The Qwillery

Happy 1st Monday in May. This past weekend was terrific with Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) and May the 4th Be with You falling on the same day. I had a grand time at FCBD this year.

This is a heavy publication week, which I love!  Here is a printable PDF of this week's releases. Take it shopping, then make an origami book out of it!




There are 4 debuts out tomorrow.

Generation V by M. L. Brennan. I'm really enjoying this so far.

S.D. Perry's first original novel (as in not a tie-in or part of another series) - The Summer Man.

Sidney Poitier's first novel - Montaro Caine.

There is also the US debut of The Finno-Ugrian Vampire by Noemi Szecsi.

John Mantooh has an eNovella being released tomorrow - Broken Branch.  It includes a preview of The Year of the Storm (June 4, 2013)



Debut Author Challenge alumni also have new novels out this week:

Chuck Wendig starts a new series, Gods and Monsters, with Unclean Spirits.

Kira Brady continues her Deadglass Trilogy with Hearts of Shadow.

Bec McMaster's Heart of Iron comes out tomorrow as well. It's the second novel in her London Steampunk series.



May 6, 2013

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Brazen Amazon (e)	Sandy James	UFR - Alliance of the Amazons 3

May 7, 2013

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Alteration (ri)	Kingsley Amis	AH
The Green Man (ri)	Kingsley Amis	Gh
Hearts of Shadow	Kira Brady	PNR - Deadglass Trilogy 2
Generation V (D)	M.L. Brennan	UF -An American Vampire 1
Guardian	Jack Campbell	SF - The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier3
The Influence	Ramsey Campbell	H
His Broken Angel (e)	Beth Ciotta	SPR - The Glorious Victorious Darcys Novella
The Cursed	Alyssa Day	PNR - League of the Black Swan 1
Community Service (e)	Vaughn R. Demont	UF - Broken Mirrors 3
Dead Man's Deal	Jocelynn Drake	UF - Asylum Tales 2
Taming the Demon	Doranna Durgin	PNR
Eversworn	Hailey Edwards	PNR - Daughters of Askara 3
The Fictional Man	Al Ewing	SF
Portal	Eric Flint Ryk E. Spoor	SF - Boundary 3
Goodbye for Now (h2tp)	Laurie Frankel	SF/R
Into the Shadows	Greg F. Gifune	H
Elminster Enraged (h2mm)	Ed Greenwood	F - D&D: Forgotten Realms: The Sage of Shadowdale 3
Baneblade	Guy Haley	F - Warhammer 40,000: Imperial Guard
The Havoc Machine	Steven Harper	SP - Clockwork Empire 4
Dead Ever After	Charlaine Harris	UF - Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire 13
The Mist-Torn Witches	Barb Hendee	F - Mist-Torn Witches 1
Taken by a Vampire	Joey W. Hill	PNR - Vampire Queen 9
Shield of Sea and Space	Erin Hoffman	F - Chaos Knight 3
Undone	Sara Humphreys	PNR - Amoveo Legend 4
Predatory	Alexandra Ivy Nina Bangs Dianne Duvall Hannah Jayne	PNR
Black Magic	Russell James	H
The Tower	Jean Johnson	PNR - Guardians of Destiny 1
Alien in the House	Gini Koch	SF - Katherine 'Kitty' Katt 7
Assassins' Dawn	Stephen Leigh	SF
The Reason is You (tp2mm)	Sharla Lovelace	R w/ PE
Time Thief	Katie MacAlister	PNR - Time Thief 1
Broken Branch (e)	John Mantooth	UF
Heart of Iron	Bec McMaster	SPR - London Steampunk 2
Tunnel Out of Death	Jamil Nasir	SF
Children of the Gates	Andre Norton	SF
The Belly of the Bow (ri/e)	K. J. Parker	F - Fencer Trilogy 2
Colours in the Steel (ri/e)	K. J. Parker	F - Fencer Trilogy 1
Memory	K. J. Parker	F - Scavenger Trilogy 3
Pattern (ri/e)	K. J. Parker	F - Scavenger Trilogy Series 2
The Proof House (ri/e)	K. J. Parker	F - Fencer Trilogy 3
Shadow (ri/e)	K. J. Parker	F - Scavenger Trilogy 1
Deathwatch	Steve Parker	F - Warhammer 40,000
Red Moon	Benjamin Percy	Su/Th
The Summer Man (D - 1st original novel)	S.D. Perry	H
Oberon's Dreams	Aaron Pogue	F
Montaro Caine (D)	Sidney Poitier	Metaphysical
Seduction: A Novel of Suspense	M. J. Rose	Sus/Gh
Tales of Majipoor	Robert Silverberg	SF - Short Stories
Keeper of the Shadows	Alexandra Sokoloff	PNR - The Keepers: L.A.
Shadows of Falling Night	S. M. Stirling	UF - Shadowspawn 3
The Finno-Ugrian Vampire (US D)	Noemi Szecsi	Satire
Nightbound	Lynn Viehl	PNR - Lords of the Darkyn 3
House of Steel: The Honorverse Companion	David Weber	SF
Unclean Spirits	Chuck Wendig	UF - Gods and Monsters 1
Eternal Demon	Laura Wright	PNR - Mark of the Vampire 5
Sorry Please Thank You: Stories	Charles Yu	SF - Collection

