The Qwillery

This is the sixth in a series of updates about formerly featured Debut Author Challenge authors and their 2015 works published since the last update and any upcoming works for 2016. The year in parentheses after the author's name is the year she/he was featured in the Debut Author Challenge.

Happy last Monday in April! I finished reading Midnight Crossroad and Day Shift by Charlaine Harris. I'll tell you more about these novels soon but if you've read Harris' Lily Bard and Harper Connelly series as well as the Sookie Stackhouse series you may recognize some of the characters. I also recently read Tails, You Lose by Carol J. Perry and The Lost Boys Symphony by Mark Andrew Ferguson. I'm presently reading Desert Rising by Kelley Grant and really enjoying it so far. More about each of these novels in full soon.

This is the third in a series of updates about formerly featured Debut Author Challenge authors and their upcoming books 2015. This update covers some of the 2011 Debut Author Challenge authors.What's Up for the Debut Author Challenge Authors in 2015? - Part 4  will cover 2012 DAC authors.

This is the second in a series of updates about formerly featured Debut Author Challenge authors and their upcoming books for 2014. This update covers some of the 2011 Debut Author Challenge authors. Look for What's Up for the Debut Author Challenge Authors in 2014? - Part 3 on The Qwillery later this week.

Lots of winners!

5 copies of Must Love Lycans (Broken Heart 8) by Michele Bardsley


The Question: What is your favorite paranormal being?

1.  Amy who said...

I love the Broken Heart series.

My favorite paranormal being is a vampire. I think it is because of the old vampire movies I use to sneak and watch as a kid. Then I feel in love with the books about them. I love all paranormal beings but I am a sucker for a vampire. LOL :)

2.  Eli Yanti who said...

paranormal being i loved : fairies (ash - iron king is my fav, knife and many more), vampires (edward cullen, viper, styx, layel), werewolf (jacob), nymph (nymph king - gena showalter), dragons and angels.

3.  wanda f who said...

My favorite being is werewolves .\Michele I love your Broken Hearts series Ive read all of the previous books and cant wait to read Must Love Lycans .Its my most wanted to get book of the year .

4.  Megan@Riverina Romantics said...

I'm a vampire groupie!

5.  JoAnna who said...

I love shifters, cat shifters are my favorite!

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Paradise 21 (New Dawn 1) (e-book) by Aubrie Dionne


The Question: Do you listen to music when you write? Does the music affect how or what you write?? or if you don't write - Do you listen to music when you read?

Denise Z who said...

I listen to music when I do not have to concentrate on anything else. I love it and my toes tap, my body moves, and I will belt it out with the best of them. When I listen to music I cannot write or work, but I can read albeit with some toe tapping going on:) Thank you for sharing today. I would love to read Paradise 21 and appreciate the giveaway opportunity.

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The Savage Knight (Malory's Knights of Albion) by Paul Lewis (3 copies)


The Question: Arthur or Lancelot?

1.  Krystal who said...

I was never a huge fan of either one, but I supposed I'll choose Arthur.

2.  booklover0226 who said...

Between the two, I must choose Arthur; he was devoted and dedicated to his clause.

(side note - my favorite is Gawain!)

3.  Barbara E. who said...

I'd have to go with Arthur, he's definitely the man. Savage Knight sounds very intriguing and I'm looking forward to checking it out.

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Shadow Kin (Half-Light City 1) by M.J. Scott


The Question:  Light or Dark?

Lieder Madchen who said...

Definitely dark for me! I am a total night owl and I melt in the sun. :)

Thank you for the great interview and giveaway, I have to read this book!

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Stone Cold Seduction (Set in Stone 1) (e-book) by Jess Macallan


The Question: Gargoyles or Elves?

RachaelM who said...

I would have to say gargoyles. In the last few months I have seen many books featuring gargoyles and they all look very interesting.

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The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern


The Question: If you could work at a circus, what would you like to do?

Angie who said...

This sounds so good! Putting it on my TBR list. If I were in the circus - animal trainer, but probably not the big cats. Maybe monkeys or something.

