Whatever Holiday Gift Guide 2018, Day One: Traditionally Published Books

Posted on December 3, 2018    Posted by      125 Comments

Welcome to the first day of the Whatever Shopping Guide 2018 — My way of helping you folks learn about cool creative gifts for the holidays, straight from the folks who have created them.

Today’s featured products are traditionally published books (including graphic novels and audiobooks); that is, books put out by publishers who ship books to stores on a returnable basis. In the comment thread below, authors and editors of these books will tell you a little bit about their latest and/or greatest books so that you will be enticed to get that book for yourself or loved ones this holiday season. Because, hey: Books are spectacular gifts, if I do say so myself. Enjoy your browsing, and I hope you find the perfect book!

Please note that the comment thread today is only for authors and editors to post about their books; please do not leave other comments, as they will be snipped out to keep the thread from getting cluttered. Thanks!

Authors/editors: Here’s how to post in this thread. Please follow these directions!

1. Authors and editors only, books only (including audiobooks). There will be other threads for other stuff, later in the week. Any type of book is fine: Fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, etc. If you are not the author/editor of the book you’re posting about, don’t post. This is for authors and editors only.

2. For printed books, they must be currently in print (i.e., published before 12/31/18) and available on a returnable basis at bookstores and at the following three online bookstores: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s. This is so people can find your book when they go looking for it. For audiobooks, they must be professionally published (no self-produced, self-published audiobooks) and at least available through Amazon/Audible. If your book isn’t available as described, or if you’re not sure, wait for the shopping guide for non-traditional books, which will go up tomorrow. 

3. One post per author. In that post, you can list whatever books of yours you like (as long as it meets the criteria in point 2), but allow me to suggest you focus on your most recent book. Note also that the majority of Whatever’s readership is in the US/Canada, so I suggest focusing on books currently available in North America.

4. Keep your description of your book brief (there will be a lot of posts, I’m guessing) and entertaining. Imagine the person is in front of you as you tell them about your book and is interested but easily distracted.

5. You may include a link to a bookseller if you like by using standard HTML link scripting. Be warned that if you include too many links (typically three or more) your post may get sent to the moderating queue. If this happens, don’t panic: I’ll be going in through the day to release moderated posts. Note that posts will occasionally go into the moderation queue semi-randomly; Don’t panic about that either.

6. As noted above, comment posts that are not from authors/editors promoting their books as specified above will be deleted, in order to keep the comment thread useful for people looking to find interesting books.

Got it? Excellent. Then tell the folks about your book! And tell your author friends about this thread so they can come around as well.

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125 Comments on “Whatever Holiday Gift Guide 2018, Day One: Traditionally Published Books”

  1. My book, HOW TO INVENT EVERYTHING, is a survival guide for anyone who finds themselves stranded in the past, and teaches you how to reinvent civilization from scratch. It’s also hilarious! In THEIR gift guide, NPR said “With generous humor, writer Ryan North throws in helpful charts and technology trees and sprinkles useful scientific history among the jokes; the result is a slyly funny piece of popular science writing.” You can get it in print and audiobook format everywhere, here’s a link to the book website!

    http://howtoinventeverything.com

  2. Night Shift, my debut novel, was published a fortnight ago by Flame Tree Press.

    Andrew is the new chief of security in an Antarctic mining base. Barely has he arrived when an act of sabotage cuts them from the rest of the planet.

    Then a body is found in the ice. Anders must find the culprit; not an easy task with most fingers pointed at him.

    With the long night holding them close, systems fail and paranoia descends. Soon it is not just about finding a killer; it is a question of survival.

    Available in paperback, hardback, ebook and audio :-)

    https://www.flametreepublishing.com/Night-Shift-ISBN-9781787580381.html

  3. This year I finished my Australian fantasy steampunk trilogy AND started my kids’ fantasy trilogy.
    The steampunk:
    Heart of Brass
    Silver and Stone (featured here on “A Big Idea”) https://whatever.scalzi.com/2017/10/12/the-big-idea-felicity-banks/#comments
    Iron Lights.
    These three feature Emmeline Muchamore, who starts the trilogy as a proper young lady keeping her mad scientist inclinations (and her brass heart) secret. When her heart malfunctions she’s transported to Australia where she promptly escapes and runs off to the goldfields (with a bushranger and a woman escaping two fiancés) where she gets in more trouble. These books are LGBTIQA+ friendly, and each come with a bonus interactive story (think “Choose Your Own Adventure” for 1 and 2, and “has a pic of a giant mechanical battle spider” for 3) at the back.

    For kids (8+)
    The Monster Apprentice.
    This series is similar to Narnia, but with pirates.
    Dance is the main character of the first book. When her isolated island is threatened by pirates, she realises that their only hope is the ice monsters that killed her twin sister… so she ventures into the ice to recruit and train them.

    https://www.amazon.com/Felicity-Banks/e/B077YK4QS4/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

  5. My latest is a work of love and hilarity. THE CLAN CHRONICLES: TALES FROM PLEXIS contains stories set in my universe by 23 authors who get to play, make up their own characters, and add depth to existing ones. Bonus: Reads like a novel, because all the stories connect. Cannot express enough my joy in this project. Wishing you and yours enjoy it too!

  6. THE STARS NOW UNCLAIMED (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35612392-the-stars-now-unclaimed) is the first book in my Universe After series, and my debut novel. STARS is a space opera set in a post-apocalyptic universe.
    Jane is an agent for the Justified. Her mission: to recruit children with miraculous gifts in the hope that they might prevent the Pulse from once again sending countless worlds back to the dark ages.
    Hot on her trail is the Pax–a collection of fascist zealots who believe they are the rightful rulers of the galaxy and who remain untouched by the Pulse.
    Now Jane, a handful of comrades from her past, and a telekinetic girl called Esa must fight their way through a galaxy full of dangerous conflicts, remnants of ancient technology, and other hidden dangers.
    STARS is available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.
    IF you’d like a signed copy, please contact my local bookstore: https://www.littleprofessorhomewood.com/

  8. My first book “Math with Bad Drawings” came out in September. It celebrates mathematics in all its guises, from the lottery ticket to the Death Star to the simple heroism of the triangle. Mathematician Hannah Fry, in a blurb of true candor, called the drawings “terribly bad,” and then added, in apologetic British fashion, that it was “fantastically clever,” “charming,” “glorious, warm, and witty.”

    Please note: If you peruse the Amazon pages for Ryan North’s extraordinary book or for my humble counterpart, you will find that the two are “frequently bought together”! This is the kind of crowd-sourced algorithmic endorsement to which every first-time author aspires. Join the masses! Buy them together!

    https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2018/05/23/math-with-bad-drawings-the-book/

  9. Out in November is the Firefly Encyclopedia! The book marks my fifth year working on the property, and it draws from the show, movie, and comics to present a comprehensive guide to the ‘verse. The book includes a narrative retelling, show analysis, new interviews, and essays, too! Contributors include author Maurice Broaddus, astronomer Mike Brotherton, translator Tony Lee, and a whole lot more! It was fun to write, but also allowed me to do a deep dive and present some insights about the show’s origins and structure.

    The Firefly Encyclopedia from Titan Publishing is available worldwide and can be found or requested at retail stores including Target and Walmart. If you have a local bookstore, I totally recommend getting it from them! It’s available wherever books are sold. Shiny!

  10. OH HEY I have three space operas in print! Set a thousand years in our future in a colonized galaxy, my Central Corps series follows Chief Engineer Elena Shaw and the crew of the starship Galileo as they battle to keep the peace among hundreds of inhabited worlds, all while uncovering schism and corruption in their own chain of command. Starships and wormholes and battles, oh my! Also some melodrama, because the political is always personal, isn’t it?

    You can read them in order, or not – there’s a larger arc, but they’re written to stand alone. URLs include links to US/UK/CA retailers.

    THE COLD BETWEEN – https://elizabethbonesteel.com/portfolio/the-cold-between-central-corps-1/
    REMNANTS OF TRUST – https://elizabethbonesteel.com/portfolio/remnants-of-trust-central-corps-2/
    BREACH OF CONTAINMENT – https://elizabethbonesteel.com/portfolio/breach-of-containment-central-corps-3/

  11. My time-travel novella, Alice Payne Arrives, is about an 18th century highwaywoman, her scientist girlfriend, and a war to change history. Fun, twisty, fast-paced and political. Available in ebook, paperback and audiobook from Tor.com Publishing (Nov. 2018).
    https://publishing.tor.com/alicepaynearrives-kateheartfield/9781250313744/

    My historical fantasy novel, Armed in Her Fashion, is about a wetnurse in 14th century Flanders who leads a raid on Hell. Weird and diverse, like the Middle Ages were. Available in ebook and paperback from ChiZine Publications (May 2018).
    https://chizinepub.com/armed-in-her-fashion/

    (Thanks, John!)

  12. My award-winning historical horror novel THE BONE MOTHER is told as a series of related stories and vignettes, many set in Eastern Europe, chronicling the fates of humans and mythical creatures as they face a war that may be their undoing. Illustrated with haunting archival photographs by Romanian photographer Costica Acsinte. “This extraordinary debut novel crosses borders and boundaries, stretching across continents and years…Demchuk gracefully pieces together a dark and shining mosaic of a story with unforgettable imagery and elegant, evocative prose. These stories read like beautiful and brutal nightmares, sharply disquieting, and are made all the more terrifying by the history in which they’re grounded.” (Publishers Weekly starred review) A nominee for the Giller Prize, the Shirley Jackson Award, the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, and winner of the Sunburst Award for speculative fiction. Links to paperback, ebook and audiobook: https://chizinepub.com/the-bone-mother/

  14. THE PIDGIN WARRIOR is my most recent translation (I hope that qualifies me as an author of sorts). It’s basically Don Quixote set in Jazz Age wartime China.

    In the 1930s, China is on the brink of collapse, with the Japanese invasion and internal strife tearing the nation apart.

    But one very silly man is convinced he can save China. And, having read too many kungfu novels, he knows the answer to the national trouble. His family flees the invasion to Shanghai, where he hopes to find a master who can teach him the kungfu magic required to save the nation.

    In Shanghai, he finds a master, but also conmen, well-fed hunger strikers, and a dance-hall girl (she might also be a kungfu master in disguise) who has surprising ideas about the ‘new morality.’

