Whatever Holiday Gift Guide 2020, Day One: Traditionally Published Books
Posted on November 30, 2020 Posted by John Scalzi 110 Comments
Welcome to the first day of the Whatever Shopping Guide 2020 — Our 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. Enjoy your browsing, and we 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 12/31/20) and available on a returnable basis at bookstores and at least one of 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 (if your book is available only in the UK or elsewhere, please note that).
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.
Tomorrow (12/1/20): Non-traditional books!
Thank you very much John, for doing this once again.
As a mild-mannered physics professor at a great metropolitan university, I have written several popular science books for the general public, doing my bit for outreach and engagement. My research area is condensed matter physics, and rather than add another book about string theory or black holes, I write about the physics we employ everyday, yet oftentimes rarely notice.
My most recent book is THE PHYSICS OF EVERYDAY THINGS, and follows you in a busy day, and explains the physics that enables the technology you encounter at work, at the doctor’s visit, at the airport, and so on.
https://www.amazon.com/Physics-Everyday-Things-Extraordinary-Ordinary/dp/0770437753/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
My first book is THE PHYSICS OF SUPERHEROES and covers all the physics of an undergraduate B.S. degree, but there’s not an inclined plane or pulley in sight. Rather ALL the examples come from superhero comic books, and as much as possible, those cases where the comics get theri science right!
https://www.amazon.com/Physics-Superheroes-Villains-Science-Spectacular/dp/1592405088/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=kakalios&qid=1606740391&sr=8-1
My middle book is THE AMAZING STORY OF QUANTUM MECHANICS and may be the only popular science book about Quantum Physics that DOESN’T talk about Schrodinger’s cat. Rather, I explain why the science fiction pulps promised us jet packs and flying cars, and we got cell phones and laptop computers instead. They thought that by the 21st century there would be a revolution in Energy, where we actually had a revolution in Information, made possible by Quantum Mechanics.
https://www.amazon.com/Amazing-Story-Quantum-Mechanics-Exploration/dp/1592406726/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=kakalios&qid=1606740530&sr=8-2
Thanks again, John. You’re a true superhero!
Not sure why Amazon link went to first edition of PHYSICS OF SUPERHEROES. Hopefully, here is link to SPECTACULAR SECOND EDITION:
https://www.amazon.com/Physics-Superheroes-James-Kakalios-Paperback/dp/B00NPOBBU6/ref=pd_sbs_14_6/135-5051354-8856264?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00NPOBBU6&pd_rd_r=3b190145-a9bf-4466-a02f-8cb63bd37906&pd_rd_w=lTX14&pd_rd_wg=YX3W4&pf_rd_p=ed1e2146-ecfe-435e-b3b5-d79fa072fd58&pf_rd_r=T6GSFQKKQGP0CKTQ77FH&psc=1&refRID=T6GSFQKKQGP0CKTQ77FH
If you want to start to making things do things using the power of electronics, but don’t know where to start, our book, Basic Electronics: Theory and Practice 3/e takes you from the basic physics to making things move.
https://bookshop.org/books/basic-electronics-theory-and-practice-9781683925286/9781683925286
https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Electronics-Practice-Sean-Westcott/dp/1683925289/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=basic+electronics+westcott&qid=1606741240&sr=8-3
Greetings! If you’re looking for a bit of sci-fi/horror to round out your holiday, perhaps consider my novella, YOUR FAVORITE BAND CANNOT SAVE YOU, published by Tor.com. In this fast-paced novella, Beautiful Remorse is the hot new band on the scene, releasing one track a day for ten days straight. Each track has a strangely powerful effect on the band’s fans. A curious music blogger decides to follow Beautiful Remorse on tour, and realizes that the singer, Airee Macpherson, is hiding an incredible secret. YOUR FAVORITE BAND CANNOT SAVE YOU is a darkly comic whirlwind tour of the supernatural side of music. You can pick it up via Bookshop (or elsewhere I’m sure)!
Thanks for the opportunity to share, John!
– Scotto Moore
Thank you, John!
My name’s Gautam Bhatia, I’m a fantasy and science fiction editor and writer from India. I’ve been an editor with Strange Horizons for the last four years. In August 2020, I published my debut SFF novel, The Wall, with HarperCollins India. The Wall is about the limits of language, the struggle to imagine other worlds, and learning to see. It’s been positively reviewed in Indian newspapers, and was recommended yesterday on Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe’s Coode Street Podcast. Here’s a blurb, and links to buy:
—-
‘Imagine a horizon.’
‘I can’t.’
Mithila’s world is bound by a Wall enclosing the city of Sumer – nobody goes out, nothing comes in. The days pass as they have for two thousand years: just enough to eat for just enough people, living by the rules. Within the city, everyone knows their place.
But when Mithila tries to cross the Wall, every power in Sumer comes together to stop her.
To break the rules is to risk all of civilization collapsing. But to follow them is to never know: who built the Wall? Why? And what would the world look like if it didn’t exist? As Mithila and her friends search for the truth, they must risk losing their families, the ones they love, and even their lives.
Is a world they can’t imagine worth the only world they have?
—-
Link: https://www.amazon.com/Wall-Gautam-Bhatia-ebook/dp/B08B7SS1CL
Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54571336-the-wall
Thank you for this!
I have three books to share, and they’re each quite different. If you’re curious about what books of mine are available in paper in North America, check here: https://bookshop.org/lists/my-books-c2f1e249-1437-4a27-a2f6-ca75ac169a8f
Let me introduce them in reverse publishing order (sorry about the lack of covers – I couldn’t get them to paste)
1. Borderlanders. This has only been out a couple of weeks, and is from a new Zealand publisher. https://www.odysseybooks.com.au/titles/9781922311184/ I was telling people on social media that it was perfectly possible to write a fun fantasy novel that didn’t diminish disabilities, kill the character with disabilities, cure eh cahracter etc. My readers persuaded me they wanted to see this novel. It’s about three friends on retreat in a house in the middle of the Great Dividing Range. Outside the house there are waterfalls, giant potatoes and feral pies. Inside the house there are doors to other worlds.
2. Poison and Light. What happens on a planet a long way from here and the galaxy experiences a few years as bad as 2020? The government says to the galaxy, “We don’t need your technology. We’re returning to the eighteenth century. Salons and duels and very fine clothes will save us.” Of course it’s not that simple. Nor that safe.
3. The Year of the Fruit Cake. This novel won the 2020 Ditmar. In most of the stories about aliens judging Earth, the aliens appear as young men from a majority culture. What happens if the alien is in the body of a perimenopausal Canberran? Misogyny changes everything. So does chocolate. This is not an adventure story, unless human bodies are themselves adventures.
My picture book READ A BOOK WITH ME, illustrated by Brazilian artist Thiago Lopes, was published in the US in June by Beaming Books. A book about a love of books, it won a Crystal Kite Award from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and was also chosen by IBBY (International Board of Books) for their Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities selection (for including a blind character in a book that’s not about being blind).
Here’s a link to the publisher’s page:
https://www.beamingbooks.com/store/product/9781506465258/Read-a-Book-with-Me
Cheers for this, John.
I’ll plug my latest novel, THE SHADOW SAINT, the second book in the Black Iron Legacy. Alchemical warfare, political intrigue, talkative ghouls, arcane espionage and sentient architecture abound.
Read an excerpt on the Orbit site
Amazon link
My novel Lovecraft Country was adapted as an HBO series this year, and it’s currently available in two paperback editions: one with the original Jarrod Taylor cover art, and a new HBO tie-in edition featuring series stars Jonathan Majors and Jurnee Smollett (the text in both versions is identical).
I also have a new novel, 88 Names. Set largely in virtual reality, it’s the story of John Chu, a paid guide to online role-playing games who becomes convinced that his latest client is North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. You can read more about it here.
And finally, for people who’ve read Lovecraft Country and 88 Names and are wondering what Matt Ruff novel to try next, I wrote a guide to my backlist which you can find here.
BE MORE SNOOPY is your guide to living life to the fullest, with lessons culled from the lives of the Peanuts characters. This light-hearted, low-cost (get change from a $10 bill if you can somehow weasel out of sales tax), full color hardcover gift book is written by me (professional Peanuts nerd Nat Gertler – ignore the allisongirl header this might show, my WordPress account was for blogging my daughter’s early years) and heavily illustrated with Charles Schulz art.
https://bookshop.org/books/be-more-snoopy/9780744027570
http://amazon.com/Be-More-Snoopy-Nat-Gertler/dp/0744027578/
Thank you for this wonderful tradition, John!
Space opera fans! I’ve got three military-flavored thrillers for you:
THE COLD BETWEEN: In the far future, Commander Elena Shaw of the starship Galileo investigates a murder with ties to a mysterious accident from long ago.
REMNANTS OF TRUST: While pursuing the perpetrators of a deadly attack Elena and the Galileo crew must deal with a reckless starship captain consumed by revenge.
BREACH OF CONTAINMENT: A diplomatic squabble on a colony moon reunites Elena with Galileo and her old crewmates, who find themselves abruptly isolated–and facing a galaxy-wide civil war.
While there’s a larger story arc across the three books, they can each be read stand-alone (BREACH is my personal favorite, no shade on the others :)).
Available in print and in ebook on Amazon, B&N, IndieBound, and all your favorite retailers.
Happy shopping, everyone!
Thank you for doing this! Check out my book, A Bead of Amber on Her Tongue, a collection of two stories retelling Greek myths from the point of view of Helen and Aphrodite. They reclaim their lives and stories from silence. Winner of the Omnidawn Fabulist Fiction Award.
Lily Hoang, judge of the award said:
“Playing and (shamelessly) clever, A Bead of Amber on Her Tongue brings mythology into the 21st century—or some other time that might be considered the contemporary, by which I mean a writing that is buoyantly new and full of delights—when Homer learns all about feminism and the whole room laughs with Aeschylus’s new stand-up routine. Dear Millennials: Please hit refresh: now, now, here, now.”
URL to purchase it on Barnes and Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bead-of-amber-on-her-tongue-jennifer-pullen/1129887511
Thank you, John. My new novel THE GREAT AMERICAN DECEPTION came out in May. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly said, “Stein delivers a madcap sci-fi take on the hard-boiled detective genre in this fun, near-future romp that’s chock-full of rapid-fire wit, tongue-in-cheek literary allusions, and playful futuristic absurdity… Stein keeps the stakes high and the laughs coming … Sure to appeal to fans of Douglas Adams, this zany, uproarious mystery is a constant delight.” Did I mention it’s narrated by a coffee machine robot?
