The Qwillery

It is Monday again!

There is one debut this week -

You Let Me In by Camilla Bruce




From formerly featured DAC Authors:

According to Kovac (Robot Dreams 1) by Andrew Bannister;

Alchemy of Glass by Barbara Barnett;

Gears of War: Bloodlines by Jason Hough;

The Girl and the Stars (The Book of the Ice1) by Mark Lawrence;

We Are Mayhem (Black Star Renegades 2) by Michael Moreci is out in Trade Paperback;

The Ranger of Marzanna (The Goddess War 1) by Jon Skovron;

The Beasts of Lake Oph (Robot Dreams 4) by Tom Toner;

Deep Learning (Robot Dreams 2) by Ren Warom;

and

An Explorer's Cartography of Already Settled Lands: A Tor.com Original by Fran Wilde.

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

April 21, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
According to Kovac	Andrew Bannister	SF - Robot Dreams 1
Alchemy of Glass	Barbara Barnett	HistF
Shorefall	Robert Jackson Bennett	F/UF - The Founders Trilogy 2
You Let Me In (D)	Camilla Bruce	Th/PsyTh/Gothic
The Faking of the President: Nineteen Stories of White House Noir	Peter Carlaftes (Ed)	Spec - Anthology
Ship of Fates	Caitlin Chung	HistF
The Binding (h2tp)	Bridget Collins	LF
Master Class	Christina Dalcher	Dys/Sys/CW
Race the Sands	Sarah Beth Durst	F
The Moon Always Rising	Alice C. Early	LF/CW/FL/CRo/MR/CH
Little Digs	Lisa L. Hannett	F
Looking Glass	Christina Henry	DF/FairyT/FolkT/LM - The Chronicles of Alice 3
Gears of War: Bloodlines	Jason M. Hough	SF/MTI
Velocities: Stories	Kathe Koja	SS
The Cerulean Queen	Sarah Kozloff	F - The Nine Realms 4
The Girl and the Stars	Mark Lawrence	F/DF - The Book of the Ice1
Daughter of the Forest (ri)	Juliet Marillier	HistF/FolkT/FairyT/LM - Sevenwaters 1
Life for Sale	Yukio Mishima	Psy/AB - Vintage International
We Are Mayhem (h2tp)	Michael Moreci	SF/SO - Black Star Renegades 2
Lanny (h2tp)	Max Porter	LF/MR/Typography
Aurora Rising (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/Cr/M/GenEng/HSF/SO - The Perfect Dreyfus Emergencies 1
Absolution Gap (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO  - Revelation Space 4
Pushing Ice (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO
Galactic North (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO - Revelation Space
Redemption Ark (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO - Revelation Space 3
Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO - Revelation Space
Chasm City (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO - Revelation Space 2
House of Suns (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO
Revelation Space (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO - Revelation Space 1
Century Rain (e)	Alastair Reynolds	SF/HSF/SE/SO
The Ranger of Marzanna	Jon Skovron	F/RF - Goddess War 1
Creatures of Charm and Hunger	Molly Tanzer	HistF - Diabolist's Library 3
Blindsight (ri)	Peter Watts	SF/HSF/AC - Firefall 1
Repo Virtual	Corey J. White	SF/CyP

April 22, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Night Sun: A Tor.com Original (e)	Zin E. Rocklyn	H
Deep Learning	Ren Warom	SF - Robot Dreams 2
An Explorer's Cartography of Already Settled Lands: A Tor.com Original (e)	Fran Wilde	F

April 23, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Wise Friend	Ramsey Campbell	SupTh/H/Sus - Fiction Without Frontiers
End Game	Hailey Edwards	UF/RF/P - The Foundling 5
Boy in the Box (ri)	Marc E. Fitch	Sus/SupTh - Fiction Without Frontiers
The Heron Kings (ri)	Eric Lewis	F - Fiction Without Frontiers
Paper Hearts	Justina Robson	SF - Robot Dreams 3

April 24, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Beasts of Lake Oph	Tom Toner	SF - Robot Dreams 4

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



AB - Absurdist
AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternate History
AP - Apocalyptic
BlHu - Black Humour
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CH - Cultural Heritage
Cr - Crime
CW - Contemporary Women
CyP - Cyperpunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
Esp - Espionage
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FL - Family Life
FolkT - Folk Tales
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HSF - Hard Science Fiction
HU - Humorous
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legend and Mythology
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PI - Private Investigator(s)
PM - Paranormal Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
Pol - Political
PP - Police Procedural
Psy - Psychological
PsyTh - Psychological Thriller
RF - Romantic Fantasy
SE - Space Exploration
SF - Science Fiction
SH - Superheroes
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
Spec - Speculative
STR - Small Town and Rural
Sup - Supernatural
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy
VisM - Visionary and Metaphysical

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

Happy first Monday in June!

There are 3 debuts this week:

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey;

The Ragged Blade by Christopher Ruz;

and

Oval by Elvia Wilk.





 From formerly featured DAC Authors:

The Soul of Power (The Waking Land 3) by Callie Bates;

Abigale Hall by Lauren A. Forry is out in Trade Paperback;

Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music, and the Decade Sci-Fi Exploded by Jason Heller is out in Trade Paperback;

An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim is out in Trade Paperback;

The Robots of Gotham by Todd McAulty is out in Trade Paperback;

Fray (Unraveled Kingdom 2) by Rowenna Miller

The Lost Queen (The Lost Queen 1) by Signe Pike is out in Trade Paperback;


Empire of Silence (Sun Eater 1) by Christopher Ruocchio is out in Mass Market Paperback.

and

The Fire Opal Mechanism (Jewel 2) by Fran Wilde.

