Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Interview with Melanie Golding, author of Little Darlings


Please welcome Melanie Golding to The Qwillery as part of the 2019 Debut Author Challenge Interviews. Little Darlings is published on April 30, 2019 by Crooked Lane Books.







TQWelcome to The Qwillery. What is the first fiction piece that you remember writing?

Melanie:  When I was about six I wrote a story at school, a kind of ‘what I did on my holidays’ that included some extremely fictional aspects. My teachers were concerned at what they saw were lies, but I stuck to my story, which included a magic house and a short superman flight from the top of a hill. I thought that because no one could prove none of that stuff happened, then it had. I certainly felt like it had, and that seemed enough.



TQAre you a plotter, a pantser or a hybrid?

Melanie:  Hybrid



TQWhat is the most challenging thing for you about writing?

Melanie:  First drafts are a slog. I like the redrafting phase



TQWhat has influenced / influences your writing?

Melanie:  All of my reading. Like many writers I read widely and constantly.



TQDescribe Little Darlings using only 5 words.

Melanie:  I shall quote others here:

Deep; Dark; Utterly addictive; Haunting



TQTell us something about Little Darlings that is not found in the book description.

Melanie:  Patrick is based on a real person, whose name I shall never reveal. He is so arrogant that there is no way he would ever guess what I've done, so I'm safe.



TQWhat inspired you to write Little Darlings?

Melanie:  I was reading my folk tale collections, when I developed a theory about one of the stories. I saw that it would have functioned as an explanation for postpartum psychosis in pre-medical times. I also saw that it could be taken at face value, and I was really interested in exploring the possibilities of that



TQWhat sort of research did you do for Little Darlings?

Melanie:  I did a few research trips to the Peak District - I used to live in Sheffield but it was fun to revisit those places. I gave birth, twice. Also I read many folktales and novels based on folklore



TQPlease tell us about the cover for Little Darlings.

Melanie:  The cover depicts the roots of a tree that have grown under water. Bodies of water are important in the novel, especially what lies beneath the surface.



TQIn Little Darlings who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?

Melanie:  Lauren and Patrick were easy to write, because they were extremely real to me. I had to get to know Jo and Amy, but by the end of the process they were writing themselves.



TQDoes Little Darlings touch on any social issues?

Melanie:  Only the fact that the post-birth experience still seems to be taboo. Nobody wants to talk about how frightening having a baby can be. The book kind of confronts that head on.



TQWhich question about Little Darlings do you wish someone would ask? Ask it and answer it!

Melanie:

          Q: Is the story partly an allegory for the current unaddressed epidemic of postnatal depression among new mothers?
          A: Yes



TQGive us one or two of your favorite non-spoilery quotes from Little Darlings.

Melanie:

“It felt dangerous, that feeling, something she couldn't control, that got bigger even as she tried to banish it, to tell herself that these were the feelings that hurt you eventually, that destroyed lives, that needed to be ignored. She'd followed her heart once, when she was too young to know how completely a heart could be shattered.”

“Was this the love, this fear of them dying?”



TQWhat's next?

Melanie:  The next book also has a folktale at its heart, and a cast of brave women and men who are faced with difficulties to overcome. It also features DS Joanna Harper.



TQThank you for joining us at The Qwillery.





Little Darlings
Crooked Lane Books, April 30, 2019
Hardcover and eBook, 304 pages

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

“Mother knows best” takes on a sinister new meaning in this unsettling thriller perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman, Grimms’ Fairy Tales, and Aimee Molloy’s The Perfect Mother.

Everyone says Lauren Tranter is exhausted, that she needs rest. And they’re right; with newborn twins, Morgan and Riley, she’s never been more tired in her life. But she knows what she saw: that night, in her hospital room, a woman tried to take her babies and replace them with her own…creatures. Yet when the police arrived, they saw no one. Everyone, from her doctor to her husband, thinks she’s imagining things.

A month passes. And one bright summer morning, the babies disappear from Lauren’s side in a park. But when they’re found, something is different about them. The infants look like Morgan and Riley—to everyone else. But to Lauren, something is off. As everyone around her celebrates their return, Lauren begins to scream, These are not my babies.

Determined to bring her true infant sons home, Lauren will risk the unthinkable. But if she’s wrong about what she saw…she’ll be making the biggest mistake of her life.
Compulsive, creepy, and inspired by some of our darkest fairy tales, Little Darlings will have you checking—and rechecking—your own little ones. Just to be sure. Just to be safe.





About Melanie

Photo by Michele Calverley
Melanie Golding is a graduate of the MA in creative writing program at Bath Spa University, with distinction. She has been employed in many occupations including farm hand, factory worker, childminder and music teacher. Throughout all this, because and in spite of it, there was always the writing. In recent years she has won and been shortlisted in several local and national short story competitions. Little Darlings is her first novel, and has been optioned for screen by Free Range Films, the team behind the adaptation of My Cousin Rachel.





