The Qwillery

Happy 1st Monday in November!

There are 4 debuts this week:

This Book is Not For You by Daniel A. Hoyt;

The End We Start From by Megan Hunter;

Jade City (The Green Bone Saga 1) by Fonda Lee (Adult Debut);

and

The Ruined House by Ruby Namdar.




From formerly featured DAC Authors:

Black Goat Blues (The Mythos War 2) by Levi Black;

Skitter (The Hatching Series 2) by Ezekiel Boone is out in Trade Paperback;

The Operative (San Angeles 2) by Gerald Brandt is out in Mass Market Paperback;

Red Dust and Dancing Horses and Other Stories by Beth Cato;

The Rule of Luck (A Felicia Sevigny Novel 1) by Catherine Cerveny;

Highland Dragon Rebel (Dawn of the Highland Dragon 2) by Isabel Cooper;

The Ship by Antonia Honeywell is out in Trade Paperback;

The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley is out in Trade Paperback;

The Sisters of the Crescent Empress (The Waning Moon Duology 2) by Leena Likitalo;

The Realms of God (The Shards of Heaven 3) by Michael Livingston;

The Forbidden Heir (Four Arts 2) by M.J. Scott;

and

Communication Failure (Epic Failure Trilogy 2) by Joe Zieja.

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

November 5, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Romancing the Werewolf (e)	Gail Carriger	SP - Supernatural Society Novella 2

November 6, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Hitchhiker: Stories from the Kentucky Homefront	Bob Thompson	FairyT/FolkT/LM/Occ/Sup - Collection

November 7, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Red Men	Matthew de Abaitua	SF/CyP/AP/PA/Dys
Nanoshock	K C Alexander	SF/CyP/GenEng - SINless 2
Valiant Dust	Richard Baker	SF - Breaker of Empires 1
Black Goat Blues	Levi Black	F/DF/H - The Mythos War 2
Skitter (h2tp)	Ezekiel Boone	H - The Hatching Series 2
The Sorcerer's Appendix	P. J. Brackston	F/SupM - Brothers Grimm Mysteries 4
The Operative (h2mm)	Gerald Brandt	SF/CyP/AP/PA - San Angeles 2
Places in the Darkness	Chris Brookmyre	SF
Star Trek: The Book of Lists	Chip Carter	TV/SF - Star Trek
Steal the Stars	Nat Cassidy	SF/AC/MTI
Potions and Pastries	Bailey Cates	PCM - A Magical Bakery Mystery 7
Red Dust and Dancing Horses and Other Stories	Beth Cato	SF/F - Collection
The Rule of Luck	Catherine Cerveny	SF - A Felicia Sevigny Novel 1
More Human than Human: Stories of Androids, Robots, and Manufactured Humanity	Neil Clarke	SF/CyP/GenEng - Anthology
Numenera: The Night Clave	Monte Cook Shanna Germain	SF/GenEng - Numenera 2
Highland Dragon Rebel	Isabel Cooper	PHR - Dawn of the Highland Dragon 2
Vampire Undone	Shannon Curtis	PNR
Snow Magic (e)	Bianca D'Arc	PNR - A Were-Fey Love Story 2
Shadowborn	David Dalglish	F - Seraphim 3
Deja New	MaryJanice Davidson	PNR - An Insighter Novel 2
None But Man (ri)	Gordon R. Dickson	SF
The Spark	David Drake	SF
Nights of the Dark Moon: Gothic Folktales from Asia and Africa	Tutu Dutta	FairyT/FolkT/LM/F/P/H/Gothic
Strange Music	Alan Dean Foster	SF/AC - Adventures of Pip & Flinx 15
Dreamweaver (h2mm)	C.S. Friedman	UF/CF/F - Dreamwalker 3
All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault	James Alan Gardner	CF/SH
Wolf Hunter: A Shifter Romance (e)	Jane Godman	PNR - Arctic Brotherhood 5
Wolf Leader: A Shifter Romance (e)	Jane Godman	PNR - Arctic Brotherhood 6
Childgrave	Ken Greenhall	H
The Unreal and the Real: The Selected Short Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin (h2tp)	Ursula K. Le Guin	F - Collection
The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin (h2tp)	Ursula K. Le Guin	F - Collection
The Selected Short Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin Boxed Set: The Found and the Lost; The Unreal and the Real (h2tp)	Ursula K. Le Guin	F - Collection
The Witch and the Werewolf	Michele Hauf	PNR - Decadent Dames 3
Terminal Alliance	Jim C. Hines	SF/AP/PA - Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse 1
The Ship (h2tp)	Antonia Honeywell	F/CoA/PA
This Book Is Not for You (D)	Daniel A. Hoyt	LF/MU
The Stealers' War	Stephen Hunt	F
The End We Start From (D)	Megan Hunter	LF/Dys
The Stars Are Legion (h2tp)	Kameron Hurley	SF/SO
Wonders Will Never Cease	Robert Irwin	HistF
Perfect Gravity	Vivien Jackson	SFR - Wanted and Wired 2
Down to No Good	Earl Javorsky	M/Occ/Sup/Th/Noir - Charlie Miner 2
Imaginarium 5: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing	Sandra Kasturi (Ed) Samantha Beiko (Ed)	SpecFic - Anthology 5
Frostwing	Richard A. Knaak	SF/AP/PA - City of Shadows 2
Pavlov's Dog	David Kurman	HU/Satire/Absurdist
Supernatural Psychology: Roads Less Traveled	Travis Langley (Ed) Lynn S. Zubernis (Ed)	Psychology
The Jim Baen Memorial Award: The First Decade	William Ledbetter (Ed)	SF - Anthology
Jade City (D - Adult)	Fonda Lee	F - The Green Bone Saga 1
The Rise of Nagash	Mike Lee	F - Warhammer Chronicles Omnibus
The Sisters of the Crescent Empress	Leena Likitalo	HistF/DF - The Waning Moon Duology 2
The Realms of God	Michael Livingston	HistF/AH - The Shards of Heaven 3
The Ruined House (D)	Ruby Namdar Hillel Halkin (Tr)	LF
The Experience Arcade and Other Stories	James Van Pelt	SF - Collection
Down and Out in Purgatory: The Collected Stories of Tim Powers	Tim Powers	CF - Collection
The Wrong Stars	Tim Pratt	SF/SO
A Spoonful of Magic	Irene Radford	UF
Beyond Antares: Dimensional Gates	Brandon Rospond (Ed)	SF - Beyond Antares Anthology
The Forbidden Heir (e)	M.J. Scott	Gaslamp/HistF - Four Arts 2
Invaders From Beyond: First Wave	Colin Sinclair Tim Major Julian Benson	SF/AC
The Un-Discovered Islands: An Archipelago of Myths and Mysteries, Phantoms and Fakes	Malachy Tallack	History/Historical Geography
Ironclads	Adrian Tchaikovsky	SF
The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun	J.R.R. Tolkien	F
Gluttony Bay	Matt Wallace	UF/HU - A Sin du Jour Affair 6
Perfect Shadow	Brent Weeks	F - Night Angel
Cult of the Warmason	C L Werner	SF - Genestealer Cults 1
The Keep (e)(ri)	F. Paul Wilson	SupTh - Adversary Cycle 1
Communication Failure	Joe Zieja	SF - Epic Failure Trilogy 2