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

June 3, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Give Up the Ghost (e)	Jenn Burke	PM - Not Dead Yet 2
Craving Supernatural Creatures: German Fairy-Tale Figures in American Pop Culture	Claudia Schwabe	FairyT/FolkT/LM/ MTI/LF - Fairy-Tale Studies

June 4, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Wastelands: The New Apocalypse	John Joseph Adams (Ed)	SF/AP/PA - Anthology
The Year's Best Military & Adventure SF, Vol. 5	David Afsharirad (Ed)	SF - Year's Best Military & Adventure Science 5
Spine of the Dragon	Kevin J. Anderson	F - Wake the Dragon 1
The Soul of Power	Callie Bates	F - The Waking Land 3
The Sound of Echoes	Eric Bernt	TechTh/Th/SF - Speed of Sound Thrillers 2
The Plague Stones	James Brodgen	H/SupTh/Occ/Sup
My Enemy's Enemy	Robert Buettner	SF
Brief Cases (h2tp)	Jim Butcher	UF - Dresden Files Collection
Sunspot Jungle: Volume Two: The Ever Expanding Universe of Fantasy and Science Fiction (e)	Bill Campbell (Ed)	SF/F/H - Anthology
This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us (h2tp)	Edgar Cantero	Cr/Satire/BH
To Clear Away the Shadows	David Drake	SF/SO - RCN 13
Abigale Hall (h2tp)	Lauren A. Forry	PsyTh
Magic for Liars (D)	Sarah Gailey	CF/M/Sus
Just One Bite	Jack Heath	Cr/H/PI
Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music, and the Decade Sci-Fi Exploded (h2tp)	Jason Heller	PopCul/LC/SF/F
Zero Sum Game (h2tp)	S. L. Huang	SF/TechTh - Cas Russell 1
Flight or Fright: 17 Turbulent Tales	Stephen King (Ed) Bev Vincent (Ed)	Sus/H - Anthology
The Outsider (h2tp)	Stephen King	Sus
The Hills Have Spies (h2mm)	Mercedes Lackey	F/FR - Valdemar: Family Spies 1
Liaden Universe Constellation IV	Sharon Lee Steve Miller	SF/SO - Liaden Universe collection
An Ocean of Minutes (h2tp)	Thea Lim	LF
Unraveling	Karen Lord	F/FairyT/FolkT/LM
The Robots of Gotham (h2tp)	Todd McAulty	SF
Fray	Rowenna Miller	F/HistF - Unraveled Kingdom 2
The Beyond	Chloe Neill	UF/P/PNR - Devil's Isle 4
Burning Sky (tp2mm)	Weston Ochse	SF/H
From Distant Stars	Sam Peters	SF/M/Noir/SFR/AC - From Darkest Skies 2
The Lost Queen (h2tp)	Signe Pike	Hist - Lost Queen 1
By the Pricking of Her Thumb	Adam Roberts	SF/M/Cr
The Great Eastern	Howard Rodman	HistF
Empire of Silence (h2mm)	Christopher Ruocchio	SF/SO/AC - Sun Eater 1
The Ragged Blade (D)	Christopher Ruz	F - Century of Sand 1
Wolf Rain	Nalini Singh	PNR/SFR/P - Psy-Changeling Trinity 3
War Criminals	Gavin G. Smith	SF/Th/HSF/CyP/AC - Bastard Legion 3
Fall; or, Dodge in Hell	Neal Stephenson	TechTh
At All Costs (Limited Leatherbound Collector's Edition)	David Weber	SF - Honor Harrington 11
The Fire Opal Mechanism	Fran Wilde	F - Jewel 2
Oval (D)	Elvia Wilk	LF/BH/TechTh/Dys/SF/Satire
Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine: A Decade of Hugo & Nebula Award Winning Stories, 2005-2015	Sheila Williams (Ed)	SF - Anthology

June 7, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Black Madness :: Mad Blackness	Therí Alyce Pickens	LC/SocSci/SF/F

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



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

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

Callie Bates (2017)

The Soul of Power
The Waking Land 3
Del Rey June 4, 2019
Hardcover and eBook, 480 pages

One young woman learns the true nature of power—both her own and others’—in the riveting conclusion to The Waking Land Trilogy.

Sophy Dunbarron—the illegitimate daughter of a king who never was—has always felt like an impostor. Separated from her birth mother, raised by parents mourning the loss of their true daughter, and unacknowledged by her father, Sophy desires only a place and a family to call her own. But fate has other ideas. Caught up in Elanna Valtai’s revolution, Sophy has become the reigning monarch of a once-divided country—a role she has been groomed her whole life to fill.

But as she quickly discovers, wearing a crown is quite a different thing from keeping a crown. With an influx of magic-bearing refugees pouring across the border, resources already thinned by war are stretched to the breaking point. Half the nobility in her court want her deposed, and the other half question her every decision. And every third person seems to be spontaneously manifesting magical powers.

When Elanna is captured and taken to Paladis, Sophy’s last ally seems to have vanished. Now it is up to her alone to navigate a political maze that becomes more complex and thorny by the day. And worse, Sophy is hiding a huge secret—one that could destroy her tenuous hold on the crown forever.

Don’t miss any of Callie Bates’s magical Waking Land trilogy:
THE WAKING LAND • THE MEMORY OF FIRE • THE SOUL OF POWER

Book 1

Book 2

Brian Kirk (2015)

Will Haunt You
Flame Tree Press, March 14, 2019
Hardcover, Trade Paperback and eBook, 240 pages

You don’t read the book. It reads you. 

Rumors of a deadly book have been floating around the dark corners of the deep web. A disturbing tale about a mysterious figure who preys on those who read the book and subjects them to a world of personalized terror. Jesse Wheeler—former guitarist of the heavy metal group The Rising Dead—was quick to discount the ominous folklore associated with the book. It takes more than some urban legend to frighten him. Hell, reality is scary enough. Seven years ago his greatest responsibility was the nightly guitar solo. Then one night when Jesse was blackout drunk, he accidentally injured his son, leaving him permanently disabled. Dreams of being a rock star died when he destroyed his son's future. Now he cuts radio jingles and fights to stay clean. But Jesse is wrong.

The legend is real—and tonight he will become the protagonist in an elaborate scheme specifically tailored to prey on his fears and resurrect the ghosts from his past. Jesse is not the only one in danger, however.

By reading the book, you have volunteered to participate in the author’s deadly game, with every page drawing you closer to your own personalized nightmare.

The real horror doesn’t begin until you reach the end. That’s when the evil comes for you.