Website  ~  Twitter @mk_golding  ~  Facebook


Monday, April 29, 2019

The View From Monday - April 29, 2019


Happy Monday!

There are twp debuts this week:

Little Darlings by Melanie Golding;

and

Waste Tide by Chen Qiufan.

Clicking on a novel's cover will take you to its Amazon page.



From formerly featured DAC Authors:

The Unbound Empire (Swords and Fire 3) by Melissa Caruso;

and

Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition by Mur Lafferty is out in Mass Market Paperback.

Clicking on a novel's cover will take you to its Amazon page.






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

April 30, 2019
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
Cruel Fate Kelley Armstrong UF - Cainsville Stories 3
The Stone in the Skull (h2tp) Elizabeth Bear F - The Lotus Kingdoms 1
Parable of the Sower (ri) Octavia E. Butler Dys/SF/PA
The Unbound Empire Melissa Caruso F - Swords and Fire 3
Blacktalon: First Mark Andy Clark F - Warhammer: Age of Sigmar
Though Hell Should Bar the Way (h2mm) David Drake SF - RCN 12
Warrior Prime Victor Gischler F - Ink Mage Legacy
Little Darlings (D) Melanie Golding SupTh/FairyT/FolkT/LM/PP/PsyTh
Ignite Donna Grant FR - Dark Kings 5
Dark Imperium Plague War Guy Haley SF - Dark Imperium 2
The Sword of Midras (tp2mm) Tracy Hickman
Richard Garriott
F/MTI - Blade of the Avatar 1
NOS4A2 Joe Hill H/MTI
Endurance (ri) J.A. Konrath SupTh/H
The Night Lies Bleeding (ri) M.D. Lachlan F/FairyT/FolkT/LM - Wolfsangel 5
Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition (h2mm) Mur Lafferty SF/MTI - Star Wars
Evalle and Storm (e) Dianna Love UF - Belador 10.5
The Providence Rider Robert McCammon HistTh - Matthew Corbett 4
Cardinal Black Robert McCammon HistTh - Matthew Corbett 7
The Invited Jennifer McMahon Sus/GH
Avengers James A. Moore SH - Infinity Prose Novel
Anno Dracula - One Thousand Monsters (tp2mm) Kim Newman HistF/H/DF - Anno Dracula 5
TSUKIMONOGATARI: Possession Tale NISIOISIN CF/MTI/F - Monogatari
The Broker of Nightmares  (e) Jon Padgett H - Charitable Chapbooks 1
Waste Tide (D) Chen Qiufan SF/HSF/GenEng/Dys
Tor.com Publishing Editorial Spotlight #5: A Selection of Novellas (e) Jonathan Strahan (Ed) F/SF
Wild Cards IX: Jokertown Shuffle Wild Cards Trust
George R.R. Martin (Ed)
SF/SH - Rox Triad 2
Children of Anubis Tim Waggoner MTI/H - Supernatural
Oblivion (tp2mm) Steve White
Charles E. Gannon
SF - Starfire 8



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 - Alternative History
AP - Apocalyptic
BH - Black Humor
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
Cr - Crime
CW - Contemporary Women
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
Esp - Espionage
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FolkT - Folk Tales
FR - Fantasy Romance
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GH - Ghost(s)
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HistTh - Historical Thriller
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
MU - Mash Up
NF - Near Future
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PopCul - Popular Culture
Pol - Political
PP - Police Procedural
Psy - Psychological
PsyTh - Psychological Thriller
RF - Romantic Fantasy
SE - Space Exploration
SF - Science Fiction
SH - Superheroes
SO - Space Opera
SS - Short Stories
Sup - Supernatural
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy
VisM - Visionary & Metaphysical

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

Sunday, April 28, 2019

Melanie's Month in Review - April 2019




Hello again. Sorry, I haven't been around for a while. I have had a lot of bad news since February so haven't been reading that much. I am very lucky that I write for the very nice and lovely Qwill who has been very understanding with my lack of blogging. I am back now with which is a semi bumper crop of books to tell you about. So without much further ado this is what I have read (or listened to).


I was super excited when I found T.J. Berry's Five Unicorn Flush on NetGalley. I loved book 1 - Space Unicorn Blues and couldn't believe that it was a debut as it was such a great concept, well written with great characters.  You can read my review here. I liked it so much it made my top 5 of 2018. This second instalment starts not long after the events of book 1 when all of the supernaturals (the Bala) were teleported away to a new planet far, far away from the cruelty of humanity. The story starts on board the Stagecoach Mary with Jenny Perata at the helm of the ship desperately searching for her wife, a dryad who has gone missing with the rest of the Bala. While Jenny creeps through space on an aging spaceship and no unicorn horn to fuel it Gary, my favourite space unicorn, is on his new home planet. Not everyone is that happy with Gary or his father from taking them away from all the 'creature' comforts they have gotten used to...even if those comforts led to the torture and death of many of their kin. Two more characters from book 1 are also searching for the new Bala home planet - Biao who is hiding his magical lineage from the humans and the very human, Will Penny. Forces are drawing the humans to Gary and his kind in the back drop of a civil war between the Bala.

