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Showing posts with label Andrew Lane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Andrew Lane. Show all posts

Monday, May 21, 2018

The View From Monday - May 21, 2018


Happy Monday!

There are 4 debuts this week:

Armed in Her Fashion by Kate Heartfield;

MEM by Bethany C. Morrow;

Freyja's Daughter (Wild Women 1) by Rachel Pudelek;

and

All the Ever Afters by Danielle Teller.

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



And from formerly featured DAC Authors:

The God Peak (The God Wave Trilogy 2) by Patrick Hemstreet is out in Trade Paperback;

Originators (Netherspace 2) by Andrew Lane and Nigel Foster;

and

Hearts of Tabat (The Tabat Quartet 2) by Cat Rambo is out in eBook.

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






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

May 20, 2018
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
Hearts of Tabat (e) Cat Rambo F - The Tabat Quartet 2



May 22, 2018
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
Tiger Striped Jennifer Ashley PNR - Shifters Unbound
Dead Men's Boots (ri) Mike Carey SupTh - Felix Castor 3
The Strasbourg Legacy (ri) William Craig AH/Espionage
1984 and Philosophy: Is Resistance Futile? Ezio Di Nucci (Ed)
Stefan Storrie (Ed)
Politics/SF/F/ HC - Popular Culture and Philosophy 116
Walkaway (h2tp) Cory Doctorow SF/AP/PA/TechTh
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (ri) Cory Doctorow SF/CyP
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town (ri) Cory Doctorow SF/CyP
The Rapture of the Nerds (ri) Cory Doctorow
Charles Stross
SF/CyP
Makers (ri) Cory Doctorow SF/CyP
Eastern Standard Tribe (ri) Cory Doctorow SF/CyP
Still So Strange Amanda Downum F - Collection
American Hippo: River of Teeth, Taste of Marrow, and New Stories Sarah Gailey AH/W - River of Teeth
The Testament of Loki Joanne M. Harris FairyT/FolkT/LM
Armed in Her Fashion (D) Kate Heartfield DF/HistF/H
The God Peak (h2tp) Patrick Hemstreet TechTh - The God Wave Trilogy 2
The Immaculate Void Brian Hodge H - Collection
Aetherchrist Kirk Jones SF
In the Eye of Heaven David Keck F - The Tales of Durand 1
The Outsider (ri) Stephen King Th/Sus
Originators Andrew Lane
Nigel Foster
SF - Netherspace 2
MEM (D) Bethany C. Morrow LF/F/AfAm/HistF
84K Claire North
LF/Dys
Deadpool: Paws (ri) Stefan Petrucha MTI/SH - Marvel Universe4
Freyja's Daughter (D) Rachel Pudelek FairyT/FolkT/LM - Wild Women 1
Topaz Dreams (e) Patricia Rice P/Sus - Crystal Magic 2
Season of Storms Andrzej Sapkowski F - The Witcher 6
Echo Moon Laura Spinella R - A Ghost Gifts Novel 3
All the Ever Afters (D) Danielle Teller FairyT/FolkT/LM



May 23, 2018
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
Spiraling (e) Marie Brennan F - Born to the Blade Season 1, Episode 6
The Guile: A Tor.com Original (e) Ian McDonald SF



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



AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternate History
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CoA - Coming of Age
Cr - Crime
CulH - Cultural Heritage
CW - Contemporary Woman
CyP - Cyberpunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
Fict - Fiction
FL - Family Life
FolkT - Folk Tales
FR - Fantasy Romance
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GH - Ghost(s)
GN - Graphic Novel
Gothic - Gothic
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HU - Humor
LC - Literary Criticism
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legend and Mythology
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PCM - Paranormal Cozy Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PopCul - Popular Culture
Psy - Psychological
Psy Th - Psychological Thriller
SF - Science Fiction
SciFan - Science Fantasy
SH - Superheroes
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
Sup - Supernatural
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy
VisM - Visionary and Metaphysical

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

Monday, March 26, 2018

The View From Monday - March 25, 2018


Happy Monday!

Please note for the next few months The Qwillery will generally have no posts on Saturday and possibly Sunday. I've started a new job that leaves me little time to read during the week. I need the weekends for reading!


There is one debut this week:

The Queens of Innis Lear which is Tessa Gratton's adult debut.

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



From formerly featured DAC Authors:

The Return of Daud (Dishonered 2) by Adam Christopher;

Beseiged by Kevin Hearned in out in Mass Market Paperback;

Death- Touched (Silver 5) by Rhiannon Held is out in digital format;

Netherspace (Netherspace 1) by Andrew Lane and Nigel Foster is out in Mass Market Paperback;

and

The Brass God (Gates of the World 3) by K.M. McKinley is out in digital format.