Fran Wilde (2015)

The Fire Opal Mechanism
Tor.com, June 4, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 208 pages

Jewels and their lapidaries and have all but passed into myth.

Jorit, broke and branded a thief, just wants to escape the Far Reaches for something better. Ania, a rumpled librarian, is trying to protect her books from the Pressmen, who value knowledge but none of the humanity that generates it.

When they stumble upon a mysterious clock powered by an ancient jewel, they may discover secrets in the past that will change the future forever.

Happy Monday!

There are 2 debuts this week:

The Lost Puzzler by Eyal Kless;

and

The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh




From formerly feature DAC Authors:

Lipstick Voodoo (Kincaid Strange 2) by Kristi Charish;

The Fall of Io (Io 2) by Wesley Chu;

A Cathedral of Myth and Bone: Stories by Kat Howard

Ninth Step Station (Episode 1) by Malka Older, Fran Wilde, Jacqueline Koyanagi, and Curtis Chen.

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

January 7, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Game Changers of the Apocalypse (e)	Mark Kirkbride	PA/H
To Free a Captured Heart (e)	R.L. Naquin	FR - Djinn Haven 3

January 8, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Power (h2tp)	Naomi Alderman	SF/AP/PA/CoA/Dys/LF
The Coming Storm	Mark Alpert	TechTh/SF/AP/PA
The Winter of the Witch	Katherine Arden	F/MR/LF - Winternight Trilogy 3
Lipstick Voodoo	Kristi Charish	UF/P/M - Kincaid Strange 2
The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King: A Novel of Teddy Roosevelt and His Times	Jerome Charyn	MR
Emergence (h2mm)	C. J. Cherryh	SF/AC/SO/HSF - Foreigner 19
Alliance Rising: The Hinder Stars I	C. J. Cherryh Jane S. Fancher	SF/HSF/SO - Alliance-Union Universe
Regenesis (ri)	C. J. Cherryh	SF/GenEng/CyP - Alliance-Union : Cyteen 4
The Fall of Io	Wesley Chu	SF/AC - Io 2
Bones Behind the Wheel	E. J. Copperman	PCM - A Haunted Guesthouse Mystery 10
The Outlaw and the Upstart King	Rod Duncan	SP/AH - Map of Unknown Things 2
It Devours! (h2tp)	Joseph Fink Jeffrey Cranor	F/HU - A Welcome to Night Vale Novel
48 Hours	William R. Forstchen	TechTh/SF/AP/PA
Inferno! #2	Guy Haley	F - Tales from the Worlds of Warhammer
For the Winner: A Novel of Jason and the Argonauts (h2tp)	Emily Hauser	Hist
Mephiston: Revenant Crusade	Darius Hinks	SF - Mephiston 2
A Cathedral of Myth and Bone: Stories	Kat Howard	F - Collection
Warrior of the World	Jeffe Kennedy	F - Chronicles of Dasnaria 3
Serpent in the Heather (h2tp)	Kay Kenyon	HistF - A Dark Talents Novel 2
The Lost Puzzler (D)	Eyal Kless	SF/HSF - Tarakan Chronicles 1
The Water Cure (D)	Sophie Mackintosh	Psy/CoA/Dys
Star Trek: Discovery: The Way to the Stars	Una McCormack	SF - Star Trek: Discovery 4
In an Absent Dream	Seanan McGuire	CF/DF/FairyT/FolkT/LM - Wayward Children 4
The Uriel Ventris Chronicles	Graham McNeill	SF
The Night Market (h2tp)	Jonathan Moore	PsyTh
The Outcasts of Time (h2tp)	Ian Mortimer	Hist
Mouthful of Birds: Stories	Samanta Schweblin Megan McDowell (Tr)	F/MR - Collection
Through Fiery Trials	David Weber	SF - Safehold 10
The Heart of What Was Lost (tpmm)	Tad Williams	F - A Novel of Osten Ard 1
War of the Flowers (ri)	Tad Williams	F/DF
The Void Protocol	F. Paul Wilson	MedTh/SupTh

January 9, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Beyond the El: A Tor.com Original (e)	John Chu	SF
Ninth Step Station	Malka Older Fran Wilde Jacqueline Koyanagi Curtis C. Chen	NF/M

January 10, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Junction	Daniel M. Bensen	SF/SE - Fiction Without Frontiers
The Haunting of Henderson Close	Catherine Cavendish	GH - Fiction Without Frontiers
Savage Species (ri)	Jonathan Janz	H - Fiction Without Frontiers

January 11, 2019

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Sins of the Angels (e)	Lydia M. Hawke	UF - Grigori Legacy 1

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



AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternate History
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
Cr - Crime
CulH - Cultural Heritage
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)
H - Horror
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HSF - Hard Science Fiction
Hu - Humor
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legend and Mythology
M - Mystery
MedTh - Medical Thriller
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
NF - Near Future
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PCM - Parnormal Cozy Mystery
PM - Paranormal Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PolTh - Political Thriller
PopCul - Popular Culture
Psy - Psychological
PsyTh - Psychological Thriller
Sc - Science
SE - Space Exploration
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
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.

Happy Tuesday!

There is one debut this week:

The Frame-Up (Golden Arrow Mysteries 1) by Meghan Scott Molin




From formerly featured DAC Authors:

King of the Road (Brotherhood of the Wheel 2) by R.S. Belcher;

The Mansion by Ezekiel Boone;

Soulbinder (Spellslinger 4) by Sebastien de Castell;

The Shattered Sun (Bound Gods 3) by Rachel Dunne;

The Wolves of Winter by Tyrell Johnson is out in Trade Paperback;

Blood of Ten Kings (Guardians of Aandor 3) by Edward Lazellari;

Wrath of Empire (Gods of Blood and Powder 2) by Brian McClellan is out in Trade Paperback;

Bigger Than Biggs (Judge Anderson 4) by Danie Ware;

and

Horizon (Bone Universe 3) by Fran Wilde is out in Trade Paperback.

