Cat Hellisen's Blog, page 27

How to spin a silk cocoon around pupating words.

For a long time now I’ve been telling people around me how much I hate writing. How I’d rather do anything else, and that the only good feeling I get from writing is when I’m done with a project.

I’ve said it so many times that I have ended up believing it. Until I figured, since I don’t actually give a shit about what I’m writing any more, who cares if I just churn out some commercial crap. Let’s have hawt guys and girls who can. . .I dunno, do kung fu or something. Let’s have everything spelled out, linear, let’s not play with language or write anything that doesn’t conform to the moral majority. It’s not like I care any more.

So I set to work on that book. And dear god it was like peeling off the skin on my fingers with a potato-peeler and then salting the raw flesh.

So, like, not all that much fun.

I hated every second of it, but I carried on grimly, because I’d convinced myself that this would be the only way I ever sell another book. And occasionally, I wrote pieces I liked. And those little pieces made me happy. Happy enough to continue peeling my fingers.

Then I figured, fuck this shit. I’m not going to sell another book. I’m not going to do this stupid crap any more. So I bought a sewing machine. And I stopped working on that fucking book. And I’m much happier. I went back to play with/revise the book no-one wants. And it made me happy. And now I’m playing with/revising the other book no-one wants, and that’s making me happy too.

Dunno what that says about me other than selling my book was a fluke, and I should stop worrying about publishing and just do my thing that makes me happy.

And, yanno, learn to sew.

So. . .yeah. That was a fun post.

(And yes, I do know the unwritten rule of publishing – especially if you write YA – is be fucking Miss Mary Sunshine ALL THE TIME or no-one will ever want to work with you but as you can see, I don’t feel particularly inclined to give a shit any more.)

and

(Also, yes, I’ve been in a very black place for the last year or so. I’ve lost all faith in my work, and in myself as a writer. I should shut up and suck it up, I know. But today’s different. Today I’m not sad because I suck. Today I’m sad because I let the world convince me I suck.

Hence this post.)

And now….

I have stuff to say.

I mean, things have been happening, I’m just not blog-ready.

But it is YAY Stuff and fun stuff so be happy for me.

That’s an order, kittens.

Sunday Drabble: Salt-water

Just playing little writing games with myself for amusement, but also to try and break out ideas and things.

 

A drabble, being exactly 100 words, is short enough to not tax my wee brain, but also requires some kind of precision of language in order to fit the constraints.  If you want to join in and write drabbles too, feel free to put them in the comments, or link to them.

 

Salt-water

Seventeen days sleepless. Man is a dream animal, and away from his natural sea he collapses inward. I am dehydrated by memory. I killed a merman on a urine-coloured beach. A necessity, I tell myself. My tokking guilt keeps me wakeful.

Twenty-three days. He was already half-dead, strangled by my nets. What was I to do? My heart pumps clotted blood through withered veins. Tok. Tok. Tok.

Thirty-two days. I am precise. I cut my beached heart free. Cradling it in one palm, I walk down into the shallows, my trousers rolled. My dry heart swells, drifts. And swims away.

but but but I only watch fantasy

So, I’m pretty sure anyone who reads this lame-ass blog knows that when it comes to movies I like sad miserable stuff with as much messed-up relationship GUH as is possible to squeeze into 120 minutes, but tv is a whole other beast.

I am normally all over shows like Doctor Who and Torchwood and Being Human and Supernatural. And anime. Lots of anime. (To a sad and disturbing extent, I’m sure, but no fanfic yet, because I find fanfic HARD to write.)

I also have this much interest in sport: -

So why am I devouring seasons of Friday Night Lights? Can anyone tell me this? I mean, I don’t even know anything about American Football (beyond it being some game Americans like).

I’ll tell you why – because that show is EPIC like a fantasy. It’s not subtle, it throws conflict in your face. It amps up the drama all the time. If you say, Okay, now this is going to happen because it’s the worst thing that can happen – it happens.

It’s the same reason I watch Breaking Bad.

(Downton Abbey is different because a) costume porn, so shut up. Also b) nnghhh yes)

Possibly a writing lesson in that for me, but yeah whatevers.

I have no idea what this post was about beyond um tv has apparently consumed my life, and oh yes I am working on stuff, I promise.

Oh and Nerine Dorman wrote an article thing about me and it’s in The Star tonight, in the Tonight section so that is something I never thought would happen. WHOAH NELLY.

