The Qwillery: 2020

Monday, December 21, 2020

The View From Monday - December 21, 2020

Happy Monday! Happy Yule to those celebrating! A very Merry Christmas to those who celebrate!

There are no books to report about this week.

I hope you are all doing well during these strange and difficult times. As I am sure you noticed, I've barely been posting. I reached peak Covid fatigue the last couple of months. I really can't go anywhere or do anything outside my house... for reasons.

Recently it has really gotten to me. I have not been able to read or write. I am worried about so much. I am a bit more hopeful now that the vaccines are being shipped. I don't know what the new normal will be, but I am looking forward to being able to be out in the world again. I hope.

My very sincere apologies to readers, writers, publicists for my lack of posts. I just have not been able to. I hope you understand.

Today is the Winter Solstice. Starting tomorrow each day will have about 2 more minutes of sunshine (until of course the Summer Solstice). I always feel a corner has been turned after the Winter Solstice. This year more than ever those 2 minutes more of light each day are important to me.

I am hopeful that everything will improve in 2021 in innumerable ways not only for me but for all of you.

Qwill

Echinacea from my garden.

Monday, December 07, 2020

The View From Monday - December 7, 2020

Happy Monday!

There are no debuts this week.

From formerly featured DAC Authors:

Ivory's Story by Eugen Bacon;

The Light of All That Falls (Licanus Trilogy 3) by James Islington is out in Trade Paperback;

Orders of Battle (Frontlines 7) by Marko Kloos;

Betrayal in Time by Julie McElwain is out in Trade Paperback;

Memoria (Nova Vita Protocol 2) by Kristyn Merbeth;

The Philosopher's War (Philosopher's 2) by Tom Miller is out in Trade Paperback;

and

The Seep by Chana Porter is out in Trade Paperback.

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.

December 8, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Apex: World of Dinosaurs Anthology (e)	Alana Joli Abbott (Ed)	F/Anthology
Lone Wolves	Dan Abnett	SF - Warhammer 40,000
Ivory's Story	Eugen Bacon	Th/F
The Roach	Rhett C. Bruno	SF/Th
The Cinematic Art of Overwatch	Matt Burns	SF/Art
Helsreach	Aaron Dembski-Bowden	SF - Warhammer 40,000
D: A Tale of Two Worlds	Michel Faber	CF/MR/LF
Peach Blossom Paradise	Ge Fei Canaan Morse (Tr)	Pol/Dys/Hist
Crosshairs	Catherine Hernandez	Dys
Sexton Blake's Allies	Mark Hodder (Ed)	Cr - The Sexton Blake Library 3
Now Before the Dark	Sam Hooker	F/HU - Terribly Serious Darkness
The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2020 Edition	Rich Horton (Ed)	SF/Anthology
The Light of All That Falls (h2tp)	James Islington	F - Licanius Trilogy 3
Zed (h2tp)	Joanna Kavenna	Satire/LF/Dys
The Stand	Stephen King	MTI/Sus/H/SF/AP/PA
Orders of Battle	Marko Kloos	SF/SO/AC - Frontlines 7
Wizard of the Pigeons: The 35th Anniversary Illustrated Edition	Megan Lindholm Robin Hobb	F/UF/CF
Betrayal in Time (h2tp)	Julie McElwain	M/TT - Kendra Donovan Mystery 4
Memoria	Kristyn Merbeth	SF/SO/AC/SE - Nova Vita Protocol 2
The Philosopher's War (h2tp)	Tom Miller	HistF - The Philosophers 2
Prophecy's End	Richard Phillips	F - Endarian Prophecy 6
The Seep (h2tp)	Chana Porter	LGBT/AB/SF/AP/PA
Exo-Hunter	Jeremy Robinson	AC/SF
Anyone (h2tp)	Charles Soule	SF
Armor (ri)	John Steakley	SF/HSF
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain	Nghi Vo	F/HistF - The Singing Hills Cycle 2
Fleet Elements	Walter Jon Williams	SF - A Novel of the Praxis 2

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

AB - Absurdist
AC - Alien Contact
AH - Alternative History
AP - Apocalyptic
BHU - Black Humor
CF - Contemporary Fantasy
CM - Crime & Mystery
CoA - Coming of Age
Cr - Crime
CW - Contemporary Women
CyP - CyberPunk
DF - Dark Fantasy
Dys - Dystopian
F - Fantasy
FairyT - Fairy Tales
FL - Family Life
FolkT - Folk Tales
FR - Fantasy Romance
GenEng - Genetic Engineering
GH - Ghost(s)
GothicR - Gothic Romance
GW&CC - Global Warming and Climate Change
H - Horror
HC - History and Criticism
Hist - Historical
HistF - Historical Fantasy
HistM - Historical Mystery
HistR - Historical Romance
HistTh - Historical Thriller
HSF - Hard Science Fiction
HU - Humorous
LC - Literary Criticism
LF - Literary Fiction
LM - Legend and Mythology
M - Mystery
Med - Medical
MR - Magical Realism
MTI - Media Tie-In
MU - Mash-Up
NF - Near Future
Occ - Occult
P - Paranormal
PA - Post Apocalyptic
PCM - Paranormal Cozy Mystery
PF - Paranormal Fantasy
PNR - Paranormal Romance
Pol - Political
PolTh - Political Thriller
PopCul - Popular Culture
PP - Police Porcedural
Psy - Psychological
R - Romance
RF - Romantic Fantasy
ScF - Science Fantasy
SE - Space Exploration
SF - Science Fiction
SFR - Science Fiction Romance
SFTh - Science Fiction Thriller
SH - Superheroes
SO - Space Opera
SP - Steampunk
SpecFic - Speculative Fiction
SS - Short Stories
STR - Small Town and Rural
Sup - Supernatural
SupM - Supernatural Mystery
SupTh - Supernatural Thriller
Sus - Suspense
TechTh - Technological Thriller
Th - Thriller
TT - Time Travel
TTR - Time Travel Romance
UF - Urban Fantasy
VM - Visionary and Metaphysical
WS - Women Sleuths