    C.T. Hsia writes of the author Zhang Tianyi: “Satiric brilliance and unusual comic verve”

    THE PIDGIN WARRIOR (Amazon): https://goo.gl/T3KVqR

    Also check out my previous translation, Mao Dun’s WAVERINGS, a classic work of anxiety and torment as 1920s China struggles with political and personal modernity: (Amazon) https://goo.gl/mW65A2

  15. Thanks so much, John, for this opportunity.

    There are many popular science books that focus on fundamental particles such as the Higgs Boson, or cosmological events like Gravity Waves. But few books deal with the human scale with which we live our daily lives. In THE PHYSICS OF EVERYDAY THINGS, I follow you as you go about your day, when you make breakfast, drive to a doctor’s appointment, go through TSA at the airport, give a business presentation and check into a hotel, and whenever you encounter technology, I pop in to explain the basic physics that makes it work.

    https://www.amazon.com/Physics-Everyday-Things-Extraordinary-Ordinary/dp/0770437753

    Of course, for those interested in physics at the Super-Human scale, there’s my popular science book THE PHYSICS OF SUPERHEROES

    https://www.amazon.com/Physics-Superheroes-Spectacular-Second-ebook/dp/B002SV3772

    This book covers everything from Isaac Newton to the transistor, but there’s not na inclined plane or pulley in sight. Rather ALL the examples come from superhero comic books, and as much as possible, deal with those cases where the heroes get their science right!

    Face Front, Fearless Reader!

  17. We all need more laughs in our lives. How about a romcom? My latest, YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND, is a modern homage to Jane Austen’s Emma, set on the North Shore in Massachusetts. Personality-plus powerhouse Melanie Abbott accidentally starts a business helping out her neighbors and the tourists in Abbott’s Bay. Her oldest friend, Connacht Garvey, is the one who keeps her in check. Publishers Weekly gave YNBF a five-star review, calling it a “delicious romantic comedy,” and it was a finalist in the Romance Writers of America Stiletto Awards. Check it out and my five other comedies too (links to all buying options here): http://jaynedenker.com/jaynes-books Thanks! :)

  18. My book for this year is BREAKFAST WITH EINSTEIN, about the ways quantum phenomena manifest during the course of ordinary morning activities. Most people think of quantum mechanics as abstract and arcane, but in fact it’s essential for everything from making toast (the theory was invented to explain the red glow of hot objects like the heating element of a toaster) to looking at cat photos on the Internet (digital camera sensors, computer chips, and fiber-optic telecommunications all rely on quantum physics for their operation).

    BREAKFAST WITH EINSTEIN is already out in the UK and out next week in the US; those links are to publisher pages that include links to all the places you might buy books.

  19. My book, “From Here To There: A Book of Mazes to Wander and Explore” is a unique collection of mazes, designed for adults, but enjoyable for a younger audience as well. The mazes are elaborate landscapes that are engrossing and intended to be enjoyed repeatedly. Great gift for any age! Published by Chronicle and Available on Amazon

  21. Hi, I’m Marshall Ryan Maresca, author of the Maradaine novels, which consist of four intertwined series set in city of Maradaine. Each series can be read independently, and for avid readers, characters and plot events cross over further into each storyline.

    Maradaine– The spellbinding port city filled with tales of murder and magic, secrets and lies, policemen and vigilantes, misfits and criminals, scholars and sidekicks, conspiracies and deadly danger. Four parallel series set amid the bustling streets and crime-ridden districts of the exotic city called Maradaine. Eight books out so far to thrill the fantasy reader in your life looking for their next series to binge!

    https://amzn.to/2SonAWT

  22. My book, Oddity, was short-pitched as Welcome to Night Vale for 8-12 year olds. It’s a lot of fun as a read-aloud, too! Eleven-year-old Ada Roundtree was born and raised in Oddity, New Mexico, the strangest little town in America. She’s at the top of her class and survives every school safety drill, but she has a zombie rabbit infestation in her yard, a ghost in her closet, and a hole in her heart. When her twin sister won the annual Greeley’s grocery store sweepstakes and, like all winners, disappeared, Ada distracted herself by reverse-engineering Nopes.com to find trouble to get into. But when she stumbles across evidence that the Sweepstakes is not what it seems, she’ll have to outwit the evil puppets who run her town to get at the truth and save her sister. Available on Indiebound, Amazon, and basically everywhere books are sold.

    “I’ve never read anything like this wonderful book. An infinite number of monkeys with an infinite number of typewriters have a story they want to share with you, and they’re going by the name Sarah Cannon so as to be inconspicuous. Do yourself a favor and take Oddity from their little monkey fingers.” ―Adam Rex, author of The True Meaning of Smekday

    “Utterly endearing. A charming, enjoyable thrill ride with memorable characters, crazy creatures, and a theme about the importance of family.” –Booklist

  23. Come one, come all, and enjoy DR. POTTER’S MEDICINE SHOW, wherein a traveling group of snake-oil salesmen, strongmen, fortune-tellers, and other unfortunates hawk a mysterious elixir touted to heal all ills, both physical and spiritual … but, for some, the reality is much, much worse.

    https://www.angryrobotbooks.com/shop/fantasy/dr-potters-medicine-show/

    Stay for THE TRIALS OF SOLOMON PARKER: two men in the Montana of the Copper Kings are given the chance to change their lives and right wrong choices, but instead find themselves caught between bored gods with a gambling urge …

    https://www.angryrobotbooks.com/shop/fantasy/the-trials-of-solomon-parker/

  24. My book, ALONG THOSE LINES: THE BOUNDARIES THAT CREATE OUR WORLD, is a rambling and irreverent look at how human beings use lines, whether on the map, around comics panels, on the playing field, or as divisions between species, time zones, genres, and genders. Described by Booklist as “intellectual reveling at its finest,” the book moved Slate.com reviewer Paul Ford to say, “It’s fun to spend a few hours in the presence of an amateur geographer whose brain is crammed with birds and pop songs and bits of string.” If you’re hanging out at Whatever, this may be the brain for you.

    https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/along-those-lines-peter-cashwell/1114937750?ean=9781589880924

    You can also enjoy my previous book, THE VERB ‘TO BIRD,’ a Barnes & Noble Discover selection, BookSense 76 pick, and Martha Stewart Living Television choice.

    https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-verb-to-bird-peter-cashwell/1117764917?ean=9781589880016#/

  25. Thanks, John, for letting us beg — uh, promote our work! My latest book, This Is the Year I Put my Financial Life in Order, is… a little odd. It’s a memoir of the steps I took, in my 50s, to, yes, get my financial life in order. But I wrote the book in a way that lets readers figure out how to do it for themselves, as well. And there’s some juicy descriptions of the messes that I had to untangle from earlier days. Fun! (There’s the superintendent in my NYC building who asked me, with regard to the deadbeat tenant who nearly bankrupted us, “You want me to kill him?”) The goal in writing “This Is the Year” was to reach people who are, like me, reluctant to think about money—maybe even scared of it. What has surprised me is how many people have told me that they have bought the book as a gift—for a sibling who asks money questions and might benefit from some guidance, and from parents to their twentysomething children. Stuffing a stocking with financial horse sense? You could do worse. Available from all the usual bookstores, online bookstores, IndieBound—you know. Everywhere. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/538767/this-is-the-year-i-put-my-financial-life-in-order-by-john-schwartz/9780399576812/

  26. An American Faerie Tale series is an urban fantasy series:
    Amid the stolen children and forgotten foes,
    The fae fill nightclubs and repose,
    Smartphones and guns hidden in high-end clothes.
    A street kid, half mad from unseen woes,
    Slings quantum magic to oppose.
    All this because, as everyone knows,
    Prince Charmings are only in children’s prose.

    The Stolen, The Forgotten, Three Promises, The Returned

    https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=author:O'Connell, Bishop

  27. For the genre fiction writer who wants to get the details right: PUTTING THE SCIENCE IN FICTION collects 60 articles from engineers, scientists, and other experts who will help you write competently and avoid pitfalls in their subject of expertise. There’s also a foreword from the ever-entertaining Chuck Wendig (that’s worth the price of the book by itself).

    Find it at Amazon or IndieBound

  28. The Reluctant Princess, the first in my Charm City Hearts series, is out now! It’s the first of a series of twenty-something romances set in Baltimore. There’s love! And steamy scenes! And humor! This tale centers on an artist who has a side hustle as a children’s party face-painter who meets a hot, devoted single dad. Neither’s looking for a relationship, but they can’t dodge the sparks that fly.

    Available in e-book now: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J5DVGFB

  29. GUNSLINGER GIRL is a YA Western/dystopian/sci-fi genre burrito about a teen girl who becomes a performing sharpshooter in a decadent, lawless city at the edge of civilization, only to find that the price for her new life is higher than she expects. It’s Moulin Rouge meets Godless (but actually centering women), with just a sprinkle of Firefly.

    GG is available at all the usual outlets, and the paperback (with a bonus short story!) drops on December 3. As always, if you can, support your local indie bookstore: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780316555104

    (Thank you, Mr. Scalzi!)

  30. Thanks for the space, John!

    OUTRIDERS is a military SF novel that B&N’s SF/F blog dubbed “the A-team in space”.

    A quick summary:

    Captain Lincoln Suh died on a Wednesday. And things only got harder from there.

    Snatched out of special operations and thrown head first into a secretive new unit, Lincoln finds himself as the team leader for the 519th Applied Intelligence Group, better known as the Outriders. And his first day on the job brings a mission with the highest possible stakes.

    A dangerously cunning woman who most assuredly should be dead has seemingly returned. And her plans aren’t just devastating, they might be unstoppable.

    How do you defeat a hidden enemy when you can’t let them know they’ve been discovered?

    You send in the Outriders.

    Available via Amazon: https://amzn.com/0857664514

    or via Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/outriders-jay-posey/1121727117

    Or more or less anywhere books are sold (hopefully).

    (And its sequel SUNGRAZER is also available for interested parties!)

  31. HIDDEN SUN is a science fantasy novel for the 21st century.

    Rhia Harlyn lives on a world divided between the intrigue-ridden shadowlands and the bright, alien skyland. She has a missing brother, an unwanted marriage proposal and an interest in science unbecoming in her gender. The skyland could hold the solution to her problems while satisfying her insatiable curiosity – or it could be the death of her.

    Even though John was kind enough to feature HIDDEN SUN on The Big Idea in September, I’m still going to promote it again here because I have no shame ;-) Paperback or e-book: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hidden-sun-jaine-fenn/1129054828?ean=9780857668011#/

  32. Hi! I’m Michael Moreci, and I had two books–one novel, one graphic novel–come out this year.

    The first, BLACK STAR RENEGADES, is a space adventure in the spirit of Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, and other sci-pulps. The story follows a young guy named Cade who, through circumstance, has the galaxy’s most powerful weapon thrust in his hands. He’s the absolute wrong person to use it, but if he doesn’t get his “stuff” together, the entire galaxy will fall into the clutches of a totalitarian regime. The book is a fun, page-turning romp, and it was just named one of the best sci-fi novels of 2018 by the Chicago Review of Books!

    https://www.amazon.com/Black-Star-Renegades-Michael-Moreci/dp/1250117844

    My graphic novel, WASTED SPACE, follows Billy Bane, intergalactic prophet–the Voice of the Creator–who got things all wrong, and the galaxy has been burning since. All Billy wants to do now is waste away in the darkest corner of space with his best pal Dust, an supercharged Fuq bot. But when a new prophet enters his life, Billy is forced to save the galaxy he’s at least partially responsible for destroying. But does he care enough to do it? Part Kurt Vonnegut, part Preacher, Wasted Space is a sci-fi adventure, and one of the most acclaimed comics of 2018.

