Great news and new releases!

First, huge congratulations to Faith Hunter for her Audie Award nomination in the Paranormal category for BLOOD OF THE EARTH, the first in her Soulwood series, read by Kristine Hvam!

In other audio news, R.S. Belcher’s THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE WHEEL was named Fit for the Big Screen by Audible.com in their recent promotion. I couldn’t agree more.

While we’re on the big screen, Book Riot listed N.K. Jemisin’s THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS as one of their 5 Diverse Fantasies that Need Movie Adaptations!

 And now, I’m excited to present this week’s new releases – paranormal romance, and superheroes and secret identities!

twilight-crossing TWILIGHT CROSSING by Susan Krinard (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo)

Bound by blood, sealed in secrets 

A half-blood Rider, Timon has a duty to anyone under his protection, but his intense attraction to scientist Jamie McCullough is complicating his latest mission. In a moment of desperation, he makes a difficult choice. His bite heals her—and creates a bond that neither of them can resist.  

As she heads for a conclave convened to create new peace between humans and vampires, Jamie carries a secret that could secure peace everlasting. But before she has a chance to reveal it, she’s accused of bringing a vampire-killing virus to the negotiations. Though Timon is willing to pay the ultimate price to save her, can he first win the ultimate challenge of her trust?

Other titles in the Nightsiders series: Daysider, Nightmaster, Shadow Master, Night Quest and Dark Journey)

super-city-cops3SUPER CITY COPS: SECRET IDENTITIES by Keith R.A. DeCandido (Kindle, Nook, Kobo)

THE THIRD CASE FOR THE SUPER CITY COPS!

Lieutenant Therese Zimmerman’s life is turned upside down when a badly injured Spectacular Man stumbles into her apartment and reveals himself to be her on-again, off-again boyfriend, philanthropist Marc McLean.

At the same time, Detectives Kristin Milewski and Jorge Alvarado investigate what seems to be a simple murder of four homeless people by a powerful supervillain. Unknown to them, the murders are connected to how Spectacular Man got hurt. Now Zimmerman must choose between the person she cares about and her duty as a cop.

ABOUT THIS SERIES

The great metropolis of Super City is the home of dozens of costumed heroes — the Terrific Trio, the Bruiser, the Superior Six, the Cowboy, and many more — who do battle against the super-villains who terrorize the citizenry.

These aren’t their stories …

When the heroes are done punching out the villains, it’s left to the stalwart men and women of the Super City Police Department to restrain them, arrest them, and hope that this time there’s enough evidence to actually convict them.

Just another day on the job for the Super City Cops.

All About Me

Hey, all, author me is taking over the blog this morning. I’ve had two wonderful publications (at least, I think they’re wonderful, though I admit to the possibility of bias) out in the last few months, and I’ve been too busy to do proper promotion for them. Bad author, no cookie.

faultlines-front-cover-final Soooo… Today I’m going to say a bit about them both. You may have heard me talk a bit about FAULTLINES, my young adult thriller, which is so near and dear to my heart. In brief, FAULTLINES is about a girl whose world is turned upside down by her best friend’s suicide. Vanessa is devastated by her best friend’s death, and blindsided as well. Lisa had pushed her and everyone else away in the months before her death, so Vanessa has no idea what led up to it, though she feels she owes it to Lisa to find out and put all the horrible rumors to rest. But while she’s reconstructing the events of Lisa’s life, someone begins taking revenge against those they perceive drove her to her death. Vanessa might approve of this vigilante, Poetic Justice, if the pranks weren’t growing more and more serious and if everyone didn’t assume it was her taking revenge and react accordingly. As the danger level of the pranks and retaliations mount, it becomes clear that no one is safe.

There are a few exciting new developments on this book. There’s an excerpt of the book now up on the YA Chicks blog! Earlier this week, the fantastic Mia Siegert (author of JERKBAIT) put up a fabulous review and Spotify playlist for the book. The editors of The Big Thrill have been very good to me, posting and tweeting out my interview in the International Thriller Writers newsletter.