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

Tuesday, December 01, 2020

December 2020 Releases

Here is The Qwillery's list of novels, etc. being published in December 2020. If there is something that we've missed, please leave a comment below. Any genre mistakes are ours. Leave a comment below if you feel that the genre is wrong. Also note that this list is always under revision. Publication dates change. We try to keep this as accurate as possible. Please note that we use the publisher's publication date in the US. Check The View From Monday each week for each week's updated release list.

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

December 1, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Road to Woop Woop and Other Stories	Eugen Bacon	SF/SS
Black Moon: Graphic Speculative Flash Fiction	Eugen Bacon	SpecFic
A Burning Sea	Theodore Brun	HistF - Wanderer Chronicles 3
King of the Rising	Kacen Callender	HistF/F - Islands of Blood and Storm 2
Star Trek: The Artistry of Dan Curry	Dan Curry Ben Robinson	SF/PerfArts
Stargods	Ian Douglas	SF - Star Carrier 9
Dark Guardian (ri)	Christine Feehan	PNR - Carpathian 9
Heart of Black Ice: Sister of Darkness (h2mm)	Terry Goodkind	F - Nicci Chronicles 4
We Hear Voices	Evie Green	H/SupTh/Sus
The Founder Effect	Robert E. Hampson (Ed) Sandra L Medlock (Ed)	SF/Anthology
Hollow Empire	Sam Hawke	F - The Poison Wars 2
Jolene	Mercedes Lackey	HistF/Gaslamp - Elemental Masters 15
Trader's Leap	Sharon Lee Steve Miller	SF/SO - Liaden Universe 23
Songs of Love and Death: All-Original Tales of Star-Crossed Love (ri)	George R. R. Martin (Ed) Gardner Dozois (Ed)	F/Anthology
Lost in Transmission	Wil McCarthy	SF/HSF
The Blade Between	Sam J. Miller	H
The Revisionaries (h2tp)	A. R. Moxon	F/MR
Bone Chase	Weston Ochse	SupTh
Net Force: Attack Protocol	Jerome Preisler	Th/TechTh - Net Force
Poison River: Legend of the Five Rings: A Daidoji Shin Mystery	Josh Reynolds	MTI - Legend of the Five Rings
Of Blood and Bone (tp2mm)	Nora Roberts	P/PNR/SupTh/SF/AP/PA/Dys - Chronicles of The One 2
After The War: The Tales of Catt & Fisher	Justina Robson (Ed)	F/Anthology
Factoring Humanity (ri)	Robert J. Sawyer	SF/HSF
The 18th Race	David Sherman Keith R a DeCandido	SF - The 18th Race
Now Will Machines Hollow the Beast (e)	Benjanun Sriduangkaew	SF - Machine Mandate Book 2
Martha Moody	Susan Stinson	LF/HistF
Agaat	Marlene Van Niekerk Michiel Heyns (Tr)	LF
Dead Astronauts (h2tp)	Jeff VanderMeer	LF/F/Dys
Ambergris: City of Saints and Madmen; Shriek: An Afterword; Finch	Jeff VanderMeer	SF/P/Cr
A Warm Heart in Winter: A Caldwell Christmas	J.R. Ward	PNR - The Black Dagger Brotherhood World
The Last Hurrah	Robert E. Waters	MTI
The Last Lies of Ardor Benn	Tyler Whitesides	F - Kingdom of Grit 3

December 2, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Hammer and Tongs and a Rusty Nail: A Tor.com Original (e)	Ian Tregillis	SF/SH - Wild Cards

December 3, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Horsemen's War	Steve McHugh	UF/CF/DF - Rebellion Chronicles 3

December 4, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Return To The Center Of The Earth (Ke)	Greig Beck	SF