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1939424356/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i8

  33. My epic fantasy SILENT HALL follows five refugees from a nation wiped out by a divine plague. They wander a continent together, growing closer to their “found family” while evading angry gods and searching for answers.

    Character-focused, theological, and a content warning for creepy child-eating elves. The full trilogy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B01MU9Z3RN/

  35. My group biography ASTOUNDING: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction (Dey Street Books / HarperCollins) was recently named one of the best books of 2018 by The Economist. The science fiction writer Barry N. Malzberg praised it as “the most important historical and critical work my field has ever seen,” while Michael Dirda of the Washington Post called it “enthralling…A clarion call to enlarge American literary history.” I suspect that it would make a good gift for anyone on your list interested in the authors of the golden age, the evolution of Scientology, or the history of science fiction in general.

    https://amazon.com/Astounding-Campbell-Heinlein-Hubbard-Science/dp/006257194X

  37. Love hot billionaires who fall in love with everyday women? Love cute rescue dogs? They’re all in SECOND TIME AROUND, a Second Glances novel by me, Nancy Herkness.

    Here’s what SECOND TIME AROUND is about:
    Kyra Dixon, a blue-collar girl from the boondocks, is dedicated to her job at a community center that matches underprivileged kids with rescue dogs. When she runs into Will Chase—Connecticut blueblood, billionaire CEO, and her old college crush—she’s surprised that he asks a favor from her: to be his date for his uptight family’s dreaded annual garden party. If his parents don’t approve—all the better.

    Kyra’s not about to say no. It’ll give her a chance to be oh-so-close to her unrequited love. What begins as a little fling turns so mad-hot, so fast, that Kyra finds herself falling all over again for a fantasy that won’t come true. How can it? She doesn’t belong in Will’s world. She doesn’t want to. But Will does want to belong in hers.

    All he has to do now is prove it. Will is prepared to give up whatever is necessary to get what his heart most desires.

    Here’s where to find SECOND TIME AROUND:
    Amazon (print): http://amzn.to/2DxgSrr
    Barnes and Noble (print): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/second-time-around-nancy-herkness/1127744129

    Or ask any bookstore to order it for you. If you want it autographed for yourself or as a gift, contact me at nancyherkness@gmail.com.

    Many thanks to Mr. Scalzi for sharing his blog with all us other authors!

  38. John, thanks so much for this opportunity.
    My novel RADIANT NIGHT came out in September and can make the perfect gift for the friend or loved one who likes intense, thrilling and captivating books. RADIANT NIGHT is about Ludwig Mason, the only Marine to have survived an explosion that reduced his military Humvee to a smoldering wreck in war-torn Fallujah. Back home on American soil, the 28-year-old Iraq War vet struggles through the traumatized, booze- and drug-addled aftermath. He fears that he’s lost his family, his friends, and his last chance at anything when something like fate intervenes in the form of a mysterious stranger named Mrs. S.
    The old fortune-teller tells Ludwig about an heirloom seized from her family by Nazis decades ago ― a fabled tarot deck that has 23 major arcana cards instead of the customary 22. A deck that she believes is now located somewhere in Mobile, Alabama. Whatever it was that brought Ludwig to Mrs. S.― be it chance, or fate ― draws him into an hallucinatory odyssey fraught with arcane symbols, danger, and paranoia as he ventures to retrieve the missing tarot deck and, with any luck, a piece of his own lost soul.
    Kirkus Reviews describes RADIANT NIGHT as “A rich neo-noir thriller that feels as original as it does compelling.”

    Amazon.com
    IndieBound
    Audible

    Thanks for your interest, and Happy Holidays!

  39. I write geeky DIY/craft books. Judging from my fan mail, these are mostly given as gifts to dads (of all ages). My most recent—JUNKYARD JAM BAND—is all musical instruments, many electric or electro-acoustic, many straight-up weird (single-chip synths,
    “elephant” trumpets, a steel-stringed electric ukulele, etc.) My previous book is SNIP, BURN, SOLDER, SHRED: SERIOUSLY GEEKY STUFF TO MAKE WITH YOUR KIDS. The title sorta says it all. Need a copy signed or personalized? I can accommodate.

  40. Noumenon and its sequel, Noumenon Infinity, are out from HarperVoyager and HarperVoyager UK!
    Both are far-reaching space operas full of space adventure, massive alien artifacts, and empathetic AIs.

    The convoy computer, I.C.C., and its clone crew seek to uncover the truth about newly discovered ancient alien megastructures, all while navigating the social difficulties of living in a closed society. Cut off from Earth by distance and time dilation, they are on a voyage of many lifetimes—an odyssey that will test the limits of their knowledge, values, and human bonds.

    https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B01N3KO7L7&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_3CubCbE81JYJD

  41. Thanks for doing this, John! And happy holidays, everyone! I have 3 new books out this year:

    For adults: THE QUEEN OF SORROW, Book Three of The Queens of Renthia, is an epic fantasy about bloodthirsty nature spirits and the women with the power to control them. All three books of the trilogy, starting with THE QUEEN OF BLOOD, are now available.

    For teens: FIRE AND HEIST comes out tomorrow! Think Ocean’s Eleven with were-dragons.

    For kids: THE STONE GIRL’S STORY is the story of a girl made of stone. Forever twelve years old, she has outlasted the father who carved her and gave her life, and now she must embark on a quest to save her stone friends.

    If you’re interested, there’s more info on all of these, including excerpts, on my website:

    http://www.sarahbethdurst.com

    Thanks so much!

  43. IMPLANTED, my debut from Angry Robot, is a cyberpunk adventure featuring light espionage, high-tech gadgets, romance, and hard questions about the future. The main character is a young woman named Emery Driscoll who’s blackmailed into working as a courier for a shadowy organization, and the book explores what happens when the life she was forced to leave behind comes back to haunt her after she’s left holding the bag on a job gone wrong.

    Not convinced? How about this? Take Johnny Mnemonic, add a dash of Person of Interest, mix with Logan’s Run, and wrap it all up in a Blade Runner-meets-solarpunk aesthetic. If that doesn’t sound awesome, well, that’s on you ;)

    It’s available in trade paperback, ebook, and audiobook from all major retailers.

    Thanks!

  44. Brigid and the Butter: A Legend about Saint Brigid of Ireland. When hungry, overworked young Brigid helps someone in greater need than herself, she is unexpectedly rewarded with a miracle. A children’s picture book illustrated by Apryl Stott, this is a tale of one of the many wonders told of the life of Saint Brigid of Ireland.
    https://www.amazon.com/Brigid-Butter-Legend-about-Ireland/dp/0819812331

    Staircase for the Sisters: A Story of Prayer and Saint Joseph. When a chapel is constructed without a necessary staircase, a carpenter builds one that many said couldn’t be built at all. A children’s picture book illustrated by John Joseph, this is based on a true story about a chapel which still stands in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0819890979/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i2

    The Sword and the Cape: A Tale about Saint Martin of Tours: When a Roman soldier sees a man freezing one winter day, he cuts his cloak in half to share it. A children’s picture book illustrated by Rebecca Sorge, this is a retelling of a famous legend.

    https://www.amazon.com/Sword-Cape-Pamela-Love/dp/0819875449

    Thanks for reading!

  45. FROM UNSEEN FIRE is my debut novel, available in hardcover and ebook from DAW Books and in audio from Audible. In an alternate version of ancient Rome, a trio of patrician sisters and an ambitious senator use wit, charm, and magic to realize their dreams for the city they love. Great gift for fantasy readers who love immersive worlds, complex magic, and having lots of different female characters to root for!

    “Fans of I, Claudius and Game of Thrones are in for a treat.” — Booklist Starred review
    “Brilliantly imagined and plotted” — BookPage
    “‘Rome with magic’ turns out to be exactly the novel I wanted to read. The magic cleverly intertwines with religion, politics, and daily life.” — Kate Elliott

    Print & ebook from your favorite sellers: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/549673/from-unseen-fire-by-cass-morris/9780756412241/
    Audio: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BWXVY1X

  46. My debut novel, The Traitor God is about a city threatened by unimaginable horrors who must trust their most hated outcast, or lose everything.

    After ten years on the run, dodging daemons and debt, reviled magician Edrin Walker returns home to avenge the brutal murder of his friend. Lynas had uncovered a terrible secret, something that threatened to devour the entire city. He tried to warn the Arcanum, the sorcerers who rule the city. He failed. Lynas was skinned alive and Walker felt every cut. Now nothing will stop him from finding the murderer. Magi, mortals, daemons, and even the gods – Walker will burn them all if he has to. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s killed a god…

    You can find it on Amazon
    https://www.amazon.com/Traitor-God-Cameron-Johnston-ebook/dp/B07CSWNH15/

    Or directly from Angry Robot
    https://www.angryrobotbooks.com/shop/fantasy/the-traitor-god/

  47. ARE YOU READY TO GO TO HELL?

    That’s the question that Manray Mothershed must answer. When an army of flesh-eating demons, renegade gods and even Lucifer himself drop by to devour his soul, Manray learns that Hell isn’t what it used to be and even the Devil is totally over it. But someone down there is kidnapping innocent mortal souls and replacing them with Hell’s hungriest bastards, and it’s up to Manray to save the world. But can even the world’s greatest self- help guru motivate the forces of Darkness when he’s already irrevocably damned? This and other burning questions will be answered in my dark comic novel…’WHO WANTS TO BE THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS?’

    It’s the follow up to my 2014 novel, LAST GOD STANDING. (You should probably read it first, and its also available now!)

    https://www.angryrobotbooks.com/shop/fantasy/who-wants-to-be-the-prince-of-darkness-michael-boatman/

    Happy Reading!

    Michael Boatman

  48. BLADES OF THE OLD EMPIRE is an adventure fantasy with elements of romance, book 1 in my award-winning MAJAT CODE trilogy.

    When Prince Kythar falls under attack in his own castle, he has no idea that his enemies are none other than the ancient Kaddim Brotherhood plotting to destroy his royal line. His inborn ability to control the elements is the only power that can stop this plot, but there is one problem. Kyth’s fighting skills are no match for the Kaddim, leaving him no time to put his magic to work.

    To defeat the Kaddim, Kyth must rely on his bodyguard Kara, a beautiful Diamond-ranked assassin from the elite Majat Guild. But his enemies develop an elaborate plan to remove her from their way. Acting through treachery and scheming, they pitch Kara against the Majat, marking her as a target for the only warrior who can defeat her in battle. With the deadly assassin on their trail, Kythar and Kara must face impossible odds to save the kingdom and their lives.

    Here is the link to the book on my publisher’s web site:

    https://www.angryrobotbooks.com/shop/fantasy/blades-of-the-old-empire-anna-kashina/

    Thanks a lot for this opportunity — and happy holidays!