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

December 1, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Shotguns & Sorcery Omnibus	Matt Forbeck	F
Murder in the Dark: A paranormal mystery	Simon R. Green	SupM - An Ishmael Jones Mystery 6
AfroSFv3	Ivor W. Hartmann (Ed)	SF - AfroSF 3
Ghost Virus	Graham Masterton	H/MedTh
The Frame-Up (D)	Meghan Scott Molin	M - Golden Arrow Mysteries Series 1
Kaiju Rising II: Reign of Monsters	N.X. Sharps (Ed) Alana Abbott (Ed)	SF - Kaiju Rising 2

December 3, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Sunspot Jungle: The Ever Expanding Universe of Fantasy and Science Fiction (e)	Bill Campbell (Ed)	SF/F/H - Anthology
Tell Me Like You Done Before: And Other Stories Written on the Shoulders of Giants	Scott Edelman	F/H - Collection
Owned by Fate (e)	Sean Michael	PNR - Dragon Soul 5
Bigger Than Biggs (e)	Danie Ware	PA/SF - Judge Anderson 4

December 4, 2018

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Daughter of the Dragon Tree	Susanne Aernecke	Occ/Sup
Doctor Who: TARDIS Type Forty Instruction Manual	Richard Atkinson Mike Tucker	SF - Doctor Who
King of the Road	R. S. Belcher	UF/CF - Brotherhood of the Wheel 2
The Absolved	Matthew Binder	Dys
Bikes Not Rockets: Intersectional Feminist Bicycle Science Fiction Stories	Elly Blue (Ed)	SF - Bikes in Space
The Mansion	Ezekiel Boone	H
Book of Adria: A Diablo Bestiary	Robert Brooks Matt Burns	F
Soulbinder	Sebastien de Castell	F - Spellslinger 4
Splintered Suns	Michael Cobley	SF/HSF/SO
The Clan Chronicles: Tales from Plexis	Julie E. Czerneda (Ed)	SF/HSF/AC/SO - Trade Pact Universe
The Magnificent Wilf (ri)	Gordon R. Dickson	SF/SO
The Shattered Sun	Rachel Dunne	F - Bound Gods 3
Death Knell (e)	Hailey Edwards	UF - The Foundling 3
All the Plagues of Hell	Eric Flint Dave Freer	HistF - Heirs of Alexandria 6
The Shadow Men (ri)	Christopher Golden Tim Lebbon	DF/UF - Hidden Cities 4
The Chamber of Ten (ri)	Christopher Golden Tim Lebbon	DF/UF - Hidden Cities 3
Mind the Gap (ri)	Christopher Golden Tim Lebbon	DF/UF - Hidden Cities 1
Gnomon (h2tp)	Nick Harkaway	Dys/Th/SF
The Wolves of Winter (h2tp)	Tyrell Johnson	Dys
A King in Cobwebs	David Keck	F - The Tales of Durand 3
Pet Sematary (ri)	Stephen King	H
The Sun Dog (ri)	Stephen King	H
Blood of Ten Kings	Edward Lazellari	F/CF - Guardians of Aandor 3
Wrath of Empire (h2tp)	Brian McClellan	F/HistF - Gods of Blood and Powder 2
The Three Secret Cities	Matthew Reilly	Th - Jack West Jr. Series 5
Of Blood and Bone	Nora Roberts	P/PNR/SupTh/SF/PA/SP/Dys - Chronicles of the One 2
A Star-Wheeled Sky	Brad R. Torgersen	SF
Horizon (h2tp)	Fran Wilde	F - Bone Universe 3

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



AC - Alien Contact
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
Cr - Crime
CW - Contemporary Woman
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GH - Ghost(s)
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HSF - Hard Science Fiction
LF - Literary Fiction
M - Mystery
MedTh - Medical Thriller
MTI - Media Tie-In
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PCM - Parnormal Cozy Mystery
PerfArts - Performing Arts
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PopCul - Popular Culture
PsyTh - Psychological Thriller
Sc - Science
SE - Space Exploration
SF - Science Fiction
SO - Space Opera
Sup - Supernatural
SupM - Supernatural Mystery
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
Th - Thriller
UF - Urban Fantasy

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

Mark Lawrence (2011)

Holy Sister
Book of the Ancestor 3
Ace, April 9, 2019
Hardcover and eBook, 480 pages

The third book in the thrilling and epic Book of the Ancestor trilogy from international bestselling author Mark Lawrence.


Powerful novice Nona Grey must fight to survive in “a fantastic world in which religion and politics are dark and sharp as swords, with magic and might held in the hands of wonderful and dangerous women.”*

*Library Journal

Book 1

Book 2

One Word Kill
Nick Harris 1
47North, May 1, 2019
Hardcover, Trade Paperback and Kindle eBook, 204 pages

Ready Player One meets Stranger Things in this new novel by the bestselling author whom George RR Martin describes as “an excellent writer.”

In January 1986, fifteen-year-old boy-genius Nick Hayes discovers he’s dying. And it isn’t even the strangest thing to happen to him that week.

Nick and his Dungeons & Dragons-playing friends are used to living in their imaginations. But when a new girl, Mia, joins the group and reality becomes weirder than the fantasy world they visit in their weekly games, none of them are prepared for what comes next. A strange—yet curiously familiar—man is following Nick, with abilities that just shouldn’t exist. And this man bears a cryptic message: Mia’s in grave danger, though she doesn’t know it yet. She needs Nick’s help—now.

He finds himself in a race against time to unravel an impossible mystery and save the girl. And all that stands in his way is a probably terminal disease, a knife-wielding maniac and the laws of physics.

Challenge accepted.

Fran Wilde (2015)

Riverland
Amulet Books, April 9, 2019
Hardcover and eBook, 352 pages

When things go bad at home, sisters Eleanor and Mike hide in a secret place under Eleanor’s bed, telling monster stories. Often, it seems those stories and their mother’s house magic are all that keep them safe from both busybodies and their dad’s temper. But when their father breaks a family heirloom, a glass witch ball, a river suddenly appears beneath the bed, and Eleanor and Mike fall into a world where dreams are born, nightmares struggle to break into the real world, and secrets have big consequences. Full of both adventure and heart, Riverland is a story about the bond between two sisters and how they must make their own magic to protect each other and save the ones they love.