May 8, 2013

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Fire Above, Fire Below: A Tor.Com Original	Garth Nix	F

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


AH - Alternate History
F - Fantasy
Gh - Ghost
H - Horror
PE - Paranormal Elements
PNR - Paranormal Romance
R - Romance
SF - Science Fiction
SP - Steampunk
SPR - Steampunk Romance
Su - Supernatural
Th - Thriller
UF - Urban Fantasy
UFR - Urban Fantasy Romance

There are 6 debuts for May.  Please note that I use the publisher's publication date in the United States, not copyright dates or non-US publication dates.

The May debut authors and their novels are listed in alphabetical order by author (not book title or publication date). 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.

Take a good look at the covers. Voting for your favorite May cover for the 2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars will take place later this month.





The Garden of Stones
Author:  Mark T. Barnes
Series:  Echoes of Empire
Publisher:   47North, May 21, 2013
Format:  Trade Paperback and Kindle eBook, 506 pages
Price:  $14.95
ISBN:   978-1611098938

An uneasy peace has existed since the fall of the Awakened Empire centuries ago. Now the hybrid Avān share the land with the people they once conquered: the star-born humans; the spectral, undead Nomads; and what remains of the Elemental Masters.

With the Empress-in-Shadows an estranged ghost, it is the ancient dynasties of the Great Houses and the Hundred Families that rule. But now civil war threatens to draw all of Shrīan into a vicious struggle sparked by one man’s lust for power, and his drive to cheat death.

Visions have foretold that Corajidin, dying ruler of House Erebus, will not only survive, but rise to rule his people. The wily nobleman seeks to make his destiny certain—by plundering the ruins of his civilization’s past for the arcane science needed to ensure his survival, and by mercilessly eliminating his rivals. But mercenary warrior-mage Indris, scion of the rival House Näsarat, stands most powerfully in the usurper’s bloody path. For it is Indris who reluctantly accepts the task of finding a missing man, the only one able to steer the teetering nation towards peace.

Generation V
Author:  M. L. Brennan
Publisher:  Roc, May 7, 2013
Format:  Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 320 pages
Price:  $7.99 (print)
ISBN:  9780451418401 (print)

Reality Bites

Fortitude Scott’s life is a mess. A degree in film theory has left him with zero marketable skills, his job revolves around pouring coffee, his roommate hasn’t paid rent in four months, and he’s also a vampire. Well, sort of. He’s still mostly human.

But when a new vampire comes into his family’s territory and young girls start going missing, Fort can’t ignore his heritage anymore. His mother and his older, stronger siblings think he’s crazy for wanting to get involved. So it’s up to Fort to take action, with the assistance of Suzume Hollis, a dangerous and sexy shape-shifter. Fort is determined to find a way to outsmart the deadly vamp, even if he isn’t quite sure how.

