Debut Authorpalooza Winners Part Two

I apologize for the lack of activity around here the last week or so. I'm on a work trip and for some reason I have a hard time writing when I'm not in my own work space. And even worse, I have a hard time laying out blog posts. Who knows? In any case, here are the rest of the winners for Debut Authorpalooza. I want to thank the authors again for their awesome posts, and more importantly, their awesome novels. Thanks also to everyone who participated!

Here are the winners:

Miserere: An Autumn Tale by Teresa Frohock

Mieneke van der Salm, Netherlands

The Emperor's Knife by Mazarkis Williams

Mia C., Elmhurst, New York

Ken F., Flagstaff, Arizona

The Winds of Khalakovo and The Straits of Galahesh 

by Bradley P. Beaulieu

Sandino S., Bulgaria

The Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle

Doug S., Chandler, Arizona

Elias C., Spain

GRAND PRIZE WINNER

Sharon R., Davenport, Iowa

I'm sure Sharon is wondering what she's won exactly. I'm going to try to summarize what she'll receive. I reserve the right for it to be incomplete.

Signed Hardcover of King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

Signed ARC of Rapture by Kameron Hurley

Signed ARC of Tainted City by Courtney Schafer

Signed ARC or Finished Copy of Knifesworn by Mazarkis Williams

Signed copy of Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick

ARC of Merchant of Dreams by Anne Lyle

6,700 word critique of any story by Teresa Frohock

Signed copy of and Blues Skies from Pain by Stina Leicht

Signed copy of Trinity Rising by Elspeth Cooper

Signed copy of something by Bradley P. Beaulieu (I can't find the e-mail!)

and.....

I'm sending her a dozen books from my own shelves, just because.

Let this be a lesson to you readers! When I run a giveaway that mentions GRAND PRIZE, you should enter. I fully plan to run a Debut Authorpalooza 2013 next year, sooo... if you have a favorite debut author from 2012 let me know and I'll force them to participate.

Debut Authorpalooza Winners Part One

Debut Authorpalooza was a two week event celebrating some of my favorite debuts from the last eighteen months. I posted guest posts from all the authors about their experience writing their second books and included an excerpt from their work in progress. All the authors chipped in books to giveaway, including a massive grand prize giveaway. Thanks to the god of random draw, one gentleman won twice. Since I didn't prohibit it in the rules... well... lucky guy!

Here are the winners from the first week of authors!

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

Brandon Z., Williamsport, PA

Ally R., Australia

God's War and Infidel by Kameron Hurley

Mark S., Bloomington, Indiana

Paul W., Roseville, Minnesota

Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper

Brandon Z., Williamsport, PA
Elton P., Canton, Georgia

The Whitefire Crossing and The Tainted City by Courtney Schafer

Chris H., Apple Valley, Minnesota

Mikael S., Sweden

Rebekah K., Morrisville, North Carolina

Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht

Scott C., Canada

Josh M., Perry, Utah

Check back tomorrow for the second half of the winners!

End of Debut Authorpalooza and Grand Prize Giveaway

For the last fourteen days this blog has been turned over to ten of the best debut authors 2011 (and one 2012) had to offer. I was honored to have them here, not only because I didn't have to write a post myself for two weeks, but because I believe supporting debut writers is the only sure pathway to continued growth in the field. Promoting and buying debut authors is how readers signal to publishers that they should continue to take risks on the unknown. I hope this event has been productive in that regard.

It's also been an enlightening experience. Too often, as a reader, it's easy to forget the blood, sweat, and tears that go into the creating works that are often devoured in a few days time. When a novel's done, it flows so effortlessly it becomes hard to imagine it any other way. I think Douglas Hulick's post illustrated that even authors fall into the trap of believing that's how it should always be. I dare anyone who's ever illegally downloaded a book to come read these posts and not feel a little guilt over that crime.

So I say to writers everywhere, thank you. Thank you for pouring your heart into your work. It's appreciated. Not just by me, but by the endless readers out there who are taken to new places every time they open a book. 

And to readers, never let a book's newness dissuade you. If you haven't read a debut author this year, do it. Seriously. Give it a try. If you hate it, well... remember that it was A Dribble of Ink who told you to read it.