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Choice of e-book of Blood of the Demon (Demons of Infernum 1) or Mark of the Sylph (Demons of Infernum 2) by Rosalie Lario


The Question: Greek or Egyptian Mythology or both?

June M. who said...

I have read quite a bit of Greek mythology but right now I can't think of much Egyptian mythology that I have read. I will have to look into it.
These books have been on my wish list for a while now. I would LOVE to win a copy of the first book BLOOD OF DEMON.

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Choice of Deadtown, Hellforged or Bloodstone by Nancy Holzner


The Question:  If you were a demon slayer what sort of paranormal/supernatural being would be your sidekick?

erin who said...

I love, love, love thi series! I can't wait for and desperately want, Bloodstone :)

If I had a sidekick, I'd want it to be a shapeshifter who is very strong and fast to protect me! :)

Thanks for the great post and giveaway!

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Spellwright by Blake Charlton (2 signed copies of the Mass Market Paperback)  US Mailing Addresses Only!


The Question: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Epic Fantasy or all three?

1. Blissfulrains who said...

Epic fantasy! (:

2. RachaelM who said...

I like all three, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Epic Fantasy but my favorite seems to be Urban Fantasy. I love a good fantasy book to lose myself in and forget my troubles for a while. Thanks for the giveaway.

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Winners have been notified and have until 11:59 PM US Eastern Time on Sunday, October 9, 2011 to respond or The Qwillery will very randomly choose a new winner or winners.

Thank you to everyone who participated.

Please welcome M.J. Scott to The Qwillery as part of the 2011 Debut Author Challenge interviews.

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

M.J.:  I tend to hear the characters first, so my first drafts are very dialogue heavy. I have to go back and concentrate to see what they’re doing and fill in the rest. Oh, and I write out of order when I can’t figure out the next bit.

TQ:  Who are some of your favorite writers? Who do you feel has influenced your writing?

M.J.:  A list of my favorites could get very long. But here we go. Terry Pratchett. Lois McMaster Bujold. Jennifer Crusie. Jane Austen. Barbara Samuel/O’Neal. Guy Gavriel Kay. Megan Whalen Turner. Patricia Briggs. Ilona Andrews. Lilith Saintcrow. Keri Arthur. Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Loretta Chase. Jacqueline Carey. Anne Bishop. And influences? That’s a hard one. I think every book you read influences your writing. One person who has influenced my writing is Barbara Samuel because it was doing a course on voice with her that I realized I couldn’t fight my urge to write fantasy/urban fantasy forever and opened my eyes to some things about my writing voice I hadn’t seen before. But all of my favorites are people who make me alternatively green with envy and determined to keep growing as a writer so that one day I can write a book that makes somebody feel the way I feel about my favorite books.

TQ:  Are you a plotter or a panster?

M.J.:  Pretty much a pantser. I usually have a vague idea of the last scene when I start but apart from that, it’s all a blur. I do sometimes stop when I’m stuck and braindump horrible messy outlines to try and figure out any plot problem once I’m a reasonable way in but otherwise, I can’t outline in advance.

TQ:  Describe Shadow Kin in 140 characters or less.

M.J.:  Assassin fails. Sunmage falls. Mayhem ensues.

TQ:  What inspired you to write Shadow Kin?

M.J.:  I can’t claim an inspiration for this one. I’ve written other books where I wanted to write about a particular thing but really, with Shadow Kin, the heroine popped up in my head one night and started talking. What she had to say was intriguing enough that I started to write it down and just kept going.

TQ:  What sort of research did you do to create the world of Shadow Kin?

M.J.:  I tend to research as I go along. I’m a character driven writer, I follow the character who shows up in my head and find out about the world as they tell me. I don’t do world building up front, other than doing a collage for the book which gives me some of the flavor of the world. I have to discover it as I go…like an excavation. I think Stephen King talks about discovering a story like a fossil…that’s kind of how I feel. And sometimes you’re excavating at midnight in a howling rainstorm with no idea at all how you’re going to get to the end.

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

M.J.:  I still really like the first scene and I had lots of fun writing the action scenes, because it’s fun to write characters doing things they do very well and Lily fights well. And dirty.