  49. TIME’S CHILDREN is an epic fantasy/time travel novel that received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly earlier this Fall. PW said, “This novel wields dueling timelines like knives, keeping readers spellbound…Jackson creates two fascinating worlds that coalesce seamlessly into an un-put-downable fantasy narrative and seem likely to lead to an exciting sequel.”

    Tobias Doljan is a fifteen year-old time Walker who is sent back fourteen years to prevent a war. Upon his arrival in the past, however, his sovereign and much of the royal family are murdered. The lone survivor is the infant princess, and the assassins are still hunting for her. Tobias, now to outward appearances a twenty-nine year old man (time travel ages a Walker in proportion to how far he journeys), must keep her alive, restore the royal line to power, and find a way back to his own rightful time.

    https://www.angryrobotbooks.com/shop/fantasy/times-children/

  50. Thank you, John!

    My most recent thing is a signed, limited-edition hardcover of my Kitty-world novella, PARANORMAL BROMANCE. It’s about 3 Gen-X vampire roommates who prove, every day, that Gen-Xers make terrible vampires. We’ve only done 500 hundred of these guys, so order soon. From Fairwood Press.

    Also available in all formats, my post-apocalyptic murder mysteries BANNERLESS and THE WILD DEAD. BANNERLESS won the Philip K. Dick Award for 2018! These are way more timely than they were when I wrote them, and even just a little bit upbeat if you want a less bleak in your apocalypses. Here is a link.

  51. In Holland 1633, a woman’s ambition has no place.

    In A LIGHT OF HER OWN, my debut historical novel, Judith is a painter, dodging the law and whispers of murder to try to become the first woman admitted to the Haarlem painters guild. Maria is a Catholic in a country where the faith is banned, hoping to absolve her sins by recovering a lost saint’s relic.

    Both women’s destinies will be shaped by their ambitions, running counter to the city’s most powerful men, whose own plans spell disaster. A vivid portrait of a remarkable artist, A Light of Her Own is a richly-woven story of grit against the backdrop of Rembrandt and an uncompromising religion.

    “A dextrously woven and engrossing historical novel.” ― Publisher’s Weekly
    “A riveting fictionalized account of Judith Leyster.” ― Foreword Reviews
    “Recommended to all fans of historical fiction.” ― New York Journal of Books

    Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Light-Her-Own-Carrie-Callaghan/dp/1944995897/
    Audio book: https://www.amazon.com/A-Light-of-Her-Own/dp/B07GL39R9C/
    Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781944995898

  52. Thanks, John! The Bad Neighbor is a gritty crime thriller set in the North of England (which, I learned recently, apparently makes it Northern Noir) and follows part-time teacher Ollie Clay, who panic-buys a rundown house in the outskirts of Leeds only to discover that his new neighbor, Chas Walker, is an antisocial thug and perhaps something far worse. As Ollie digs deeper, the stakes get higher, and horrifying secrets are revealed.

    It’s available from Flame Tree Press in hardback, paperback, e-book, and audio book, from all the usual venues.

    https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Neighbor-Fiction-Without-Frontiers/dp/1787580261

  53. It’s fast becoming a geek world out there, and all moms need to show off their tech smarts and superhero-like skills in order to keep their savvy kids entertained and engaged. GEEK MOM: PROJECTS, TIPS, AND ADVENTURES FOR MOMS AND THEIR 21ST-CENTURY FAMILIES explores the many fun and interesting ways that digital-age parents and kids can get their geek on together. Imaginative ideas for all ages and budgets include thrifty Halloween costumes, homemade lava lamps, hobbit feasts, and magical role-playing games. There are even projects for moms to try when they have a few precious moments alone. With six sections spanning everything from home-science experiments to superheroes, this comprehensive handbook from the founding editors the popular GeekMom blog is packed with ideas guaranteed to inspire a love of learning and discovery. Along the way, parents will also find important tips on topics such as determining safe online communities for children, organizing a home learning center, and encouraging girls to love science.

    Being geeky is all about exploring the world with endless curiosity. GEEK MOM is your invitation to introducing the same sense of wonder and imagination to the next generation.

    It’s available at Amazon!

  54. I’d recommend either of my fantasy series, THE SEVEN FORGES or TIDES OF WAR. The SEVEN FORGES series is a tale of a massive, fading empire running across seven smaller kingdoms that have been united by their seven gods. Each of those gods is a god of war and they talk to their followers regularly. They talk, the followers listen.

    “…[a] well-written epic fantasy series kickoff.”
    – Publishers Weekly (August 19, 2013)

    “Seven Forges is an excellent, enjoyable, and thoroughly entertaining fantasy debut into a new world of swords and sorcery, complete with romance, intrigue, and danger.”
    – Attack of the Books

    “James A. Moore dedicates Seven Forges in part ‘to the memory of Fritz Leiber and Robert E. Howard for the inspiration.’ That dedication sets the bar high, and caused me a bit of readerly apprehension, because so many writers have imitated badly those two greats of the sword and sorcery tradition. Moore is far more than an imitator, though. He does some fresh, counterintuitive things with the genre conventions. More than once, he startled me into saying out loud, ‘I didn’t see that coming.’”
    – Black Gate

    https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Forges-Book/dp/0857663836

    THE TIDES OF WAR is the story of what happens when one man defies the gods who’ve taken his family as a sacrifice. The sacrifice is botched and the gods are very angry, indeed.

    “Gripping, horrific, and unique, James Moore continues to be a winner, whatever genre he’s writing in. Well worth your time.”
    – Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author of the InCryptid and Toby Daye series

    “James A Moore is the new prince of grimdark fantasy. His work is full of dark philosophy and savage violence, desperate warriors and capricious gods. This is fantasy for people who like to wander nighttime forests and scream at the moon. Exhilarating as hell.”
    – Christopher Golden, New York times bestselling author of Snowblind

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E2GZCVY/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i8

  55. I was just finishing my second beer when someone leaned down to whisper in my ear. “Want to do something insane?” -HEART OF MALICE (Alice Worth Book 1)

    Cross Jessica Jones and Kinsey Milhone with Harry Dresden and you get mage PI Alice Worth. She loves tall boots, strong coffee, and expensive Scotch…and dealing out justice wherever to people who deserve it most. Five years after escaping a crime syndicate, Alice solves supernatural mysteries with her ghost sidekick and struggles to atone for her past sins. When her past starts to catch up with her, however, she realizes her days of freedom may be numbered, despite how how well she’s hidden and how far she’s run.

    In Book 1, HEART OF MALICE, Alice is hired to find out who has stolen magical books and a terrifying weapon from a client whose family has more than its fair share of deadly secrets. You can download a free preview here: https://claims.prolificworks.com/free/mNZmZ3kU

    Books 1-3 and a bonus novella are available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited and in a convenient box set perfect for a weekend reading binge! Here’s the link: http://smarturl.it/AliceBoxAmz. Happy reading!

  56. This is a great idea, John.

    JADE CITY (published by Orbit) just won the World Fantasy Award and would make a great gift for anyone who would like the grim intrigue of warring houses in Game of Thrones, mixed with martial arts inspired magic akin to Avatar: The Last Airbender, baked with the family saga of The Godfather. The story follows four siblings of the Kaul family, one of two rival clans in the modern era metropolis of Janloon, as they struggle with each other, their family legacy, and the clan war that’s about to erupt on their streets.

    If you’re still on the fence, you can find the synopsis, blurbs, awards noms, and buy links here: http://fondalee.com/books/jade-city/

  57. So, I wrote this book while stuck in a terrible anatomy class instead of taking notes. It is a noir mashup of fairytales written in the style of the old Grimms tales. Heroes, battles between good and evil, and an all around escape from the oogieness we have going on in the world today. It won the Garcia Award for Best Book of the Year and was plucked from obscurity by my wonderful publishers.

    The Woodcutter

    eBook
    https://www.amazon.com/Woodcutter-Kate-Danley-ebook/dp/B007Y30722

    Paperback
    https://www.amazon.com/Woodcutter-Kate-Danley/dp/1612185401

    Audio
    https://www.amazon.com/Woodcutter-Kate-Danley/dp/1531883338

  58. Got a music loving preteen or teen in your life? WONDERFUL FEELS LIKE THIS is a story of music and friendship — between a bullied girl who finds solace in jazz and a man about to turn 90 who lived through the great jazz era in Stockholm. It’s a YA book published by Flatiron Books, written by Sara Lovestam and translated by me, Laura A. Wideburg.

    Steffi is feeling lost and alone at school, but one day when she’s walking home, she hears the strains of jazz music from an open window at the local nursing home. She’s invited in to hear the rest of the record, and over the next months, hears the tale of love and music in WWII-era Stockholm. A friendship is born, one that allows her to dream and find her place in the music world.

  59. What’s black and white and read all over? Why, “The Totally Ninja Raccoon Joke Book”, of course! Kids love jokes! They’ll love this goofy joke book filled with hundreds of funny jokes and illustrations. Kids will be laughing and sharing these jokes with everyone. Great for early and reluctant readers. Be warned! These jokes are totally ninja and totally silly.

    The Totally Ninja Raccoons is a series of early chapter readers specifically for reluctant readers. The target audience is second through fourth grade. Short chapters, humor, adventure, and one picture per chapter keep kids feeling a sense of engagement and accomplishment as they plow through these stories and ask for more!

  60. In my comic space opera Free Chocolate (from Angry Robot), culinary arts student Bo Benitez attempts to prevent a galactic war over the only thing Earth has that the rest of the galaxy wants: chocolate. Underneath the zany fun and dangerous aliens, it’s a story about understanding others and being true to your heart.

    “[A] clever debut… darkly comic and sometimes deadly serious.”
    – Publishers Weekly

    “This space opera-meets-soap opera debut is, ultimately, a rollicking adventure; a heist story in which chocolate is the greatest prize of all. Yum.”
    – Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog

  61. I write space opera now! My novel the Wrong Stars came out last year and lost a Philip K. Dick award. It’s about a crew of humans and posthumans and AI who discover a terrible cosmic threat and try to keep everybody in the galaxy from dying, and also there’s a species of alien pathological liars, and queer romance, and Big Weird Objects. The sequel The Dreaming Stars came out in October and has all of the above plus alien virtual reality and nanobot swarms and a church devoted to the ingestion of psychedelic drugs.

    https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Stars-Book-Axiom/dp/0857667092

    https://www.amazon.com/Dreaming-Stars-Book-II-Axiom/dp/085766767X

  63. PSEUDOTOOTH published by Unsung Stories.

    Aisling Selkirk is a young woman beset by unexplained blackouts. Sent to recuperate in the Suffolk countryside with ageing relatives, she seeks solace in the work of William Blake and writing her journal, filling its pages with her visions of Feodor, a fiery East Londoner haunted by his family’s history back in Russia.

