Pages

  • Home
  • 09/2021 Books
  • 2021 DAC
  • 2020 DAC
  • 2019 DAC
  • 2018 DAC
  • 2017 DAC
  • 2016 DAC
  • 2015 DAC
  • 2014 DAC
  • 2013 DAC
  • 2012 DAC
  • 2011 DAC
  • Mash Ups +
  • Review Policy / Contact
  • About Us
Showing posts with label Alan Averill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alan Averill. Show all posts

Sunday, June 09, 2013

2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - June 2013


It's time for the 2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars for June 2013!




Since Cover Wars was so much fun as part of the 2012 Debut Author Challenge, we're doing it again for the 2013 Debut Author Challenge. Each month you will be able to vote for your favorite cover from each month's debut novels. At the end of the year the 12 monthly winners will be pitted against each other to choose the 2013 Debut Novel Cover of the Year. Please note that a debut novel cover is eligible in the month in which the novel is released in the US. Cover artist/illustrator information is provided when I have it.



Vote For Your Favorite June 2013 Debut Novel Cover
  
pollcode.com free polls 

Voting will close on June 24, 2013.

(Please note that when you click "View" above it will take you to the PollCode site. Please click "Back" there to come back to this post. Leave any comment below.)





Cover photos: feather © Vasilius/Shutterstock; oil drops © Buzz S/Shutterstock; 
texture background © Hemera/Thinkstock; bird © VladimirCeresnak/Shutterstock.
Cover design by Judith Lagerman
















































Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Interview with Alan Averill, author of The Beautiful Land - June 5, 2013


Please welcome Alan Averill to The Qwillery as part of the 2013 Debut Author Challenge Interviews. The Beautiful Land was published on June 4th by Ace. You may read Alan's Guest Blog here.







TQ:  Welcome to The Qwillery.

Alan:  Hey, thanks! Happy to be here.



TQ:  When and why did you start writing?

Alan:  I started writing when I was a kid. Like, a little kid -- 5 or so. Then in high school, I realized I could BS my way through most of my classes if I just wrote amusing essays, even if they contained almost no facts about what we were studying whatsoever. This first clued me in to the awesome power of the written word, and I haven't really stopped since. I wrote plays in college, penned articles for Nintendo Power magazine, localized a whole bunch of videogames, and now I have a book. It's crazy, man. Crazy.

As for the why, I don't have any idea other than I feel an instinctual need to do so and I get kind of crabby when I don't.



TQ:  What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

Alan:  Probably that I don't plan anything out. This is a bit of a spoiler for the next question, but I don't really take notes or do outlines or any of that. Instead, I start out with a little kernel of an idea and just see where it takes me.



TQ:  Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Alan:  Total pantser. My "outline" for The Beautiful Land consisted of about three pages of ideas scribbled down over the four months I was writing it. That's not to say I have literally no idea where I'm going, but mostly I try to approach writing like jazz -- there's a framework of a song when I start out, but the good stuff tends to come from improvisation. I like to think there's somebody in the back of my head working this stuff out while I do other things, and that the actual writing is just the last step in that process.

Of course, this means that I have a whole lot of editing to do when I finish the book, since certain themes or plot points come to the fore after I've started, but I don't really mind. I enjoy the editing process -- I've spent a lot of time localizing videogames, which helped prepare me for what editing a book is like.



TQ:  What is the most challenging thing for you about writing?

Alan:  For me, it's all the ancillary stuff -- marketing, talking about my work, writing pitch letters, that kind of thing. In a perfect world, I'd live in an isolated cabin, send manuscripts out on horseback, and then a bunch of happy little elves would figure out how to make them sell.



TQ:  Describe The Beautiful Land in 140 characters or less.

Alan:  It's a love story where an Iranian-American military translator and a Japanese-American survival expert try to save the world from monstrous bird creatures.



TQ:  What inspired you to write The Beautiful Land?

Alan:  It's kind of hard to say, because all of this stuff bubbles around in my head before I throw it down on paper. However, certain characters and events were inspired by things I saw or read or otherwise interacted with. For example, Tak O'Leary (the survival expert), was inspired by the television series Survivorman. Samira (the translator) really came into focus after I read The Forever War, a book by Dexter Filkins about his time as a war reporter in Iraq and Afghanistan. The birds came from a series of nightmares I used to have back in high school. (Actually, I've had really vivid, horrible dreams for most of my life, which is probably as responsible as anything else for my being a writer.) As for the book, I suppose I wrote it because writing makes me happy.



TQ:  What sort of research did you do for The Beautiful Land?

Alan:  I didn't do a lot of specific research for the book, aside from reading up on PTSD, and then doing a bunch of fact-checking once I was done with the first draft. But I'm doing general research every day of my life. Like with people I see on the street, or conversations I overhear on the bus, or random little thoughts that pop into my head -- all of that is a kind of research, and a lot of it eventually ends up in my work.



TQ:  Who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?

Alan:  Tak was an utter joy to write, mostly because he's a bit of a nut and I appreciate that. But honestly, I didn't have much of a struggle with anyone. This book just poured out of me -- i don't know if I'll ever be able to do that again.