December 8, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Apex: World of Dinosaurs Anthology (e)	Alana Joli Abbott (Ed)	F/Anthology
Lone Wolves	Dan Abnett	SF - Warhammer 40,000
Ivory's Story	Eugen Bacon	Th/F
The Roach	Rhett C. Bruno	SF/Th
The Cinematic Art of Overwatch	Matt Burns	SF/Art
Helsreach	Aaron Dembski-Bowden	SF - Warhammer 40,000
D: A Tale of Two Worlds	Michel Faber	CF/MR/LF
Peach Blossom Paradise	Ge Fei Canaan Morse (Tr)	Pol/Dys/Hist
Crosshairs	Catherine Hernandez	Dys
Sexton Blake's Allies	Mark Hodder (Ed)	Cr - The Sexton Blake Library 3
Now Before the Dark	Sam Hooker	F/HU - Terribly Serious Darkness
The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2020 Edition	Rich Horton (Ed)	SF/Anthology
The Light of All That Falls (h2tp)	James Islington	F - Licanius Trilogy 3
Zed (h2tp)	Joanna Kavenna	Satire/LF/Dys
The Stand	Stephen King	MTI/Sus/H/SF/AP/PA
Orders of Battle	Marko Kloos	SF/SO/AC - Frontlines 7
Wizard of the Pigeons: The 35th Anniversary Illustrated Edition	Megan Lindholm Robin Hobb	F/UF/CF
Betrayal in Time (h2tp)	Julie McElwain	M/TT - Kendra Donovan Mystery 4
Memoria	Kristyn Merbeth	SF/SO/AC/SE - Nova Vita Protocol 2
The Philosopher's War (h2tp)	Tom Miller	HistF - The Philosophers 2
Prophecy's End	Richard Phillips	F - Endarian Prophecy 6
The Seep (h2tp)	Chana Porter	LGBT/AB/SF/AP/PA
Exo-Hunter	Jeremy Robinson	AC/SF
Anyone (h2tp)	Charles Soule	SF
Armor (ri)	John Steakley	SF/HSF
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain	Nghi Vo	F/HistF - The Singing Hills Cycle 2
Fleet Elements	Walter Jon Williams	SF - A Novel of the Praxis 2

December 15, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Düngeonmeister: 75 Epic RPG Cocktail Recipes to Shake Up Your Campaign	Jef Aldrich Jon Taylor	Cooking - The Ultimate RPG Guide
Lockdown Tales	Neal Asher	HSF/CyP/SF
Forward the Foundation (ri)	Isaac Asimov	SF/HSF - Foundation 7
Prelude to Foundation (ri)	Isaac Asimov	SF/HSF - Foundation 6
The Garden of Promises and Lies	Paula Brackston	Hist/HistF - Found Things 3
Secrets of the Chocolate House (h2tp)	Paula Brackston	Hist/HistF - Found Things 2
The City of a Thousand Faces	Walker Dryden	HistF/PolTh
The Part About the Dragon Was Mostly True	Sean Gibson	F/HU
Cyborgs, Sexuality, and the Undead: The Body in Mexican and Brazilian Speculative Fiction	M. Elizabeth Ginway	LC/SF
The Cleaners (Ke)	Ken Liu	SF - Faraway Collection 4
Doctor Who: The Monster Vault	Jonathan Morris Penny CS Andrews	SF/TT/MTI
Munchausen and Clarissa: A Berlin Novel	Paul Scheerbart Christina Svendsen (Tr)	LF/HistF
River of Blue Fire (ri)	Tad Williams	SF/CyP/HSF - Otherland 2

December 25, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Ordeal of the Haunted Room (e)	Jodi Taylor	TT/SF/HistF

December 29, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Patternmaster (ri)	Octavia E. Butler	SF/AP/PA/GenEng/DF - Patternist 4
Frozen Orbit	Patrick Chiles	SF
The Dark Archive	Genevieve Cogman	SF/TT/HistF/F - Invisible Library 7
The Stormbringer	Isabel Cooper	PNR/RF - Stormbringer 1
Council of Fire (h2mm)	Eric Flint Walter H. Hunt	HistF - Arcane America 2
Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances (ri)	Neil Gaiman	SS
Gears of War: Ascendance (tp2mm)	James M. Hough	MTI/SF
The House in the Cerulean Sea (h2tp)	TJ Klune	CF/HU
Colonyside	Michael Mammay	SF - Planetside 3
The Mage-Fire War (h2mm)	L. E. Modesitt Jr.	F - Recluce 21
Give Way to Night	Cass Morris	HistF/DF - Aven Cycle 2
The Latham-Fielding Liaison	Jon Padgett Matthew M. Bartlett	H
Murder Can Haunt Your Handiwork	Rose Pressey	PCM - A Haunted Craft Fair Mystery 3
Gunpowder & Embers	John Ringo Kacey Ezell Christopher L. Smith	SF/AP/PA - Last Judgment's Fire
Bait and Witch	Angela M. Sanders	PCM - Josie Way 1
The Apollo Deception (h2tp)	Mitch Silver	SF/Th
Lord of Secrets (ri)	Breanna Teintze	F/RF - Empty Gods 1
The Stars Now Unclaimed (tp2mm)	Drew Williams	SF/SO/HU - The Universe After 1

December 31, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Best of Michael Marshall Smith	Michael Marshall Smith	H

Friday, November 27, 2020

A Conversation with Evie Green Author of WE HEAR VOICES

Please welcome Evie Green to The Qwillery. We Hear Voices, her first horror novel, will be published on December 1, 2020 by Berkley.

Tell us about WE HEAR VOICES. What inspired you to write this story?

Many years ago, when I was about 9 or 10, I read a book by John Wyndham, called Chocky It’s about a boy with a voice in his head, told from the point of view of his baffled father. A few years ago, I found a copy of it in a second hand bookshop, so I read it again and could not get the ideas it sparked off out of my head. I started writing without really knowing what was going to happen, and many years later, WE HEAR VOICES is the result.