But without having matured into full vampirehood and with Suzume ready to split if things get too risky, Fort’s rescue mission might just kill him.…

The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black
Author:  E.B. Hudspeth
Publisher:  Quirk Books, May 21, 2013
Format:  Hardcover and eBook, 208 pages
Price:  $24.95 (print)
ISBN:  9781594746161  (print)

Philadelphia. The late 1870s. A city of cobblestone sidewalks and horse-drawn carriages. Home to the famous anatomist and surgeon Dr. Spencer Black. The son of a “resurrectionist” (aka grave robber), Dr. Black studied at Philadelphia’s esteemed Academy of Medicine, where he develops an unconventional hypothesis: What if the world’s most celebrated mythological beasts—mermaids, minotaurs, and satyrs—were in fact the evolutionary ancestors of humankind?

The Resurrectionist offers two extraordinary books in one. The first is a fictional biography of Dr. Spencer Black, from his humble beginnings to the mysterious disappearance at the end of his life. The second book is Black’s magnum opus: The Codex Extinct Animalia, a Gray’s Anatomy for mythological beasts—dragons, centaurs, Pegasus, Cerberus—all rendered in meticulously detailed black-and-white anatomical illustrations. You need only look at these images to realize they are the work of a madman. The Resurrectionist tells his story.

The Shambling Guide to New York City
Author:  Mur Lafferty
Series:  The Shambling Guides
Publisher:  Orbit Books, May 28, 2013
Format:  Trade Paperback and eBook, 368 pages
Price:  $15.00 (print)
ISBN: 9780316221177 (print)

A travel writer takes a job with a shady publishing company in New York, only to find that she must write a guide to the city - for the undead!

Because of the disaster that was her last job, Zoe is searching for a fresh start as a travel book editor in the tourist-centric New York City. After stumbling across a seemingly perfect position though, Zoe is blocked at every turn because of the one thing she can't take off her resume --- human.

Not to be put off by anything -- especially not her blood drinking boss or death goddess coworker -- Zoe delves deep into the monster world. But her job turns deadly when the careful balance between human and monsters starts to crumble -- with Zoe right in the middle.

Apocalypse Cow
Author:  Michael Logan
Publisher:  St. Martin's Griffin, May 21, 2013
Format:  Trade Paperback and eBook, 352 pages
Price:  $14.99 (print)
ISBN:   9781250032867 (print)
US Debut

If you think you've seen it all -- WORLD WAR Z, THE WALKING DEAD-- you haven't seen anything like this. From the twisted brain of Michael Logan comes Apocalypse Cow, a story about three unlikely heroes who must save Britain . . . from a rampaging horde of ZOMBIE COWS!

Forget the cud. They want blood.

It began with a cow that just wouldn't die. It would become an epidemic that transformed Britain's livestock into sneezing, slavering, flesh-craving four-legged zombies.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the fate of the nation seems to rest on the shoulders of three unlikely heroes: an abattoir worker whose love life is non-existent thanks to the stench of death that clings to him, a teenage vegan with eczema and a weird crush on his maths teacher, and an inept journalist who wouldn't recognize a scoop if she tripped over one.

As the nation descends into chaos, can they pool their resources, unlock a cure, and save the world?

Three losers.
Overwhelming odds.
One outcome . . .

Yup, we're screwed.

Montaro Caine
Author:  Sidney Poitier
Publisher:  Spiegel & Grau, May 7, 2013
Format:  Hardcover and eBook, 320 pages
Price:  $26.00 (print)
ISBN:  978-0-385-53111-5 (print)

A baby is born with a coin in her hand. An orphan crafts a mysterious wooden object. The CEO of a large corporation finds himself under extraordinary pressure at work and at home. And on a remote hilltop on a Caribbean island, a medicine man seems to understand the meaning of all these events and to hold the key to the future.