Sometimes the second book of a series can be a bit of a let down or not as exciting as the first. Not in the case of the The Reason series. The scenes with Jenny Perata on and off the Stage Coach Mary were really amusing and Jenny is a great, broken heroine. Gary wants to do the best for his kin but can't seem to live up to anyone's expectations, including his own. He is torn between wanting to save his kind and saving humans and this creates the tension that supports the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed Five Unicorn Flush despite another massive cliff hanger ending. Berry has the ability to write a gritty but humorous story that keeps you guessing what is going to happen next.


Another great find on NetGalley was Middlegame by Seanan McGuire. A game is afoot and the game pieces are two young children - Roger and Dodger. Dodger is a mathematical genius while her twin brother is extremely gifted with words/vocabulary. They live on opposite sides of the country and communicate telepathically. The game master is Reed. He created the twins as a means of releasing magic into the world and to elevate him to godhood. This is a game of life or death and the twins have decided not to play by the rules.

I have to admit that for the first 5-6 chapters I had no clue what was going on. It took me a while to get into the story and before the references to a child's book started every new chapter. The story really didn't take off until Roger and Dodger were adults and met for the first time and this doesn't happen until mid-way through the book. It wasn't the easiest book to read but it was well written and the plotline quite innovative. It looks like a one off so not a big investment in time if you already enjoy other books by this author. I suggest giving it a go with an open mind.



The next two books I am going to tell you about share similarities. These are that they are written by the same author and I listened to them rather than read them. So what are they you ask?  Circe and The Songs of Achilles by Madeline Miller. The first one I came across was Circe so I will tell you about this one first. This novel is a bit of a winner - award winner. It was the Goodreads Choice winner and won the Orange prize. It was also cited as a 'must read' by a couple of English newspaper book reviewers. I think it was well deserved praise. Circe the book is the story of Circe the mythological daughter of Helios, god of the sun. Circe is mainly shunned by the gods and doesn't live up to the divinity of either of her parents. She ends up seeking companionship in mortals and discovers the forbidden magic -witchcraft. After a particularly vengeful spell she is exiled by Zeus to the remote island of Aiaia where she lives a fairly secluded life except for encounters with both gods and mortals alike. Over the centuries she harnesses her witchraft and becomes renowned for her own powers. With that power also comes hardship and it's not long before she has to decide if she wants to align to the gods who shun her or the mortals who she has grown to love.

I really enjoyed this book and really glad I listened to the audiobook version. I thought Peridita Weeks did a fantastic job of bringing Circe and all the gods to life. I wasn't as familiar with Circe as I am with some of the other Greek myths but the story is a real virtual page turner. I don't think you need to have any knowledge or love of Greek mythology to enjoy this story so whether you want to read the physical version, the e-Book or the audiobook version I highly recommend that you do.

One could be fooled into thinking that The Songs of Achilles is about Achilles. It is indirectly, but  more about it's narrator  - Achilles' friend and lover, Patroclus. The story starts when Patroclus is a very young boy who has been exciled and goes to live with Achilles. It tracks Achilles life through Patroclus' eyes and growing love up to and including the siege of Troy.

The Songs of Achilles is a true love story and beautifully told. I didn't love the narrator as much as I have others but story itself brings the characters to life. I really felt that I was in ancient Greece smelling the olive oil and feeling the sun on my skin. This is a truly evocative story and I especially enjoyed the bittersweet ending. Two fantastic books by a fantastic author that are must reads.


That is all I have to tell you about for this month apart from one book that was a DNF - Fluffy's Revolution by Ted Myers. I thought this might be a bit of a feel good, talking cat kind of fun book. The only problem is that this book is written for a 8-12 year old reader so not quite my age group. I couldn't even pretend I could read it and found it far too juvenile and banal. If you have a cat loving youngster in your life then I would recommend it for a very young reader.


That's it for me for me. I hope April showers bring May great reads! Happy Reading!






Five Unicorn Flush
The Reason 2
Angry Robot Books, May 28, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

Only one woman with a magical parasite can unite the galaxy, in the mind-blowing SF sequel to Space Unicorn Blues

Reasonspace is in shambles after the disappearance of all magical creatures. Without faster-than-light travel, supply and communication routes have dried up, leaving humankind stranded and starving. Cowboy Jim and his complement of Reason soldiers search for the relocated Bala using the only surviving FTL drive. On their new utopian planet, the Bala are on the brink of civil war between those who want peace under old-fashioned unicorn rule and those who seek revenge on their human oppressors. Only Captain Jenny and her new brain parasite can stop the Reason plan to enslave the Bala again.