November 8, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Threshold of Eternity	John Brunner Broderick Damiem	SF/SO
The World is Full of Monsters: A Tor.com Original	Jeff VanderMeer	SF
Deep Magic - First Collection (Ke)	Deep Magic Magazine	F/SF - Anthology
Every Face a Forgery (e)	Paul Witcover Liz Duffy Adams	HistF - Tremontaine Season 3 #5

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



AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternate History
AP - Apocalyptic
Bio - Biography
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
CyP - CyberPunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
Fict - Fiction
FM - Folklore and Mythology
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
HU - Humor
LC - Literary Criticism
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legends and Mythology
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
MU - MashUp
Noir - Noir
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PCM - Paranormal Cozy Mystery
PHR- Paramormal Historical Romance
PM - Paranormal Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
Psy - Psychological
PsySus - Psychological Suspense
PsyTh - Psychological Thriller
R - Romance
Ref - Reference
RP - Role Playing
Sc - Science
SH -Superheroes
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SO - Space Opera
SP - SteamPunk
SpecFic - Speculative Fiction
Sup - Supernatural
SupM - Supernatural Mystery
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy

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

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

Leena:  Thank you so much for inviting me! It's a pleasure to be here!

I have always loved telling stories. In fact, so much that I started writing before I learned to read. No one else could make sense out of my scribbling which somewhat dented my credibility. Yet as far as I was concerned, the adventures of the butterfly-fairies had been duly recorded and that sufficed to me for the time being.



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

Leena:  I'm definitely a plotter.

