Saturday, December 31, 2016

What's Up for the Debut Author Challenge Authors, Part 48


This is the forty-eighth in this new series of updates about formerly featured Debut Author Challenge authors and their works published or to be published since their last update. The year in parentheses after the author's name is the year that author was featured in the Debut Author Challenge.



Part 1 here Part 11 here Part 21 here Part 31 here Part 41 here
Part 2 here Part 12 here Part 22 here Part 32 here Part 42 here
Part 3 here Part 13 here Part 23 here Part 33 here Part 43 here
Part 4 here Part 14 here Part 24 here Part 34 here Part 44 here
Part 5 here Part 15 here Part 25 here Part 35 here Part 45 here
Part 6 here Part 16 here Part 26 here Part 36 here Part 46 here
Part 7 here Part 17 here Part 27 here Part 37 here Part 47 here
Part 8 here Part 18 here Part 28 here Part 38 here Part 48 here
Part 9 here Part 19 here Part 29 here Part 39 here Part 49 here
Part 10 here Part 20 here Part 30 here Part 40 here Part 50 here




Christopher Husberg (2016)

Dark Immolation
Chaos Queen 2
Titan Books, June 20, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

There are rumours in Ashta - a new religion is rising, and Cinzia, one-time Cantic priestess, has escaped the Holy Crucible. Fleeing from Navone, Cinzia travels with Knot, a man of many parts, and Astrid, the child-like vampire. They are gathering followers, but the murderous Nazaniin are still on their trail.

Meanwhile, Winter is losing her grip on sanity, grappling with immense powers beyond her understanding. Where she goes, chaos and death follow.





Beth Lewis (2016)

The Wolf Road
Broadway Books, April 11, 2017
Trade Paperback, 368 pages
Hardcover and eBook, July 5, 2016

ELKA BARELY REMEMBERS a time before she knew Trapper. She was just seven years old, wandering lost and hungry in the wilderness, when the solitary hunter took her in. In the years since then, he’s taught her how to survive in this desolate land where civilization has been destroyed and men are at the mercy of the elements and each other.

But the man Elka thought she knew has been harboring a terrible secret. He’s a killer. A monster. And now that Elka knows the truth, she may be his next victim.

Armed with nothing but her knife and the hard lessons Trapper’s drilled into her, Elka flees into the frozen north in search of her real parents. But judging by the trail of blood dogging her footsteps, she hasn’t left Trapper behind—and he won’t be letting his little girl go without a fight. If she’s going to survive, Elka will have to turn and confront not just him, but the truth about the dark road she’s been set on.

The Wolf Road is an intimate cat-and-mouse tale of revenge and redemption, played out against a vast, unforgiving landscape—told by an indomitable young heroine fighting to escape her past and rejoin humanity.





Bill Schutt and J.R. Finch (2016)

Hell's Gate
An R. J. MacCready Novel 1
William Morrow, February 28, 2017
Mass Market Paperback, 432 pages
Hardcover and eBook, June 7, 2016

“Will haunt you long after you put the book down.” — James Cameron, director/writer/explorer

1944. As war rages across Europe and the Pacific, Army intel makes a shocking discovery: a three-hundred-foot Japanese submarine marooned and empty, deep in the Brazilian interior. A team of Army Rangers sent to investigate has gone missing and the military sends Captain R. J. MacCready to learn why the Japanese are there—and what they’re planning.

Parachuting into a mist-shrouded valley beneath a two thousand foot plateau, Mac is unexpectedly reunited with fellow scientist and friend Bob Thorne, presumed dead for years. Thorne, a botanist, lives with Yanni, an indigenous woman who possesses mysterious, invaluable skills. Their wisdom and expertise will prove lifesaving for Mac as he sets out into the unknown.

Soon, Mac learns of a diabolical Axis plot to destroy the United States and its allies. But there’s an even darker force on the prowl, attacking at night and targeting both man and beast. Mac has to uncover the source of this emerging biological crisis and foil the enemy’s plans . . . but will he be in time to save humanity from itself?

“Terrific.” —Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author of The 14th Colony


The Himalayan Codex
An R. J. MacCready Novel 2
William Morrow, June 6, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 384 pages

In the wake of World War II, zoologist and adventurer Captain R. J. MacCready is sent to the frozen mountain valleys of Tibet to find a creature of legend that may hold the secret to humankind’s evolutionary future—or the key to its extinction—in this explosive follow-up to Hell’s Gate.

It is 1946, and the world is beginning to rebuild from the ashes of the devastating war. Marked by the perilous discoveries he encountered in the wilds of Brazil, Captain R. J. MacCready has a new assignment on the other side of the globe—a mission that may help him put the jungle’s horrors behind him. He is headed for the Himalayas, to examine some recently discovered mammoth bones.

Arriving in Asia, Mac learns the bones are only a cover story. He’s really there to investigate an ancient codex allegedly written by Pliny the Elder, a fascinating text filled with explosive secrets. The Roman naturalist claimed to have discovered a new race of humans, a divergent species that inspired the myth of the Yeti and is rumored to have the ability to accelerate the process of evolution. If Pliny’s assertions are true, this seemingly supernatural ability holds unlimited potential benefits—and unlimited potential for destruction.

Charged with uncovering more about this miracle species, Mac sets off into the remote mountain valleys of Tibet, using the codex as his guide. But the freezing climate and treacherous terrain are only the beginning of the dangers facing him. He must also contend with the brutal Chinese army and a species of native creature even the Yeti seem to fear. The deeper he plunges into the unknown, the more certain it appears that Mac and the associates who join his odyssey may not make it out alive.

Combining plausible science, history, and action-packed thrills, The Himalayan Code is a page-turning adventure sure to enthrall fans of James Rollins, Michael Crichton, Dan Brown, and Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.




Bill Schutt

Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History
Algonquin Books, February 14, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 352 pages

Eating one’s own kind is completely natural behavior in thousands of species, including humans. Throughout history we have engaged in cannibalism for reasons related to famine, burial rites, and medicine. Cannibalism has also been used as a form of terrorism and as the ultimate expression of filial piety. With unexpected wit and a wealth of knowledge, Bill Schutt, a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History, takes us on a tour of the field, exploring exciting new avenues of research and investigating questions like why so many fish eat their offspring and some amphibians consume their mother’s skin; why sexual cannibalism is an evolutionary advantage for certain spiders; why, until the end of the eighteenth century, British royalty regularly ate human body parts; and how cannibalism might be linked to the extinction of Neanderthals.

Today, the subject of humans consuming one another has been relegated to the realm of horror movies, fiction, and the occasional psychopath. But as climate change progresses and humans see more famine, disease, and overcrowding, biological and cultural constraints may well disappear. These are the very factors that lead to outbreaks of cannibalism--in other species and our own.

Posted by Qwill at 12:24 PM
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