TQ:  Without giving anything away, what is/are your favorite scene(s) in The Beautiful Land?

Alan:  There's a scene in the Australian Outback involving Tak and a semi truck. I kind of love it to death.



TQ:  What's next?

Alan:  I'm very close to finishing the second draft of my new book, which I'll be sending to my agent shortly. I'm also about to start a new videogame project that I'm very, very excited about, but I can't talk about it because I signed an NDA and they would probably have my legs broke.



TQ:  Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

Alan:  Thanks for having me!





About The Beautiful Land

The Beautiful Land
Ace, June 4, 2013
Trade Paperback and eBook, 368 pages

Takahiro O’Leary has a very special job…

…working for the Axon Corporation as an explorer of parallel timelines—as many and as varied as anyone could imagine. A great gig—until information he brought back gave Axon the means to maximize profits by changing the past, present, and future of this world.

If Axon succeeds, Tak will lose Samira Moheb, the woman he has loved since high school—because her future will cease to exist. A veteran of the Iraq War suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Samira can barely function in her everyday life, much less deal with Tak’s ravings of multiple realities. The only way to save her is for Tak to use the time travel device he “borrowed” to transport them both to an alternate timeline.

But what neither Tak nor Axon knows is that the actual inventor of the device is searching for a timeline called the Beautiful Land—and he intends to destroy every other possible present and future to find it.

The switch is thrown, and reality begins to warp—horribly. And Tak realizes that to save Sam, he must save the entire world…
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound





About Alan

Alan has been writing for as long as he can remember. His first novel, The Beautiful Land, was the winner of the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. He's also done writing and localization work for dozens of video games, including Fire Emblem Awakening, Hotel Dusk, and Nier.

He currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife Sue, his dog Sam Perkins, and a whole lot of rain. You can find more of his random musings on Twitter at @frodomojo, or at http://www.alanaverill.com.








Monday, June 03, 2013

The View From Monday - June 3, 2013


Happy first Monday in June! This is a very full release month. I'm going to need another bookcase soon.  (Note: I always need another bookcase.) You'll find a printable PDF shopping list for this week's releases here





There are 4 debuts this week:

The Beautiful Land by Alan Averill;

The Center of the World by Thomas Van Essen;

Captive (Survival Race 1) by K.M. Fawcett

and

The Year of the Storm by John Mantooth.


Also out this week from former Debut Author Challenge authors are

Suddenly Beautiful by Boon Brux;

and

Trail of Dead (Scarlett Bernard 2) by Melissa F. Olson.




June 1, 2013
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
The J.R.R. Tolkien Miscellany Robert S. Blackham LC
Doors (Kindle e) Daniel Brako H
His Vampyrrhic Bride (h2tp) Simon Clark H - Vampyrrhic 4
Hidden Fire (e) Alexis Fleming PNR
The Destroyer's Creed Tom Flynn SF - The Messiah Game: A Comedy of Terrors - Part Three
Hunting the Jackal (e) Seressia Glass PNR
The Darkest Embrace (e) Megan Hart PNR
A Method to the Madness: A Guide to the Super Evil Jeffrey A. Hite (ed)
Michell Plested (ed)
SF/Hu - Anthology
Zombies!: Tales of the Walking Dead Stephen Jones (ed) H/Z - Anthology
Blood Sacrifice (ri) Maria Lima UF - Blood Line 5
Cradle Lake Ronald Malfi H
A Planet Called Happiness R M Robinson SF - Science Fiction by Scientists 3



June 3, 2013
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
Paladins of Shannara: The Black Irix (e) Terry Brooks F - Shannara - Short Story
Suddenly Beautiful (e) Boone Brux PNR
Seducing the Demon Huntress (e) Victoria Davies PNR
Family Pride (e) Sheryl Nantus PNR - Blood of the Pride 3
Secrets of the Jaguar (e) Jaye Shields PNR



