The View From Monday - April 4, 2016

Happy first Monday in April!  There are 2 debuts this week:

Arena (Arena 1) by Holly Jennings;

and

Artificial (The Kepler Chronicles 1) by Jadah McCoy.

Click on each cover to go to Amazon.


From formerly featured Debut Author Challenge Authors:

Click on the each cover to go Amazon.

Jericho by Alex Gordon;

Spira Mirabilis (The Wave Trilogy 3) by Aidan Harte;

Burned (An Alex Verus Novel 7) by Benedict Jacka;

Lost Among the Living by Simone St. James;

Trident's Forge (Children of a Dead Earth 2) by Patrick S. Tomlinson;

and

There Will Always Be a Max: A Tor.com Original (Genrenauts) by Michael R. Underwood.

April 4, 2016

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Werewolf Cop (h2tp)	Andrew Klavan	Occ/Sup/Th
Artificial (D)	Jadah McCoy	CyberP/SFR - The Kepler Chronicles 1

April 5, 2016

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Breach of Crust	Ellery Adams	PM - A Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery 5
Asteroid Made of Dragons	G. Derek Adams	SF/Hu
The Plague Dogs (ri)	Richard Adams	LF
Clockwork Phoenix 5	Mike Allen (Ed)	Anthology - F
Eva Luna (ri)	Isabel Allende	LF/MR
The Stories of Eva Luna	Isabel Allende	LF/MR
Surviving Home (tp2mm)	A. American	Dys - Survivalist 2
Blood of the Cosmos (h2mm)	Kevin J. Anderson	SF/SO -Saga of Shadows 2
White Tiger	Jennifer Ashley	Shifter's Unbound 8
Tales of the Time Scouts 2	Robert Asprin Linda Evans	SF
The Water Knife (h2tp)	Paolo Bacigalupi	LF/AP/PA/Th/Tech
The Broken Hours: A Novel of H. P. Lovecraft	Jacqueline Baker	SF
Ultima (h2mm)	Stephen Baxter	SF/AC - Proxima 2
Underwater Fistfight	Matt Betts	SF/H
In the Labyrinth of Drakes: A Memoir by Lady Trent	Marie Brennan	F - A Natural History of Dragons 4
Blazing Earth	Terri Brisbin	FR - A Novel of the Stone Circles 3
Mirror Sight (tp2mm)	Kristen Britain	DF - Green Rider 5
Fellside	M. R. Carey	Th/Sup
I Dream of Dragons	Ashlyn Chase	PNR - Boston Dragons 1
Visitor	C. J. Cherryh	SF/SO/AC - Foreigner 17
Tracker (h2mm)	C. J. Cherryh	SF/SO/AC - Foreigner 16
Dominion	John Connolly Jennifer Ridyard	SF - The Chronicles of the Invaders 3
Timeless Desire (ri)	Gwyn Cready	TTR
Flirting with Forever (ri)	Gwyn Cready	TTR
Of Treasons Born	J. L. Doty	SF/SO - Treasons Cycle
An Unhappy Medium	Dawn Eastman	PM - A Family Fortune Mystery 4
Wicked Charms (h2mm)	Janet Evanovich Phoef Sutton	PM - A Lizzy and Diesel Novel 3
The Mountain (h2mm)	David L. Golemon	SF/Th - Event Group Thrillers 10
Jericho	Alex Gordon	CF
Smoke and Fire	Donna Grant	PNR - Dark Kings 9
Smoke and Fire: Part 4 (e)	Donna Grant	PNR - Dark Kings
Spira Mirabilis	Aidan Harte	F - The Wave Trilogy 3
Her Werewolf Hero	Michele Hauf	PNR
The Pitchfork of Destiny (e)	Jack Heckel	FairyT/FolkT/ LM - Charming Tales 2
Shadow Rites	Faith Hunter	UF - Jane Yellowrock 10
Burned	Benedict Jacka	UF - An Alex Verus Novel 7
Lost Among the Living	Simone St. James	Hist/GO/GH
Arena (D)	Holly Jennings	SF/Dys/SFR - Arena 1
Dragonbane (h2mm)	Sherrilyn Kenyon	FR - Dark-Hunter Novels 19
Silence	Mercedes Lackey Cody Martin	SF/UF - Serrated Edge 9
Septimania	Jonathan Levi	MR
Replica (e)	Shannon Mayer Denise Grover Swank	H - Blood Borne 2
Down to Zero (e)	Jon McGoran	Th - Carrick & Watkins Short Story
Every Heart a Doorway	Seanan McGuire	CF
Pathfinder Tales: Hellknight	Liane Merciel	F - Pathfinder Tales 32
Blood Sacrifices	Brian Moreland	H - Collection
The War Against the Assholes (h2tp)	Sam Munson	CF
Trial of Intentions (h2mm)	Peter Orullian	F - Vault of Heaven 2
Sever	Brian Parker	H/PA - Washington, Dead City 3
The Kasari Nexus	Richard Phillips	SF - Rho Agenda Assimilation 1
The Worm Returns	J.R. Rain Piers Anthony	F/W
Kharn: Eater of Worlds	Anthony Reynolds	SF - Space Marines
Zero State	Cam Rogers	SF - Quantum Break 1
Maestro	R. A. Salvatore	F - Homecoming 2
Total War: Lord of Chaos	Rob Sanders	F - Warhammer
Alight	Scott Sigler	SF - The Generations Trilogy 2
The Demonists	Thomas E. Sniegoski	UF/DF - Demonists 1
Shooting the Rift	Alex Stewart	SF/SO
Alien Hunter: The White House: A Flynn Carroll Thriller	Whitley Strieber	Th - Alien Hunter Series 3
Spiral	Koji Suzuki	H/SupTh - Ring Trilogy
Immortal Redeemed	Linda Thomas-Sundstrom	PNR
Doom of the Elves: The Curse of Khaine / Deathblade	Gav Thorpe C L Werner	SF - The End Times 2
The Story of Kullervo	J.R.R. Tolkien	F
Trident's Forge	Patrick S. Tomlinson	SF/SO - Children of a Dead Earth 2
Almost Dark	Letitia Trent	UF
Persona (h2tp)	Genevieve Valentine	SF - Persona Sequence1
Wolf on a Mission	N. J. Walters
The Beast	J.R. Ward	PNR - Black Dagger Brotherhood 14
The Edge of Worlds	Martha Wells	F - A Novel of the Raksura 4
A Lovely Way to Burn	Louise Welsh	M - Plague Times Trilogy 1
Dead Letters Anthology	Conrad Williams (Ed)	H - Anthology
Total War: The Emperor's Armies	Chris Wraight	F - Warhammer