For anyone who can’t get enough of hearing me talk (no? just me then? oh, hi, Mom!), there are also these guest posts and interviews for the book:

Books, Coffee, and Crafts – where, of course, I talk about books, coffee and crafts

Slippery Words – where I talk about where the story started for me and why it’s important

Deborah Blake’s Blog – about switching gears from humor to more serious stuff

Tez Says – the problem with the no-ripple approach

YA Books Central Interview

Fiction University – Punching Up Your Prose

And not to give anything away, but two recent, very personal posts that tie in to issues in the book:

A Personal Post for Bullying Awareness Week

Victimization

tribulations-cover And now for something completely different! Faith Hunter put together two wonderful anthologies of stories set in her Rogue Mage world (novels: BLOODRING, SERAPHS, HOST), and I’m very pleased to have a story in  TRIBULATIONS!  Inspired by my trip to Ireland, my story “Rolling Stone” follows Aoife Cleary, traveling talespinner and a little bit more. And…well, you can read all about it in my Q&A over on Faith Hunter’s blog or you can pick up the anthology and read the story itself (and I hope you will).

Well, that’s it for now, but I should have new and exciting news soon, so stay tuned!

New Releases and Award Noms!

I missed my blog post last week for very good reason – two wonderful people in town, first my best friend from college, Su, and then Christie Golden, who I’ve worked with ever since my very first year as an agent.  (You can read all about how we met and came to work together here.) She’s going to be back through town this coming weekend, and we’re looking forward to going together to see the Assassin’s Creed movie that she did the novelization for. She’s seen it countless times, mind you, but not yet on the big screen, so this will be a treat for us all!

Missing the blog means that while I tweeted and Facebooked, I didn’t post here about last week’s exciting release of “Phantom Kiss,” the new Chicagoland Vampires novella by Chloe Neill. Really, really, this is not to be missed! Check it!

phantom-kiss PHANTOM KISS by Chloe Neill (Kindle, Nook, Kobo)

In this all-new novella from the New York Times bestselling author of Midnight Marked, Merit, Ethan, and the rest of Cadogan House crew discover that not all undead creatures are kindred spirits…

Vampires generally aren’t afraid of things that go bump in the night, but Merit and Ethan are extra jumpy after a recent attack by a dark sorcerer. So when they learn that someone is messing with graves in Chicago’s cemeteries, stealing skulls and snatching souls, they fear that their powerful foe might be back for even more magical vengeance.

But after a specter begins haunting Cadogan House—and targeting vampires—they realize that they’re being taunted by an altogether different sort of monster. A ghoulish villain straight out of the Windy City’s urban legends is on the prowl—and he won’t stop until he’s killed again…

Includes a sneak peek of Blade Bound, the epic final novel in the New York Times bestselling Chicagoland Vampires series.

I’m also very pleased to post The Knight Agency’s nominees for the RT Book Awards! Congratulations to Nalini Singh, Deborah Blake, R.S. Belcher, N.K. Jemisin and Karen Booth for your nominations!

Digital or Self-Published Contemporary Romance

ROCK WEDDING  Nalini Singh 

Paranormal Romance

ALLEGIANCE OF HONOR  Nalini Singh 

DANGEROUSLY CHARMING  Deborah Blake 

Urban Fantasy Worldbuilding

BROTHERHOOD OF THE WHEEL  R.S. Belcher 

High Fantasy

THE OBELISK GATE  N.K. Jemisin 

Series Romance

PREGNANT BY THE RIVAL CEO  Karen Booth 

Paranormal Worldbuilding

ARCHANGEL’S HEART  Nalini Singh 

US Releases, New Deal and other Excitement!

The cat’s out of the bag! Orbit has announced their new acquisition (and our new sale) of three new books by Hugo-award-winning author N.K. Jemisin. Very exciting!

Aaand…(*drum roll please*)…the YA Chicks have announced new chicks, a new blog and an awesome new giveaway that you might just want to check out here.