I like to understand the big picture and what needs to happen in each chapter before I unleash creativity from the gilded cage where I keep it until a story is ready to be fully written. Creating an outline also enables me to know pretty accurately how much time I need to complete a bigger piece of work – I could never imagine committing to a timeline without being absolutely certain that I can pull it off!

If we do look into my dark past, I used to be a pantser. Let's just say I've learned my lesson. There was this story where it took me over 200 pages to get the main character and his horse to the right continent… After that, it was borderline impossible to get the pacing of that story back on tracks!



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

Leena:  To me, it's not knowing if what I wrote, especially when it comes grammar and idioms, is at all correct English.

When I was in my teens, I really struggled to learn foreign languages. My father grew quite concerned about this and came up with a cunning plan. He dared me to read a novel from his fantasy and science fiction collection without the help of a dictionary.

Did I mention that his plan was cunning? The first book I read was none other than The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, and very soon indeed I found myself utterly and totally addicted to Wheel of Time and not so accidentally learned English.



TQ:  What has influenced / influences your writing?

Leena:  Endless curiosity in such scale that the world's kitten population is truly in danger here.

I've always been immensely interested in a wide variety of things: ancient Egypt, dinosaurs, fairy tales, royalty and aristocracy, French revolution, mechanical machines, early computers… I still go "ooh, shiny" every time I see an article about the history of a scientific discovery or an autobiography about a kick-ass woman. Usually after these "ooh, shiny" moments my brain starts ticking: where can I use this piece of information!

In terms of writers who've influenced me, Russian literature works fantastically in Finnish – though, I was probably the only kid in school who was ecstatic to read Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. I have a long lasting love-love relationship with Patrick Rothfuss' novels and I really enjoy the works of Mary Robinette Kowal, Gail Carriger, and Maria Turtschaninoff.



TQ:  Describe The Five Daughters of the Moon in 140 characters or less.

Leena:  Court Intrigue. Revolution. A Great Thinking Machine that devours human souls. No one is safe, not even the Five Daughters of the Moon.



TQ:  Tell us something about The Five Daughters of the Moon that is not found in the book description.

Leena:  Some of my favorite scenes were brainstormed over lunch breaks with my friend at the Helsinki museum of modern arts. And the two dogs, Rafa and Mufu? Completely based on her Italian greyhounds – I studied their mannerism and habits for weeks to get the details right!



TQ:  What inspired you to write The Five Daughters of the Moon? What appealed to you about writing historical fantasy based on the Romanovs?

Leena:  It all began with the Great Thinking Machine. For years and years now, I have wanted to tell the story of a girl genius who hacks the machine. I knew all along that the story would take place in an industrialized empire, some time after a revolution. But I really needed to know more about the world to be able to flesh out the storylines – and that's where intensive research kicked in.

One day, I happened upon an article about the Russian revolution and the last months of the Romanov family. Midway through the article, inspiration struck me with such force that whole scenes unfolded before my eyes and I started hearing voice - the Five Daughters of the Moon came to life and demanded I tell their story.

Though The Five Daughters of the Moon is inspired by real historical events, it's to be noted that I would never presume to write about real persons. Rather, I explore how a fictitious character placed in similar circumstances might feel and react.



TQ:  What sort of research did you do for The Five Daughters of the Moon?

Leena:  Sensory details are very important to me. I need to understand what everything feels, smells, and sounds like. And when applicable, I also want to know how everything tastes.

Whenever I visit an old house, a ship, or a forest that strikes me a as a place that I might want to use in a story later on, I stroll around brushing surfaces and… much to the imminent embarrassment of my friends and family, sniff things until I can provide a sufficient description of the object in question.

I'm also obsessed with getting even minute details right. My friends can testify on this – I've turned to their areas of expertise when it comes to the direction of shadows during specific timeframe, diseases that cause the desired symptoms, plants that grow only in certain latitudes, and fabrics that give just the right touch of authenticity.



TQ:  Please tell us about the cover for The Five Daughters of the Moon.

Leena:  I'm the luckiest author in the world when it comes to covers! I absolute adore the artwork by the super talented Balbusso sisters and the cover design by Christine Foltzer.

To me, the cover oozes the very essence of the novel. I love the girl's expression – it's haunted and haunting but defiant, all at the same time. Her posture is that of someone standing before a tide of change that can't be avoided, only accepted. And the composition of the cover, with the Summer Palace at the back and the mechanical peacock in the front – yes, I'm a lucky author indeed!



TQ:  In The Five Daughters of the Moon who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?