April 6, 2016

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Freedom is Space for the Spirit: A Tor.Com Original (e)	Glen Hirshberg	UF
There Will Always Be a Max: A Tor.com Original (e)	Michael R. Underwood	SF/PA - Genrenauts

April 7, 2016

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Women of Ice and Fire: Gender, Game of Thrones and Multiple Media Engagements	Rikke Schubart (Ed)	HC

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


AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternate History
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CyberP - Cyberpunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tale
FolkT - Folk Tale
FR - Fantasy Romance
GB - Genre Bender
GH - Ghost
GO - Gothic
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HistM - Historical Mystery
Hu - Humor
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legends and Mythology
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
Occ - Occult
PA - Post Apocalyptic
Phil - Philosophy
PM - Paranormal Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
R - Romance
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SH - Superheroes
SO - Space Opera
Sup - Supernatural
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
Tech - Technological
TechnoTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
TTR - Time Travel Romance
UF - Urban Fantasy
W - Western

The View From Monday - March 7, 2016

Happy Monday!

There is one debut out this week:

The Cold Between (Central Corps 1) by Elizaebeth Bonesteel.


From formerly featured Debut Author Challenge Authors:

The Lost Boys Symphony by Mark Ferguson is out in Trade Paperback;

The Warring States (Wave Trilogy 2) by Aidan Harte is out in Trade Paperback;

Bayou Shadow Hunter (Bayou Magic Series 1) by Debbie Herbert;

and

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu.

March 8, 2016

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Half a War (h2tp)	Joe Abercrombie	F - Shattered Sea 3
The Spider's War	Daniel Abraham	F - The Dagger and the Coin 5
Marked In Flesh	Anne Bishop	DF - A Novel of the Others 4
The Cold Between (D)	Elizabeth Bonesteel	SF - Central Corps 1
The Return of the Witch	Paula Brackston	Hist
Fire Touched	Patricia Briggs	UF - Mercy Thompson 9
The Eerie Adventures of the Lycanthrope Robinson Crusoe (ri)	Peter Clines H. P. Lovecraft Daniel Dafoe	H/MU
The Calling (h2tp)	Rachelle Dekker	Dys - A Seer Novel 2
The Lyre Thief	Jennifer Fallon	F - The Hythrun Chronicles 7
The Lost Boys Symphony (h2tp)	Mark Andrew Ferguson	GB
Dragonfly in Amber (Starz Tie-in Edition)	Diana Gabaldon	TTR - Outlander 2
Bound by the Night	Megan Hart	PNR - Collection
The Warring States (h2tp)	Aidan Harte	F - Wave Trilogy 2
Bayou Shadow Hunter	Debbie Herbert	PNR - Bayou Magic Series 1
Wild Lavender	Nicole Elizabeth Kelleher	FR/HistF - The Aurelian Guard 1
Phantom Lover (e)	Sherrilyn Kenyon	PNR - A Dream Hunter Story
Thinner (ri)	Stephen King	H
Of Noble Family (h2tp)	Mary Robinette Kowal	HistF - Glamourist Histories 5
Forest of Memory	Mary Robinette Kowal	SF/GenEng
Camber of Culdi (e)(ri)	Katherine Kurtz	F - Legends of Camber of Culdi 1
The Bishop's Heir (e)(ri)	Katherine Kurtz	F - Histories of King Kelson 1
Saint Camber (e)(ri)	Katherine Kurtz	F - Legends of Camber of Culdi 2
The King's Justice (e)(ri)	Katherine Kurtz	F - Histories of King Kelson 2
The Quest for Saint Camber (e)(ri)	Katherine Kurtz	F - Histories of King Kelson 3
Camber the Heretic (e)(ri)	Katherine Kurtz	F - Legends of Camber of Culdi 3
The Harrowing of Gwynedd (e)(ri)	Katherine Kurtz	F - Heirs of Saint Camber 1
King Javan's Year (e)(ri)	Katherine Kurtz	F - Heirs of Saint Camber 2
The Bastard Prince (e)(ri)	Katherine Kurtz	F - Heirs of Saint Camber 3
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories	Ken Liu	SF/F - Collection
The Night Sister (h2tp)	Jennifer McMahon	Sus/Th/M/GH
Crusade's End	Graham McNeill Dan Abnett Ben Counter	SF - The Horus Heresy Omnibus 1
What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours	Helen Oyeyemi	MR/FairyT/FolkT/LM - Collection
Monstrous Little Voices: New Tales Shakespeare's Fantasy World	Adrian Tchaikovsky Emma Newman Jonathan Barnes Foz Meadows Kate Heartfield	HistF - Anthology
Cat Out of Hell (h2tp)	Lynne Truss	Hu/M/H
War of the Fang	Chris Wraight	SF - Space Marine Battles

March 9, 2016

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
"Radio Free Trismegistus" (e)	Ian Tregillis	HistF - The Witch Who Came in From the Cold - Episode 7

March 10, 2016

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Helix: Episode 1 (e)	Nathan M. Farrugia	Tech/Th
Birthright: Beacon 1 (e)	Valerie Parv	SFR

D - Debut
e - eBook
h2tp - Hardcover to Trade Paperback
ri - reissue or reprint


DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Faity Tales
FolkT - Folk Tales
FR - Fantasy Romance
GB - Genre Bender
GH - Ghosts
H - Horror
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
Hu - Humor
LM - Legend and Myth
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
MU - Mash Up
PNR - Paranormal Romance
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
Sus - Suspense
Tech - Technological
Th - Thriller
TTR - Time Travel Romance
UF - Urban Fantasy

What's Up for the Debut Author Challenge Authors? - Part 24

This is the twenty-fourth in a series of updates about formerly featured Debut Author Challenge authors and their 2015 works published since the last update and any upcoming works for 2016. The year in parentheses after the author's name is the year she/he was featured in the Debut Author Challenge.