Purchase links, reviews, blurbs
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B083P3LHGP&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_HupXFbAPR53GT
I co-edited an anthology of military science fiction along with Jaym Gates a couple of years ago: War Stories: New Military Science Fiction. It’s available from Apex Books ($4.99 for digital / $16.95 for trade paper!): https://www.apexbookcompany.com/products/war-stories?variant=870461337
The goal of the book was to tell stories about how war impacts the people involved, and looks at mechs, technology, PTSD, and more, and includes stories from Joe Haldeman, Ken Liu, Rich Larson, Susan Jane Bigelow, James L. Cambias, Mark Jacobsen, Richard Dansky, Mike Sizemore, Maurice Broaddus, Thoraiya Dyer, Jay Posey, Linda Nagata, Yoon Ha Lee, James Sutter, Jake Kerr, Carlos Orsi, Mike Barretta, Janine Spendlove, F. Brett Cox, T.C. McCarthy, Nerine Dorman, Karin Lowachee, and Keith Brooke.
Thank you very much for this opportunity!
My book is A Loon Alone, a picture book about the realistic adventures of a loon chick inadvertently separated from his parents. He manages to escape a snapping turtle, a speedy otter, a clever raccoon, and a moose not looking where he’s going before finally reuniting with his family. The stunning illustrations are painted by Shannon Sycks.
https://www.amazon.com/Loon-Alone-Pamela-Love/dp/0892725265
Thank you, John.
If you ever wanted to learn how to build your own props from films, television shows, or video games, my book, The Prop Building Guidebook, will get you there. Covering everything from molding and casting, to wood, metal and plastic, this is the prop building book used by professionals throughout the entertainment world.
https://www.amazon.com/Prop-Building-Guidebook-Theatre-Film/dp/1138183679/
Do you remember when music was magic? Do you remember being spellbound, in thrall to the power and glory that stole your soul and made you high?
Do you still listen? Is a part of you still there?
Guitarist Eddie Edmunds is rising to fame in 1970s London’s hothouse of rock music. He has a Muse who is part spirit and part human; a guitar that is part electronics and part… something else; and a heroin addiction that doesn’t quite let him hide from the power he’s never learned to control.
He’s a man who is fighting his power. She’s a Muse who’s losing her power. Evolution Device is a band that’s finding its power. And only the guitar knows what power Eddie evokes when she sings for him.
Evolution Device. A man, a band, and a promise.
___
Read the Big Idea behind Evolution Device
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2020/07/30/the-big-idea-lif-strand/
Available at your favorite bookstores, including Barnes & Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/evolution-device-lif-strand/1137249809
Amazon US https://bit.ly/EvoDev
I’m Kevin Coolidge, and I’m the creator of the Totally Ninja Raccoons. It’s about three raccoon brothers who decide to become ninjas, because they already have the masks.
It’s a series specifically geared towards reluctant readers in second to fourth grade (About 7 to 10 years) I do have younger and older readers, but that’s the main audience.
We all know that cats want to take over the world. What? You didn’t know that? If you have a furry feline in your life, you know they are planning on world domination…right after their nap.
Yes, cats are planning world domination. There’s even an international organization known as the Cat Board that is planning right now as you are reading this. Lucky for humans, cats are a little lazy.
That’s where the Totally Ninja Raccoons come in. These little masked bandits decided they aren’t meant to be ordinary, but chose to be something more, ninjas!
The Totally Ninja Raccoons are your basic heroes for hire. They work cheap, sometimes for a little Chinese takeout or a stale doughnut.
It’s your classic trio with a twist. Think the Three Investigators meet the Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles with a little Ghost Busters in the mix.
What started as an idea to score free food soon ends up giving the raccoons a glimpse into another world, a world of shadows, mysteries, and plots.There are things in heaven and earth than the raccoons ever dreamed. Cats are trying to take over the world. Monsters are real, and Chinese food really will make you hungry soon after you eat it. It’s up to The Totally Ninja Raccoons to stop it.
The series is available wherever books are sold and are available internationally. You can also buy books from my website kevincoolidge.org
Thanks so much for sharing your platform to support other creators, John. I really appreciate it.
Some readers will recognize Annihilation Aria from the Big Idea piece this summer about marriage as an adventure. The novel is a found family space opera in the vein of Guardians of the Galaxy, the Weisz/Frasier The Mummy, or Valerie Valdes’ Chilling Effect. It’s a good choice for a reader looking to leave this world behind for a while.
Annihilation Aria is available in paperback, ebook, and audio at Bookshop.org among others.
Thanks again, and happy end-of-year-holidays to all!
Thanks for doing this, John! I’ll be having fun browsing for books to buy for other folks, too.
If you know someone who’s really into their book club and is always looking for a thought-provoking, meditative work of fiction, I hope you’ll give them my book One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow.. It’s set in 19th-century Wyoming on a pair of homesteads, but it isn’t your typical frontier western. It’s an examination of women’s strength and reliance on one another, humanity’s place in nature, and the necessity of death. It was a finalist for the Willa Literary Award and the Washington State Book Award, and spent more than 13 months in the Top 100 on Amazon.
Here’s a link to the Amazon page, but most bookstores will either carry it, or can order it for you.
Thanks, John!
I’m Kory Stamper, a lexicographer best known to most Internet folks as “that octopodes lady.” If you’re up for some whimsical, brain-twisting, occasionally profane nonfiction, you may want to check out my book Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries. It’s part memoir about my time writing dictionary definitions at Merriam-Webster, part explanation of why English is so Englishy, and all love letter to this deranged, beautiful language.
https://bookshop.org/books/word-by-word-the-secret-life-of-dictionaries/9781101970263
Thanks for this opportunity!
My latest book, The Politics of Fair Trade, examines why people buy fair trade products or support policies that link trade to human rights, labor standards, and environmental conditions. It finds that many sincerely care about these issues and are not just trying to protect their jobs or the country’s economy. The book should be of interest to anyone who cares about politics and policy or those who want to know more about international trade policy. Plus, it has extended discussions of coffee, chocolate, and Harry Potter.
https://www.amazon.com/Politics-Fair-Trade-Moving-Protection/dp/0199337640
For lovers of capers, comic books, and pop culture… The Frame-Up by Meghan Scott Molin.
By day she writes comic books. By night, she lives them.
MG Martin lives and breathes geek culture. She even works as a writer for the comic book company she idolized as a kid. But despite her love of hooded vigilantes, MG prefers her comics stay on the page.
But when someone in LA starts recreating crime scenes from her favorite comic book, MG is the LAPD’s best—and only—lead. She recognizes the golden arrow left at the scene as the calling card of her favorite comic book hero. The thing is…superheroes aren’t real. Are they?
When too-handsome-for-his-own-good Detective Kildaire asks for her comic book expertise, MG is more than up for the adventure. Unfortunately, MG has a teeny little tendency to not follow rules. And her off-the-books sleuthing may land her in a world of trouble.
Because for every superhero, there is a supervillain. And the villain of her story may be closer than she thinks…
link on Amazon (on sale this week for 0.99)!
https://www.amazon.com/Frame-Up-Golden-Arrow-Mysteries-Book-ebook/dp/B07B3WQYXN/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=The+Frame-Up&qid=1605223816&sr=8-1
Edisto Tidings by C. Hope Clark (book 6 in the Edisto Island Mystery series)
When the discovery of a body on a vacant lot puts an end to Police Chief Callie Morgan’s surprise birthday party, Christmas week loses some of its charm. Not only does she know the dead man, he’s a relation . . . of sorts.
Soon she’s juggling a murder investigation and a rash of burglaries that may have been committed by the mythical Edisto Beach Santa—a holiday secret Santa, who may have taken a page from Robin Hood’s book and begun robbing from the tourist rich and giving to the local poor.
Since the suspects for both crimes are Edisto residents, no matter how delicately Callie treads, this holiday season will pit Callie against her beloved Edisto and leave her feeling like the Grinch, Scrooge, and Old Man Potter rolled into one. But she has no choice. Murder trumps Santa.
– – –
https://www.amazon.com/Edisto-Tidings-Island-Mysteries-Book-ebook/dp/B07Y6Q15HM/
http://www.chopeclark.com
Hi! Charlie Stross here.
It’s been a while, but my most recent novel Dead Lies Dreaming ws published by Tor.com Publishing exactly a month ago.
They’re billing it as Book Ten of the Laundry Files, but it’s really Book One of a whole new series set in the world of the New Management. The Prime Minister in 10 Downing Street is a Lovecraftian elder god, Santa is being crucified in the run-up to Christmas, and Imp and his lost boys have a heist to pull off: he plans to retrieve the long-lost concordance to the true Necronomicon for hedge fund mogul Rupert, while staying one jump ahead of the private sector thief-takers (and the giant skull rack at Marble Arch).
(Because what you really need is a dystopian fantasy so twisted that it’ll make you feel happy to have experienced our shared 2020 dumpster-fire of a year instead!)
Thank you, John, for sharing your blog and audience during this season of goodwill, fellowship, and sales promotions!
For SF fans missing conventions during these times of COVID, and anyone else seeking a dramatic/comedic/chaotic adventure, consider The Con, a novel that unfolds at a hotel hosting an SF convention, a meeting of the Jane Austen Society and, just possibly, an actual alien. Follow a middle-aged SF fan, a nerd power couple, some geeky and brilliant teens, and a pair of Janeites as they try to answer the comic, cosmic question: is reality just a con? Discussed at The Big Idea earlier in November and reviewed positively, most recently at the Library Journal, The Con can be found (among other places) at:
https://www.amazon.com/Jd-Deluzio/dp/1928011411
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-con-jd-deluzio/1137546297
http://www.brain-lag.com/books/the-con.php
The book also contains two bonus, related short stories, “Troll Bridge” and “Do You See What I See?”
Thanks to John for the opportunity to let all you fine, discerning, and above all attractive readers know about some books you might enjoy this holiday season.
My latest book, The Aleph Extraction, is about a heist onboard a luxury space cruiseliner, in which our team of covert operatives try to steal a legendary artifact out from under the nose of a ruthless crime lord. Action? Check. Intrigue? Check. Fun? Big check. And it’s all set against the backdrop of an ongoing Galactic Cold War. If you like Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, you’ll probably like this. (Available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook from Amazon, B&N, and probably your local independent bookstore, which you should definitely support!)