    When Aisling discovers a Tudor priest hole, she learns of the house’s disturbed former inhabitants, and is drawn to an unfamiliar town where the rule of Our Friend is absolute and those deemed unfit and undesirable disappear into The Quiet…

    http://www.unsungstories.co.uk/pseudotooth-by-verity-holloway/

  64. KILL THE QUEEN is my latest book. It’s Gladiator meets Game of Thrones with a kick-butt heroine:

    The thrilling first novel of the Crown of Shards epic fantasy series combines magic, murder, and adventure when a member of the royal family becomes a contender in a clash for the crown…

    In a realm where one’s magical power determines one’s worth, Lady Everleigh’s lack of obvious ability relegates her to the shadows of the royal court of Bellona, a kingdom steeped in gladiator tradition. Seventeenth in line for the throne, Evie is nothing more than a ceremonial fixture, overlooked and mostly forgotten.

    But dark forces are at work inside the palace. When her cousin Vasilia, the crown princess, assassinates her mother the queen and takes the throne by force, Evie is also attacked, along with the rest of the royal family. Luckily for Evie, her secret immunity to magic helps her escape the massacre.

    Forced into hiding to survive, she falls in with a gladiator troupe. Though they use their talents to entertain and amuse the masses, the gladiators are actually highly trained warriors skilled in the art of war, especially Lucas Sullivan, a powerful magier with secrets of his own. Uncertain of her future—or if she even has one—Evie begins training with the troupe until she can decide her next move.

    But as the bloodthirsty Vasilia exerts her power, pushing Bellona to the brink of war, Evie’s fate becomes clear: she must become a fearsome gladiator herself . . . and kill the queen.

    More info on my website: https://www.jenniferestep.com/books/kill-the-queen/

    Folks can order signed copies of KILL THE QUEEN through Malaprop’s Bookstore through Dec. 11: https://www.malaprops.com/preorder-signed-copies-kill-queen-jennifer-estep

    Happy reading, everyone! :-)

  65. My novel, THE SISTERS MEDEROS, is my latest and the sequel, FOG SEASON, comes out in February 2019.

    House Mederos was once the wealthiest merchant family in Port Saint Frey. Now the family is disgraced, impoverished, and humbled by the powerful Merchants Guild. Daughters Yvienne and Tesara Mederos are determined to uncover who was behind their family’s downfall and get revenge. But Tesara has a secret – could it have been her wild magic that caused the storm that destroyed the family’s merchant fleet? The sisters’ schemes quickly get out of hand – gambling is one thing, but robbing people is another…

    Magic, mayhem, cheating at cards, a little armed robbery — you know, the usual thing that girls get up to these days. Available from Amazon, B&N, or your favorite indie. PS. if you can get it in time for the holidays, hit me up for a signed bookplate for the lucky recipient. http://www.patricesarath.com

  68. Ah, this is a tough one. John very kindly showed the review copy spine of my newest book, “Father of the Bride of Frankenstein” which won’t be available until January. It is very much in the comic tradition of my previous novels, “Shh! It’s a Secret: a novel about aliens, Hollywood, and the Bartender’s Guide” and “Time on My Hands: My Mis-adventures in time travel.”

    But if I have your attention here among many other authors, let me mention my non-fiction collection of essays, “Jar Jar Binks Must Die… and other observations about science fiction movies.” It was a Hugo finalist (which is a polite way of saying I lost) and has been cited in a number of publiciations because of the title essay. In fact I cover very many movies, and if you’re a fan of SF film, you should find this entertaining even if you disagree with me. (Of course you will. I’m a professional movie critic.)

    All of the above titles, published by Fantastic Books, are available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other online outlets, or can be ordered through your local bookstore.

  69. My book “Song Book” tells the stories of 21 songs released between 1964 and 1974. You probably know some of them. You might not know all of them. But every one has a fascinating story behind it – how it was written, the artists that covered it, and where else it might have shown up in popular culture. Combining research, critical assessment, and the occasional dose of snark,”Song Book: 21 Songs From 10 Years (1964)” makes a great gift for the music or pop culture lover on your list, or a gift to yourself. “Song Book” is published by New Haven Publishing, and is available at Amazon, Waterstones, Indigo, Barnes & Noble, and WHSmith. The link to buy the book at any of those sites is here: https://writingonmusic.com/song-book-the-book/
    Thanks for this opportunity, John!

  70. Hi guys! My name is Viktoria Alukard and I recently launched my debut on October 22nd this year on my birthday. It’s my very first ever novel, titled “The Dhampir Dimension: Stigmata”

    I would personally describe it as an Underworld meets Castlevania set in 2018, with lots of military influence tinged into the text.

    The synopsis tells the reader of a young US Navy Veteran named Regina Brighton, who was medically separated from the military against her wishes. She leaves San Diego in a haste to escape the haunting of the turmoil of her tempestuous divorce and the strife she dealt with, fighting to stay in the Navy.

    She relocates to Bucharest to start a new job at a power plant, seeking peace and a fresh start. However, peace soon becomes elusive when she becomes the target of obsession of a mysterious detective named Enttu Tepes, a brooding man who appears ageless. Little does she know that his motive is fueled by the desire to protect her from the grasp of the Dragul coven, a horde of vampires from Transylvania that Enttu has waged a war with for over a century, when they all but decimated his Selenian coven in Wallachia.

    Under the guise of a human, he slowly but surely seduces Regina, who bears an uncanny resemblance to his deceased wife murdered in 1894. But can she survive the risqué lifestyle being the courtesan of the former dhampir prince?

    They both face the threat of Basilisk, the interdimensional demon, seeping through the portals of the Lower Astral Planes to take over the world via destruction, with assistance of archenemy Narciso Tepes, the leader of the Dragul clan.

    Enter a high octane underworld fueled with blood, street fights, heart-stopping demonic encounters, embracing one’s own darkness to defeat the darkness, and reclaiming long lost love.

    About me: I’m an active duty electrician’s mate in the Navy and I’m stationed at Coronado Island! :)

    I am currently writing the sequel, which paints a scenery more likened to Hostel, while staying true to the classic Romanian vampire of the Bram Stoker era. Enjoy! ;)

    Disclaimer: I’ve had this project in mind since 2007. The cover is my own design and the physical concept of Enttu on the cover has been in existence since I was 17.
    Warning: Strong sexual content. Gore and vampire violence, profanity, and psychologically triggering sequences.

    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JVB2WHZ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_0vxbCbWNWZJN2

  71. Ahoy! I’ve always loved space and spies, so I decided to combine them in my debut novel, The Caledonian Gambit, which came out in 2017 from Talos Press. Eli Brody’s a washed-up pilot who is forced to team up with a covert operative and his team to find a mysterious superweapon and stop a galactic cold war from turning hot. There’s intrigue, humor, and plenty of action! Available at all your fine book stores: https://dmoren.com/the-caledonian-gambit/

  72. After an incident involving some bags of human meat, an angry mob, and an embarrassing accident with a grenade, Kid ends up joining a crew of trigger-happy raiders. When they find out some so-called hero is aiming to bring law and order back to the wastelands, they set off on a journey to stop him. BITE is a darkly humorous coming-of-age story that follows the “bad guys” of a post-apocalyptic world. Perfect for fans of Fallout, Borderlands, and Mad Max: Fury Road!

    Purchase links available here: http://ksmerbeth.com/books

  73. Kirkus described SUBSTRATE PHANTOMS as, “a deep dive into prose-poetry sci-fi and mind-stretching mystery.” A haunted space station, planetary adventure, wonder and danger at every turn.

    Michael Bishop said, “An out-and-out breakthrough, with mystical and sociological roots trailing back to Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End and Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness. Indeed, true aficionados of humane hard SF will applaud Ms. Reisman for bequeathing them this beautiful tale of a heretofore uncreated tomorrow.”

    Available as trade paper and e-book.
    https://www.amazon.com/Substrate-Phantoms-Jessica-Reisman/dp/1630230332

  74. My debut SF duology from HarperCollins just finished with the second book in October, so now you can read both back to back. DARE MIGHTY THINGS is a near-future YA SF about a NASA intern who competes for a chance to go on a top-secret mission into space, and the sequel, ONE GIANT LEAP, is about the aftermath of what she discovers at the end of competition.

    Amie Kaufman, co-author of the NYT Bestselling Illuminae Files series, summed it up pretty good: “Gripping and original, packed with tension and intrigue, Dare Mighty Things grabbed me from the start and kept me guessing right to the end! Space, STEM and a kickass heroine with her eyes on the prize — what more could you want?”

    The hardcover of DARE MIGHTY THINGS is on sale at Amazon now for less than $10, and it’s also available in paperback and audio. Perfect gift for ambitious girls who love STEM and dream of being an astronaut, and for anyone wanting to inspiring kids with a love of space.
    https://www.amazon.com/Dare-Mighty-Things-Heather-Kaczynski/dp/0062479865/

  75. If you’re into YA sci-fi, check out my EXTRACTION series! All three books are available now. EXTRACTION follows Clementine, a 16-year-old girl who wins an escape from the surface of a planet orbited by a poisonous moon, only to find herself fighting to keep control of her mind. Think Divergent meets Star Wars, with aliens and spaceships and rebellions!

    https://www.amazon.com/Extraction-Stephanie-Diaz/dp/1250041171/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543866947&sr=8-1&keywords=extraction+diaz

  76. My book DRAGON ROAD–the second book of the Drifting Lands–takes place in a setting where mankind lives on floating landmasses dotting an eternal sky. The crew of the Skyship Elysium is pulled into the complex machinations of the giant, manhattan-sized magitech trade-ship Iseult as it’s officer aristocracy attempts to select a new Captain. Meanwhile, a dangerous, genocidal cult lurks within its depths, and in the trackless darkness of the endless sky, a horror older than the eldest nation seeks their end.

    DRAGON ROAD is a story of found family, redemption, the cycle of violence, politics, and continues the coming of age of Apprentice Sorceress Aimee de Laurent on her journey across the endless heavens.

    You can find it, and the previous book, SKYFARER, on Amazon.

    https://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Road-Drifting-Lands-Book-ebook/dp/B074LRWW1K/ref=pd_sim_351_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B074LRWW1K&pd_rd_r=45040a61-f735-11e8-8faa-638dd304c51b&pd_rd_w=2x9ut&pd_rd_wg=g97jc&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=18bb0b78-4200-49b9-ac91-f141d61a1780&pf_rd_r=9YECK805BEZQ01BRMJ4K&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=9YECK805BEZQ01BRMJ4K

    https://www.angryrobotbooks.com/shop/fantasy/dragon-road/

  77. The entirety of my epic fantasy trilogy, “The Paladin Trilogy,” is available everywhere books are sold! Below is the Amazon Link, since book 2, “Stillbright,” is a monthly Kindle Deal, and I understand that Crusade will be a daily deal later in the month. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BVYG8CW?ref=series_rw_dp_labf). Books 2 and 3 received Starred Reviews in Publisher’s Weekly; if you or those you’re buying for love sarcasm, swordfights, faith, found family, and people trying to change the world for the better, or “super-heroic origin story in a fantasy world” is something you’ve always wanted, give it a try.

