2017 Debut Author Challenge - COVER OF THE YEAR!

The Qwillery is thrilled to announce the 2017 Debut Author Challenge Cover of the Year - The Caledonian Gambit by Dan Moren with 38% of the votes.

The cover art is by Sebastien Hue.

For more about the cover for The Caledonian Gambit:

• Cover story and Q&A: https://dmoren.com/2017/02/27/cover-story-and-qa/
• Cover Reveal of The Caledonian Gambit and Q&A with Author, Dan Moren: http://blog.skyhorsepublishing.com/cover-reveal-of-the-caledonian-gambit-and-qa-with-author-dan-moren/

The Caledonian Gambit edged out Muddy Waters (Otherwhere 1) by Sara O. Thompson with cover art by Eugene Teplitsky by 31 votes!

The Caledonian Gambit
Talos, May 23, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 312 pages

The galaxy is mired in a cold war between two superpowers, the Illyrican Empire and the Commonwealth. Thrust between this struggle are Simon Kovalic, the Commonwealth’s preeminent spy, and Kyle Rankin, a lowly soldier happily scrubbing toilets on Sabea, a remote and isolated planet. However, nothing is as it seems.

Kyle Rankin is a lie. His real name is Eli Brody, and he fled his home world of Caledonia years ago. Simon Kovalic knows Caledonia is a lit fuse hurtling towards detonation. The past Brody so desperately tried to abandon can grant him access to people and places that are off limits even to a professional spy like Kovalic.

Kovalic needs Eli Brody to come home and face his past. With Brody suddenly cast in a play he never auditioned for, he and Kovalic will quickly realize it’s everything they don’t know that will tip the scales of galactic peace. Sounds like a desperate plan, sure, but what gambit isn’t?

The Caledonian Gambit is a throwback to the classic sci-fi adventures of spies and off-world politics, but filled to the brim with modern sensibilities.

Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound

Google Play : Kobo

The Results

The 2017 DAC Cover Wars Monthly Winners

2017 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - Cover of the Year

It's time to vote for the 2017 Debut Author Challenge COVER OF THE YEAR! Below you will find the 12 monthly winners in alphabetical order by book title (excluding "the" or "a" or "an", etc.).

Vote for your favorite from the monthly 2017 Winners!

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 January 24, 2018.

Vote for your favorite 2017 Debut Cover!

Amberlough

The Astonishing Thing

The Caledonian Gambit

Crossroads of Canopy

An Excess Male

Glass Town

Godblind

Muddy Waters

Noumenon

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

Space Tripping

Wellside

 

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Amberlough

(February)

Cover Art by Victo Ngai

The Astonishing Thing

(October)

The Caledonian Gambit

(May)

Cover art by Sebastien Hue

Crossroads of Canopy

(January)

Cover Art by Marc Simonetti

An Excess Male

(September)

Cover design by Kapo Ng

Glass Town

(December)

Godblind

(July)

Cover design and title lettering by Dominic Forbes

Muddy Waters

(April)

Cover art by Eugene Teplitsky

Noumenon

(August)

Cover art by Steven Messing

Overall design by Owen Corrigan

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

(November)

Space Tripping

(March)

Cover design by Edward Bettison

Wellside

(June)

Cover by Jenny Zemanek

2017 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - December 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 2017 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 January 5, 2018.

Vote for your favorite December 2017 Debut Cover!

Arachnosaur

Better Dead

Glass Town

The Mannequin Makers

 

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2017 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - November Winner

The winner of the November 2017 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars is Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor from Rescue Press with 47% of the votes.

Paul Takes the Form of A Mortal Girl
Rescue Press, November 1, 2017
Trade Paperback, 240 pages

It’s 1993 and Paul Polydoris tends bar at the only gay club in a university town thrumming with politics and partying. He studies queer theory, has a dyke best friend, makes zines, and is a flâneur with a rich dating life. But Paul’s also got a secret: he’s a shapeshifter. Oscillating wildly from Riot Grrrl to leather cub, Women’s Studies major to trade, Paul transforms his body at will in a series of adventures that take him from Iowa City to Boystown to Provincetown and finally to San Francisco—a journey through the deep queer archives of struggle and pleasure.