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The Aleph Extraction follows my two previous books set in the same universe, The Caledonian Gambit and The Bayern Agenda. While you don’t need to read them all to enjoy Aleph, I recommend Bayern as a jumping-on point: in it, covert operative Simon Kovalic and his team investigate shenanigans at a planet-sized bank that’s cozying up to the rival Illyrican Empire. Hijinks ensue!
Some content was stripped by our security filters, but it should be possible for one of your Editors to embed the content for you.
Thanks again, and have a happy and safe holiday season.
Thank you, John!
My book is Clueless Cabot, a novella out from NineStar Press.
Cabot MacCrae has been in love with his sexy best friend, Lloyd, since high school. They’re in perfect sync on almost everything. The only problem is that Lloyd is straight.
Cabot resigned himself long ago to pining hopelessly. Then Lloyd, a roofer, takes a bad fall and injures his collarbone. When he needs some TLC, there’s no question that Cabot will be the one to nurse his friend back to health. But Lloyd’s scantily clad presence in Cabot’s house brings out Cabot’s old longings.
But when Lloyd’s well-meaning mother and aunt fix Cabot up with a blind date, Lloyd reacts like a jealous boyfriend. Lloyd’s reaction makes Cabot wonder if those longings are as unrequited as he’s always assumed. What if Lloyd has been pining for him all these years? Has Cabot just been clueless all along?
Available direct from the publisher at the link above, or from Amazon.
Do you like solving nature mysteries using clues that speak of snail cannibalism, horseshoe crab orgies, headless seagulls, and seafaring alligators? Then you might like my newest book, TRACKING THE GOLDEN ISLES (2020, University of Georgia Press). This non-fiction book, written for a popular audience as a series of essays, tells stories through traces – tracks, trails, burrows, and more – and what these stories tell us about the intertwined natural and human histories of the Georgia coast.
https://ugapress.org/book/9780820356969/tracking-the-golden-isles/
This book followed two other non-fiction trade books I’ve published recently: THE EVOLUTION UNDERGROUND (2017) and DINOSAURS WITHOUT BONES (2014), both with Pegasus Books and available in paperback and ebook.
Thanks so much to John for giving authors a chance to share (and sell) our words and thoughts!
Thanks for this, John – I always find some great gifts (often for myself) in these threads!
I’m the co-writer (with Jim Zub & Andrew Wheeler) of a series called Dungeons & Dragons Young Adventurer’s Guides, which offer a rules-light introduction to the concepts, realms and monsters of D&D for young readers and beginning players. They also feature tons of original artwork created especially for this series by design studio Jetpack 7.
There are six books in the series so far, with the first four available as a paperback box set; the individual books are nice, smaller-sized hardcovers. The books are designed to spark the imagination and encourage readers to develop their own stories, both individually and collaboratively.
You can find more information and purchase links on the Penguin Random House website, and I’m happy to answer questions on Twitter (@stacyking): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/series/EJB/dungeons-and-dragons-young-adventurers-guides
Thank you for doing this!
My novel THE IMAGINARY CORPSE, about an ex-imaginary friend battling trauma, anxiety, and the first serial killer of ideas, was nominated for the Brave New Words award and the Neukom Literary Institute award.
Print/ebook: http://smarturl.it/ImaginaryCorpse
Audiobook, narrated by James Fouhey: https://tantor.com/the-imaginary-corpse-tyler-hayes.html
Thank you John and hello citizens of Whatever!
I am the author of twelve books on subjects ranging from mondegreens to Tom Hanks, but I will mention just two of them here, because they might be exactly what somebody in your life needs.
The first is The Tao of Bill Murray: Real-Life Stories of Joy, Enlightenment, and Party Crashing. It’s a biography of the American hero Bill Murray with an emphasis on his life as a one-man anecdote machine (joining strangers for a game of kickball, driving around Stockholm in a golf cart), but making the case that he’s not just engaging in random hilarity, but secretly teaching us all how to live.
Available from major retailers and your local bookstore.
The second is Kindness and Wonder: Why Mister Rogers Matters Now More Than Ever. It is half biography of Fred Rogers, and half philosophy, translating his worldview into advice on how to live your own life.Writing this book changed my life; I hope maybe a little bit of Mister Rogers’ worldview will rub off on your neighborhood too.
Available from major retailers and your local bookstore.
If you’re curious about my other books, lots of info here.
Thank, John.
Now for something completely different: Poetry! My first collection, Overseeing the Downfall, was released this fall by Word Poetry Books this fall and is available via the publisher and at the Amazon link in the title.
It is a collection of Midwestern poems about work and family in the digital age, and a certain generational anticlimax. And music. A soundtrack straddling our cultural inflection point, it comes complete with suggested drink pairings and playlists to accompany the poems.
More info and some sample poems at my own website, jeffnesheim.com.
Thanks for the chance to expose it a bit, and I hope you all have a chance to take a look at the poems!
Thanks, John!
I had A BUNCH of stuff come out this year (hahaha sob), but I’ll just tell you about these two:
THE GHOSTS OF SHERWOOD — which received a starred review in Publishers Weekly! — is the first of two novellas that tell the story of Robin Hood and Lady Marian’s children. For anyone who likes Robin Hood, adventure, historical fiction, and uplifting stories about family! The sequel is THE HEIRS OF LOCKSLEY, in which the children team up with underage King Henry III.
KITTY’S MIX-TAPE collects the most recent short stories set in my bestselling Kitty urban fantasy universe, and also includes four brand-new stories. Werewolves, vampires, mayhem, and all that good stuff.
These are all available in print, e-book, and audio!
For the kid reader in your life, my latest is Dragonfell, out last year from HarperCollins. The short version: kid, dragons, girl mad scientist, and a herd (hoard?) of goats.
Signed copies from my local independent bookstore, http://www.prairielights.com.
Or if you must, online at Amazon.
And an old favorite, the Magic Thief series, also from HarperCollins. Four books featuring wizards, magic, peril, biscuits and bacon (but no goats)
online at Amazon.
Thanks John! :)
Thanks Mr. Scalzi!
And holiday and shopping greetings to all! My poetry novella, Through Immortal Shadows Singing, nominated for the Elgin and Rhysling Awards and long listed for the Stoker, tells the story of Helen of Troy in her own words.
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071711RSJ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Barnes and Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/through-immortal-shadows-singing-mari-ness/1126010408
Thanks so much for this, John!
I have two new books out this year:
RACE THE SANDS (from Harper Voyager), a standalone epic fantasy novel about two women vying to become champions of the elite sport of monster racing.
https://bookshop.org/books/race-the-sands/9780062888617
CATALYST (from Clarion Books / HMH), a kids book (ages 8-12) about a girl who adopts a tiny kitten — but the kitten won’t stop growing. And growing. And growing. And now it’s talking…
https://bookshop.org/books/catalyst-9780358454625/9780358065029
If you’re interested, there’s more info on all my books here: http://www.sarahbethdurst.com
Happy holidays, everyone!
Thank you for the opportunity, John!
NUCLEATION is a nanotech space opera with a kick of VR to make those distances a little quicker to navigate.
Operator Helen Vectorovitch holds the unique distinction of botching first contact. Now this expert waldo-jockey is tasked with preventing an interstellar war on a nanotechnological scale.
You can get your copies of Nucleation direct from my publisher, the award-winning Tachyon Publications: https://tachyonpublications.com/product/nucleation/
Or you can go straight to Amazon for your holiday shopping (and maybe get a whole collection of books from this comment thread). https://www.amazon.com/Nucleation-Kimberly-Unger/dp/1616963387
My name’s Jim Zub. I’m a comic writer best known for sword & sorcery books that include Conan the Barbarian and Dungeons & Dragons. I have a complete listing of all my books for sale here-
JIM ZUB – BOOKS
-including the D&D Young Adventurer’s Guides (bringing new people into the hobby), and all kinds of different graphic novels.
Happy Holidays, everyone!
A Fickle and Restless Weapon is a Calvino-esque psychological novel about transnational characters using varied art forms to struggle against a Southeast Asian surveillance state. It is my first novel (and 25th book), and was released in June by Epigram Books in paperback (found in Singapore) and ebook (available worldwide wherever ebooks are sold): https://jasonlundberg.wordpress.com/books/fickle-and-restless-weapon/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B089T4H7M6/
Do you know someone who loves SF, Movies, and Film Noir? Of course, you do and my novel Vulcan’s Forge, featured in on of John’s Big Idea Columns this year is perfect for such a person. Exploring the link between movie and culture Vulcan’s Forge is a noir set on the distant colony Nocturnia and when Jason Kessler starts a torrid illicit affair with Pamela, he had no idea that not only would he be drawn in an underworld of crime he had no idea existed but that the entire colony’s future depended on what he did next.
Published by Flametree Press in March 2020, in both paperback and hardback, Vulcan’s Forge is available from all booksellers but if you purchase it from my local store Mysterious Galaxy, they can get you a signed edition. (Free media mail shipping with purchases of more than $35 and with books you know how easy that is!)
https://www.mystgalaxy.com/book/9781787583979
For adult readers who love dreamy dark urban fantasy, may I offer my novel In Veritas? It has a starred review from Library Journal and is one of Tor.com’s Best of 2020.
Led by her synesthesia, Verity Richards discovers a hidden world inside an old Ottawa theatre. Within the timeworn walls live people who should not exist—people whose very survival is threatened by science, technology, and natural law. Verity must submerge herself in this impossible reality to help save the last traces of their broken community. Her guides: a magician, his shadow-dog, a dying angel, and a knife-edged woman who is more than half ghost.
Available at your preferred sites in the US and Canada, including the Big River; to support indie, the Canadian link is All Lit Up, and in the US, please consider Bookshop.
Thank you!
Thank you, John. You will always be the best.
My latest book is Divine Heretic, released August 20,2020 by Jo Fletcher Books. Releasing books at the height of a pandemic is not for the faint of heart, especially when you write a dark fantasy retelling about Jeanne d’Arc. And because I never do anything the easy way, I gave Jeanne a happy ending.
The book starts when Jeanne is five and her voices first come to her. They claim to be angels and saints, but as she quickly discovers, they lied. Jeanne is stubborn, headstrong, and determined to live her own life. Her voices are determined to force her down a path she doesn’t want to take. She resists at every turn, and that resistance costs her dearly. Then the price becomes too high and she becomes something she was never meant to be: a hero who saves France.