Leena:  I love all the daughters, and it's borderline impossible for me to pick a favorite from amongst frail Alina, opinionated Merile, angsty Sibilia, passionate Elise, and rational Celestia.

But if I do have to pick one, I'm going to have to say that Sibilia was the easiest--and funniest--character to write. Fifteen years old, over-the-top emotional, sarcastic, and just a teeny-weeny bit self-centered, there was never a boring moment with her! She took control of her scenes as soon as I started writing, and then steered off the tangent, revealing the juiciest plot twists.

The hardest character to write… As the point of view character changes in every chapter, each of the daughters was the most difficult one to write on their own turn. Keeping track of who knew what and when was beyond challenging at times!



TQ:  Why have you chosen to include or not chosen to include social issues in The Five Daughters of the Moon?

Leena:  Fantasy, especially steampunk, as a genre provides the option to explore social issues relating to industrial revolution and its aftermath.

The Five Daughters of the Moon is written from the perspective of aristocracy. In the beginning, the main characters are very young and hence somewhat naïve. But as the novel progresses, they gradually become aware of the reasons behind the revolution and start questioning the things they earlier took for granted – and this also opens the window for them to consider social issues.



TQ:  Which question about The Five Daughters of the Moon do you wish someone would ask? Ask it and answer it!

Leena:  Is it true that some of the scenes came to you in the form of an opera?

Yes, this is indeed true. Almost all the main characters have their own theme, which plays on the background of every scene in which they make an appearance. I could see and hear these themes weaving together to form a grander structure – this novel was a very sensory experience to write.

There's one scene in particular (looking at you, Chapter 9) where my writing prompt to myself was "Elise and Captain Janlav sing their famous duet about [removed due to spoilers]"


TQ:  Give us one or two of your favorite non-spoilery quotes from The Five Daughters of the Moon.

Leena:  I've gushed earlier about how much I loved writing Sibilia - and reading her early chapters always cracks me up. Here's a sample:

“Dear Father Moon.” Elise curtsied between giggles. I curtsied too, heart beating with guilt and excitement. Nurse Nookes would chide me if she learnt of this. To sneak from my room, to fool around outside without a coat or gloves!

But Elise spread her arms wide, bent her head back, and addressed our father. “Please send us lovers, handsome and tall.”

“Elise! You can’t just . . .”

Elise glanced at me, grinning. She fluttered her painted lashes. “I can’t just what? We are the Daughters of the Moon. We have the right to call out for his help when in desperate need.”

At that moment, I did consider if I really was that desperate to meet K again. His lineage is impeccable; not that I care about that sort of thing. He adores me. I’m sure of that, though we shared only one waltz, in secret, during Alina’s name day celebrations. But the look he cast me afterwards, from across the dance floor. Smoldering.



TQ:  What's next?

Leena:  The second part of the Waning Moon duology, The Sisters of the Crescent Empress, is coming out in early November. You'd never guess, but I'm super excited about that!

I've also got two more stories set in the Waning Moon world in works. The first one takes place directly after The Sisters of the Crescent Empress. The second one will be the story about the Great Thinking Machine – at last!



TQ:  Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

Leena:  Thank you so much for having me!

The Five Daughters of the Moon
The Waning Moon Duology 1
Tor.com, July 25, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 224 pages

Inspired by the 1917 Russian revolution and the last months of the Romanov sisters, The Five Daughters of the Moon by Leena Likitalo is a beautifully crafted historical fantasy with elements of technology fueled by evil magic.

The Crescent Empire teeters on the edge of a revolution, and the Five Daughters of the Moon are the ones to determine its future.

Alina, six, fears Gagargi Prataslav and his Great Thinking Machine. The gagargi claims that the machine can predict the future, but at a cost that no one seems to want to know.

Merile, eleven, cares only for her dogs, but she smells that something is afoul with the gagargi. By chance, she learns that the machine devours human souls for fuel, and yet no one believes her claim.

Sibilia, fifteen, has fallen in love for the first time in her life. She couldn't care less about the unrests spreading through the countryside. Or the rumors about the gagargi and his machine.

Elise, sixteen, follows the captain of her heart to orphanages and workhouses. But soon she realizes that the unhappiness amongst her people runs much deeper that anyone could have ever predicted.

And Celestia, twenty-two, who will be the empress one day. Lately, she's been drawn to the gagargi. But which one of them was the first to mention the idea of a coup?

Inspired by the 1917 Russian revolution and the last months of the Romanov sisters, The Five Daughters of the Moon is a beautifully crafted historical fantasy with elements of technology fuelled by evil magic.