I'm sure it's not gone unnoticed that there have been a lot of giveaways on the site this week. Nine to be exact, including lots of signed books. Well, it's not quite finished. As a thank you to everyone who's been following this series of posts, the authors have decided to do a...

Grand Prize Giveaway. 

Here's how it's going to work:

• All entries from the previous nine giveaways will be rolled into the Grand Prize Giveaway. 
• That means, there are a total of nine possible entries per person. 
• There will be one winner, who will receive the entire Grand Prize Giveaway. 
• You have until August 12 at 12:00 AM Eastern Standard Time to get your entries in.
• So if you haven't entered all the previous giveaways this week, and you want to win the Grand Prize, click on this index of posts, and enter. 
• I'll draw the winner of the Grand Prize on August 13, along with all the winners of the individual giveaways.

You might be asking, what's in the Grand Prize Giveaway?

To be honest, I don't even really know everything that's going to be in it. Generally speaking, all ten authors will be contributing things. Courtney Schafer is putting in a signed ARC of The Tainted City. Kameron Hurley is putting in a signed ARC of Rapture. Teresa Frohock is offering a 6,700 word crit of whatever (I would recommend not asking her to critique a shopping list). Anne Lyle will send an ARC of The Merchant of Dreams when it's ready. Mark Lawrence will pen a copy of King of Thorns for the winner. The list goes on. I'm even going to send the Grand Prize Winner something. In other words, you really want to win this.

Good luck and THANK YOU for reading this week.

***

Staffer's Book Review (and occasional musings) will return to regular programming Monday. I've got some great reviews (Libriomancer, King of Thorns), my Hugo vote breakdown, and a piece of investigative reporting I think everyone will find interesting.

Guest Post | Douglas Hulick in the Trenches

Bringing up the rear, is Douglas Hulick, author of one of the most exciting novels of 2011, Among Thieves. I bought the novel electronically. After reading it, I was stunned to learn that it was limited to a mass market paperback. Similar to 2012 debut author Myke Cole's Control Point (also an Ace/Roc mass market paperback), Among Thieves became a success due almost entirely to word of mouth as opposed to the big-six marketing machine.

Hulick's novel adds a new chapter to the thief subgenre and it stands out as the best thing to happen to it since Scott Lynch's masterpiece, The Lies of Locke Lamora. It's also unique in the characterization of Drothe, Hulick's protagonist and narrator. Namely, he's not special. The result is a character that the reader can identify with in a personal way even while he accomplishes things way outside the purview of his natural ability.

Let's see what he has to say about writing his sequel, Sworn in Steel...

***

For the last post in this series about debut authors and their second novels, it seems only fitting that I come at the subject from a slightly different direction. Where all my predecessors have talked to you from the perspective of someone who's finished their sophomore effort, I'm going to talk to you from the trenches directly. See, I haven't finished my second novel. In fact, it's pretty damn late.

How damn late? Let's just say I was expecting to have my third book in the series done and turned in by now.

Of course, it's not like I planned for this to happen. As Mazarkis mentioned earlier this week, I was well aware of what was riding on the second book, not only for readers, but also for my reputation as a writer. Plus, I had the added advantage of being in a SF/F writer's group that can count over forty professionally published novels among its seven members. None of what was coming, be it deadlines or marketing distractions or the limits imposed by a previous book, were news to me. I had, through my fellows, seen it all before. There should have been no surprises.

And yet, here I sit, 18 months past deadline, still carving my way through the forest that is Book 2 (otherwise known as Sworn in Steel).

What happened?

I could give you a blow by blow of my progress and stumbles and discoveries, but really, it all comes down to one thing: I forgot how to write. Or, to be more precise, I forgot how I write.

For a long while, I kept blaming my delay on my method of plotting. I was always a pantser, meaning that, beyond a general character and story arc, and maybe a bit of plot, I didn't plan a whole lot. After all, I'd taken over a decade to get my first book on paper: surely it was my meandering about the page, following characters who at times seemed to be under the influence of too many tequila shooters, that had caused my delay. Couldn't I point at my earlier process for my current downfall?

But then I looked at my legal pad, heavy with outline and plot points; at what I had of my first draft, directed and, if not tight, still arguably endowed with strong forward momentum. No, I couldn't lay it at plot's door.

