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Friday, July 31, 2020

Nintendo Download, July 30, 2020: Have a Blast With Fireworks and Dreams in Animal Crossing: New Horizons


This week’s Nintendo Download includes the following featured content:
  • Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch
    • Animal Crossing: New Horizons Summer Update – Wave 2 – Enjoy atmospheric fireworks lighting up the sky above your island every Sunday in August at 7 p.m. Put your personal spin on the fireworks display by using your own custom design pattern to see it shot in the air as a firework in the sky! With a Nintendo Switch Online membership, you can also now choose to take a nap in any bed placed in your home. While dozing off, you may find yourself in a strange realm where you’ll be greeted by Luna. Luna offers visits to other islands as a dream, and with her help, you can share your island as a dream with others too. Plus, a new island backup service may be able to help recover your island if your Nintendo Switch system is lost or damaged, so you can get right back to building your island community.
    • Lost Wing – Pilot a super-fast ship through brutal environments, and try to top the leaderboards. Featuring numerous challenges, ships, enemies and traps, it’s a shot of pure unadulterated adrenaline. Storm your way through three unique worlds, beat each stage and destroy the bosses. Featuring an original electronic soundtrack, multiple play modes, stages, ships and weapons, Lost Wing is a perfect challenge for the most demanding players. Lost Wing will be available on July 31.
    • Skully – Hop, skip and roll your way to victory! On a mysterious remote island, a skull washes up on shore and is reawakened by an enigmatic deity. Dubbed Skully, the newly reanimated being has been summoned to intervene in a war between the deity’s three siblings, whose quarrel jeopardizes the island they call home. Fate has bestowed Skully with a second chance at “life” and his adventure will take him across a strange paradise as he seeks an end to the conflict that plagues the isle. Traverse a mysterious island by rolling through 18 different levels in seven distinct ecosystems, each packed with adventure, puzzles and unique dangers. Skully will be available on Aug. 4.

  • Nintendo Mobile
    • Dr. Mario World One-Year Anniversary – The free-to-start Dr. Mario World game has reached its one-year milestone and the mobile game has continued to grow with fun new features. To mark the occasion, Dr. Mario World players can now receive 8-Bit Dr. Mario, a playable character with special skills, as a free login bonus. 8-Bit Dr. Mario is available now and can be acquired until Aug. 30 at 10:59 p.m. PT.

Nintendo eShop sales:

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Interview with Cherie Dimaline, author of Empire of Wild


Please welcome Cherie Dimaline to The Qwillery as part of the 2020 Debut Author Challenge Interviews for her US Debut. Empire of Wild is published on July 28, 2020 by William Morrow.







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

Cherie:  I used to get in trouble all the time during class because I would write stories on the back of math tests… and forget to do the math. This started in grade 2 and 3. I’m sure they were short and terrible, but I remember in those moments when the classroom was quiet and there was an hour stretching in front of me, all I could do was write. I remember one story about some kids who find a dragon in the woods behind their house after school one day.



TQAre you a plotter, a pantser or a hybrid?

Cherie:  Total hybrid. Usually I start with a seed of an idea, or a voice and then I plot once I have a bunch of pages teetering on the edge of my desk.



TQWhat is the most challenging thing for you about writing?

Cherie:  It’s tough to shut out the public before it’s time to let them in. I lose myself in the story and it’s so beautiful. But then I start to think about the readers who are my partners in the project and my confidence falls. So I have to try to build walls in order to write, which then makes me feel like a bad partner. Maybe anxiety is the biggest challenge then.



TQWhat has influenced / influences your writing?

Cherie:  Other writers like Omar El Akaad and Jesmyn Ward and poets like Gregory Scofield inspire me and anger me- how can they write so damn well?!. And always, my grandmother who was the first person to tell me stories, is my main inspiration. She told my stories about the rogarou who plays a huge role in this book. And, full disclosure, I binge watched True Blood to de-stress and that sulky, supernatural-ness may or may not have seeped in to the prose here and there….



TQDescribe Empire of Wild using only 5 words.

Cherie:  Gothic, lush, magic, sex, survival (Oh, sex survival sounds like a good reality show)



TQTell us something about Empire of Wild that is not found in the book description.

Cherie:  I started writing it on the back of a barf bag during a redeye flight. I still have that bag. Thankfully there was minimal turbulence so it didn’t have to be used for anything other than story notes.



TQWhat inspired you to write Empire of Wild?

Cherie:  On that same flight, I read an article in a magazine (Walrus magazine) about these new well-funded missionary churches that were going into Indigenous communities to bring the people in off the land and to god. They were headed by Indigenous preachers, at least publically. It made me wonder about a lot of things like why now, and who was funding the missions, and what did this mean for traditional people and the community overall.



TQWhat sort of research did you do for Empire of Wild?

Cherie:  I really thought about wolf culture globally, which surprisingly brought me to the Inquisition in Germany where they tried werewolves along with witches.



TQPlease tell us about the cover for Empire of Wild.

Cherie:  We really wanted to find an image that spoke to the magic and fear and seduction of the woods and all the things that could be lurking there. So the trees and the stars in one image really gives the idea of possibility and adventure.