This is your first horror novel. What drew you to write in the genre?

Funnily enough, I never set out to write a horror novel! I wrote the book that was in my head, and I suppose it went through a few gears, from thriller to speculative fiction, then sci fi, and finally to horror. Genre is a strange thing! Also, its first draft didn’t have a pandemic in it. I added it in as a bit of exciting background, with absolutely no idea of how relevant that aspect would become. It did mean I was well up to speed with face masks and so on by the time COVID 19 came along.

Your story is about a boy with a dangerous imaginary friend, but also about a family and how that family copes in the aftermath of challenging times. Why did you choose to incorporate such a strong family storyline into your novel?

WE HEAR VOICES is a family novel before all else I have three teenage children, and two stepchildren, so my family is at the heart of all I do, and I’m really interested in the immediacy of questions like how far you would go to protect your child. One of the protagonists, Nina, is a teenage girl, and in a way she’s a lot like my eldest child, in that she’s more sensible than most of the adults around her! I think that teenagers have an undeserved bad reputation: I love having them around, and always really enjoy meeting their friends. In my other life I write YA fiction, so I’ve got a great affection for good teenage character, and wanted Nina to be as much a part of the plot as her mother. However, Rachel is really at the centre of it all. She’s had her own struggles in the past, and has to contend wit h a desperately ill child, a pandemic, dealing with her ex husband, and then death and destruction at the hands of her own possessed child. She could easily fall apart, but she manages to hang on most of the time.

What kind of research was required befo re writing WE HEAR VOICES?

As space travel is a part of the book, I spoke to an old university friend, Kevin Fong, who’s now an expert on the human body in space as well as a medical doctor and astrophysicist! During the course of our conversation, we also talked about pandemics, and he said that the number one worry of governments worldwide is a pandemic, and that one would happen sooner or later. We had absolutely no idea at that point that there was one approaching. I was mainly after his expertise on space colonisation, however, and took the information he gave me and ran with it, fictionally. My brother is an epidemiologist, so I also got some advice from him, though the pandemic itself is just ending at the start of the book. I considered whether the WE HEAR VOICES world would have had a full lockdown and decided that it wouldn’t, for economic reasons, so they have rules about facemasks and so on, but the virus has mainly been left to sweep though the population.

What do you hope readers will take away from your novel?

The one thing that didn’t change through the many drafts of this novel was the ending: I’ve always wanted it to end with a shock (as I like reading books like that) so I hope that’s enjoyable. In a broader sense, I suppose I’d like them to think about family, about the questions of how far you defend your child if they do something indefensible, and what on earth a parent can do if they feel their child is out of control. Child mental health is a huge problem worldwide at the moment, and it has huge ramifications for the future.

We Hear Voices
Berkley, December 1, 2020
Hardcover and eBook, 384 pages

An eerie horror debut about a little boy who recovers from a mysterious pandemic and inherits an imaginary friend who makes him do violent things…

Kids have imaginary friends. Rachel knows this. So when her young son, Billy, miraculously recovers from a horrible flu that has proven fatal for many, she thinks nothing of Delfy, his new invisible friend. After all, her family is healthy and that’s all that matters.

But soon Delfy is telling Billy what to do, and the boy is acting up and lashing out in ways he never has before. As Delfy’s influence is growing stranger and more sinister by the day, and rising tensions threaten to tear Rachel’s family apart, she clings to one purpose: to protect her children at any cost—even from themselves.

We Hear Voices is a gripping near-future horror novel that tests the fragility of family and the terrifying gray area between fear and love.

Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Bookshop : Books-A-Million : IndieBound
Google Play : iBooks : Kobo

About Evie

Evie Green is a pseudonym for a British author who has written professionally for her entire adult life. She lives by the sea in England with her husband, children, and guinea pigs, and loves writing in the very early morning, fueled by coffee.

Website ~ Twitter

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Covers Revealed - Upcoming Works by DAC Authors

Here are some of the upcoming works by formerly featured Debut Author Challenge (DAC) Authors! The year in parentheses is the year the author was featured in the DAC.

Eugen Bacon (2019)

The Road to Woop Woop and Other Stories
Meerkat Press, December 1, 2020
Trade Paperback and eBook, 202 pages

Eugen Bacon’s work is deemed cheeky with a fierce intelligence in text that’s resplendent, delicious, dark and evocative. NPR called her novel Claiming T-Mo ‘a confounding mysterious tour de force’. The Road to Woop Woop and Other Stories imbues the same lushness in a writerly language that is Bacon’s own. This peculiar hybrid of the untraditional, the extraordinary within, without and along the borders of normalcy will hypnotise and absorb the reader with tales that refuse to be labelled. The stories in this collection are dirges that cross genres in astounding ways. Over 20 provocative tales, with seven original to this collection, by an award-winning African Australian author.

Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Bookshop : Books-A-Million : IndieBound
Kobo

Black Moon: Graphic Speculative Flash Fiction
IFWG Publishing International
Trade Paperback, 72 pages
Elena Betti, Illustrator

Black Moon is an illustrated collection of speculative flash fiction interspersed with prose poetry. It carries themes of love and war, life and the afterlife, hope and despair. It is a philosophical assortment that questions normalcy, embraces opposition, and takes a keen interest on peculiarity. It will appeal to curious lovers of literary dark fantasy and all places in between.