Friday timesheet

I’ve been mildly good with sticking to my self-imposed schedule. I’m revising one book and writing another, and it’s possible that sometime in the next decade, I can send one of them to my poor agent. Ha.

The revising is happening on a not-sequel to When the Sea is Rising Red with the somewhat lacklustre working title of The Melancholy Raven.

 

Here’s an excerptish thing.

 

I’m really glad I don’t write my novels long hand because I can barely read my own handwriting. Thank god someone somewhere invented type.

 

Hello Muizenberg!

It’s autumn now, so we’re getting our days of drizzly rain and sweeping sea mist, but being Cape Town, we also get this:

I’m loving the new place. We’re about a slow twenty minute walk from the beach, and better yet – fifteen from the library. My poor neglected card can see some action again. Yeah, baby.

 

In the spirit of biblioteekish celebration, I have launched myself on a reread (mostly) of Stephen King’s Dark Tower. King is a total hero to me. Even when he’s off his game he still manages to write engaging crap. I say this having read Tommyknockers three times. No, I don’t know why I did that.

 

But when he’s on, HE’S ON.

Unf. The Gunslinger is awesome, that is all.

If you disagree with me we can simply never get married and have puppies together.

 

And more proof of King’s awesome – 30 Pieces of Wisdom from King Novels.

New House!

I have been a stress-bunny of note for the last few weeks. For some reason we had to move house the weekend of Afrikaburns, so cue a demented two and half day trek into the Karoo, followed by a day and a half of packing, moving, and scrubbing.

 

I didn’t take many pics at AB (I hardly ever, and whenever I do, the pics have 1/10 the awesome of the experience and they frustrate me more than anything else.) Fwiw, it was wonderful, and even going with the spawn, while it led to a very different AB experience, was still cool.

I did like this one image though, with the rippling flags of a passing mutant vehicle silhouetted against the setting Karoo sun:

Now we’re in our new house, and the weather has gone grizzly, so I can’t even take you a decent pic of our awesome new view. You can have this one instead, where you get to see cloud-smothered mountains:

 

And on Monday it is back to the grindstone, and I Have Plans. Real Plans. And I’m excited about working on them.

Whew!

I have been doing things

Mostly working on Mundus, which is my project for me.

 

And I haven’t done this in forever, so have an excerpt, first draft and all that means:

 

“I didn’t think you’d be here,” Tanja continued. She was accusatory, and somewhere in the fog of his memories Oliver tried to work out if he deserved it. Was it his fault this time?

He was pretty sure it wasn’t. He set down his almost empty glass, and balanced the crostini on the rim. It took an extraordinarily long time, and seemed particularly important. He thought it should be. Food and glass and stains of red. While he was doing this, Oliver found the words floating up out of his chest. He listened to himself. “She doesn’t own the city,” he said. Which was particularly stupid because it didn’t matter if she did or she didn’t. He still should have known better than to come here, to a place full of her friends.

With a dull surprise he realised that they’d all been her friends, really.

There was nowhere in the city to run to that she hadn’t infected. No place where people wouldn’t look at him with pitied revulsion. It made everything harder than it had to be. Oliver went to get another glass of wine to wash the thought away, obliterate it, drown it black. He needed a place to go where he could be clean of all this, but all he had were art galleries and clubs and alcohol and the night. The wine was helping, it was making him feel less frayed, sticking him into place and time like a housefly on a strip of dirty flypaper. He was spinning. Tomorrow. Tomorrow would be better, he’d be braver and sober and he could think and he could find a bolt-hole and lick his wounds salty-clean.

“God,” said Tanja, and she took him by his arm. Her eager drunken grip was something he found himself relaxing into. Hard people, people who took control and told him what to do, they made Oliver feel safe. A peculiar safety, yes. Like a rabbit in a hutch, safe from dogs and wolves, but not so much from the dinner table. That’s why things hadn’t worked out with him and Amanda. Two rabbits in an open cage. You can’t do that to people and expect them to make a good go of it. Someone always had to be the hunter.

“You’re a mess.” Tanja pulled him to one of the shadowed corners. There was a couch here. It was rubbery and filled with people he didn’t recognise. They glanced up once, a many eyed beast, then their heads all turned back to conversation, speaking each other’s lines. Above them hung a row of paintings. They were a series of seductions, angular and unsurprising. An occasional soft curve made them feel less empty and rote.

I’m in hell.