How about speed, then? Lord knew I'd always been a slow writer. Doubling my daily word count after my first book had initially involved going from 250 words a day to 500. (That may not seem like much, but please understand that I have, on average, four hours a day to write, five days a week, nine months out of the year. So, yeah, sloooow.) If it wasn't plot, then it had to be my sheer glacial pace.

Except, at the end of a year's worth of work on Sworn in Steel I had generated almost 200,000 words in total. That was a full 75,000 above and beyond my target. And while not all words are good words, still...come on. 200K? It wasn't lack of production.

So what was it? Blind alleys in the story? Too much verbiage? Too easily distra---oh, look a penny!

All were problems, yes, but none could explain the key issue I was having. None gave me a reason for my inability to *finish the damn book.*

And then, it hit me. In all the preparation, all the planning, all the daily word counts and plot points, I'd forgotten how I'd written the first (and my only, to date) book. In my attempt to get Sworn in Steel done, to get it ready to be handed over to my editor, I kept looking to the final version my first book, Among Thieves, as a guide post. That was the mistake.

Even though Among Thieves wasn't on the bookstore shelves when I started Sworn in Steel, it was still a polished piece of work. It had gone through innumerable rewrites on my end before being submitted, and then edited and copyedited as well. The only problem was, this had taken place over the course of years--years which conveniently fell out of my memory. All I saw was the final product--the tightly plotted, fast-paced novel that had secured me a three book contract with a Big Six publisher. And that's what I set out to write.

In short, what tripped me up was that I tried to write the final draft as my first draft. And while that probably sounds bad enough on its own, add on the fact that I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my work (“a bit”? I can hear my wife saying, along with peals of sarcastic laughter), and, well, you can see where things went off the rails.

So, have I learned anything? Looking at the above, yeah, I think I can say that I have. (I damn well better have, or Book 3 is gonna kill me!) But even more than the nuts & bolts stuff, I realized that, as much as we may beat ourselves up as new authors, there are people who are still rooting for us (even when we're horribly late). Editors, agents, and especially readers (oh, BLESS the readers, who have been unfailingly polite, not to mention the first ones to tell me to “take as long as you need”) who honestly want to see us and our books succeed. Fellow writers who nod and worry and call in the middle of the afternoon to say, “Dude, are you alright? You've gone missing for, like, three weeks....” Family and friends who grit their teeth and put up with us as we try to navigate this new career and all the stresses it can entail.

The second book is, in many ways, a much more lonely, terrifying, and frustrating slog than the freshman effort. It is our first real exposure to what it means to be a professional writer. And, as we've seen these last two weeks, it's a different experience for each of us. But it's also very much that same, in that we each learn not only how to push and stretch and believe in ourselves, but also how much we aren't alone in this after all.

***

You can find Douglas Hulick on the web and Twitter. Be sure to visit the former to learn more about the Tales of the Kin series. Hulick is a 17th century Italian rapier combat (in the tradition of Ridolfo Capoferro) hobbyist. Come to WorldCon and watch him teach it!

Unfortunately, because Sworn in Steel is deep in the editorial process, there won't be an excerpt later today. I'm sobbing too. It's ok. Instead, I'll be announcing a huge grand prize giveaway to commemorate the end of Debut Authorpalooza 2012. Stay tuned.

Excerpt from The Merchant of Dreams by Anne Lyle (giveaway)

THE MERCHANT OF DREAMS

by Anne Lyle 

Chapter I 

Mal leant over the ship’s rail, scanning the shore for any sign of a wreck. The mistral had swept the sky bare, leaving the coast etched in hard lines by the cold clear light of a January morn.

“There,” he said at last, pointing to a dark shape on the beach.

Coby joined him at the rail. “Are you sure it’s the skrayling carrack, sir? Those timbers could belong to any ship.”

“You still don’t believe me.”

“I—‘ Her head drooped, expression hidden by the hood of her cloak. “It’s been more than a year, sir. I thought…I thought all that was over.”

It’ll never be over, he wanted to tell her. Not whilst I have this thing inside me.

Read more »

Guest Post | Anne Lyle, Tearing It Down to Build It Back Up

As far as covers go, there's one style that's nearly guaranteed to do well in the fantasy world and Anne Lyle's debut novel, The Alchemist of Souls, nailed it. Intensely character driven, with a hint of action and a dash of mystery, it sent all the right signals to readers. Even better, Lyle completely delivered on that promise with an excellently paced historical fantasy full of plot twists.