    And! There are Audiobooks, narrated by the incomparable Michael Kramer. https://www.audible.com/series?asin=B0719BZ38X&ref=a_pd_Crusad_c1_series_1&pf_rd_p=52918805-f7fc-40f4-a76b-cf1c79f7d10a&pf_rd_r=XXF9BRQRZJAPT4SXE4XJ&

  78. THIS I KNOW features a clairvoyant preacher’s daughter who comes of age in the 1960s Midwest. This story is written for adults and will appeal to fans of Southern Grit, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Magical Realism, Women’s Fiction with crossover to Young Adult. This best-selling 2018 debut is Delilah Book Club Selection.

    “In a pitch-perfect voice, Edwards captures Grace’s struggles to understand the pain of those around her as she deals with her own, especially her desire to be loved unconditionally by her father. Grace displays a wellspring of compassion—for the homeless man who sometimes squats in her family’s barn, for families who have lost loved ones and especially for her mama, whom she desperately wants back from the grips of depression. An enveloping warmth that draws the reader in.”
    —Bookpage

    “If you’re looking for good, old-fashioned storytelling, one that will pull you in from the beginning and never let go, this is the book for you.”
    —Historical Novels Society

    https://www.amazon.com/This-I-Know-Eldonna-Edwards-ebook/dp/B074DGLHYD

  79. My book is “The Tea Master and the Detective”: the detective story you would get if Sherlock were an abrasive scholar and Watson a grumpy discharged warship. Also tea, fish sauce, and the dark between the stars…
    Ebook (US)
    Print Book

  80. UNBROKEN: 13 STORIES STARRING DISABLED TEENS is a YA anthology featuring all disabled main characters, written by disabled creators. Here, you’ll find sci-fi and fantasy, contemporary and historical stories, dragons and ghosts and love and hope. Kirkus called it “vital”, Booklist called it “masterful”, and as the proud editor, I have no shame at all about shoving the book into other people’s faces. ;)

    https://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-Stories-Starring-Disabled-Teens/dp/0374306508/

  81. Thanks for the opportunity, John.

    Gentle readers, I present you with THE MOONS OF BARSK, the sequel to my award-winning novel Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard.

    Here’s the blurb from the Publisher:

    Pizlo, the lonely young outcast and physically-challenged Fant, is now a teenager. He still believes he hears voices from the planet’s moons, imparting secret knowledge to him alone. And so embarks on a dangerous voyage to learn the truth behind the messages. His quest will catapult him offworld for second time in his short life, and reveal things the galaxy isn’t yet ready to know.

    Elsewhere, Barsk’s Senator Jorl, who can speak with the dead, navigates galactic politics as Barsk’s unwelcome representative, and digs even deeper into the past than ever before to discover new truths of his own.

    It’s been described as “high-concept science fiction, with deeply human characters” (none of whom happen to be human). THE MOONS OF BARSK is an anthropomorphic science fantasy that presents the physics of memory, a drug for speaking to the dead, the Campbellian mono-myth, an AI possessed of all the stories of humanity, a young boy who can see the future and grapples with having free will in a deterministic universe, love, betrayal, friendship, telepathic disease vectors, and of course, Elephants. In Space.

    Available in Hardcover, Ebook, and Audiobook. You can listen to a snippet from the opening chapter of the audiobook, read by the brilliant J.G. Hertzler (aka, Admiral Martok from Start Trek: Deep Space Nine) just by clicking this link.

  82. My debut novel THE CITY OF LOST FORTUNES came out earlier this year, and was just named one of Library Journal’s Best Books of 2018. Here’s the deets:

    In 2011, Post-Katrina New Orleans is a place haunted by its history and by the hurricane’s destruction, a place that is hoping to survive the rebuilding of its present long enough to ensure that it has a future. Street magician Jude Dubuisson is likewise burdened by his past and by the consequences of the storm, because he has a secret: the magical ability to find lost things, a gift passed down to him by the father he has never known—a father who just happens to be a god. When the debt Jude owes to a fortune deity gets called in, he finds himself sitting in on a poker game with the gods of New Orleans, who are playing for the heart and soul of the city itself.

    (Thanks for doing this, John, this is super cool)

    https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B073XC25CB&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_53ybCbJR8PNR1

    https://www.amazon.com/City-Lost-Fortunes-Crescent-Novel/dp/1328810798/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1501363985&sr=1-1

  83. Shades Within Us: Tales of Migrations and Fractured Borders allows 21 authors, including Tyler Keevil, Matthew Kressel, Rich Larson and Seanan McGuire, to explore the political, social, and personal joys and costs of crossing borders—physical or metaphorical—through the lens of science fiction and fantasy. Third in the award-winning Laksa Media social causes anthology series edited by Susan Forest and Lucas K. Law.

    https://www.amazon.com/Shades-Within-Migrations-Fractured-Speculative/dp/1988140056/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543867856&sr=8-1&keywords=shades+within+us

  84. With all the hubbub about climate change and how ditzy the weather forecasters are, know that you can forecast your own weather more reliably…with BACKYARD WEATHER FORECASTING. I used to be a weather forecaster with the military and what I missed most was going outside and actually seeing what the weather was doing instead of analyzing a thousand charts in a windowless room. So I wrote the book I wanted. Available on Amazon (free for Kindle Unlimited) in print and e-book.

  85. WOULD YOU BAPTIZE AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL? (And Other Questions from the Astronomer’s Inbox at the Vatican Observatory) first came out in 2014 but the revised paperback edition, from Penguin/Image Books, came out this year. (It’s got various corrections and a new preface.)

    My coauthor Paul Mueller (a philosopher and historian of science) and I wrote it in dialogue style, which lets us each tell our own stories and disagree with each other on occasion; but I admit it makes the audiobook version sound really odd, hearing our words in someone else’s voices!

    Though it is a dialogue of philosophy, history, and (gasp!) theology it has lots of planetary science (my field) and even a short surprise science fiction story. (I won’t tell you where, but I have read it at SF conventions.) Oh, and I quote Heinlein’s Have Spacesuit Will Travel, talking about Pluto. Did I mention, it’s our try at a fun take on a lot of the questions we get all the time?

    I originally was tempted to use the subtitle “and all the other stupid questions we get asked” but actually the questions aren’t stupid at all. People do want to know about The Big Bang, Pluto, Galileo, the Star of Bethlehem, the end of the universe… and of course ET’s. But often it’s the questions underlying the questions that really need to be explored; that’s what we try to do here.

  86. Dear folks,

    (Hi, Guy! Great book! Pointing upwards…)

    Getting in my plug…

    SATURN RUN, written by moi and John Sandford, is still available from fine purveyors of books, everywhere.

    (Possibly, it is also available from non-so-fine purveyors, but we will not speak of them.)

    If you want to read the first two chapters, they are linked to at the top of my website: ctein.com

    If you want to read the hilarious backstory for the novel : https://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/10/08/the-big-idea-ctein/

    (Disclaimer: the opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the management. To request an equal-time response, please contact…)

    Thank you for your attention and we now return you to the program in progress.

    – pax \ Ctein
    [ Please excuse any word-salad. Dragon Dictate in training! ]
    ======================================
    — Ctein’s Online Gallery. http://ctein.com 
    — Digital Restorations. http://photo-repair.com 
    ======================================

  87. Hi Folks, Brian Cogan chiming in. My most recent book, along with my co-writers Jeff Massey and Chris Barsanti, Monty Python FAQ is available at fine bookstores everywhere. It’s a distillation of almost 50 years of Monty Python and is a sequel of sorts to me and Jeff’s previous book, Everything I needed to know about… I learned from Monty Python. If you love Python, you will feel these books are very, very silly. Much more info on my author page below.
    My author website is http://www.thebriancogan.com/
    I’m on twitter as https://twitter.com/TheBrianCogan
    And you can find the rarely posting Jeff at: https://twitter.com/j_effin_massey
    I also wrote a bunch of other books, best know is The Encyclopedia of Punk.
    You can find the Python book on amazon as well
    Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Monty-Python-FAQ-Grails-Nudging/dp/1495049434/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1543871110&sr=1-2&keywords=Monty+Python+FAQ
    Also the previous book on Python: https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Needed-About-Learned-Python/dp/1250004705/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1543871153&sr=1-5&keywords=Brian+Cogan

  89. I’ve translated into English a bunch of books lately but two that might be of particular interest for Whatever readers:

    For younger readers:
    THE WILD BOOK by Mexican writer Juan Villoro (Restless Books) is a fun fantasy novel about the power of reading. It is the story of a young boy who goes to stay with his eccentric uncle and his enormous and equally-eccentric library, and discovers the (literal) magic not just of reading but of sharing what’s read with others: https://restlessbooks.org/bookstore/the-wild-book

    For older readers:
    LA BASTARDA by Equatorial Guinean writer Trifonia Melibea Obono (Feminist Press) is a coming of age story about an orphaned 16 year old girl’s search for her birth father and the awakening of both her sexuality and her awareness of how the world works along the way. This is the first novel by a woman writer from Equatorial Guinea to be translated into English. https://www.feministpress.org/books-a-m/la-bastarda

  91. THE CALL OF THE RIFT: FLIGHT is my debut novel and the first in a series of YA alt-historic fantasies. In the lush coastal rainforest of western Canada, an indigenous teenage girl named Kateiko struggles to keep people alive on the verge of civil war among colonists and outright war with a wind spirit. Featuring gorgeous hand-drawn maps and other appendices, it’s suited for people who like to explore richly-detailed worlds in the style of Philip Pullman.

    Kirkus gave it a starred review, calling it “[a] stunning debut . . . An intricately lush and well-crafted new fantasy that deserves (and demands) a sequel.”

    Available as hardcover, ebook, and audiobook read by Sera-Lys McArthur, a talented indigenous Canadian actress.

    https://ecwpress.com/products/rift-flight

  92. CHILD OF NOD is my debut novel, the first in a trilogy, but stands on its own. It’s a dark fantasy that draws on Alice in Wonderland, myth, and fable. Newly-dead Alice finds herself in a forest in the corrupted fairy-tale land of Nod, and soon discovers she must flee the man responsible for her murder before he sends her to a final, second death.

    https://www.amazon.com/Child-Nod-Balance-Book-1-ebook/dp/B0777QH3K3/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543877301&sr=8-1&keywords=child+of+nod

  93. Hello! I’m Toby Frost and I write the SPACE CAPTAIN SMITH books. They’re comedies set in the far future: if you like Blackadder or Galaxy Quest, you should check them out. Space empires, giant soldier ants, homicidal (and suicidal) lemming-men, and a conspiracy to destroy the Earth’s supply of tea – and the covers are great too!