TQIn Empire of Wild who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?

Cherie:  Joan was the easiest to write because she is based on so many strong women who I love dearly, real badass, beautifully flawed and remarkable women. Cecile was the hardest because she was a villain and started off as such a cliché. She had no nuance, no rationale that you could connect to. And a villain without nuance is a paper doll. So I sat down to write her backstory and it ended up in the book.



TQDoes Empire of Wild touch on any social issues?

Cherie:  Everything I write end up having social issues embedded in them. This one has resource extraction, cultural survival and colonization. You know, just the small stuff.



TQWhich question about Empire of Wild do you wish someone would ask? Ask it and answer it!

Cherie:

Was it fun to write the sexier scenes in the book?

Oh hells yes it was!



TQGive us one or two of your favorite non-spoilery quotes from Empire of Wild.

Cherie

Old medicine has a way of being remembered, of haunting the land where it was laid. People are forgetful. Medicine is not.


He had generous lips and a wide smile. But his teeth? It was like God put a bunch of potentials in a Yahtzee cup and tossed, thinking Fuck it, let’s just hope for the best.



TQWhat's next?

Cherie:  I’m working on the TV adaptation to my YA book The Marrow Thieves. And researching souvenirs, road trips and witchcraft for a new project. Oh yeah, it’s going to be a wild one!



TQ:  Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery!





Empire of Wild
William Morrow, July 28, 2020
Hardcover and eBook, 320 pages

“Deftly written, gripping and informative. Empire of Wild is a rip-roaring read!”—Margaret Atwood, From Instagram

Empire of Wild is doing everything I love in a contemporary novel and more. It is tough, funny, beautiful, honest and propulsive—all the while telling a story that needs to be told by a person who needs to be telling it.”—Tommy Orange, author of There There

A bold and brilliant new indigenous voice in contemporary literature makes her American debut with this kinetic, imaginative, and sensuous fable inspired by the traditional Canadian Métis legend of the Rogarou—a werewolf-like creature that haunts the roads and woods of native people’s communities.

Joan has been searching for her missing husband, Victor, for nearly a year—ever since that terrible night they’d had their first serious argument hours before he mysteriously vanished. Her Métis family has lived in their tightly knit rural community for generations, but no one keeps the old ways . . . until they have to. That moment has arrived for Joan.

One morning, grieving and severely hungover, Joan hears a shocking sound coming from inside a revival tent in a gritty Walmart parking lot. It is the unmistakable voice of Victor. Drawn inside, she sees him. He has the same face, the same eyes, the same hands, though his hair is much shorter and he's wearing a suit. But he doesn't seem to recognize Joan at all. He insists his name is Eugene Wolff, and that he is a reverend whose mission is to spread the word of Jesus and grow His flock. Yet Joan suspects there is something dark and terrifying within this charismatic preacher who professes to be a man of God . . . something old and very dangerous.

Joan turns to Ajean, an elderly foul-mouthed card shark who is one of the few among her community steeped in the traditions of her people and knowledgeable about their ancient enemies. With the help of the old Métis and her peculiar Johnny-Cash-loving, twelve-year-old nephew Zeus, Joan must find a way to uncover the truth and remind Reverend Wolff who he really is . . . if he really is. Her life, and those of everyone she loves, depends upon it.





About Cherie

Cherie Dimaline is a Métis author and editor whose award-winning fiction has been published and anthologized internationally. In 2014, she was named the Emerging Artist of the Year at the Ontario Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts and became the first Aboriginal Writer in Residence for the Toronto Public Library. She is the author of the young adult novel The Marrow Thieves, which was a Canadian bestseller and won several honors, including the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Kirkus Prize in the young adult literature category, and was a fan favorite in the 2018 edition of CBC’s Canada Reads. She lives in Christian Island, Ontario.




Website  ~  Twitter @cherie_dimaline

Monday, July 27, 2020

The View From Monday - July 27, 2020


It is the last Monday in July!

There are 3 debuts this week:

Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline;

Gray Matters by John Gastil;

and

Crossings by Alex Landragin.

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



From formerly featured DAC Authors:

Reaping Willow (Grim Reality 4) by Boone Brux;

William Shakespeare's The Merry Rise of Skywalker: Star Wars Part the Ninth (William Shakespeare's Star Wars 9) by Ian Doescher;

A Lush and Seething Hell: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror by John Hornor Jacobs is out in Trade Paperback;

Tyger Burning by T. C. McCarthy is out in Mass Market Paperback;

Chaos Vector (Protectorate 2) by Megan E. O'Keefe;

Demon in White (Sun Eater 3) by Christopher Ruocchio;

Automatic Reload by Ferrett Steinmetz;

and

The Worst of All Possible Worlds (Salvagers 3) by Alex White.

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.