File Under: Science Fiction [ Elves on the Brain | Lust for Magic | Best Served Hot | FTL Hell ]




Middlegame
Tor.com, May 7, 2019
Hardcover and eBook, 528 pages

New York Times bestselling and Alex, Nebula, and Hugo-Award-winning author Seanan McGuire introduces readers to a world of amoral alchemy, shadowy organizations, and impossible cities in the standalone fantasy, Middlegame.

Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story.

Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math.

Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realise it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet.

Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan: to raise the twins to the highest power, to ascend with them and claim their authority as his own.

Godhood is attainable. Pray it isn’t attained.





The Song of Achilles
Ecco, August 28, 2012
Trade Paperback, August 12, 2012
  eBook, March 6, 2012

“At once a scholar’s homage to The Iliad and startlingly original work of art by an incredibly talented new novelist….A book I could not put down.”
—Ann Patchett

“Mary Renault lives again!” declares Emma Donoghue, author of Room, referring to The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller’s thrilling, profoundly moving, and utterly unique retelling of the legend of Achilles and the Trojan War. A tale of gods, kings, immortal fame, and the human heart, The Song of Achilles is a dazzling literary feat that brilliantly reimagines Homer’s enduring masterwork, The Iliad. An action-packed adventure, an epic love story, a marvelously conceived and executed page-turner, Miller’s monumental debut novel has already earned resounding acclaim from some of contemporary fiction’s brightest lights—and fans of Mary Renault, Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield, and Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series will delight in this unforgettable journey back to ancient Greece in the Age of Heroes.





Circe
Little, Brown and Company, April 10, 2018
Hardcover and eBook, 400 pages

“A bold and subversive retelling of the goddess’s story,” this #1 New York Times bestseller is “both epic and intimate in its scope, recasting the most infamous female figure from the Odyssey as a hero in her own right” (Alexandra Alter, The New York Times).

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child–not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power–the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.

With unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language and page-turning suspense, Circe is a triumph of storytelling, an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love and loss, as well as a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man’s world.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER–NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR, The Washington Post, People, Time, Amazon, Entertainment Weekly, Bustle, Newsweek, the A.V. Club, Christian Science Monitor and Refinery 29, Buzzfeed, Paste, Audible, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Thrillist, NYPL, Self Real Simple, Goodreads, Boston Globe, Electric Literature, BookPage, the Guardian, Book Riot, Seattle Times, and Business Insider





Fluffy's Revolution
Black Rose Writing, March 28 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 145 pages

“Brisk sci-fi futurism with a feline star and a positive outlook.” –KIRKUS REVIEWS

The fate of the world rests on the haunches of one small cat.

It’s 2135. Fluffy is a super-intelligent GAB (Genetically Altered Brain) cat. Like many dogs, cats, mice, and the occasional pig, her brain is the product of genetic tinkering by humans that started more than a century ago. With their powers of telekinesis, the animals can manipulate physical objects without being able to grasp them. They can speak to each other telepathically without audible voices. Now, people have begun to fear them and to systematically capture and exterminate them. Fluffy leaves the safety of her home to look for her lost brother and joins a band of animal revolutionaries. After a series of brushes with death, Fluffy and her friends find a secret university for GAB animals. There, they work with enlightened humans to save Earth from certain destruction.

Thursday, April 25, 2019

Nintendo Download, April 25, 2019: Think Outside the BOXBOY!


This week’s Nintendo Download includes the following featured content:
  • Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch
    • BOXBOY! + BOXGIRL! – As Qbby or Qucy, you’ll create boxes and use them to surmount more than 270 puzzling stages – the most in the series to date. The box planet is plagued with obstacles, so jump, climb, drift, ride and warp your way past them in three modes, complete with their own stories, stages, challenges and techniques. You can even team up for a two-player adventure starring both star-crossed boxes. The BOXBOY! + BOXGIRL! game is available April 26. A free demo for the game is now available in Nintendo eShop.
    • FINAL FANTASY XII THE ZODIAC AGE –The high-definition remaster of FINAL FANTASY XII THE ZODIAC AGE introduces several modern advancements, including reconstructed battle design and a revamped job system. The FINAL FANTASTY XII THE ZODIAC AGE game is available April 30.
    • SteamWorld Quest: Hand of GilgamechSteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech is the role-playing card game you’ve been waiting for! Lead a party of aspiring heroes through a beautifully hand-drawn world and intense battles using only your wits and a handful of cards. Take on whatever threat comes your way by crafting your own deck, choosing from over 100 unique punch-cards.

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Norma K Hemming Award 2019 Shortlists


The Australian Science Fiction Foundation (ASFF) has announced the 2019 shortlists for the Norma K Hemming Award for works published in 2018.
"Designed to recognise excellence in the exploration of themes of race, gender, sexuality, class or disability in a published speculative fiction work, the jury of the Norma K Hemming Award considered dozens of entries published in 2018 across the long and short form categories, comprised of short fiction, novellas, novels, edited anthologies, collections, graphic novels and stage plays."
The Awards will be presented at Continuum 15 on June 8, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia.