About Leena

Writers of the Future

LEENA LIKITALO hails from Finland, the land of endless summer days and long, dark winter nights. She breaks computer games for a living and lives with her husband on an island at the outskirts of Helsinki, the capital. But regardless of her remote location, stories find their way to her and demand to be told. Leena is the author of The Waning Moon Duology, including The Five Daughters of the Moon and The Sisters of the Crescent Empress.






Website   ~  Twitter @LeenaLikitalo  ~  Facebook

Happy Monday!

There are 5 debuts this week:

The Punch Escrow by Tal M. Klein

The Five Daughters of the Moon (The Waning Moon Duology 1) by Leena Likitalo;

Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed;

Strange Practice (A Dr. Greta Helsing Novel 1) by Vivian Shaw;

and

Talon of God by Wesley Snipes and Ray Norman.




From formerly featured DAC Authors:

Nod by Adrian Barnes is out in Mass Market Paperback;

Red Right Hand (The Mythos War 1) by Levi Black is out in Trade Paperback;

The Wilding Sisters by Eve Chase;

Killing Is My Business (Ray Electromatic Mysteries 2) by Adam Christopher;

Time Siege (Time Salvager 2) by Wesley Chu is out in Trade Paperback;

Sovereign (Nemesis 2) by April Daniels;

Gilded Cage (Dark Gifts 1) by Vic James is out in Trade Paperback;

Raid (Wastelanders 2) by K.S. Merbeth;

and

Blood Gamble (Disrupted Magic 2) by Melissa F. Olson.

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

July 24, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Betrayed by Blood (e)	Beth Dranoff	PNR - Mark of the Moon 2
Accidental Sire (e)	Molly Harper	PNR - Half-Moon Hollow 14

July 25, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Wildfire	Ilona Andrews	PNR - Hidden Legacy 3
The Unholy Consult	R. Scott Bakker	F - Aspect-Emperor 4
Nod (tp2mm)	Adrian Barnes	Dys/LF/SF/AP/PA
Red Right Hand (h2tp)	Levi Black	DF/H - The Mythos War 1
Tomorrow War: Serpent Road	J. L. Bourne	TechTh - The Chronicles of Max 2
The Wilding Sisters	Eve Chase	CW/CoA/FL
Killing Is My Business	Adam Christopher	SF/Noir/PI - Ray Electromatic Mysteries 2
Time Siege (h2tp)	Wesley Chu	SF/TT - Time Salvager 2
Glory Imperialis: An Astra Militarum Omnibus	Mark Clapham Andy Hoare Richard Williams	SF - Astra Militarum
The Dream Keeper's Daughter	Emily Colin	R/TT/F/HistF
Sovereign	April Daniels	SH - Nemesis 2
Death's Bright Day (h2mm)	David Drake	SF - RCN 11
Dark Carousel (h2mm)	Christine Feehan	PNR - Carpathian 30
Dark Screams: Volume Seven (e)	Brian James Freeman (Ed) Richard Chizmar (Ed)	H - Dark Screams Anthology
Resurrection	John French	SF - The Horusian Wars 1
Battlefront II: Inferno Squad	Christie Golden	SF/MTI - Star Wars
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets: The Official Movie Novelization	Christie Golden	SF/MTI
Dark Rites	Heather Graham	PNR/SupTh - Krewe of Hunters 22
The Fifth Doll	Charlie N. Holmberg	HistF
Gilded Cage (h2tp)	Vic James	F/Dys/SF - Dark Gifts 1
Assassin's Price	L. E. Modesitt Jr.	F - The Imager Portfolio 11
The Punch Escrow (D)	Tal M. Klein	SF/TechTh
The Five Daughters of the Moon (D)	Leena Likitalo	HistF/DF - The Waning Moon Duology 1
Red Tithe	Robbie MacNiven	SF - Carcharodons 1
Bone White	Ronald Malfi	H/GH/Th
Gather the Daughters (D)	Jennie Melamed	LF
Raid	K.S. Merbeth	SF/AP/PA - Wastelanders 2
Blood Gamble	Melissa F. Olson	UF - Disrupted Magic 2
Copper Veins	Jennifer Allis Provost	Dys/FR - Copper Legacy 3
Strange Practice (D)	Vivian Shaw	CF - A Dr. Greta Helsing Novel 1
Extinction Age	Nicholas Sansbury Smith	SF/AP/PA - The Extinction Cycle 3
Talon of God (D)	Wesley Snipes Ray Norman	UF
Age of Swords	Michael J. Sullivan	F - The Legends of the First Empire 2
After the Downfall	Harry Turtledove	AH