Amazon : Barnes and Noble : IndieBound

Ivory's Story
Newcon Press, December 8, 2020
Trade Paperback and eBook, 154 pages

Long ago, a good man transgressed and was brutally punished, his physical form killed and his soul split asunder. Now, one half of his ancient soul seeks to reunite with its lost twin, a search that leaves murder in its wake…

In the streets of modern day Sydney a killer stalks the night, slaughtering innocents, leaving bodies mutilated. The victims seem unconnected, yet Investigating Officer Ivory Tembo is convinced the killings are anything but random. The case soon leads Ivory into places she never imagined. In order to stop the killings and save the life of the man she loves, she must reach deep into her past, uncover secrets of her heritage, break a demon’s curse, and somehow unify two worlds.

Ivory's Story deftly combines the contemporary thriller with darker, older traditions, and marks the arrival of an exciting new voice on the genre fiction scene.

“Bacon masterfully blends myth, heritage, and self-discovery in this impressive, genre-defying work of speculative fiction... Writing with sharp, insightful prose, Bacon delivers a taut thriller that dives deep into its distinctive protagonist’s internal life and family history. Seasoned speculative fiction readers will be wowed by Bacon’s careful, layered worldbuilding, well-developed characters, and otherworldly atmosphere. This deserves a wide audience.” – Publisher’s Weekly [Starred Review]

“Eugen Bacon’s latest novel has a lot going for it. A lot… if the reader is adventurous enough, Ivory’s Story will both startle and seduce.” – Locus

“Not a word is wasted. This isn’t writing by rote, not a book surfing the expectancies of fantasy fiction, but one which brims with descriptive prose, where the movement of the words form the story, similar to the physical brushstrokes of a painting carrying the eye. Ivory’s Story is a fast-paced organic fantasy shone through a poet’s timbre and I loved it.” – Black Static

“A new star is born in the emerald skies of Fantasy, and its name is Eugen Bacon.” – Nuzo Onoh, author of The Reluctant Dead

“Bacon expertly weaves a speculative world with harsh and mundane realities to form a lush and magical tale about the importance of love and the courage needed to face the demons of this world and the next. Highly recommended.” – Nick Wood, author of Azanian Bridges

“Transformation and identity are the themes connecting chapters that dance and shift in each other’s light. The book’s final third revels in imaginative potential, where Bacon shows us sumptuous glens and hidden courts. She also reminds that nature and time live within us, and are capable of healing anything.” – Andromeda Spaceways Magazine

“If you're looking out for an epic tale that will certainly stand apart from your usual fare, that is written with great passion and feeling, this one may well hit the mark.” – Nerine Dorman Reviews

“Ivory's Story speaks of places and moments that bind us. The myths and mysteries that draw us in. A powerful blend of African and Australian speculative fiction.” – Dominique Hecq, award-winning poet, novelist, short story writer

“Eugen Bacon is a vital, vibrant voice.” – Lucy Sussex, author of The Scarlet Rider

"Twin-lore, bewitching entities, psychic investigation and urban murder mystery, juxtaposed against wilderness visions. Ivory’s Story is a savoury bouquet of wilderness flavours flash-fried in an offworld skin. An aromatic sense-delight. – Nikhil Singh, author of Club Ded

“A murder mystery, an adventure story and a spiritual journey all rolled up into one, which not only entertains but also leaves us pondering the deeper questions.” – Denise O'Hagan, author of The Beating Heart

Ivory's Story is available as a special edition hardback, signed by the author and limited to just 50 numbered copies, as well as in paperback and ebook editions.

Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Bookshop : Books-A-Million : IndieBound

Marko Kloos (2014)

Orders of Battle
Frontlines 7
47North, December 8, 2020
Trade Paperback and Kindle eBook, 271 pages

The battle against the Lankies has been won. Earth seems safe. Peacetime military? Not on your life.

It’s been four years since Earth threw its full military prowess against the Lanky incursion. Humanity has been yanked back from the abyss of extinction. The solar system is at peace. For now.

The future for Major Andrew Grayson of the Commonwealth Defense Corps and his wife, Halley? Flying desk duty on the front. No more nightmares of monstrous things. No more traumas to the mind and body. But when an offer comes down from above, Andrew has to make a choice: continue pushing papers into retirement, or jump right back into the fight? What’s a podhead to do?

The remaining Lankies may have retreated in fear, but the threat isn’t over. They need to be wiped out for good before they strike again. That’ll take a new offensive deployment. Aboard an Avenger warship, Andrew and the special tactics team under his command embark on the ultimate search-and-destroy mission. This time, it’ll be on Lanky turf.

No big heroics. No unnecessary risks. Just a swift hit-and-run raid in the hostile Capella system. Blow the alien seed ships into oblivion and get the hell back to Earth. At least, that’s the objective. But when does anything in war go according to plan?

Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Bookshop : Books-A-Million : IndieBound

Michael Mammay (2018)

Colonyside
Planetside 3
Harper Voyager, December 29, 2020
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 384 pages

A missing scientist and deep pockets pull Colonel Carl Butler out of retirement, investigating another mystery that puts him and his team--and the future of relations with alien species--in danger in COLONYSIDE, the exciting follow-up to Planetside and Spaceside.

