happy release day!

Today is the official release date for Written in Red by Anne Bishop

“For her latest dark fantasy series, Bishop (Twilight’s Dawn, 2011, etc.) invents an entire Earth-like world, Namid, populated by a fascinating array of supernatural Others—and the humans who are their prey.

On the continent of Thaisia, humans are tolerated for their technical and inventive talents, but they tread very carefully, knowing that if they transgress, they’ll be lunch for shape-shifting wolves, raptors, bears, vampires or worse. Into the northeastern city of Lakeside, in the middle of winter, staggers Meg Corbyn, freezing, friendless and desperate. A cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn sees the future when her skin is cut—for her, the result can be agony or ecstasy. She and a number of like young women were slaves of the Controller, whose rich clients pay well for their visions. Naive but resourceful Meg escaped and now seeks refuge in the Lakeside Courtyard, the business district operated by the Others. Against his wolfish instincts—Meg is human, but doesn’t smell like prey—Simon Wolfgard hires her as Human Liaison, a job that entails running the local delivery office. And Meg proves adept at looking after Sam, Simon’s orphaned nephew, so traumatized by his mother’s death that he’s locked in wolf form. Simon has other problems too: pushy Asia Crane, secretly a spy for the mysterious Bigwig; disturbing and unaccountable reports from out west of humans and Others running berserk and slaughtering both each other and their own kind; and the human police, who have been instructed to urgently locate someone who looks very much like Meg Corbyn.

It all adds up to a stunningly original yarn, deeply imagined, beautifully articulated and set forth in clean, limpid, sensual prose. A must for fans desperate to move beyond boilerplate urban fantasy.” –Kirkus, Starred Review

Also available today in paperback: Bridge of Dreams. Return to New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop’s Ephemera, a world of strange and magical landscapes connected only by bridges—bridges that may transport you where you truly belong, rather than where you wish to go.

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Today is the official release date for The Tempted Soul by Adina Senft

Carrie Miller longs for children, but after ten years of marriage, that blessing eludes her. So she fills her days with caring for her home, making artistic gifts and fancy cakes, and caring for her flock of chickens, every one of whom has a name and who under no circumstances will go in the soup pot. Carrie also finds support in the friendship she shares with her two best friends Amelia and Emma, and relishes the weekly afternoons they share working on their quilts.

Carrie and her husband Melvin love each other, and together have survived many lean years. If not for the kindness of their church community, they would have had to miss more than one meal a day. But now, Melvin has found work that finally provides a good living. Carrie hopes that having more to eat will finally allow them to start a family. Yet month after month, they remain childless. So when Carrie overhears two English women talking in the fabric store one day about medical options available to non-Amish women in her situation, she takes it as a sign from God. Melvin and the bishop see it differently, however. Is it really God’s will that she pursue this, or is her longing to be a mother tempting her to stray from her Amish beliefs?

happy re-release day!

Today Mike Moscoe’s First Casualty is back in print — and available for the first time as an ebook.

FOUR SOLDIERS. ONE WAR. Asteroid miner Mary Rodrigo and freighter owner Mattim Abeeb are green draftees of the Society of Humanity, forced to fight for Earth—a planet they’ve never even seen. Major Ray Longknife and his lover, Senior Pilot Rita Nuu, are career soldiers, invested with the cause of the Unity Party—and its ambitious new president. These four soldiers on opposing sides of the battle are about to discover the true nature of this terrible war: a quest for profit—from the high command of both sides. What they will risk is nothing less than their lives. For although truth may be the first casualty of war, it’s not going to be the last…

“As the Society of Humanity and the Unity Party wage a war in the far reaches of space, soldiers on both sides of the battle realize the bitter truth that underlies a conflict based on profit and power. Moscoe’s fast-paced military sf adventure presents a grim look at the reality of war and the cost to those who risk their lives for the causes of others.” –Library Journal

If you recognize the name Longknife in the above description, it’s because this was a prequel series to the Kris Longknife books (Ray is her grandfather).

Book Two: The Price of Peace is available for pre-order (coming in May)
Book Three: They Also Serve is currently scheduled for September
Book Four: To Do or Die is a brand new story in this series and will be out early in 2014

winner, signed ARC of Elizabeth Bear’s SHATTERED PILLARS

Thanks to everyone who participated in the caption contest giveaway for the signed ARC (advance reading copy) of Elizabeth Bear’s SHATTERED PILLARS.

And the winner is… Martin Cahill — congratulations!

win a signed ARC of Shattered Pillars by Elizabeth Bear

Photo credit: Karen Westerholm

Photo credit: Karen Westerholm

A snowstorm of epic proportions. A measurement just outside my front door shows 26 inches. Just saw someone cross country skiing down my street. And I thought — what better time to give away a book set mostly in the desert…

Shattered Pillars is the second book of Bear’s The Eternal Sky trilogy and the sequel to Range of Ghosts. Set in a world drawn from our own great Asian Steppes, this saga of magic, politics and war sets Re-Temur, the exiled heir to the great Khagan and his friend Sarmarkar, a Wizard of Tsarepheth, against dark forces determined to conquer all the great Empires along the Celedon Road.

“Bear maintains the nuance she is so capable of, in the way characters interact with and respond to new places, not quite subverting genre but pointing out how much more it should be.” — Booklist

To enter: Post a comment on this entry captioning the above picture of the author.

Only one entry per person. Domestic (US) and international entries accepted. This is for a signed review ARC, not the hardcover edition. Contest starts now and runs until Wednesday February 13th, 5pm Eastern (or until I dig out – just kidding). Winner will be randomly chosen.

letters from the query wars 2.8.2013

# of queries responded to week ending 2.8.2013: 174
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 0
genre of partials/manuscripts requested: n/a

A couple random tips from this side….

* Got an email asking if I was open to queries. In case anyone wasn’t sure, the answer is yes. Though if that person was reading this blog they may have already surmised that from previous posts about queries. Pre-queries just add to response time. And make it clear that the writer hasn’t done much research at all.

* Getting a noticeable number of queries for things with too small of a word count. With regard to adult fiction, I’d prefer at least 80,000 words and preferably around 100,000 words or more (especially if it’s epic fantasy). YMMV with specific subgenres such as cozy mysteries and category romance. In YA, Jennifer Laughran posted this great guide a while back and I still refer to it. Of course, these are just guidelines and there’s always something out there to disprove the rules. But evenso, 26K probably won’t qualify as a novel-length work. Related note — 350,000 words is probably more of a trilogy than “the first novel in a series.”