Part 1 here	Part 11 here	Part 21 here
Part 2 here	Part 12 here	Part 22 here
Part 3 here	Part 13 here	Part 23 here
Part 4 here	Part 14 here
Part 5 here	Part 15 here
Part 6 here	Part 16 here
Part 7 here	Part 17 here
Part 8 here	Part 18 here
Part 9 here	Part 19 here
Part 10 here	Part 20 here

Lexie Dunne (2014)

Supervillains Anonymous
Superheroes Anonymous 2
Harper Voyager Impulse, August 4, 2015
Mass Market Paperback, 352 pages
eBook, June 30, 2015

The stakes are huge and the hero is short when Hostage Girl returns snarkier than ever in Lexie Dunne's urban superhero fantasy Supervillains Anonymous

New superhero Gail Godwin, the one and only Hostage Girl, is in big trouble: her nemesis Chelsea is loose, her trainer Angélica is dead, and everybody thinks Gail did it. To make matters worse, Davenport Industries has thrown her into a prison that just happens to be full of the very same supervillains who used to kidnap her on an almost daily basis.

Outside, things aren't going all that great either. There's a conspiracy that runs all the way to the bedrock of the superhero community, and it's affecting everybody Gail loves. With her friends in the crosshairs, it's up to her to escape and get to the bottom of things. Subterfuge, crime-fighting, and running away from everybody you know should be a cinch, right?

Wrong. Gail faces off against hero and villain alike just to stay alive. And you know what they say about supervillains: if you can't beat them…join them.

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

Google Play : iBooks : Kobo

Katherine Harbour (2014)

Bones and Heart
A Night and Nothing Short Tale
Harper Voyager, March 10, 2015
eBook, 22 pages

Before Finn's arrival in Fair Hollow, Jack and Phouka are sent by Reiko Fata to New Orleans, and Mr. Bones, a creator of Grindylow. As disturbing events unfold, Jack remembers his mother's mysterious death, working with his exorcist/coachman father, and how he became Reiko's Jack in Victorian-era London.

Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Google Play : iBooks : Kobo

Briar Queen
A Night and Nothing Novel 2
Harper Voyager, June 2, 2015
Trade Paperback and eBook, 368 pages

The dark, moody, and mystical fantasy begun in Thorn Jack, the first novel in the Night and Nothing series, continues in this bewitching follow up—an intriguing blend of Twilight, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Alice in Wonderland, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream—in which Finn Sullivan discovers that her town, Fair Hollow, borders a dangerous otherworld . . .

Serafina Sullivan and her father left San Francisco to escape the painful memory of her older sister Lily Rose’s suicide. But soon after she arrived in bohemian Fair Hollow, New York, Finn discovered a terrifying secret connected to Lily Rose. The placid surface of this picture-perfect town concealed an eerie supernatural world—and at its center, the wealthy, beautiful, and terrifying Fata family.

Though the striking and mysterious Jack Fata tried to push Finn away to protect her, their attraction was too powerful to resist. To save him, Finn—a girl named for the angels and a brave Irish prince—banished a cabal of malevolent enemies to shadows, freeing him from their diabolical grip.

Now, the rhythm of life in Fair Hollow is beginning to feel a little closer to ordinary. But Finn knows better than to be lulled by this comfortable sense of normalcy. It’s just the calm before the storm. For soon, a chance encounter outside the magical Brambleberry Books will lead her down a rabbit hole, into a fairy world of secrets and legacies . . . straight towards the shocking truth about her sister’s death.

Lush and gorgeously written, featuring star-crossed lovers and the collision of the magical and the mundane, Briar Queen will appeal to the fans of Cassandra Clare’s bestselling Mortal Instruments series and Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely.

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

Google Play : iBooks : Kobo

Nettle King
A Night and Nothing Novel 3
Harper Voyager, April 19, 2016
Trade Paperback and eBook, 320 pages

The mesmerizing conclusion to the Night and Nothing series—part Buffy the Vampire Slayer and part Alice in Wonderland—finds Finn fighting against the land of the dead.

When her beloved Jack disappears, Finn vows to find him—even if it means a daring odyssey into the land of the dead. But saving Jack comes at a terrible price: a dangerous fissure has opened, giving the dead access to the true world.

The lines between worlds are more blurred than ever. Finn’s sister, Lily, recently returned from the Ghostlands, seems to bear no scars from her time there. But then their friend Moth returns from Sombrus, the magical house once owned by Seth Lot, bearing shocking news. Something evil—a fearsome creature bearing a striking resemblance to Jack—has escaped Sombrus and is now stalking Fair Hollow, killing everyone it encounters, transforming them into terrifying Jacks and Jills and recruiting the Unseelie.

It will not stop until it gets what it wants . . .

Finn.

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

Google Play : iBooks : Kobo

Aidan Harte (2014)

The Warring States
The Wave Trilogy 2
Jo Fletcher Books, March 8, 2016
Trade Paperback, 528 pages
Hardcover and eBook, April 7, 2015

Interzone raved that "Harte is a brilliant new voice is historical fantasy." In The Warring States, Aidan Harte continues his high fantasy adventure began in Irenicon.

After the rout at Rasenna, Concord faces enemies on all fronts, and nobody believes that the last surviving Apprentice is equal to these crises--but Torbidda didn't become Apprentice by letting himself be manipulated.

While Sofia is struggling to understand her miraculous pregnancy, the City of Towers grows wealthy. But it's not long before the people of Rasenna start arguing again, and as the city falls apart once more, Sofia realises she must escape Etruria to save her baby. When prophecy leads her to another cesspit of treachery, the decadent Crusader kingdom of Oltremare, Sofia begins to despair, for this time she can see no way out.

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

Google Play : iBooks : Kobo

Spira Mirabilis
The Wave Trilogy 3
Jo Fletcher Books, April 5, 2016
Hardcover and eBook, 528 pages

In the 1347th year of Our Lady the engineers of Concord defeated the fractious city-state of Rasenna using the magical science of Wave Technology. The City of Towers fought back, and for a while Concord's plans for domination were halted.

But First Apprentice Torbidda regrouped, and reformed Concord to his own design. Now he is in absolute control, and plotting the final battle that will pacify Etruria . . . permanently. Contessa Sofia Scaligeri could rally her people once again, but she is far away in the Crusader Kingdom of Akka, trapped with her son, in thrall to the tyrant Queen Catrina.

Darkness is falling. The final battle must be fought and the tide must be turned, lest evil reign forever.