July 27, 2020
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
House of the Rising Sun Richard Cox SF/AP/PA
The Best of Greg Egan: 20 Stories of Hard Science Fiction Greg Egan SF/HSF



July 28, 2020
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
The Technician (tp2mm) Neal Asher SF/SO - Polity 4
The Butterfly Lampshade Aimee Bender LF/MR/FL
Afterland Lauren Beukes Sus/Dys
The Baron of Magister Valley Steven Brust F - Dragaera 4
Reaping Willow (e) Boone Brux UF - Grim Reality 4
Lies of Descent (h2mm) Troy Carrol Bucher F/DF - Fallen Gods' War 1
My Enemy's Enemy (tp2mm) Robert Buettner SF
Kushiel's Chosen (ri) Jacqueline Carey RF/F - Kushiel's Legacy 2
The Perfect Wife (h2tp) JP Delaney Sus/Psy/GenEng
Empire of Wild (D - US) Cherie Dimaline Native American & Aboriginal/STR/SupTh
William Shakespeare's The Merry Rise of Skywalker: Star Wars Part the Ninth Ian Doescher SF/SO - William Shakespeare's Star Wars 9
The Imago Stage Karoline Georges
Rhonda Mullins (Tr)
LF/Dys/FL
Spells for the Dead Faith Hunter UF - Soulwood 5
A Lush and Seething Hell: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror (h2tp) John Hornor Jacobs H
Flyaway Kathleen Jennings CF/DF/Gothic
At Death's Door (hmm) Sherrilyn Kenyon HistF/FR/PNR - Deadman's Cross 3
Cold Storage (h2mm) David Koepp Sus
Kinsman's Oath (e)(ri) Susan Krinard PNR - The Kinsman  2
Prince of Shadows (e)(ri) Susan Krinard PNR - Val Cache 3
The Forest Lord (e)(ri) Susan Krinard PNR - Fane 1
Star-Crossed (e)(ri) Susan Krinard SF
Prince of Dreams (e)(ri) Susan Krinard PNR - Val Cache 2
Prince of Wolves (e)(ri) Susan Krinard PNR - Val Cache 1
Twice a Hero (e)(ri) Susan Krinard PNR
Body & Soul (e)(ri) Susan Krinard PNR
Crossings (D) Alex Landragin LF/MR
Sabella (ri) Tanith Lee SF/SO
Bound by Shadows (ri) Kathy Lyons PNR - Grizzlies Gone Wild  1
The Dawn of a Nazi Moon Douglas MacKinnon SF - Dawn of the Nazi Moon 1
Tyger Burning (tp2mm) T. C. McCarthy SF
The Five Books of (Robert) Moses Arthur Nersesian AH/LF/AB/Sagas
Chaos Vector Megan E. O'Keefe SF/SO/SE/GenEng- Protectorate 2
The Memory Police (h2tp) Yoko Ogawa
Stephen Snyder (Tr)
LF/SF/Dys
River of Night (h2mm) John Ringo
Mike Massa
SF/AP/PA - Black Tide Rising 8
Deal with the Devil Kit Rocha SF/SFR - Mercenary Librarians 1
Demon in White Christopher Ruocchio SF/SO/HSF/AC - Sun Eater 3
Relentless: A Drizzt Novel R. A. Salvatore F - Generations  3
Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds (h2mm) Brandon Sanderson SF - Collection
Automatic Reload Ferrett Steinmetz SF/CyP/HSF
Privateer (h2mm) Margaret Weis
Robert Krammes
F - The Dragon Corsairs 2
The Worst of All Possible Worlds Alex White SF/GenEng/SO - Salvagers 3
Master of the World (tp2mm) Edward Willett F - Worldshapers 2



July 31, 2020
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
Gray Matters (D) John Webster Gastil SF/CyP/Medical/PolTh
Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 3 William Schafer (Ed) DF - Anthology



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



AB - Absurdist
AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternative History
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
Cr - Crime
CW - Contemporary Women
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
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
LMF - Legends, Myths, Fables
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PCM - Paranormal Cozy Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PolTh - Political Thriller
PopCul - Popular Culture
Psy - Psychological
RF - Romantic Fantasy
ScF - Science Fantasy
SE - Space Exploration
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SH - Superheroes
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
SpecFic - Speculative Fiction
STR - Small Town and Rural
Sup - Supernatural
SupM - Supernatural Mystery
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
UF - Urban Fantasy
VM - Visionary and Metaphysical

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

Friday, July 24, 2020

Nintendo Download, July 23, 2020: Grow and Eat, Jump to the Beat and Hide from the Heat


