The Qwillery

Happy 1st Monday in October!

There are 3 debuts this week:

salt slow by Julia Armfield;

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo;

and

The Furies by Katie Lowe.




From formerly featured DAC Authors:

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse (The Thorne Chronicles 1) by K. Eason;

The Oyster Thief by Sonia Faruqi out in Trade Paperback;

The True Bastards (The Lost Lands 2) by Jonathan French;

The Princess Beard (Tales of Pell 3) by Kevin Hearne and Delilah S. Dawson;

A Cathedral of Myth and Bone: Stories by Kat Howard is out in Trade Paperback;

A Lush and Seething Hell: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror by John Hornor Jacobs;

and

A Conjuring of Light Collector's Edition (Shade of Magic 3) by V. E. Schwab.

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

October 7, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Wasteland (ri)	Terry Goodkind	F - Children of D'Hara 3
Iron & Velvet	Alexis Hall	UF - Kate Kane, Paranormal Investigator 1

October 8, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
salt slow (D)	Julia Armfield	SS/LF/SF/AP/PA
The Penguin Book of Mermaids	Cristina Bacchilega (Ed) Marie Alohalani Brown (Ed)	FairyT/FolkT/LM/Sup
Ninth House (D-Adult)	Leigh Bardugo	SupTh/Occ/Sup
The Remaking	Clay McLeod Chapman	H/SupTh/Occ/Sup
Metropolitan Stories	Christine Coulson	LF/SS
The Princess Beard	Delilah S. Dawson Kevin Hearne	F/HU/FairyT/FolkT/LM - Tales of Pell 3
Merlin Redux	Dave Duncan	HistF - Enchanter General 3
How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse	K. Eason	SF/SO/HU - The Thorne Chronicles 1
The Oyster Thief (h2tp)	Sonia Faruqi	F
The True Bastards	Jonathan French	F/DF - The Lot Lands 2
Sudden Traveler: Stories	Sarah Hall	SS
Duchamp Versus Einstein	Christopher Hinz Etan Ilfeld	SF/AC/AP/PA
A Cathedral of Myth and Bone: Stories (h2tp)	Kat Howard	SS
A Lush and Seething Hell: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror	John Hornor Jacobs	H
Warrior of the Altaii	Robert Jordan	F
Dark Ink	Gary Kemble	H/AH/SupTh
The Furies (D)	Katie Lowe	Th/CoA
Collateral Damage	David Mack	SF - Star Trek: The Next Generation
Hazards of Time Travel (h2tp)	Joyce Carol Oates	Dys
Before the Devil Fell	Neil Olson	LF/M&D/Cr
The Forbidden Stars	Tim Pratt	SF/HSF - The Axiom Series 3
Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts	Kate Racculia	LF
Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control	Stuart Russell	Tech & Eng/Robotics/Biotechnology
A Conjuring of Light Collector's Edition	V. E. Schwab	HistF/Gaslamp - Shades of Magic 3
Skin (ri)	Ilka Tampke	HistF
A Punk Rock Future	Steve Zisson (Ed)	SF/F - Anthology

October 9, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Afrofuturism Rising: The Literary Prehistory of a Movement	Isiah Lavender III	LC - New Suns: Race, Gender, and Sexuality

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



AB - Absurdist
AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternative History
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
Cr - Crime
CW - Contemporary Women
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FL - Family Life
FolkT - Folk Tales
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&D - Mystery & Detective
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PolTh - Political Thriller
PsyTh - Psychological Thriller
RF - Romantic Fantasy
SE - Space Exploration
SF - Science Fiction
SH - Superheroes
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
SS - Short Stories
Sup - Supernatural
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy

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 2018 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 October 31, 2018, unless the vote is extended. If the vote is extended the ending date will be updated.

Vote for your favorite October 2018 Debut Cover!

The Allfather Paradox

A Conspiracy of Truths

Mage Against the Machine

The Oyster Thief

The Quantum Magician

Samuel Johnson's Eternal Return

Strange Ink

The Witch of Willow Hall

Zero Sum Game

 

pollcode.com free polls

Happy Monday!

There is 1 debut this week:

The Oyster Thief by Sonia Faruqi.




From formerly featured DAC Authors:

Treason of Hawks (The Shadow 4) by Lila Bowen;

The Black Khan (The Khorasan Archives 2) by Ausma Zehanat Khan;

Dan Koboldt is the editor of Putting the Science in Fiction: Expert Advice for Writing with Authenticity in Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Other Genres;

Tomorrow Factory: Collected Fiction by Rich Larson;

The Wastelanders by K.S. Merbeth;

Shades of Magic Boxed Set: A Darker Shade of Magic, A Gathering of Shadows, A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic) by V. E. Schwab;

and

Mutiny at Vesta (Sheildrunner Pirates 2) by R. E. Stearns.