Montaro Caine, CEO of the Fitzer Corporation, is losing control of the company he built just as his teenage daughter is experiencing her own difficulties. At this moment of crisis, a man and woman appear at his office with a coin of unknown provenance, composed of a metal unknown on Earth. Montaro immediately recognizes it as the companion of a coin he analyzed as a graduate student working in a lab at MIT, which was later returned to its unidentified owner. The coin’s appearance draws the attention of scientists, collectors, financiers, and thieves, all of whom vie to get their hands on it, and Montaro himself hopes that the discovery of the coin will save his company. But the value of the coin lies not in its monetary worth but in its hold on the people who come into contact with it. These include the young woman who is not aware of the object that was found in her hand at birth; an old man who, as a boy, crafted a wooden compact as a gift for a young Montaro Caine; and the elusive healer Matthew Perch, who, from his hut on a small Caribbean island, knows precisely why these people have been brought together and what wisdom the coin imparts.

In his first novel, the beloved actor and director Sidney Poitier takes us on a wild and unexpected adventure—from New York to Europe to the Caribbean and beyond. The novel offers Poitier’s heartfelt message about the potential each of us has within ourselves, and about being open to the possibility that there are mysteries in the universe, and here on Earth, far greater than we can imagine. An enthralling journey into the magic of existence, Montaro Caine is a radiant debut from an American legend.

Please welcome M. L. Brennan to The Qwillery as part of the 2013 Debut Author Challenge Guest Blogs.  Generation V will be published on May 7, 2013 by Roc.









There’s something I like about a weak protagonist. I don’t mean weak in a moral or character sense, but in terms of how they stack up against their antagonist. The weak protagonist doesn’t have a super magical power that can level her enemies with a thought, or an army to lead, or fighting skills so incredible that they’ve never lost and can never lose. The weak protagonist is outclassed in every encounter with the bad guys – so they end up having to use their brains, or make connections with other characters, or sometimes go into a fight that they know they will, in all likelihood, lose.

To me, that creates a character that is inherently interesting and also has a certain level of tension throughout the story. This can be missing in a story where the hero never loses, always comes out on top, or just has so much power that as soon as they enter the room they can just re-order reality to fix the situation. Something that really struck me the first time I heard it was when I was listening to the Firefly episode commentaries (because, yes, I’m that geek) and Joss Whedon was talking about how important it was that most of the pilot episode showed his characters getting pushed around and not being able to do much about it. He said that it was more interesting to see someone get up than see someone never fall down. He also said, and I can quote because this really hung with me, “It’s the Air Force One arc. ‘He’s a strong, tough president, and when the chips are down, he’s strong and tough!’ Well, that’s not much of a story, is it?”

That was the thought that was in my mind when I created my title character for Generation V, Fortitude Scott. Fort might be a vampire, but at the beginning of the book, everyone can beat him up. In one of the early scenes, he is mugged on the sidewalk by Bruins fans. But this is also the guy who is later going to risk his life to try to save a little girl – and unlike when a superman-style character goes and rescues a little girl, Fort is someone who can actually get seriously hurt or even killed. When I was constructing the character, Fort’s vulnerabilities were incredibly important to me, because in my mind that’s what makes his later actions heroic – he knows that his enemy can beat him into a pulp, and he goes in anyway. That made me respect him, and it also left me interested and invested in him, much more so than if he’d spent the rest of the book displaying awesome superpowers.

Tied in with that, I wanted the big issue of the book to not involve the end of the world. Because when the end of the world is involved, there isn’t exactly much of an option about whether or not to stop it. It’s like, ‘well, I don’t want to risk my life to stop the end of the world. But if I stay here on my sofa drinking Red Bull, the world will end, and I’ll die anyway. So I guess I might as well go and try to stop it.’ That’s not an actual choice, which is why end of the world stakes bug me when I read a story. So when Fort is facing the big stakes of the book, I didn’t have him face the end of the world. I had him face something that was, yes, evil. But it was evil that if he turned his back and sat on the couch, he’d get through it just fine, and so would his family and the rest of the world. The person who would die wouldn’t make an impact on his life. But he chooses to go risk his life anyway, and that was what made him someone that I could root for both as the reader and as the author.





About Generation V

Generation V
Roc, May 7, 2013
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 320 pages

Reality Bites

Fortitude Scott’s life is a mess. A degree in film theory has left him with zero marketable skills, his job revolves around pouring coffee, his roommate hasn’t paid rent in four months, and he’s also a vampire. Well, sort of. He’s still mostly human.