This week’s Nintendo Download includes the following featured content:
  • Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch
    • Rogue Company – The world needs saving, and only the best of the best can do it. Rogue Company is the third-person tactical action shooter that puts the fate of the world in your hands. Suit up as one of the elite agents of Rogue Company, each with their own individual set of skills, and go to war in a variety of different game modes. Rogue Company is action packed with no shortage of weapons, gadgets and style. The mission starts now. Save the day. Look good. Get paid.
    • CARRION – CARRION is a reverse horror game in which you assume the role of an amorphous creature of unknown origin. Stalk and consume those that imprisoned you to spread fear and panic throughout the facility. Grow and evolve as you tear down the prison and acquire more and more devastating abilities on the path to retribution in this action-adventure platformer.
    • Dex – Plug into the cyberpunk world of Dex, a 2D action-RPG with non-linear gameplay. Explore, fight, talk and hack through a neo-noir adventure. Play as the mysterious blue-haired girl, Dex, who is being hunted by a powerful and enigmatic organization for her unique abilities. Explore the misty, futuristic streets of Harbor Prime in this open-world dystopia. Unearth plots and intrigues, forge alliances and take the fight to the enemies on a quest to take down the system. Dex will be available on July 24.
    • Crysis Remastered – The classic first-person shooter from Crytek is back with the action-packed gameplay, sandbox world and thrilling epic battles you loved the first time around. Armed with a powerful Nanosuit, players can become invisible to stalk enemy patrols or boost strength to lay waste to vehicles. The Nanosuit’s speed, strength, armor and cloaking allow creative solutions for every kind of fight, while a huge arsenal of modular weaponry provides unprecedented control over play style in an enormous world.
    • Ageless – Ageless is a story-driven puzzle platformer in which you alter the age of animals and plant life around you to progress. What will Kiara do when she suddenly finds herself lost, confused, alone and with the power to control the age of flora and fauna? Traverse a world unlike any other, full of myths and magic. Embark on an emotional journey with tough choices and confront Kiara’s inner demon. Ageless will be available on July 28.

DLC:
  • Remix Your Journey Through Hyrule with a Crescendo of Characters – Revisit the rhythmic action-adventure game Cadence of Hyrule – Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Switch system with a series of exciting new DLC Packs*. Pack #1 is available now for $5.99 and lets you re-orchestrate your Hyrule adventure with new challenges and five additional characters, including Shadow Link, Shadow Zelda and Impa from the Legend of Zelda series. Two additional DLC packs will launch later this year. Pack #2 will feature new remixes of popular The Legend of Zelda songs. Pack #3 will have a new story, songs and map featuring Skull Kid, who has the power to change abilities based on the different masks he wears. Get all three DLC packs as they release with the Season Pass, which can be purchased in Nintendo eShop on Nintendo.com for $14.99.

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Interview with Michael R. Underwood


Please welcome Michael R. Underwood to The Qwillery! Annihilation Aria, the first novel in his new Space Opera series, is published on July 21, 2020 by Parvus Press.

Please join all of us at The Qwillery in wishing Michael a Happy Book Birthday!







TQWelcome back to The Qwillery. Your new novel Annihilation Aria is published on July 21st. Over the years, what has become less challenging for you as a writer? More challenging?

MRU:  It’s gotten a bit easier for me to ride the ups and downs of publishing, but easier is not easy. It’s still an industry where getting better as a writer is no guarantee that your books will do better commercially. And that’s very discouraging. Writing books themselves have gotten easier and harder. Easier as I learn how to be more flexible in my process, responding to each book with the approach that works for it. Harder because I keep raising the bar for myself and in rising to the challenges posed to me by editors like my editor on Annihilation Aria, Kaelyn Considine. Aria is my best attempt (so far) to write a fun adventure story while adding more emotional depth and interesting worldbuilding.



TQDescribe Annihilation Aria using only 5 words.

MRU:  Space archaeology gets very complicated.



TQPlease tell us something about Annihilation Aria that is not found in the book description.

MRU:  Something I’ve already gotten positive feedback about with regards to the book is people saying they really like seeing a book with a happily-married couple in it. Max and Lahra start the novel already well into their relationship, but it’s one that is still loving and affectionate, even if they have their problems like any other couple. Being happily married myself, I wanted to help contribute to the body of works that feature established couples rather than only ever showing the meet-cute and the whirlwind romance.



TQWhich character in the Annihilation Aria was the most fun to write?

MRU:  The more time I spent developing her people’s culture, the more fun Lahra became to write. She became a way for me to play with the idea of the Warrior People, with Lahra as one of the few remaining members of her people’s warrior caste. I loved developing the worldbuilding for how she relates to the song magic of her people and her inherited quest to find and restore the lost heir.



TQAnnihilation Aria is a space opera? What makes a story a "space opera"?

MRU:  Generally, I agree with the reading of space opera as the science fiction analogue to epic fantasy. Space opera as a term riffs on horse opera, an old name for westerns. In modern science fiction, space opera has broadened to cover a wide range of science fiction, from series like The Expanse to Star Wars to Dune and many projects in between. Some space opera overlaps with military SF, some overlaps more with space fantasy (Annihilation Aria among them).

For this book, I leaned into a literal definition of space opera by having Lahra’s people use song magic, with Lahra’s battle songs featuring prominently in the actions sequences of the novel. Which made it fun and let me give the series (only one book commissioned so far) the cheeky title of “The Space Operas.” And if I get to write more books, I can give them equally fun titles like Chaos Canto or the like.



TQYour novels often (but not always) subtly pay homage to various genres and/or geekdoms. I particularly enjoy this in a novel. Will we be treated to this in Annihilation Aria?