June 4, 2013
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
Clockwork Fairy Tales: A Collection of Steampunk Fables Stephen L. Antczak (ed)
James C. Bassett (ed)
SP - Anthology
Shapeshifted Cassie Alexander UF - Edie Spence 3
Darkness Unmasked Keri Arthur UF - Dark Angels 5
Tiger Magic Jennifer Ashley PNR - Shifters Unbound 5
The Beautiful Land (D) Alan Averill SF/H
Wicked Memories Nina Bangs PNR - Castle of Dark Dreams 7
The Too-Clever Fox: A Tor.Com Original (e) Leigh Bardugo Folk Tale - Grisha Trilogy
Queen's Hunt (h2mm) Beth Bernobich F - River of Souls 2
The Shining Girls Lauren Beukes SF
Orion and King Arthur (h2mm) Ben Bova SF/F - Orion 6
The Cryptos Conundrum (h2mm) Chase Brandon SF/Th/M
Darkest Desire of the Vampire: Wicked in Moonlight\Vampire Island Rhyannon Byrd
Lauren Hawkeye
PNR
Earth Afire Orson Scott Card
Aaron Johnston
SF - First Formic War 2
His Clockwork Canary Beth Ciotta SP - The Glorious Victorious Darcys 2
Abaddon's Gate James S.A. Corey SF - The Expanse 3
Redemption Ben Counter F - Warhammer 40,000: The Soul Drinkers Omnibus
Keeping Secret Sierra Dean UF - Secret McQueen 4
Sleeping With The Entity Cat Devon PNR - Entity 1
How to Build an Android: The True Story of Philip K. Dick's Robotic Resurrection (h2tp) David F. Dufty S/Robotics
The Center of the World (D) Thomas Van Essen AH
The Magic of "I Do" Tammy Falkner PHR - Faerie 2
Captive (D) K.M. Fawcett SFR - Survival Race 1
The City Stella Gemmell F
Silken Shadows Jennifer St. Giles PHR/Go - Killdaren 3
Midnight's Kiss Donna Grant PNR - Dark Warriors 5
Midnight's Kiss: Part 4 (e - serial) Donna Grant PNR - Dark Warriors
The Diabolist Layton Green SuTh - Dominic Grey 3
The Egyptian Layton Green SuTh - Dominic Grey 2
The Summoner Layton Green SuTh - Dominic Grey 1
Casino Infernale Simon R. Green UF - Secret Histories 7
Live and Let Drood (h2mm) Simon R. Green UF - Secret Histories 6
In a Fix (tp2mm) Linda Grimes UF - In a Fix 1
Breath of Fire (e) Liliana Hart FR - Rena Drake 1
Blood of the Emperor (h2mm) Tracy Hickman F - Annals of Drakis 3
Soul Bound Anne Hope PNR - Dark Souls 2
Blood Price (ri) Tanya Huff UF - Blood / Victoria Nelson 1
Night Terrors (e Serial) Jonathan Janz H - Savage Species Pt 1
Devil Said Bang (h2tp) Richard Kadrey UF - Sandman Slim 4
The Firebird Susanna Kearsley F
Smoking Hot Karen Kelley PNR - Good Girls 3
Joyland Stephen King M/Th/H
The Angel of Fire (h2tp) William King F - Warhammer 40,000: Macharian Crusade 1
Trouble Vision Allison Kingsley PCM - Raven's Nest Bookstore 3
The Road to Woodbury (h2tp) Robert Kirkman Z/H - The Walking Dead:
Burdens of the Dead Mercedes Lackey
Eric Flint
Dave Freer
AH
Home From the Sea (h2mm) Mercedes Lackey F - Elemental Masters 8
Steadfast Mercedes Lackey F - Elemental Masters 9
Lethal Outlook (h2mm) Victoria Laurie PCM - Psychic Eye 10
The Midnight Man (h2tp) Stephen Laws H - Collection
The Lucifer Glass (e) Frazer Lee H
The Year of the Storm (D) John Mantooth H/Th/Gh
Iron Kingdoms Chronicles: In Thunder Forged Ari Marmell F - The Fall of Llael 1
Gameboard of the Gods Richelle Mead SF/M - Age of X 1
Dead Iron (tp2mm) Devon Monk SP - The Age of Steam 1
Man-Kzin Wars 25th Anniversary Edition Larry Niven SF - Man-Kzin Wars 1
The Double Human (h2mm) James O'Neal SF/Dys/M/Th
Trail of Dead Melissa F. Olson UF - Scarlett Bernard 2
The Seven-Petaled Shield Deborah J. Ross
F
Bled & Breakfast Michelle Rowen PCM - Immortality Bites Mystery 2
Dragon Mine (e) Jaime Rush PNR - Hidden eNovella
Yellow Moon (ri) David Searls H
The Seventh Day (Kindle serial) (e) Scott Shepherd SP
Heart of Obsidian Nalini Singh PNR - Psy-Changeling 12
Eight Million Gods Wen Spencer F
Angel City Jon Steele UF - Angelus Trilogy 2
Phantom Wolf Bonnie Vanak PNR - Phoenix Force 2
Miss Garnet's Angel Salley Vickers Meta
Charred Kate Watterson Th/Psy - Detective Ellie MacIntosh 3
Long Fall from Heaven George Wier
Hilton T. Burton
M/UF
A Captain and a Corset Mary Wine SPR - Steam Guardians 2
Cobra Slave Timothy Zahn SF - Cobra Rebellion 1



June 5, 2013
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
A Window or a Small Box: A Tor.Com Original (e) Jedediah Berry MR
Definitely Dead A Sookie Stackhouse Novel Charlaine Harris UF - TV Tie-In




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


AH - Alternate History
Dys - Dystopian
H - Horror
Hu - Humor
F - Fantasy
FR - Fantasy Romance
GH - Ghosts
Go - Gothic
LC - Literary Criticism
M - Mystery
Meta - Metaphysical
MR - Magical Realism
PCM - Paranormal Cozy Mystery
PHR - Paranormal Historical Romance
PNR - Paranormal Romance
Psy - Psychological
S - Science
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SP - Steampunk
SPR - Steampunk Romance
Su - Supernatural
Th - Thriller
UF - Urban Fantasy
Z - Zombies

Saturday, June 01, 2013

2013 Debut Author Challenge - June 2013 Debuts




There are 10 debuts for June.  Please note that I use the publisher's publication date in the United States, not copyright dates or non-US publication dates.