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

October 16, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Beast Arises: Volume 1	Dan Abnett Rob Sanders Gave Thorpe David Annandale	SF - Warhammer 40,000
In the Vanisher's Palace (e)	Aliette de Bodard	F
Treason of Hawks	Lila Bowen	F/HistF/CoA - The Shadow 4
The Book of Magic: A Collection of Stories	Gardner Dozois (Ed)	F - Anthology
Trial by Treason	Dave Duncan	HistF/DF/F - The Enchanter General 2
Rejoice, a Knife to the Heart	Steven Erikson	SF/AC/LF/Pol
The Oyster Thief (D)	Sonia Faruqi	F
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2018 Edition	Paula Guran (Ed)	DF/H - Anthology
Monsters of the Week: The Complete Critical Companion to The X-Files	Zack Handlen Todd VanDerWerff	PerfArts/LC
In the House in the Dark of the Woods	Laird Hunt	Hist/H/LF
Riddance: Or: The Sybil Joines Vocational School for Ghost Speakers & Hearing-Mouth Children	Shelley Jackson	GH/CoA/P/Occ/Sup/LF
Black Wings of Cthulhu	S. T. Joshi	H/DF/SupTh - Black Wings of Cthulhu 6
The Black Khan	Ausma Zehanat Khan	F - The Khorasan Archives 2
Gotrek and Felix: Volume 1	William King	F - Warhammer Chronicles 1
Putting the Science in Fiction: Expert Advice for Writing with Authenticity in Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Other Genres	Dan Koboldt (Ed)	Writing Skills
The Bartered Brides	Mercedes Lackey	HistF/Gaslamp - Elemental Masters 13
Tomorrow Factory: Collected Fiction	Rich Larson	SF - Collection
I Am Behind You	John Ajvide Lindqvist	H
The Wastelanders	K.S. Merbeth	SF/AP/PA
The Last Sword Maker	Brian Nelson	TechTh/Sus - Course of Empire 1
Creatures: The Legacy of Frankenstein	David Thomas Moore (Ed)	Anthology
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Seek: The Strange Case Continues	Anthony O'Neill	Gothic/HistM/HistTh
Melmoth	Sarah Perry	Gothic
The Robotic Imaginary: The Human and the Price of Dehumanized Labor	Jennifer Rhee	LC/SF/F/PopCul/PerfArts
Star Trek Designing Starships Volume 1: The Enterprises and Beyond	Ben Robinson Marcus Reily	PerfArts/SF/TV
The Consuming Fire	John Scalzi	SF/SO - The Interdependency 2
Shades of Magic Boxed Set: A Darker Shade of Magic, A Gathering of Shadows, A Conjuring of Light	V. E. Schwab	HistF/Gaslamp - Shades of Magic
Mutiny at Vesta	R. E. Stearns	SF - Shieldrunner Pirates 2
The Shadow City	Ryan Wieser	SF/CyP - Hunters of Infinity 3

October 18, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Collaborative Worldbuilding for Writers and Gamers	Trent Hergenrader	Composition and Creative Writing
Garden of Eldritch Delights	Lucy A. Snyder	H/SF/F - Collection

October 19, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Waking Nightmares (e)(ri)	Christopher Golden	CF/DF - Peter Octavian / Shadow Saga 5

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



AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternate History
Anthro - Anthropology
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
Cr - Crime
CW - Contemporary Woman
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)
GN - Graphic Novel
Gothic - Gothic
H - Horror
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
Hist M - Historical Mystery
Hist R - Historical Romance
HistTh - Historical Thriller
HSF - Hard Science Fiction
HU - Humor
LC - Literary Criticism
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legend and Mythology
MedTh - Medical Thriller
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PCM - Parnormal Cozy Mystery
PerfArts - Performing Arts
PNR - Paranormal Romance
Pol - Political
PolTh - Political Thriller
PopCul - Popular Culture
Sc - Science
SE - Space Exploration
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SH - Superheroes
SO - Space Opera
SocHist - Social History
SocSc - Social Science
SP - Steampunk
SpecFic - Speculative Fiction
SS - Short Stories
Sup - Supernatural
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological 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. What is the first piece you remember writing?

Sonia:  When I was nine, I wrote a story about a little girl my own age taking care of pigeons.



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

Sonia:  Definitely a plotter! I spent three months plotting The Oyster Thief scene by scene.