MRUAnnihilation Aria was inspired by Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars, and some other space opera series. Reviewers have talked about Aria playing with 1908s space opera tropes but with updated sensibilities, and that’s definitely the approach I took in writing it. Most of my work so far has been focused on fun, adventure storytelling but done with as much inclusivity as I can manage.



TQDoes Annihilation Aria touch on any social issues?

MRU:  When I started writing Aria in 2015, its political edge was not as sharp as the final result. Then November 2016 happened. I decided to lean into that anger at the rise of US authoritarianism instead of shying away from it. The evil empire in this book is not at all the same as Trumpism in the USA, but the book definitely became more anti-authoritarian and revolutionary. Empires and the struggle against them are fairly common in space opera, but I tried to be a bit more pointed about the details of how authoritarianism and fascism creates systems of social control by limiting free speech, limiting movement, etc. All while still crafting a novel more about adventure and heroism than oppression and tragedy.



TQWhich question about Annihilation Aria do you wish someone would ask? Ask it and answer it!

Made up question: Why a greatsword for Lahra’s sword of station?

MRU:  Great question! Greatswords were used as a weapon of choice by some bodyguards in renaissance Europe. A greatsword is heavier and harder to control than a longsword, but its size and strength makes it great for clearing and controlling space. I’ve studied a bit of greatsword technique from the Iberian Peninsula as well as other Iberian swordplay, and I jumped at the opportunity to showcase greatswords in this project. Plus, epic fantasy and space opera already make space for Giant Ridiculous Swords, so most of what I had to do was bring my own martial arts knowledge to it and figure out how magical/martial arts movie-ish I wanted swordplay to be in this one.



TQ Give us one or two of your favorite non-spoilery quotes from Annihilation Aria.

MRU
Lahra Kevain sang “Sahvo’s Embrace” to her armor in the sun-soaked cargo hold. The embrace was an aria of resilience and rebirth from the epic of Zhore, sung originally by a love-struck guardian to the princess who was her charge.

The song awakened the suit, allowing her armor to repair itself using the sun’s energy. The coral-steel resonated with her voice, stitching itself back together, scalloped ridges and joints sealing and smoothing over. One by one, traces of her and Max’s last misadventure faded, and the suit returned to its optimal form.


TQWhat's next?

MRU:  I’m not the fastest writer, so I’ve been working on ways to stay connected with writers and colleagues. The past couple of years, I’ve had a lot of fun writing essays on the craft of writing and the business of publishing at my Patreon (patreon.com/michaelrunderwood). I’ve covered topics from how the pandemic may impact publishing to how sub-rights work as well as building a quick one-shot for D&D and getting from concept to page one in a new writing project. Plus it has pictures of my very cute dog Oreo.



TQThank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

MRU:  Thanks so much for having me back! Debuting back in 2012 feels simultaneously like just the other day and a lifetime ago, and I really appreciate the support and chance to get to grow along with the Qwillery audience.





Annihilation Aria
The Space Operas 1
Parvus Press, July 21, 2020
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

Max is cheery xeno-archeologist from Earth, stranded and trying to find a way home. Lahra is a stern warrior of a nearly extinct race searching for her people’s heir. Wheel is the couple’s cybernetic pilot running from her past and toward an unknown future.

On Wheel’s ship, the Kettle, the trio traverses the galaxy, dodging Imperial patrols and searching ancient ruins for anything they can sell. The crew of the Kettle are deeply in debt to their home base’s most powerful gangster, and she wants her money back.  

So when a dangerous, but promising job comes their way, Max, Lahra, and Wheel have little choice but to take it. However, the crew of the Kettle gets more than they bargained for when they find themselves in possession of a powerful artifact, one that puts them in the crosshairs of the Vsenk, the galaxy’s ruthless and oppressive imperial overlords. 

Max, Lahra, and Wheel are pulled into a web of galactic subterfuge, ancient alien weaponry, a secret resistance force, lost civilizations, and giant space turtles.  The Vsenk will stop at nothing to recover what the crew of the Kettle has found and Max’s brains, Lahra’s muscle, and Wheel’s skills may be all that stands between entire planets and annihilation.  

Can they evade space fascists, kick-start a rebellion, and save the galaxy all while they each try to find their own way home?





About Michael

Michael R. Underwood is the author of over twelve books, including Annihilation Aria, Born to the Blade (an epic fantasy serial), the Ree Reyes Geekomancy series and Genrenauts, a series of novellas, which was a finalist for the r/Fantasy “Stabby” Award.

Mike grew up devouring stories in all forms, from comics to video games, tabletop RPGs, movies, and books. He holds a B.A. in Creative Mythology and in East Asian Studies from Indiana University and a M.A. in Folklore Studies from the University of Oregon.

In years past, he danced Argentine Tango and was a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism and studying historical martial arts. Mike has been a hobby game store clerk, a student archivist, a webmaster, a web design teacher, a bear-builder, a bookseller, an independent publishers’ representative, and more.

Mike lives in Baltimore with his wife, their dog Oreo, and an ever-growing library. He also loves geeking out with video & role-playing games, studying historical martial arts, and making pizzas from scratch. He is also a co-host on the actual play show Speculate! and a guest host on The Skiffy and Fanty Show.