Short Fiction (stories up to 17,500 words)
  • “Pinion”, Stephanie Gunn (Aurum, Ticonderoga Publications)
  • “Triquetra”, Kirstyn McDermott (Tor.com)
  • “The Sea-Maker of Darmid Bay”, Shauna O’Meara (Interzone, TTA Press)
  • “With this Needle I Thee Thread”, Angela Rega (Aurum, Ticonderoga Publications)
  • “Shatterglass”, Susan Wardle (Aurum, Ticonderoga Publications)
  • “Knitting Day “, Jen White (Mother of Invention, Twelfth Planet Press)

Long Work
  • Icefall, Stephanie Gunn (Twelfth Planet Press)
  • City of Lies, Sam Hawke (Tor Books / Transworld)
  • Catching Teller Crow, Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina (Allen & Unwin)
  • The Second Cure, Margaret Morgan (Penguin Random House)
  • Mother of Invention, Rivqa Rafael and Tansy Rayner Roberts (Twelfth Planet Press)

Godzilla: King of the Monsters - Final Trailer


Wow!


In theaters on May 31, 2019.

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Interview with M.G. Wheaton, author of Emily Eternal


Please welcome M.G. Wheaton to The Qwillery as part of the 2019 Debut Author Challenge Interviews. Emily Eternal is published on April 23, 2019 by Grand Central







TQWelcome to The Qwillery. What is the first fiction piece you remember writing?

M.G.:  I was in kindergarten and wrote this series of stories about rats in France who had to flee to Morocco due to these monstrous invaders. The rats trained hard then crossed the sea and battled them back. The main rat was named Pepe le Chat (Pepe the Cat). I have no idea why I wrote it except that it was heavily illustrated, and I really liked drawing rats at the time. My mother didn’t tell me until much later in life as she thought it’d go to my head, but my parents were actually called in for a school conference over the stories as my teachers were worried about what I’d been reading at home.



TQAre you a plotter, a pantser or a hybrid?

M.G.:  A slight hybrid? I research whatever I’m interested in sometimes for years. When I know it’s a story, I’ll sit down and write a couple of full-length drafts to see if it holds water then go back to outline and start over completely. I think there’s the impulse when you’re starting out writing to emulate the process of successful authors but for me, one of the hardest things I’ve had to learn is what process works best for me even if it takes twice the time as someone else or is ridiculously inefficient.



TQWhat is the most challenging thing for you about writing? How does being a screenwriter affect (or not) your novel writing?

M.G.:  The biggest challenge for me has always been to be certain what makes perfect sense in my head ends up on the page. One reason I have to write draft after draft is because I realize how much I missed or glossed over the first couple of times through. What also helps this is to have a wide number of readers who know your style and can look at drafts at different points in your process. As for screenwriting, it gets you in the habit of writing a lot of dialogue and getting in and out of scenes, something working in video games and comics forces you to do as well. But in all three media, you’re also creating something of a blueprint to be handed off to someone else responsible for the visual that’s placed in front of someone. When I started out in books, I felt freed from that. I’m in charge, now! So, I’d write and write and write, banging out bloated and unreadable 125,000-word drafts. It was like, “Because you’ve switched format you’re going to forget about viewer/player/reader experience?” I’m sure I’ve ported over several other bad habits I’ll be weeding out for some time to come!



TQWhat has influenced / influences your writing?

M.G.:  I read a lot and I see mountains of theater, so books and plays/musicals the most, I think? I enjoy rich character pieces with sci-fi elements like Jennifer Haley’s play, “The Nether,” or the way the future affects the most marginalized of people in Warren Ellis’s old comic book series, “Transmetropolitan.” When I read something with a large cast of beautifully realized characters, recently books like Rachel Kushner’s “The Mars Room,” Joseph Cassera’s “House of Impossible Beauties,” or Tim Murphy’s “Christodora,” it gives me something to aim at. Also, Hideo Yokoyama. His “Six Four” and “Seventeen” are these beautiful studies in how people are with each other from clumsy to aggressive to cold to inarticulate. All things that make me want to be a better writer.



TQDescribe Emily Eternal using only 5 words.

M.G.:

Sun!
Oh no!
But yay, Emily!



TQTell us something about Emily Eternal that is not found in the book description.

M.G.:  Part of aging is about discovering the limitations of your body, the loss of short-term memory, the aging and breakdown of cells, the depletion of finite resources. Part of Emily is a fantasy about what if that didn’t have to be true?



TQWhat inspired you to write Emily Eternal? What appeals to you about writing Science Fiction?

M. G.:  My grandfather worked in a factory his whole life building first propeller planes during World War II then passenger jets in the eighties. While a lot is written about the development of planes is how they were designed to be faster or reach higher altitudes when just as much thought went into the safety of pilots. It’s so difficult to preserve a human body in a hostile environment which is just about anywhere not on land in a temperate environment. Everything else becomes a hostile environment for most humans very quickly except through intensive, sometimes lifelong conditioning. And like my answer to the question above, I always wondered – what if that wasn’t the case? What if we solved that and humans could exist in any environment?



