Book Recommendations

Cover Reveal and Giveaway for a New Urban Fantasy Thriller – OUT OF THE FIRE

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Step 1: check out that gorgeous cover!

Step 2: enter to win a FREE SIGNED COPY at Goodreads!

Out of the Fire is what Evan and I call our post-apocalyptic, urban fantasy thriller. It’s the first book in a new series and will be available in print and ebook on December 16th. We’re so excited about this new cast of characters, setting, and genre, and I hope you’ll enter to win an autographed copy and add it to your to-be-read list.

Here’s the teaser:

After magic floods into the world, bringing with it unimaginable power, ex-rock star Tucker Ambrus and firefighter Andrew Byrne’s city is nearly destroyed by a devastating storm of fire.

Now, as the unlikely leaders of a desperate band of survivors, Tucker and Byrne struggle to unite and protect what’s left of a panicked, lawless public—both from themselves, and from new supernatural terrors like the mysterious eruptions of churning gray that devour everything in their path.

But when influential leaders begin disappearing and chaos splits the survivors into warring factions, Tucker and Byrne must race to uncover a secret that links a crazed murderer to the deadly surges of magic and halt them both before it’s too late … though if they succeed, they risk igniting another firestorm and tearing their homes, and their friendship, apart.

We hope you enjoy it, good luck in the giveaway, and watch for Out of the Fire on December 16th!

 

Cover Reveal: Corvidae from World Weaver Press

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Want some cool cover art and great stories about those creepily crafty crows? (And maybe ravens, jays, magpies, etc?) 

I’m lucky to get to reveal the cover art and blurbs for this anthology from the folks at World Weaver Press. What makes me even more excited about it is it’s edited by a very nice, smart person I’ve had the pleasure of working with in the past and finally meeting at World Fantasy Con this past year, Rhonda Parrish. Plus, it features a writer friend, Michael S Pack. 

What I’m getting at is that the cover art and stories all look and sound great. So check this out:

 

CORVIDAE-coverAssociated with life and death, disease and luck, corvids have long captured mankind’s attention, showing up in mythology as the companions or manifestations of deities, and starring in stories from Aesop to Poe and beyond.

In Corvidae birds are born of blood and pain, trickster ravens live up to their names, magpies take human form, blue jays battle evil forces, and choughs become prisoners of war. These stories will take you to the Great War, research facilities, frozen mountaintops, steam-powered worlds, remote forest homes, and deep into fairy tales. One thing is for certain, after reading this anthology, you’ll never look the same way at the corvid outside your window.

Featuring works by Jane Yolen, Mike Allen, C.S.E. Cooney, M.L.D. Curelas, Tim Deal, Megan Engelhardt, Megan Fennell, Adria Laycraft, Kat Otis, Michael S. Pack, Sara Puls, Michael M. Rader, Mark Rapacz, Angela Slatter, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, and Leslie Van Zwol.

Praise for Corvidae:

“Smart and dark like the corvids themselves, this excellent collection of stories and poems will bring you a murder of chills, a tiding of intrigue, a band of the fantastic, and—most of all—an unkindness of sleepy mornings after you’ve stayed up too late reading it!”

— Karen Dudley, author of Kraken Bake

“Magic and corvids collide in this certain to intrigue anthology.”

— Joshua Klein, hacker and inventor of the crow vending machine

“A creepy, crazy kaleidoscope of corvids,Corvidae is what happens when you bring together ingenious writers and sagacious subjects. It’s nothing short of a thrill ride when this anthology takes flight.”

— Susan G. Friedman, Ph. D., Utah State University; behaviorworks.org.

“As sparkling and varied as a corvid’s hoard of treasures, Corvidae is by turns playful and somber, menacing and mischievous. From fairy tale to steampunk adventure, from field of war to scene of crime, these magical birds will take you to places beyond your wildest imaginings.”

—  Jennifer Crow, poet and corvid-by-marriage

Please consider adding this to your TBR list and then, you know, actually R it.

My Book’s Coming Out Next Month! Wanna Know What it’s About?

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You guys! Guess what! I have a book coming out!

(You can tell I’m excited because I almost never use exclamation points.)

To make a long story short, I wrote a historical adventure with my friend Evan Ronan, and after a few near misses at traditional publishing and lots of good, personal feedback, we decided to publish it ourselves.

Right now, we’re doing the final polish of the manuscript after receiving comments from our editor, and our very talented designer is working up cover art—I’m sure I’ll show that off quite soon.

That means we’re on the final leg of producing the novel, and …

Language of the Bear will be available through Amazon in ebook in April, and print in May.

The genesis of the book and our decision to publish it ourselves is a long story that I’ll get into another day.

But for now, here’s what our book’s about:

In the hostile wilderness of Colonial America, a young Native American warrior and a British officer are forced into a secret assassination mission. But when they learn their prey is more dangerous than they feared, can they complete their mission, protect a dying tribe, confront a madman, and still survive?

With war rumbling on the horizon, Lieutenant Hugh Pyke arrives in the Pennsylvania Colony hoping to prove himself against the French. Instead, he finds himself blackmailed into a dishonorable mission to assassinate the cousin of the woman he loves.

Wolf Tongue, a brash warrior of a dying tribe, volunteers to guide Pyke through the dangers of both the landscape and its indigenous nations. Even as he fights to protect his people from European and Native invaders, he struggles to earn the respect of those he would save.

An action-filled, old-fashioned adventure, Language of the Bear is the first novel in the Tomahawk and Saber series.

And yes, this is the first novel in the series. In addition to working with final edits on Language of the Bear, we’re also wrapping up the second book (tentatively titled Through the Narrows), which is slated for release in May.

If you’re on Goodreads and this sounds like something you might dig, please add it to your to-be-read list, because it’ll certainly make these two guys smile. 

What Does Your Book Recommendation Say About You?

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If you could shove a friend into a chair and compel them to read just one book, what would it be?

 

It’s a little like picking your favorite book of all time. But maybe not quite.

This topic came up recently in a conversation with my friend Evan Ronan and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. And specifically because the book I’d force him to read (I’ll get to that in a minute) isn’t necessarily my favorite book of all time.

Maybe I’m loath to choose just one. There are thousands of amazing books and dozens that make me cringe at the cutting emotion, gape at the style, goggle at the deft characterization, etc.

(OK. There’s no maybe about it—I’m definitely loath to choose just one.)

But if you’re forced to choose just one book you wish you could make a friend read, your choice might say a little bit about your friend or how you perceive them. And maybe a little about you.

Think about this: if you said to your best friend, your lover, your parent, that of all the millions of books in the world, this one is the one you’d make them read, isn’t that an intimate act of communication?

It’s akin to saying, “Here. This emotional tone, story, character, all hit a note perfectly in tune with how I see myself and the world. This collection of metaphors is somehow me.”

Blood MeridianAnd the book I’d recommend, at least for certain friends, is Cormac MacCarthy’s Blood Meridian.

Now. I wouldn’t recommend that to everyone I know. (My mother would haaaaaaate this book if she even got to page 10.) But for a fair number of friends who have a certain type of fortitude, this book, all the way.

I don’t believe really good writing can be paraphrased, so I’ll just say that I’ve read this book a number of times, and each time, its power and brutality leave me feeling shaken and wounded and amazed.

What that says about me or what I think of my friends’ reading proclivities? Who the hell knows.  Maybe nothing. Because after all, it’s just a book recommendation.

So what about you? What’s that one sledgehammer of a book that you wish you compel others to read?