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Space-Captain-Smith-Chronicles-Isambard/dp/1905802137

    https://www.amazon.com/Space-Captain-Smith-Toby-Frost-ebook/dp/B00472O9VS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1543877597&sr=1-1&keywords=toby+frost

  94. The Subjugate:
    In a small religious community rocked by a spree of shocking murders, Detectives Salvi Brentt and Mitch Grenville find themselves surrounded by suspects. The Children of Christ have a tight grip on their people, and the Solme Complex neurally edit violent criminals – Subjugates – into placid servants called Serenes. In a town where purity and sin, temptation and repression live side by side, everyone has a motive. But as the bodies mount up, the frustrated detectives begin to crack under the pressure: their demons are coming to light, and who knows where that blurred line between man and monster truly lies…

    “The Subjugate is a compelling seat-of-the-pants murder mystery and a fascinating inquiry into good and evil and the possibility of redemption.” – The Guardian

    “This new book combines convincing near-future forecasting with great characters and a police-procedural murder mystery with some neat twists and turns to achieve full page-turner status—all without sacrificing intelligence for thrills.” – Locus Magazine

    http://smarturl.it/TheSubjugate

  95. My debut book, a fantasy novel about fake news and the power of stories, came out this year! It’s good and you should read it!

    “In a bleak, far-northern land, a wandering storyteller is arrested on charges of witchcraft. Though Chant protests his innocence, he is condemned not only as a witch, but a spy. His only chance to save himself rests with the skills he has honed for decades – tell a good story, catch and hold their attention, or die.

    But the attention he catches is that of the five elected rulers of the country, and Chant finds himself caught in a tangled, corrupt political game which began long before he ever arrived here. As he’s snatched from one Queen’s grasp to another’s, he realizes that he could either be a pawn for one of them… or a player in his own right. After all, he knows better than anyone how powerful the right story can be: Powerful enough to save a life, certainly. Perhaps even powerful enough to bring a nation to its knees.”

    Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34328664-a-conspiracy-of-truths
    Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Conspiracy-Truths-Alexandra-Rowland/dp/1534412808/

  96. BEHIND THE THRONE is the first book in the epic Indranan War Trilogy (all books in the completed trilogy HERE with ebook set on sale for less than $12)

    Hail Bristol has made a name for herself as one of the most fearsome gunrunners in the galaxy. But she can’t escape her past forever: twenty years ago, she was a runaway princess of the Indranan Empire. Now, her mother’s people have finally come to bring her home.

    But when Hail is dragged back to her Indrana to take her rightful place as the only remaining heir, she finds that trading her ship for a palace is her most dangerous move yet.

    In a world where the only safe options are fight or flight, Hail must rule.

  97. This year Tor kicked off my Dark Arts secret history / contemporary fantasy series with the release of book one, The Midnight Front, which might be described as “John Constantine joins the Inglorious Basterds.”

    From the back cover:

    On the eve of World War Two, Nazi sorcerers come gunning for Cade Martin but kill his family instead. His one path of vengeance is to become an apprentice of The Midnight Front — the Allies’ top-secret magickal warfare program — and become a sorcerer himself.

    Unsure who will kill him first — his allies, his enemies, or the demons he has to use to wield magick — Cade fights his way through occupied Europe and enemy lines. But he learns too late the true price of revenge will be more terrible than just the loss of his soul, and that there’s no task harder than doing good with a power born of ultimate evil.

    Kirkus called it “equal parts brimstone and gunpowder,” and Publishers Weekly called me “a skilled storyteller with a knack for vivid and visceral action.”

    Best of all for you holiday shoppers, the novel is currently on sale! All eBook formats are priced at $2.99, and the trade paperback is just $8.79 on Amazon. (Also available in hardcover and digital audiobook.) Last but not least, its first sequel, The Iron Codex, is coming in six weeks, on January 15!

    Links to major retailers for all formats can be found here: http://davidmack.pro/writing/the-midnight-front/

  98. Here’s a book for the chocolate-lover and mystery-lover on your Christmas list: In Cold Chocolate by Dorothy St. James (A Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery) from Crooked Lane Books. It’s a Night Owl Review TOP PICK! Available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook. Your mother-in-law will love you for this one. :)

    http://amzn.to/2Nvcw8n

    Sea turtles, chocolate turtles, and a dead playboy keep the island town of Camellia Beach busy in this latest mystery, IN COLD CHOCOLATE. Get your copy today.

    “…surprisingly complex …vividly rendered Lowcountry setting…” ~ Booklist Reviews

    “…a great addition to an outstanding series! This cozy series has everything you could want – great characters, good writing and thrilling mysteries that’ll keep you entertained. I highly recommend.” ~ Night Owl Reviews *TOP PICK!*

    “Great book from a now favorite author!” ~ Brandi, Netgalley Reviewer

  100. A Nose For Trouble is my science fiction romance debut novella.

    Lisa Wong-Osunbar is an amp – an amplified human with a super-human sense of smell. Lucent is also an amp, and one of the best spies in the business.

    When their assignments from the National Bureau of Amplified Human Enforcement collide, they’re tasked with stopping a group of super-powered bank robbers intent on funding an unsettling political agenda.

    As Lisa and Lucent uncover the rogue amps’ scheme, they must decide if they are sympathetic toward their aims and whether they’re going to complete the assignment they’ve been given.

    And as if matters weren’t complex enough, Lisa must decide if the heat she’s feeling is coming from the line of fire or… her new partner.

    Paperback copies of A Nose For Trouble are available from Powells or Amazon. E-books through Amazon or Smashwords.
    (Now that I’ve posted this, I can go read all the others!)

  102. Hey all, do you like a slow burn tense murder mystery but also sieges and ancient magic? My debut, City of Lies, came out mid-year with Tor (US)/ Transworld (UK/ANZ) and it is my homage to my two great loves of closed room mysteries and epic fantasy.

    It’s about a brother and sister whose family is responsible for protecting the ruling family by proofing their food for poisons – and what happens when their uncle and the Chancellor both succumb to an unknown poison, and an army of their own countrymen besieges the city. Basically they’re are stuck in a besieged city trying to protect the Heir from the poisoner, and slowly figuring out everything they thought they knew about their society was wrong.
    https://us.macmillan.com/series/thepoisonwars

    You might like it if you like suspense/intrigue, characters who are not super powered (neither of my MCs are fighters, one is chronically ill and the other has relatively severe anxiety and OCD), gender equal worlds (please don’t read this if you’re bothered by the womenz being all over the place), characters who are trying to do the right thing in trying circumstances, and optimism rather than cynicism. I would like you very much if you got it as a seasonal gift. :)

  103. A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder, historical mystery
    Victorian widow, Frances Wynn, Countess of Harleigh, is dealing with a high society burglar, a marriage-mad sister, and a murder. When the London season turns deadly, she fears one of her sister’s suitors may be the killer. Frances must rally her wits and a circle of gossiping friends and enemies to unmask the culprit before she becomes his next victim.
    https://www.amazon.com/Etiquette-Murder-Countess-Harleigh-Mystery/dp/1496716876/

  104. Mud and Glass is at once a riotous lost-treasure adventure, a fond homage to university life, and a manifesto of rebellion against a nascent totalitarian regime.

    Life is straightforward for Dr. Celeste Carlucci, a professor at Krasnia’s finest university. She wants tenure. She wants to know why the Purple River delta disappears as fast as the river can create it. And she wants to maintain her problematic friendship with her colleague, the feisty and infamous Dr. Hypatia “Pace” Garoux. Straightforward, that is, until Pace involves Celeste in her research. Before she knows it, Celeste is being shot at from a hovering helicopter, knifed in an abduction attempt, attacked on a moonlit mountain path, and followed by shadowy minions — all because she and Pace are on the trail of the Littoral Codex, an ancient and indecipherable book, and the key to understanding it: a set of glass tablets, long thought lost, that can reveal the book’s hidden text. The race is on between Celeste and a collection of odd and alarming foes to bring the book and the tablets together at last!

    Preview here: https://read.amazon.com.au/kp/embed?asin=B07DBVFGSZ&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_v4EbCb9BQQ2HV

  105. My debut novel, QUIETUS, and its sequel, TERMINUS, both came out this year. If a screwed-up history of death in the medieval world and sci-fi twistiness sound like great genres put together, you’re my kind of reader.

    Niccolucio, a young Florentine Carthusian monk, leads a devout life until the Black Death kills all of his brothers, leaving him alone and filled with doubt. Habidah, an anthropologist from another universe racked by plague, is overwhelmed by the suffering. Unable to maintain her observer neutrality, she saves Niccolucio from the brink of death. Habidah discovers that neither her home’s plague nor her assignment on Niccolucio’s world are as she’s been led to believe.

    https://www.angryrobotbooks.com/shop/sf/quietus/

  106. MOONSHINE is a secondary-world, magical Prohibition urban fantasy set in Soot City, a young metropolis built on a scarred volcanic badlands. Daisy Dell is a stylish but broke flapper starting a new job at a nondescript office to earn some cash to fund her modern lifestyle, but she has to work to keep her magic under wraps. That becomes a mite trickier when the shady dealings of her new employer and the poor decision-making of her boss and mentor, Andre, get her swept up in a political scheme that has bounty hunters scouring the city for magicians to uncover and make an example of.

    MOONSHINE is a success story of Beth Phelan’s #DVPit event on Twitter and is published by Angry Robot. It’s a perfect read for fans of:
    – flapper wizards
    – weird takes on urban fantasy settings
    – queer and disabled representation
    – sexy monsters

    Buy on Amazon
    Buy on Barnes & Noble
    Buy on Powell’s

  107. In my new collection, AN AGENT OF UTOPIA: NEW AND SELECTED STORIES, from Small Beer Press (November 2018), you will meet a Utopian assassin, an aging UFO contactee, a haunted Mohawk steelworker, a time-traveling prizefighter, a yam-eating Zombie, and a child who loves a frizzled chicken—not to mention Harry Houdini, Zora Neale Hurston, Sir Thomas More, and some unexpected characters, too. It includes two new novelettes (“An Agent of Utopia” and “Joe Diabo’s Farewell”), one previously uncollected story (“Slow as a Bullet”), a Nebula Award winner (“Close Encounters”) and a World Fantasy Award winner (“The Pottawatomie Giant”). It has starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly, is on Barnes & Noble’s Favorite Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of 2018 list, and has been lauded by the Chicago Tribune, Locus and Tor.com. It also inspired Sarah Pinsker to write this blurb: “Andy Duncan is the Andy Duncan of Andy Duncanland.” Exactly my ambition! http://smallbeerpress.com/books/2018/11/06/agent-of-utopia/

  109. The Memoirs of Lady Trent! The Hugo-nominated Victoriain’t adventures of a lady traveling the world to study dragons and cause political disasters (the latter are more of a side effect than a goal, but still). To quote the fourth book: “‘A damned stupid way to get killed’ might have described any number of incidents in my life, had my luck been only a little different.” Deserts! Mountains! Tropical diseases! Disapproving relatives! Sea serpents that try to snap your ship in half! SCIENCE! Available in print, ebook, audiobook, and five foreign languages, from fine retailers around the world.

