War (D)	Jane Rosenberg LaForge	FairyT/FolkT/LM/MR/LF
A Panicked Premonition (h2mm)	Victoria Laurie	PM/Occ/Sup - Psychic Eye Mystery 15
Companions on the Road (ri)	Tanith Lee	F
Sparrow Hill Road (ri)	Seanan McGuire	P/UF/CF - Ghost Roads 1
Outbreak	Melissa F. Olson	P/UF - Nightshades 3
Expiration Date	Tim Powers	CF
After On: A Novel of Silicon Valley (h2tp)	Rob Reid	Satire/TechTh/SF/HU
2312 (h2mm)	Kim Stanley Robinson	SF/SO/Dys
Aurora (ri)	Kim Stanley Robinson	SF/SO/HSF
Plum Rains	Andromeda Romano-Lax	SF/AP/PA/Hist/Med
Free Chocolate (D)	Amber Royer	SF/SO - The Chocoverse 1
The Golden House (h2tp)	Salman Rushdie	LF/Satire/Political
The Legion of Flame (h2tp)	Anthony Ryan	F/DF - The Draconis Memoria 2
Koko Uncaged	Kieran Shea	SF
The Book of M (D)	Peng Shepherd	LF/NF
The Sea Peoples (h2mm)	S. M. Stirling	SF/AP/PA/AH/F - A Novel of the Change 14
The Delirium Brief (h2tp)	Charles Stross	CF/DF - Laundry Files 8
The Shimmer	Carsten Stroud	Th/SupTh/PsyTh
Star Trek: Discovery: Fear Itself	James Swallow	SF - Star Trek: Discovery 3
Her Beautiful Monster (h2tp)	Adi Tantimedh	M - Ravi PI 2
Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers (e)	Sarena Ulibarri (Ed)	SF/HSF/Tech - Anthology
A People's History of the Vampire Uprising (D)	Raymond A. Villareal	CulH/H/Pol/SupTh
Finding the Texas Wolf	Karen Whiddon	PNR
The Maw	Taylor Zajonc	Sus/SF

June 6, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Meat And Salt And Sparks: A Tor.com Original (e)	Rich Larson	SF/M
Refugees (e)	Malka Older	F - Born to the Blade Season 1, Episode 8

June 7, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Ghost Stories (ri)	M. R. James	GH - The Penguin English Library
At the Mountains of Madness (ri)	H. P. Lovecraft	SF - The Penguin English Library
The Last Children of Tokyo	Yoko Tawada	Dys/LF

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



AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternate History
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
Cr - Crime
CulH - Cultural Heritage
CW - Contemporary Woman
CyP - Cyberpunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
Fict - Fiction
FL - Family Life
FolkT - Folk Tales
FR - Fantasy Romance
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GH - Ghost(s)
Gothic - Gothic
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HSF - Hard Science Fiction
HU - Humor
LC - Literary Criticism
LegalTh - Legal Thriller
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legend and Mythology
M - Mystery
Med - Medical
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
MU - Mash Up
NF - Near Future
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PI - Private Investigator
PM - Paranormal Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
Pol - Political
PopCul - Popular Culture
Psy Th - Psychological Thriller
Rel - Religious
SF - Science Fiction
SH - Superheroes
SocSci - Social Science
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
Sup - Supernatural
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
Tech - Technological
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
TTR - Time Travel Romance
UF - Urban Fantasy
VisM - Visionary and Metaphysical
W - Western

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

Melissa Caruso (2017)

The Defiant Heir
Swords and Fire 2
Orbit, April 28, 2018
Trade Paperback and eBook, 480 pages

Across the border, the Witch Lords of Vaskandar are preparing for war. But before an invasion can begin, they must call a rare gathering of all seventeen lords to decide a course of action.

Lady Amalia Cornaro knows that this Conclave might be her only chance to smother the growing flames of war, and she is ready to make any sacrifice if it means saving Raverra from destruction.

Amalia and Zaira must go behind enemy lines, using every ounce of wit and cunning they have, to sway Vaskandar from war. Or else it will all come down to swords and fire.

“Charming, intelligent, fast-moving, beautifully atmospheric. I couldn’t put it down.” – Genevieve Cogman, author of The Invisible Library

“The best kind of fantasy.” – Rosalyn Eves, author of Blood Rose Rebellion

The Defiant Heir is the second novel in a spellbinding new fantasy series.

Swords and Fire
The Tethered Mage
The Defiant Heir

Swords and Fire 1

Christopher Husberg (2016)

Chaos Queen - Blood Requiem
Chaos Queen 3
Titan Books, June 5, 2018
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

When a series of dark rituals devastate the fledgeling Church of Canta, Jane and Cinzia realize they have ignored the movements in the shadows for too long. Daemons lurk at the edge of the world, and they are done knocking. With Knot at her side, Cinzia deals with dark beings to fight the greater evil. Meanwhile, Astrid’s attempts to elude the Black Matron backfire, and she faces that which she fears above all things: her own past.

Winter, in hopes of regaining something of her old life, returns to Pranna to find the village nothing like it used to be. She soon finds herself wrapped up in the Druids, a tiellan faction in fierce conflict with the humans. With Urstadt the soldier and Galce the tailor at her side, she must choose how to use her still-growing, all-consuming power--if she can manage to control it at all.

Chaos Queen 1

Chaos Queen 2

Dan Koboldt (2016)

The World Awakening
Gateways to Alissia 3
Harper Voyager Impulse, February 13, 2018
eBook

Quinn Bradley has learned to use the magic of another world. And that world is in danger.

Having decided to betray CASE Global, he can finally reveal his origins to the Enclave and warn them about the company’s imminent invasion. Even if it means alienating Jillaine…and allying with someone he’s always considered his adversary.

But war makes for strange bedfellows, and uniting Alissians against such a powerful enemy will require ancient enmities—as well as more recent antagonisms—to be set aside. The future of their pristine world depends on it.