Plus, I have two exciting new US releases to announce today: THE BURNING PAGE by Genevieve Cogman and BRIMSTONE BRIDE by Barbara J. Hancock!

burning-page-us THE BURNING PAGE by Genevieve Cogman

Book 3 in the Invisible Library series (beginning with THE INVISIBLE LIBRARY and THE MASKED CITY)

Librarian spy Irene and her apprentice Kai return for another “tremendously fun, rip-roaring adventure,” (A Fantastical Librarian) third in the bibliophilic fantasy series from the author of The Masked City.
 
Never judge a book by its cover…
 
Due to her involvement in an unfortunate set of mishaps between the dragons and the Fae, Librarian spy Irene is stuck on probation, doing what should be simple fetch-and-retrieve projects for the mysterious Library. But trouble has a tendency to find both Irene and her apprentice, Kai—a dragon prince—and, before they know it, they are entangled in more danger than they can handle…

Irene’s longtime nemesis, Alberich, has once again been making waves across multiple worlds, and, this time, his goals are much larger than obtaining a single book or wreaking vengeance upon a single Librarian. He aims to destroy the entire Library—and make sure Irene goes down with it.

With so much at stake, Irene will need every tool at her disposal to stay alive. But even as she draws her allies close around her, the greatest danger might be lurking from somewhere close—someone she never expected to betray her…

*Omnivoracious has THE BURNING PAGE as one of their Top Five Picks for January in SF & F

*Barnes & Noble has also highlighted it on their list of this week’s new Sci-Fi & Fantasy

brimstone-bride-us BRIMSTONE BRIDE by Barbara J. Hancock

Sequel to BRIMSTONE SEDUCTION!

Stranger, Seductress or His Salvation? 

One hundred years ago, Adam Turov, master of Nightingale Vineyards, bartered his soul for freedom from the Order of Samuel and their Rogue daemon allies. But he didn’t know true damnation until Victoria D’Arcy crossed the billionaire vintner’s threshold… Sworn to protect her, Adam must resist with every fiber of his being a voice that sounds like an angel singing and her potent charm.

An unwilling pawn of the Order, Victoria must betray Adam to save her young son. Yet the more time she spends at his estate on her clandestine mission, the harder it becomes to deny the Brimstone heat scorching a path of desire between them…

 

 Happy reading!

 

 

New Year, New Releases, New Shout Outs!

Happy New Year! Despite our challenges ahead, I hope it truly will be a happy, healthy, hopeful, magical new year for you all.

I’m excited about the kick off to the year, which has already included:

I have a happy book birthday shout-out as well! Or a happy novella birthday, anyway, for Keith R.A. Decandido’s Super City Cops: UNDERCOVER BLUES, the second in the series after SCC: AVENGING AMETHYST, which was published last month.

super-city-cops2

The great metropolis of Super City is the home of dozens of costumed heroes — the Terrific Trio, the Bruiser, the Superlative Six, the Cowboy, and many more — who do battle against the super-villains who terrorize the citizenry.

These aren’t their stories …

When the heroes are done punching out the villains, it’s left to the stalwart men and women of the Super City Police Department to restrain them, arrest them, and hope that this time there’s enough evidence to actually convict them.

Just another day on the job for the Super City Cops.

New Releases!

Happy Holidays, everyone! The office is officially closed between now and New Years, but I’ve got some finishing up to do, so I’m in today and excited to post about this week’s new releases: THE DREAMBLOOD DUOLOGY by award-winning author N.K. Jemisin and the official movie novelization for ASSASSIN’S CREED by Christie Golden! More info below.

dreamblood-duology THE DREAMBLOOD DUOLOGY by N.K. Jemisin (Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indiebound)

The Dreamblood Duology includes the novels The Killing Moon (nominated for the Nebula and World Fantasy awards) and The Shadowed Sun.