The June debut authors and their novels are listed in alphabetical order by author (not book title or publication date). Pick one or more and let us know in the comments which one(s) you'll be reading. If I've missed any, let me know in the comments.

Take a good look at the covers. Voting for your favorite June cover for the 2013 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars will take place later this month.





The Beautiful Land
AuthorAlan Averill
Publisher:  Ace, June 4, 2013
Format:  Trade Paperback and eBook, 368 pages
Price:  $16.00 (print)
ISBN:  9780425265277 (print)

Takahiro O’Leary has a very special job…

…working for the Axon Corporation as an explorer of parallel timelines—as many and as varied as anyone could imagine. A great gig—until information he brought back gave Axon the means to maximize profits by changing the past, present, and future of this world.

If Axon succeeds, Tak will lose Samira Moheb, the woman he has loved since high school—because her future will cease to exist. A veteran of the Iraq War suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Samira can barely function in her everyday life, much less deal with Tak’s ravings of multiple realities. The only way to save her is for Tak to use the time travel device he “borrowed” to transport them both to an alternate timeline.

But what neither Tak nor Axon knows is that the actual inventor of the device is searching for a timeline called the Beautiful Land—and he intends to destroy every other possible present and future to find it.

The switch is thrown, and reality begins to warp—horribly. And Tak realizes that to save Sam, he must save the entire world…
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound





In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods
Author:  Matt Bell
Publisher:  Soho Press, June 18, 2013
Format:  Hardcover and eBook, 312 pages
Price:  $25.00 (print)
ISBN978-1-61695-253-2 (print)

In this epic, mythical debut novel, a newly-wed couple escapes the busy confusion of their homeland for a distant and almost-uninhabited lakeshore. They plan to live there simply, to fish the lake, to trap the nearby woods, and build a house upon the dirt between where they can raise a family. But as their every pregnancy fails, the child-obsessed husband begins to rage at this new world: the song-spun objects somehow created by his wife's beautiful singing voice, the giant and sentient bear that rules the beasts of the woods, the second moon weighing down the fabric of their starless sky, and the labyrinth of memory dug into the earth beneath their house.

This novel, from one of our most exciting young writers, is a powerful exploration of the limits of parenthood and marriage—and of what happens when a marriage’s success is measured solely by the children it produces, or else the sorrow that marks their absence.
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound





Captive
Author:  K.M. Fawcett
Series:  The Survival Race
Publisher:  Forever Yours, June 4, 2013
Format:  Trade Paperback and eBook, 416 pages
Price:  $17.99 (print)
ISBN:  9781455546480 (print)

"Fawcett delivers a suspenseful and captivating science fiction romance. A must read for all, but especially for fans of THE HUNGER GAMES." --Caridad Pineiro, NY Times & USA Today bestselling author

AN IMPOSSIBLE JOURNEY

The last thing Addy Dawson remembers is a blazing inferno and freezing river water overtaking her lungs. When she awakens, Addy finds herself on a strange, alien planet, trapped in a cell with no doors, no windows-- and to her horror-- a naked warrior who claims to be her mate.

AN UNDENIABLE PASSION

An alpha gladiator, Max is forced to breed and produce the finest specimens for the Survival Race, a deadly blood sport created by the alien rulers of Hyborea. To rebel means torture-or worse-yet Max refuses to become the animal his captors want him to be. But their jailors will not be denied, and soon Addy and Max find themselves unwilling players in this cruel game. Pushed to the limit, they will risk everything for the chance at a life free from captivity. And though fate brought them together as adversaries, Max and Addy will discover that when they're together, there's nothing in the universe that can stop them.
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound





The Year of the Storm
Author:  John Mantooth
Publisher:  Berkley, June 4, 2013
Format:  Trade Paperback and eBook, 320 pages
Price:  $15.00 (print)
ISBN:  9780425265741 (print)

In this haunting, suspenseful debut novel, John Mantooth takes readers to a town in rural Alabama where secrets are buried deep, reality is relative, and salvation requires a desperate act of faith.

When Danny was fourteen, his mother and sister disappeared during a violent storm. The police were baffled. There were no clues, and most people figured they were dead. Only Danny still holds out hope that they’ll return.

Months later, a disheveled Vietnam vet named Walter Pike shows up at Danny’s front door, claiming to know their whereabouts. The story he tells is so incredible that Danny knows he shouldn’t believe him. Others warn him about Walter Pike’s dark past, his shameful flight from town years ago, and the suspicious timing of his return.