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






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

March 27, 2018
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
Born of Darkness (e) Lara Adrian PNR - A Hunter Legacy Novel 1
Architects of Infinity Kirsten Beyer SF - Star Trek: Voyager
Vanguard (h2mm) Jack Campbell SF - The Genesis Fleet 1
The Return of Daud Adam Christopher SF/SP/MTI - Dishonoured 2
The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase Greg Cox CF/MTI - The Librarians 2
Forge of Darkness (tp2mm) Steven Erikson F - The Kharkanas Trilogy 1
The Span of Empire (h2mm) Eric Flint
David Carrico
HSF - Jao Empire 3
The Phoenix Project (e) Jacquelyn Frank PNR
Caine's Mutiny (tp2mm) Charles E. Gannon SF/SO - Caine Riordan 4
Battlefront II: Inferno Squad (h2mm) Christie Golden SF/SO/MTI - Star Wars 2
The Queens of Innis Lear (D - Adult) Tessa Gratton F/HistF
Besieged: Stories from The Iron Druid Chronicles (h2mm) Kevin Hearne CF - The Iron Druid Chronicles
Death-Touched (e) Rhiannon Held UF - Silver 5
Pacific Rim Uprising - Official Movie Novelization Alex Irvine MTI/SF/AC
Deadmen Walking (h2mm) Sherrilyn Kenyon HistF/PNR/FR - Deadman's Cross 1
Bash Bash Revolution SDouglas Lain SF/CyP
Netherspace (tp2mm) Andrew Lane
Nigel Foster
SF - Netherspace 1
Glimpse Jonathan Maberry SupTh/H
Doctor Who: Dalek: The Astounding Untold History of the Greatest Enemies of the Universe (e) George Mann
Justin Richards
TV/SF - Doctor Who
The Brass God (e) K. M. McKinley F - Gates of the World 3
Guardian's Bond Rhenna Morgan PNR - Ancient Ink 1
The Morcai Battalion: The Pursuit Diana Palmer SFR - The Morcai Battalion 5
Twice Bitten Lynsay Sands PNR - An Argeneau Novel 24
Off Rock (tp2mm) Kieran Shea SF
The Darkest Promise Gena Showalter PNR - Lords of the Underworld 13
Eight Simple Rules for Dating a Dragon Kerrelyn Sparks FR/PNR - The Embraced 3
North Star Guide Me Home Jo Spurrier F - Children of the Black Sun 3
Void Black Shadow Corey J. White SF/SO - The Voidwitch Saga 2
Dragon and Slave (e)(ri) Timothy Zahn SF - Dragonback 3
Angelmass (e)(ri) Timothy Zahn SF
Dragon and Thief (e)(ri) Timothy Zahn SF - Dragonback 1
The Dragonback Series Books 4-6: Dragon and Herdsman, Dragon and Judge, Dragon and Liberator (e)(ri) Timothy Zahn SF - Dragonback 4-6
Dragon and Soldier (e)(ri) Timothy Zahn SF - Dragonback 2



March 31, 2018
TITLEAUTHORSERIES
The Tea Master and the Detective Aliette de Bodard SF
DJStories David J. Schow H - Collection



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



AC - Alien Contact
AP - Apocalyptic
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
Cr - Crime
CyP - Cyberpunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FolkT - Folk Tales
FR - Fantasy Romance
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GH - Ghost(s)
GN - Graphic Novel
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HSF - Hard Science Fiction
LC Literary Criticism
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legend and Mythology
M - Mystery
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PM - Paranormal Mystery
PNR - Paranormal Romance
PoliSci - Political Science
Psy - Psychological
Rel - Religious
RF - Romantic Fantasy
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SO - Space Opera
SocSci - Social Science
SoGothic - Southern Gothic
SP - Steampunk
Sup - Supernatural
SupM - Supernatural Mystery
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
UF - Urban Fantasy

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

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Covers Revealed - Upcoming Works by DAC Authors


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


Lara Elena Donnelly (2017)

Armistice
Amberlough Dossier 2
Tor Books, May 15, 2018
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

Armistice returns to Donnelly’s ravishing 1930s Art Deco-tinged fantasy world of Amberlough with a decadent, tumultuous mixture of sex, politics, and spies

“A hefty novel full of fascinating characters exploring oversized topics such as sexuality, music, culture, fascism, nationalism, class wars, revolution and love.” —Shelf Awareness

In a tropical country where shadowy political affairs lurk behind the scenes of its glamorous film industry, three people maneuver inside a high stakes game of statecraft and espionage:

Lillian, a reluctant diplomat serving a fascist nation,

Aristide, an expatriate film director running from lost love and a criminal past,

—and Cordelia, a former cabaret stripper turned legendary revolutionary.

Each one harbors dangerous knowledge that can upturn a nation. When their fates collide, machinations are put into play, unexpected alliances are built, and long-held secrets are exposed. Everything is barreling towards an international revolt...and only the wiliest ones will be prepared for what comes next.