“One of the most celebrated new voices in epic fantasy.” — Salon.com

The city burned beneath the Dreaming Moon. In the ancient city-state of Gujaareh, peace is the only law. Upon its rooftops and amongst the shadows of its cobbled streets wait the Gatherers — the keepers of this peace. Priests of the dream-goddess, their duty is to harvest the magic of the sleeping mind and use it to heal, soothe . . . and kill those judged corrupt. But when a conspiracy blooms within Gujaareh’s great temple, Ehiru — the most famous of the city’s Gatherers — must question everything he knows. Someone, or something, is murdering dreamers in the goddess’ name, stalking its prey both in Gujaareh’s alleys and the realm of dreams. Ehiru must now protect the woman he was sent to kill — or watch the city be devoured by war and forbidden magic.

assassins-creed-novelization ASSASSIN’S CREED: The Official Movie Novelization by Christie Golden (Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indiebound)

The official movie novelization of the “Assassin’s Creed” motion picture starring Michael Fassbender.

We work in the dark to serve the light. We are assassins.

Through a revolutionary technology that unlocks his genetic memories, Callum Lynch experiences the adventures of his ancestor, Aguilar, in 15th Century Spain. Callum discovers he is descended from a mysterious secret society, the Assassins, and amasses incredible knowledge and skills to take on the oppressive and powerful Templar organization in the present day.

TRIBULATIONS Cover Reveal!

Faith Hunter is bringing out two new anthologies of Rogue Mage stories: TRIALS and TRIBULATIONS, later to be combined into an omnibus edition for print called TRIUMPHANT.  Last month I revealed the cover for the first, and today I’m pleased to reveal the cover for the second, TRIBULATIONS, which includes a story written by me!

Tribulations Cover.jpg

17 Vignettes and Short Stories set in Faith Hunter’s World of Thorn St. Croix

The Rogue Mage story began with the post-apocalyptic novels BLOODRING, SERAPHS, and HOST, when epic battles between Thorn St. Croix and the forces of Darkness were fought. TRIBULATIONS (Rogue Mage Anthology Vol. II) takes place during and after the series timeline. These stories and vignettes, set in Faith Hunter’s Rogue Mage world, are adventures with new characters and old, facing Darkness and an uncertain future.

The relationships between seraphs, kylen, second-unforeseen, mages, seraph-touched, spawn, humans grow deeper, and the battles with dragons and their creatures grow more dangerous. TRIBULATIONS features new short stories from five authors—including Faith Hunter—and vignettes from the Rogue Mage role playing game.

TRIALS and TRIBULATIONS will soon be followed by TRIUMPHANT—the paperback omnibus (both Anthology Volumes I and II in a bound format).

TRIBULATIONS Authors: Faith Hunter, Jean Rabe, Spike Y Jones, Christina Stiles, Lucienne Diver.

Super-huge Release Week!

This is a super-mega-huge release week, so even though I’m away (don’t hate me because I’m off on a cruise in the Bahamas) I didn’t want to miss wishing Alli Sinclair, Shannon Curtis, Beth Cornelison, Genevieve Cogman or Keith R.A. DeCandido big happy book birthdays!  Happy reading, all!

under-the-spanish-stars-us UNDER THE SPANISH STARS by Alli Sinclair (US release from Kensington’s Lyrical Press, AUS/NZ edition from MIRA Australia already out)

Amid the vivid beauty of Granada, a woman entrusted with unraveling a family secret will discover the truth about her heritage–and the alluring promise of love…

When her beloved grandmother falls ill, Charlotte Kavanagh will do whatever she asks of her–even if it means traveling to a country that broke her abuela’s heart. Can an unsigned painting of a flamenco dancer unlock the secrets of her grandmother’s youth in Spain? To find the answers she needs, Charlotte must convince the charismatic and gifted musician, Mateo Vives to introduce her to a secluded gypsy clan.