Website  ~  Twitter @MikeRUnderwood  ~  Facebook

Monday, July 20, 2020

The View From Monday - July 20, 2020


Monday again!

There are 3 debuts his week:

Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis;

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson;

and

The Sin in the Steel (The Fall of the Gods 1) by Ryan Van Loan.

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



From formerly featured DAC Authors:

The Killing Light (The Sacred Throne 3) by Myke Cole is out in Trade Paperback;

Darkdawn (The Nevernight Chronicles 3) by Jay Kristoff is out in Trade Paperback;

All the Dead Men by Errick Nunnally;

The Rightful Queen (Paths of Lantistyne 2) by Isabelle Steiger;

and

Annihilation Aria (Space Operas 1) by Michael R. Underwood.

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.

July 20, 2020
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
All the Dead Men Errick Nunnally H - Alexander Smith 2



July 21, 2020
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
Saturnine Dan Abnett SF/SO - The Horus Heresy: Siege of Terra 4
MEG: Generations Steve Alten SupTh/SF - Meg 6
Uranus Ben Bova SF/HSF/AC - Outer Planets Trilogy 1
Alpha Omega Nicholas Bowling SF/TechTh/H
The Killing Light (h2tp) Myke Cole F - Sacred Throne  3
Fearful Symmetries (e)(ri) Ellen Datlow (Ed) H - Anthology
John Landis Presents The Library of Horror Haunted Houses: Classic Stories of Doors that Should Never Be Opened DK H - The Library of Horror
The Pull of the Stars Emma Donoghue Hist/Dys
Axiom's End (D) Lindsay Ellis SF/AC/Th
The Year of the Witching (D) Alexis Henderson H/Occ/Sup/DF
A Summoning of Souls Leanna Renee Hieber GH/Gaslamp - A Spectral City Novel 3
I Come with Knives S. A. Hunt H/CF - Malus Domestica 2
Trouble the Saints Alaya Dawn Johnson HistF/LF
Darkdawn (h2tp) Jay Kristoff F - The Nevernight Chronicle 3
Inch by Inch (h2tp) Morgan Llywelyn SF/AP/PA - Step by Step 2
Malorie: A Bird Box Novel Josh Malerman Sus/H/SF/AP/PA - Bird Box 2
Quantum Shadows L. E. Modesitt Jr. SF
The Rightful Queen Isabelle Steiger F - Paths of Lantistyne 2
Annihilation Aria Michael R. Underwood SF/SO - Space Operas 1
The Sin in the Steel (D) Ryan Van Loan F - The Fall of the Gods 1
The Big Book of Modern Fantasy Ann VanderMeer(Ed)
Jeff VanderMeer (Ed)
F - Anthology
A Touch of Stone and Snow Milla Vane FR/F/PNR - A Gathering of Dragons 2
Savage Legion Matt Wallace F - Savage Rebellion 1
South of the Buttonwood Tree Heather Webber CW/MR/STR
Ashes of the Sun Django Wexler F - Burningblade & Silvereye 1



July 23, 2020
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
The Chimera Code (e) Wayne Santos SF - Witchware 1



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



AB - Absurdist
AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternative History
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
Cr - Crime
CW - Contemporary Women
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
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
LMF - Legends, Myths, Fables
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PCM - Paranormal Cozy Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PolTh - Political Thriller
PopCul - Popular Culture
Psy - Psychological
RF - Romantic Fantasy
ScF - Science Fantasy
SE - Space Exploration
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SH - Superheroes
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
SpecFic - Speculative Fiction
STR - Small Town and Rural
Sup - Supernatural
SupM - Supernatural Mystery
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
UF - Urban Fantasy
VM - Visionary and Metaphysical

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

Friday, July 17, 2020

2020 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - July 2020 Debuts




Each month you will be able to vote for your favorite cover from that month's debut novels. At the end of the year the 12 monthly winners will be pitted against each other to choose the 2020 Debut Novel Cover of the Year. Please note that a debut novel cover is eligible in the month in which the novel is published in the US. Cover artist/illustrator/designer information is provided when we have it.

I'm using PollCode for this vote. After you the check the circle next to your favorite, click "Vote" to record your vote. If you'd like to see the real-time results click "View". This will take you to the PollCode site where you may see the results. If you want to come back to The Qwillery click "Back" and you will return to this page. Voting will end sometime on July 31, 2020, unless the vote is extended. If the vote is extended the ending date will be updated.


Vote for your favorite July 2020 Debut Cover!
 
pollcode.com free polls





























Cover by Kieryn Tyler





Cover design by Shasti O'Leary Soudant










Jacket art: photo of woman by Larry Rostant
Jacket design by Katie Anderson

Thursday, July 16, 2020

Interview with John P. Murphy, author of Red Noise


Please welcome John P. Murphy to The Qwillery as part of the 2020 Debut Author Challenge Interviews. Red Noise was published on July 7, 2020 by Angry Robot.