Print copies are available, with free shipping, from the Book Depository.
https://www.bookdepository.com/Divine-Heretic/9781787479241
Waterstones has copies online: https://www.waterstones.com/books/search/term/jaime+lee+moyer
And if you want to give ebooks this holiday season, you can find Divine Heretic on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Divine-Heretic-Jaime-Lee-Moyer-ebook/dp/B088G19WNM/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Divine+Heretic&qid=1606750530&sr=8-2
or Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/divine-heretic-jaime-lee-moyer/1137001827?ean=9781787479265&aug=1
For a taste of what the book is like and a few reviews, you can read the opening section on my website: https://www.jaimeleemoyer.com/a-new-book-coming-august-20-2020-divine-heretic/
Stay safe, all of you.
Thank you for this opportunity. My debut short story collection was published by Journalstone/Trepidatio in April—because everyone wants to achieve a bucket list item in the middle of a global pandemic.
Mothers and daughters. Sisters. Legacies and prophecies. The inevitable and the avoidable. The sixteen stories of Weird fiction and horror in The Cuckoo Girls, Patricia Lillie’s debut collection, feature female protagonists of various ages. Young or old, they must deal with the expectations of their twisted worlds. Some can’t escape their fate, some accept it—and some will burn it down.
“Lillie makes the unreal feel all too possible…. This grim, witchy collection will grab anyone looking for a subtle fright.” —Publishers Weekly Starred Review
Available direct from the publisher and all the usual places.
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/books/the-cuckoo-girls/9781950305247
Amazon link (Kindle version. Also available in print)
A submariner gets dangerous powers from an alternate realm, unaware her partner is a spy & her brother a collaborator, in my dieselpunk sci fi novel, SHROUDED LOYALTIES. Perfect for fans of Django Wexler’s Shadow Campaigns series or Brian McClellan’s Powder Mage trilogy. Editor’s pick for Amazon’s Best Sci Fi and Fantasy!
https://www.amazon.com/Shrouded-Loyalties-Reese-Hogan-ebook/dp/B07KDW8RJR/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=shrouded+loyalties&qid=1606753747&sr=8-1
Sure, I’ll play – the audiobook of my Southern Gothic Paranormal Romance, Amazing Grace, is available from Tantor Audio at all retail outlets.
Lila Grace Carter talks to dead people. Admittedly, that’s not out of the ordinary in Lockhart, South Carolina. In her words, “I’m Southern. We all talk to dead people down here. As a matter of fact, I don’t believe I can truly trust anybody that doesn’t speak to at least two or three dead relations on a daily basis. The difference is, they talk back to me.”
Now there’s a murderer on the loose in Lockhart, and Lila Grace is the only one who knows a crime was committed. Can she convince the sexy new sheriff that Jenny Miller didn’t fall down the steps on her own? Will she catch the killer before another body is found? Does the sheriff think she’s as attractive as she finds him?
https://tantor.com/amazing-grace-john-g-hartness.html
M. Scalzi, thanks so much for the opportunity! My debut novel, THE LIGHT YEARS, came out through Angry Robot in February 20202, and I expect there are still a few copies looking for good homes. (There is also an audiobook on Audible.)
BLURB: Hisako Saski was born with her life already mapped out. In exchange for an education, better housing for her family, and a boost out of poverty, she’s been contracted into an arranged marriage to Adem Sadiq, a maintenance engineer and amateur musician who works and lives aboard his family’s sub-light freighter, the Hajj.
Hisako is not happy with the deal. The arcane branch of physics it requires her to study broke off a thousand years before, and she is not keen on the idea of giving up everything she knows to marry a stranger and move onto an aging spaceship.
Onboard the Hajj, Hisako soon learns her dilemmas are overshadowed by the discovery of ancient secrets, a derelict warship, and a chance at giving the survivors of Earth a fresh start.
You can find it HERE, among other places.
Thank you so much, John!
I’m Lavanya Lakshminarayan, and I’m a speculative fiction writer and a game designer.
Black Mirror meets the future of India in my debut, Analog/ Virtual: And Other Simulations Of Your Future. Published by Hachette India in 2020, this book is a collection of interlinked short stories, and is part cyberpunk, part social satire.
Here’s the blurb:
‘We are a Meritocratic Technarchy.
We are the future of the human race.’
The world’s nations have collapsed. A handful of city states form the remains of civilization. Erstwhile Bangalore is now rebranded, ruled by the insidious Bell Corporation.
Welcome to Apex City. Here, technology is the key to survival, productivity is power, and the self must be engineered for success.
With the right image, values and opinions, you can ascend to the ranks of the Virtual elite, the new world at your feet. The price of failure is deportation: you are marked an Analog, with no access to electricity, running water or your humanity.
Ready to step into your future? This won’t hurt a bit.
It ships all over the world via Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/938925308X/
Our Child of the Stars – Stephen Cox
The LA Times loved it. “It’s 1969, the year of the moon landings, Woodstock and the ongoing Vietnam war. Against this backdrop, Gene and Molly Myers have been having a rough time since their child died some years before. [When] a meteor strikes their New England town… Molly is given the task of caring for the gravely ill survivor – an alien child called Cory.
Cory’s difference to others highlights the real messages that have been tenderly provided here – those of acceptance, warmth of human spirit along with parental love and sacrifice. It’s a wonderfully emotional, heart-warming journey of what it really means to be a parent.” LA Times
All good bookshops and https://www.amazon.com/Our-Child-of-the-Stars/dp/1786489953
Thank you for hosting this, there are great suggestions here so far!
My book goes in a bit of a different direction from what I’ve seen so far, but if you like beer, and regional history, then check out Bend Beer: A History of Brewing in Central Oregon. Bend, Oregon is one of the west coast’s best craft beer destinations, and I cover the beery history of the region from its rough frontier days through Prohibition and into the modern craft era.
The book is available directly from The History Press/Arcadia (on sale right now!), as well as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and of course Powell’s.
Cheers!
Thank you so much, John!
I’m Lavanya Lakshminarayan, and I’m a speculative fiction writer and a game designer.
Black Mirror meets the future of India in my debut, Analog/ Virtual: And Other Simulations Of Your Future. Published by Hachette India in 2020, this book is a collection of interlinked short stories, and is part cyberpunk, part social satire.
Here’s the blurb:
‘We are a Meritocratic Technarchy.
We are the future of the human race.’
The world’s nations have collapsed. A handful of city states form the remains of civilization. Erstwhile Bangalore is now rebranded, ruled by the insidious Bell Corporation.
Welcome to Apex City. Here, technology is the key to survival, productivity is power, and the self must be engineered for success.
With the right image, values and opinions, you can ascend to the ranks of the Virtual elite, the new world at your feet. The price of failure is deportation: you are marked an Analog, with no access to electricity, running water or your humanity.
Ready to step into the future? This won’t hurt a bit.
It ships all over the world via Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/938925308X/
My latest book is called “The Discovery of the Universe” and charts the progress of astronomy through the development of the observatories used throughout history. It’s really aimed as an introduction to the subject of observatories, ranging from the earliest observing points on Earth to the latest installations that don’t even look like observatories (but are!). It was a lot of fun to research and write this book, which came out in the U.S. just as the states were starting to close down due to the pandemic. So, I really appreciate Mr. Scalzi making his space available here for me to hawk my wares (so to speak). Happy reading and happy holidays!
There’s a longer description here:
https://www.lochnessproductions.com/books/tdu/tdu.html
It’s available, along with my most recent books, from Amazon.com as well as other fine booksellers.
I’m a science writer who specializes in astronomy and space science. Along with books, I also write and produce content for planetarium theaters, science centers, and museums.
Thank you for doing this.
My recently published book is Bruce Lee: Sifu, Friend and Big Brother, a memoir of my friendship with Bruce Lee. It’s available on Amazon—
Amazon.com: Bruce Lee: Sifu, Friend and Big Brother (9781634059855): Palmer, Doug: Books
or from the publisher—
http://www.chinmusicpress.com
Hi! Looking for a queer psychic thriller? Try “Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water,” and you can even read the first chapter here and see if it’s your jam. Enjoy!
https://www.tor.com/2019/03/27/excerpts-vylar-kaftan-her-silhouette-drawn-in-water/
Links to buy:
https://publishing.tor.com/hersilhouettedrawninwater-vylarkaftan/9781250221148/
Thank you!
I’m experimenting with direct sales of autographed copies of Terminal Alliance, the first book in my Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse trilogy from DAW. A biological attack leaves the ship’s hygiene and sanitation team in charge. What could go wrong? (On the bright side, none of them are wearing red shirts…)
https://payhip.com/b/1FXx
Many thanks for this opportunity!
My debut novel “Kill Zone” is now available on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Smashwords, and Bookshop in eBook and paperback format. If you’re in the market for a fast-paced, pulp-style sci-fi adventure, it’s available in paperback and most eBook formats through the links below.
Free (longer) sample on Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1023632
Other links to buy:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0892VGDC3
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/kill-zone-damir-salkovic/1137067812
https://bookshop.org/books/kill-zone-9781619506176
Blurb:
Frank Clayton’s life has fallen apart in the wake of his son’s death. His wife has left him, he has been blacklisted from employment and his citizen-consumer status had been taken away, leaving him no choice but to enlist in a murderous reality show. When an opportunity comes up to escape presents itself, he finds out that he still has something to live for: revenge.
Do you like spooky urban legend games? Have you ever tried to summon Bloody Mary in your bathroom mirror? Do you dream of hopping in an elevator one day and having it spit you out on another plane of existence? My book, DANGEROUS GAMES TO PLAY IN THE DARK, is for you!
Published by Chronicle Books in September 2019, DANGEROUS GAMES TO PLAY IN THE DARK takes a good, long look at ritual-based urban legends both past and present, with tons of terrifically eerie illustrations by Pam Wishbow to light your way.
It’s available in hardcover and as an ebook at most major retailers, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc., as well via Indiebound, Bookshop.org, and Chronicle Books’ website. There’s also a German translation now, published earlier this year by Riva.
Amazon link for ease of access: https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Games-Play-Lucia-Peters/dp/1452179794/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=dangerous+games+to+play+in+the+dark&qid=1606760881&sr=8-1
Thanks so much for doing this again, John!