“Hey,” Tanja said, and snapped her finger right under his nose with a little firecracker pop that brought him back to a foggy sort of reality. The room smelled of old damp stone and piss and wine and desperate air freshener. “Are you okay?”

Focus. Too many glasses of wine and not enough shitty cheese crostini. Oliver smiled to himself. If he were peeled open now perhaps his liver would be labelled. This is Oliver’s bloated self-pity. “I’m fine.”

Tea is a sacred thing

Yes it is.

 

(language warning yeah)

 

(Thanks to Charlie Human for the link)

Fantasy books also marketed to Young Adults

UPDATE: WOW. just WOW, I have been pointed in the direction of so many very cool-looking titles. Thank you all so much. (And haha, seems I'm just as bad at assuming titles are paranormal or UF when they're in fact …not. My bad.) I really hope this list proves useful to people, because it is getting EPIC.

(As I have not read most of the books listed, I am making no judgement calls good or bad. The only books I left off were ones that I felt weren't secondary world, or skewed too young (or I'm waiting for covers closer to release date))

 

After another weird day where people called my book a dystopian (and I cried) I thought it might be useful to build a resource for current secondary world fantasy that is marketed to Young Adults.

 

In many cases, these are trilogies or longer running series. In all cases I've linked to the first book only.

If you can think of any more (recentish, I am pretty well-acquainted with classic fantasy for younger readers) titles that you think would suit this list, please leave me a comment and I'll add it in.

 

RAE CARSON – THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS

Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.

Elisa is the chosen one.

But she is also the younger of two princesses. The one who has never done anything remarkable, and can't see how she ever will.

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs her to be the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies, seething with dark magic, are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people's savior, and he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn't die young.

Most of the chosen do.

KRISTIN CASHORE – GRACELING

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she's a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king's thug.

When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po's friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

     With elegant, evocative prose and a cast of unforgettable characters, debut author Kristin Cashore creates a mesmerizing world, a death-defying adventure, and a heart-racing romance that will consume you, hold you captive, and leave you wanting more.

MELINA MARCHETTA – FINNIKIN OF THE ROCK

Finnikin was only a child during the five days of the unspeakable, when the royal family of Lumatere were brutally murdered, and an imposter seized the throne. Now a curse binds all who remain inside Lumatere's walls, and those who escaped roam the surrounding lands as exiles, persecuted and despairing, dying by the thousands in fever camps. In a narrative crackling with the tension of an imminent storm, Finnikin, now on the cusp of manhood, is compelled to join forces with an arrogant and enigmatic young novice named Evanjalin, who claims that her dark dreams will lead the exiles to a surviving royal child and a way to pierce the cursed barrier and regain the land of Lumatere. But Evanjalin's unpredictable behavior suggests that she is not what she seems — and the startling truth will test Finnikin's faith not only in her, but in all he knows to be true about himself and his destiny.

 

CINDY PON – SILVER PHOENIX

on the day of her first betrothal meeting–and rejection–ai ling discovers a power welling deep within her. she can reach into other people's spirits, hear their thoughts, see their dreams…and that's just the beginning.

ai ling has been marked by the immortals; her destiny lies in the emperor's palace, where a terrible evil has lived, stealing souls, for centuries. she must conquer this enemy and rescue her captive father, while mythical demons track her every step. and then she meets chen yong, a young man with a quest of his own, whose fate is intertwined with hers. here is a heart-stopping, breathtaking tale for fans of action, fantasy, and romance–of anything with the making of legend.

 

ALISON GOODMAN – EON

Eon has been studying the ancient art of Dragon Magic for four years, hoping he'll be able to apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune. But he also has a dark secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who has been living a dangerous lie for the chance to become a Dragoneye, the human link to an energy dragon's power. It is forbidden for females to practice the Dragon Magic and, if discovered, Eon faces a terrible death. After a dazzling sword ceremony, Eon's affinity with the twelve dragons catapults him into the treacherous world of the Imperial court where he makes a powerful enemy, Lord Ido. As tension builds and Eon's desperate lie comes to light, readers won't be able to stop turning the pages …

 

LEAH CYPRESS – MISTWOOD

The Shifter is an immortal creature bound by an ancient spell to protect the kings of Samorna. When the realm is peaceful, she retreats to the Mistwood. But when she is needed she always comes.

Isabel remembers nothing. Nothing before the prince rode into her forest to take her back to the castle. Nothing about who she is supposed to be, or the powers she is supposed to have.