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

Sonia:  The solitary aspect of it.



TQ:  What has influenced / influences your writing?

Sonia:  Coming across good writing that inspires me to do better.



TQ:  Describe The Oyster Thief using only 5 words.

Sonia:  Mermaid novel of a lifetime.



TQ:  Tell us something about The Oyster Thief that is not found in the book description.

Sonia:  As far as I know, it is the world's first fantasy featuring a detailed, real-feeling underwater culture of merpeople.



TQ:  What inspired you to write The Oyster Thief? What appeals to you about writing Fantasy?

Sonia:  The idea of an underwater world fell into my mind on January 1st, 2015. It was a freezing-cold morning in Canada, and I wished I could escape into tropical waters. But it was too expensive to book a last-minute flight, so I decided to escape in my mind. With a cup of tea in hand, I started inventing an underwater world. I like that fantasy allows us to escape without escaping. And science fantasy allows us to enter a world that exists (the ocean, for instance) but to which we may have more access through the imagination than real life. Parts of the ocean are less known than the moon!



TQ:  What sort of research did you do for The Oyster Thief?

Sonia:  I snorkeled, scuba-dived, swam with sharks, and pored over books and countless articles about the ocean.



TQ:  Please tell us about the cover for The Oyster Thief.

Sonia:  The cover shows an artistic underwater scene, with a mermaid tail in the foreground.



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

Sonia:  Coralline, the protagonist, was easy to write in some ways because I could relate to her. Izar, the other protagonist, was a little harder to write because he is an engineer and inventor whose strong suit is physics - not my strong suit.



TQ:  Does The Oyster Thief touch on any social issues?

Sonia:  Absolutely! I find that literature can be an important tool for education and social change. The Oyster Thief touches on themes of ocean conservation.



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

Sonia:  Hmm.... Why a mermaid novel? Because it would be amazing if mermaids existed!



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

Sonia:  “In order to heal others, you have to first heal yourself. . . . Success is an outcome not of imitation but of authenticity—of not abiding by the rules but changing them. The questions are more important than the answers.”


“Infidelity is not an act but a feeling.”



TQ:  What's next?

Sonia:  I am considering a sequel to The Oyster Thief.



TQ:  Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

Sonia:  Thank you!

The Oyster Thief
Pegasus Books, October 16, 2018
Hardcover and eBook, 304 pages

Two worlds collide when a mermaid and human man meet, plunging readers into a vast underwater realm brimming with adventure and intrigue.

"The mermaid’s scales were bronze, and they shimmered like hundreds of pennies arranged close together. Her immense blue-green eyes gave a look of fragility to her face, yet he found her eyes unsettling. She was leaning against a thirty-foot-long shark, which emerged from behind her and opened its mouth to reveal a great big cavern lined with hundreds of teeth—a black tunnel ready to swallow him."

Coralline is a mermaid who is engaged to the merman of her dreams. But when an oil spill wreaks havoc on her idyllic village life, her little brother falls gravely ill. Desperate to save him, she embarks on aquest to find a legendary elixir made of starlight.

Izar, a human man, is on the cusp of an invention that will enable him to mine the depths of the ocean. His discovery will soon make him the richest man on earth—while threatening merpeople with extinction. But then, suddenly, Izar finds himself transformed into a merman and caught in a web of betrayal and intrigue. Meeting Coralline in the ocean, he decides to join her on her quest for the elixir, hoping it will turn him human again.

The quest pushes Coralline and Izar together, even though their worlds are at odds. Their pasts threaten to tear them apart, while a growing attraction adds to the danger. Ultimately, each of them faces an impossible choice. Should Coralline leave her fiancé for a man who might betray her? And Izar has a dark secret of his own—one that could cause him to lose Coralline forever.

Magnificent and moving, set against a breathtaking ocean landscape, The Oyster Thief is a richly imagined odyssey destined to become a classic.

About Sonia

Sonia pushes the boundaries of imagination in her debut novel The Oyster Thief, an underwater odyssey. She is also the author of critically acclaimed Project Animal Farm, about the world’s food system. A skilled storyteller and speaker, she lives in Toronto, Canada.











Website  ~ Twitter @Sonia_Faruqi  ~  Facebook

Shaun Barger

Mage Against the Machine
Saga Press, October 30, 2018
Hardcover and eBook, 512 pages

Harry Potter meets The Terminator in this action-packed adventure about a young man who discovers that everything he believed about his world is a lie.

