I have two tenets I will not violate on this blog. First, every review is my honest opinion and I don't pull punches. Two, I'll never run an interview, giveaway, or guest post from an author that I can't personally endorse. It was with some trepidation then when I heard from Courtney Schafer, author of 2011 debut novel The Whitefire Crossing, that a group of recent debut authors wanted to do an event celebrating the completion of their second novel and they wanted me to host it. Given my self enforced rules, my first question was obviously, who?Before I get to that, I should mention that I read a lot of debut authors (around 30 last year). I even went so far as to recognize Night Shade Books for their tremendous commitment to developing new voices in the field with my 2011 Juice Box Award for Best Editor. See, I love discovering new things. While it's phenomenal to get my hands on the new George R.R. Martin book or a the latest Joe Abercrombie, there's a special feeling that comes reading a new author. There's an allure in finding unexpected brilliance -- to be the first person to the party. I read for that feeling. It turns out each of the authors wanting to come to my blog gave me that feeling. When I saw the list, I accepted and immediately began trying to come with a ridiculous name for the event.
So what is Debut Authorpalooza?
For the next two weeks, starting on Monday July 16, I'm turning my blog over to ten of my favorite recent debut authors from 2011 (and one for 2012, we won't hold it against her). Every weekday for two weeks there will be a guest post in the morning, with the author discussing his or her experiences writing that dreaded second book. Every afternoon there will be an excerpt (most of them for the first time anywhere) from the forthcoming (or in two cases, recently released) novel in question.
Oh, did I mention that everyday we'll be giving away a bunch of signed books? At the end of the two weeks I'll be rolling all the individual entries from the two weeks (maximum of ten entries possible) into a grand prize giveaway that's going to knock someone's socks off (we're still adding up all the things that'll be in it). And just because this is such a great group, it looks like all the giveaways will be open worldwide. I'll be posting the rules for the giveaways as they come.
Without further ado, here are the authors I'm turning my blog over to:
Week 1:
7/16: Mark Lawrence - Prince of Thorns, King of Thorns (Forthcoming)7/17: Kameron Hurley - God's War, Infidel, Rapture (Forthcoming)
7/18: Elspeth Cooper - Songs of the Earth, Trinity Rising (Forthcoming)
7/19: Courtney Schafer - The Whitefire Crossing, The Tainted City (Forthcoming)
7/20: Stina Leicht - Of Blood and Honey, And Blue Skies From Pain
Week 2:
7/23: Teresa Frohock - Miserere: An Autumn Tale, The Garden (Forthcoming)7/24: Mazarkis Williams - The Emperor's Knife, Knifesworn (Forthcoming)
7/25: Bradley Beaulieu - The Winds of Khalakovo, The Straits of Galahesh
7/26: Anne Lyle - The Alchemist of Souls, Merchant of Dreams (Forthcoming)
7/27: Doug Hulick - Among Thieves, Sworn in Steel (Forthcoming)
I hope this is as fun for my readers as it was for me to put together. All ten authors will also be participating in a Reddit AMA on July 19 that I'll be helping with. If you have any questions for these brilliant writers be sure to show up for it. I'll be posting more about it next week.
Next up: Mark Lawrence!
I'll be honest, I think that guest posts by authors on blogs are over-done. I think it generally saps the blog of personality. Justin, you walk a fine-line there, but I keep reading, so you're doing something right. However, in this case it sounds very intersting (though it could be the awesome giveaway).
ReplyDeleteHey, this is my first guest posts since April! I do kind of go in for the guest post "series" though, as opposed to the one off.
Deleteand that could be the reason - you don't do that many, and when you do there is a focused theme.
DeleteThough you do seem to farm yourself out to other blogs fairly often.
I do guest post frequently elsewhere, something that's likely to tick up the next couple weeks.
DeleteGuest posts can give authors a bit more space to talk about things than in an interview, though. Depends what you want from the guest post & what you're interested in reading from an author outside of their fiction.
DeleteI've read nine of these authors debut novels. Hunh. I wonder if I should complete the set sooner rather than later...
ReplyDeleteI'm two short. Starting on them as soon as my revisions are done.
ReplyDeleteNice list of authors!
ReplyDeleteI've only read 2 of those (Schafer and Beaulieu). I have copies of another 4 that I want to read (Hurley, Cooper, Lawrence, and Frohock), and pretty much all of the remaining are books that I'd like to get copies of (esepcially Liecht).
This sounds really cool, Justin! Looking forward to it :-)
ReplyDeleteHurley and Hulick? You had me at hello. Hoohah!
ReplyDelete(Out of h words.)
I haven't read any of those authors...yet. I have heard an inordinate number of goods things about many of them. Very excited.
ReplyDeleteOh, this should be interesting. I actually haven't read any of these authors. I do have a few of them on my Audible wishlist. I was thinking of getting Prince of Thorns when my next credits come in. I also have the print version of Of Blood and Honey and may give it a go soon.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! I've only read four of those authors, and of course am interested in their guest posts. I'm sure reading everyone else's guest posts will make my "books I want to read" list explode again.
ReplyDeleteJustin, you jerk. my savings account is already down. If it hits zero cuz I'm buying yet more books thanks to YOUR amazing guest post series, I'm totally blaming you. ;) to make up for it, you'll have to buy me a beer next time I see you at a con.
This sounds amazing! I've read three of the debuts on this list, and the rest are all ones I want to read so I'm really looking forward to reading all the guest posts!
ReplyDeleteOkay Justin, now you're just showing off. Eesh.
ReplyDelete(But seriously - looking forward to this. Nicely done.)
I shall be reading nine of these with much glee and delight!!!! ;) (T.C. McCarthy)
ReplyDeleteI'm reading The Prince of Thorns at the moment, and have most of the rest in my Wanted list so this should be two very interesting weeks! And the worldwide part is awesome too!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a good feature. An individual author by his(her)self would not be all that intersting, but given the collective theme, it should be good.
ReplyDeletePlus, I shamelessly admit that I am a sucker for giveaways. Twin toddlers + single income = limited fiction funds. But I do try and support authors who have a positive effect on me.
This is going to be an awesome feature! Especially because I've read about half of the novels and authors you listed, and loved their books. I'm looking forward to this!
ReplyDeleteOoh, interesting. Not least because of the struggles I had/am having with book 2. Maybe I can discover I'm not alone! Also, free books! What's not to like?
ReplyDeleteI'm so ready to sap this blog's personality. When I'm done you should just rename it John Doe's generic musings about randomly selected texts.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't this be called "Sophomore" Authorpalooza?
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to it whatever it's called. :D
It's interesting to me that of the covers: fully 5 have close-up, single-character focus and 3 more have multi-character focus. The outliers are my own (The Winds of Khalakovo) and Stina's (Of Blood and Honey), both of which are landscape heavy.
ReplyDelete