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

Google Play : iBooks : Kobo

Sylvia Izzo Hunter (2014)

Lady of Magick
A Noctis Magicae Novel 2
Ace, September 1, 2015
Trade Paperback and eBook, 448 pages

Sylvia Izzo Hunter brought “both rural Brittany and an alternative Regency England to vivid life”* in The Midnight Queen, her debut novel of history, magic, and myth. Now, in her new Noctis Magicae novel, Sophie and Gray Marshall are ensnared in an arcane plot that threatens to undo them both.

In her second year of studies at Merlin College, Oxford, Sophie Marshall is feeling alienated among fellow students who fail to welcome a woman to their ranks. So when her husband, Gray, is invited north as a visiting lecturer at the University in Din Edin, they leap at the chance. There, Sophie’s hunger for magical knowledge can finally be nourished. But soon, Sophie must put her newly learned skills to the test.

Sophie returns home one day to find a note from Gray—he’s been summoned urgently to London. But when he doesn’t return, and none of her spells can find a trace of him, she realizes something sinister has befallen him. With the help of her sister, Joanna, she delves into Gray’s disappearance, and soon finds herself in a web of magick and intrigue that threatens not just Gray, but the entire kingdom.

*National Bestselling Author Juliet Marillier

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Google Play : iBooks : Kobo

Emmi Itäranta (2014)

The Weaver
Harper Voyager, May 24, 2016
Trade Paperback and eBook, 304 pages

[cover not yet available]

The author of the critically acclaimed Memory of Water returns with this literary ecological tale in the vein of Ursula K. Le Guin and Sheri S. Tepper, in which an innocent young woman becomes entangled in a web of ancient secrets and deadly lies that lie at the dark center of her prosperous island world.

Eliana is a model citizen of the island, a weaver in the prestigious House of Webs. She also harbors a dangerous secret—she can dream, an ability forbidden by the island’s elusive council of elders. No one talks about the dreamers, the undesirables ostracized from society.

But the web of protection Eliana has woven around herself begins to unravel when a young girl is found lying unconscious in a pool of blood on the stones outside the house. Robbed of speech by her attackers, the only clue to her identity is one word tattooed in invisible ink across her palm: Eliana. Why does this mysterious girl bear her name? What links her to the weaver—and could she hold Eliana’s fate in her hand?

As Eliana finds herself growing closer to this injured girl she is bound to in ways she doesn’t understand, the enchanting lies of the island begin to crumble, revealing a deep and ancient corruption. Joining a band of brave rebels determined to expose the island’s dark secrets, Eliana becomes a target of ruthless forces determined to destroy her. To save herself and those she loves, she must call on the power within her she thought was her greatest weakness: her dreams.

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

Google Play : Kobo

What's Up for the Debut Author Challenge Authors in 2015? - Part 15

This is the fifteenth in a series of updates about formerly featured Debut Author Challenge authors and their upcoming 2015 books. This update covers some of the 2014 Debut Author Challenge authors. What's Up for the Debut Author Challenge Authors in 2015? - Part 16 will cover additional 2014 DAC authors.

See Part 1 here

See Part 1.5 here

See Part 2 here

See Part 3 here

See Part 4 here

See Part 5 here

See Part 6 here

See Part 7 here

See Part 8 here

See Part 9 here

See Part 10 here

See Part 11 here

See Part 12 here

See Part 13 here

See Part 14 here

Aidan Harte

Irenicon
Wave Trilogy1
Jo Fletcher Books, March 10, 2015
Trade Paperback, 496 pages
Previously published in Hardcover and eBook, April 2014

"If there were stars for world-building, Irenicon would be a five plus, no question," says SFX.

"The book is a fountain of gorgeous detail, festooned with enriching codices and enlightening, subtly subsumed exposition," raved Sci-Fi Now.

The river Irenicon is a feat of ancient Concordian engineering. Blasted through the middle of Rasenna in 1347, using Wave technology, it divided the only city strong enough to defeat the Concordian Empire. But no one could have predicted the river would become sentient--and hostile. Sofia Scaligeri, the soon-to-be Contessa of Rasenna, has inherited a city tearing itself apart from the inside. And try as she might, she can see no way of stopping the culture of vendetta that has the city in its grasp. Until a Concordian engineer arrives to build a bridge over the Irenicon, clarifying everything: the feuding factions of Rasenna can either continue to fight each other or they can unite against their shared enemy. And they will surely need to stand together--for Concord is about to unleash the Wave again.

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

The Warring States
Wave Trilogy 2
Jo Fletcher Books, April 7, 2015
Hardcover and eBook, 512 pages

Interzone raved that “Harte is a brilliant new voice is historical fantasy.” In The Warring States, Aidan Harte continues his high fantasy adventure began in Irenicon.

After the rout at Rasenna, Concord faces enemies on all fronts, and nobody believes that the last surviving Apprentice is equal to these crises-but Torbidda didn’t become Apprentice by letting himself be manipulated.

While Sofia is struggling to understand her miraculous pregnancy, the City of Towers grows wealthy. But it’s not long before the people of Rasenna start arguing again, and as the city falls apart once more, Sofia realises she must escape Etruria to save her baby. When prophecy leads her to another cesspit of treachery, the decadent Crusader kingdom of Oltremare, Sofia begins to despair, for this time she can see no way out.

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

Sylvia Izzo Hunter

Lady of Magick
Noctis Magicae 2
Ace, September 1, 2015
Trade Paperback and eBook,

Sylvia Izzo Hunter brought “both rural Brittany and an alternative Regency England to vivid life”* in The Midnight Queen, her debut novel of history, magic, and myth. Now, in her new Noctis Magicae novel, Sophie and Gray Marshall are ensnared in an arcane plot that threatens to undo them both.

In her second year of studies at Merlin College, Oxford, Sophie Marshall is feeling alienated among fellow students who fail to welcome a woman to their ranks. So when her husband, Gray, is invited north as a visiting lecturer at the University in Din Edin, they leap at the chance. There, Sophie’s hunger for magical knowledge can finally be nourished. But soon, Sophie must put her newly learned skills to the test.

Sophie returns home one day to find a note from Gray—he’s been summoned urgently to London. But when he doesn’t return, and none of her spells can find a trace of him, she realizes something sinister has befallen him. With the help of her sister, Joanna, she delves into Gray’s disappearance, and soon finds herself in a web of magick and intrigue that threatens not just Gray, but the entire kingdom.

Amazon : Barnes and Noble

Stephen Lloyd Jones

The String Diaries
String Diaries 1
Mulholland Books, January 6, 2015
Trade Paperback, 448 pages
Previously published in Hardcover and eBook, July 2014

A family is hunted by a centuries-old monster: a man with a relentless obsession who can take on any identity.