With a cross-dressing female, several gay men, and a Catholic, Lyle's characters are all poorly suited to surviving life in Elizabethan England. Lyle does an incredible job of merging these progressive characters with the setting, never making them feel anachronistic (can people be anachronistic?). They're also just a ton of fun to read about too, making Alchemist of Souls my favorite Angry Robot novel since Zoo City.

All the way from the Cambridge, Anne Lyle...

***

In spring 2011 I signed a contract with Angry Robot for a historical fantasy trilogy, having submitted a finished manuscript of one book, The Alchemist of Souls, and the synopsis for a second. Although I had a rough draft of a sequel on which to base that synopsis, there was one small problem. Well, quite a big one actually. The second book was written way back in 2007, when I was still learning how to write novels, and on top of that Angry Robot had asked for major changes to the first book, specifically to add more magic. Since there was even less magic in the sequel, a simple revise and polish was out of the question; in fact I had to plan and write a new book pretty much from scratch. In under a year.

Fortunately I’m no stranger to pulling a manuscript apart and rebuilding it from the ground up, having done a five-month online course focusing on just that*. Of course I was able to keep the principal characters from the first book, since I had to maintain series continuity, and I kept the setting—the city of Venice—because I love it and thought it would keep the series fresh if I moved my heroes to a new location. I was even able to keep quite a few of the story elements, albeit demoted to a subplot. I then took some of the other Venetian characters, tweaked them a bit and wove a new plot around them. I also made sure that the skraylings—my invented creatures from the New World—were in the thick of things, because based on enthusiastic early reviews I knew my readers would want to learn more about them.

Read more »

Excerpt from The Straits of Galahesh by Bradley P. Beaulieu (giveaway)

THE STRAITS OF GALAHESH

By Bradley P. Beaulieu

***

The akhoz galloped more than ran, their long limbs loping over the ground faster than it appeared they could. Their lips were drawn back, their dark tongues hidden behind blackened teeth, making them appear vengeful and ravenous.

Nasim’s sandals scraped over the ancient stone. His nerves willed him to flee. But he would not. This girl, this very girl, was the first of the akhoz. There was little that remained of Yadhan, but he recognized her by the shape and tilt of her head, her delicate features, and the small scar at the nape of her neck.

And he’d also felt in his memories that a connection had been made to each of the akhoz that Khamal had created. In the nights that followed, Khamal had gone on to perform the ritual again and again, sacrificing more and more children to the grisly fate that awaited them. And they had held a bond with him, a loyalty. Surely part of this was borne from the piece of the Atalayina Nasim had found, but it was also a bond to Khamal, and if Nasim were right, that bond would still exist with him. It must—Khamal wouldn’t have allowed it to happen any other way—but that didn’t stop Nasim’s heart from beating like a blacksmith’s hammer.

The akhoz were nearly on him when Nasim spread his arms wide. It was a gesture of supplication that Aramahn gave to hezhan before they communed.

Read more »

Guest Post | Bradley P. Beaulieu Says "Lose Yourself" Quoting Eminem?

I tried to read Winds of Khalakovo three times before it finally hooked me. I figure that was for two reasons. One, I tried reading the trade paperback first, and that damn thing was more akin to Clue murder weapon than novel. Being a big "in bed" reader, it wasn't easy to hold up. Once I made the switch to the electronic version, I was able to really tuck into it. Second, Beaulieu doesn't take a lot of time to ease the reader into things, jumping quickly into the main narrative.

All that goes to say that Winds takes some investment, both of time and mental capacity. It's an investment well worth making. In my review I called it the merging of Russian literary tradition with the epic fantasy, making it unique in a field often characterized by its sameness.

Coasting in on a airship of his own making, Bradley P. Beaulieu...

***

By the time the first book in my series, The Winds of Khalakovo, came out in April of 2011, I was already well on the way to finishing the first draft of The Straits of Galahesh. I didn't yet have the fear in me that I do now. Fear, you say? Yes, the fear that your book is out of your control when it hits the streets. (Actually, it's out of your control a good bit before that, but that's a story for another post.) I was writing as if I were an unpublished writer. Sure, I was mindful about my deadlines, but I'd already developed a steady writing rhythm. I'd planned out the writing of the book almost down to the day, so I wasn't worried about that.