But when a new vampire comes into his family’s territory and young girls start going missing, Fort can’t ignore his heritage anymore. His mother and his older, stronger siblings think he’s crazy for wanting to get involved. So it’s up to Fort to take action, with the assistance of Suzume Hollis, a dangerous and sexy shape-shifter. Fort is determined to find a way to outsmart the deadly vamp, even if he isn’t quite sure how.

But without having matured into full vampirehood and with Suzume ready to split if things get too risky, Fort’s rescue mission might just kill him.…

About M. L. Brennan

M. L. Brennan lives in Connecticut with her husband and three cats. Holding a master’s degree in fiction, she teaches basic composition to college students. After spending years writing and publishing short work in other genres, Brennan decided to branch out and write the kind of book that she loved to read, resulting in Generation V, her first full-length work of urban fantasy.

Website  ~  Facebook  ~  Twitter @BrennanML

I'm pleased to announce the 3 newest featured authors for the 2013 Debut Author Challenge.


M.L. Brennan

Generation V
Publisher:  Roc, May 7, 2013
Format:  Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 320 pages
Price:  $7.99 (print)
ISBN:  978-0-451-41840-1 (print)

Reality Bites

Fortitude Scott’s life is a mess. A degree in film theory has left him with zero marketable skills, his job revolves around pouring coffee, his roommate hasn’t paid rent in four months, and he’s also a vampire. Well, sort of. He’s still mostly human.

But when a new vampire comes into his family’s territory and young girls start going missing, Fort can’t ignore his heritage anymore. His mother and his older, stronger siblings think he’s crazy for wanting to get involved. So it’s up to Fort to take action, with the assistance of Suzume Hollis, a dangerous and sexy shape-shifter. Fort is determined to find a way to outsmart the deadly vamp, even if he isn’t quite sure how.

But without having matured into full vampirehood and with Suzume ready to split if things get too risky, Fort’s rescue mission might just kill him.…

Betsy Dornbusch

Exile
Series:  Seven Eyes
Publisher:  Night Shade Books, February 5, 2013
Format:  Hardcover and eBook, 320 pages
Price:  $26.99 (print)
ISBN:  978-1-59780-452-3 (print)

Draken vae Khellian, bastard cousin of the Monoean King, had risen far from his ignominious origins, becoming both a Bowrank Commander and a member of the Crown’s Black Guard. But when he is falsely condemned for the grisly murder of his beloved wife, he is banished from the kingdom and cast upon the distant shore of Akrasia, at the arse-end of the world.

Compared to civilized Monoea, Akrasia is a forbidding land of Moonlings, magic, and restless spirits. It is also a realm on the brink of a bloody revolution, as a sinister conspiracy plots against Akrasia’s embattled young queen–and malevolent banes possess the bodies of the living.

Consumed by grief, and branded a murderer, Draken lives only to clear his name and avenge his wife’s murder. But the fates may have bigger plans for him. Alone in a strange land, he soon finds himself sharing the bed of an enigmatic necromancer and a half-breed servant girl, while pressed into the service of a foreign queen whose life and land may well depend on the divided loyalties of an exiled warrior . . .

Exile is the beginning of an ambitious fantasy saga by an acclaimed new author.

Michael Logan

Apocalypse Cow
Publisher:  St. Martin's Griffin, May 21, 2013
Format:  Trade Paperback and eBook, 352 pages
Price:  $14.99 (print)
ISBN:  978-1-250-03286-7 (print)
(US Debut)

Forget the cud. They want blood.

It began with a cow that just wouldn't die. It would become an epidemic that transformed Britain's livestock into sneezing, slavering, flesh-craving four-legged zombies.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the fate of the nation seems to rest on the shoulders of three unlikely heroes: an abattoir worker whose love life is non-existent thanks to the stench of death that clings to him, a teenage vegan with eczema and a weird crush on his maths teacher, and an inept journalist who wouldn't recognize a scoop if she tripped over one.

As the nation descends into chaos, can they pool their resources, unlock a cure, and save the world?

Three losers.
Overwhelming odds.
One outcome . . .

Yup, we're screwed.