Prince Rokan needs Isabel to be his Shifter. He needs her ability to shift to animal form, to wind, to mist. He needs her lethal speed and superhuman strength. And he needs her loyalty—because without it, she may be his greatest threat.

Isabel knows that her prince is lying to her, but she can't help wanting to protect him from the dangers and intrigues of the court . . . until a deadly truth shatters the bond between them.

Now Isabel faces a choice that threatens her loyalty, her heart . . . and everything she thought she knew.

 

ELIZABETH C. BUNCE – STAR CROSSED

In a glamorous castle full of Llyvraneth's elite, Celyn Contrare serves as a lady-in-waiting to shy young Merista Nemair. Her days are spent dressing in velvet, attending Lady Merista, navigating court gossip, and charming noblemen over lavish feasts.

And at night, she picks locks, steals jewels, forges documents, and collects secrets. Because Celyn isn't really a lady-in-waiting; she's not even really Celyn Contrare. She's Digger, a sneak-thief on the run from the king's Inquisition, desperate to escape its cruel instruments and hatred of magic. If she's discovered, it will mean her certain death.

But life as a lady-in-waiting isn't safe either. The devious Lord Daul knows her secret, and he's blackmailing her to serve as his personal spy in the castle. What she discovers-about Daul, about the Nemair, even about her own Lady Merista — could signal civil war in Llyvraneth. And for a thief trained never to get involved, taking sides could be the most dangerous job yet.

 

MARIA V. SNYDER – STORM GLASS

As a glassmaker and a magician-in-training, Opal Cowen understands trial by fire. Now it's time to test her mettle. Someone has sabotaged the Stormdancer clan's glass orbs, killing their most powerful magicians. The Stormdancers—particularly the mysterious and mercurial Kade—require Opal's unique talents to prevent it happening again. But when the mission goes awry, Opal must tap in to a new kind of magic as stunningly potent as it is frightening. And the further she delves into the intrigue behind the glass and magic, the more distorted things appear. With lives hanging in the balance—including her own—Opal must control powers she hadn't known she possessed…powers that might lead to disaster beyond anything she's ever known.

MALINDA LO – ASH

In the wake of her father's death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, rereading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away, as they are said to do. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted.

The day that Ash meets Kaisa, the King's Huntress, her heart begins to change. Instead of chasing fairies, Ash learns to hunt with Kaisa. Though their friendship is as delicate as a new bloom, it reawakens Ash's capacity for love-and her desire to live. But Sidhean has already claimed Ash for his own, and she must make a choice between fairy tale dreams and true love.

Entrancing, empowering, and romantic, Ash is about the connection between life and love, and solitude and death, where transformation can come from even the deepest grief.

MEGAN WHALEN TURNER – THE THIEF


"I can steal anything." 

 

After Gen's bragging lands him in the king's prison, the chances of escape look slim. Then the king's scholar, the magus, needs the thief's skill for a seemingly impossible task — to steal a hidden treasure from another land.To the magus, Gen is just a tool. But Gen is a trickster and a survivor with a plan of his own.


TAMORA PIERCE – TERRIER

Beka Cooper is a rookie with the law-enforcing Provost's Guard, and she's been assigned to the Lower City. It's a tough beat that's about to get tougher, as Beka's limited ability to communicate with the dead clues her in to an underworld conspiracy. Someone close to Beka is using dark magic to profit from the Lower City's criminal enterprises–and the result is a crime wave the likes of which the Provost's Guard has never seen before

SHERWOOD SMITH – CROWN DUEL

Young Countess Meliara swears to her dying father that she and her brother will defend their people from the growing greed of the king. That promise leads them into a war for which they are ill-prepared, which threatens the very people they are trying to protect. But war is simple compared to what follows, in peacetime. Meliara is summoned to live at the royal palace, where friends and enemies look alike, and intrigue fills the dance halls and the drawing rooms. If she is to survive, Meliara must learn a whole new way of fighting-with wits and words and secret alliances.

In war, at least, she knew in whom she could trust. Now she can trust no one.

  CINDA WILLIAMS CHIMA – THE DEMON KING

Times are hard in the mountain city of Fellsmarch. Reformed thief Han Alister will do almost anything to eke out a living for himself, his mother, and his sister Mari.  Ironically, the only thing of value he has is something he can't sell.  For as long as Han can remember, he's worn thick silver cuffs engraved with runes.  They're clearly magicked—as he grows, they grow, and he's never been able to get them off.