Thank you for doing this again John! :)
My debut novel, ‘Beneath the Rising,’ came out this March (sequel is coming out next year!). A child prodigy invents a clean reactor that solves the world’s energy problem but unfortunately attracts the attention of… let’s just say they’re not fellow scientists. She and her best friend are now on a race to save the world with little more than their wits, luck, a bunch of Sharpies, a couple of petty thefts, oh, and did we mention the magic, monsters, and long-hidden secrets?
“It’s got a quantum in it” — Nick
“That is NOT how that works” — Johnny
Also available in audiobook, read by the wonderful Omari Newton!
This link has most of the buy links — hope everyone enjoys it and doesn’t get eaten or possessed by anything eldritch! :D
https://www.premeemohamed.com/beneath-the-rising
Well, I’ve nothing new out this year, so I shall ruthlessly shill the Johannes Cabal series. There are five of the blighters, JOHANNES CABAL THE NECROMANCER, JOHANNES CABAL THE DETECTIVE, THE FEAR INSTITUTE, THE BROTHERS CABAL, and THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF CABAL. Here’s a link for the first book…
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/johannes-cabal-the-necromancer-jonathan-l-howard/1100268034?ean=9780767930765
…but all five should be readily available in most places, both in readable and audio forms. Oh, and speaking of audio, there’s also an audio collection of the short stories entitled JOHANNES CABAL AND THE BLUSTERY DAY (AND OTHER TALES OF THE NECROMANCER).
https://skyboatmedia.com/audiobook/johannes-cabal-and-the-blustery-day-and-other-tales-of-the-necromancer/
Have yourself a pleasantly necromantic holiday season and don’t resurrect anything I wouldn’t.
Cheers for the showcase, John! Much appreciated.
The essay collection “Animating the Spirited” deals with different aspects of spirituality as they are reflected in animation, and it contains my article “Heaven and Earth” about the character of the Heavenly Woman in anime, with case-studies examined including the films of Hayao Miyazaki, Mamoru Oshii and Satoshi Kon. There’s plenty of other cool stuff in the collection, including a chapter by famed Japanese animator Koji Yamamura, a discussion of Buddhism in Thai animation, and more. Check it out:
https://www.amazon.com/-/he/dp/1496826256/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=animating+the+spirited&qid=1606762769&sr=8-1
Hello! Thank you so much for the space for this.
If you like hopepunk and/or fantasy with touches of #fiction, in the vein of Final Fantasy, then this might interest you. It’s my debut novel “Tempest Blades: The Withered King”.
Fionn thought that his days as a warrior were over. Gaby & Alex never expected to become heroes. Now they must join forces to stop an ancient evil.
In a world where magic and science intermingle, anything is possible. Including second chances.
http://mybook.to/TempestBladesWK
Thanks for doing this, John!
I’m K. Eason, and this year, I have HOW THE MULTIVERSE GOT ITS REVENGE.
It’s the second book in the Thorne Chronicles, though it’s less of a fairy tale in space than its predecessor, and very much about what happens when “happily ever after” turns out to be complicated.
Rory Thorne has renounced her title and gone off to the hinterlands of space to be a private citizen. But then she and her crew–former royal bodyguards, Thorsdottir and Zhang, and co-conspirator Jaed– find a derelict ship carrying…roses. Which reveal themselves to be sentient bioweapons who would rather be something else. But before Rory and her friends can get Rose off the derelict ship, the alien attackers return, and then things really get complicated…
Available from all the usual places, but here’s the Amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Multiverse-Revenge-Thorne-Chronicles/dp/0756415314/
And! You can read a chapter here: https://www.tor.com/2020/10/08/read-an-excerpt-from-k-easons-how-the-multiverse-got-its-revenge/
Are you raising your money-smart family?
My daughter Carol Pittner and I just published “Raising Your Money-Savvy Family For Next Generation Financial Independence.”
https://www.amazon.com/Raising-Money-Savvy-Generation-Financial-Independence-ebook/dp/B08C9G4LXC/
You’ll learn ways to teach your kids to manage their money before giving them financial incentives to save and invest. Our back&forth narrative shares our parenting tactics with Carol’s reactions as a kid, and her later perspective as a parent.
I’m back again this year, now with a short mosaic novel titled Driftwood! The tag line “where worlds go to die” makes it sound super depressing, but the starred review it got from Publishers Weekly called it “hope in the face of apocalypse” (which, uh, turned out to be way more timely than I thought when I first sold the book). It’s made the Kirkus and Library Journal lists for Best Fantasy Books of 2020, and you can order it in various formats here!
Angry Robot Books has recently rereleased by urban fantasy novel NIGHT TERRORS.
Shadow Watch agent Audra and her nightmare clown partner Jinx fight to protect Earth from threats originating in the dream realm. But as difficult as it is to battle living nightmares, working with one can be even worse!
https://www.amazon.com/Night-Terrors-Shadow-Watch-Book-ebook/dp/B00H12AIT8/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=tim+waggoner+night+terrors&qid=1606766940&sr=8-1
Thank you, John! In the mood for some rousing fantastical pirate tales from authors from around the world? My anthology, SCOURGE OF THE SEAS OF TIME (AND SPACE), might be just the ticket!
Outlaws. Lovers. Heroes. Villains.
With their peg legs, their parrots and the skull and crossbones flying from the mastheads of their ships, classic pirates are some of the world’s best-known and easily recognizable outlaws. Or are they? These fifteen stories spin new tales of pirates crossing dimensional barriers for revenge, fighting terrible foes in outer space and building new lives after the Trojan War. Travel to the South China Sea, then on to New York City after a climate apocalypse, then roam the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy and voyage to distant and fantastical worlds. Go with them as they seek treasure, redemption, love, revenge and more. Raise the Jolly Roger and sharpen your cutlass (or recharge your raygun) and climb aboard for some unforgettable journeys.
https://www.powells.com/book/scourge-of-the-seas-of-time-and-space-9781732583320
Hi there! My angry bisexual dragon YA fantasy duology wrapped up this year with Shatter the Sky and Storm the Earth. It’s the story of Maren, a girl who wants nothing more than to make a comfortable life on her beloved mountain…until her girlfriend Kaia is abducted by agents of the empire where she lives. So she vows to steal and train a dragon in order to get Kaia back…
Both books are available in hardcover, ebook, and audio wherever books are sold in the US. Shatter the Sky is also available in paperback!
Signed/personalized copies can be ordered from my local indie, Porter Square Books.
Other buy links: The Shatter the Sky Duology
Thanks! Happy holidays!
Thanks for doing this, John! A BEGINNING AT THE END (Mira/HarperCollins) is available in hardback, paperback (just released), audiobook narrated by Emily Woo Zeller, and ebook.
“Both a thrilling chronicle of the apocalypse and a timely reminder of what is most important in life-family, love, and hope.” – Peng Shepherd, author of The Book of M
Six years after a global pandemic, 2 billion survivors are rebuilding. In post-apocalyptic San Francisco, three strangers find their lives intertwined, all connected by chance through a little girl. In the shadow of a new outbreak, the friends are forced to face everything that came before—and everything they still stand to lose. Because sometimes having one person is enough to keep the world going.
Amazon buy link (though available on all the usual channels)
FYI ebook is on sale for $3.99 this week!
Thanks so much, John!
It’s not my most recent, but since it’s the holidays I’ll list my Christmassy book:
NUTCRACKED is the uplifting middle-grade story of Georgie, who has always wanted to dance the role of Clara in the Nutcracker ballet, and what happens when the magic of the Nutcracker’s world, and Drosselmeyer’s curses, twist her dream into an unexpected adventure. With family, changing friendships, ballet, and Christmastime! Available in paperback or hardcover, in cool stocking-stuffer size. Amazon link here: https://www.amazon.com/Nutcracked-Susan-Adrian/dp/0399556710/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=nutcracked&qid=1606772009&sr=8-2
Thanks, John.
The EMBERS OF WAR trilogy is available in paperback, ebook and audio book.
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Every time a copy sells, a cute little alien gets a snack.
Happy festive season!
Thanks much, John.
My novel Last Gasp is a topical thriller/family drama, available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble online (Last Gasp by Howard Levine–there are other books with similar titles). A synopsis follows below:
Frank Tedeschi’s niece is dead, one of thousands of victims of a terrorist attack, which has been laid at the feet of “Islamic radicals” by a right-wing US government. Frank, based on a chance encounter, is one of the very few people who question the government’s explanation. He is a Vietnam veteran who wants nothing more than to live without further controversy or conflict. Can he and his grieving brother Rob, a detective with the NYPD, obtain the necessary evidence to uncover the truth, in the face of scorn and incredulity? Can they overcome their long-term estrangement to work together, given that they are putting their lives in danger?
In LAST GASP—a novel that resonates with today’s politics—the answers to these questions unfold in a way that mingles personal and societal issues and intertwines the past and present while moving relentlessly forward.
Thanks, John! And Happy Holidays, everyone!
If you’re shopping for a kid reader (age 8-12) who likes magic and adventure, you can check out my newest, RIVAL MAGIC (from Atheneum/S&S), about two rival wizard apprentices who have to work together to save their homeland. It’s got mermaids, voice-stealing forests, and dancing turnips!
https://bookshop.org/books/rival-magic-9781534439054/9781534439054
As always, thank you John for your support.
My novel MYSTIC and its sequel, MYSTIC DRAGON are currently available from Tor Books in hardback, paperback, ebook, and audio. The audiobook is read by Mary Robinette Kowal.
-= MYSTIC =-
Big Idea
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Indiebound.org
Audible
-= MYSTIC DRAGON =-
Big Idea
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Indiebound.org
Audible
The concluding book in the trilogy is nearly complete and is forthcoming in early 2022.
Thanks, John!
The universe is a very strange place. It will take even stranger heroes to save it.
This, my first novel, is a dark comedy/sci-fi that has been called “a marriage of Douglas Adams, Lewis Carroll and John Kennedy Toole”. It’s out now from Story Well Publishing. Though I’m not sure that’s accurate, it does make me smile. Here’s my favourite review:
“Absurd. Existential. Ridiculous. Tragic. Comic. The antiheroes of “I Don’t Seem So Bright in a Well-Lit Room” are a kind of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern with space packs, inadvertently colliding with their destinies against a starry background of witty wordplay. With a vision as sprawling and limitless as the loveably goofy universe in which it’s set, Browning’s wit, wisdom and heart are always at play, combining to form a wonderfully panoramic and very silly heroes’ journey that visits every trope of its overlapping genres and draws moustaches on all of them.”