As Quinn searches for a way to turn the tide, his former CASE Global squad-mates face difficult decisions of their own. For some, it’s a matter of what they’re willing to do to get home. For others, it’s deciding whether they want to go home at all.

Continuing the exciting adventures from The Rogue Retrieval and The Island Deception, The World Awakening is the spellbinding conclusion to the Gateways to Alissia fantasy series from Dan Koboldt.

[description from the Author's website]

Gateways to Alissia 1

Gateways to Alissia 2

Christopher Husberg (2016)

Dark Immolation
Chaos Queen 2
Titan Books, June 20, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

There are rumours in Ashta - a new religion is rising, and Cinzia, one-time Cantic priestess, has escaped the Holy Crucible. Fleeing from Navone, Cinzia travels with Knot, a man of many parts, and Astrid, the child-like vampire. They are gathering followers, but the murderous Nazaniin are still on their trail.

Meanwhile, Winter is losing her grip on sanity, grappling with immense powers beyond her understanding. Where she goes, chaos and death follow.

Beth Lewis (2016)

The Wolf Road
Broadway Books, April 11, 2017
Trade Paperback, 368 pages
Hardcover and eBook, July 5, 2016

ELKA BARELY REMEMBERS a time before she knew Trapper. She was just seven years old, wandering lost and hungry in the wilderness, when the solitary hunter took her in. In the years since then, he’s taught her how to survive in this desolate land where civilization has been destroyed and men are at the mercy of the elements and each other.

But the man Elka thought she knew has been harboring a terrible secret. He’s a killer. A monster. And now that Elka knows the truth, she may be his next victim.

Armed with nothing but her knife and the hard lessons Trapper’s drilled into her, Elka flees into the frozen north in search of her real parents. But judging by the trail of blood dogging her footsteps, she hasn’t left Trapper behind—and he won’t be letting his little girl go without a fight. If she’s going to survive, Elka will have to turn and confront not just him, but the truth about the dark road she’s been set on.

The Wolf Road is an intimate cat-and-mouse tale of revenge and redemption, played out against a vast, unforgiving landscape—told by an indomitable young heroine fighting to escape her past and rejoin humanity.

Bill Schutt and J.R. Finch (2016)

Hell's Gate
An R. J. MacCready Novel 1
William Morrow, February 28, 2017
Mass Market Paperback, 432 pages
Hardcover and eBook, June 7, 2016

“Will haunt you long after you put the book down.” — James Cameron, director/writer/explorer

1944. As war rages across Europe and the Pacific, Army intel makes a shocking discovery: a three-hundred-foot Japanese submarine marooned and empty, deep in the Brazilian interior. A team of Army Rangers sent to investigate has gone missing and the military sends Captain R. J. MacCready to learn why the Japanese are there—and what they’re planning.

Parachuting into a mist-shrouded valley beneath a two thousand foot plateau, Mac is unexpectedly reunited with fellow scientist and friend Bob Thorne, presumed dead for years. Thorne, a botanist, lives with Yanni, an indigenous woman who possesses mysterious, invaluable skills. Their wisdom and expertise will prove lifesaving for Mac as he sets out into the unknown.

Soon, Mac learns of a diabolical Axis plot to destroy the United States and its allies. But there’s an even darker force on the prowl, attacking at night and targeting both man and beast. Mac has to uncover the source of this emerging biological crisis and foil the enemy’s plans . . . but will he be in time to save humanity from itself?

“Terrific.” —Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author of The 14th Colony

The Himalayan Codex
An R. J. MacCready Novel 2
William Morrow, June 6, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 384 pages

In the wake of World War II, zoologist and adventurer Captain R. J. MacCready is sent to the frozen mountain valleys of Tibet to find a creature of legend that may hold the secret to humankind’s evolutionary future—or the key to its extinction—in this explosive follow-up to Hell’s Gate.

It is 1946, and the world is beginning to rebuild from the ashes of the devastating war. Marked by the perilous discoveries he encountered in the wilds of Brazil, Captain R. J. MacCready has a new assignment on the other side of the globe—a mission that may help him put the jungle’s horrors behind him. He is headed for the Himalayas, to examine some recently discovered mammoth bones.

Arriving in Asia, Mac learns the bones are only a cover story. He’s really there to investigate an ancient codex allegedly written by Pliny the Elder, a fascinating text filled with explosive secrets. The Roman naturalist claimed to have discovered a new race of humans, a divergent species that inspired the myth of the Yeti and is rumored to have the ability to accelerate the process of evolution. If Pliny’s assertions are true, this seemingly supernatural ability holds unlimited potential benefits—and unlimited potential for destruction.

Charged with uncovering more about this miracle species, Mac sets off into the remote mountain valleys of Tibet, using the codex as his guide. But the freezing climate and treacherous terrain are only the beginning of the dangers facing him. He must also contend with the brutal Chinese army and a species of native creature even the Yeti seem to fear. The deeper he plunges into the unknown, the more certain it appears that Mac and the associates who join his odyssey may not make it out alive.

Combining plausible science, history, and action-packed thrills, The Himalayan Code is a page-turning adventure sure to enthrall fans of James Rollins, Michael Crichton, Dan Brown, and Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

Bill Schutt

Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History
Algonquin Books, February 14, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 352 pages

Eating one’s own kind is completely natural behavior in thousands of species, including humans. Throughout history we have engaged in cannibalism for reasons related to famine, burial rites, and medicine. Cannibalism has also been used as a form of terrorism and as the ultimate expression of filial piety. With unexpected wit and a wealth of knowledge, Bill Schutt, a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History, takes us on a tour of the field, exploring exciting new avenues of research and investigating questions like why so many fish eat their offspring and some amphibians consume their mother’s skin; why sexual cannibalism is an evolutionary advantage for certain spiders; why, until the end of the eighteenth century, British royalty regularly ate human body parts; and how cannibalism might be linked to the extinction of Neanderthals.