While out hunting one day, Han and his Clan friend, Dancer catch three young wizards setting fire to the sacred mountain of Hanalea.   After a confrontation, Han takes an amulet from Micah Bayar, son of the High Wizard, to ensure the boy won't use it against them.  Han soon learns that the amulet has an evil history—it once belonged to the Demon King, the wizard who nearly destroyed the world a millennium ago.  With a magical piece that powerful at stake, Han knows that the Bayars will stop at nothing to get it back.

Meanwhile, Raisa ana'Marianna, Princess Heir of the Fells, has her own battles to fight.  She's just returned to court after three years of relative freedom with her father's family at Demonai camp – riding, hunting, and working the famous Clan markets.  Although Raisa will become eligible for marriage after her sixteenth name-day, she isn't looking forward to trading in her common sense and new skills for etiquette tutors and stuffy parties.

Raisa wants to be more than an ornament in a glittering cage. She aspires to be like Hanalea—the legendary warrior queen who killed the Demon King and saved the world. But it seems like her mother has other plans for her–plans that include a suitor who goes against everything the Queendom stands for.

LEIGH BARDUGO – SHADOW AND BONE

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha…and the secrets of her heart.

HEATHER DIXON – ENTWINED

Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it.

The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.

But there is a cost.

The Keeper likes to keep things.

Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

JODI MEADOWS – INCARNATE

NEWSOUL

Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

NOSOUL

Even Ana's own mother thinks she's a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she'll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are suspicious and afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

HEART

Sam believes Ana's new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana's enemies–human and creature alike–let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else's life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

JENNIFER A. NIELSEN – THE FALSE PRINCE

THE FALSE PRINCE is the thrilling first book in a brand-new trilogy filled with danger and deceit and hidden identities that will have readers rushing breathlessly to the end.

In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point — he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.

As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.

An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truths that will have readers clinging to the edge of their seats.

EILIS O'NEAL – THE FALSE PRINCESS

Princess and heir to the throne of Thorvaldor, Nalia's led a privileged life at court.  But everything changes when it's revealed, just after her sixteenth birthday, that she is a false princess, a stand-in for the real Nalia, who has been hidden away for her protection.  Cast out with little more than the clothes on her back, the girl now called Sinda must leave behind the city of Vivaskari, her best friend, Keirnan, and the only life she's ever known.

Sinda is sent to live with her only surviving relative, an aunt who is a dyer in a distant village. She is a cold, scornful woman with little patience for her newfound niece, and Sinda proves inept at even the simplest tasks.  But when Sinda discovers that magic runs through her veins – long-suppressed, dangerous magic that she must learn to control – she realizes that she can never learn to be a simple village girl.

Returning to Vivaskari for answers, Sinda finds her purpose as a wizard scribe, rediscovers the boy who saw her all along, and uncovers a secret that could change the course of Thorvaldor's history, forever.

A dazzling first novel, The False Princess is an engrossing fantasy full of mystery, action, and romance.

SHANNON HALE – THE GOOSE GIRL

She can whisper to horses and communicate with birds, but the crown princess Ani has a difficult time finding her place in the royal family and measuring up to her imperial mother. When she is shipped off to a neighboring kingdom as a bride, her scheming entourage mounts a bloody mutiny to replace her with a jealous lady-in-waiting, Selia, and to allow an inner circle of guards more power in the new land. Barely escaping with her life, Ani disguises herself as a goose girl and wanders on the royal estate. Does she have the pluck to reclaim her rightful place? Get ready for a fine adventure tale full of danger, suspense, surprising twists, and a satisfying conclusion. The engaging plot can certainly carry the tale, but Hale's likable, introspective heroine makes this also a book about courage and justice in the face of overwhelming odds. The richly rendered, medieval folkloric setting adds to the charm.

BETH BERNOBICH – FOX AND PHOENIX

The king of Lóng City is dying. For Kai Zōu, the news means more than it does for most former street rats in the small mountain stronghold, because he and the king's daughter are close friends. Then the majestic ruler of the ghost dragons orders Kai to travel across the country to the Phoenix Empire, where the princess is learning statecraft. In a court filled with intrigue, Kai and his best friend Yún must work together to help the princess escape and return to Lóng City. A refreshing mixture of magic, wit, and action, Fox and Phoenix is an auspicious debut!

