2011 Debut Author Challenge - April Debut Authors

Here are the debut authors and their novels for April 2011. Pick one or more and let us know in the comments which one(s) you'll be reading.

Deadworld
Author: J. N. Duncan
Series: Deadworld 1
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 352 pages
Publisher: Kensington (April 5, 2011)
Price: $6.99
Language: English
Genre: Urban Fantasy
ISBN: 978-0-7582-5566-2
She’s as tough as anything haunting Chicago’s streets. But to deal with an inhuman power that won’t stay buried, this FBI agent needs help that comes at an immortal price…

Jackie Rutledge has seen her share of supernatural killers. But her latest murder case is what recurring nightmares are made of. Brutally exsanguinated human victims, vanishing-into-the-ether evidence, and a city on the edge of panic mean that she and her psychic partner, Laurel, are going to need more than just backup …

So Jackie is fine with any help rugged P.I. Nick Anderson can give—even if that includes the impish ghost and sexy vampire who make up his team. But Nick is hiding secrets of his own. And Jackie’s investigation has plunged them both into a vengeful game reaching back centuries—and up against a malevolent force hungry for more than just victory…


Among Thieves
Author: Douglas Hulick
Series: A Tale of the Kin 1
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 432 pages
Publisher: ROC (April 5, 2011) (US Cover)
Price: $7.99
Language: English
Genre: Fantasy
ISBN: 9780451463906

Drothe has been a member of the Kin for years, rubbing elbows with thieves and murderers in the employ of a crime lord while smuggling relics on the side. But when an ancient book falls into his hands, Drothe finds himself in possession of a relic capable of bringing down emperors-a relic everyone in the underworld would kill to obtain.















Demon Hunting in Dixie
Author: Lexi George
Format: Trade Paperback, 384 pages
Publisher: Brava (April 26, 2011)
Price: $14.00
Language: English
Genre: Paranormal Romance
ISBN: 978-0-7582-6309-4

A warrior, a demon, and the girl next door…

Looking For Trouble

Addy Corwin is a florist with an attitude. A bad attitude, or so her mama says, ‘cause she’s not looking for a man. Mama’s wrong. Addy has looked. There’s just not much to choose from in Hannah, her small Alabama hometown. Until Brand Dalvahni shows up, a supernaturally sexy, breathtakingly well-built hunk of a warrior from—well, not from around here, that’s for sure. Mama thinks he might be European or maybe even a Yankee. Brand says he’s from another dimension.

Addy couldn’t care less where he’s from. He’s gorgeous. Serious muscles. Disturbing green eyes. Brand really gets her going. Too bad he’s a whack job. Says he’s come to rescue her from a demon. Puh-lease. But right after Brand shows up, strange things start to happen. Dogs talk and reanimated corpses stalk the quite streets of Hannah. Her mortal enemy Meredith, otherwise known as the Death Starr, breaks out in a severe and inexplicable case of butt boils. Addy might not know what’s going on, but she definitely wants a certain sexy demon hunter by her side when it all goes down…


Ascension
Author: Sable Grace
Series: Dark Breed 1
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins (April 26, 2011)
Price: $7.99
Language: English
Genre: Urban Fantasy
ISBN: 9780061964404

The gates of hell have opened, and one woman will stand in the crossfire as the Dark Breed—vampyre, demons, shape shifters—and mankind fight their last battle for survival.

Kyana is half Vampyre, half Lychen . . . and the last of her kind. Determined, dangerous, and damned, she has no love for the mortals who have imprisoned and misused her. But when the Order of Ancients entrusts her with a mission—to find the key that will send the Dark Breed back into Hell for eternity—Kyana has no choice but to accept.

She is furious to learn her assignment comes with an escort . . . Ryker, a demigod and fierce warrior who long ago found a way under her skin and stayed there. In a shaky alliance, they discover an ancient cult with dangerous motive and a god who seeks to destroy all others. And as Kyana begins to feel the heat that threatens to bind her to Ryker, she knows she has to resist. For it could only mean the undoing of them both . . .

 
The following book has a March 29, 2011 release date at online booksellers, but an April 2011 release date at the publisher. I'm including it in April based on the publisher's release date.
 
Soft Apocalypse
Author: Will McIntosh
Format: Trade Paperback, 256 pages
Publisher: Night Shade Books (April 2011)
Price: $14.99
Language: English
Genre: Science Fiction
ISBN: 978-1-59780-276-5

What happens when resources become scarce and society starts to crumble? As the competition for resources pulls America's previously stable society apart, the "New Normal" is a Soft Apocalypse. This is how our world ends; with a whimper instead of a bang.

New social structures and tribal connections spring up across America, as the previous social structures begin to dissolve. Soft Apocalypse follows the journey across the Southeast of a tribe of formerly middle class Americans as they struggle to find a place for themselves and their children in a new, dangerous world that still carries the ghostly echoes of their previous lives.




Look for an interview with J.N. Duncan on April 6, 2011, Lexi George on May 4, 2011, and Sable Grace on April 26, 2011.