TQWhat sort of research did you do for Emily Eternal?

M.G.:  I spend a lot of time reading articles in the science and medical fields always thinking, “what if?” after reading about this development or that, so much of it comes from that kind of research. The only real on-site work I did involved a trip to Kennedy Space Center in Florida where I took the tours, looked at all the launch pads and how integrated Space X and Boeing are into NASA down there. As far as genetics go, I researched a bit on the ocean-based Sama-Bajau people whose genes have evolved in several ways to allow them to not only live on water but also under it for much longer than, say, you or me.



TQPlease tell us about the cover for Emily Eternal.

M.G.:  I love the cover. It was made by a London-based artist, Natalie Chen (http://www.nataliejade.co.uk/) who does a lot of covers for Hodder & Stoughton. Grand Central had been working on other covers but when they saw Ms. Chen’s work, they adapted it instead as they were as impressed as we all were. It doesn’t depict anything directly from the novel but brings together many ideas – the coming together of many to create one, a person among the cosmos, and the seeming eternity of space.



TQIn Emily Eternal who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?

M.G.:  Perhaps a spoiler, but the easiest character to write is Emily’s predecessor, Emily-2. If Emily is evolved to have a sort of moral compass that forces her to consider several different angles, the decisions made by Emily-2 are very binary, very yes or no. She has a task and she must complete it. Nuance isn’t important. Only quantifiable success. The hardest is probably Emily herself because she is constantly striving to be better and thoughtful in all things. I am not always such a person, so had to always imagine what that experience of life would be like.



TQDoes Emily Eternal touch on any social issues?

M.G.:  It does. Right now, whether it’s something one chooses to acknowledge or not, mankind is entering a precarious moment due to climate change and the impact that will have on the world’s peoples. I read recently that 1 in 110 people, 68.5 million or about .8 % of the world’s population has been displaced, the highest number in human history. These are people forcibly made refugees due to war and famine. That number is going to increase exponentially over the next half century. Those of means have made it clear that they intend to hold onto power whatever the consequences, likely leaving those without resources to fend for themselves. Emily attempts to make the point that, as a species, we need one another. Though it may sound like a clichĆ©, “diversity is our strength” is scientifically dead on. We have evolved to where we are now. We can only guess at what effect a large-scale population die-off will have on our species.



TQWhich question about Emily Eternal do you wish someone would ask? Ask it and answer it!

M.G.:  Could the sun really die in 5,000 years? No idea! But maybe? What’s nuts about science is how quickly things change or evolve. I’ve only recently come to learn about the sociology of science – the study of how the social behavior of scientists – and seen how some ill-tested theories are pushed forward as “fact” due to herd mentality while others fall away or are suppressed by those within the field. Science is always seen as so iron-clad, so much the last word. But like it or not, there’s in-fighting within science, jealousy, and bitter competition. It wasn’t that long ago that much of what we agree on as “fact” was considered heretical, even by some who knew better. I often wonder which things we take for granted today in our day to day understanding of the natural world will be laughed at a couple hundred years from now.



TQGive us one or two of your favorite non-spoilery quotes from Emily Eternal.

M.G.:  Okay, so three hours, 150 miles, and 8.4 gallons of fuel later, this hubristic, not-so-super-computer, not-so-wonder-woman is still coming up dry on the plan front.

(This was how I felt flipping through the book looking for something non-spoilery?)



TQWhat's next?

M.G.:  After “Emily” sold, I started a horror thing, another science fiction thing, and a historical science fiction thing. The first two are both about to go to my agent as they’re pretty much done. I did two drafts of the historical one in order to write an outline so I could start over and will be doing another two months of so of research before hopping into another draft of that.



TQThank you for joining us at The Qwillery.





Emily Eternal
Grand Central, April 23, 2019
Hardcover and eBook, 304 pages

Meet Emily, “the best AI character since HAL 9000″ (Blake Crouch). She can solve advanced mathematical problems, unlock the mind’s deepest secrets, but unfortunately, even she can’t restart the sun.

Emily is an artificial consciousness, designed in a lab to help humans process trauma, which is particularly helpful when the sun begins to die 5 billion years before scientists agreed it was supposed to.

Her beloved human race is screwed, and so is Emily. That is, until she finds a potential answer buried deep in the human genome that may save them all. But not everyone is convinced Emily has the best solution–or the best intentions. Before her theory can be tested, the lab is brutally attacked, and Emily’s servers are taken hostage.

Narrowly escaping, Emily is forced to go on the run with two human companions–college student Jason and small-town Sheriff, Mayra. As the sun’s death draws near, Emily and her friends must race against time to save humanity. Soon it becomes clear not just the species is at stake, but also that which makes us most human.





About M.G.

