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Wednesday, November 30, 2016

What's Up for the Debut Author Challenge Authors, Part 31


This is the thirty-first in this new series of updates about formerly featured Debut Author Challenge authors and their works published since their last update. The year in parentheses after the author's name is the year that author was featured in the Debut Author Challenge.



Part 1 here Part 11 here Part 21 here Part 31 here Part 41 here
Part 2 here Part 12 here Part 22 here Part 32 here Part 42 here
Part 3 here Part 13 here Part 23 here Part 33 here Part 43 here
Part 4 here Part 14 here Part 24 here Part 34 here Part 44 here
Part 5 here Part 15 here Part 25 here Part 35 here Part 45 here
Part 6 here Part 16 here Part 26 here Part 36 here Part 46 here
Part 7 here Part 17 here Part 27 here Part 37 here Part 47 here
Part 8 here Part 18 here Part 28 here Part 38 here Part 48 here
Part 9 here Part 19 here Part 29 here Part 39 here Part 49 here
Part 10 here Part 20 here Part 30 here Part 40 here Part 50 here



Katie Schickel (2015)

 The Mermaid's Secret
Forge, June 14, 2016
Hardcover, Trade Paperback, and eBook, 288pages

From Katie Schickel, one of Booklist's Top 10 Women's fiction of 2015, comes The Mermaid's Secret, an original, fresh, and absolutely captivating beach read.

Life on land is suffocating for Jess Creary, who wastes her summers flipping burgers for tourists on a fishing boat off her quaint resort island home off the coast of Maine. After all, her older sister Kay died in a boating accident two years ago, her mother has disappeared, and her father isn't exactly dealing with things so well. Surfing and the handsome Captain Matthew are about the only bright spots in her life.

Then, on her twenty-third birthday, Jess catches the perfect wave--a wave that transforms her into a mermaid. Under the sea, a startlingly beautiful, dark place, Jess is reborn into a confident, powerful predator with superhuman strength --finally she is someone to be reckoned with. Meanwhile, back on land, Jess's relationship with Captain Matthew heats up, and so does her search for justice for Kay.

Jess has thirty days to choose between land and sea; legs and fins; her humanity and her freedom. Who could ignore the freedom of the sea? Yet, the ocean is a dark, wild, lonely place. Is this a gift or a curse? Will Jess choose family and love, forgiveness and truth, or will she be seduced by the wild call of the sparkling sea forever?





F. Wesley Schneider (2015)

Pathfinder Adventure Path: Strange Aeons 1 of 6 - In Search of Sanity
     by F. Wesley Schneider
Paizo Publishng Inc., September 20, 2016
Paperback, 96 pages

The adventurers awaken within the walls of the eerie Briarstone Asylum, their minds wracked and memories missing. As they work together to recover their missing time, they soon learn that the cause of their eerie amnesia is but a symptom of a much greater cosmic menace. As they struggle to retain their sanity, the heroes must ally with other asylum residents and fight against the monstrosities that have taken over the asylum and plunged it into nightmare. Can the adventurers defeat the terror that stalks the halls and free themselves from their prison of madness?

“In Search of Sanity” is a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game adventure for 1st-level characters. The adventure kicks off the Strange Aeons Adventure Path, a twisted delve into madness that pits the heroes against the cosmic horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos. Several new monsters, details on the Mythos, and the first installment of a new Pathfinder’s Journal round out this volume of the Pathfinder Adventure Path!

Each monthly full-color softcover Pathfinder Adventure Path volume contains an in-depth adventure scenario, stats for several new monsters, and support articles meant to give Game Masters additional material to expand their campaign. Pathfinder Adventure Path volumes use the Open Game License and work with both the Pathfinder RPG and the world’s oldest fantasy RPG.


Pathfinder Volume 5: Hollow Mountain
     by Erik Mona, F. Wesley Schneider, and James L. Sutter
Dynamite Entertainment, September 20, 2016
Hardcover, 192 pages

The iconic heroes of Pathfinder delve deep into an ancient fortress built by the Runelords. Carved in the immense visage of Alaznist, Runelord of Wrath, the Hollow Mountain is home to a honeycomb labyrinth of trap-laden chambers and corridors. The Pathfinder agents must explore the ruins in search of a long-lost mystical artifact... but they're not alone. Competing explorers seek out the mountain's secrets, and it won't be long before open combat erupts! But unbeknownst to the warring factions, Alaznist has not left her former stronghold unprotected. Can the Pathfinder heroes and their bitter rivals put aside their animosity to survive the mountain's fearsome guardians?

written by the collaborative team of Erik Mona (Paizo Publisher and Chief Creative Officer), F. Wesley Schneider (Paizo Editor-in-Chief), and James Sutter (Paizo Senior Editor), and featuring sensational artwork by Tom Garcia (Mercy Thompson: Hopcross Jilly), the Hollow Mountain saga expands upon the mythos of Paizo's award-winning fantasy world, fiction line, and tabletop RPG. Bonus materials include over thirty-pages of encounters and world detail for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, including a poster map.