A military hero is coming out of disgrace—straight into the line of fire…

Carl Butler was once a decorated colonel. Now he’s a disgraced recluse, hoping to live out the rest of his life on a backwater planet where no one cares about his “crimes” and everyone leaves him alone.

It’s never that easy.

A CEO’s daughter has gone missing and he thinks Butler is the only one who can find her. The government is only too happy to appease him. Butler isn’t so sure, but he knows the pain of losing a daughter, so he reluctantly signs on. Soon he’s on a military ship heading for a newly-formed colony where the dangerous jungle lurks just outside the domes where settlers live.

Paired with Mac, Ganos, and a government-assigned aide named Fader, Butler dives head-first into what should be an open and shut case. Then someone tries to blow him up. Faced with an incompetent local governor, a hamstrung military, and corporations playing fast and loose with the laws, Butler finds himself in familiar territory. He’s got nobody to trust but himself, but that’s where he works best. He’ll fight to get to the bottom of the mystery, but this time, he might not live to solve it.

Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Bookshop : Books-A-Million : IndieBound
Google Play : iBooks : Kobo

Monday, November 23, 2020

The View From Monday - November 23, 2020

It is the last Monday in November. An early Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate.

There are no debuts this week.

From formerly featured Debut Author Challenge Authors:

Call of the Bone Ships (Tide Child Trilogy 2) by RJ Barker

A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen is out in Trade Paperback

Forged (Alex Verus 11) by Benedict Jacka;

and

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James is out in Trade Paperback.

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.

November 24, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
The Princess Knight	G.A. Aiken	HistF - The Scarred Earth Saga 2
Walk the Wild With Me (tp2mm)	Rachel Atwood	HistF//FairyT/FolkT/LM
Pious	Mark Barber	F - Kings of War
Call of the Bone Ships	RJ Barker	F - Tide Child Trilogy 2
1636: Flight of the Nightingale (tp2mm)	David Carrico	SF/TT - Ring of Fire 28
A Beginning at the End (h2tp)	Mike Chen	SF/AP/PA
Alliance Rising (tp2mm)	C. J. Cherryh Jane S. Fancher	SF/HSF/SO - The Hinder Stars 1
Ready Player Two	Ernest Cline	SF/Dys/Th - Ready Player One 2
The Best of Glen Cook: 18 Stories from the Author of The Black Company and The Dread Empire	Glen Cook	F/DF - Collection
Last Stand in Lychford	Paul Cornell	CF/UF - Witches of Lychford 5
War Lord	Bernard Cornwell	Hist - Saxon Tales 13
Monster Hunter Guardian (h2mm)	Larry Correia Sarah A. Hoyt	F - Monster Hunter 8
Infernal	Mark de Jager	F - Stratus 1
The Science Fiction Puzzle Book: Inspired by the Works of Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C Clarke, Robert A Heinlein and Ursula K Le Guin	Tim Dedopulos	Puzzles/SF
Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Anthology	S.B. Divya (Ed) Mur Lafferty (Ed)	SF - Anthology
The Poison Prince	S. C. Emmett	F/HistF - Hostage of Empire 2
The Solar War	John French	SF/SO - The Horus Heresy
Forged	Benedict Jacka	UF/CF - Alex Versus 11
The Broken Girls (tp2mm)	Simone St. James	SupTh/H/CW
Impolitic Corpses (h2tp)	Paul Johnston	M/Dys - Quint Dalrymple Mystery 8
Passages	Mercedes Lackey (Ed)	F - Valdemar Anthology
Beyond Kuiper	Matthew Medney John Connelly	HSF/SF - The Galactic Star Alliance
Rasputin's Bastards (ri)	David Nickle	Th/HSF
The 'Geisters (ri)	David Nickle	H/GH
Monstrous Affections: Stories (e)(ri)	David Nickle	H/SS
Knife Fight: And Other Struggles	David Nickle	H/SS
36 Righteous Men (h2tp)	Steven Pressfield	SupTh
Grave War	Kalayna Price	UF/CF/PF - Alex Craft 7
Gotrek and Felix: The Fifth Omnibus	Josh Reynolds	F - Warhammer Chronicles
The Awakening	Nora Roberts	PF/FR - The Dragon Heart Legacy 1
Star Trek Voyager: A Celebration	Ben Robinson Mark Wright	PerfArts/SF
Archangel's Sun	Nalini Singh	PNR/UF/PF - Guild Hunter13
Wolf Fever (ri)	Terry Spear	PNR/FR - Silver Town Wolf 2
Freehold: Resistance (tp2mm)	Michael Z. Williamson (Ed)	SF - Freehold Anthology

November 30, 2020

TITLE	AUTHOR	SERIES
Comes a Pale Rider	Caitlín R. Kiernan	H
Fishing for Dinosaurs and Other Stories	Joe R. Lansdale	F - Anthology
Princess Floralinda and the Forty Flight Tower	Tamsyn Muir	F
No Period: A Tor.com Original	Harry Turtledove	AH
Take a Look at the Five and Ten	Connie Willis	SF

Thursday, November 19, 2020

Covers Revealed - Upcoming Novels by DAC Authors

Here are some of the upcoming novels by formerly featured Debut Author Challenge (DAC) Authors! The year in parentheses is the year the author was featured in the DAC.