Everything changed, however, as my new reality sunk in and I realized just how much control I was giving up. Not only could I not change Book 1 at all, the very fact that Book 1 was locked down meant my options with respect to Book 2 were now more limited. I could no longer go back and tweak or adjust for some new idea I'd come up with. Book 1 had suddenly become backstory, and that changed the way I wrote. I was much more careful (or tried to be) about teasing out the story threads from Book 1 and into Book 2, and also about looking ahead to set up Book 3 over the course of Book 2.

Read more »

Excerpt from Knifesworn by Mazarkis Williams (and giveaway)

KNIFESWORN

By Mazarkis Williams

§

Thrashing churned the water, white foam, tinged brown with river mud. Grada knelt on a broad stone bedded in the shoreline, her arms elbow deep, wringing as she had wrung out the robes of the wealthy many times before.

Muscles bunched across her shoulders. Jenna had always said she was strong. Ox-strong, head-strong.

Further out the river slid past, green-brown, placid. Somewhere a widderil called out its three-note song with all its heart.

§

They had come from the thickness of the pomegranate grove, two of them sticky with sweat, laying down their pruning hooks as they saw her. Both of them old enough for wives, young enough for wickedness, stripped to loincloth and sandals, white-orange blossom from the second crop clinging to their chests and arms. The men had angled Grada’s way as she walked in the shade at the margins, where trees gave way to the river road.

‘Hey, girl!’ The taller of the two, both of them wiry with white teeth behind their grins.

Read more »

Guest Post | Mazarkis Williams Says Writing is Writing

The Emperor's Knife is one of the several titles released over the last twelve months that fit into Paul Weimer's designation of silkroad fantasy. That is to say, it's a fantasy novel that wraps itself in the cultural texture of the Middle East and the Eurasian Steppe. Williams' novel succeeds most often when Sarmin is on screen, a mentally unstable prince capable of anything, including manipulating the pattern, an abstract magic that I still only barely grasp.

It's a complex world Williams has created, and the plot woven through it is equally layered. There are some ups and downs in relation to narrative pacing and some overly opaque foreshadowing, but all told it's a novel I can strongly recommend and promises to be a memorable series. I should also point out the wonderful cover for Williams second book, Knifesworn, which depicts a covered female figure, a welcome departure from the poses so often associated with genre.

Let's give a big round of mouse clicks to Mazarkis Williams...

***

Writing is always the same job no matter what your status, but to the people around you, there is a tremendous difference between published and not published. A few years ago, whenever people asked, I would tell them, “I write,” followed inevitably just a few seconds later with, “No, I haven’t published anything.” People pitied me, scorned me, or were just confused how to act when they heard I was unpublished. After all, it looks like a failure – everyone else can produce satisfied clients, paychecks, or some other tangible result of their labor.

Once I crossed that publishing hurdle, I learned to my surprise that I am actually an interesting person. It turns out I am more witty and talented than I had believed. Everyone wants to talk about the next book, ask how many copies I’ve sold (don’t know), or learn more about the publishing world (so do I). But I’m still the same person. I continue to write the same, slow way and face the same issues. And for years I’ve been internalizing those strange, pitying looks, those incredulous smiles. You’re a writer? Yeah, right.

Read more »

Excerpt from The Garden by Teresa Frohock (Giveaway)

I'm not a talented writer; the words don't gush from my mind onto the page. I have a tendency to bite off more than I can handle, so I wind up crafting my novels relentlessly, reading them, re-reading them, shaving a word here and adding a scene there.

The chapter that Justin is going to post here at Staffer's Book Review is much like Guillermo, Diago, and Miquel in that it’s been through many incarnations. The chapter may have a few left to go before The Garden sees publication. I'm okay with that.

You're going to meet Guillermo at the start of his journey. Portions of the chapter are graphic and there is profanity.

You've been warned.

Welcome to the Garden ...

***

THE GARDEN

By Teresa Frohock

The Iberian Peninsula, Épila, Aragón, July 21, 1348

“Hush,” she said. “It’s the moon.”

Chapter One

Cloaked in a haze of smoke and dust, the sun went down on the city of Épila. The clamor barely settled over the battlefield when the royal señors ordered the King’s caballeros to search for survivors and plunder. No one held much hope for either. Unlike the sun, Épila would not rise at dawn.