The enigmatic Mateo speaks the true language of flamenco, a culture Charlotte must learn to appreciate if she wants to understand her grandmother’s past–and the flamenco legend that has moved souls to beauty, and bodies to the heights of passion. As Mateo leads her into the captivating world of the music and the dance, Charlotte embraces her own long-denied creative gift and the possibility of a future rich with joy…”

warrior-untamedWARRIOR UNTAMED by Shannon Curtis (Harlequin Nocturne)

A witch’s spell…a warrior’s curse 

If not for her protective wards, witch Melissa Carter would be dead at the hands of her enemy, shadow breed Hunter Galen. Now he’s her prisoner. Though she tortures the powerful warrior with spells, he torments her with dark fantasies, inciting a forbidden lust too strong to deny.

Hunter must escape to complete his mission—destroy his father, who vowed revenge on him and his beautiful captor. But a warrior mates for life and now Hunter must protect Melissa—his mortal enemy and unlikely love. Doing so means descending into the underground world of the Darkken, a place so evil they might not come out alive…

colton-christmas-protector COLTON CHRISTMAS PROTECTOR by Beth Cornelison (Harlequin Romantic Suspense)

The Coltons of Texas saga reaches its thrilling climax with a tale of Christmas justice!

Ex-cop Reid Colton is working double-time to help beautiful widow Penelope Barrington Clark. While investigating her dad, his family lawyer, the two are also trying to uncover who murdered Pen’s husband…all while keeping their relationship professional! But when a bullet and their forbidden attraction change everything, it’s Reid to the rescue, determined to guard Pen and her son with his life.

The last thing Penelope wants is to fall for a sexy Colton who’s not looking for forever. Yet as Christmas approaches and their investigation heats up, the three start to feel like a family. And the best present of all? Solving the Colton clan’s biggest mystery!

the-burning-page-uk THE BURNING PAGE by Genevieve Cogman (UK release from Macmillan UK, US release by Roc will be January 10th)

The third title in Genevieve Cogman’s clever and exciting The Invisible Library series, The Burning Page is an action-packed literary adventure!

When it’s your job to save the day – where do you start?

Librarian spy Irene has standards to maintain, especially while on probation. And absconding from a mission via a besieged building doesn’t look good. But when her escape route home goes up in flames, what’s a spy to do? However, it seems Gates back to the Library are malfunctioning across dozens of worlds. Worse still, her nemesis Alberich is responsible -and he plans to annihilate the Library itself.

Irene and assistant Kai are posted to St Petersburg, to help combat this threat. Here Alberich emerges, as Irene tries to save her friend Vale and foil assassination attempts. Then one incredibly dangerous opportunity to save the Library emerges. Saving herself would be a bonus . . .

Irene’s adventures feature stolen books, secret agents and forbidden societies – think Doctor Who but with librarian spies!

super-city-cops SUPER CITY COPS: AVENGING AMETHYST by Keith R.A. DeCandido (Bastei Entertainment)

The great metropolis of Super City is the home of dozens of costumed heroes — the Terrific Trio, the Bruiser, the Superior Six, the Cowboy, and many more — who do battle against the super-villains who terrorize the citizenry.

These aren’t their stories …

When the heroes are done punching out the villains, it’s left to the stalwart men and women of the Super City Police Department to restrain them, arrest them, and hope that this time there’s enough evidence to actually convict them.

Just another day on the job for the Super City Cops.

BOOK 1

Amethyst, one of the most renowned and mysterious costumed heroes of Super City, is found dead on a rooftop. Detectives Kristin Milewski and Jorge Alvarado of the Super City Police Department are assigned to the case-but every answer they turn up with regards to who Amethyst is and how and why he died just gives them more questions.

Complicating the investigation are the rest of the superheroic community, who are looking for revenge for their fallen comrade-plus there are reports of a new Amethyst! Same powers, same costume, but a much nastier attitude …

Awards, Best of Lists and Travel, oh my!

Closing the week out on a high note, I want to send out a great, big, virtual high five to my new award-winners and those who are burning up the best of lists, so here we go!