– Marcel St. Pierre, author of “Vengeful Hank” and “Cliché and Wind Go Hitchhiking”.
Amazon link: I Don’t Seem So Bright in a Well-Lit Room https://www.amazon.com/dp/1952876028/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabt1_T8wXFbXMJ12HE
Thank you Mr. Scalzi (no, I’m not addressing your dad)
Fans of Oregon Pinot Noir might want to consider OREGON WINE – A DEEP ROOTED HISTORY (Arcadia/History Press, 2019). Extensively researched (228 source citations), debunks many of the myths associated with the history of winemaking in the Beaver State (and irritating a lot of people in the process). Bookauthority.com lists it as one of the 20 best wine books of 2019 and one of the best 100 wine books of all time. Available from Amazon, Powell’s, B&N, and (gasp) WalMart, but buy it from Powell’s because they need the business (the others do not).
Also consider DISTILLED IN OREGON – A HISTORY AND GUIDE (Arcadia/History Press, 2017).
Labor organizer Padma Mehta is on the edge of space and the edge of burnout. All she wants to do is buy a rum distillery and spend the rest of her life on the beach. When she hears of a starship crew that wants to bail out and join the Union, she launches herself neck deep into trouble. Can she save her city, her planet, and all of Occupied Space before Happy Hour? Find out in WINDSWEPT, a finalist for Philip K Dick Award.
Get it at Audible.
Get it direct from the publisher at Graphic Audio.
ARG. I screwed up the links.
Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/Windswept-Dramatized-Adaptation-Audiobook/164881400X
Graphic Audio: https://www.graphicaudio.net/windswept-1-windswept.html
My series, The Remembrance War, is published by Flame Tree Press. The story’s overall shape is inspired by the Irish Independence struggle. Books 1 and 2 are available now, with book 3 coming in 2022. The links following lead to longer synopses and links to the retailer of your choice.
The series is PG-13 Space Opera, with a gay main character and love interest.
Book 1:
Once a war hero of the Zhen Empire, Tajen Hunt has become a freelance starship pilot. When his estranged brother is murdered, Tajen discovers that Imperial agents killed him. Betrayed by the Empire he used to serve, Tajen gathers a crew and sets out to finish his brother’s quest—to find the long-lost human homeworld, Earth.
Link to longer synopsis and retailer choices
Book 2:
Tajen’s mission to seek aid from the Kelvaki Assembly is cut short when the Zhen invade Earth. Now he, Liam, and Kiri must return to Earth and liberate the colony from brutal occupation. When Tajen learns the Zhen plan to destroy a human fleet amassing in preparation to help Earth, he and his crew must escape the planet once more and warn them.
Link to longer synopsis and retailer choices
Thank you so much, John! As a publisher, editor, and writer, I have to say this is super-helpful.
I’m going to share the most recent wares from my imprint, Mythic Delirium Books. We specialize in offbeat anthologies and collections that offer a range of styles and subject matter to suit diverse tastes.
“With fiction from C.S.E Cooney, Jessica P. Wick, Amanda J. McGee, and Mike Allen, Mythic Delirium’s excellent new anthology, A Sinister Quartet, provides further evidence that long-form genre fiction is not just alive and well but thriving.” —Locus
RELATED BONUS: The record-setting (in terms of number of authors participating) Big Idea essay!
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B085XMVB4G&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_4EyXFbN9YGJQK
Aftermath of an Industrial Accident: “Allen overflows the tank with nightmare fuel in this collection of 23 stories and poems that showcase his ability to find the monstrous in almost any setting.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B0873ZS724&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_ZFyXFbPH6EEN2
“Steeped in the history of the Jewish Diaspora, Barbara Krasnoff’s mosaic novel The History of Soul 2065 charts fifteen decades (1914-2065) of life for two families whose individual members have no idea just how connected they are, nor just how much subtle magic influences the small and large decisions of their lives.” —Strange Horizons
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B07PRMZ1M9&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_uFyXFbM0KNFFR
There’s many more books to be found at https://mythicdelirium.com/ — happy hunting and happy holidays!
The phrase “introductory university physics with calculus” may induce either terror or intimidation – but our University Physics book (now in its 15th edition) is designed to make learning physics fun. Along the way we confront common misconceptions about the physical world that can be stumbling blocks to learning. And there are plenty of references to science fiction, comics, and The Simpsons.
Thanks for the opportunity, John!
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/University-Physics-Modern-15th/dp/0135159555
I’m late to this party, but thank you for this! I have two books in a series that folks might enjoy. As Mike Underwood said previously, our books pair well together as found family space opera adventure stories. I’ve also heard folks who like Alex White’s books may enjoy mine.
Contents include: psychic cats, copious video game and pop culture references, pining and smooching.
The first one is Chilling Effect, in which mercenary spaceship captain Eva Innocente risks her life and crew to save her sister from a secret galactic organization.
http://candleinsunshine.com/books/chilling-effect/
The sequel is Prime Deceptions, and continues the shenanigans when Captain Eva Innocente must confront her greatest failure as she and her crew search for a missing scientist to stop a covert war.
http://candleinsunshine.com/books/prime-deceptions/
Third book, Fault Tolerance, will be out in 2022!
My release this year is ASHES OF THE SUN, a post-apocalyptic fantasy inspired by a question out of Star Wars — if some people are born with magic, does that mean they deserve to rule? Do they get a choice? When Maya is taken at a young age to be trained in the Order, her brother Gyre joins the rebels, searching for forbidden power, until that search brings them back together…
https://www.amazon.com/Ashes-Sun-Burningblade-Silvereye-Book-ebook/dp/B07ZZ25BCX/
I’ll let one of the reviews speak for itself:
——————————————————
In JUMP, it isn’t the discovery of time travel that sets the story churning, but the potential misuse of it. When a covert environmental group threatens to destabilize the past in hope of limiting man’s influence on the future, the fate of the world hangs in the balance and our likeable cast of heroes must race to heal time’s wounds before it’s too late.
Ladle’s prose is intelligent and thoughtful and the story focuses on the characters as much as the premise. The time travel element is heavy on theoretical physics and laymen not used to the genre might get confused, but the second half picks up the pace to what is an exciting resolution. For fans of the time travel genre, JUMP is the thinking man’s TIMELINE, and it’s good to see there’s room for a potential sequel.
A solid debut.
——————————————————
https://www.amazon.com/Jump-Dan-Ladle/dp/1724009869
Fearful of witchcraft, the Cedarville, Arkansas, school board banned the Harry Potter books. But the school librarian, assisted by a fourth-grade girl, fought back with a federal lawsuit and won. The case received worldwide media attention. HARRY POTTER & THE CEDARVILLE CENSORS tells the story.
The American Library Association’s magazine Booklist said the book is “An engaging read … The title will draw in book lovers, and the narrative will keep them reading through to the gratifying conclusion.”
Buy on Amazon — Click Here
Hello! You may know me from my debut novel last year, The Luminous Dead (aka traumatized angry lesbians in caves)! I had two books come out this year, too – both are sapphic horror novellas.
Yellow Jessamine is about a paranoid noblewoman obsessed with three things: power, poison, and her assistant, Violetta. Things are going great (they’re not, the city is blockaded and dying, it’s not great) until one of her ships come back, some of its crew acting… strange.
And they’re obsessed with her.
https://bookshop.org/books/yellow-jessamine/9781952086038
I also had an audio-only novella, The Land of Milk and Honey, come out as part of Vampire: The Masquerade: Walk Among Us! Look, sometimes it’s hard to manage a commune in Portland over the winter. There’s all that mud, and rain, and your residents are getting a bit anemic… but the blood still has to flow.
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/walk-among-us-cassandra-khawgenevieve-gornicheccaitlin-starling?variant=32112862789666
Hello! You may know me from my debut novel last year, The Luminous Dead (aka traumatized angry lesbians in caves)! I had two books come out this year, too – both are short creepy reads.
Yellow Jessamine is about a paranoid noblewoman obsessed with three things: power, poison, and her assistant, Violetta. Things are going great (they’re not, the city is blockaded and dying, it’s not great) until one of her ships come back, some of its crew acting… strange.
And they’re obsessed with her now.
https://bookshop.org/books/yellow-jessamine/9781952086038
I also had an audio-only novella, The Land of Milk and Honey, come out as part of Vampire: The Masquerade: Walk Among Us! Look, sometimes it’s hard to manage a commune in Portland over the winter. There’s all that mud, and rain, and your residents are getting a bit anemic… but the blood still has to flow.
Enjoying all these book selections so far!
DAPHNE BYRNE is a horror graphic novel that I wrote for DC Comics’ Hill House Comics imprint, with art by the legendary Kelley Jones. This hardcover trade edition collects the six original comic issues, along with commentary and behind-the-scenes artwork.
In the gaslit splendor of old New York, rage builds inside fourteen-year-old Daphne. The sudden death of her father has left her alone with her irresponsible, grief-stricken mother, who becomes easy prey for a group of occultists promising to contact her dead husband.
While fighting to free her mother from these charlatans, Daphne begins to sense a strange, insidious presence in her own body…an entity with unspeakable appetites. He calls himself her “Brother”. What does he want? And could she even stop him if she tried?
https://www.amazon.com/Daphne-Byrne-Hill-House-Comics/dp/1779504659/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Daphne+byrne&qid=1606797864&sr=8-1
Finally getting up the courage to do this! Thanks John for providing an opportunity to post something without it being too super-awkward (You rock!)
My latest (and second) novel DRIVING THE DEEP came out in May from DAW. It’s book 2 of the Finder Chronicles. Fergus Ferguson is an interstellar repo-man and paid finder-of-things, and is even better at getting into trouble than he is at getting out of it. In the second book, his friends have disappeared and he takes a job driving a hauler under the ice of Enceladus hoping to find them there. Snarky space-opera with wit, heart, and lots of adventure.
The first book is FINDER, and the third book is out next year. Available in the usual outlets, and surely can be ordered from your friendly neigbrhood bookseller too. (-:
Thanks, John!