Guillermo reined his skittish horse to a halt midway down the alley and scanned the smoldering buildings for any sign of movement. Smoke wisped across the ground where bits of pottery and scattered furniture laid discarded and broken.

Several yards ahead, the street opened to a field that led to a vineyard. The Unionists had set fire to their own crops and the homes on the outskirts of Épila in an effort to force the King’s army into the open, but their strategies failed. The laborers couldn’t withstand the experienced caballeros of King Pedro’s Aragonese nobles and the Castilian mercenaries who rode with them. The King ordered Épila to be razed; it was rumored that he intended to sow the ground with salt until his councilors stayed his hand.

Somewhere in the distance, a wail pierced the air. The cry ceased almost as soon as it began. Guillermo looked over his shoulder when hooves beat on the hard-packed earth behind him. His hand strayed to his sword hilt, but he didn’t draw his blade. He doubted the riders were Unionists. The last of the Union army already fled to the rear lines to protect their pretender, the infante Ferdinand.

Read more »

Guest Post | Teresa Frohock Throws Down the Gauntlet to Herself

Miserere: An Autumn Tale was one of the most unexpected delights of 2011. I called it one of the five best debuts of 2011, and I stand by that ranking. It's a beautiful book of redemption and loss, hope and forgiveness. I can't recommend it enough, even for those readers perhaps skeptical of a fantasy novel couched in Christian myth.

Looking forward, I was surprised to learn that Frohock's contract didn't call for a second novel, at least not immediately. Instead, she began work on an unrelated work titled The Garden that seems to play on a similar premise of holy and not. Although unconnected to Miserere, I can't wait to read it. I'll be posting the first chapter later today, and I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did.

In the meantime though, let's hear what Teresa Frohock has to say about writing her second novel...

***

I’ve always been a bit ambitious when it comes to my work. In college, I took a world history class; our assignment was simple, we were to write a seven page paper, no more, no less. Seven was to be the number of pages, and the number of pages was to be seven. Period. We were allowed to pick our own topic, and the topic had to be approved by the instructor.

I titled my paper: “Christian Dogma from the Classical Period through the Reformation: Paving the Way to Christian Apathy during the Holocaust.”

My instructor looked at the topic and to this day I swear he smirked, just a little. He said, “Go ahead. I want to see you pull that off in seven pages.”

The gauntlet was thrown, and I love nothing better than a challenge.

I spent an entire semester buried in research. The hard part, of course, was not the research. The difficulty rested in presenting the information in a linear tale of the often acrimonious split between the Jews and Christians. I traced the theological and political dividing lines between the two groups, discussed the writings of Justin Martyr, then tracked the Christian split from Judaism to Martin Luther and from Martin Luther to the Nazi ascent, and I did it in seven pages, seven was the number of pages. No more, no less.

Read more »

Excerpt from and Blues Skies from Pain by Stina Leicht (Giveaway)

AND BLUE SKIES FROM PAIN

By Stina Leicht

“Keep your hands where I can see them,” Ned McCoy said, pulling a pistol from his pocket. Something in his voice said he almost regretted the request.

Liam left his hands on the steering wheel of the idling RS, and attempted to hide his nerves behind his balaclava. He wasn’t sure how successful he was. However, he supposed a certain amount of anxiety would be expected in anyone facing the business end of a gun. “Am thinking of having a cig. Is that all right with you?”

“Go ahead.”

Liam didn’t move to fish the cigarettes Frankie had given him from the jacket’s inside pocket, not yet. “Will you have one?”

Ned paused. “I will at that.”

Reaching inside Conor’s jacket, Liam grabbed the cigarettes and offered one to Ned. Afterward, Liam glanced at the watch he wore turned so he could see the face on the inside of his wrist. Eight o’clock. Although the moon was nearly full, it was dark in the alley. He pulled his lighter out of his blue jeans pocket in order to offer Ned a light.

Read more »

Guest Post | Stina Leicht has Trouble with the Troubles

Of all the first novels involved in this event, Stina Leicht's Of Blood and Honey was the only I hadn't finished yet prior to agreeing to host them. I was about halfway through, having seen enough to recommend it, but not really knowing how high it would rank. As I finished it last weekend it became pretty clear that any doubts I had about my ability to trumpet it were foolish. It's an amazing blend of historical fiction, urban fantasy, and magical realism that captures the wonder of fantasy and the authenticity of history.