Today, the subject of humans consuming one another has been relegated to the realm of horror movies, fiction, and the occasional psychopath. But as climate change progresses and humans see more famine, disease, and overcrowding, biological and cultural constraints may well disappear. These are the very factors that lead to outbreaks of cannibalism--in other species and our own.

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

Christopher:  Well I can answer that in a few different ways, but the most relevant seems to be THE WOMB. Just kidding, obvies. A huge catalyst for my writing career came in the seventh grade when I started writing fan fiction for Final Fantasy VII. [Nerd Alert!] FFVII was one of those things that left a hole in my heart when I finished it (that’s the best kind of thing, by the way). I filled that void by reading all the fan fiction I could get my hands on (I still remember printing off hundreds of pages of FFVII fan fic stories...my parents were not happy about that), and, of course, attempting to write some of my own. In a lot of ways, attempting to tell those stories about Cloud, Aeris, and Sephiroth is what solidified my conviction to one day write stories of my own. (Also I’m totally pumped for the FFVII reboot!)



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

Christopher:  I used to say that I was pretty much a straight-up pantser, and while that's still mostly true for my stand-alone stories and first novels in a series, my experience writing CQ2 has told me that I'm a bit more of a hybrid than I realize. Most of my formal outlining still takes place after my first draft, but I’ve begun to use it more and more as a tool to make sure I’m hitting the emotional beats I want each character to experience in the right order, at the right time, etc. Turns out I’m definitely not smart enough to hope that those things just happen as I’m writing a five-book series!



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

Christopher:  Right now, it’s definitely writing sequels. All of the writing workshops and classes I’ve taken have focused on writing first and/or standalone novels and stories--none of them ever mentioned writing sequels. Nobody told me how difficult and how different it would be from writing a first entry in a series! I’m more boxed in with characters and plot points, and, as I mentioned earlier, outlining has become a pretty important facet of my process in overcoming that difficulty.



TQ:  What has influenced / influences your writing?

Christopher:  Yikes. A lot of stuff! I feel like I’m always drawing influence from movies, television shows, books, music, and the world around me in general. That said, I can definitely speak to a few things that have heavily influenced my craft and how I approach the writer’s life. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield has probably been the most important--it’s a fantastic treatise on what it means to be a professional. I’ve had the privilege of taking fiction writing classes from Brandon Sanderson, and he taught me a lot about the industry and the world of SFF writing, and also introduced me to the phenomenal podcast Writing Excuses. Stephen King’s book On Writing is one of the few “how-to” writing books that I genuinely appreciate, mainly because it endeavors to not be prescriptive. And I’m always on the lookout for more books, podcasts, Youtube channels, etc. that will help me become a better writer!



TQ:  Describe Duskfall (Chaos Queen 1) in 140 characters or less.

Christopher:  An amnesiac assassin, a woman with an addiction to magic, and a priestess caught between faith & family converge. Dark epic fantasy ensues.



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

Christopher:  It has vampires--of the legit variety, who murder folks! Well, a vampire, anyway, although I can say for a certainty that you’ll see a few more as the series progresses. I’m always a fan of vampires who murder folks and drink actual blood and such, so I couldn’t help but include one in my first novel.



TQ:  What inspired you to write Duskfall? What appeals to you about writing Dark Epic Fantasy?

Christopher:  The characters. Knot and Cinzia were the first characters I wrote the story around, but Winter soon came out of the woodwork as one of the most important characters in the entire series. Each of the three main characters spoke to me in different ways, and their stories are the reason I’m writing this series. I want their stories to be told!

As far as Dark Epic Fantasy goes, I have to admit the surface level things are fun--higher body counts, more on-screen gore, etc. But what really draws me to the genre is the moral ambiguity, the extremely flawed heroes and the redeemable villains, and the horror elements woven throughout. Exploring the dark, confronting it and processing it through writing and reading, makes the light that much more powerful for me.



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

Christopher:  Boats boats boats! Namely sailboats and fishing boats and how they work, who crews them, etc. I did quite a bit of research on telekenisis and telepathy (Can you call that research? Pararesearch, maybe? Yeah, that sounds cool.), which influenced the central magic system. I also did a fair share of medical research, mostly into how certain injuries affect (and sometimes kill) people, and what medieval ways there are of treating those injuries.

Fun fact: I get pretty queasy when I’m thinking about my own blood, and while I did all of that medical research and applied it to certain scenes in my book, I did a lot of thinking about my own blood. When I block a scene, even a violent scene, I usually imagine myself in that scene and...yeah. I had to stop writing/blocking certain scenes more than once while working on Duskfall because I was about to either faint or vomit. So, basically, I grossed myself out multiple times. Also, I’m apparently a total poltroon when it comes to that stuff!



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

Christopher:  Astrid, a young girl who shows up partway through the novel, was the easiest. Sometimes characters are so easy to write that they almost take over the story, and that was the case with Astrid. She’s sarcastic, quippy, and is capable of surprising violence, and all of that makes for a pretty easy character to write.

On the other hand sometimes, despite being difficult to write, the story that a certain character has to tell is so important that they take over a whole novel (or series, in this case), and that was the case with Winter. Knot was the original central character of the novel and series, but as I wrote the first draft of Duskfall years ago, I began to see that, while Knot certainly plays an important part, everything was really revolving around Winter. Winter is difficult to write because her story has such significance (in my eyes, anyway) that, I think, it’s just intimidating to approach as a writer. But on a more base level she is also just...solemn. She sees the world through weary eyes, and getting that tone right without making her sound indifferent or boring was tough for me. Still is, even in the later books in the series.



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

Christopher:  Well, now I’ve got “Issues (Think About It)” by Flight of the Conchords stuck in my head, and that’s awesome.