Congratulations to:

under-the-spanish-stars-au Alli Sinclair for winning Best Established Author and Best Cover for her novel UNDER THE SPANISH STARS (AUS/NZ edition)  in the 2016 AusRom Today Readers’ Choice Awards!

invisible library us Genevieve Cogman for all the great attention for THE INVISIBLE LIBRARY:

Barnes & Nobles’ list of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016

Amazon’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016

Library Journal’s Best Books of 2016: Science Fiction & Fantasy

German edition (Die Unsichtbare Bibliothek) won Silver in the Der Leiserpreis Awards

obelisk gate N.K. Jemisin for THE OBELISK GATE appearing on:

Barnes & Nobles’ list of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016

Amazon’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016

Kirkus’s Best Fiction of 2016

fifth season N.K. Jemisin for THE FIFTH SEASON hitting:

The Guardian’s Best Books of 2016 Science Fiction and Fantasy

I know you’ve all heard me crow already about her Hugo-Award win!

In completely unrelated news, there are two weeks left to enter YA Books Central’s giveaway of my new release FAULTLINES! (Though it wouldn’t break my heart if you want to grab your copy now rather than wait and hope. Either way, I won’t judge!)

I’ll try to set my blog to post my happy book birthdays for next week (there are a ton of them!) while I’m away, but otherwise, all will be quiet on the bloggish front while I take a much-needed few days off to snorkel and cruise with my husband.

New releases with a side of awesome

Some really fun new released today, some great deals and other book news!

First, I’m excited to congratulation Genevieve Cogman, who just won the Silver in Der Leserpreis’s Book Awards in the Fantasy and Science Fiction category for the German edition of THE INVISIBLE LIBRARY (DIE UNSICHTBARE BIBLIOTHEK)!

Second, there are still a few hours left in Audible.com’s CyberMonday sale, which includes deals on a lot of great books, including some by Knight Agency authors, N.K. Jemisin, Gena Showalter, Faith Hunter, Chloe Neill and R.S. Belcher.

Third, the new Knight Agency newsletter came out last week, so in case you missed it in the Thanksgiving madness, here’s a link!

And now, without further ado, I’m excited to post about this week’s new releases: TRIALS, an anthology set in Faith Hunter’s acclaimed Rogue Mage world, and THE BLACKLIST: THE BEEKEEPER No. 159 by Steven Piziks! More below.

rma1_trials-ebook-cover TRIALS ed. by Spike Y Jones and Faith Hunter (B&N, Amazon)

21 Vignettes and Short Stories set in Faith Hunter’s World of Thorn St. Croix.

The Rogue Mage world began long ago, when the epic battle between the High Host and the Darkness was won and lost. TRIALS takes fans of Thorn St. Croix into the past, before the opening pages of BLOODRING. These stories, set in Faith Hunter’s Rogue Mage world, are adventures with new characters and old, facing dangers unimaginable. And they must save the world all over again.

If you ever wondered what happened between seraphs, kylen, second-unforeseen, mages, seraph-touched, spawn, humans, dragons, and their creatures before the series, now is your chance to delve deeper and wider. TRIALS features new short stories from nine authors—including Faith Hunter—and vignettes from the Rogue Mage role playing game.

TRIALS will be followed soon by TRIBULATIONS, and then by the omnibus TRIUMPHANT.

TRIALS Authors: Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, Lou J Berger, Ken Schrader, Spike Y Jones, Diana Pharaoh Francis, Christina Stiles, Tamsin Silver, Melissa McArthur.

TRIBULATIONS Authors: Faith Hunter, Jean Rabe, Spike Y Jones, Christina Stiles, and Lucienne Diver.

blacklist THE BLACKLIST: THE BEEKEEPER No. 159 by Steven Piziks (B&N, Amazon, Indiebound)

A brand-new original The Blacklist novel. Raymond Reddington brings Elizabeth Keen a new Blacklister: the Bodysnatcher, an unnamed, unknown man who has turned kidnapping into an art form. But when Lizzie and the team move to intercept the Bodysnatcher, they discover that he is not their real target. Their real target is much more sinister and it will take all their strength and dedication to resist him – and to discover what Reddington is really after.