But he’s Danny’s last hope, and Danny needs to believe…
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound





Reviver
AuthorSeth Patrick
Series:  Reviver Trilogy
Publisher:  Thomas Dunne Books, June 18, 2013
Format:  Hardcover and eBook, 416 pages
Price:  $25.99 (print)
ISBN:  9781250021700 (print)

CSI meets The Sixth Sense in this compelling horror/thriller that has already been optioned by the producers of The Dark Knight Returns!

Jonah Miller is a Reviver, able to temporarily revive the dead so they can say goodbye to their loved ones—or tell the police who killed them.

Jonah works in a department of forensics created specifically for Revivers, and he’s the best in the business. For every high-profile corpse pushing daisies, it’s Jonah’s job to find justice for them. But while reviving the victim of a brutal murder, he encounters a terrifying presence. Something is on the other side watching. Waiting. His superiors tell him it's only in his mind, a product of stress. Jonah isn't so certain.

Then Daniel Harker, the first journalist to bring revival to public attention, is murdered. Jonah finds himself getting dragged into the hunt for answers. Working with Harker's daughter Annabel, he becomes determined to find those responsible and bring them to justice. Soon they uncover long-hidden truths that call into doubt everything Jonah stands for, and reveal a sinister force that threatens us all.

Putting the paranormal in the police department, first-time author Seth Patrick blends genre lines with this edgy crime thriller. The first novel in the Reviver trilogy, Reviver is sure to appeal to fans of Dean Koontz and Justin Cronin.
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound





Stoker's Manuscript
Author:  Royce Prouty
Publisher:  Putnam Adult, June 13, 2013
Format:  Hardcover and eBook, 352 pages
Price:  $26.95 (print)
ISBN:  9780399158551 (print)

When rare-manuscript expert Joseph Barkeley is hired to authenticate and purchase the original draft and notes for Bram Stoker's Dracula, little does he know that the reclusive buyer is a member of the oldest family in Transylvania.

After delivering the manuscript to the legendary Bran Castle in Romania, Barkeley—a Romanian orphan himself—realizes to his horror that he's become a prisoner to the son of Vlad Dracul. To earn his freedom, Barkeley must decipher cryptic messages hidden in the text of the original Dracula that reveal the burial sites of certain Dracul family members. Barkeley's only hope is to ensure that he does not exhaust his usefulness to his captor until he’s able to escape. Soon he discovers secrets about his own lineage that suggest his selection for the task was more than coincidence. In this knowledge may lie Barkeley's salvation—or his doom. For now he must choose between a coward's flight and a mortal conflict against an ancient foe.

Building on actual international events surrounding the publication of Bram Stoker's original novel, Royce Prouty has written a spellbinding debut novel that ranges from 1890s Chicago, London, and Transylvania to the perilous present.
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound





A Private Little War
Author:  Jason Sheehan
Publisher:  47North, June 11, 2013
Format:  Trade Paperback and Kindle eBook, 374 pages
Price:  $14.95 (print)
ISBN:  978-1611098945

He felt something in his belly twist up like cold fingers curling into a fist. This is it, he’d thought. This is when it all goes bad…

Private “security” firm Flyboy, Inc., landed on the alien planet of Iaxo with a mission: In one year, they must quash an insurrection; exploit the ancient enmities of an indigenous, tribal society; and kill the hell out of one group of natives to facilitate negotiations with the surviving group—all over 110 million acres of mixed terrain.

At first, the double-hush, back-burner project seemed to be going well. With all the advantages they had going for them—a ten-century technological lead on the locals, the logistical support of a shadowy and powerful private military company, and aid from similar outfits already on the ground—a quick combat victory seemed reasonable. An easy-in, easy-out mission that would make them very, very rich.

But the ancient tribal natives of Iaxo refuse to roll over and give up their planet. What was once a strategic coup has become a quagmire of cost over-runs and blown deadlines, leaving the pilots of Flyboy, Inc., on an embattled distant planet, waiting for support and a ride home that may never come….

The debut novel from acclaimed, James Beard Award-winning food critic Jason Sheehan, A Private Little War is the dark tale of a deadly war being waged in secrecy—and the struggle to stay sane in a world that makes no sense. A Catch-22 for a new generation, A Private Little War is sure to become a science fiction classic.
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound





The Center of the World
Author:  Thomas Van Essen
Publisher:  Other Press, June 4, 2013
Format:  Trade Paperback and eBook, 384 pages
Price:  $15.95 (print)
ISBN: 978-1-59051-549-5

Alternating between nineteenth-century England and present-day New York, this is the story of renowned British painter J. M. W. Turner and his circle of patrons and lovers. It is also the story of Henry Leiden, a middle-aged family man with a troubled marriage and a dead-end job, who finds his life transformed by his discovery of Turner’s The Center of the World, a mesmerizing and unsettling painting of Helen of Troy that was thought to have been lost forever.

This painting has such devastating erotic power that it was kept hidden for almost two centuries, and was even said to have been destroyed...until Henry stumbles upon it in a secret compartment at his summer home in the Adirondacks. Though he knows it is an object of immense value, the thought of parting with it is unbearable: Henry is transfixed by its revelation of a whole other world, one of transcendent light, joy, and possibility.