I do include social issues in my writing, though. Definitely. At least the way I see it, social issues are inherent to human experience. Whether we like to admit it or not, I think we’re all confronted with social issues every day. Some of have very strong stances on those issues, while others don’t want to hear about them. As a writer, I’m not in the business of preaching, I’m in the business of telling stories, but by telling stories, if I can help someone experience another perspective, something they’ve never considered or never been able to see before, then I think I’ve succeeded on some level. And one of the great privileges of writing stories is the opportunity to learn about and research perspectives and experiences that are different from my own. It’s a fine line to walk, in a lot of ways, but it is also just completely part of what I do.



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

Christopher:  Ha! You know it seems I think of dozens of these questions when no one is asking them, and then when someone gives me the opportunity to talk about them I can hardly think of any!

That said, one question that comes to mind that no one has really asked yet is “Did you have the ending of Duskfall in mind all along?” The answer is actually yes and no. One of the things I love about being a discovery writer (pantser) is the sense of organic freedom I have when I’m writing. I definitely had a pretty clear idea of what the ending of Duskfall was going to look like...until I actually started writing the book. The more I wrote, the more my idea of the ending changed, until it became something pretty different from what I’d originally had in mind--and, in my opinion, much better! Call it my muse, call it my subconscious, call it whatever you want, but it’s pretty amazing how that kind of thing develops consistently in my writing without me even expressly looking for it.



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

Christopher:

“There are daemons even daemons fear.” This quote comes up a few times in the book. I won’t go too much into it in the spirit of non-spoilerism, but it’s sort of the “there’s always a bigger fish” concept. But, you know, with demons.

“I know that I can kill a man with anything you can think of. Give me a sword or give me a spoon, and I’ll give you a dead man.” I won’t tell you who’s speaking there, because it’s a minor spoiler (you know, I’ve read the book so many times that it’s getting hard for me to tell what might be a spoiler for a reader and what wouldn’t--I have to be careful!), but the idea of someone who has been trained to kill in any situation, with any tool available, definitely intrigues me and heavily influenced one of the characters in Duskfall.



TQ:  What's next?

Christopher:  Well, right now I’m hard at work revising book two of the Chaos Queen Quintet--and, fortunately, it looks like the CQQ will be taking up a lot of my time over the next few years :-). That said, I’ve got a few side projects that take place in the CQ ‘verse, but aren’t exactly part of the Quintet, that I hope eventually see the light of day. One is an ancient history, a few others address how the events of Duskfall (particularly the ending) affect other parts of the world. I have a lot of stories I eventually want to tell in that setting!

I also have a YA series in the works, but that might be a few years down the road, so I’ll keep my lips sealed(ish) about that for now :-).



TQ:  Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

Christopher:  Thank you for having me! It’s been a pleasure.

Duskfall
Chaos Queen Quintet 1
Titan Books, June 21, 2016
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

Pulled from a frozen sea, pierced by arrows and close to death, Knot has no memory of who he was. But his dreams are dark, filled with violence and unknown faces. Winter, a tiellan woman whose people have long been oppressed by humans, is married to and abandoned by Knot on the same day. In her search for him, she will discover her control of magic, but risk losing herself utterly. And Cinzia, priestess and true believer, returns home to discover her family at the heart of a heretical rebellion. A rebellion that only the Inquisition can crush…

Their fates and those of others will intertwine, in a land where magic and daemons are believed dead, but dark forces still vie for power.

About Christopher

Christopher Husberg was born in Alaska and studied at Brigham Young University, where he went on to teach creative writing. His short story collection Look Me in the Stars received an honourable mention in the 2013 Utah Original Writing Competition. He lives with his wife in Lehi, Utah.

Website  ~  Blog

Twitter @usbergo  ~  Facebook

Happy Monday!

There are 5 debuts this week:

Waypoint Kangaroo by Curtis C. Chen;

In the Shadow of the Gods (Bound Gods 1) by Rachel Dunne;

New Pompeii by Daniel Godfrey;

Duskfall (Chaos Queen Quintet 1) by Christopher Husberg;

and

Judenstaat by Simone Zelitch.



From formerly featured DAC Authors;

Boundary Born (Boundary Magic 3) by Melissa F. Olson.



Debut novels are highlighted in blue. Novels by formerly featured Debut Author Challenge Authors are highlighted in green.






June 20, 2016

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Twistor (ri)	John Cramer	SF
The Weird Tales of Conan the Barbarian (ri)	Robert E. Howard	DF

June 21, 2016

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Shattered Sea Trilogy (e)	Joe Abercrombie	F - The Shattered Sea Trilogy Omnibus
The Unnoticeables (h2tp)	Robert Brockway	H - The Unnoticeables 1
Titanborn (e)	Rhett C. Bruno	SF/Th
Tobin's Spirit Guide: Official Ghostbusters Edition	Erik Burnham	Occ/Sup/GH
Waypoint Kangaroo (D)	Curtis C. Chen	SF
Sweet Ruin (h2mm)	Kresley Cole	PNR - Immortals After Dark 16
Undermajordomo Minor (h2tp)	Patrick deWitt	LF/FolkT
V-Wars: Shockwaves	Jonathan Maberry (Ed)	H - V-Wars
Man from Atlantis	Patrick G. Duffy	SF
In the Shadow of the Gods (D)	Rachel Dunne	F - Bound Gods 1
Scarecrow's Dream	Flo Fitzpatrick	UF/R
Genius Loci: Tales of the Spirit of Place	Jaym Gates (Ed)	F - Anthology
New Pompeii (D)	Daniel Godfrey	SF/TT
Rise: The Complete Newsflesh Collection	Mira Grant	SF/AP/PA - Newsflesh Novellas
Echoes of the Long War	David Guymer	SF - The Beast Arises 6
No Good Deed (e)	Auston Habershaw	F - Saga of the Redeemed 2
The Weaver's Lament	Elizabeth Haydon	F - The Symphony of Ages 9
The Sword of Midras: A Shroud of the Avatar Novel	Tracy Hickman Richard Garriott	F - Blade of the Avatar 1
Hell on Earth (e)	Dafydd ab Hugh Brad Linaweaver	H - Doom 2
Duskfall (D)	Christopher Husberg	F - Chaos Queen Quintet 1
Independence Day: Resurgence: The Official Movie Novelization	Alex Irvine	SF/AC
Born of Legend	Sherrilyn Kenyon	FR - The League: Nemesis Rising 9
Cell (ri)	Stephen King	TechTh
Game of Thrones Psychology: The Mind is Dark and Full of Terrors	Travis Langley (Ed)	Psychology
Resolution Way	Carl Neville	LF
Boundary Born	Melissa F. Olson	UF - Boundary Magic 3
The Lady Who Saw Too Much	Thomasine Rappold	PHR - Soul Survivor 2
Disappearance at Devil's Rock	Paul Tremblay	H
Pride's Spell	Matt Wallace	UF - A Sin du Jour Affair 3
Judenstaat (D)	Simone Zelitch	AH