Before turning to novels, M.G. Wheaton wrote movies, comic books, and video games as well as for several movie magazines. He was born in Texas but now lives in Los Angeles.






Website  ~  Twitter

Monday, April 22, 2019

The View From Monday - April 23, 2019


Happy Monday!

There is one debut this week:

Emily Eterrnal by M.G. Wheaton.

Clicking on a novel's cover will take you to its Amazon page.



From formerly featured DAC Authors:

William Shakespeare's Get Thee... Back to the Future! by Ian Doescher;

The Poppy War (The Poppy War 1) by R. F. Kuang is out in Trade Paperback;

and

Storm of Locusts (The Sixth World 2) by Rebecca Roanhorse.

Clicking on a novel's cover will take you to its Amazon page.





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

April 23, 2019
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
Elfsorrow James Barclay F/SF/AP/PA - Legends of the Raven  1
The Prophet of the Termite God Clark Thomas Carlton F - Antasy 2
William Shakespeare's Get Thee Back to the Future! Ian Doescher SF/TT/MU/Parody
The Book of Flora Meg Elison SF/AP/PA - Road to Nowhere 3
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World C. A. Fletcher Dys/LF/CoA/SF/AP/PA/CF
The Pandora Room Christopher Golden SupTh/H
Soul Remains Sam Hooker H/Occ/Sup - Terribly Serious Darkness 2
The Poppy War (h2tp) R. F. Kuang HistF - Poppy War 1
Machines Like Me Ian McEwan LF/Psy/AH
Ragged Alice Gareth L. Powell DF/SupTh/H
Storm of Locusts Rebecca Roanhorse SF/AP/PA - Sixth World 2
The Trouble With Vampires Lynsay Sands PNR - Argeneau Vampire 29
Delta-V Daniel Suarez TechTh/SF/SE
Ravnica: War of the Spark Greg Weisman F - Magic the Gathering
Emily Eternal (D) M. G. Wheaton SF/LF/AP/PA/TechTh



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 - Alternative History
AP - Apocalyptic
BH - Black Humor
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
Cr - Crime
CW - Contemporary Women
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
Esp - Espionage
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FolkT - Folk Tales
FR - Fantasy Romance
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GH - Ghost(s)
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HistTh - Historical Thriller
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
MU - Mash Up
NF - Near Future
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PopCul - Popular Culture
Pol - Political
PP - Police Procedural
Psy - Psychological
PsyTh - Psychological Thriller
RF - Romantic Fantasy
SE - Space Exploration
SF - Science Fiction
SH - Superheroes
SO - Space Opera
SS - Short Stories
Sup - Supernatural
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy
VisM - Visionary & Metaphysical

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

Sunday, April 21, 2019

Godzilla: King of the Monsters


I am a huge fan of Godzilla (and kaiju) films. So I was thrilled to see that Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures have released a new poster for Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which will be in theaters on May 31, 2019.

The new story follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed Ghidorah. When these ancient super-species—thought to be mere myths—rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity’s very existence hanging in the balance.



And in case you've not seen the posters of Mothra, Ghidorah, and Rodan:



A presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, in association with Toho Co., Ltd., a film by Michael Dougherty, “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” hits theaters May 31, 2019. It will be distributed in 3D and 2D and IMAX by Warner Bros. Pictures, except in Japan, where it will be distributed by Toho; and in China, where it will be distributed by Legendary East.

Check out more about the film at GodzillaMovie.com.

2018 BSFA Awards


The Winners of the 2018 British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Awards have been announced. at Ytterbium, the 70th Eastercon. Winners in green.


Best Novel
Best Shorter Fiction


Best Novel
  • Europe at Dawn by Dave Hutchinson (Solaris)
  • Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)
  • Before Mars by Emma Newman  (Ace Books)
  • Embers of War by Gareth L Powell (Titan Books)
  • Rosewater by Tade Thompson (Orbit)

Best Shorter Fiction
  • The Gift of Angels: an Introduction by Nina Allan (Clarkesworld)
  • The Purpose of the Dodo is to be Extinct by Malcolm Devlin (Interzone #275)
  • The Land of Somewhere Safe by Hal Duncan (NewCon Press)
  • Time Was by Ian McDonald (Tor.com)
  • Exit Strategy by Martha Wells (Tor.com)
  • Phosphorus by Liz Williams (NewCon Press)
  • Kingfisher by Marian Womack (Lost Objects, Luna Press)

Best Non-Fiction
  • Nina Allan’s Time Pieces column 2018 articles (Interzone)
  • Ruth EJ Booth’s Noise and Sparks column 2018 articles (Shoreline of Infinity)
  • Liz Bourke’s Sleeps With Monsters column 2018 articles (Tor.com)
  • Aliette de Bodard – On motherhood and erasure: people-shaped holes, hollow characters and the illusion of impossible adventures (Intellectus Speculativus blog) [link]
  • Adam Roberts – Publishing the Science Fiction Canon: The Case of Scientific Romance (Cambridge University Press)