July 26, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
These Deathless Bones: A Tor.com Original (e)	Cassandra Khaw	H
Hounds of the Underworld	Dan Rabarts Lee Murray	M/Noir/H - Path of Ra 1

July 27, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
She-wolf: A Cultural History of Female Werewolves (ri)	Hannah Priest	LC/SF/F
The Leper House (e)	Andrew Taylor	GO
Broken Voices (e)	Andrew Taylor	GO
The Scratch (e)	Andrew Taylor	GO

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


AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternate History
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
CW - Contemporary Women
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FL - Family Life
FolkT - Folk Tales
FR - Fantasy Romance
GH - Ghost(s)
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GO - Gothic
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HU - Humor
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legends and Mythology
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
Noir - Noir
Occ - Occult
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PI - Private Investigator
PM - Paranormal Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PRS - Paranormal Romantic Suspense
Psy - Psychological
R - Romance
RPGs - Role Playing Games
Satire - Satire
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SH - Superhero(es)
SP - Steampunk
Sup - Supernatural
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy
VisMeta - Visionary and Metaphysical
W - Western
Z - Zombies

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

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/designer 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 August 5, 2017.

Vote for your favorite July 2017 Debut Cover!

The Bone Mother

Devil's Call

The Epiphany Machine

The Fifth Ward: First Watch

The Five Daughters of the Moon

Gather the Daughters

Godblind

Gork, the Teenage Dragon

Graveyard Shift

Hook's Tale

Like a Fly on the Wall

Lost in Arcadia

The Magical World of Madame Metier

The Null Prophecy

Out in the Open

The Punch Escrow

Strange Practice

Talon of God

Tropic of Kansas

The Truants

Uncle Brucker the Rat Killer

When the English Fall

 

pollcode.com free polls

Lee Markham

The Truants
The Overlook Press, July 11, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 272 pages
Horror, Dystopian

A fresh twist on the vampire mythos, The Truants is a dystopian novel of startling intensity, narrated by immortal old-ones.

Contorting the conventional vampire narrative into a startling tale of immortality, blood lust, and rage contaminating London’s inner-city youth like a virus, The Truants tells the story of the last of the old-ones―creatures afflicted with a condition not unlike vampirism: ancient, bloodthirsty, and unable to withstand sunlight.

The last old-one has decided to end his life, but before he can act he is held up at knifepoint. His assailant disappears, the knife in his pocket, the blood of the old-one seared into its sharpened edge. The knife trades hands, drawing blood again, and the old-one is resurrected through his victims’ consciousness and divided, spreading through the infected. With his horde of infected youth, the old-one must reclaim the knife to regain control of his soul. But someone is out to stop him...

David Williams

When the English Fall
Algonquin Books, July 11, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 256 pages
Apocalyptic, Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopia, Hard Science Fiction

A riveting and unexpected novel that questions whether a peaceful and nonviolent community can survive when civilization falls apart.

When a catastrophic solar storm brings about the collapse of modern civilization, an Amish community in Pennsylvania is caught up in the devastating aftermath. Once-bright skies are now dark. Planes have plummeted to the ground. The systems of modern life have crumbled. With their stocked larders and stores of supplies, the Amish are unaffected at first. But as the English (the Amish name for all non-Amish people) become more and more desperate, they begin to invade Amish farms, taking whatever they want and unleashing unthinkable violence on the peaceable community.

Seen through the diary of an Amish farmer named Jacob as he tries to protect his family and his way of life, When the English Fall examines the idea of peace in the face of deadly chaos: Should members of a nonviolent society defy their beliefs and take up arms to defend themselves? And if they don’t, can they survive?

David Williams’s debut novel is a thoroughly engrossing look into the closed world of the Amish, as well as a thought-provoking examination of “civilization” and what remains if the center cannot hold.

Michael F. Haspil

Graveyard Shift
Tor Books, July 18, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 352 pages
Urban Fantasy, Thrillers, Police Procedural

Police procedurals go supernatural in this gritty urban fantasy debut by Michael F. Haspil in Graveyard Shift

Alex Menkaure, former pharaoh and mummy, and his vampire partner, Marcus, born in ancient Rome, are vice cops in a special Miami police unit. They fight to keep the streets safe from criminal vampires, shape-shifters, bootleg blood-dealers, and anti-vampire vigilantes.

When poisoned artificial blood drives vampires to murder, the city threatens to tear itself apart. Only an unlikely alliance with former opponents can give Alex and Marcus a fighting chance against an ancient vampire conspiracy.