Kacen Callender (2019)

King of the Rising
Islands of Blood and Storm 2
Orbit, December 1, 2020
Trade Paperback and eBook, 384 pages

King of the Rising is the searing conclusion to an unflinching and powerful Caribbean-inspired fantasy series about colonialism, resilience and defiance.

A revolution has swept through the islands of Hans Lollik and former slave Loren Jannik has been chosen to lead the survivors in a bid to free the islands forever.

But the rebels are running out of food, weapons and options. And as the Fjern inch closer to reclaiming Hans Lollik with every battle, Loren is faced with a choice that could shift the course of the revolution in their favor -- or doom it to failure.

Islands of Blood and Storm
Queen of the Conquered
King of the Rising

Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Bookshop : Books-A-Million : IndieBound
Google Play : iBooks : Kobo

Sam Hawke (2018)

Hollow Empire
A Poison War Novel 2
Tor Books, December 1, 2020
Hardcover, Trade Paperback and eBook, 560 pages

Moving from poison and treachery to war and witchcraft, Sam Hawke's Poison Wars continue with Hollow Empire, a fabulous epic fantasy adventure perfect for fans of Robin Hobb, Naomi Novik, and Scott Lynch.

Poison was only the beginning.... The deadly siege of Silasta woke the ancient spirits, and now the city-state must find its place in this new world of magic. But people and politics are always treacherous, and it will take all of Jovan and Kalina’s skills as proofer and spy to save their country when witches and assassins turn their sights to domination.

Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Bookshop : Books-A-Million : IndieBound
Google Play : iBooks : Kobo

Benedict Jacka (2012)

Forged
Alex Verus 11
Ace, November 24, 2020
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 304 pages

Alex Verus faces his dark side in this return to the bestselling urban fantasy series about a London-based mage.

To protect his friends, Mage Alex Verus has had to change–and embrace his dark side. But the life mage Anne has changed too, and made a bond with a dangerous power. She’s going after everyone she’s got a grudge against–and it’s a long list.

In the meantime, Alex has to deal with his arch-enemy, Levistus. The Council’s death squads are hunting Alex as well as Anne, and the only way for Alex to stop them is to end his long war with Levistus and the Council, by whatever means necessary. It will take everything Alex has to stay a step ahead of the Council and stop Anne from letting the world burn.

Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Bookshop : Books-A-Million : IndieBound
Google Play : iBooks : Kobo

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Interview with Essa Hansen, author of Nophek Gloss

Please welcome Essa Hansen to The Qwillery as part of the 2020 Debut Author Challenge Interviews. Nophek Gloss is published on November 17, 2020 by Orbit.

TQ: Welcome to The Qwillery. What is the first fiction piece you remember writing?

Essa: My mom recounts stories from before I can remember, but the first one I recall—maybe nine years old?—was a fantasy short story set around a large willow tree growing out of the middle of a pool of water, in a courtyard in the center of a castle. There was a young girl and a mystery and a magical pendant that had gotten lost—sounds quite standard!

TQ: Are you a plotter, a pantser or a hybrid?

Essa: I’m a hybrid. I plot more now than I did when I was starting out, due to a better understanding of structure and pacing. I start with the big set piece scenes then begin to build connective tissue and logic, until I have a decent outline. As I get ideas or visions or snippets of dialogue, I’ll insert these in my outlined chapters, but when I get to drafting, I move linearly and discovery-write the scenes themselves. The moment-by moment flow, details, and dialogue are all new to me as I’m writing the scene.

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

Essa: My main challenge is translating my imaginative concepts and visuals into narrative, description, and emotion that a reader can easily absorb. I’m neurodivergent and a synesthete, so the way I perceive and process the world is atypical, and the way my ideas come out on the page is deeply sensory and a bit convoluted, so I need to actively sculpt my prose and ideas into better clarity while not losing the evocative and wondrous aspects that readers find refreshing and unique.

TQ: What has influenced / influences your writing?

Essa: I absorb inspiration from all over; not just art and media, but my personal experiences and time spent in nature, as well as less commonly utilized fields such as very theoretical cosmology and quantum physics, pseudoscience, occult science, philosophy, and metaphysics. When I’m developing something new—like an alien, creature, environment, or technology—I tend to merge bits of inspiration into my original concept or take a piece as a starting place and extrapolate it in a new direction. Often my inspiration is simply brainstorming “what haven’t I seen before in the genre?”

TQ: Describe Nophek Gloss using only 5 words.

Essa: Oh, I’m bad at these so I’m going to steal from Alastair Reynolds’s blurb of the book: “Intricate, vivid, and psychedelic cosmos.”

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

Essa: The book description actually doesn’t describe the bubble multiverse! A collection of spherical universes of varying sizes (fist-sized to galactic scale), all on the same timeline and stuck together like a vast foam, with dividing membranes that can be passed through easily. Each universe has a unique deviation in the laws of physics, meaning that material, biology, and technology is transformed as it passes from one universe to another.

TQ: What inspired you to write Nophek Gloss? What appeals to you about writing science fiction?