For Amberlough:

“James Bond by way of Oscar Wilde.”—Holly Black

“Astonishing!” —World Fantasy Award-winning author Ellen Kushner

“Beautiful, all too real, and full of pain. Read it. It will change you.” —Hugo Award-winning author Mary Robinette Kowal
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound
Google Play : iBooks : Kobo





Daniel Godfrey (2016)

Empire of Time
New Pompeii 2
Titan Books, May 29, 2018
Mass Market Paperback, 432 pages
Trade Paperback and eBook, June 20, 2017

For fifteen years, the Romans of New Pompeii have kept the outside world at bay with the threat of using the Novus Particles device to alter time. Yet Decimus Horatius Pullus—once Nick Houghton—knows the real reason the Romans don’t use the device for their own ends: they can’t make it work without grisly consequences.

This fragile peace is threatened when an outsider promises to help the Romans use the technology. And there are those beyond Pompeii’s walls who are desperate to destroy a town where slavery flourishes. When his own name is found on an ancient artifact dug up at the real Pompeii, Nick knows that someone in the future has control of the device. The question is: whose side are they on?
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : IndieBound
iBooks : Kobo



The Synapse Sequence
Titan Books, June 19, 2018
Trade Paperback and eBook, 432 pages

In the near future, everyday life is dictated by algorithms, from who gets a bank loan or a job, to what supermarkets sell and which news stories you read. Even policing is run by AIs, who track patterns and predict where crimes are likely to occur.

Anna Glover joins a start-up company that hopes to revolutionise solving crimes by combining the memories of witnesses into a virtual reality simulator that can be explored by an investigator. Her first case is that of a fostered teenage boy put in a coma by a brutal assault, and she begins to explore his memories, the only witness to the crime. But when the boy’s sister disappears and Anna’s own actions are called into question, it becomes clear that there are other motives in play, and there are those who do not want her to succeed...
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : IndieBound
iBooks : Kobo





Andrew Lane (2017)
Nigel Foster (2017)

Netherspace
Netherspace Trilogy 1
Titan Books, March 27, 2018
Mass Market Paperback, 368 pages
Trade Paperback and eBook, May 2, 2017

Aliens came to Earth forty years ago. Their anatomy proved unfathomable and all attempts at communication failed. But through trade, humanity gained technology that allowed them to colonise the stars. The price: live humans for every alien faster-than-light drive.
 
Kara’s sister was one of hundreds exchanged for this technology, and Kara has little love for aliens. So when she is drafted by GalDiv - the organisation that oversees alien trades - it is under duress. A group of colonists have been kidnapped by aliens and taken to an uncharted planet, and an unusual team is to be sent to negotiate. As an ex-army sniper, Kara’s role is clear. But artist Marc has no combat experience, although the team’s pre-cog Tse is adamant that he has a part to play. All three know that success is unlikely. For how will they negotiate with aliens when communication between the species is impossible?
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : IndieBound
iBooks : Kobo



Originators
Netherspace Trilogy 2
Titan Books, May 1, 2018
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

Contact with an alien race, the Gliese, has been made, but communication is impossible. There is trade, but on seemingly inexplicable terms; anti-gravity technology was traded for a bicycle tyre. As we begin to colonize the stars, we're still dependant on the mysterious aliens who we still do not understand. It falls upon the unlikely team of a conceptual artist, Marc, and assassin, Kara, to embark on a mission that will unearth the mystery of the Gliese.
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : IndieBound
iBooks : Kobo

Monday, May 15, 2017

2017 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars - May Debuts




Each month you will be able to vote for your favorite cover from that month's debut novels. At the end of the year the 12 monthly winners will be pitted against each other to choose the 2017 Debut Novel Cover of the Year. Please note that a debut novel cover is eligible in the month in which the novel is published in the US. Cover artist/illustrator/designer information is provided when we have it.

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

Vote for your favorite May 2017 Debut Cover!
 
pollcode.com free polls








Cover artwork by Jeff Chapman
Cover design by Rain Saukas




Cover art bySebastien Hue




Cover design by Aleta Rafton



Jacket design by Young Jin Lim




Cover art by Tommy Arnold

























Thursday, May 11, 2017

Interview with Andrew Lane and Nigel Foster, authors of Netherspace


Please welcome Andrew Lane and Nigel Foster to The Qwillery as part of the 2017 Debut Author Challenge Interviews. Netherspace was published on May 2nd by Titan Books.







TQWelcome to The Qwillery. When and why did you start writing?

Andy:  Initially as a fan of the BBCTV science fiction series Doctor Who. I must have written twenty-odd fan stories for fanzines, gradually working out how to do plot, characterisation and style. I then started going to SF and fantasy conventions, meeting pro writers and editors. Eventually I managed to blag a contract with Virgin Books to write officially licenced Doctor Who novels, and the rest is history. Basically, I started writing as fun. Then grew to understand that it's part of who I am. And now I write to live in every sense of the phrase.