If they succeed, they'll be pariahs, hunted by everyone. If they fail, the result will be a race-war bloodier than any the world has ever seen.

“Gritty urban fantasy and hard-boiled noir packed into a hand grenade of awesome!” —Mario Acevedo, author of Werewolf Smackdown

Leena Likitalo

The Five Daughters of the Moon
Tor.com, July 25, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 224 pages
Historical Fantasy, Dark Fantasy

Inspired by the 1917 Russian revolution and the last months of the Romanov sisters, The Five Daughters of the Moon by Leena Likitalo is a beautifully crafted historical fantasy with elements of technology fueled by evil magic.

The Crescent Empire teeters on the edge of a revolution, and the Five Daughters of the Moon are the ones to determine its future.

Alina, six, fears Gagargi Prataslav and his Great Thinking Machine. The gagargi claims that the machine can predict the future, but at a cost that no one seems to want to know.

Merile, eleven, cares only for her dogs, but she smells that something is afoul with the gagargi. By chance, she learns that the machine devours human souls for fuel, and yet no one believes her claim.

Sibilia, fifteen, has fallen in love for the first time in her life. She couldn't care less about the unrests spreading through the countryside. Or the rumors about the gagargi and his machine.

Elise, sixteen, follows the captain of her heart to orphanages and workhouses. But soon she realizes that the unhappiness amongst her people runs much deeper that anyone could have ever predicted.

And Celestia, twenty-two, who will be the empress one day. Lately, she's been drawn to the gagargi. But which one of them was the first to mention the idea of a coup?

Inspired by the 1917 Russian revolution and the last months of the Romanov sisters, The Five Daughters of the Moon is a beautifully crafted historical fantasy with elements of technology fuelled by evil magic.

Vivian Shaw

Strange Practice
A Dr. Greta Helsing Novel 1
Orbit, July 25, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages
Contemporary Fantasy

Meet Greta Helsing, doctor to the undead.

Dr. Greta Helsing has inherited the family's highly specialized, and highly peculiar, medical practice. She treats the undead for a host of ills - vocal strain in banshees, arthritis in barrow-wights, and entropy in mummies.

It's a quiet, supernatural-adjacent life, until a sect of murderous monks emerges, killing human and undead Londoners alike. As terror takes hold of the city, Greta must use her unusual skills to stop the cult if she hopes to save her practice, and her life.

RJ Barker

Age of Assassins
The Wounded Kingdom 1
Orbit, August 1, 2017
Paperback and eBook, 432 pages
Epic Fantasy

IT'S A GAME OF ASSASSIN VERSUS ASSASSIN

Girton Club-foot has no family, a crippled leg, and is apprenticed to the best assassin in the land.

He's learning the art of taking lives, but his latest mission tasks him with a far more difficult challenge: to save a life. Someone is trying to kill the heir to the throne, and it is up to Girton to uncover the traitor and prevent the prince's murder.

Age of Assassins is the first in an epic new trilogy set in a world ravaged by magic, featuring a cast of assassins, knights, ambitious noblemen, and fools.

Marina J. Lostetter

Noumenon
Harper Voyager, August 1, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 432 pages
Science Fiction, Space Opera

With nods to Arthur C. Clarke’s Rama series and the real science of Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves, a touch of Hugh Howey’s Wool, and echoes of Octavia Butler’s voice, a powerful tale of space travel, adventure, discovery, and humanity that unfolds through a series of generational vignettes.

In 2088, humankind is at last ready to explore beyond Earth’s solar system. But one uncertainty remains: Where do we go?

Astrophysicist Reggie Straifer has an idea. He’s discovered an anomalous star that appears to defy the laws of physics, and proposes the creation of a deep-space mission to find out whether the star is a weird natural phenomenon, or something manufactured.

The journey will take eons. In order to maintain the genetic talent of the original crew, humankind’s greatest ambition—to explore the furthest reaches of the galaxy— is undertaken by clones. But a clone is not a perfect copy, and each new generation has its own quirks, desires, and neuroses. As the centuries fly by, the society living aboard the nine ships (designated Convoy Seven) changes and evolves, but their mission remains the same: to reach Reggie’s mysterious star and explore its origins—and implications.

A mosaic novel of discovery, Noumenon—in a series of vignettes—examines the dedication, adventure, growth, and fear of having your entire world consist of nine ships in the vacuum of space. The men and women, and even the AI, must learn to work and live together in harmony, as their original DNA is continuously replicated and they are born again and again into a thousand new lives. With the stars their home and the unknown their destination, they are on a voyage of many lifetimes—an odyssey to understand what lies beyond the limits of human knowledge and imagination.