TQ:  In Shadow Kin, who was the most difficult character to write and why? The easiest and why?

M.J.:  For me, writing the villain is always hardest. Because if I get it right, I creep myself out! And Lily was the easiest. She came through clearly from the moment she showed up in my head. Which is always nice as a writer, to have a character who makes it easy.

TQ:  How many books are planned for the Half-Light City series?

M.J.:  Three at the moment.

TQ:  What's next?

M.J.:  Blood Kin, book 2, in the Half-Light City series is out June 2012. Other than that I’m finishing up book 3 and then we’ll see what happens next!

TQ:  Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.


About Shadow Kin

Half-Light City 1
(Roc, September 6, 2011)

On one side, the Night World, ruled by the Blood Lords and the Beast Kind. On the other, the elusive Fae and the humans, protected by their steadfast mages...

Born a wraith, Lily is a shadow who slips between worlds. Brought up by a Blood Lord and raised to be his assassin, she is little more than a slave. But when Lily meets her match in target Simon DuCaine, the unlikely bond that develops between them threatens to disrupt an already stretched peace in a city on the verge of being torn apart...

About M.J.


M.J Scott is an unrepentant bookworm. Luckily she grew up in a family that fed her a properly varied diet of books and these days is surrounded by people who are understanding of her story addiction. When not wrestling one of her own stories to the ground, she can generally be found reading someone else’s. Her other distractions include yarn, cat butlering, dark chocolate and fabric. She lives in Melbourne, Australia. Her website is www.mjscott.net.


M.J.'s Links:

Website:  http://www.mjscott.net/
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/AuthorMJScott
Twitter:  http://twitter.com/#!/melscott




The Giveaway

THE RULES

What:  One commenter will win a Mass Market Paperback copy of Shadow Kin from The Qwillery.

How:  Leave a comment answering the following question:


Please remember - if you don't answer the question your entry will not be counted.

You may receive additional entries by:

1) Being a Follower of The Qwillery.

2) Mentioning the giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter. Even if you mention the giveaway on both, you will get only one additional entry. You get only one additional entry even if you mention the giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter multiple times.

3) Mentioning the giveaway on your on blog or website. It must be your own blog or website; not a website that belongs to someone else or a site where giveaways, contests, etc. are posted.

There are a total of 4 entries you may receive: Comment (1 entry), Follower (+1 entry), Facebook and/or Twitter (+ 1 entry), and personal blog/website mention (+1 entry). This is subject to change again in the future for future giveaways.

Please leave links for Facebook, Twitter, or blog/website mentions. In addition please leave a way to contact you.

Who and When: The contest is open to all humans on the planet earth with a mailing address. Contest ends at 11:59pm US Eastern Time on Wednesday, September 21, 2011. Void where prohibited by law. You must be 18 years old or older to enter.

Happy 2nd Monday in September. It's a busy week at The Qwillery.

Monday:  Guest post from Aubrie Dionne - Paradise 21 (New Dawn 1) .

Tuesday: Interview with debut author Paul Lewis - The Savage Knight (Mallory's Knights of Albion).

Wednesday: Interview with debut author MJ Scott - Shadow Kin (Half-Light City 1).

Thursday: Interview with debut author Jess Macallan - Stone Cold Seduction (Set in Stone 1)

Friday: Interview with debut author Erin Morgenstern -The Night Circus.

Book releases for this week are below. A book shopping list in PDF format may be found by clicking here. Click "File" on the left and then "Print (PDF)." Anthologies and book trailers are below.