Nigel:  Always did, but professionally as an advertising copywriter. And then into journalism. I was lucky/intelligent enough to live in Toronto for several years. It was much easier to get into other areas like radio, tv and film. . . exciting years.



TQAre you a plotters, pantsers or a hybrids? How do you write together?

Andy:  We have a plot. . .

Nigel:  . . .and a very fine plot it is. We admire it regularly. . .

Andy:  . . . then put it back in its case. No, we do know where we're going. But how we get
there may be subject to change.

Nigel:  So we're hybrids. You don't want to ignore the brilliant idea that suddenly jumps up,
screaming 'look at me'. On the other hand you have to retain control. We tried writing alternative chapters but it didn't work. Clunky, two obviously different styles. So what happens is that we
meet up to talk - face to face, none of that electronic rubbish - and decide the next tranche. . .

Andy:  . . . or chapters as other people call them. . .

Nigel:  . . . we're that organised? Anyway, one of us goes away and writes a first draft. Which may or may not be what we discussed. And sends it over for rewriting.

Andy:  And that's sent back again. Mostly we try to keep the rewrites to a minimum because we'll
do a couple of major edits before it goes to the publisher. What we aimed for, and what we got, is a common writing style. So much later either of us can check back and not be sure who actually wrote/rewrote a particular section. It's a melding thing.

Nigel:  I told you. Gestalt.

Andy:  Bless you. I’ve previous written books with friends by each of us taking alternate chapters, but Nigel and I tried that approach and it doesn’t work for us. Anyway, in Netherspace we have two main characters, Kara who was developed ¬ - he'd say discovered -¬ by Nigel. Marc was my invention. Either of us may write them, but if it's to do with motivation or personality, say, we'll check with the owner first.

Nigel:  Similarly, if either of wants to change or add something major we'll first give a heads up, talk about it. If the other doesn't agree it's time for a rethink. But if either of us really, really wants to include something the other doesn't like, there's a shoulder shrug because ultimately our editor will sort it out. You have to put ego to one side. The book itself is al important.

Andy:  I think it’s fair to say that Netherspace is not the book that either of us would have written by ourselves. It’s a blend of both of us, with an admixture of deadline desperation.



TQWhat is the most challenging thing for you about writing?

Andy:  Finishing it!

Nigel:  That and the sense that what you're writing could be so much better, if only you knew how.

Andy:  That’s very true. I often get paralysed - especially early on in the manuscript - by the fact that of all the possible sentences, paragraphs, sections I could write, I have to choose one. It’s allied to the constant fear I have that wherever I happen to be I could have been having more fun somewhere else. Apart from when I’m having coffee and macaroni cheese with Nigel in our favourite café and discussing writing. That’s the best fun I can have.



TQWhat has influenced / influences your writing?

Nigel:  Wanting to write that golden paragraph, the book that blazes in the sky. Oh, politics: I wrote very angry when the UK voted Brexit. Still am, but hopefully it doesn't show! Writers I admire and try to learn from, which is not the same as stealing.

Andy:  Like Nigel, chasing after perfection. All the great classic sci-fi writers. Also, specifically, if I could write a book as effortlessly as Roger Zelazny seemed to do, or with a plot as complicated and yet as luminous as Tim Powers manages, or with single sentences that glow in the way Jonathan Carroll does, I could die happy.



TQDescribe Netherspace in 140 characters or less.

Nigel:  Beware aliens who come bearing gifts?

Andy:  It’s impossible to communicate with aliens, or even understand what they do, so how do you negotiate when they take hostages?



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

Nigel:  It's about how a superior civilisation and its technology always destroys a less advanced one. Always.

Andy:  Underneath the plot, it’s about the definition of creativity and the definition of intelligence, or at least awareness.



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

Andy:  We discovered there were standard science fiction tropes that annoyed us. Why are space craft streamlined - and why always ships, with captains and admirals, decks and hulls, navigators and so on? And why is it that when humans meet aliens they always manage to communicate with each other? With the aliens speaking a kind of stilted Shakespearian English.

Nigel:  One moment at war, the next exchanging photos of their respective kids. So Netherspace
asks the question: what if there is no communication? What if we don't know what they want ¬ but they make life much easier for us? As for Science Fiction's appeal: hey, it's like a giant playground where the only limit is your imagination. But it's also very serious. So many social and scientific developments have originated in sci-fi.



TQWhat sort of research did you do for Netherspace?

Nigel:  Andy has a physics degree from Warwick, one of the UK's best universities. I was lousy at maths in school. So you'd think he'd do all the sciencey stuff. . .

Andy:  . . . whereas Nigel spends a huge amount of time on the Net and even buys New Scientist. So I get all these e-mails saying what if? And can you please explain Quantum Field Theory?