Hester Young (2015)

The Burning Island
Charlie Cates 3
G.P. Putnam's Sons, January 22, 2019
Hardcover and eBook, 416 pages

The newest haunting mystery from the beloved author of The Gates of Evangeline, featuring Charlie Cates, a headstrong heroine who must confront her unwanted supernatural gift and bring dark secrets to light if she ever wants to leave the Big Island . . .

Journalist Charlie Cates has always believed in facts, in what can be proved–her career depends on it. Which is why she has never truly accepted the supernatural visions that guide her to children in danger. After her work on a high-profile missing-child case brings unwanted fame, she reluctantly flees to the lush Big Island of Hawaii with her best friend, Rae. Determined to avoid her disturbing visions, Charlie begins writing what seems to be a harmless interview of a prominent volcanologist, Victor Nakagawa. But her hopes for a peaceful vacation are soon dashed by haunting dreams of a local girl who went missing six weeks earlier.

In the small and sleepy town of Kalo Valley, Charlie and Rae come to realize that even paradise has its ugly secrets, and the Nakagawa family is no exception. In order to find the missing teenager and stop a dangerous predator from striking again, Charlie is forced to embrace the gift she has always tried to conceal. Meanwhile, someone is watching her every move, and the closer Charlie gets to the truth, the more distant her chances of ever leaving the island alive.

With a deliciously eerie and fast-paced story told in vivid prose, all with an overlay of supernatural suspense, The Burning Island is a pulse-pounding mystery perfect for fans of Jennifer McMahon and Kate Atkinson.

Book 1

Book 2

Happy Last Monday in September!

There are 2 debuts this week:

The Visitors by Catherine Burns;

and

Leech Girl Lives by Rick Claypool.




From formerly featured DAC Authors:

War and Craft (America Craft 3) by Tom Doyle;

An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard;

Provenance by Ann Leckie;

Of Flame and Fate (A Weird Girls Novel 8) by Cecy Robson;

The Eternity War: Pariah (The Eternity War 1) by Jamie Sawyer;

Everfair by Nisi Shawl is out in Trade Paperback;

and

Horizon (Bone Universe 3) by Fran Wilde.

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

September 25, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Warlord Wants Forever (e)(ri)	Kresley Cole	PNR - Immortals after Dark
Forsaken by Night (e)	Larissa Ione	PNR - Moonbound Clan Vampires 3
Lazy Son	Eve Langlais	PNR - Hell's Son 1
Dark Swan (e)	Gena Showalter	PNR - Alien Huntress 3

September 26, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Sound of Seas (h2tp)	Gillian Anderson Jeff Rovin	SF - The EarthEnd Saga 3
Lost Gods (h2tp)	Brom	DF
Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen (ri)	Lois McMaster Bujold	SF - Vorkosigan Saga 17
The Visitors (D)	Catherine Burns	PsyTh
Ender's Game Gift Edition	Orson Scott Card	SF - The Ender Quintet
Leech Girl Lives (D)	Rick Claypool	SF/HU
Paradox Bound	Peter Clines	SF/H/TT
Wolf Unbound (ri)	Lauren Dane	PNR - Cascadia Wolves 4
Blade Runner (ri)	Philip K. Dick	MTI/SF
War and Craft	Tom Doyle	CF/SF - American Craft 3
Planet of the Apes Omnibus 3	George Alec Effinger	MTI/SF - Planet of the Apes
Castaway Odyssey (h2mm)	Eric Flint Ryk E. Spoor	SF/SO - Boundary 5
Alien: Covenant Origins - The Official Prequel to the Blockbuster Film	Alan Dean Foster	MTI/SF - Alien
Kane (e)(ri)	Jacquelyn Frank	PNR - Nightwalkers 1.5
Neverwhere Illustrated Edition	Neil Gaiman	SF
Doctor Who: Now We Are Six Hundred: A Collection of Time Lord Verse	James Goss	TV/SF
An Angel's Touch (h2mm)	Heather Graham	R/F/FR
Slayers & Vampires: The Complete Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Buffy & Angel	Edward Gross Mark A. Altman	TV/HC
The Cocktail Guide to the Galaxy: A Universe of Unique Cocktails from the Celebrated Doctor Who Bar	Andy Heidel	Beverages/SF
An Unkindness of Magicians	Kat Howard	DF
Original Sin	David R. George III	SF - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Sleeping Beauties	Stephen King Owen King	Th/Sus
Provenance	Ann Leckie	SF
Star Trek: Discovery: Desperate Hours	David Mack	SF - Star Trek: Discovery 1
The Corporation Wars: Emergence	Ken MacLeod	SF/SO - Second Law Trilogy 3
When the Floods Came	Clare Morrall	LF
The Hunt	Chloe Neill	UF/PA - A Devil's Isle Novel 3
The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School (tp2mm)	Kim Newman	F/P/H/AH
The Two of Swords: Part Nineteen (e)	K. J. Parker	F - Two of Swords
Death (e)	Madhuri Pavamani	FR - Keeper Series 3
Of Flame and Fate (e)	Cecy Robson	PNR - A Weird Girls Novel 8
Immortally Yours	Lynsay Sands	PNR - An Argeneau Novel 23
Savage Woods	Mary SanGiovanni	H
The Eternity War: Pariah	Jamie Sawyer	SF - The Eternity War 1
Everfair (h2tp)	Nisi Shawl	SP/HistF/AH
Archangel's Viper	Nalini Singh	PNR - Guild Hunter 10
Oceans: The Anthology (e)	David Smith (Ed)	SpecFic - Anthology
Extinction End	Nicholas Sansbury Smith	SF/PA/AP - The Extinction Cycle 5
Ghost in the Shell: The Official Movie Novelization	James Swallow	MTI/SF
The Lilitu, Primordial, The Cain Prophecy	Toby Tate	SF - The Lilitu Trilogy
Your Brother's Blood (h2tp)	David Towsey	SF - The Walkin' Trilogy 1
The Chosen (h2mm)	J.R. Ward	PNR - Black Dagger Brotherhood 15
Horizon	Fran Wilde	F - Bone Universe 3
The Emperor's Legion	Chris Wraight	SF - Watchers of the Throne 1
The Black Tides of Heaven	JY Yang	F - The Tensorate Series Novella
The Red Threads of Fortune	JY Yang	F - The Tensorate Series Novella