September 13, 2011

Spellbound	Charlton, Blake	F -Spell 2
Blood and Other Cravings	Datlow, Ellen (ed)	H - Anthology
Sunrise of Avalon	Elliott, Anna	F - Twilight of Avalon 3
Crack'd Pot Trail (ri)	Erikson, Steven	F - Bauchelain and Korbal Broach 4
Prospero Regained	Lamplighter, L. Jagi	F - Prospero's Daughter 3
The Savage Knight (d)	Lewis, Paul	F - Mallory's Knights of Albion
The Night Circus (d)	Morgenstern, Erin	F
The Highest Frontier	Slonczewski, Joan	SF
Red Velvet and Absinthe: Paranormal Erotic Romance	Szereto, Mitzi (ed)	PER - Anthology

September 15, 2011

Gaslight Arcanum: Uncanny Tales of Sherlock Holmes	Campbell, J.R. (ed) Prepolec, Charles (ed)	H/F - Anthology
Tesseracts 15: A Case of Quite Curious Tales	Czerneda, Julie (ed) MacGregor, Susan (ed)	SF - Anthology
The Battle Sylph	McDonald, L.J.	PNR -Sylph 1
Queen of the Sylphs	McDonald, L.J.	PNR -Sylph 3
The Shattered Sylph	McDonald, L.J.	PNR -Sylph 2
Tastes of Love and Evil	Monajem, Barbara	PNR -Bayou Gavotte 2
The Rafters	Montgomery, AC	F - Somnambulist Saga 1
Briarpatch	Pratt, Tim	F
The Pattern Scars	Sweet, Caitlin	EF

d - Debut
ri - Reissue


EF - Epic Fantasy
F - Fantasy
H - Horror
PER - Paranormal Erotic Romance
PNR - Paranormal Romance
SF - Science Fiction


Anthologies






Book trailer:

The Night Circus by Erin Morgentstern

Here are the September debut authors and their novels (in alphabetical order). Pick one or more and let us know in the comments which one(s) you'll be reading. If I've missed any, let me know in the comments.

This month I simply can't pick one. I'm going to read all of them!

Those Across the River
Author: Christopher Buehlman
Format: Hardcover, 368 pages
Publisher: Ace (September 6, 2011)
Price: $24.95
Language: English
Genre: Horror
ISBN: 9780441020676

Failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife, Eudora, have arrived in the sleepy Georgia town of Whitbrow, where Frank hopes to write a history of his family's old estate-the Savoyard Plantation- and the horrors that occurred there. At first, the quaint, rural ways of their new neighbors seem to be everything they wanted. But there is an unspoken dread that the townsfolk have lived with for generations. A presence that demands sacrifice.

It comes from the shadowy woods across the river, where the ruins of Savoyard still stand. Where a longstanding debt of blood has never been forgotten.

A debt that has been waiting patiently for Frank Nichols's homecoming...

No Proper Lady
Author: Isabel Cooper
Series:
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 352 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks (September 1, 2011)
Price: $6.99
Language: English
Genre:  Historical Fantasy Romance/ Time Travel Romance
ISBN:  9781402259524

It’s Terminator meets My Fair Lady in this fascinating debut of black magic and brilliant ball gowns, martial arts, and mysticism.

England, 1888. The trees are green, the birds are singing, and no one has any idea that in a few hundred years, demons will destroy it all. Joan plans to keep it that way. All she has to do is take out the dark magician responsible—before he summons the demons in the first place. But as a rough-around-the-edges assassin from that bleak future, she’ll have to learn how to fit into polite Victorian society to get close to her target.

Simon Grenville has his own reasons for wanting to destroy Alex Reynell. The man used to be his best friend—until his practice of the dark arts almost killed Simon’s sister. The beautiful half-naked stranger Simon meets in the woods may be the perfect instrument for his revenge. It will just take a little time to teach her the necessary etiquette and assemble a proper wardrobe. But as each day passes, Simon is less sure he wants Joan anywhere near Reynell. Because no spell in the world will save his future if she isn’t in it.

The Savage Knight
Author:  Paul Lewis
Series:  Malory's Knights of Albion
Format:  Trade Paperback, 288 pages
Publisher:  Abaddon (September 13, 2011)
Price:  $9.99
Language:  English
Genre:  Historical Fantasy / Arthurian Legend
ISBN:  9781907992346

Sir Dodinal the Savage is more at home in the wild forest than in the tilting yard or the banquet hall. Keenly attuned to the natural world, but burdened with a terrible rage, he turns his back on Camelot to find peace, or a just death.