The String Diaries opens with Hannah frantically driving through the night--her daughter asleep in the back, her husband bleeding out in the seat beside her. In the trunk of the car rests a cache of diaries dating back 200 years, tied and retied with strings through generations. The diaries carry the rules for survival that have been handed down from mother to daughter since the 19th century. But how can Hannah escape an enemy with the ability to look and sound like the people she loves?

Stephen Lloyd Jones's debut novel is a sweeping thriller that extends from the present day, to Oxford in the 1970s, to Hungary at the turn of the 19th century, all tracing back to a man from an ancient royal family with a consuming passion--a boy who can change his shape, insert himself into the intimate lives of his victims, and destroy them.

If Hannah fails to end the chase now, her daughter is next in line. Only Hannah can decide how much she is willing to sacrifice to finally put a centuries-old curse to rest.

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

Written in the Blood
String Diaries 2
Mulholland Books, May 26, 2015
Hardcover and eBook, 496 pages

In the sequel to The String Diaries, a mother and daughter find their place among the descendants of an immortal line of shapeshifters.

Leah Wilde is the last of a line of shapeshifters called the Long Lives. The few who remain are scattered about the globe. Leah and her mother, Hannah, are determined to find them and to save them from extinction.

But Leah and Hannah are not alone in their search. For centuries an ancient monster has thrived by killing members of the Long Lives. Over a hundred years ago in Budapest, a boy named Izsak witnessed unspeakable sacrifices within his orphanage, all to appease this ravenous beast. Today the monster stalks America, preying on the young in its quest for immortality. Written in the Blood is the stunning next chapter in Stephen Lloyd Jones's inventive and exciting saga.

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

Marko Kloos

Angles of Attack
Frontline 3
47North, April 21, 2015
Trade Paperback and eBook, 350 pages

The alien forces known as the Lankies are gathering on the solar system’s edge, consolidating their conquest of Mars and setting their sights on Earth. The far-off colony of New Svalbard, cut off from the rest of the galaxy by the Lanky blockade, teeters on the verge of starvation and collapse. The forces of the two Earth alliances have won minor skirmishes but are in danger of losing the war. For battle-weary staff sergeant Andrew Grayson and the ragged forces of the North American Commonwealth, the fight for survival is entering a catastrophic new phase.

Forging an uneasy alliance with their Sino-Russian enemies, the NAC launches a hybrid task force on a long shot: a stealth mission to breach the Lanky blockade and reestablish supply lines with Earth. Plunging into combat against a merciless alien species that outguns, outmaneuvers, and outfights them at every turn, Andrew and his fellow troopers could end up cornered on their home turf, with no way out and no hope for reinforcement. And this time, the struggle for humanity’s future can only end in either victory or annihilation.

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

Snorri Kristjansson

Swords of Good Men
Valhalla Saga 1
Jo Fletcher Books, January 6, 2015
Trade Paperback, 352 pages
Previously published in Hardcover and eBook, January 2014

Swords of Good Men--the first volume Snorri Kristjansson's Vhlhalla Saga--in is a raucous and gripping fantasy adventure set in Viking Norway, where plundering and pillaging are a way of life and creature comforts rarely exceed a mug of sour mead.

To weary Viking Ulfar Thormodsson, the town of Stenvik is the penultimate stop on what has been a long and perilous journey. It has been particularly challenging for Thormodsson, who has been charged with protecting the life of his high-born cousin. Having travelled the world for two years, all he wants is to go home--but Stenvik awaits.

After coming ashore, Thormodsson meets the beautiful and tragic Lilja, who immediately captures his heart. Stenvik is also home to solitary blacksmith Audun Arngrimsson, whose past hides many dark secrets. Soon, the conflict brewing between two factions of dangerous and determined men of the town threatens to sweep all of them, natives and visitors alike, into the jaws of war.

As the Vikings learn, King Olav is marching on Stenvik from the east, determined to bring the White Christ to the masses at the point of his sword - even as a host of bloodthirsty raiders led by a mysterious woman sails from the north. Thormodsson and his companions will soon learn that in this conflict between the Old Gods and the new, there are enemies everywhere - outside the walls of Stenvik as well as within.

Swords of Good Men features a memorable cast of original characters and is driven by non-stop action and a clever sense of humor. Kristjansson deftly and elegantly weaves Norse mythology and history with fantasy in a novel that offers not only a good dose of bloody Viking feuding, but intrigue and romance.

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Blood Will Follow
Valhalla Saga 2
Jo Fletcher Books, January 6, 2015
Hardcover and eBook, 400 pages

Starburst magazine called Snorri Kristjansson's Swords of Good Men--the first volume in the Valhalla Saga--"A cracking yarn (one that would make a great movie), filled with enough to satisfy any fan of Vikings and their mythology." Now this raucous and gripping fantasy adventure set in Viking Norway continues with Blood Will Follow, where plundering and pillaging are a way of life and creature comforts rarely exceed a mug of sour mead.


Ulfar Thormodsson and Audun Arngrimsson are battered, having barely survived the battle for Stenvik, waged between King Olav and the followers of the White Christ, and those whose allegiance remains to the gods of the Norse pantheon. Alas, the two Vikings' encounter with a mysterious witch just before escaping the town over the city's walls have left them without the one thing that made them human: their mortality.

While Ulfar heads home to Sweden, hoping to find a safe haven where he can come to grips with his newfound inability to die, Audun travels by foot to the south, searching for answers on the open road. But both men are about to discover that they cannot run from their destiny. King Olav has left the conquered town of Stenvik in the hands of his lieutenant so he can journey north, following the advice of the scheming healer Valgard, to hunt for the source of the Vikings' power.

Soon, Ulfar and Audun will realize they have important roles to play in the battle for supremacy between those seeking to spread the gospel of the White Christ and those who keep to the old ways of Odin, Thor, and Loki.

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Interview with Aidan Harte, author of Irenicon - April 1, 2014

Please welcome Aidan Harte to The Qwillery as part of the 2014 Debut Author Challenge Interviews.  Irenicon is published today. Please join us in wishing Aidan a Happy US Publication Day. You may read Aidan's Guest Blog - North of Neverland - here.

TQ:  Welcome to The Qwillery. When and why did you start writing?