Back in the nineteenth century, Turner struggles to create The Center of the World, his greatest painting, but a painting unlike anything he (or anyone else) has ever attempted. We meet his patron, Lord Egremont, an aristocrat in whose palatial home Turner talks freely about his art and his beliefs. We also meet Elizabeth Spencer, Egremont’s mistress and Turner’s muse, the model for his Helen. Meanwhile, in the present, Henry is relentlessly trailed by an unscrupulous art dealer determined to get his hands on the painting at any cost. Filled with sex, beauty, and love (of all kinds), this richly textured novel explores the intersection between art and eroticism.
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound





Ecko Rising
Author:  Danie Ware
Series:  Ecko 1
Publisher:  Titan Books June 11, 2013
Format:  Trade Paperback and eBook, 480 pages
Price:  $14.95 (print)
ISBN:  9780857687623

In a futuristic London where technological body modification is the norm, Ecko stands alone as a testament to the extreme capabilities of his society. Driven half mad by the systems running his body, Ecko is a criminal for hire. No job is too dangerous or insane.

When a mission goes wrong and Ecko finds himself catapulted across dimensions into a peaceful and unadvanced society living in fear of 'magic', he must confront his own percepions of reality and his place within it.

A thrilling debut, Ecko Rising explores the massive range of the sci-fi and fantasy genres, and the possible implications of pitting them against one another. Author Danie Ware creates an immersive and richly imagined world that readers will be eager to explore in the first book in this exciting new trilogy.
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound





Sea Change
AuthorS.M. Wheeler
Publisher:  Tor Books, June 18, 2013
Format:  Hardcover and eBook, 288 pages
Price:  $24.99 (print)
ISBN:  978-0-7653-3314-8 (print)

The unhappy child of two powerful parents who despise each other, young Lilly turns to the ocean to find solace, which she finds in the form of the eloquent and intelligent sea monster Octavius, a kraken. In Octavius’s many arms, Lilly learns of friendship, loyalty, and family. When Octavius, forbidden by Lilly to harm humans, is captured by seafaring traders and sold to a circus, Lilly becomes his only hope for salvation. Desperate to find him, she strikes a bargain with a witch that carries a shocking price.

Her journey to win Octavius’s freedom is difficult. The circus master wants a Coat of Illusions; the Coat tailor wants her undead husband back from a witch; the witch wants her skin back from two bandits; the bandits just want some company, but they might kill her first. Lilly's quest tests her resolve, tries her patience, and leaves her transformed in every way.

A powerfully written debut from a young fantasy author, Sea Change is an exhilarating tale of adventure, resilience, and selflessness in the name of friendship.
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound



Friday, May 10, 2013

Guest Blog by Alan Averill, author of The Beautiful Land - May 10, 2013


Please welcome Alan Averill to The Qwillery as part of the 2013 Debut Author Challenge Guest Blogs. The Beautiful Land will be published on June 4th by Ace.








Guest blogs are scary. And yeah, I realize that I'm in a incredibly lucky position when writing a post on someone's website is the scariest thing I have to do today. I mean, there are dudes in this world who are being chased by tigers. Possibly as you read this. Hopefully the tiger is not chasing you. If that's the case, then I congratulate you on your multi-tasking skills, because it can't be easy to read a blog post and run for your life at the same time.

But guest blogs are scary because you're not only trying to write something that's hopefully amusing and enlightening, you're doing it on a website that someone else has spent years cultivating. You want to be on your best behavior in situations like that, you know? Or at least sit politely at the dinner table and not spill your drink all over the nice new linens. It's different than writing for yourself, which is the way I usually prefer to do things.

Yes, so, anyway. Hello. Now that I've laid my fears out for everyone to see, I suppose we should chat about The Beautiful Land. When people ask what kind of book it is, I tell them it's a science fiction-adventure-horror-love story. The usual reaction at this point is to back away slowly and find someone else to talk to, but really, that's the best description that I can think of, because it's not a book that fits neatly into a genre. It's got time machines and scary monsters and a star-crossed couple all smashed together into a kind of literary stew. It also deals with memory, guilt, regret, love, war, and other heavy topics that frankly I didn't realize I'd ever be writing about. But I suppose that's one of the great gifts of fiction -- it allows readers and writers both to explore subjects they might otherwise not.

Take Samira Moheb, for example, who is one of the main characters. She's an Army vet suffering from PTSD as a result of her time in the Iraq War. Now, I've never been to war. Never been in the military or had PTSD or anything even remotely close to that. Honestly, I can't imagine going to war in real life. Remember that guy in Saving Private Ryan who carried the ammo around and stood in the stairwell while a big German killed his friend? That would probably be me. I'd like to think I'd fight and be heroic and make the right decisions all the time, but I also worry that I'd curl into a little ball and sob uncontrollably as soon as we landed on the beach. And so I find people who do go to war -- people who run into danger instead of away from it -- to be a topic of endless fascination. How can you possibly convince yourself that racing toward your own demise is a good idea? And what does it do to a person's mind once they've made such a decision?