September 27, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Crossing Over (e)	Margaret Dunlap	UF/M - Bookburners Season 3 #11

September 28, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Belador Cosaint (e)	Dianna Love	PNR - Belador 9
The Wind	Jay Caselberg	Sus/H - NewCon Press Novellas Set 2 4

September 29, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Visionary Tongue	Storm Constatine (Ed)	SpecFic - Anthology

September 30, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
River's Edge	James P. Blaylock	SupTh
University	Bentley Little	H
The Collection	Bentley Little	H
The Policy	Bentley Little	H
The Summoning	Bentley Little	H
The Emperor and the Maula	Robert Silverberg	SF/AC

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



AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternate History
AP - Apocalyptic
CB - Coloring Book
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
CW - Contemporary Women
CulH - Cultural Heritage
CyP - CyberPunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FolkT - Folk Tales
FR - Fantasy Romance
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GH - Ghost(s)
Gothic - Gothic
H - Horror
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
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PI - Private Investigator
PM - Paranormal Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
Pol - Political
PopCul - Popular Culture
PRS - Paranormal Romantic Suspense
PsyTh - Psychological Thriller
R - Romance
RSus - Romantic Suspense
Satire - Satire
Sc - Science
SH -Superheroes
SF - Science Fiction
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
SpecFic - Speculative Fiction
SS - Short Stories
Sup - Supernatural
SupM - Supernatural Mystery
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy
UFR - Urban Fantasy Romance
VM - Visionary and Metaphysical

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

Happy 1st Monday in September!

I'm including books from September 1st in this Monday's post since they were not included in last Monday's post.

There are 6 debuts:

Clade by James Bradley;

Skyfarer by Joseph Brassey;

Song of Edmon ( The Fracture Worlds 1) by Adam Burch;

Beforelife: A Likely Story by Randal Graham;

The Salt Line by Holly Goddard Jones;

and

The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J. Walker.





And from formerly featured DAC Authors:

Highland Dragon Warrior (Dawn of the Highland Dragon 1) by Isabel Cooper;

Phasma by Delilah S. Dawson;

Ruin of Angels (A Craft Sequence Novel) by Max Gladstone;

Godsgrave (Nevernight Chronicles 2)  by Jay Kristoff;

Making Amends (Bookburners Season 3 #8) by Mur Lafferty;

MJ-12: Shadows (Majestic-12 #2) by Michael J. Martinez;

The Uploaded by Ferrett Steinmetz;

and

Cloudbound by Fran Wilde is out in Trade Paperback.

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

September 1, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Daughter of Eden	Chris Beckett	SF - The Eden Trilogy 3
Black Jesus and Other Superheroes: Stories	Venita Blackburn	SS - Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction
Song of Edmon (D)	Adam Burch	SF - The Fracture Worlds 1
Phasma	Delilah S. Dawson	SF/SO - Star Wars
The Death of All Things (e)	Laura Anne Gilman  (Ed) Kat Richardson (Ed)	SF/F - Anthology
One Night with the Valkyrie (e)	Jane Godman	PNR
Charmed by the Wolf (e)	Kristal Hollis	PNR
Servant of the Forest (e)	Shona Husk	PNR/FairyT
The Master of Time	David Wingrove	SF/TT - Roads to Moscow 3

September 5, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Ravenor Rogue	Dan Abnett	SF - Ravenor 3
Ashes Reborn	Keri Arthur	UF - Souls of Fire 4
The Bronze Skies	Catherine Asaro	SF - Skolian Empire 8
Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead: Search and Destroy (h2tp)	Jay Bonansinga	H - The Walking Dead 7
Clade (D)	James Bradley	SF/AP/PA
Skyfarer (D - Solo)	Joseph Brassey	F/SF/SO
Sea of Rust	C. Robert Cargill	SF/AP/PA
Highland Dragon Warrior	Isabel Cooper	Hist/PNR - Dawn of the Highland Dragon 1
The Gates to Futures Past (h2mm)	Julie E. Czerneda	SF - Reunification Series 2
The Last to See Me	M Dressler	Hist/LF/GH
Eye of Ezekiel	C Z Dunn	SF - Space Marine Battles Series
The Devil You Know (h2mm)	Erin M. Evans	F
Dark Legacy	Christine Feehan	PNR - Carpathian 31
Iron Angels	Eric Flint Alistair Kimble	UF
Ruin of Angels	Max Gladstone	F/UF/CF - A Craft Sequence Novel
Time Travel: A History (h2tp)	James Gleick	Hist/PopCul/Sc
One Night with the Valkyrie	Jane Godman	PNR
Beforelife: A Likely Story (D)	Randal Graham	F/SF/HU
Doctor Who: Paper Dolls	Simon Guerrier Christel Dee	SF - Doctor Who
Ursula K. Le Guin: The Hainish Novels and Stories	Ursula K. Le Guin	SF - Library of America
Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories, Vol. 1	Ursula K. Le Guin	SF - Library of America
Ursula K. Le Guin: Hainish Novels and Stories, Vol. 2	Ursula K. Le Guin	SF - Library of America
Five Ways to Forgiveness (e)	Ursula K. Le Guin	SF - Library of America E-Book Classics
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig" and Other Nautical Adventures	William Hodgson	F  - Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson Vol. 1
Charmed by the Wolf	Kristal Hollis	PNR
Battlefield Earth (ri)	L. Ron Hubbard	SF
Acadie	Dave Hutchinson	SF/GenEng
The Salt Line (D - SpecFic)	Holly Goddard Jones	LF/SF/AP/AP
Godsgrave	Jay Kristoff	F/SP/HistF - The Nevernight Chronicle 2
Who's Afraid?	Maria Lewis	FR - Tommi Grayson 1
Death's End (h2tp)	Cixin Liu Ken Liu (Tr)	SF - Remembrance of Earth's Past 3
Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows (h2tp)	James Lovegrove	M/PI - Cthulhu Casebooks 1
MJ-12: Shadows	Michael J. Martinez	SF/Th - Majestic-12 #2
The Brightest Fell	Seanan McGuire	UF - October Daye 11
The Legend of Sigmar	Graham McNeill	F - Warhammer Chronicles
Fever	Deon Meyer	Dys/LF/Th
Gloriana: Or, The Unfulfill'd Queen (h2tp)	Michael Moorcock	HistF
A Secret History of Witches	Louisa Morgan	MR
Circle's End	Lisanne Norman	SF/SO/AC - Sholan Alliance 9
Norma	Sofi Oksanen	CW/F/Sleuths
Star Trek The Next Generation: The Art of Juan Ortiz	Juan Oritz	PopCul/Art - Star Trek
Immortal Architects	Paige Orwin	SF/AP/PA/SH/F/UF - Interminables 2
The Two of Swords: Part Sixteen (e)	K. J. Parker	F - Two of Swords
The Family Plot (h2tp)	Cherie Priest	UF/Occ/Sup/Gothic/GH
The Devil's Rosary	Seabury Quinn	F/H/DF/P - The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin 2
Star Wars: The Blueprints	J.W. Rinzler	Film
Secrets in Death	J.D. Robb	In Death 45
White Trash Zombie Unchained	Diana Rowland	P/UF/CF - White Trash Zombie  6
The Golden House	Salman Rushdie	LF/Satire
Clockwork Futures: The Science of Steampunk and the Reinvention of the Modern World	Brandy Schillace	History
Frankenstein Dreams	Michael Sims (Ed)	SF - Anthology
Sourdough	Robin Sloan	LF/UF/F
The Uploaded	Ferrett Steinmetz	SF/CyP
Her Dark Half	Paige Tyler	PRS - X-Ops 7
The End of the World Running Club (D)	Adrian J. Walker	Dys
Cloudbound (h2tp)	Fran Wilde	F - Bone Universe 2
Forged in Blood	Michael Z. Williamson	SF - Freehold Anthology