Aidan:  In 2008 I was studying sculpture in a Florentine atelier. They were long days. I’d come home beat every evening covered in mud. Early one morning I was schlepping over the Ponte Vecchio when a simple story popped into my head, about an engineer coming to build a bridge in a town with a civil war brewing. One thing academic art gives you is time to think, so the idea soon blossomed into an elaborate Fantasy set in medieval Italy. I never had any great ambitions to be a writer but I like stories and I knew this was a good one. I got typing.



TQ:  Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Aidan:  You can write short stories any which way you like, but a novel is a marathon; do the prep or Brother, you are going down. You need some idea how each scene fits into the whole to know what tone and pace is appropriate, and what information to reveal, what to withhold. There quickly comes a point however when rewriting outlines is another way of procrastinating. It really doesn’t matter how you get to the ball. Your first draft might an exquisitely plotted result of ten years’ graft, or something pulled out of your ass in a fortnight. Once you get to first draft, you see what’s what. As Helmuth Von Moltke said, No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.



TQ:  You are a sculptor and also have worked in animation and TV. How has this influenced your writing? What is the most challenging thing for you about writing?

Aidan:  I might say that my writing is very visual but that’s too easy, and most Fantasy authors could say as much with as much truth. Fantasy is almost by definition visual. Most occur in worlds other than this one and populated by strange characters, so description is more than scene setting - it’s essential to telling the story. No, it’s more practical than that: my background in visual art gives me a discipline. Sculpture and animation are both laborious activities in which very little is achieved in a day, but, given a few months, great things are possible. Writing’s like that. The greatest challenge is to keep faith in the process.



TQ:  Who are some of your literary influences? Favorite authors?

No matter how far out your Fantasy, a folk tale will out-weird it any day of the week. P’u Sung-ling, the author of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, can make Gabriel García Márquez look like a plodding realist. I have a tendency to ramble so I edit strictly to keep on point; reading someone like Angela Cartier who can cut loose and weave gold is a joy.



TQ:  Describe Irenicon in 140 characters or less.

Aidan:  In a land of warring city-states, a town of flag-wielding brawlers is poisoned by partition. Only the love of two enemies can heal it.



TQ:  Tell us something about Irenicon that is not in the book description.

Aidan:  The Wave which the Concordians unleash on Rasenna is inspired by a real episode in Florentine history. Her two canniest sons, Niccolò Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci, concocted a scheme to economically cripple the rival state of Pisa by diverting the river Arno. You can’t fault their ambition but the execution was less inspiring. It completely flopped.



TQ:  What inspired you to write Irenicon? Why did you choose to write Epic Fantasy? Do you want to write in any other genres or sub-genres?

Aidan:  “Where is fancy bred, in the heart or in the head?” If that august philosopher Willy Wonka failed to discover the source of inspiration, I too must surely fail. As I mentioned, the hook of Irenicon - a river used as a weapon - comes from Florence’s various crackbrained attempts to flood and bring drought to their neighbors. But more broadly, Irenicon shares its DNA with Romeo and Juliet. The Italian city states of that era were violent and architecturally distinctive. The forest of slender towers makes a unique urban environment, at once medieval and modern. It’s a setting that demands grand passion and great action. I love Kung Fu, but it always seems misplaced when transported to a western setting, so I tried to remedy that. Each city state exceled in one trade: Venice had her sailors, Bologna her professors, Rome her popes and Salerno her doctors. I imagined a town that was famous for martial arts.

It’s important to say I didn’t choose the genre, the story did that. All I did was follow its lead. If where I landed looks like an Epic Fantasy Land, so be it. Genres help publishers to sell books, but writers who think in those terms do themselves injury. Why put yourself in a ghetto? If at some point the writer doesn’t forget they are writing a Fantasy, the story will remain earthbound, weighed down by formulae. If I ever start thinking along the lines of ‘I can’t crack a joke here, this is High Fantasy,’ I pray someone slaps sense into me.



TQ:  What sort of research did you do for Irenicon?

Aidan:  It’s tempting to read about internecine feuding in the Italian city-states and conclude these guys are just pazzo but I wanted to understand the politics. That quickly gets you into European history as Italy was a kind of tilting ground for the great powers. The best starting point to Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror.

But books can’t get you as far as the train. The great cities are all very beautiful but in the smaller towns, Siena, Verona, San Gimignano, Perugia and Lucca, you can see an older country, less flattened by modernity. The most memorable places are those that are most fully themselves, least troubled by what the neighbors think. They teach you how to live.



TQ:  Who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why? Who is your favorite character in Irenicon?

Aidan:  The easiest character to write was Pomptinus. This historian is an apologist for the Concordian Empire. He’s a character with colossal complacence and no self-awareness. He’s a humorous reminder that every empire employs court philosophers to spin high-minded justifications. There are many laconic warriors in Irenicon, so it was fun to indulge occasional in Pomptinus’ windy cant.

The hardest was Giovanni. He’s the Concordian engineer sent to build a bridge in Rasenna. The trouble with heroes, often, is that they react (to villainous deeds or what have you) instead of inciting. I solved that by dropping Giovanni in an environment where he had to intervene in Rasenna’s feud or let it sink his mission. The other difficulty with Giovanni is that he has (you guessed it!) a mysterious past. That was more a matter of dropping the right hints at the right places. Forgive me but I must say no more….

Doc Bardini is my favorite. He’s a cold blooded strategist in a town passionate to the point of insanity. An empire can suffer successions of poor rulers without feeling the consequences, but weak States don’t have the luxury of being stupid. It takes character to face down populist arguments especially when they are shouted by a mob, but that’s what Doc does repeatedly. He’s a good foil to the heroine Sofia, because for a long time she is one of these short-sighted hawks.



TQ:  Give us one of your favorite lines from Irenicon.

Aidan:  “The true value of the Concordian Empire is not land or slaves or new towns to tax, no, no, no! It is the empire of knowledge we have built. What was dark, Girolamo Bernoulli illuminated; that which was mystery, nature and the elements, we now understand, and in understanding, we control. The world, from Rasenna to Gubbio, has been flooded with our knowledge.”

This sinister speech comes, naturally, from the historian’s lips. To add insult to injury, he delivers it to a prisoner whose hometown has been literarily flooded by Concord.



TQ:  What's next?

Aidan:  A trilogy is a long slog, and I knew I should do something completely different afterwards. I set my heart on a straight Historical Fiction. Something bleak and literary. I was all set; I bought a polo neck, threw out all my commas, and cleared a space on my shelf for the Booker Prize. Then I sat down to write. What emerged was a full-blooded lasers-blazing Space Opera. So much for making plans. Oh man, I’m having fun with it.