Nigel:  Which you finally did. I think.

Andy:  Explaining quantum theory to a non-scientist and non-mathematician is like trying to explain the colour blue to someone who is visually challenged.

Nigel:  There was a conscious decision by both of us not to deliberately research other writers who've covered a similar, aliens and humans theme. Except we've already read most of them.

Andy:  Like Jack Vance, Philip Jose Farmer. You want to be original but at the same time you know it might well have been said or suggested before. The more SF books that are written, the fewer original ideas there are waiting to be discovered.

Nigel:  But in reality, it was Andy worked out how the Netherspace drives were operated and what they look like. Good job done.



TQPlease tell us about Netherspace's cover.

Andy:  Interesting one, this. We had fairly strong ideas of what we wanted.

Nigel:  And at least expected to work with the artist.

Andy:  I was pitching for a fully painted triptych cover running across all three books in the trilogy, like they had on the old UK Foundation series. Then Titan showed us their design, which was nothing like we'd thought. But was absolutely perfect.

Nigel:  We loved it. It depicts the dimension/zero point energy that is Netherspace. Plus a degree of probability theory. Maybe.



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

Andy:  Easiest was probably Greenway, the man who sets the plot in motion.

Nigel:  Most difficult was Tatia, celeb-girl turned hero. We had to make her believable, it wasn't working but Miranda Jewess, our editor, suggested the answer.

Andy:  Kara and Marc are difficult to write in the sense that we discover more of their backstories as the series progresses. And they also develop, change. It's not easy to manage that because in real life we all do change but aren't always aware of it.



TQWhy have you chosen to include or not chosen to include social issues in Netherspace?

Nigel:  We did include social issues but only those that are universal in location and time. So, the arrival of aliens and their technology is an obvious reference to colonialism. Not say it's good or bad, only that it happens. And our depiction of how this affects human society is really a comment on how people love hierarchies that make them feel safe, saved and loved.

Andy:  I suppose common reactions to immigration or an outside force upsetting a cosy little life. Sexual mores have also changed, but only in the direction they're already travelling. Or, if you want to look at Tudor/Jacobean England, are reverting to what they once were.



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

Andy:  Will there be a spin-off series? We hope so!

Nigel:  Amen to that. Oh, and is it true HBO are interested? We couldn't possibly comment.



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

Nigel:  'The Universe blinked.'

Andy:  Oh, that’s one of mine. I’ll go with that one.



TQWhat's next?

Andy:  Next for us is Books 2 and 3. For me, it’s also a four-book YA series about teenagers getting involved in reasonably realistic espionage activities, and also also a potential SF TV series that I’ll probably be lead writer and script editor on. So - it’s all go.

Nigel:  Finishing the series, hopefully developing a spin-off. We've been asked about TV. Something may develop but we aren't holding our breath. For me, a crime/speculative series that was put on hold for the past few months. Looks like it could go.



TQThank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

Nigel:  Thanks for having us.

Andy:  Yes, thanks. It was fun.

Fade to background

Andy:  You said there'd be cake.

Nigel:  There was. You ate it.

Andy:  That wasn't cake. That was a few deluded crumbs.

Nigel:  So how about a beer?

Andy:  Oh, I could be persuaded.

Nigel:  Yes? No?

Andy:  You really need to ask? Is there a decent pub around here?





Netherspace
Netherspace 1
Titan Books, May 2, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages

Aliens came to Earth forty years ago. Their anatomy proved unfathomable and all attempts at communication failed. But through trade, humanity gained technology that allowed them to colonise the stars. The price: live humans for every alien faster-than-light drive.

Kara’s sister was one of hundreds exchanged for this technology, and Kara has little love for aliens. So when she is drafted by GalDiv - the organisation that oversees alien trades - it is under duress. A group of colonists have been kidnapped by aliens and taken to an uncharted planet, and an unusual team is to be sent to negotiate. As an ex-army sniper, Kara’s role is clear. But artist Marc has no combat experience, although the team’s pre-cog Tse is adamant that he has a part to play. All three know that success is unlikely. For how will they negotiate with aliens when communication between the species is impossible?
Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Book Depository : Books-A-Million : IndieBound
iBooks : Kobo





About the Authors

Andrew Lane is the author of twenty-nine books and multiple short stories, television scripts and audio dramas. He is perhaps best known for his Young Sherlock series, which have sold to 42 countries. He has also written three well-reviewed adult crime novels under a pseudonym, the first of which has been optioned as a US TV series. He is currently writing another series featuring Doyle’s Professor Challenger. He lives in Dorset.


Website ~ Twitter @andylaneauthor ~ Facebook




Nigel Foster began as an advertising copywriter, first in the UK and then North America. He moved on to television and radio factual programming before co-founding a successful movie magazine. Back in the UK highlights include developing and launching OK! Magazine; an international non-fiction best-seller about the Royal Marines Commandos; and six of the most popular Bluffer's Guides, world-wide.