Ladee Hubbard

The Talented Ribkins
Melville House, August 8, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 304 pages
Contemporary Fantasy

At seventy-two, Johnny Ribkins shouldn’t have such problems: He’s got one week to come up with the money he stole from his mobster boss or it’s curtains for Johnny.

What may or may not be useful to Johnny as he flees is that he comes from an African-American family that has been gifted with super powers that are rather sad, but superpowers nonetheless. For example, Johnny’s father could see colors no one else could see. His brother could scale perfectly flat walls. His cousin belches fire. And Johnny himself can make precise maps of any space you name, whether he’s been there or not.

In the old days, the Ribkins family tried to apply their gifts to the civil rights effort, calling themselves the Justice Committee. But when their, eh, superpowers proved insufficient, the group fell apart. Out of frustration Johnny and his brother used their talents to stage a series of burglaries, each more daring than the last.

Fast forward a couple decades and Johnny’s on a race against the clock to dig up loot he’s stashed all over Florida.  His brother is gone, but he has an unexpected sidekick: his brother’s daughter, Eloise, who has a special superpower of her own.

Inspired by W. E. B. Du Bois’s famous essay “The Talented Tenth” and fuelled by Ladee Hubbard’s marvelously original imagination, The Talented Ribkins is a big-hearted debut novel about race, class, politics, and the unique gifts that, while they may cause some problems from time to time, bind a family together.

Spencer Ellsworth 

A Red Peace
The Starfire Trilogy 1
Tor.com, August 22, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 224 pages
Science Fiction, Space Opera, Military SF

A Red Peace, first in Spencer Ellsworth's Starfire trilogy, is an action-packed space opera in a universe where the oppressed half-Jorian crosses have risen up to supplant humanity and dominate the galaxy.

Half-breed human star navigator Jaqi, working the edges of human-settled space on contract to whoever will hire her, stumbles into possession of an artifact that the leader of the Rebellion wants desperately enough to send his personal guard after. An interstellar empire and the fate of the remnant of humanity hang in the balance.

Spencer Ellsworth has written a classic space opera, with space battles between giant bugs, sun-sized spiders, planets of cyborgs and a heroine with enough grit to bring down the galaxy's newest warlord.

Brian Allen Carr

SIP
Soho Press, August 29, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 304 pages
Science Fiction, Apocalyptic, Post-Apocalyptic

A lyrical, apocalyptic debut novel about addiction, friendship, and the struggle for survival …

It started with a single child, and quickly spread: you could get high by drinking your own shadow. At night, lights were destroyed so that addicts could sip shadow in the pure light of the moon.

Gangs of shadow addicts chased down children on playgrounds, rounded up old ladies from retirement homes. Cities were destroyed and governments fell. And if your shadow was sipped entirely, you became one of them, had to find more shadow, at any cost, or go mad.

150 years later, what’s left of the world is divided between the highly regimented life of those inside dome-cities that are protected from natural light (and natural shadows), and those forced to the dangerous, hardscrabble life in the wilds outside. In rural Texas, Mira, her shadow-addicted friend Murk, and an ex-Domer named Bale, search for a possible mythological cure to the shadow sickness—but they must do so, it is said, before the return of Halley’s Comet, which is only days away.

Curtis Craddock

An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors
The Risen Kingdoms 1
Tor Books, August 29, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 416 pages
Epic Fantasy, Historical Fantasy

A delightful and engrossing fantasy debut featuring an intelligent heroine and her guardian, a royal musketeer.

In a world of soaring continents and bottomless skies, where a burgeoning new science lifts skyships into the cloud-strewn heights, and ancient blood-borne sorceries cling to a fading glory, Princess Isabelle des Zephyrs is about to be married to a man she has barely heard of, the second son of a dying king in an empire collapsing into civil war.

Born without the sorcery that is her birthright but with a perspicacious intellect, Isabelle believes her marriage will stave off disastrous conflict and bring her opportunity and influence. But the last two women betrothed to this prince were murdered, and a sorcerer-assassin is bent on making Isabelle the third. Aided and defended by her loyal musketeer, Jean-Claude, Isabelle plunges into a great maze of prophecy, intrigue, and betrayal, where everyone wears masks of glamour and lies. Step by dangerous step, she unravels the lies of her enemies and discovers a truth more perilous than any deception.