In a quiet village on the Welsh border, Dodinal believes he may have finally found a home, but the village is struck by child-stealing raiders from the hills, and he must take up arms once again in his new friends' aid. His quest will take him into the belly of darkness, as the terrible secret hidden in the hills comes to light...

Stone Cold Seduction
Author:  Jess Macallan
Series:  Set in Stone
Format: Trade Paperback, 256 pages
Publisher:  Entangled Publishing (September 6, 2011)
Price:  $14.99
Language:  English
Genre:  Urban Fantasy Romance
ISBN: 978-1-937044-25-1

“Elle. It’s just Elle.”

When a regular night of Robin Hood-ery results in the manifestation of some, um, unusual paranormal abilities, perfume-maker Elleodora Fredricks realizes the normal world she lives in isn’t quite… normal. And neither is she, thanks to her father, king of the shadow elves. Not only is he evil incarnate and the reason Elle moonlights as a burglar—someone has to take care of all his victims—he’s stolen her memories.

And only reading her fate can fix that.

Good thing she’s got a trio of hotties willing to help her find said fate. Saving her oracle BFF’s fiancée, falling in love with the gargoyle, and making up for breaking the phoenix’s heart ought to be a piece of cake for the princess of the shadow elves.

If only the king didn’t want his daughter dead…

The Night Circus
Author:  Erin Morgenstern
Format: Hardcover, 400 pages
Publisher:  Doubleday (Septemeber 13, 2011)
Price:  $26.95
Language:  English
Genre:  Fantasy
ISBN: 978-0-385-53463-5

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

Sins of the Angels
Author:  Linda Poitevin
Series:  The Grigori Legacy
Format:  Mass Market Paperback, 336 pages
Publisher:  Ace (September 27, 2011)
Price:  $7.99
Language:  English
Genre:  Urban Fantasy
ISBN: 978044102091

When homicide detective Alexandra Jarvis is assigned a new partner in Aramael, a Guardian Angel who doubles as a hit man, they have only one thing in common: a fallen angel hell-bent on triggering the apocalypse. Now they have no choice but to work together-relentlessly, fearlessly, intimately. Because only they can stop the rogue angel from ushering in the end of days.

The Panama Laugh
Author:  Thomas S. Roche
Format:  Trade Paperback, 300 pages
Publisher:  Night Shade Books (September 6, 2011)
Price:  $14.99
Language:  English
Genre:  Science Fiction/Apocalyptic
ISBN:  978-1-59780-290-1

Ex-mercenary, pirate, and gun-runner Dante Bogart knows he's screwed the pooch after he hands one of his shady employers a biological weapon that made the dead rise from their graves, laugh like hyenas, and feast upon the living. Dante tried to blow the whistle via a tell-all video that went viral -- but that was before the black ops boys deep-sixed him at a secret interrogation site on the Panama-Colombia border.

When Dante wakes up in the jungle with the five intervening years missing from his memory, he knows he's got to do something about the laughing sickness that has caused a world-wide slaughter. The resulting journey leads him across the nightmare that was the Panama Canal, around Cape Horn in a hijacked nuclear warship, to San Francisco's mission district, where a crew of survivalist hackers have holed up in the pseudo-Moorish-castle turned porn-studio known as The Armory.

This mixed band of anti-social rejects has taken Dante's whistle blowing video as an underground gospel, leading the fight against the laughing corpses and the corporate stooges who've tried to profit from the slaughter. Can Dante find redemption and save civilization?

Shadow Kin
Author:  M. J. Scott
Series:  Half-Light City
Format:  Mass Market Paperback, 336 pages
Publisher:  Roc (September 6, 2011)
Price:  $7.99
Language:  English
Genre:  Dark Fantasy / Paranormal Romance
ISBN:  9780451464040

On one side, the Night World, rules by the Blood Lords and the Beast Kind. On the other, the elusive Fae and the humans, protected by their steadfast mages...

Born a wraith, Lily is a shadow who slips between worlds. Brought up by a Blood Lord and raised to be his assassin, she is little more than a slave. But when Lily meets her match in target Simon DuCaine, the unlikely bond that develops between them threatens to disrupt an already stretched peace in a city on the verge of being torn apart...