PURPLE HEARTED MAN
Autographed Hardcover Copies
https://www.booksareawesome.org/purple-hearted-man-signed.html
Purple has a difficult job: He was placed here to take down the One-Eyed God. It’s his mission and he won’t fail. It’s a lonely road for someone like him–a healer–but he has help. The hippies are his friends: Chloe the yogi, Wheat the candlestick maker, and Berrydream, who is in retail. And he has his tribe: Charlotte, Stranger and Jackson. Eventually, the tigers that roam the city might become allies, too. Who can say, tigers are fickle.
The One-Eyed God is nefarious and powerful. His agents lurk everywhere and the aliens are certainly up to no good. The government is clearly working with the aliens to force the Second Coming–and that will only lead to tragedy. Even the one called Sister can’t be trusted.
But the universe is wise and has given Purple skills. Getting control of his invisibility will help, but that only matters as long as molecular cohesion is maintained. Most of all, Purple has purpose and, of course, he has his broom.
—
Purchase on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Purple-Hearted-Man-Jack-McDaniel/dp/164713935X/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Detective Salvi Brentt returns in The Sensation.
Last time she investigated the saints of the Solme Complex, this time it’s the sinners of the Sensation…
A series of brutal murders has the homicide division of San Francisco’s Hub 9 working overtime. But as the bodies mount, they begin to question whether the attacks are random or somehow connected.
When one of their own falls victim, Detective Salvi Brentt and her homicide team join forces with the narcotics and cyber divisions to track down those responsible. They soon discover that a volatile new drug-tech experience, involving black market neural implants, has hit the streets, causing an epidemic of violence and missing persons.
With the clock ticking and the bodies piling up, Salvi must go deep undercover in the seedy Sensation club scene to find out who is behind it. But in the secretive playgrounds of the rich and powerful, some will stop at nothing to protect their empire… Will the underground crime scene bury Salvi with it?
Available where all good books are sold in ebook, paperback and audiobook.
Click here for Amazon.
Thanks, John!
I have two books out currently, both of which are about fandom and the television show Supernatural. I’m a clinical psychologist who writes about the psychology of being a fan of something, and why that is a positive and healthy and sometimes even life-changing thing. As a fan of Supernatural myself, I wanted to put together a book that explored how the show has changed (and sometimes literally saved) lives – for both the show’s actors and its fans. Family Don’t End With Blood has chapters written by Jared Padalecki (Sam Winchester) Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester), Misha Collins (Castiel) and many other actors as well as fans, each sharing their own personal and inspiring stories. It turns out the Supernatural actors are amazing writers – Jared’s chapter is over 30 pages long and shares the compelling story of his darkest times and how he managed to get through them.
The show came to an end last week, so I recently put together a follow-up book, with new chapters by the actors, this time celebrating Supernatural and the rich legacy it leaves behind – giving fans something to hang onto as they grieve the loss of the show. That book is titled There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done.
Both are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many indie bookstores or through the website below:
https://www.peacewhenyouaredone.com/
I’m one of the contributors to the anthology Recognize Fascism out a month and a half ago from World Weaver Press! We’ve got a bunch of stories from more than the average number of countries for an anthology (including translation) and, y’know. Timely, if not cheerful. My story’s a corporate cyberpunk dystopia if you’re into that sort of thing but the antho ranges wildly over spec fic.
https://www.worldweaverpress.com/store/p171/Recognize_Fascism.html
John, many thanks for doing this! My latest book is the stand alone novel The Vanished Seas from Baen/Simon&Schuster. Readers can find an excerpt and ordering information here: catherineasaro.net/books/the-vanished-seas/. Enjoy!
Blurb:
Bhaajan grew up in the Undercity, a community hidden in the ruins beneath the glittering City of Cries. Trapped between the beauty and poverty of that life, and caught by wanderlust, she enlisted in the military in her youth. Now retired, Major Bhaajan works as a private investigator, solving cases for the royal House of Majda. She has a new case to solve—why are the powerful elite in Cries disappearing? Only Bhaajan, who grew up in the Undercity, can find them—if she isn’t murdered first.
Hello! My book birthday is actually TODAY! So how delightful in terms of timing. The book is called QUEEN OF NONE, and it’s CIRCE meets EXCALIBUR: the story of Arthurian Legends from the point of view of Arthur’s sister, Anna, who appears early in texts and then vanishes.
It’s been really well-received, and I’m just so excited to share this book. In many ways, it’s the Masters thesis I never wrote…
https://www.amazon.com/Queen-None-Natania-Barron/dp/1952283051
“A captivating look at the intriguing figures in King Arthur’s golden realm.” – Kirkus Reviews
“…a layered, engaging retelling sure to please fans of the Arthurian tales.” — Publishers Weekly
“…gets readers exactly where they expect to be in the end, yet will leave them with entirely new insight on how they reached that point.” — Booklist
“This is what has always been missing from the telling.” – Bull Spec
“…a powerful new voice in Arthurian fantasy.” — Gareth L. Powell, BSFA-winning author of Embers of War
When Anna Pendragon was born, Merlin prophesied: “Through all the ages, and in the hearts of men, you will be forgotten.”
Married at twelve, and a mother soon after, Anna – the famed King Arthur’s sister – did not live a young life full of promise, myth, and legend. She bore three strong sons and delivered the kingdom of Orkney to her brother by way of her marriage. She did as she was asked, invisible and useful for her name, her status, her dowry, and her womb.
Twenty years after she left her home, Anna returns to Carelon at Arthur’s bidding, carrying the crown of her now-dead husband, Lot of Orkney. Past her prime and confined to the castle itself, she finds herself yet again a pawn in greater machinations and seemingly helpless to do anything about it. Anna must once again face the demons of her childhood: her sister Morgen, Elaine, and Morgause; Merlin and his scheming Avillion priests; and Bedevere, the man she once loved. To say nothing of new court visitors, like Lanceloch, or the trouble concerning her own sons.
Carelon, and all of Braetan, is changing, though, and Anna must change along with it. New threats, inside and out, lurk in the shadows, and a strange power begins to awaken in her. As she learns to reconcile her dark gift, and struggles to keep the power to herself, she must bargain her own strength, and family, against her ambition and thirst for revenge.
In the early 21st century, Rowan is fighting a secret war against alien pirates bent on subjugating all of mankind.
At least, that’s what she thinks. In reality, it’s a thousand years later, Earth has long been part of an interstellar and interspecies republic, and she’s a character on Angel Black, an e-entertainment that allows viewers a complete sensory experience through her perspective. Who needs actors when you can clone famous performers and splice in some alien DNA? Since studio clones have no rights, their lives and experiences can be tailor-made for the program.
It’s just too bad the clones don’t know that.
Ryan Chandler was a decorated war hero until he was cloned to save his life. His career options died with his original body and the best job he can get is a technician on Angel Black. He’s planning to escape to a newly colonized system when Rowan is scheduled to be killed off.
With help from unexpected allies, Ryan stages Rowan’s rescue, but getting her off the set is only the beginning. To succeed, they must evade a manhunt supported by the state that fears Rowan’s liberation might be the triggering event of a clone rights movement that could cost the establishment billions and shake the foundations of human society.
Can two clones find their freedom in a society that treats them as second-class citizens?
CLONING FREEDOM is the first book in a new series by multi-genre author Stephen B. Pearl. Publishers Weekly says, “Life imitates art a little too closely in this frenetic space opera caper. Pearl plays a confident game with his multiple worlds-within-worlds, running parallel scenes from the entertainment programs and the bridge of Ryan’s restored spaceship to wryly comment on how, even when his characters think they are in charge, their strings are being pulled by others.” And Booklist says: “The world Pearl has created in Cloning Freedom is rich, original, and immersive, sometimes challengingly so. Readers who are up for the challenge of navigating both the massively complex alien society and the complicated, multilayered plot will be rewarded with an intriguing reading experience.”
The book is releasing this Friday, and as the editor and someone who’s read a few others of Stephen’s works, I’m happy to say that this is my favourite book of his to date, and I’m totally psyched for the next book.
Available on Amazon and other major retailers.
Thanks, John! I’d like to introduce my historical fantasy series, Regency Mage –
What if Jane Austen wrote Harry Potter?
Meet the fantasy heroine you never expected – Mary Bennet, the awkward bookworm middle sister from Pride and Prejudice. Mary, a scientific young scholar, does not believe in magic until she learns that she can perform magic herself. Recruited by the secret magical Order of Saint George, Mary discovers new friends, powerful enemies, and a courage she never knew she needed. Told in Mary’s own words, with an acute eye and dry wit, the Regency Mage series follows her adventures through 19th century society, combining Austen-style comedy of manners with fantasy high adventure.
Start with Book 1 – Mary Bennet and the Bingley Codex
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SHQNC9Z/
Thank you so much, John!
My 24th novel THE OPPENHEIMER ALTERNATIVE is available in a gorgeous trade paperback from CAEZIK SF&F Books and as an audiobook from Recorded Books. It’s a secret history of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project physicists as they clandestinely stay together after World War II to try to save our planet.
“I loved it!” —Lee Smolin, bestselling author of The Trouble with Physics
“An imaginative restructuring of a phantasmagoric life into an alternative phantasmagorical story. Oppenheimer fans will be intrigued.” —Martin J. Sherwin, co-author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
“Impressive use of scientific and historical detail and Sawyer’s characterization of the man himself pull back the layers of Oppenheimer’s morals, genius, and grief. Science fiction fans will devour this smart speculative tale.” —Publishers Weekly
“You can call this alternate history or alternate astrophysics (or both). Whatever term you choose, it’s a terrific story.” —Eric Flint, author of 1632
“Incredibly realistic: the characters, locations, the era, and even the science. I felt like I was back in Los Alamos — and I should know: I worked there! Breathlessly riveting; Sawyer pulls it off masterfully.” —Doug Beason, former Associate Laboratory Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory
“Sawyer does a magnificent job. Every individual pops right off the page, fully integrated both into their era and amongst themselves. The whole book is rich in emotional depth. This fine novel makes explicit its relevance to the present.” —Locus
“I enjoyed it tremendously! Really great, a page-turner. I was hooked from the beginning to the end. Another fine addition to the Sawyer canon!” —Andre Bormanis, producer, The Orville and Cosmos
Here’s the Amazon US link for the print edition:
https://www.amazon.com/Oppenheimer-Alternative-Robert-J-Sawyer/dp/1647100135
Book 2 in our fantasy detective series, Joy of the Widow’s Tears came out in June. Currently writing book 3 in the series.