Twitter @exiledindorset


Monday, May 01, 2017

2017 Debut Author Challenge - May Debuts



There are 12 debut novels for May.

Please note that we use the publisher's publication date in the United States, not copyright dates or non-US publication dates.

The May 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 May cover for the 2017 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars will take place starting on May 15, 2017.

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 and quotation marks). Please note that we list all debuts for the month (of which we are aware), but not all of these authors will be 2017 Debut Author Challenge featured authors. However, any of these novels may be read by Challenge readers to meet the goal for May 2017 The list is correct as of the day posted.



Robyn Bennis

The Guns Above
A Signal Airship Novel 1
Tor Books, May 2, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 352 pages
Epic Fantasy, Steampunk, Humorous Fantasy, Military SF

In the tradition of Honor Harrington and the high-flying Temeraire series, Bennis’s THE GUNS ABOVE is an adventurous military fantasy debut about a nation's first female airship captain.

They say it’s not the fall that kills you.

For Josette Dupre, the Corps’ first female airship captain, it might just be a bullet in the back.

On top of patrolling the front lines, she must also contend with a crew who doubts her expertise, a new airship that is an untested deathtrap, and the foppish aristocrat Lord Bernat, a gambler and shameless flirt with the military know-how of a thimble. Bernat’s own secret assignment is to catalog her every moment of weakness and indecision.

So when the enemy makes an unprecedented move that could turn the tide of the war, can Josette deal with Bernat, rally her crew, and survive long enough to prove herself?

“Full of sass and terrific characters. Great storytelling. Loved it.” —Patricia Briggs
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Paula Cocozza

How to Be Human
Metropolitan Books, May 9, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 288 pages
Literary Fiction, Contemporary Women

From Guardian writer Paula Cocozza, a debut novel of the breakdown of a marriage, suburbian claustrophobia, and a woman's unseemly passion for a fox

One summer’s night, Mary comes home from a midnight ramble to find a baby lying on her back door step. Has Mary stolen the baby from next door? Has the baby’s mother, Mary's neighbor, left her there in her acute state of post-natal depression? Or was the baby brought to Mary as a gift by the fox who is increasingly coming to dominate her life?

So opens How to Be Human, a novel set in a London suburb beset by urban foxes. On leave from work, unsettled by the proximity of her ex, and struggling with her hostile neighbors, Mary has become increasingly captivated by a magnificent fox who is always in her garden. First she sees him wink at her, then he brings her presents, and finally she invites him into her house. As the boundaries between the domestic and the wild blur, and the neighbors set out to exterminate the fox, it is unclear if Mary will save the fox, or the fox save Mary.

In this masterful debut, Paula Cocozza weaves together a penetrating portrait of marital breakdown, a social novel of wit and nuance, and an obsessive love story that crosses new boundaries.
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Kathleen A. Flynn

The Jane Austen Project
Harper Perennial, May 2, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 384 pages
Historical Fiction, Time Travel

Perfect for fans of Jane Austen, this engrossing debut novel offers an unusual twist on the legacy of one of the world's most celebrated and beloved authors: two researchers from the future are sent back in time to meet Jane and recover a suspected unpublished novel.

London, 1815: Two travelers—Rachel Katzman and Liam Finucane—arrive in a field in rural England, disheveled and weighed down with hidden money. Turned away at a nearby inn, they are forced to travel by coach all night to London. They are not what they seem, but rather colleagues who have come back in time from a technologically advanced future, posing as wealthy West Indies planters—a doctor and his spinster sister. While Rachel and Liam aren’t the first team from the future to “go back,” their mission is by far the most audacious: meet, befriend, and steal from Jane Austen herself.

Carefully selected and rigorously trained by The Royal Institute for Special Topics in Physics, disaster-relief doctor Rachel and actor-turned-scholar Liam have little in common besides the extraordinary circumstances they find themselves in. Circumstances that call for Rachel to stifle her independent nature and let Liam take the lead as they infiltrate Austen’s circle via her favorite brother, Henry.

But diagnosing Jane’s fatal illness and obtaining an unpublished novel hinted at in her letters pose enough of a challenge without the continuous convolutions of living a lie. While her friendship with Jane deepens and her relationship with Liam grows complicated, Rachel fights to reconcile the woman she is with the proper lady nineteenth-century society expects her to be. As their portal to the future prepares to close, Rachel and Liam struggle with their directive to leave history intact and exactly as they found it…however heartbreaking that may prove.
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Katie Khan

Hold Back the Stars
Gallery Books, May 23, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 320 pages
Literary Fiction

A startling and evocative novel, harkening to both One Day and Gravity, a man and a woman revisit memories of their love affair on a utopian Earth while they are trapped in the vast void of space with only ninety minutes of oxygen left.