Best Artwork
  • Ben Baldwin’s wraparound cover for ‘Strange Tales’ slipcase set (NewCon Press)
  • Joey Hi-Fi’s cover for ‘Paris Adrift’ by EJ Swift (Solaris)
  • Sarah Anne Langton’s cover for ‘Unholy Land’ by Lavie Tidhar (Tachyon Publications)
  • Sing Yun Lee and Morris Wild’s artwork for ‘Sublime Cognition’ conference (London Science Fiction Research Community)
  • Likhain’s In the Vanishers’ Palace: Dragon I and II (Inprnt)
  • Bede Rogerson’s cover for ‘Concrete Faery’ by Elizabeth Priest (Luna Press)
  • Del Samatar’s artwork for ‘Monster Portraits’ by Sofia and Del Samatar (Rose Metal Press)
  • Charlotte Stroomer’s cover for ‘Rosewater’ by Tade Thompson (Orbit)

Friday, April 19, 2019

Covers Revealed - Upcoming Works by DAC Authors


Here are some of the upcoming works by formerly featured Debut Author Challenge (DAC) Authors. The year in parentheses is the year the author was featured in the DAC.


R. S. Belcher (2013)

Men In Black International: The Official Movie Novelization
Titan Books, June 18, 2019
Mass Market Paperback and eBooks, 320 pages

THE GLOBAL MEN IN BLACK AGENCY is in the midst of an existential crisis. A mole in the agency’s ranks is helping an agressive race of aliens known as the Hive put the universe in danger.

THE MISSION will send agents across the globe, from London, to Morocco, to the Eiffel Tower.

IT WILL TAKE TWO AGENTS, with the ability to see the truth where others do not, to defeat the Hive, uncover the mole, and save the universe.





Ian Doescher (2013)

William Shakespeare's Get Thee Back to the Future!
Quirk Books, April 23, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 176 pages

In the iconic film by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, teenaged Marty McFly travels back in time from the 1980s to the 1950s, changing the path of his parents’ destiny . . . as well as his own. Now fans of the movie can journey back even further—to the 16th century, when the Bard of Avon unveils his latest masterpiece: William Shakespeare’s Get Thee Back to the Future! Every scene and line of dialogue from the hit movie is re-created with authentic Shakespearean rhyme, meter, and stage directions. This reimagining also includes jokes and Easter eggs for movie fans, from Huey Lewis call-outs to the inner thoughts of Einstein (the dog). By the time you’ve finished reading, you’ll be convinced that Shakespeare had a time-traveling DeLorean of his own, speeding to our era so he could pen this time-tossed tale.



William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Mean Girls
Quirk Books, April 23, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 176 pages

Power struggles. Bitter rivalries. Jealousy. Betrayals. Star-crossed lovers. When you consider all these plot points, it’s pretty surprising William Shakespeare didn’t write Mean Girls. But now fans can treat themselves to the epic drama—and heroic hilarity—of the classic teen comedy rendered with the wit, flair, and iambic pentameter of the Bard. Our heroine Cady disguises herself to infiltrate the conniving Plastics, falls for off-limits Aaron, struggles with her allegiance to newfound friends Damian and Janis, and stirs up age-old vendettas among the factions of her high school. Best-selling author Ian Doescher brings his signature Shakespearean wordsmithing to this cult classic beloved by generations of teen girls and other fans. Now, on the 15th anniversary of its release, Mean Girls is a recognized cultural phenomenon, and it’s more than ready for an Elizabethan makeover.





Nicky Drayden (2017)

Escaping Exodus
Harper Voyager, October 8, 2019
Trade Paperback and eBook, 368 pages

The Compton Crook award–winning author of The Prey of Gods and Temper returns with a dazzling stand-alone novel, set in deep space, in which the fate of humanity rests on the slender shoulders of an idealistic and untested young woman—a blend of science fiction, dark humor, and magical realism that will appeal to fans of Lauren Beukes, Ian McDonald, and Nnedi Okorafor.

Earth is a distant memory. Habitable extrasolar planets are still out of reach. For generations, humanity has been clinging to survival by establishing colonies within enormous vacuum-breathing space beasts and mining their resources to the point of depletion.

Rash, dreamy, and unconventional, Seske Kaleigh should be preparing for her future role as clan leader, but her people have just culled their latest beast, and she’s eager to find the cause of the violent tremors plaguing their new home. Defying social barriers, Seske teams up with her best friend, a beast worker, and ventures into restricted areas for answers to end the mounting fear and rumors. Instead, they discover grim truths about the price of life in the void.

Then, Seske is unexpectedly thrust into the role of clan matriarch, responsible for thousands of lives in a harsh universe where a single mistake can be fatal. Her claim to the throne is challenged by a rival determined to overthrow her and take control—her intelligent, cunning, and confident sister.

Seske may not be a born leader like her sister, yet her unorthodox outlook and incorruptible idealism may be what the clan needs to save themselves and their world.