A cursed necklace. Missing murder victims. An undead cult. Just another week for Constable Inspector Reva Lunaria when an ancient evil is imported into Tenyl and threatens the city with an undead plague.
https://bookshop.org/books/joy-of-the-widow-s-tears/9781951122010
This is awesome, John. Thanks!
YA Superhero: Book 1 – Launch
Demarcus Bartlett can outrun cars. Lights have behaving strangely around Lily Beausoliel. Besides dealing with the strange abilities, these two teens are invited to the Launch Conference for influencers by social media tycoon, Simon Mazor.
Simon is looking for teens with special abilities to help with his goal of changing the world, and he’s gathered fifty teens looking for the one who can complete the grand project, no matter what it takes.
But an elderly custodian named John is also looking for gifted teens, and he has the answer for why these things are happening. These events were prophesied long ago, so Demarcus and Lily will have a choice: what do they do with their gifts?
Book 2, Fractures, is now out as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Launch-Rise-Anointed-Jason-Joyner/dp/0998624381/
This month, my third book, Zee, is being simultaneously launched in English and French. It is a short novel suitable for both adult and young adult readers.
Imagine that you could read the thoughts and emotions of others as easily — no, more easily! — than you could read your own. Now imagine that instead of having two parents to take care of you, you had four grownups who don’t even know they’re a family yet. That is Zee’s life.
Zee is a story of how to forge your own authentic identity in the face of society’s competing and inconsistent demands. It is also about the limits — and power — of empathy.
This month, my third book, Zee, is being simultaneously launched in English and French. It is a short novel suitable for both adult and young adult readers.
Imagine that you could read the thoughts and emotions of others as easily — no, more easily! — than you could read your own. Now imagine that instead of having two parents to take care of you, you had four grownups who don’t even know they’re a family yet. That is Zee’s life.
Zee is a story of how to forge your own authentic identity in the face of society’s competing and inconsistent demands. It is also about the limits — and power — of empathy.
It’s a world like our own, but the emergence of superhumans has created shifts in culture that play out in changes both subtle and monumental.Those who share their abilities with the world do so for a price: either as superheroes, public-facing protectors; or as operators, who work from the shadows. They are…For Hire. The divide between superhero and operator has never been so blatant as in the relationship between Sana Parker and Marcella McKenzie. These high school sweethearts used their combined talents to create technology that put them toe to toe with the best superheroes in the game. For Marcella, now known publicly as Double M, fame and fortune are tools to create a better world. For Sana, the freedom of being an operator suits her, and she can be contacted for everything from stakeouts to assassinations under the name JC. When Sana takes a contract from her favorite client, she has no idea this will put her in direct opposition to her love. With old friends and new threats in the mix, Sana must reconcile her past, battle for a better future…and hope that Double M doesn’t come for her in the meantime.
For the Lovers of Hopeful Short Speculative Fiction from Laksa Media Groups
The award-winning Laksa Anthology Series presents the following for your consideration:
1) Strangers Among Us: Tales of the Underdogs and Outcasts
(edited by Susan Forest and Lucas K. Law)
Nineteen speculative fiction authors tackle the complex balance between mental health and mental illness. Authors include Kelley Armstrong, Gemma Files, James Alan Gardner, Rich Larson, and A.C. Wise.
Link: https://books2read.com/strangers-among-us
2) The Sum of Us: Tales of the Bonded and Bound
(edited by Susan Forest and Lucas K. Law)
Stories about essential services and caregiving; what would your world be like without them?
Authors include Brenda Cooper, Juliet Marillier, Nisi Shawl, James Van Pelt, Christie Yant, and Caroline M. Yoachim.
Link: https://books2read.com/the-sum-of-us
3) Where the Stars Rise: Asian Science Fiction and Fantasy
(edited by Lucas K. Law and Derwin Mak)
Take a journey with twenty-three Asian speculative fiction authors on their journeys through Asia and beyond. Stories that explore identities, belonging, and choices. Authors include Joyce Chng, S.B. Divya, Fonda Lee, Karin Lowachee, Rati Mehrotra, E.C. Myers, and Amanda Sun.
Link: https://books2read.com/where-the-stars-rise
4) Shades Within Us: Tales of Migrations and Fractured Borders
(edited by Susan Forest and Lucas K. Law)
Journey with twenty-one speculative fiction authors to examine the dreams, struggles, and triumphs of those who choose—or are forced—to leave home and familiar places. Authors include Kate Heartfield, S.L. Huang, Matthew Kressel, Rich Larson, and Seanan McGuire
Link: https://books2read.com/shades-within-us
Anthologies in this series have been recommended by Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, School Library Journal, Booklist, Foreword Reviews, and Quill & Quire.
Keep Calm and Log On (MIT Press, April 2020) is the book to get for your relatives who are struggling with technology, digital security, and yeah even that online vat of conspiracy theories you really wish they hadn’t fallen into: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/keep-calm-and-log
I’ve put together the best of my resources from working in the fields of media literacy, international digital rights, software usability, and information security in an everyday-language “scout guide” to surviving the digital revolution. For a taste of the book’s advice, check out the companion website! https://www.keepcalmlogon.com/
Thank you for this opportunity, it’s been a rough year for debuts!
I’m Essa Hansen, and my debut science fiction novel NOPHEK GLOSS released two weeks ago from Orbit Books.
Most recently described as a “therapy speed run,” Nophek Gloss follows a young man whose planet is destroyed for economic gain, thrusting him into a vast and diverse bubble multiverse where he’s forced to grow up too quickly physically, emotionally, and morally as he seeks out justice.
It’s the first book in a space opera trilogy, The Graven, but can be read standalone. The ebook is currently on sale for $2.99 until 12/13!
https://www.amazon.com/Nophek-Gloss-Graven-Book-1-ebook/dp/B084FYBG69
I know I’m late to this party. My apologies. And now, my shameless self-promotion! (Thank you, John.)
I’m David Mack, a NYT-bestselling author of many novels, and an expert consultant on Star Trek: Prodigy and Star Trek: Lower Decks.
I had two novels out this year, one an SF media tie-in, the other an original secret history/contemporary fantasy. Both are available in a variety of formats, including trade paperback, eBooks, and digital audiobooks.
First: STAR TREK: MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN DEATH, a novel I wrote ten years ago as a tie-in to the first J. J. Abrams Star Trek movie. A mystical experience on an alien world causes James Kirk to question his belief in a rational universe.
http://davidmack.pro/writing/more-beautiful-than-death/
Second: THE SHADOW COMMISSION, book three of my Dark Arts series from Tor Books. It’s November 1963. President Kennedy has just been assassinated by a mysterious cabal—and our heroes will be the next to die unless they find the truth behind Kennedy’s murder.
http://davidmack.pro/writing/the-shadow-commission/
Thank you, John, for the opportunity.
My latest book, FLIGHTS OF MARIGOLD, came out a few months ago from Laksa Media Groups. The epic fantasy book is about sisterhood, addictions, and holding on to dreams. This is the second book of the Addicted to Heaven series.
FLIGHTS OF MARIGOLD is described as an epic tale of addictions, survival, and redemption of three sisters hiding in an insignificant hinterland. Can they hold on to happiness, dreams, and sisterhood when desire becomes addiction?
It is a Publishers Lunch Buzz Books 2020 selection. Recommended by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Foreword Reviews.
The first book, BURSTS OF FIRE, begins an epic political fantasy of betrayal and revenge for three magiel sisters in an empire where magic has become suspect and where love and loyalty—for one’s lover, one’s family, one’s country—are tested. If Heaven desires the very earth be burned, what place can those below hope for, when the flames come for them?
BURSTS OF FIRE won the (Canadian SF&F) Aurora Award this year for the Best YA Novel. It was a Publishers Lunch Buzz Books 2019 selection. Recommended by Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Library Journal.
Links for:
BURSTS OF FIRE (Addicted to Heaven, Book 1)
https://books2read.com/bursts-of-fire
FLIGHTS OF MARIGOLD (Addicted to Heaven, Book 2)
https://books2read.com/flights-of-marigold
Thank you, John, for doing this!
Last summer, I published my debut novel: DISINTEGRATION.
A Russian friend of mine used to be my work colleague. When I would get to the office, I would ask him how he was. He’d say, with a puckish grin: “Worse than yesterday, but better than tomorrow.” He’s a brilliant man with a wry wit, who has never sugar coated anything. After reading DISINTEGRATION, he emailed me to say that I am “not afraid to go deep to reveal human’s [sic] nature” and that “In some kind you remind me [of] Dostoyevsky.”
DISINTEGRATION is, on its surface, a far-future, post-apocalyptic science fiction dystopia. At its core, however, it is about the human condition. In it, I explore abuse of power through violence, and the trauma it inflicts—and the manifestations of trauma within an ensemble that represents various ethnicities and cultures. The story is about surviving in a society where the few benefit at the expense of the many. The tale is rife with both perseverance and futility. It is dense and layered. You can read it as an action-adventure science fiction romp—that is surely not intended for children—or you can read it like my Russian friend did.
Or, perhaps, read it on both levels—and all the layers in between. Check it out: https://www.amazon.com/Disintegration-S-Soldwedel/dp/1947848941/ref=sr_1_1
Thank you for the opportunity! My book is called Growing Sustainable Together: Practical Resources for Raising Kind, Engaged, Resilient Children: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/625190/growing-sustainable-together-by-shannon-brescher-shea/ It’s an environmental parenting advice book about using environmental activities like sustainable food, walking / biking / public transportation, anti-materialism, waste reduction, activism, and more can pass on values to kids and teach them valuable skills.
I read almost everything through a feed because I’m dedicated to avoiding the comments. This is an excellent reason to do one of my favorite things ever…break a rule.
The entries above are fascinating, sometimes compelling, and somewhat various. I’ll open up another level of difference with my queer/trans romances.
Lysistrata Cove: https://www.boldstrokesbooks.com/books/lysistrata-cove-by-dena-hankins-1878-b
Three kinds of cops for two kinds of pirates.
Heart of the Liliko’i: https://www.boldstrokesbooks.com/books/heart-of-the-lilikoi-by-dena-hankins-431-b
Secrets, sabotage, and Hawaiian sovereignty campaigns hinder Kerala’s project and push her closer to Ravi.
Blue Water Dreams: https://www.boldstrokesbooks.com/books/blue-water-dreams-by-dena-hankins-1405-b
Sailing alone around the world is the best idea…unless you fall in love before you leave.