After the catastrophic destruction of the Middle East and the United States, Europe has become a utopia and, every three years, the European population must rotate into different multicultural communities, living as individuals responsible for their own actions. While living in this paradise, Max meets Carys and immediately feels a spark of attraction. He quickly realizes, however, that Carys is someone he might want to stay with long-term, which is impossible in this new world.

As their relationship plays out, the connections between their time on Earth and their present dilemma in space become clear. When their air ticks dangerously low, one is offered the chance of salvation—but who will take it? An original and daring exploration of the impact of first love and how the choices we make can change the fate of everyone around us, this is an unforgettable read.
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Andrew Lane
Nigel Foster

Netherspace
Netherspace 1
Titan Books, May 2, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 400 pages
Science Fiction

Aliens came to Earth forty years ago. Their anatomy proved unfathomable and all attempts at communication failed. But through trade, humanity gained technology that allowed them to colonise the stars. The price: live humans for every alien faster-than-light drive.

Kara’s sister was one of hundreds exchanged for this technology, and Kara has little love for aliens. So when she is drafted by GalDiv - the organisation that oversees alien trades - it is under duress. A group of colonists have been kidnapped by aliens and taken to an uncharted planet, and an unusual team is to be sent to negotiate. As an ex-army sniper, Kara’s role is clear. But artist Marc has no combat experience, although the team’s pre-cog Tse is adamant that he has a part to play. All three know that success is unlikely. For how will they negotiate with aliens when communication between the species is impossible?
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Juliet Lyons

Dating the Undead
A V-Date.com Novel 1
Sourcebooks Casablanca, May 2, 2017
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 352 pages
Paranormal Romance, Vampires

For those mortals wanting to get up close and personal with the beautiful undead, there’s…

V-DATE, THE UNDEAD DATING SERVICE

Silver Harris is done with clingy men—maybe men altogether. But when she shares a toe-curling kiss with a sexy Irish vampire on New Year’s Eve, she decides maybe it’s human men she’s done with. Silver turns to the popular vampire dating site, V-Date. When the undead gentlemen come calling, soon she’s in over her head. And her mysterious hottie is nowhere to be found…

Logan Byrne can’t get that sassy redhead out of his head—or that kiss! When his boss assigns him to spy on V-Date members, he meets Silver again. Turns out, the police are recruiting humans to snitch on vampires through the dating site. As the snark and sparks fly, feelings between Silver and Logan grow deep. Logan isn’t sure he can go through with his mission to make Silver forget everything she knows about vampires…and betray her.

But in the tight-knit London community of centuries-old vampires, history and grudges run deep and dating the undead can be risky business.
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Dan Moren

The Caledonian Gambit
Talos, May 23, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 312 pages
Space Opera, Military SF, SF Action & Adventure

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

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

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

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

Borrowed Souls
A Soul Charmer Novel 1
Talos, May 2, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 320 pages
Urban Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Paranormal

Callie Delgado always puts family first, and unfortunately her brother knows it. She’s emptied her savings, lost work, and spilled countless tears trying to keep him out of trouble, but now he’s in deeper than ever, and his debt is on Callie’s head. She’s given a choice: do some dirty work for the mob, or have her brother returned to her in tiny pieces.

Renting souls is big business for the religious population of Gem City. Those looking to take part in immoral—or even illegal—activity can borrow someone else’s soul, for a price, and sin without consequence.

To save her brother, Callie needs a borrowed soul, but she doesn’t have anywhere near the money to pay for it. The slimy Soul Charmer is willing to barter, but accepting his offer will force Callie into a dangerous world of magic she isn’t ready for.

With the help of the guarded but undeniably attractive Derek—whose allegiance to the Charmer wavers as his connection to Callie grows—she’ll have to walk a tight line, avoid pissing off the bad guys, all while struggling to determine what her loyalty to her family’s really worth.

Losing her brother isn’t an option. Losing her soul? Maybe.
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Craig A. Munro

The Bones of the Past
The Books of Dust and Bone 1
Inkshares, May 30, 2017
Trade Paperback and eBook, 450 pages
Epic Fantasy, Dark Fantasy

The Night Guard walk the streets of the old kingdom of Bialta seeking out threats that are beyond the abilities of the common soldier. Nial is one such threat a girl changed into something other and on the hunt for human souls. Salt, a sailor recently rescued by the Night Guard, has been inducted into their ranks. He s a quick study, but as new threats multiply all around them, will he have what it takes to survive?

Bialta is not alone in its woes. Sacral, a city that vanished in the distant past, has reappeared where it once stood at the heart of the Wastes. Like many of Sacral s people, Maura is content living a quiet life, ignoring the outside world. But she finds herself desperately fighting to save her home as war comes to the city returned.