I like to write about stuff like that -- stuff that's out of my personal comfort zone. People often say "write what you know," but I've found that doesn't work so well, at least for me. Writing what I know would entail filling a book with lazy guys who drink too much beer, and while there's probably a fine novel in there somewhere, I'd rather spend my time with new ideas. Writers, especially fiction writers, are pretty much professional liars, after all. And while you want to make sure you have a basic understanding of your facts, it's also fun to dream up new worlds and breathe life into people who never existed outside of your head.

Anyway, I guess that's why I like to write, be it blog posts, videogame localization, or science fiction-adventure-horror-love stories. It's a way for me to experience the world in ways I will never be able to otherwise, either because of work, finances, or because I don't happen to own a time machine of my own. It's also a way for me to share all the stories that the little man in my head is busy thinking of while I'm off doing other things. Here's hoping you enjoy his work.





About The Beautiful Land

The Beautiful Land
Ace, June 4, 2013
Trade Paperback and eBook, 368 pages

Takahiro O’Leary has a very special job…

…working for the Axon Corporation as an explorer of parallel timelines—as many and as varied as anyone could imagine. A great gig—until information he brought back gave Axon the means to maximize profits by changing the past, present, and future of this world.

If Axon succeeds, Tak will lose Samira Moheb, the woman he has loved since high school—because her future will cease to exist. A veteran of the Iraq War suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Samira can barely function in her everyday life, much less deal with Tak’s ravings of multiple realities. The only way to save her is for Tak to use the time travel device he “borrowed” to transport them both to an alternate timeline.

But what neither Tak nor Axon knows is that the actual inventor of the device is searching for a timeline called the Beautiful Land—and he intends to destroy every other possible present and future to find it.

The switch is thrown, and reality begins to warp—horribly. And Tak realizes that to save Sam, he must save the entire world…
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound






About Alan

Alan has been writing for as long as he can remember. His first novel, The Beautiful Land, was the winner of the 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. He's also done writing and localization work for dozens of video games, including Fire Emblem Awakening, Hotel Dusk, and Nier.

He currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife Sue, his dog Sam Perkins, and a whole lot of rain. You can find more of his random musings on Twitter at @frodomojo, or at http://www.alanaverill.com.









Wednesday, January 09, 2013

2013 Debut Author Challenge Update - January 9, 2013



I'm exceedingly happy to announce the 6 newest featured authors for the 2013 Debut Author Challenge (in alphabetical order by author).



Alan Averill

The Beautiful Land
Publisher:  Ace Trade, June 4, 2013
Format:  Trade Paperback and eBook, 368 pages
Price:  $16.00 (print)
ISBN:  978-1-4767-0404-3 (print)

COVER FORTHCOMING
Takahiro O’Leary has a very special job…

…working for the Axon Corporation as an explorer of parallel timelines—as many and as varied as anyone could imagine. A great gig—until information he brought back gave Axon the means to maximize profits by changing the past, present, and future of this world.

If Axon succeeds, Tak will lose Samira Moheb, the woman he has loved since high school—because her future will cease to exist. A veteran of the Iraq War suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Samira can barely function in her everyday life, much less deal with Tak’s ravings of multiple realities. The only way to save her is for Tak to use the time travel device he “borrowed” to transport them both to an alternate timeline.

But what neither Tak nor Axon knows is that the actual inventor of the device is searching for a timeline called the Beautiful Land—and he intends to destroy every other possible present and future to find it.

The switch is thrown, and reality begins to warp—horribly. And Tak realizes that to save Sam, he must save the entire world…





Geoffrey Girard

Cain's Blood 
Publisher:  Touchstone, September 3, 2013
Format:  Hardcover and eBook, 288 pages
Price:  $25.99 (print)
ISBN:  978-1-4767-0404-3 (print)

COVER FORTHCOMING
A terrifying debut novel about the evil in each of us: when clones of infamous serial killers escape from a secret government facility, it’s up to a former Army Ranger to stop them…with the help of a teenage killer clone.

Trying to develop a new breed of bio-weapons, the US Department of Defense has secretly cloned the world’s most notorious murderers, hoping to study their DNA and isolate a genetic predictor for evil. Now in Stage Three, the program contains dozens of young men who have no clue of their evil heritage—including Albert Fish, Ted Bundy, and David Berkowitz. Enacting a twisted game of nature vs. nurture, the scientists raise some of the clones with loving families and others in abusive circumstances. But everything changes when the most dangerous boys are set free by their creator—escaping with three canisters of a mysterious chemical weapon that could destroy an entire city.

A man with demons of his own, former black ops soldier Shawn Castillo is hot on their trail. But Shawn didn’t count on the quiet young boy he finds hiding in an abandoned house—a boy who has just learned he is the clone of Jeffrey Dahmer. As Jeffrey and Castillo race across the country as unlikely allies on the trail of the rampaging teens’ increasing violence, Castillo must protect the boy who is the embodiment of his biggest fears—and who may also be his last hope.