The year is 2120. The humans are dead. The mages have retreated from the world after a madman blew up civilization with weaponized magical technology. Safe within domes that protect them from the nuclear wasteland on the other side, the mages have spent the last century putting their lives back together.

Nikolai is obsessed with artifacts from twentieth-century human life: mage-crafted replica Chuck Taylors on his feet, Schwarzenegger posters on his walls, Beatlemania still alive and well in his head. But he’s also tasked with a higher calling—to maintain the Veils that protect mage-kind from the hazards of the wastes beyond. As a cadet in the Mage King’s army, Nik has finally found what he always wanted—a purpose. But when confronted by one of his former instructors gone rogue, Nik tumbles into a dark secret. The humans weren’t nuked into oblivion—they’re still alive. Not only that, outside the domes a war rages between the last enclaves of free humans and vast machine intelligences.

Outside the dome, unprepared and on the run, Nik finds Jem. Jem is a Runner for the Human Resistance. A ballerina-turned-soldier by the circumstances of war, Jem is more than just a human—her cybernetic enhancement mods make her faster, smarter, and are the only things that give her a fighting chance against the artificial beings bent on humanity’s eradication.

Now Nik faces an impossible decision: side with the mages and let humanity die out? Or stand with Jem and the humans—and risk endangering everything he knows and loves?

Sonia Faruqi

The Oyster Thief
Pegasus Books, October 16, 2018
Hardcover and eBook, 304 pages

Two worlds collide when a mermaid and human man meet, plunging readers into a vast underwater realm brimming with adventure and intrigue.

"The mermaid’s scales were bronze, and they shimmered like hundreds of pennies arranged close together. Her immense blue-green eyes gave a look of fragility to her face, yet he found her eyes unsettling. She was leaning against a thirty-foot-long shark, which emerged from behind her and opened its mouth to reveal a great big cavern lined with hundreds of teeth—a black tunnel ready to swallow him."

Coralline is a mermaid who is engaged to the merman of her dreams. But when an oil spill wreaks havoc on her idyllic village life, her little brother falls gravely ill. Desperate to save him, she embarks on aquest to find a legendary elixir made of starlight.

Izar, a human man, is on the cusp of an invention that will enable him to mine the depths of the ocean. His discovery will soon make him the richest man on earth—while threatening merpeople with extinction. But then, suddenly, Izar finds himself transformed into a merman and caught in a web of betrayal and intrigue. Meeting Coralline in the ocean, he decides to join her on her quest for the elixir, hoping it will turn him human again.

The quest pushes Coralline and Izar together, even though their worlds are at odds. Their pasts threaten to tear them apart, while a growing attraction adds to the danger. Ultimately, each of them faces an impossible choice. Should Coralline leave her fiancé for a man who might betray her? And Izar has a dark secret of his own—one that could cause him to lose Coralline forever.

Magnificent and moving, set against a breathtaking ocean landscape, The Oyster Thief is a richly imagined odyssey destined to become a classic.

Hester Fox

The Witch of Willow Hall
Graydon House, October 2, 2018
Trade Paperback and eBook, 368 pages

Two centuries after the Salem witch trials, there’s still one witch left in Massachusetts. But she doesn’t even know it.

Take this as a warning: if you are not able or willing to control yourself, it will not only be you who suffers the consequences, but those around you, as well.

New Oldbury, 1821

In the wake of a scandal, the Montrose family and their three daughters—Catherine, Lydia and Emeline—flee Boston for their new country home, Willow Hall.

The estate seems sleepy and idyllic. But a subtle menace creeps into the atmosphere, remnants of a dark history that call to Lydia, and to the youngest, Emeline.

All three daughters will be irrevocably changed by what follows, but none more than Lydia, who must draw on a power she never knew she possessed if she wants to protect those she loves. For Willow Hall’s secrets will rise, in the end…

S.L. Huang

Zero Sum Game
Cas Russell 1
Tor Books, October 2, 2018
Hardcover and eBook, 336 pages

A blockbuster, near-future science fiction thriller, S.L. Huang's Zero Sum Game introduces a math-genius mercenary who finds herself being manipulated by someone possessing unimaginable power…

Cas Russell is good at math. Scary good. The vector calculus blazing through her head lets her smash through armed men twice her size and dodge every bullet in a gunfight, and she'll take any job for the right price.

As far as Cas knows, she’s the only person around with a superpower...until she discovers someone with a power even more dangerous than her own. Someone who can reach directly into people’s minds and twist their brains into Moebius strips. Someone intent on becoming the world’s puppet master.

Cas should run, like she usually does, but for once she's involved. There’s only one problem...

She doesn’t know which of her thoughts are her own anymore.