  110. BONES OF STARLIGHT by EVA L. ELASIGUE is a trilogy epic of an intergalactic imperium in the throes of generational change, where humanity lives among the stars along with fantasy interdimensional extraterrestrials, Dragons a prominent citizen.

    Fire Within – 1 – re-issued 2018
    The Scion Princess of the imperial ruling line is contacted by hidden enemies, revealing uncomfortable information that she must deconstruct on her own. Far-flung individuals of wildly varying backgrounds begin to turn an interconnected wheel of destinies under their own journeys.
    https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bones-of-starlight-eva-l-elasigue/1129335957?ean=9781944416119

    Abyss Surrounding – 2 – published 2018
    Political and personal situations have experienced profound reversals, and new people are coming to light, revealing themselves piece after piece in both cautious inquiry and the inexorable progress of their agendas. Spheres collide more and more as unlikely linkages and camaraderies are formed, people coming face to face with deep decisions that begin to change self and change everything.
    https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bones-of-starlight-eva-l-elasigue/1129714346?ean=9781944416126

    In full traditional bookstore distribution in print, but also posting with indies as a CC-BY-NC 4.0 licensed work also available via alternative channels.
    (Primal Spiral)

  112. This is a little bit beyond the usual, but maybe you have a pot-loving gay man on your shopping list. It’s also not only my own work (nor can I lay claim to the one bit of fantasy in the book), but I am in this anthology (making my first sale in an erotica anthology.

    Yes, it’s available on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Thcock-Stoner-Boys-Bud-Kush/dp/1590214757/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543934609&sr=8-1&keywords=THCock) (and Barnes and Noble), but a little better for my publisher if you cut out the middle man (and cheaper for you). https://www.lethepressbooks.com/store/p409/THCock.html#/

    I’m just psyched to be in print.

  113. My first book, GODS, MONSTERS, AND THE LUCKY PEACH came out this March.
    https://kellyrobson.com/books/
    In 2267, Earth has just begun to recover from worldwide ecological disasters. Minh is part of the generation that first moved back up to the surface of the Earth to reclaim humanity’s ancestral habitat. She’s spent her entire life restoring river ecosystems, but lately Minh’s kind of long-term restoration projects have stalled due to the invention of time travel. When she gets the opportunity take a team to 2000 BC to survey the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, she jumps at the chance to uncover the secrets of the shadowy think tank that controls time travel technology.

  114. “A Matter of Chance,” a debut novel by Julie Maloney, is more than a story of abduction. Critics are calling it a “literary thriller” and a “masterful dramatic mystery.” When eight year-old Vinni Stewart goes missing, her mother, Maddy, begins a desperate search – one that turns into a five year journey. Along the way, she discovers her hidden passion to paint. She begins her personal transformation into a recognized artist, as art interprets her grief. Guidance comes in the form of her upstairs neighbor in NYC, a devoted detective, a best friend, and an art patron she meets by chance. When Maddy stumbles upon something that involves the Russian Mafia, she must decide whether to save one child – even if it jeopardizes saving her own. This novel is available everywhere books are sold.

  115. Thanks, as always, John. You’re good people.

    MJ-12: ENDGAME is the final book in the MAJESTIC-12 series, which depicts an alternate-history Cold War with superpowered covert agents and all kinds of thrillery mystery goodness. Plus a coup or two. Available wherever fine books are sold.

    FYI, MJ-12: INCEPTION and MJ-12: SHADOWS are likewise available. Collect them all!

  116. My debut novel, The Wild Inside, will be out in paperback just in time for Christmas! And it’s got a handy reader’s guide and an interview with yours truly. The book is about Tracy, a natural born trapper and hunter raised in the Alaska wilderness, who spends her days tracking animals and training for the Iditarod dog sled race in the remote forests surrounding her family’s home. But when two mysterious strangers enter her life, Tracy finds herself trying to solve two mysteries: What do these strangers want–and how can her own mother’s mysterious past help Tracy understand a dark gift she inherited? The Wild Inside is a thriller/mystery with supernatural elements. https://www.jameybradbury.com/wild-inside/

  117. I have a traditionally published viral-apocalypse book that is perfect for the holidays! When you need an escape from the cozy fire, the warmth of mulled beverages, and the safety of monster-free family gatherings, come to my world.

    A great gift for fans of Michael Crichton’s “The Andromeda Strain”, Robert Kirkman’s “The Walking Dead”, Steven Soderberg’s “Contagion”, and the “Resident Evil” franchise.

    https://mkmartinwriter.com/books/

  118. My novella collection Late Summer, Early Spring is perfect for that person in your life who likes historical fantasy with a nice big dollop of M/M romance and also evil fox spirits.

    Hour of the Lotus

    General Sho Iwata is devastated when the man he secretly loves, Prince Narita, is struck with a mysterious illness. Iwata’s current lover, Hiroshi, is well aware of the general’s unrequited passion. But that isn’t his biggest problem. His sister is Narita’s favorite consort, but Hiroshi believes she has been replaced by an imposter. When they discover the true cause of the illness, they will have to battle an ancient spirit and survive.

    Fox Hunter

    Lord General Iwata Sho sets out in search of the mysterious Fox Hunter. When he finds his former lover, Hiroshi, he discovers a changed man, scarred inside and out and consumed by vengeance. Together with Narita’s grown son Daigo, Iwata and Hiroshi pursue the malicious spirit as it leaves bloodshed in its wake. Iwata worries about what will become of Hiroshi when the fox is defeated—if Hiroshi’s revenge doesn’t kill him first.

    https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Early-Spring-Patricia-Correll-ebook/dp/B073Q8RNRK/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1543961665&sr=8-4&keywords=patricia+correll

  119. I’d love if it folks would take a look at my grimsnark scifi thriller, Supremacy’s Shadow!

    “Half Han Solo, half Deadpool, Hayden Cross tries to stop an interplanetary war while relentlessly mocking everyone involved.”

    Some content was stripped by our security filters, but it should be possible for one of your Editors to embed the content for you.

    Praise?
    “A refreshing break from all those moody, thinky, burdensome award-winners, this book shoots first and asks questions later.” – David Chang, editor at Space Squid

    “Hayden Cross covers his inner turmoil with the kind of devil-may-care banter that we’re accustomed to hearing from the mouths of Humphrey Bogart, Harrison Ford, or Bruce Willis … If you’re looking for an old-school snarky hero in an up-to-date SF book, this is the story for you.” – Don Sakers, Analog Science Fiction and Fact

    “Poor choices, bad jokes, and mouthing off to the very worst people at the wrong time, this book has it all.” – Cameron Johnson, author of The Traitor God

    Sample Chapters
    Sample Chapters>

  120. My novel Psychic Underground: The Facility is about an asexual psychic who finds herself in a secret government lab and must deal with a test subject rebellion as well as problems that arise from dreams of a past life as Nikola Tesla. Telekinesis, mind reading, shapeshifters (who can only transform into other humans), and murder.

    The Facility is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, & from Ninestar Press’ website in both ebook and paperback formats. Click here for the link to Amazon.

  121. Emotional, heartfelt, and beautifully written; these are the words most often used by 5-star reviewers of my Historical Romance debut novel My Dear One (April 2018) to which I just released the sequel, My Own, last week (November 27th).

    My Dear One is about love, born out of tragedy, and shares the emotional journey from riches to rags, and enduring love, after an English debutante’s glittering future and ability to trust is turned to ash by a controlling father, and resurrected through the patient compassion of the Texas widower she’s forced to marry.

    My Own continues the couple’s story as they confront heart-rending grief and impossible odds in their search for their missing son, a search that tests the limits of their physical, emotional, and marital endurance–can they find the courage to to heal withing themselves, and mend what divides them–or will they give up everything they’ve built together, and call their own?

    More information and buy links: http://www.deborahsmall.com

  122. THE CRESCENT STONE is a YA fantasy novel that deals with issues of race and privilege.

    A girl with a deadly lung disease . . .
    A boy with a tragic past . . .
    A land where the sun never sets but darkness still creeps in . . .

    Madeline Oliver has never wanted for anything, but now she would give anything just to breathe. Jason Wu skates through life on jokes, but when a tragedy leaves him guilt-stricken, he promises to tell only the truth, no matter the price. When a mysterious stranger named Hanali appears to Madeline and offers to heal her in exchange for one year of service to his people, Madeline and Jason are swept into a strange land where they don’t know the rules and where their decisions carry consequences that reach farther than they could ever guess.

    Some content was stripped by our security filters, but it should be possible for one of your Editors to embed the content for you.

    “For Narnia fans who enjoy heavy snark, this is a must-read.” —Kirkus Reviews

    Also:

    Here’s a free Christmas short set in the same world.

    Some content was stripped by our security filters, but it should be possible for one of your Editors to embed the content for you.

    The Sunlit Lands

  123. SORCERY FOR BEGINNERS is a fun YA adventure about a group of kids who find a how-to guide to magic, then have to keep everyone else from stealing it. It’s also a primer for sorcery, featuring spells, illustrations, and helpful tips on the history of magic.

    Booklist called SORCERY FOR BEGINNERS “a clever, often hilarious adventure” and Publisher’s Weekly agreed “it’s a charming package and a drily funny adventure.”

    Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell’s, and everywhere else books are sold!

  124. THE WHITE FEATHER – a ghost love story set in World War I.

    Crippled by a fear of firearms, James Cowper is rejected by the draft during the Great War. For this, the villagers mark him as a cowardly pariah. Cruelly shamed by them, James attempts a desperate deed by the tombstone of the village’s most famous lady, Georgia Palmerton, also known as the Stoweham Ghost.

    A hundred years ago, a romantic rival cursed Georgia Palmerton. Since then, she’s wandered in phantom form, naked and alone, watching generations grow up, marry, live, and die. Georgia could be restored back to life, if someone had the courage to help her.

    Freeing Georgia from physical death is a simple matter. Freeing James from social death is altogether more challenging, especially when he is asked to give up everything he’s ever known. Now that the ghost and the pariah have found each other, will love and courage be enough to save them both?

    Out from The Wild Rose Press in ebook and print format, and available where all good books are sold.

    https://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/paperback-books/4579-the-white-feather-paperback.html

  125. A STUDY IN HONOR is a feminist twist on Watson & Holmes, set in a near future US, in which Dr. Janet Watson and covert agent Sara Holmes will use espionage, advanced technology, and the power of deduction to unmask a murderer targeting veterans of America’s New Civil War.

    Available in paperback, e-book, and audiobook from all the usual vendors and bookstores.

    Here is the Harper Voyager page: https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062699305/a-study-in-honor/

    And here is my Big Idea post about the book: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2018/07/31/the-big-idea-claire-odell/

WHATEVER


Taunting the tauntable since 1998
John Scalzi, proprietor – JS
Athena Scalzi, contributor – AMS
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