September 6, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Angel of the Blockade: A Tor.com Original	Alex Acks	SF
Making Amends (e)	Mur Lafferty	UF/M - Bookburners Season 3 #8

September 7, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
In the Dark: Tales of Terror by E. Nesbit (e)	Hugh Lamb (Ed)	GH - HarperCollins Chillers

September 8, 2017

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Sum of Us: Tales of the Bonded and Bound (e)	Susan Forest (Ed) Lucas K. Law (Ed)	SF - Laksa Anthology Series: Speculative Fiction 2

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



AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternate History
AP - Apocalyptic
CB - Coloring Book
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
CW - Contemporary Women
CulH - Cultural Heritage
CyP - CyberPunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FolkT - Folk Tales
FR - Fantasy Romance
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GH - Ghost(s)
Gothic - Gothic
H - Horror
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
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PI - Private Investigator
PM - Paranormal Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
Pol - Political
PopCul - Popular Culture
PRS - Paranormal Romantic Suspense
PsyTh - Psychological Thriller
R - Romance
RSus - Romantic Suspense
Satire - Satire
Sc - Science
SH -Superheroes
SF - Science Fiction
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
SS - Short Stories
Sup - Supernatural
SupM - Supernatural Mystery
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy
UFR - Urban Fantasy Romance
VM - Visionary and Metaphysical

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

A few years ago I reread Stephen King’s The Stand. There is a character in that book who’s supposed to be from a small town a couple hundred miles outside of Houston. As I grew up in that area, I know it well. So imagine my surprise when the character’s hometown was routinely described as a desert, and the character is astonished at the bright green grass growing in the midwest.

Reader, east Texas is in a forest.

As much as I enjoy Stephen King’s writing, that one erroneous detail pulled me out of the story every time I saw it. I didn’t understand how King could get it so wrong. Houston is three hours from the Louisiana border! Would anyone claim that Louisiana is a desert? And yet the myth of Texas-as-desert—which stems from the landscape in West Texas, a ten-hour drive from Houston—overwhelmed the reality.

I’ve kept this incident in the back of my mind as I’ve worked through seasons one and two of The Witch Who Came in From the Cold. You see, Cold Witch takes place in Prague, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, in 1970. I have never been to Prague, and I was born in 1983. Which means I had a potential Houston-is-a-desert situation on my hands.

Prague as a setting for our story makes a lot of sense. Historically, it was a sort of halfway point between the Soviet Union and the West, a place where spies and dignitaries from both sides of the Iron Curtain could mix, mingle, and generally get all up in each other’s business (sneakily, of course). Cold Witch is centered very much around the intersection of that division, with our Western hero and our Soviet heroine having to work as allies in the similarly-divided magical rift between Ice and Flame. So just as Prague was an important way station during the Cold War, we made it an equally important convergent point for our world of magic and sorcery.

Sadly, none of this solves the problem of me having never been to Prague. Personally, I would love to go to Prague. I adore traveling and I’ve always wanted to see Eastern Europe—but such as a trip is prohibitively expensive for me. I was unwilling to just make stuff up and hope for the best, and I certainly didn’t want to make any mistakes on the same level King’s insistence that Houston is in the desert. So what did I do?

First off, Cold Witch is a collaborative project, so while I’d never been to Prague, two of the other writers had. Besides that, our head writer, Lindsay Smith, studied Russia extensively in college—both the language, the history, and the culture. So I was able to pull from their knowledge as I worked through my episodes. Another thing that I found surprisingly useful was the simple fact of growing up where I did; the small towns dotting the central Texas landscape were settled in large part by Czech immigrants. Czech heritage festivals are a common occurrence around these parts, and kolaces of varying quality will show up in any locally-owned donut shop. Obviously, enjoying the fragments of Czech culture that have seeped into Texas culture are not remotely the same thing as actually visiting Prague, but they did serve as a thin connection to the world I was writing about.