More than just a serial killer novel, Cain’s Blood melds completely plausible science with terrifying horror, preying on our darkest fears of manipulation, secrecy, and murder.





Geoffrey Gudgion

Saxon's Bane 
Publisher:  Solaris, August 27, 2012
Format:  Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 400 pages
Price:  $7.99 (print)
ISBN:  978-1-78108-137-2 (print)

COVER FORTHCOMING
In a supernatural novel with echoes of Alan Garner and Kate Mosse, Alan Gudgion chills the modern reader as the supernatural past invades the present.

Fergus Sheppard’s world changes for ever the day his car crashes near the remote village of Allingley. Traumatised by his near-death experience, he returns to thank the villagers who rescued him, and stays to work at the local stables as he recovers from his injuries. He will discover a gentler pace of life, fall in love - and be targeted for human sacrifice. Clare Harvey’s life will never be the same either. The young archaeologist’s dream find - the peat-preserved body of a Saxon warrior - is giving her nightmares. She can tell that the warrior had been ritually murdered, and that the partial skeleton lying nearby is that of a young woman. And their tragic story is unfolding in her head every time she goes to sleep. Fergus discovers that his crash is uncannily linked to the excavation, and that the smiling and beautiful countryside harbours some very dark secrets. As the pagan festival of Beltane approaches, and Clare’s investigation reveals the full horror of a Dark Age war crime, Fergus and Clare seem destined to share the Saxon couple’s bloody fate.





John Mantooth

The Year of the Storm
Publisher:  Berkley, June 4, 2013
Format:  Trade Paperback and eBook, 320 pages
Price:  $15.00 (print)
ISBN:  978-0-425-26574-1 (print)

COVER FORTHCOMING
In this haunting, suspenseful debut novel, John Mantooth takes readers to a town in rural Alabama where secrets are buried deep, reality is relative, and salvation requires a desperate act of faith.

When Danny was fourteen, his mother and sister disappeared during a violent storm. The police were baffled. There were no clues, and most people figured they were dead. Only Danny still holds out hope that they’ll return.

Months later, a disheveled Vietnam vet named Walter Pike shows up at Danny’s front door, claiming to know their whereabouts. The story he tells is so incredible that Danny knows he shouldn’t believe him. Others warn him about Walter Pike’s dark past, his shameful flight from town years ago, and the suspicious timing of his return.

But he’s Danny’s last hope, and Danny needs to believe…





Jason Mott

The Returned
Publisher:  MIRA, September 1, 2013
Format:  Hardcover and eBook, 400 pages
Price:  $21.99 (print)
ISBN:  978-0-7783-1533-9 (print)

"Jacob was time out of sync, time more perfect than it had been. He was life the way it was supposed to be all those years ago. That's what all the Returned were."

Harold and Lucille Hargrave's lives have been both joyful and sorrowful in the decades since their only son, Jacob, died tragically at his eighth birthday party in 1966. In their old age they've settled comfortably into life without him, their wounds healed through the grace of time.... Until one day Jacob mysteriously appears on their doorstep-flesh and blood, their sweet, precocious child, still eight years old.

All over the world people's loved ones are returning from beyond. No one knows how or why this is happening, whether it's a miracle or a sign of the end. Not even Harold and Lucille can agree on whether the boy is real or a wondrous imitation, but one thing they know for sure: he's their son. As chaos erupts around the globe, the newly reunited Hargraves find themselves at the center of a community on the brink of collapse, forced to navigate a mysterious new reality and a conflict that threatens to unravel the very meaning of what it is to be human.

With spare, elegant prose and searing emotional depth, Jason Mott explores timeless questions of faith and morality, love and responsibility. A spellbinding and stunning debut, The Returned is an unforgettable story that marks the arrival of an important new voice in contemporary fiction.





Peter Rawlik

Reanimators
Publisher:  Night Shade Books, June 4, 2013
Format:  Trade Paperback and eBook, 280 pages
Price:  $14.99 (print)
ISBN:  978-1-59780-478-3 (print)

Inspired by the eldritch horrors of H. P. Lovecraft . . .A saga of life, death, and the living dead.

Two Men. A Bitter Rivalry. And a Quarter-Century of Unspeakable Horrors.

Herbert West’s crimes against nature are well-known to those familiar with the darkest secrets of science and resurrection. Obsessed with finding a cure for mankind’s oldest malady, death itself, he has experimented upon the living and dead, leaving behind a trail of monsters, mayhem, and madness. But the story of his greatest rival has never been told — until now.

Dr. Stuart Hartwell, a colleague and contemporary of West, sets out to destroy him by uncovering the secrets of his terrible experiments, only to become what he initially despised: a reanimator of the dead.

For more than twenty years, the two scientists race each other to master the mysteries of life . . . and unlife. From the grisly battlefields of the Great War to the haunted coasts of Dunwich and Innsmouth, from the halls of fabled Miskatonic University to the sinking of the Titanic, their unholy quests leave their mark upon the world — and create monsters of them both.

Reanimators is an epic tale of historical horror . . . in the tradition of Anno Dracula and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.