TQ:  Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

Aidan:  My pleasure!


Note: "pazzo" is Italian for "crazy."

Irenicon

Irenicon
The Wave Trilogy 1
Jo Fletcher Books, April 1, 2014
Hardcover and eBook, 496 pages
(US Debut)

The river Irenicon is a feat of ancient Concordian engineering. Blasted through the middle of Rasenna in 1347, using Wave technology, it divided the only city strong enough to defeat the Concordian Empire. But no one could have predicted the river would become sentient—and hostile. Sofia Scaligeri, the soon-to-be Contessa of Rasenna, has inherited a city tearing itself apart from the inside. And try as she might, she can see no way of stopping the culture of vendetta that has the city in its grasp. Until a Concordian engineer arrives to build a bridge over the Irenicon, clarifying everything: the feuding factions of Rasenna can either continue to fight each other or they can unite against their shared enemy. And they will surely need to stand together—for Concord is about to unleash the Wave again.

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About Aidan

Photo by Damien Sass

Aidan Harte was born in Kilkenny, studied sculpture at the Florence Academy of Art and currently works as sculptor in Dublin, where he also lives. Before discovering sculpture, he worked in animation and TV; in 2006 he created and directed the TV show Skunk Fu, which has been shown on Cartoon Network, Kids WB and the BBC.








Website

The Giveaway

What:  Three entrants will each win 1 special galley of Irenicon (The Wave Trilogy 1) by Aidan Harte. US ONLY

How:   Log into and follow the directions in the Rafflecopter below.

Who and When:  The contest is open to all humans on the planet earth with a US mailing address. Contest ends at 11:59PM US Eastern Time on April 11, 2014. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 years old or older to enter.

*Giveaway rules and duration are subject to change without any notice.*

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2014 Debut Author Challenge - April 2014 Debuts

There are 8 debuts for April. Please note that we use the publisher's publication date in the United States, not copyright dates or non-US publication dates.

The April debut authors and their novels are listed in alphabetical order by author (not book title or publication date). Take a good look at the covers. Voting for your favorite March cover for the 2014 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars will take place starting on April 15th.

If you are participating as a reader in the Challenge, please let us know in the comments what you are thinking of reading or email us at DAC.TheQwillery  @  gmail . com (remove the spaces).

Updated to include The Word Exchange.
Update to include Dämoren.

Jacob Bacharach

The Bend of the World
Liveright (W.W. Norton), April 14, 2014
Hardcover and eBook, 320 pages

"A comedy of bad manners, darting wisecracks, deadpan chagrin, and drug-hazed pratfalls" (James Wolcott), The Bend of the World is a madcap coming-of-age novel in which no one quite comes of age and everything you know is not a lie, it's just, well, tangential to the truth.

In the most audacious literary debut to come out of the Steel City since The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, we meet Peter Morrison, twenty-nine and comfortably adrift in a state of not-quite-adulthood, less concerned about the general direction of his life than with his suspicion that all his closest relationships are the products of inertia. He and his girlfriend float along in the same general direction, while his parents are acting funny, though his rich, hypochondriac grandmother is still good for admission to the better parties. He spends his days clocking into Global Solutions (a firm whose purpose remains unnervingly ambiguous) and his weekends listening to the half-imagined rants of his childhood best friend, Johnny. An addict and conspiracy theorist, Johnny believes Pittsburgh is a "nexus of intense magical convergence" and is playing host to a cabal of dubious politicians, evil corporate schemes, ancient occult rites, and otherwise inexplicable phenomena, such as the fact that people really do keep seeing UFOs hovering over the city.

Against this strange background, Peter meets Mark and Helen, a slightly older couple, new to town, whose wealth and glamour never fully conceal the suggestion of something sinister, and with whom he becomes quickly infatuated. Mark is a corporate lawyer in the process of negotiating a buyout of Global Solutions, and initiates Peter into the real, mundane (maybe) conspiracies of corporations and careers, while Helen—a beautiful and once prominent artist—is both the echo and the promise of the sort of woman Peter always imagined, or was always told he ought to find for himself.

As Peter climbs the corporate ladder, Johnny is pulled into the orbit of a mysterious local author, Winston Pringle, whose lunatic book of conspiracies seems to be coming true. As Johnny falls farther down the rabbit hole, the surreal begins to seep into the mundane, and the settled rhythm of Peter's routine is disrupted by a series of close encounters of third, fourth, and fifth kinds. By the time Peter sets out to save his friend from Pringle's evil machinations (and pharmacological interventions), his familiar life threatens to transform into that most terrifying possibility: a surprise.

In The Bend of the World Philip K. Dick meets Michael Chabon, and Jacob Bacharach creates an appropriately hilarious, bizarre, and keenly observed portrait of life on the edge of thirty in the adolescent years of twenty-first-century America.

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Rjurik Davidson

Unwrapped Sky
Tor Books, April 15, 2014
Hardcover and eBook, 432 pages

A hundred years ago, the Minotaurs saved Caeli-Amur from conquest. Now, three very different people may hold the keys to the city's survival.

Once, it is said, gods used magic to create reality, with powers that defied explanation. But the magic—or science, if one believes those who try to master the dangers of thaumaturgy—now seems more like a dream. Industrial workers for House Technis, farmers for House Arbor, and fisher folk of House Marin eke out a living and hope for a better future. But the philosopher-assassin Kata plots a betrayal that will cost the lives of godlike Minotaurs; the ambitious bureaucrat Boris Autec rises through the ranks as his private life turns to ashes; and the idealistic seditionist Maximilian hatches a mad plot to unlock the vaunted secrets of the Great Library of Caeli-Enas, drowned in the fabled city at the bottom of the sea, its strangeness visible from the skies above.

In a novel of startling originality and riveting suspense, these three people, reflecting all the hopes and dreams of the ancient city, risk everything for a future that they can create only by throwing off the shackles of tradition and superstition, as their destinies collide at ground zero of a conflagration that will transform the world . . . or destroy it.

Unwrapped Sky is a stunningly original debut by Rjurik Davidson, a young master of the New Weird.

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Alena Graedon

The Word Exchange
Doubleday, April 8, 2014
Hardcover and eBook, 384 pages

A dystopian novel for the digital age, The Word Exchange offers an inventive, suspenseful, and decidedly original vision of the dangers of technology and of the enduring power of the printed word.