But perhaps the most useful tool was a technological one: Google Street View. I honestly am not sure how writers managed without it (certainly, if Stephen King had been able to get his hands on Google Street View when he was writing The Stand, we wouldn’t have wound up with that Houston-has-no-trees situation). Google Maps in generally is pretty helpful, because it allows me to get a sense of the layout of the city and to pick out street names and important buildings. But Street View takes that a step further, since it means I can actually look at the city and navigate around it. Again, it’s not the same as visiting, but with just a few clicks of my mouse I’m able to get a visual feel of a place over five thousand miles away.

So that’s how I’ve managed to cobble together a sense of Prague for Cold Witch. I hope one day to travel there in person, walk across Charles Bridge, and find out if I did anything as embarrassing as turning a forest into a desert.

The Witch Who Came in From The Cold is the fantasy-espionage thriller from Serial Box. This serial is collaboratively written and available in text and audio via SerialBox.com, their iOS app, and all major eBook retailers. Lead by foreign-affairs expert Lindsay Smith (Sekret) and Urban Fantasy-pioneer Max Gladstone (Three Parts Dead), this season’s author team is rounded out by Cassandra Rose Clark (Our Lady of the Ice), Ian Tregillis (The Milkweed Triptych), and Nebula-nominated Fran Wilde (Updraft).

Welcome to Prague, 1970: the epicenter in a struggle of spies and sorcerers. The Witch Who Came In From The Cold follows agents on opposing sides of two struggles: the Cold War, and an ancient conflict between two occult secret societies: the Consortium of Ice and the Acolytes of Flame. A CIA and KGB agent will find their loyalties to country tested when they realize they must work together to prevent the destruction of the world at the hands of the Flame.
            Gabe Pritchard, grizzled CIA agent and proud American never believed in sorcery - until he walked into the wrong room in Cairo and ended up with a powerful magical Elemental living inside his head. Tanya Morozova, latest in a long line of Ice Witches, knew loyalty to the Consortium before she ever took up the KGB badge. Now they’re both stationed to Prague, a city built on powerful ley lines and thrumming with both political and magical tension.
            In Season One, a CIA extraction of a Soviet scientist ended in chaos when one of the American operatives betrayed the U.S. in order to deliver the magically-powerful scientist to the Flame. Tanya and Gabe worked together to foil the plot - but trust is hard to come by amongst spies and suspicion lingers throughout their agencies, both magical and national.
            In Season Two, Tanya and Gabe must deal with the fallout of their actions from Season One as each plays their own dangerous game to try to learn the secrets of the Flame without getting burned. Meanwhile a powerful sorcerer arrives in Prague to lead a ritual that could turn the tides of war...

This serial first premiered in 2016 and launches its second season on today, February 8! You can dive right into Season 1 Episode 1 for free right now - but anyone new to the snow and shadows will find more than enough context to enjoy the adventure from Season 2 on.




Intrigued? Hop over to SerialBox.com to learn more, start reading Season 1, or pre-order your pass to Season 2. From now through April, a new episode of this tale of spies and spells will drop every Wednesday.

Follow Serial Box on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook to keep up to date on today's hottest serial fiction.

Horizon
Bone Universe 3
Tor Books, September 26, 2017
Hardcover and eBook

A winged society faces the threat of ultimate extinction in the thrilling finale to Fran Wilde's Bone Universe fantasy series

"One of the most fun, imaginative fantasy novels...I'm already anxiously awaiting her next book." —Book Riot on Updraft

"That rare bird, the follow-up to a highly praised first novel that doesn't just equal its predecessor's accomplishments, but exceeds them." —Locus Publications on Cloudbound

A City of living Bone towers crumbles to the ground and danger surrounds. Kirit Densira has lost everything she loved the most—her mother, her home, and the skies above. Nat Brokenwings—once Kirit's brother long before the rebellion tore them apart—is still trying to save his family in the face of catastrophe. They will need to band together once more to ensure not just own survival, but that of their entire community.

Updraft
Bone Universe 1
Tor Books, September 13, 2016
Trade Paperback, 368 pages
Hardcover and eBook, September 1, 2015

In Fran Wilde's Updraft, a young woman must expose a dangerous secret to save everyone she loves.

Welcome to a world of wind and bone, songs and silence, betrayal and courage.

Kirit Densira cannot wait to pass her wingtest and begin flying as a trader by her mother's side, being in service to her beloved home tower and exploring the skies beyond. When Kirit inadvertently breaks Tower Law, the city's secretive governing body, the Singers, demand that she become one of them instead. In an attempt to save her family from greater censure, Kirit must give up her dreams to throw herself into the dangerous training at the Spire, the tallest, most forbidding tower, deep at the heart of the City.

As she grows in knowledge and power, she starts to uncover the depths of Spire secrets. Kirit begins to doubt her world and its unassailable Laws, setting in motion a chain of events that will lead to a haunting choice, and may well change the city forever-if it isn't destroyed outright.

Cloudbound
Bone Universe 2
Tor Books, September 27, 2016
Hardcover and eBook, 400 pages

After the dust settles, the City of living bones begins to die, and more trouble brews beneath the clouds in the companion to Updraft.

"A thrilling and complex tale about the most difficult stage of a revolution: what do you do after you win? Highly recommended both for the story it tells as well as how it tells that story. Wilde takes risks that pay off hugely.” —Ken Liu, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of The Grace of Kings

The Towers in disarray, without a governing body or any defense against the dangers lurking in the clouds, and daily life is full of terror and strife. Nat Densira, the wing-brother to Kirit (Skyshouter, Spirebreaker, no-longer-of-Densira) sets out to be a hero in his own way—sitting on the new Council to cast votes protecting Tower-born, and exploring lower tiers to find more materials to repair the struggling City.

But what he finds down-tier is more secrets—and now Nat will have to decide who to trust, and how to trust himself without losing those he holds most dear, before a dangerous myth raises a surprisingly realistic threat to the crippled City, in Cloudbound.

"I long to know more about the world and where Wilde's imagination will soar next. In the meantime it's all I can do to slow-clap this powerfully engaging debut: Wilde's world and characters—as is entirely appropriate—blew me away." —NPR on Updraft