Leicht hit on a fascinating time in history, a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland known as The Troubles. Reading her novel I was as drawn into the setting as I was to Liam's story. The end result is a perfect marrying of the two and a novel I strongly suggest everyone read. It's certainly worthy of the recognition Leicht has received as a 2012 nominee for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

Stina Leicht on trouble with The Troubles...

***

Hi!

I'm Stina Leicht -- SF and F writer, reader, history nut, martial artist, muscle car enthusiast, music freak, and dabbler in paint, photography, and er… baking. Oh, and I travel as much as I can. And Blue Skies from Pain (second in the Fey and the Fallen series) is my second published novel. I was short-listed for a 2012 Crawford Award, and I'm a nominee for the 2012 Campbell Award for Best New Author.

What was it like to write And Blue Skies from Pain versus Of Blood and Honey (my first published novel)?

Read more »

Chapter One of The Tainted City by Courtney Schafer (Giveaway)

THE TAINTED CITY

Chapter One

(Dev)

I wedged my fingers higher in the crack snaking up the boulder’s overhanging face. A push of a foot, a twist of my body, and the overhang’s lip was nearly within reach. Good thing, since I had to finish this little warm-up climb fast, or risk a whipping if the shift bell rang before I got to the mine. Dawn’s light already streaked the gorge rim far above me with gold, though it’d be mid-morning before the sun rose high enough to touch the reedy mudflats here in the gorge’s depths. Beyond my boulder, clumps of men in grime-streaked coveralls trudged toward the yawning black mouth at the base of the cliffs. Lights bobbed in jerky rhythms within the tunnel as the night haulers hurried to finish sacking their quota of coal.

“Spend one instant longer crawling up that rock instead of joining your crew, boy, and I’ll choke you blind.”

The torc around my neck heated in warning as overseer Gedavar spoke. I jerked my fingers free of the crack and dropped to land in the mud at the boulder’s base. Sudden sweat laced my palms. What in Shaikar’s hells had brought Gedavar sniffing around? With the day shift soon to start, he should be relaying the minemaster’s orders to the crew chiefs, not skulking about behind the prisoners’ barracks. The thin copper disc of the stolen glowlight charm hidden beneath my sock cuff felt large as a wagon wheel.
Read more »

Ask Me Anything - Debut Authorpalooza

Tonight at 7:00 PM CST, the ten authors from the Debut Authorpalooza event will be on Reddit for an Ask Me Anything! It should be a ton of fun, and I hope people will literally ask anything. Some examples might be...

• Curious where Mark Lawrence gets his clothes dry cleaned? ASK HIM

• Is Mazarkis Williams a descendant of the Invisible Man? ASK HIM.. er.. HER.. er.. HIM

• Teresa Frohock, does working in a library remove the urge to pee often brought on by the smell of books? ASK HER!

• Stina Leicht, did people tease you in middle school by called you Stina Licked? ASK HER, but duck.

• How do you balance a beer bottle on your head Kameron Hurley? ASK HER (and make her do it)

• Is Bradley Beaulieu a French spy? ASK HIM, but use a voice changer

• Is there any truth to the rumor that it was Doug Hulick inside the Chewbacca suit in Star Wars? RAWR!

• I read Whitefire Crossing, what's a scree? ASK HER

• Did Elspeth Cooper have to license Songs of the Earth from the Jack Vance anthology tribute Songs of a Dying Earth? ASK HER

• All these authors debuted in 2011, except you Anne Lyle, what do you have to say for yourself?! ASK HER

Link to the AMA: http://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/wtjev/we_are_2011_debut_novelists_t_frohock_m_williams/

Guest Post | Courtney Schafer Holding onto Joy

There will always be a special place in my heart for Courtney Schafer's The Whitefire Crossing. It's the first book I reviewed as a blogger that felt like discovery. I was the first blogger to review it (I think), and I absolutely adored it. Complete with a setting that shines in Schafer's experienced mountain climber hands, Whitefire is a charming chase novel that promises a much deeper plot in future novels.

I should mention that Schafer took a real risk with Whitefire's narration, swapping between first and third person depending on the point of view. It's a tough thing to do for any author, especially an author in her debut, but Schafer pulls it off with aplomb, further evidence to the fact that she'll be in this business for a long time. I hope anyone who reads this post will give her a shot.