Essa: Nophek Gloss is a revenge story with a heart of personal growth and the navigation of complex morality. The protagonist’s journey to find belonging and roots is drawn from my own experiences as a neurodiverse and mixed-race person. Meanwhile the setting is inspired by the obscure sciences I love, and the immersive writing comes directly from my own sensory peculiarities and creative work in film.

In far-flung or secondary world science fiction, I love that we’re allowed to get away entirely from the familiarity of Earth both as a location and as the basis of our ideas. We get to overturn the concept of “normal” by showing other possibilities. At the same time, the stories remain very human, exploring humanity and being through entirely new contexts. There’s incredible power in that.

TQ: You are a sound designer for science fiction and fantasy films. Do you hear your novels when writing?

Essa: I definitely add a lot of sound and five-senses immersion in my novels. Through a combination of hypersensitivity and synesthesia (in which usually separate senses are cross-wired), I feel sounds in my body and as a sort of extended landscape of texture and density in space, of which my nervous system is taking part. It’s…tricky to describe. While writing, even if I’m not “hearing” the story in my mind, my unique experience with the sensory world comes out in my writing style and unusual word choices. Also, working in film sound makes me hyper aware of story elements like environmental atmosphere, the material quality of things, and their motion through space, which definitely influences how I describe action and setting.

TQ: What sort of research did you do for Nophek Gloss?

Essa: I drew on a lot of fields of study I had delved into for enjoyment in the past, such as Cymatics, fluid dynamics, string theory, vibratory physics, concepts of the basis of reality and consciousness, cognitive science, emergent structures, and artificial intelligence…to name a few. Of course, I also had to research basic space travel things like time dilation, FTL, types of stellar drives, and so on.

I often start with a visual or experiential idea first and then backpedal into the science to flesh out my concept. For instance, in Nophek Gloss there’s an alien species who I wanted to emote via chromatophores on their skin, like many cephalopods, so I turned from that concept to the actual science of how and why, and in what detail or words I could describe the effect without getting too technical.

TQ: Please tell us about the cover for Nophek Gloss.

Essa: The cover illustration is by Mike Heath and the design by Lauren Panepinto. It depicts Caiden’s unique starship, the Azura, which holds a lot of secrets and continues to evolve as the books go on.

TQ: In Nophek Gloss who was the easiest character to write and why? The hardest and why?

Essa: I always have one character who springs off the page fully-formed and feels effortless to write. For this book that was En, the crew’s negotiator, gambler, trader, charmer, muscle, and general rogue with a questionable past. En is genderfluid, dangerous but gregarious and will defend loved ones in a heartbeat, and full of snarky dialogue that sparked onto the page—which surprised me because I thought I was poor at dialogue but En’s always comes through so easily.

The hardest character to write was the story’s central antagonist, but those details are too spoilery to say!

TQ: Which question about Nophek Gloss do you wish someone would ask? Ask it and answer it!

Essa: Q: What “cutting room floor” scene do you miss?

A: I had a moment in the story where Caiden experiences music for the first time in his life. I loved both the wondrous emotion of that moment and the challenge of clearly describing music without using any instrumental terminology.

TQ: Give us one or two of your favorite non-spoilery quotes from Nophek Gloss.

Essa: Here’s a little excerpt:

Squeezing inside, he ran his fingers over a complex central engine bulk stretching the length of the room. He hadn’t seen such materials ever, even in the deepest sections of the aerators: some white and fleshy, glassy and scaled, coppery rings that bristled when his fingertips drew near. It looked like a hundred different animals stitched together on one set of bones.

“Maybe you’re alive. A huge creature wearing a hard shell.”

Ridiculous. Machines weren’t alive. But he smiled and swore that some of the materials he touched inside the machine were warm.

TQ: What's next?

Essa: I’m working through revisions of the second book in The Graven trilogy, which releases in Fall 2021. In the meantime, I’ll be doing virtual discussions, panels, and interviews for the launch of Nophek Gloss in November—readers can catch up with me at those!

TQ: Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

Nophek Gloss
The Graven 1
Orbit, November 17, 2020
Trade Paperback and eBook, 448 pages

"A sucker punch to the senses...a killer story with real heart and soul."-Alastair Reynolds

When a young man's planet is destroyed, he sets out on a single-minded quest for revenge across the galaxy in Nophek Gloss, the first book in this epic space opera trilogy debut -- perfect for fans of Revenger and Children of Time.

Caiden's planet is destroyed. His family gone. And, his only hope for survival is a crew of misfit aliens and a mysterious ship that seems to have a soul and a universe of its own. Together they will show him that the universe is much bigger, much more advanced, and much more mysterious than Caiden had ever imagined. But the universe hides dangers as well, and soon Caiden has his own plans.

He vows to do anything it takes to get revenge on the slavers who murdered his people and took away his home. To destroy their regime, he must infiltrate and dismantle them from the inside, or die trying.

Amazon : Barnes and Noble : Bookshop : Books-A-Million : IndieBound
Google Play : iBooks : Kobo

About Essa

Essa Hansen grew up in the beautifully wild areas of California. She has ranched bison and sheep, trained horses, practiced Japanese swordsmanship, and is a licensed falconer. She attended the Vancouver Film School and works as a sound designer for Skywalker Sound where she’s worked on films such as Doctor Strange, Thor: Ragnorok, and Avengers: Endgame. Essa now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter @EssaHansen