Gary Kemble

Strange Ink
Titan Books, October 9, 2018
Trade Paperback and eBook

Spine-chilling horror in the vein of Joe Hill. After moving into a new house, journalist Harry Hendrick wakes up with tattoos that aren’t his…

When washed-up journalist Harry Hendrick wakes one morning with a hangover and a strange symbol tattooed on his neck, he shrugs it off as a bad night out. But soon more tattoos appear: grisly, violent images which come accompanied by horrific nightmares - so he begins to dig deeper. Harry’s search leads him to a sinister disappearance, torment from beyond the grave, and a web of corruption and violence tangled with his own past. One way or another, he has to right the wrongs.

Derek Künsken

The Quantum Magician
The Quantum Evolution 1
Solaris, October 2, 2018
Trade Paperback and eBook, 480 pages

The breathtaking debut from acclaimed short story writer Derek Künsken.

THE ULTIMATE HEIST

Belisarius is a Homo quantus, engineered with impossible insight. But his gift is also a curse—an uncontrollable, even suicidal drive to know, to understand. Genetically flawed, he leaves his people to find a different life, and ends up becoming the galaxy’s greatest con man and thief.

But the jobs are getting too easy and his extraordinary brain is chafing at the neglect. When a client offers him untold wealth to move a squadron of secret warships across an enemy wormhole, Belisarius jumps at it. Now he must embrace his true nature to pull off the job, alongside a crew of extraordinary men and women.

If he succeeds, he could trigger an interstellar war… or the next step in human evolution.

Martin Riker

Samuel Johnson's Eternal Return
Coffee House Press, October 9, 2018
Trade Paperback and eBook, 256 pages

After he dies, Samuel Johnson inhabits one body after the next, waiting for a chance to return to his son.

When Samuel Johnson dies, he finds himself in the body of the man who killed him, unable to depart this world but determined, at least, to return to the son he left behind. Moving from body to body as each one expires, Samuel’s soul journeys on a comic quest through an American half-century, inhabiting lives as stymied, in their ways, as his own. A ghost story of the most unexpected sort, Martin Riker’s extraordinary debut is about the ways experience is mediated, the unstoppable drive for human connection, and the struggle to be more fully alive in the world.

Alexandra Rowland

A Conspiracy of Truths
Saga Press, October 23, 2018
Hardcover and eBook, 464 pages

A wrongfully imprisoned storyteller spins stories from his jail cell that just might have the power to save him—and take down his jailers too.

Arrested on accusations of witchcraft and treason, Chant finds himself trapped in a cold, filthy jail cell in a foreign land. With only his advocate, the unhelpful and uninterested Consanza, he quickly finds himself cast as a bargaining chip in a brewing battle between the five rulers of this small, backwards, and petty nation.

Or, at least, that's how he would tell the story.

In truth, Chant has little idea of what is happening outside the walls of his cell, but he must quickly start to unravel the puzzle of his imprisonment before they execute him for his alleged crimes. But Chant is no witch—he is a member of a rare and obscure order of wandering storytellers. With no country to call his home, and no people to claim as his own, all Chant has is his wits and his apprentice, a lad more interested in wooing handsome shepherds than learning the ways of the world.

And yet, he has one great power: his stories in the ears of the rulers determined to prosecute him for betraying a nation he knows next to nothing about. The tales he tells will topple the Queens of Nuryevet and just maybe, save his life.

Ian Stuart Sharpe

The Allfather Paradox
Vikingverse 1
Outland Entertainment, October 9, 2018
Trade Paperback and eBook, 414 pages

What if an ancient god escaped his fate…and history was thrown to the wolves?

Churchwarden Michaels thought it was just a run-of-the-mill crazy old man who stood in the graveyard, hellbent on studying the thousand-year-old Viking memorial there. But when things start changing and outright disappearing, Michaels realizes there is more to this old man than meets the eye. Now, Michaels finds himself swept up in an ancient god’s quest to escape his destiny by reworking reality, putting history—and to Michaels’s dismay, Christianity itself—to the Viking sword. In this new Vikingverse, storied heroes of mankind emerge in new and brutal guises drawn from the sagas:

A young Norse prince plots to shatter empires and claim the heavens…
A scholar exiled to the frontier braves the dangers of the New World, only to find those “new worlds” are greater than he imagined…
A captured Jötunn plants the dreams of freedom during a worlds-spanning war…
A bold empress discovers there is a price for immortality, one her ancestors have come to collect…

With the timelines stretched to breaking point, it’s up to Churchwarden Michaels to save reality as we know it…