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

John P. Murphy:  Oh gosh. Does anyone have an answer to this that isn't horribly embarrassing? I wrote pretty much constantly when I was a kid, and it all kind of blended together. Some kind of generic epic fantasy thing, with airships. The airships bit, at least, I remember. I was a huge JRPG fan starting in the early 90s - we got a copy of Final Fantasy with Nintendo Power magazine, and I was absolutely hooked on it. I pretty much immediately started writing stories that were really very thinly veiled copies, driven mostly by people having cool names rather than personalities.

The first piece I remember letting people read was probably a one act play. I was really into theatre in high school, and we were allowed to write skits and short plays to put on for credit. I'm not sure if this was the first one, but I remember writing one about a writer who handcuffed himself to his desk to make himself finish on deadline, and all his terrible drafts were acted out in front of him. That was pretty fun; I hadn't thought of that in years.



TQAre you a plotter, a pantser or a hybrid?

JPM:  These days I'm a plotter. Part of that is that I have so little time to write, so that I spend time during the day planning out what I'm going to write, and can then generally speed through it. I don't often finish according to plan, though: if it's going an interesting direction, I keep at it, and then revise the plan. But what I need most is to know the ending, especially the emotional payoff - I need that north star if the plot is going to work, and for me I can't just pants that.



TQWhat is the most challenging thing for you about writing?

JPM:  Finishing! I pretty reliably hit a rough spot at about the two-thirds spot in almost everything I write. By that point I've hit most of the things I hadn't fully thought through, the shine of the idea has worn off, and I'm convinced that nobody will ever like it. I've abandoned a few drafts at that stage, but mostly it just takes a lot of energy and motivation to get through. I bribe myself with good whiskey and home-roasted coffee.



TQWhat has influenced / influences your writing?

JPM:  This one had a lot of influences. I'm kind of a cultural magpie. I've been really enjoying some of the more recent space-based science fiction lately; I love the way Aliette de Bodard's science fiction paints a different kind of space-faring future than we're used to seeing. I read a lot of old-school noir in preparing for this, like Chandler and Hammett, and newer more horror-oriented noir like Cassandra Khaw. I was obviously pretty strongly influence by samurai flicks and the grittier style of Western - think Clint Eastwood, not John Wayne. A fair bit of anime, especially Cowboy Bebop and Planetes. Firefly, too. The Fallout games likely had an influence on the aesthetic. Heck, there's even a Dwarf Fortress reference in there, but if anyone gets that I'll be amazed.



TQDescribe Red Noise using only 5 words.

JPM:  Space samurai flick with explosives.



TQTell us something about Red Noise that is not found in the book description.

JPM:  So, if you'll just look over there at that fascinating bird, I'm definitely not re-reading my own book description right now. Oh, it flew away.

Maybe this is implied in the description, but I did want to say that the plot of Red Noise isn't so much about being a badass, as it's about being clever. The Miner possibly could take down all the baddies in a frontal assault, but I don't think it would be as fun a story if she did. I've always found Odysseus more interesting than Achilles; Loki more interesting than Thor. So she can fight, yeah, but it's more important that she can think.



TQWhat inspired you to write Red Noise? What appeals to you about writing Space Opera?

JPM:  Well, to go way, way back, I was introduced to samurai films back in college, and then wrote essays on them during a study abroad in Japan twenty years ago. I just love that aesthetic. I'd watched a lot of Westerns growing up, since my dad was a fan, and they felt like both a missing piece and a distillation of the form. Yojimbo in particular struck me, and I did a paper on it and the later movies that were based on it, as well as going back and looking at its own antecedents, particularly Hammett's Red Harvest. I decided early on that I wanted to take my own stab at the genre, specifically in space, but it took the 2016 election and the use of social media to rile up so much of society against itself to really spur me to write it.

As for Space Opera in particular... It's such a wonderful sandbox for storytelling, and I think there are good reasons it has such overlap with Space Westerns. There's a tolerance for handwaving, for one thing. Readers will appreciate as much science as you feel like throwing in, but the focus is on the story more than on the tech. That's a comfortable place to be for someone like me, who can't help but geek out a bit but who still would rather write about Sturm und Drang than scribble out another doctoral thesis.



TQWhat sort of research did you do for Red Noise?

JPM:  Most of my research was non-technical, trying to get the feel right. I especially did research into how I wanted to write the action. I hadn't written much before, and I tend to dislike it in a lot of books that I read -- I find it too drawn-out, too focused on the wrong things. I watched a bunch of Westerns and samurai movies, and reread some books that I thought did action well. I found that the fights that worked best for me were short and punchy (sorry! sorry!) and at their best were pulling double-duty in illuminating character. I'm pretty happy with how the fight scenes turned out, and how they differ from the Miner's point of view versus someone like Screwball.

I also did some research into nuclear weapons, and I kind of wish I hadn't. Some of these things are hard to forget.



TQDoes having a PhD in Engineering and a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering help or hinder your writing of Red Noise?