Meanwhile, across the Great Desert, creatures are stirring. Carver, the last living master of the magic known as fleshcarving, has won the support of the tyrant of Tolrahk Esal. Together they will unleash his twisted creations to sweep across the land and forever disrupt the balance of power.

In this epic tale, there is no good and evil. Armies march, demons feed, and deities unleash their powers on a world that will never be the same.
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Gian Sardar

You Were Here
G.P. Putnam's Sons, May 16, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 384 pages
Psychological, Gothic, Contemporary Women

Readers of Kate Atkinson will delight in this suspenseful debut novel about a woman haunted by nightmares and her grandmother’s role in a doomed love triangle almost seventy years before.

What if the past is never buried?

Death, accidental and early, has always been Abby Walters’s preoccupation. Now thirty-three and eager to settle down with her commitment-shy boyfriend, a recurring dream from her past returns: a paralyzing nightmare of being buried alive, the taste of dirt in her mouth cloying and real. But this time the dream reveals a name from her family’s past. Looking for answers, Abby returns home to small-town Minnesota for the first time in fourteen years, where she reconnects with her high school crush, now a police detective on the trail of a violent criminal. When Abby tries on her grandmother’s mesmerizing diamond ring, a ring she always dreamed would be hers, she discovers a cryptic note long hidden beneath the box’s velvet lining. What secret was her grandmother hiding? And could this be the key to what’s haunting Abby? As she begins to uncover the traces of a love triangle gone shockingly wrong nearly seventy years before, we, too, see that the layers of our lives may echo a past we’ve never known. With mesmerizing twists and a long-buried secret that may finally rise to light, You Were Here weaves together two worlds separated by decades, asking if the mistakes made in past lives can ever be corrected in the future, and if some souls are meant to find one another time and time again.
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Isabelle Steiger

The Empire's Ghost
Thomas Dunne Books, May 16, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 432 pages
Epic Fantasy

Isabelle Steiger has crafted a powerful and masterful debut with The Empire's Ghost, the first book in a haunting new epic fantasy series.

The empire of Elesthene once spanned a continent, but its rise heralded the death of magic. It tore itself apart from within, leaving behind a patchwork of kingdoms struggling to rebuild. But when a new dictator, the ambitious and enigmatic Imperator Elgar, seizes power in the old capital and seeks to recreate the lost empire anew, the other kingdoms have little hope of stopping him. Prince Kelken of Reglay finds himself at odds with his father at his country’s darkest hour; the marquise of Esthrades is unmatched in politics and strategy, but she sits at a staggering military disadvantage. And Issamira, the most powerful of the free countries, has shut itself off from the conflict, thrown into confusion by the disappearance of its crown prince and the ensuing struggle for succession.

Everything seems aligned in Elgar’s favor, but when he presses a band of insignificant but skilled alley-dwellers into his service for a mission of greatest secrecy, they find an unexpected opportunity to alter the balance of power in the war. Through their actions and those of the remaining royals, they may uncover not just a way to defeat Elgar, but also a deeper truth about their world’s lost history.
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Melodie Winawer

The Scribe of Siena
Touchstone, May 16, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 464 pages
Sagas, Historical Fiction, Time Travel

“Will remind historical fiction readers of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander and Tracy Chevalier’s Girl with a Pearl Earring…Lovers of meticulously researched historical fiction and time-travel narratives will be swept away by the spell of medieval Siena” (Library Journal, starred review).

“Winawer’s debut is a detailed historical novel, a multifaceted mystery, and a moving tale of improbable love…Winawer has created a prodigious, vibrant tale of past and present that transports readers and fills in the historical gaps. This is a marvelous work of research and invention” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

Equal parts transporting love story and gripping historical conspiracy, debut author Melodie Winawer takes readers deep into medieval Italy, where the past and present blur and a twenty-first century woman will discover a plot to destroy Siena.

Accomplished neurosurgeon Beatrice Trovato knows that her deep empathy for her patients is starting to impede her work. So when her beloved brother passes away, she welcomes the unexpected trip to the Tuscan city of Siena to resolve his estate, even as she wrestles with grief. But as she delves deeper into her brother’s affairs, she discovers intrigue she never imagined—a 700-year-old conspiracy to decimate the city.

After uncovering the journal and paintings of Gabriele Accorsi, the fourteenth-century artist at the heart of the plot, Beatrice finds a startling image of her own face and is suddenly transported to the year 1347. She awakens in a Siena unfamiliar to her, one that will soon be hit by the Plague.

Yet when Beatrice meets Accorsi, something unexpected happens: she falls in love—not only with Gabriele, but also with the beauty and cadence of medieval life. As the Plague and the ruthless hands behind its trajectory threaten not only her survival but also Siena’s very existence, Beatrice must decide in which century she belongs.

The Scribe of Siena is the captivating story of a brilliant woman’s passionate affair with a time and a place that captures her in an impossibly romantic and dangerous trap—testing the strength of fate and the bonds of love.
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