Pathfinder Adventure Path: Curse of the Crimson Throne
by James Jacobs, Nicolas Logue, F. Wesley Schneider, Richard Pett, Greg A. Vaughan, and Michael  Kortes
Paizo Publishng Inc., November 8, 2016
Hardcover, 480 pages

Return to a classic Pathfinder Adventure Path with Curse of the Crimson Throne, one of Paizo’s most popular campaigns! The city of Korvosa is in chaos, and her new queen may well be the source―can a ragtag group of heroes stand before the might of one of Golarion’s most notorious villains? This immense book collects the six classic Curse of the Crimson Throne adventures, and has everything you need to run an entire, full-length campaign covering months and months of play!
The Curse of the Crimson Throne hardcover includes:
• Updates the classic Adventure Path to the Pathfinder RPG rules for the first time!
• Explore expanded adventures, including a brand new mission written by Paizo’s Creative Director, James Jacobs, that sends the heroes into a perilous dungeon run by the queen’s infamous Gray Maidens!
• Features dozens of evocative new illustrations of classic characters!
• New and updated rules for monsters, magic items, and character options





V. E. Schwab (2013)

A Gathering of Shadow
Shades of Magic 2
Tor Books, January 17, 2017
Trade Paperback, 512 pages
Hardcover and eBook, February 23, 2016

From #1 New York Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab

Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell's possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland's dying body through the rift, and into Black London.

In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games-an extravagant international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries-a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.

But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life, and those who were thought to be forever gone have returned. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning, and so it seems Black London has risen again-and so to keep magic's balance, another London must fall...in V.E. Schwab's A Gathering of Shadows.

"A Darker Shade of Magic has all the hallmarks of a classic work of fantasy. Schwab has given us a gem of a tale...This is a book to treasure."—Deborah Harkeness, New York Times bestselling author of the All Souls trilogy


A Conjuring of Light
Shades of Magic 3
Tor Books, February 21, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 624 pages

Londons fall and kingdoms rise while darkness sweeps the Maresh Empire, and the fraught balance of magic blossoms into dangerous territory while heroes struggle. The direct sequel to A Gathering of Shadows, and the final book in the Shades of Magic epic fantasy series, A Conjuring of Light sees the newly minted New York Times bestselling author V. E. Schwab reach a thrilling conclusion concerning the fate of beloved protagonists--and old foes.





Luke Scull (2013)

Dead Man's Steel
The Grim Company 3
Ace, January 3, 2017
Hardcover and eBook, 400 pages

As the “gripping”* epic from the author of Sword of the North continues, the Grim Company must battle a dangerous new enemy that is determined to destroy all of humanity…

In the City of Towers, former rebel Sasha and her comrade Davarus Cole struggle to keep the peace between the warring mages who vie for dominion. But when the White Lady sends Davarus south to the Shattered Realms to seek allies among the fallen kingdoms, he finds that his hardest battle may be one fought within. The godly essence now residing within him offers power that could be used against the Fade—but with every death that feeds It, Cole risks losing a part of himself.

An association with a Fade officer grants the Halfmage Eremul a position of privilege among Dorminia’s new masters. He witnesses firsthand the fate that awaits humanity. But with his magic pitiful in the face of the Fade’s advanced technology, the Halfmage must rely on his wits alone to save whom he can…

And in the frozen north, the legendary warrior Brodar Kayne fights a desperate battle for his people. He is running out of time: an ancient evil sealed beneath the mountains is about to break free, an evil that is older than humanity, older than the Fade, older even than the gods—and it will not stop until the entire world is drowned in blood…

*The Guardian (UK)





Martin Seay (2016)

The Mirror Thief
Melville House, April 11, 2017
Trade Paperback, 592 pages
Hardcover and eBook, May 10, 2016

A globetrotting, time-bending, wildly entertaining literary tour de force in the tradition of Cloud Atlas.

The Mirror Thief is a dazzling combination of a genre-hopping adventure, a fast-paced mystery, and literary verve. Set in three cities in three eras, The Mirror Thief calls to mind David Mitchell and Umberto Eco in its serendipitous mix of entertainment and literary mastery.

The core story is set in Venice in the sixteenth century, when the famed makers of Venetian glass were perfecting one of the old world’s most wondrous inventions: the mirror. An object of glittering yet fearful fascination — was it reflecting simple reality, or something more spiritually revealing? — the Venetian mirrors were state of the art technology, and subject to industrial espionage by desirous sultans and royals world-wide. But for any of the development team to leave the island was a crime punishable by death. One man, however — a world-weary war hero with nothing to lose — has a scheme he thinks will allow him to outwit the city’s terrifying enforcers of the edict, the ominous Council of Ten …

Meanwhile, in two other iterations of Venice — Venice Beach, California, circa 1958, and the Venice casino in Las Vegas, circa today — two other schemers launch similarly dangerous plans to get away with a secret ….

All three stories will weave together into a spell-binding tour-de-force that is impossible to put down — an old-fashioned, stay-up-all-night novel that, in the end, returns the reader to a stunning conclusion in the original Venice … and the bedazzled sense of having read a truly original and thrilling work of literary art.

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