JPM:  A little of both. As a background thing, knowing the shape of how things are likely to work is a huge help. Understanding how systems interact and how they break helps me fill in the little details that make the world feel a little more real, or rather more realistically broken. Plus having all this miscellaneous knowledge, like how listening devices work or how robotic systems operate. A bigger benefit is knowing how to research, how to come up to speed on new things quickly.

On the other hand, I don't have a lot of interest in writing hard SF. I don't really read it much either, and anyway most of what passes for hard SF narrowly focuses on getting just one field right at the expense of dozens of others. But still I worry a lot about expectations: Are people going to pick up the book knowing I have a PhD and expect all the science to be spot-on? Most of the time I try not to write stuff I know is absolute nonsense, but sometimes I have to shrug, quietly apologize to my professors, and move on. That's part of the appeal of space opera as a genre, that lessened expectation of rigid correctness.



TQPlease tell us about the cover for Red Noise.

JPM:  The cover process was fun, and Angry Robot was so good about it. It's very abstract, just that foil sword piercing the title, with stars in the background, pulled off brilliantly by Kieryn Tyler. I put together a Pinterest board of all these things that I loved in visual design, that the book made me think of. The Criterion Collection DVD covers for Yojimbo and Seven Samurai, for example, even sumi-e paintings. I really enjoy the effect of black and white and red. Kieryn took all that amorphous mess and really ran with it.



TQIn Red Noise who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?

JPM:  Takata was the easiest to write, and Angelica the hardest, for the same reason: they're the two characters who are most like me. Takata is off to the side, and he gets to pretty much just react to what's going on. His role in the story is to be opinionated and provide a little bit of an outside moral compass. And boy, I can talk. So he was easy to write.

Angelica, on the other hand, has to act and antagonize. To write her, I had her mostly do what would come naturally to me - but as a result, she tended to blend into the background in the early drafts and just sort of exist; then when she acted it would seem to come from nowhere. Forcing myself to double back and think through and make her motivations as clear as the others, especially when she doesn't have that much page time, was hard.



TQDoes Red Noise touch on any social issues?

JPM:  Several of them, some intentionally, some not. It doesn't take much reading to see political parallels, but I'll leave those for the reader. In a way, it's a poor book that doesn't touch on anything important to the author. One of the big questions of the book, though, is the point of argument between Takata and Herrera: what has to come first, justice or peace? The argument is explicit sometimes, but that question was on my mind a lot when writing. It reads differently to me in the summer of 2020 than it did when I handed in the manuscript last year, and I'm pleased by that. I expect it will read differently next year, too.



TQWhich question about Red Noise do you wish someone would ask? Ask it and answer it!

JPM:   "Tell us about the food in Red Noise"

Also JPM:  I'm glad you asked! Eating and drinking is a big part of world building, and I'm such a foodie that I always enjoy those parts of books. Station 35 is way out in the middle of nowhere, muddling through with a combination of local production and cheap shipped-in stuff. After six months of fighting, what's left in the pantry is weird - and kind of prophetic of what's left in my own pantry after a few months of avoiding grocery stores. Staples bought in bulk, the "maybe later" frozen food, and home-grown vegetables that maybe don't look so great. The Miner mostly lives on emergency rations (partly inspired by my own experiments with that Soylent stuff), but one of the characters is trying to run a restaurant, and the other is the universe's worst bootlegger.



TQGive us one or two of your favorite non-spoilery quotes from Red Noise.

JPM:

       “How bad are these nurses?”
       “I caught Skeeve doing what he thought was cocaine off a bedpan.”
       Mills struggled with that sentence and landed on, “Skeeve?”
       “Technically ‘Other Skeeve’ but nobody’s seen Original Skeeve in a while, and if he’s dead, then Other Skeeve feels he inherits because ‘a man has rights’.” Joff’s expression grew haunted. “That is a sentence that has come out of my mouth. I can’t take it back, Arun.”


       “You ever killed anybody?”
       The Miner glanced sideways at her, but couldn’t read anything but idle curiosity. “Some.”
       “How come?”
       She shrugged. “You can’t like everybody.”



TQWhat's next?

JPM:  I'd been working on a near-future thriller, picking up some of the themes I'd been writing about in my novella Claudius Rex (about an AI private detective) but near-future is a bit rough writing these days. I've got a couple short stories in the works, and a fantasy legal thriller that I've been tinkering on for a while now.



TQThank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

JPM:  Thank you for having me! This has been fun!





Red Noise
Angry Robot, July 7, 2020
Trade Paperback and eBook, 448 pages

Caught up in a space station turf war between gangs and corrupt law, a lone asteroid miner decides to take them all down.

When an asteroid miner comes to Station 35 looking to sell her cargo and get back to the solitude she craves, she gets swept up in a three-way standoff with gangs and crooked cops. Faced with either taking sides or cleaning out the Augean Stables, she breaks out the grenades…





About John P. Murphy

John is an engineer and writer living in New Hampshire with his partner and two ridiculously fluffy cats. His previous work, The Liar, was shortlisted for a Nebula Award for Best Novella in 2016. He was a SFWA Director-at-Large until 2018 and is now the Short Fiction Committee Chair. He has a PhD in Engineering and a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering.








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