Here's Courtney Schafer...

***

I’ve heard some authors say their second published novel came easier than their first. To which I say: you lucky, lucky bastards! But since I’ve already talked elsewhere about why carving the Taj Mahal out of marble with my fingernails might’ve been easier than writing The Tainted City, I won’t rehash the details here. I’ll just say that I think many of the difficulties of writing a second novel can be summed up with this: before publication, writing is an escape from stress. After publication, writing becomes a source of stress. Learning to manage the stress while maintaining the joy is a different process for every author, and the solution isn’t always easy to find.

Anyway, now that The Tainted City is in copyedits and about to leave my hands at last, I don’t want to focus on the authorial agonies of getting here. I’d much rather celebrate the good parts of the process! So here are three lessons I learned that helped me hold onto the fun of writing even on days when finishing the book felt as impossible as summiting K2 in the dead of winter.

Read more »

Excerpt from Trinity Rising by Elspeth Cooper (Giveaway)

TRINITY RISING

By Elspeth Cooper

It was almost Ninth when Sorchal ambled along the covered walk at the side of the practice yard, his coat over his shoulder and his shirt untucked. Gair turned from first position and propped his sword point-down in the dust in front of him, leaning on the pommel. This was the third time this week the Elethrainian had let him down.

‘Good afternoon,’ he said dryly.

Grinning, Sorchal swept him a florid bow. ‘Good morrow, sir Knight! Goddess’s blessings to you on this fine morning.’ He staggered as he straightened up, which rather spoiled the effect.

‘Are you still drunk?’

‘Very probably.’

Read more »

Guest Post | Elspeth Cooper Tries to Write One Book at a Time (and fails)

Unlike the others books in this event, Songs of the Earth was released months earlier in the UK than it was here in the States. It made me a little grumpy. I don't like to wait. I resisted the urge to pester my favorite UK publicist, Jon Weir, and waited until it came to Tor in early 2012. When I finally cracked the novel I was quickly transported to a world steeped in superstitious tradition, unwilling to recognize the unraveling of reality around it. Cooper's plot follows a coming-of-age format, but interweaves others' stories to create a lush narrative.

One of those stories is Aysha, the shapeshifting university professor and love interest for Cooper's protagonist. She's also one of the best portrayals of disability I've ever read in genre and I'd recommend the book just for her scenes even if the rest was no good. Thankfully, the rest is good too.  Songs is a wonderful first novel that demonstrates Cooper's talent and promises a long writing career.

Let's welcome Elspeth Cooper...

***

I discovered something about myself recently: I have a distressing tendency to try to write two books at once. Some writers can do this, switching effortlessly between different projects and somehow keeping both of them on the straight and narrow. Such writers have my undying admiration, but such writers are not me.

You see, I’m what they call a pantser. I don’t write chapter plans, or paper the wall above my desk with character summaries on 3x5 index cards. I have a beginning, a few high points to hit along the way, and fly by the seat of my pants for the rest. It’s exciting; I love being led onwards by my characters, but sometimes they get impatient, the scamps, and I end up writing bits that belong in the box marked “Not yet, dammit!” – only I don’t always realise it straight away.

Read more »

The First Chapter from Rapture by Kameron Hurley (Giveaway)

RAPTURE

By Kameron Hurley

“Then We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall We ever be with the Lord.” Bible, Thessalonians 4:16-17


"Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has faith, verily, to them will We give a new Life, a life that is good and pure, and We will bestow on such their reward according to the best of their actions." Quran, Chapter 16, Verse 97

1. 

Every time Nyx thought she’d gotten out of the business of killing boys, she shot another one.

 
He lay bleeding at her feet as the spectators for the weekly fights streamed past, muddying the dusty street with his blood. She had not meant to shoot him, but she was drunk, a common condition during her exile. The boy had grabbed clumsily at the knot of her dhoti where she kept her currency. Her response had been unthinking, like breathing. She had pulled the scattergun from her hip and shot him in the chest. It was the only weapon she carried, these days, because she was generally such a poor shot. After nearly seven years in exile without incident, she hadn’t expected she’d ever use it. What a boy his age was doing on the street instead of at the front, she didn’t know. He was likely a deserter anyway.

Read more »