June 22, 2016

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Chains: A Tor.com Original (e)	A. J. Hartley	F

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


AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternate History
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
CW - Contemporary Women
CyberP - Cyberpunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tale
FolkT - Folk Tale
FR - Fantasy Romance
GH - Ghost
H - Horror
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HistScTh - Historical Science Thriller
HistTh - Historical Thriller
HU - Humor
LC - Literary Criticism
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legends and Mythology
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PHR - Paranormal Historical Romance
PM - Paranormal Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PopCul - Popular Culture
Psy - Psychological
R - Romance
SF - Science Fiction
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
Sup - Supernatural
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy
Z - Zombies

Note: not all of these genres are represented in the above releases.

Curtis C. Chen

Waypoint Kangaroo
Thomas Dunne Books, June 21, 2016
Hardcover and eBook, 320 pages

Kangaroo isn’t your typical spy. Sure, he has extensive agency training, access to bleeding-edge technology, and a ready supply of clever (to him) quips and retorts. But what sets him apart is “the pocket.” It’s a portal that opens into an empty, seemingly infinite, parallel universe, and Kangaroo is the only person in the world who can use it. But he's pretty sure the agency only keeps him around to exploit his superpower.

After he bungles yet another mission, Kangaroo gets sent away on a mandatory “vacation:” an interplanetary cruise to Mars. While he tries to make the most of his exile, two passengers are found dead, and Kangaroo has to risk blowing his cover. It turns out he isn’t the only spy on the ship–and he’s just starting to unravel a massive conspiracy which threatens the entire Solar System.

Now, Kangaroo has to stop a disaster which would shatter the delicate peace that’s existed between Earth and Mars ever since the brutal Martian Independence War. A new interplanetary conflict would be devastating for both sides. Millions of lives are at stake.

Weren’t vacations supposed to be relaxing?

With Waypoint Kangaroo, Chen makes his debut with this outer space thriller. Chen has an extensive network of connections to prominent science fiction authors, and has studied under John Scalzi, James Patrick Kelly, and Ursula K. LeGuin.

Genevieve Cogman

The Invisible Library
The Invisible Library 1
Roc, June 14, 2016
Trade Paperback and eBook, 352 pages

N.S. Dolkart

Silent Hall
Angry Robot Books, June 7, 2016
   North American Print
   Mass Market Paperback, 528 pages
Angry Robot Books, June 2, 2016
    UK Print and eBook
Cover Ilustration: Andreas Rocha

Five bedraggled refugees and a sinister wizard awaken a dragon and defy the gods.

After their homeland is struck with a deadly plague, five refugees cross the continent searching for answers. Instead they find Psander, a wizard whose fortress is invisible to the gods, and who is willing to sacrifice anything – and anyone – to keep the knowledge of the wizards safe.

With Psander as their patron, the refugees cross the mountains, brave the territory of their sworn enemies, confront a hostile ocean and even traverse the world of the fairies in search of magic powerful enough to save themselves – and Psander’s library – from the wrath of the gods.

All they need to do is to rescue an imprisoned dragon and unleash a primordial monster upon the
world.

How hard could it be?

File Under: Fantasy [ Ravens of Revenge / The Great Flood / Dragon Boy / You’re the Prophecy ]

Rachel Dunne

In the Shadow of the Gods
A Bound Gods Novel 1
Harper Voyager, June 21, 2016
Trade Paperback and eBook 400 pages

A breathtaking talent makes her debut with this first book in a dark epic fantasy trilogy, in which a mismatched band of mortals led by a violent, secretive man must stand against a pair of resentful gods to save their world.

Eons ago, a pair of gods known as the Twins grew powerful in the world of Fiatera, until the Divine Mother and Almighty Father exiled them, binding them deep in the earth. But the price of keeping the fire lands safe is steep. To prevent these young gods from rising again, all twins in the land must be killed at birth, a safeguard that has worked until now.

Trapped for centuries, the Twins are gathering their latent powers to break free and destroy the Parents for their tyranny—to set off a fight between two generations of gods for control of the world and the mortals who dwell in it.

When the gods make war, only one side can be victorious. Joros, a mysterious and cunning priest, has devised a dangerous plan to win. Over eight years, he gathers a team of disparate fighters—Scal, a lost and damaged swordsman from the North; Vatri, a scarred priestess who claims to see the future in her fires; Anddyr, a drug-addled mage wandering between sanity and madness; and Rora and Aro, a pair of twins who have secretly survived beyond the reach of the law.

These warriors must learn to stand together against the unfathomable power of vengeful gods, to stop them from tearing down the sun . . . and plunging their world into darkness.

K. Eason

Enemy
On the Bones of Gods 1
47North, June 1, 2016
Trade Paperback and Kindle eBook, 347 pages

The Illhari Republic rests on the bones of gods, telling tales of conquest and forgetting its once-bloody devotion to its most powerful goddess. Snowdenaelikk, half-blood conjuror and smuggler, cares less about history than the silver she can win with sharp metal and sharper wits. But when the local legion blames her for burning a village, an outlander with a sense of honor intervenes, and Snow finds herself tangled in politics and an unwelcome partnership.