In the not-so-distant future, the forecasted “death of print” has become a reality. Bookstores, libraries, newspapers, and magazines are things of the past, and we spend our time glued to handheld devices called Memes that not only keep us in constant communication but also have become so intuitive that they hail us cabs before we leave our offices, order takeout at the first growl of a hungry stomach, and even create and sell language itself in a marketplace called the Word Exchange.
      Anana Johnson works with her father, Doug, at the North American Dictionary of the English Language (NADEL), where Doug is hard at work on the last edition that will ever be printed. Doug is a staunchly anti-Meme, anti-tech intellectual who fondly remembers the days when people used email (everything now is text or videoconference) to communicate—or even actually spoke to one another, for that matter. One evening, Doug disappears from the NADEL offices, leaving a single written clue: ALICE. It’s a code word he devised to signal if he ever fell into harm’s way. And thus begins Anana’s journey down the proverbial rabbit hole . . .
      Joined by Bart, her bookish NADEL colleague, Anana’s search for Doug will take her into dark basements and subterranean passageways; the stacks and reading rooms of the Mercantile Library; and secret meetings of the underground resistance, the Diachronic Society. As Anana penetrates the mystery of her father’s disappearance and a pandemic of decaying language called “word flu” spreads, The Word Exchange becomes a cautionary tale that is at once a technological thriller and a meditation on the high cultural costs of digital technology.

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Aidan Harte

Irenicon
The Wave Trilogy 1
Jo Fletcher Books, April 1, 2014
Hardcover and eBook, 496 pages
(US Debut)

The river Irenicon is a feat of ancient Concordian engineering. Blasted through the middle of Rasenna in 1347, using Wave technology, it divided the only city strong enough to defeat the Concordian Empire. But no one could have predicted the river would become sentient—and hostile. Sofia Scaligeri, the soon-to-be Contessa of Rasenna, has inherited a city tearing itself apart from the inside. And try as she might, she can see no way of stopping the culture of vendetta that has the city in its grasp. Until a Concordian engineer arrives to build a bridge over the Irenicon, clarifying everything: the feuding factions of Rasenna can either continue to fight each other or they can unite against their shared enemy. And they will surely need to stand together—for Concord is about to unleash the Wave again.

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David Ramirez

The Forever Watch
Thomas Dunne Books, April 22, 2014
Hardcover and eBook, 336 pages

An exciting new novel from a bold up-and-coming sci fi talent, The Forever Watch is so full of twists and surprises it's impossible to put down.

All that is left of humanity is on a thousand-year journey to a new planet aboard one ship, The Noah, which is also carrying a dangerous serial killer...

As a City Planner on the Noah, Hana Dempsey is a gifted psychic, economist, hacker and bureaucrat and is considered "mission critical." She is non-replaceable, important, essential, but after serving her mandatory Breeding Duty, the impregnation and birthing that all women are obligated to undergo, her life loses purpose as she privately mourns the child she will never be permitted to know.

When Policeman Leonard Barrens enlists her and her hacking skills in the unofficial investigation of his mentor's violent death, Dempsey finds herself increasingly captivated by both the case and Barrens himself. According to Information Security, the missing man has simply "Retired," nothing unusual. Together they follow the trail left by the mutilated remains. Their investigation takes them through lost dataspaces and deep into the uninhabited regions of the ship, where they discover that the answer may not be as simple as a serial killer after all.

What they do with that answer will determine the fate of all humanity in David Ramirez's thrilling page turner.

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Robin Riopelle

Deadroads
Night Shade Books, April 15, 2014
Trade Paperback and eBook, 320 pages

Lutie always wanted a pet ghost-but the devil's in the details.

The Sarrazins have always stood apart from the rest of their Bayou-born neighbors. Almost as far as they prefer to stand from each other. Blessed-or cursed-with the uncanny ability to see beyond the spectral plane, Aurie has raised his children, Sol, Baz, and Lutie, in the tradition of the traiteur, finding wayward spirits and using his special gift to release them along Deadroads into the afterworld. The family, however, fractured by their clashing egos, drifted apart, scattered high and low across the continent.

But tragedy serves to bring them together. When Aurie, while investigating a series of ghastly (and ghostly) murders, is himself killed by a devil, Sol, EMT by day and traiteur by night, Baz, a traveling musician with a truly spiritual voice, and Lutie, combating her eerie visions with antipsychotics, are thrown headlong into a world of gory sprites, brilliant angels, and nefarious demons-small potatoes compared to reconciling their familial differences.

From the Louisiana swamps to the snowfields of the north and everywhere in between, Deadroads summons you onto a mysterious trail of paranormal proportions.

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Seth Skorkowsky

Dämoren
Ragnarok Publications, April 14, 2014
eBook

Fourteen years ago a pack of wendigos killed Matt Hollis’ family and damned his soul. Now, Matt is a demon hunter armed with a holy revolver named Dämoren.

After a violent series of murders leaves only fifty holy weapons in the world, Matt is recruited by the Valducans, an ancient order of demon hunters. Many of the knights do not trust him because he is possessed. When sabotage and assassinations begin, the Valducans know there is a spy in their ranks, and Matt becomes the core of their suspicions. Desperate to prove himself, and to protect Dämoren, Matt fights to gain their trust and discover the nature of the entity residing within him.

Ragnarok

Tom Wilde

The Blood of Alexander
Forge, April 29, 2014
Hardcover and eBook, 320 pages

A modern Indiana Jones steals a relic of Alexander the Great in Blood of Alexander, the thrilling debut from Tom Wilde.

Jonathan Blake makes a living stealing antiquities—stealing them back, that is. A field agent for the Argo Foundation, a company that makes it their business to preserve humanity’s history by liberating stolen artifacts from thieves and looters, Blake is used to dangerous assignments. But when he is forced by the US government into a deadly mission involving a missing Napoleonic standard, he finds himself in over his head.

Blake is pitted against Vanya, the head of a fanatical cult, who seeks a gilded bronze eagle that holds a vital clue to the lost tomb of Alexander the Great.

From ancient ruins in Afghanistan to the catacombs of Paris to a chateau high in the French Alps, Blake must unravel the secret truth of the final fate of Napoleon Bonaparte, the murder of Percy Bysshe Shelly, and the hidden remains of Alexander. And he must do it before Vanya's apocalyptic plans for humanity come to their deadly fruition.

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