Andrea Lawlor’s debut novel offers a speculative history of early ’90s identity politics during the heyday of ACT UP and Queer Nation. Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl is a riotous, razor-sharp bildungsroman whose hero/ine wends his way through a world gutted by loss, pulsing with music, and opening into an array of intimacy and connections.

Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound

The Results

The November 2017 Debuts

2017 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - November 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 2017 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 December 9, 2017.

Vote for your favorite November 2017 Debut Cover!

Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance

The City of Brass

The End We Start From

Jade City

The Last Man in Europe

The Nine

Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl

The Ruined House

Stranger Magics

This Book Is Not For You

Until the Last Dog Dies

Weave a Circle Round

 

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Cover design by Will Staehle

Cover design by Lisa Marie Pompilio
Cover photo by Getty Images

Cover illustration © Adam S. Doyle

Cover design by Jacqueline Nasso Cooke

Cover design © Prometheus Books

Cover design by Alicia Tatone

Cover photos by © Michael Steden/Shutterstock (book); 

© MrVander/Shutterstock (star burst)

Cover artwork and design by Keith Negley

Cover design by Jamie Stafford-Hill

Cover photographs: house by Francey/Sutterstock.com;

stars by NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team

2017 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - October Winner

The winner of the September 2017 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars is The Astonishing Thing by Sandi Ward from Kensington with 31% of the votes.

The Astonishing Thing
Kensington, October 31, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 304 pages

In her inventive, sometimes bittersweet, ultimately uplifting debut, Sandi Ward draws readers into one extraordinary cat’s quest to make sense of her world, illuminating the limits and mysterious depths of love . . .

Pet owners know that a cat’s loyalty is not easily earned. Boo, a resourceful young feline with a keen eye and inquiring mind, has nonetheless grown intensely devoted to her human companion, Carrie. Several days ago, Carrie—or Mother, as Boo calls her—suddenly went away, leaving her family, including Boo, in disarray. Carrie’s husband, Tommy, is distant and distracted even as he does his best to care for Boo’s human siblings, especially baby Finn.

Boo worries about who will fill her food dish, and provide a warm lap to nestle into. More pressing still, she’s trying to uncover the complicated truth about why Carrie left. Though frequently mystified by human behavior, Boo is sure that Carrie once cared passionately for Tommy and adores her children, even the non-feline ones. But she also sees it may not be enough to make things right. Perhaps only a cat—a wise, observant, very determined cat—can do that . . .

Wonderfully tender and insightful, The Astonishing Thing explores the intricacies of marriage and family through an unforgettable perspective at the center of it all.

Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound

Google Play : iBooks : Kobo

The Results

 The October 2017 Debuts

2017 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - October 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 2017 Debut Novel Cover of the Year. Please note that a debut novel cover is eligible in the month in which the novel is published in the US. Cover artist/illustrator/designer information is provided when we have it.

I'm using PollCode for this vote. After you the check the circle next to your favorite, click "Vote" to record your vote. If you'd like to see the real-time results click "View". This will take you to the PollCode site where you may see the results. If you want to come back to The Qwillery click "Back" and you will return to this page. Voting will end sometime on October 31, 2017.

Vote for your favorite October 2017 Debut Cover!

The Astonishing Thing

Barbary Station

Blackwing

The Bloodprint

Court of Twilight

Infinite Ground

Orthogonal Procedures

Queen of Spades

The Tethered Mage

The Tiger's Daughter

Under the Pendulum Sun

An Unkindness of Ghosts

 

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Jacket illustration - Martin Deschambault

Jacket design - Greg Stadnyk

Cover design - Adam Auerbach

Cover art - photograph of cloaked figure ©: Malgorzata Maj/

Arcangel Images; photograph of raven courtesy of 

Shutterstock Images

Cover illustration - Steve Stone

Cover design - Lex Maudlin

Cover - Lovely Creatures Studio

Cover illustrations - Crystal Ben, Arcangel

Cover design - Lisa Marie Pompilio

Cover art - Jaime Jones

Cover design - Jaime Stafford-Hill

Cover art and design - John Coulthart