Snow and her new partner, Veiko, together with the legion scout Dekklis, uncover a conspiracy that will destroy the Republic from within. It seems that the goddess is back from wherever dead gods go. She has not forgotten the Republic, and she wants revenge.

Loyal Dekklis will do anything to save the Republic, and Snow reluctantly agrees to help—until she realizes that “anything” means sacrificing Veiko. Now Snow must decide whether her partner’s life is worth betraying her allies and damning the Republic to war.

Emma Geen

The Many Selves of Katherine North
Bloomsbury USA, June 7, 2016
Hardcover and eBook, 368 pages

When we first meet Kit, she's a fox.

Nineteen-year-old Kit works for the research department of Shen Corporation as a phenomenaut. She's been “jumping”--projecting her consciousness, through a neurological interface--into the bodies of lab-grown animals made for the purpose of research for seven years, which is longer than anyone else at ShenCorp, and longer than any of the scientists thought possible. She experiences a multitude of other lives--fighting and fleeing as predator and prey, as mammal, bird, and reptile--in the hope that her work will help humans better understand the other species living alongside them.

Her closest friend is Buckley, her Neuro--the computer engineer who guides a phenomenaut through consciousness projection. His is the voice, therefore, that's always in Kit's head and is the thread of continuity that connects her to the human world when she's an animal. But when ShenCorp's mission takes a more commercial--and ominous--turn, Kit is no longer sure of her safety. Propelling the reader into the bodies of the other creatures that share our world, The Many Selves of Katherine North takes place in the near future but shows us a dazzling world far, far from the realm of our experience.

Daniel Godfrey

New Pompeii
Titan Books, June 21, 2016
Trade Paperback and eBook, 352 pages

In the race to control renewable power, an energy giant stumbles on a controversial technology: the ability to transport matter from the deep past. Their biggest secret is New Pompeii, a replica city filled with Romans, pulled through time just before the volcanic eruption.

Nick Houghton doesn’t know why he’s been chosen to be the company’s historical advisor. He’s just excited to be there. Until he starts to wonder what happened to his predecessor. Until he realizes that the company has more secrets than even the conspiracy theorists suspect.

Until he realizes that they have underestimated their captives…

Claire Humphrey

Spells of Blood and Kin
   A Dark Fantasy Novel
Thomas Dunne Books, June 14, 2016
Hardcover and eBook, 320 pages

Where we love, we ruin…

Some families hand down wealth through generations; some hand down wisdom. Some families, whether they want to or not, hand down the secret burdens they carry and the dangerous debts they owe.

Lissa Nevsky's grandmother leaves her a big, empty house, and a legacy of magic: folk magic, old magic, brought with Baba when she fled the Gulag. In the wake of her passing, the Russian community of Toronto will depend on Lissa now, to give them their remedies and be their koldun'ia. But Lissa hasn't had time to learn everything Baba wanted to teach her—let alone the things Baba kept hidden.

Maksim Volkov's birth family is long dead, anything they bestowed on him long turned to dust. What Maksim carries now is a legacy of violence, and he does not have to die to pass it on. When Maksim feels his protective spell fail, he returns to the witch he rescued from the Gulag, only to find his spell has died along with the one who cast it. Without the spell, it is only a matter of time before Maksim's violent nature slips its leash and he infects someone else—if he hasn't done so already.

Nick Kaisaris is just a normal dude who likes to party. He doesn't worry about family drama. He doesn't have any secrets. All he wants is for things to stay like they are right now, tonight: Nick and his best buddy Jonathan, out on the town. Only Nick is on a collision course with Maksim Volkov, and what he takes away from this night is going to crack open Nick's nature until all of his worst self comes to light.

Lissa's legacy of magic might hold the key to Maksim's salvation, if she can unravel it in time. But it's a legacy that comes at a price. And Maksim might not want to be saved…

Christopher Husberg

Duskfall
Chaos Queen Quintet 1
Titan Books, June 21, 2016
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

Pulled from a frozen sea, pierced by arrows and close to death, Knot has no memory of who he was. But his dreams are dark, filled with violence and unknown faces. Winter, a tiellan woman whose people have long been oppressed by humans, is married to and abandoned by Knot on the same day. In her search for him, she will discover her control of magic, but risk losing herself utterly. And Cinzia, priestess and true believer, returns home to discover her family at the heart of a heretical rebellion. A rebellion that only the Inquisition can crush…

Their fates and those of others will intertwine, in a land where magic and daemons are believed dead, but dark forces still vie for power.

Laura Lam

False Hearts
Tor Books, June 14, 2016
Hardcover and eBook, 384 pages

Laura Lam's adult sci-fi debut False Hearts: Two formerly conjoined sisters are ensnared in a murderous plot involving psychoactive drugs, shared dreaming, organized crime, and a sinister cult.

Raised in the closed cult of Mana's Hearth and denied access to modern technology, conjoined sisters Taema and Tila dream of a life beyond the walls of the compound. When the heart they share begins to fail, the twins escape to San Francisco, where they are surgically separated and given new artificial hearts. From then on they pursue lives beyond anything they could have previously imagined.

Ten years later, Tila returns one night to the twins' home in the city, terrified and covered in blood, just before the police arrive and arrest her for murder--the first homicide by a civilian in decades. Tila is suspected of involvement with the Ratel, a powerful crime syndicate that deals in the flow of Zeal, a drug that allows violent minds to enact their darkest desires in a terrifying dreamscape. Taema is given a proposition: go undercover as her sister and perhaps save her twin's life. But during her investigation Taema discovers disturbing links between the twins' past and their present. Once unable to keep anything from each other, the sisters now discover the true cost of secrets.

Yoon Ha Lee

Ninefox Gambit
The Machineries of Empire 1
Solaris Books, June 14, 2016
Trade Paperback and eBook, 384 pages

To win an impossible war Captain Kel Cheris must awaken an ancient weapon and a despised traitor general.

Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for using unconventional methods in a battle against heretics.  Kel Command gives her the opportunity to redeem herself by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles, a star fortress that has recently been captured by heretics.  Cheris's career isn't the only thing at stake.  If the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next.

Cheris's best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fortress.

The bad news is that Jedao went mad in his first life and massacred two armies, one of them his own.  As the siege wears on, Cheris must decide how far she can trust Jedao--because she might be his next victim.

Malka Older

Infomocracy
Tor.com, June 7, 2016
Hardcover and eBook, 384 pages

It's been twenty years and two election cycles since Information, a powerful search engine monopoly, pioneered the switch from warring nation-states to global micro-democracy. The corporate coalition party Heritage has won the last two elections. With another election on the horizon, the Supermajority is in tight contention, and everything's on the line.

With power comes corruption. For Ken, this is his chance to do right by the idealistic Policy1st party and get a steady job in the big leagues. For Domaine, the election represents another staging ground in his ongoing struggle against the pax democratica. For Mishima, a dangerous Information operative, the whole situation is a puzzle: how do you keep the wheels running on the biggest political experiment of all time, when so many have so much to gain?

Infomocracy is Malka Older's debut novel.

Bob Proehl

A Hundred Thousand Worlds
Viking, June 28, 2016
Hardcover and eBook, 368 pages

“A Kavalier & Clay for the Comic-Con Age, this is a bighearted, inventive, exuberant debut.” —Eleanor Henderson, author of Ten Thousand Saints
Valerie Torrey took her son, Alex, and fled Los Angeles six years ago—leaving both her role on a cult sci-fi TV show and her costar husband after a tragedy blew their small family apart. Now Val must reunite nine-year-old Alex with his estranged father, so they set out on a road trip from New York, Val making appearances at comic book conventions along the way.

As they travel west, encountering superheroes, monsters, time travelers, and robots, Val and Alex are drawn into the orbit of the comic-con regulars, from a hapless twentysomething illustrator to a brilliant corporate comics writer stuggling with her industry’s old-school ways to a group of cosplay women who provide a chorus of knowing commentary. For Alex, this world is a magical place where fiction becomes reality, but as they get closer to their destination, he begins to realize that the story his mother is telling him about their journey might have a very different ending than he imagined.

A knowing and affectionate portrait of the geeky pleasures of fandom, A Hundred Thousand Worlds is also a tribute to the fierce and complicated love between a mother and son—and to the way the stories we create come to shape us.

Bill Schutt and J. R. Finch

Hell's Gate
William Morrow, June 7, 2016
Hardcover and eBook, 384 pages

When a Japanese submarine is discovered abandoned deep in the Brazilian wilderness, a smart, adventurous, and tough zoologist must derail a catastrophic plot in Hell’s Gate.

1944. As war rages in Europe and the Pacific, Army Intel makes a shocking discovery: a 300-foot Japanese sub marooned and empty, deep in the Brazilian interior. A team of Army Rangers sent to investigate has already gone missing. Now, the military sends Captain R. J. MacCready, a quick-witted, brilliant scientific jack-of-all-trades to learn why the Japanese are there—and what they’re planning.

Parachuting deep into the heart of Central Brazil, one of the most remote regions on the planet, Mac is unexpectedly reunited with his hometown friend and fellow scientist Bob Thorne. A botanist presumed dead for years, Thorne lives peacefully with Yanni, an indigenous woman who possesses mysterious and invaluable skills. Their wisdom and expertise are nothing short of lifesaving for Mac as he sets out on a trail into the unknown.

Mac makes the arduous trek into an ancient, fog-shrouded valley hidden beneath a 2000-foot plateau, where he learns of a diabolical Axis plot to destroy the United States and its allies. But the enemy isn’t the only danger in this treacherous jungle paradise. Silently creeping from the forest, an even darker force is on the prowl, attacking at night and targeting both man and beast. Mac has to uncover the source of this emerging biological crisis and foil the enemy’s plans . . . but will he be in time to save humanity from itself?

Jon Skovron

Hope and Red
The Empire of Storms 1
Orbit Books, June 28, 2016
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 544 pages

In a fracturing empire spread across savage seas, two people will find a common cause.

Hope, the lone survivor when her village is massacred by the emperor's forces is secretly trained by a master Vinchen warrior as an instrument of vengeance.

Red, an orphan adopted by a notorious matriarch of the criminal underworld, learns to be an expert thief and con artist.

TOGETHER THEY WILL TAKE DOWN AN EMPIRE.

Na'amen Gobert Tilahun

The Root
A Novel of the Wrath & Athenaeum 1
Night Shade Books, June 7, 2016
Trade Paperback and eBook, 420 pages

A dark, gritty urban fantasy debut set in modern-day San Francisco, filled with gods, sinister government agencies, and worlds of dark magic hidden just below the surface.

When a secret government agency trying to enslave you isn’t the biggest problem you’re facing, you’re in trouble.

Erik, a former teen star living in San Francisco, thought his life was complicated; having his ex-boyfriend in jail because of the scandal that destroyed his career seemed overwhelming. Then Erik learned he was Blooded: descended from the Gods.

Struggling with a power he doesn’t understand and can barely control, Erik discovers that a secret government agency is selling off Blooded like lab rats to a rival branch of preternatural beings in ’Zebub—San Francisco’s mirror city in an alternate dimension.

Lil, a timid apprentice in ’Zebub, is searching for answers to her parents’ sudden and mysterious deaths. Surrounded by those who wish her harm and view her as a lesser being, Lil delves into a forgotten history that those in power will go to dangerous lengths to keep buried.

What neither Erik nor Lil realize is that a darkness is coming, something none have faced in living memory. It eats. It hunts. And it knows them. In The Root, the dark and surging urban fantasy debut from Na’amen Tilahun, two worlds must come together if even a remnant of one is to survive.

Ren Warom

Escapology
Titan Books, June 14, 2016
Trade Paperback and eBook, 320 pages

Shock Pao is not just any Haunt—he’s the best. There isn’t a system that he can’t crack into, no virtual lock he can’t pick, nothing he can’t steal for the right price. Outside virtual world the Slip, though, he’s a Fail—no degree, no job, no affiliations to protect him from angry ex-customers. Of which he has quite a few. So when his ex brings Shock a job which could help him escape his miserable existence, he accepts, little realizing that it will turn out to be his most impossible, illegal and insane assignment yet.

Amiga works for Twist Calhoun, one of the toughest crime lords in the Gung, as a Cleaner—assassin. Trapped in a world of kill-or-be-killed, she wants out. But when Shock’s war comes to her, she doesn’t have a choice: it’s her job to bring him to Twist, dead or alive—or it’ll be her head in a bag in Twist’s vault.

Gina Wohlsdorf

Security
Algonquin Books, June 7, 2016
Hardcover and eBook, 288 pages

The inventiveness of A Visit from the Goon Squad meets the down-the-rabbit-hole suspense of The Girl on the Train in this chilling, pulse-racing thriller from an electrifying new writer.

When the gleaming new Manderley Resort opens in twenty-four hours, Santa Barbara’s exclusive beachfront hotel will offer its patrons the ultimate in luxury and high-tech security. No indulgence has been ignored, no detail overlooked. But all the money in the world can’t guarantee safety. As hotel manager Tessa and her employees ready the hotel for its invitation-only grand opening, a killer is in their midst. One by one, staff are picked off with ruthless precision. And before the night is over, as Tessa desperately struggles to survive, it will become clear that the strangest and most terrible truth at Manderley is simply this: someone is watching.

With stunning ingenuity, Gina Wohlsdorf puts readers front and center as the elite resort becomes a house of horrors. Riveting to the final sentence, Security is fierce, wry, and impossible to put down. With a deep bow to the literary tradition of Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, and Daphne du Maurier, Wohlsdorf’s razor-wire prose blitzes readers with quick twists, sharp turns, and gasp-inducing terror. Security is at once a shocking thriller, a brilliant narrative puzzle, and a moving, multifaceted love story unlike any other.

H.P. Wood

Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet
Sourcebooks Landmark, June 7, 2016
Trade Paperback and eBook, 368 pages

A hypnotic debut in turn-of-the-century Coney Island, where an abandoned girl collides with a disgruntled ménage of circus freaks.

Kitty Hayward and her mother are ready to experience the spectacles of Coney Island’s newest attraction, the Dreamland amusement park. But when Kitty’s mother vanishes from their hotel, she finds herself penniless, alone, and far from her native England. The last people she expects to help are the cast of characters at Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet, a museum of oddities. From con men to strongmen, from flea wranglers to lion tamers, Kitty’s new friends quickly adopt her and vow to help find the missing Mrs. Hayward. But even these unusual inhabitants may not be a match for the insidious sickness that begins to spread through Coney Island…or the panic that turns Dreamland into a nightmare.

With shades of Water For Elephants and The Museum of Extraordinary Things, Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet sweeps readers into a mesmerizing world where nothing is as it seems, and where “normal” is the exception to the rule.

Simone Zelitch

Judenstaat
Tor Books, June 21, 2016
Hardcover and eBook, 320 pages

Simone Zelitch has created an amazing alternate history in Judenstaat. On April 4th, 1948 the sovereign state of Judenstaat was created in the territory of Saxony, bordering Germany, Poland, and Czechoslovakia.

Forty years later, Jewish historian Judit Klemmer is making a documentary portraying Judenstaat's history from the time of its founding to the present. She is haunted by the ghost of her dead husband, Hans, a Saxon, shot by a sniper as he conducted the National Symphony. With the grief always fresh, Judit lives a half-life, until confronted by a mysterious, flesh-and-blood ghost from her past who leaves her controversial footage on one of Judenstaat's founding fathers--and a note:

"They lied about the murder."

Judit's research into the footage, and what really happened to Hans, embroils her in controversy and conspiracy, collective memory and national amnesia, and answers far more horrific than she imagined.

Joe Zieja

Mechanical Failure
Epic Failure 1
Saga Press, June 14, 2016
Hardcover, Trade Paperback and eBook, 352 pages

A smooth-talking ex-sergeant, accustomed to an easygoing peacetime military, unexpectedly re-joins the fleet and finds soldiers preparing for the strangest thing—war.

The two hundred years’ (and counting) peace is a time of tranquility that hasn’t been seen since...well, never. Mankind in the Galactic Age had finally conquered war, so what was left for the military to do but drink and barbecue? That’s the kind of military that Sergeant R. Wilson Rogers lived in before he left the fleet to become a smuggler.

But it turns out that smuggling is hard. Like getting-arrested-for-dealing-with-pirates-and-forced-back-into-service kind of hard. It doesn’t seem so bad—the military was a perpetual tiki party anyway—but when Rogers returns after only a year away, something has changed. These are soldiers—actual soldiers doing actual soldier things like preparing for a war that Rogers is sure doesn’t exist. Rogers vows to put a stop to all this nonsense—even if it means doing actual work.

With an experienced ear for military double-speak, Zieja has created a remarkable and sarcastic adventure.

Christopher Husberg

Duskfall
Chaos Queen Quintet 1
Titan Books, June 21, 2016
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

Pulled from a frozen sea, pierced by arrows and close to death, Knot has no memory of who he was. But his dreams are dark, filled with violence and unknown faces. Winter, a tiellan woman whose people have long been oppressed by humans, is married to and abandoned by Knot on the same day. In her search for him, she will discover her control of magic, but risk losing herself utterly. And Cinzia, priestess and true believer, returns home to discover her family at the heart of a heretical rebellion. A rebellion that only the Inquisition can crush…

Their fates and those of others will intertwine, in a land where magic and daemons are believed dead, but dark forces still vie for power.