KATHERINE ROBERTS – SONG QUEST

Welcome to a world from another time — where legendary half-creatures still exist. A world where nature itself can be controlled by unearthly music. A world where the forces of good and evil are held in harmony by the Singers who have mastered the secret Songs of Power. A world on the brink of destruction, threatened by a dark lord whose evil knows no bounds. Rialle and Kherron, two novice Singers, are all that's left to stand in the enemy's way. Stranded in a strange land with only one another to rely on, these former rivals must work together if they are to survive. In a timeless coming-of-age journey, Rialle and Kherron discover the strength of spirit that lies within them in their quest to help good triumph over evil.

ALEXANDRA BRACKEN – BRIGHTLY WOVEN

When Wayland North brings rain to a region that's been dry for over ten years, he's promised anything he'd like as a reward. He chooses the village elder's daughter, sixteen-year-old Sydelle Mirabel, who is a skilled weaver and has an unusual knack for repairing his magical cloaks. Though Sydelle has dreamt of escaping her home, she's hurt that her parents relinquish her so freely and finds herself awed and afraid of the slightly ragtag wizard who is unlike any of the men of magic in the tales she's heard. Still, she is drawn to this mysterious man who is fiercely protective of her and so reluctant to share his own past.

The pair rushes toward the capital, intent to stop an imminent war, pursued by Reuel Dorwan (a dark wizard who has taken a keen interest in Sydelle) and plagued by unusually wild weather. But the sudden earthquakes and freak snowstorms may not be a coincidence. As Sydelle discovers North's dark secret and the reason for his interest in her and learns to master her own mysterious power, it becomes increasingly clear that the fate of the kingdom rests in her fingertips. She will either be a savior, weaving together the frayed bonds between Saldorra and Auster, or the disastrous force that destroys both kingdoms forever.

MARIA V. SNYDER – TOUCH OF POWER

Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan absorbs their wounds and diseases into herself. But rather than being honored for her skills, she is hunted. Healers like Avry are accused of spreading the plague that has decimated the Fifteen Realms, leaving the survivors in a state of chaos.

Stressed and tired from hiding, Avry is abducted by a band of rogues who, shockingly, value her gift above the golden bounty offered for her capture. Their leader, an enigmatic captor-protector with powers of his own, is unequivocal in his demands: Avry must heal a plague-stricken prince—leader of a campaign against her people. As they traverse the daunting Nine Mountains, beset by mercenaries and magical dangers, Avry must decide who is worth healing and what is worth dying for. Because the price of peace may well be her life….

JACLYN DOLAMORE – MAGIC UNDER GLASS

Nimira is a foreign music-hall girl forced to dance for mere pennies. When wealthy sorcerer Hollin Parry hires her to sing with a piano-playing automaton, Nimira believes it is the start of a new and better life. In Parry's world, however, buried secrets are beginning to stir. Unsettling below-stairs rumors swirl about ghosts, a madwoman roaming the halls, and Parry's involvement with a league of sorcerers who torture fairies for sport. Then Nimira discovers the spirit of a fairy gentleman named Erris is trapped inside the clockwork automaton, waiting for someone to break his curse. The two fall into a love that seems hopeless, and breaking the curse becomes a race against time, as not just their love, but the fate of the entire magical world may be in peril.

CJ REDWINE – DEFIANCE

Within the walls of Baalboden, beneath the shadow of the city's brutal leader, Rachel Adams has a secret. While other girls sew dresses, host dinner parties, and obey their male Protectors, Rachel knows how to survive in the wilderness and deftly wield a sword. When her father, Jared, fails to return from a courier mission and is declared dead, the Commander assigns Rachel a new Protector, her father's apprentice, Logan—the same boy Rachel declared her love for two years ago, and the same boy who handed her heart right back to her. Left with nothing but fierce belief in her father's survival, Rachel decides to escape and find him herself. But treason against the Commander carries a heavy price, and what awaits her in the Wasteland could destroy her.

 

ROBIN LAFEVERS – GRAVE MERCY

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae's most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death's vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

KARYN HENLEY – BREATH OF ANGEL

The stranger's cloak had fallen back, and with it, a long, white, blood-stained wing.



When Melaia, a young priestess, witnesses the gruesome murder of a stranger in the temple courtyard, age-old legends recited in song suddenly come to life. She discovers wings on the stranger, and the murderer takes the shape of both a hawk and a man.

Angels. Shape-shifters. Myths and stories—until now.

Melaia finds herself in the middle of a blood feud between two immortal brothers who destroyed the stairway to heaven, stranding angels in the earthly realm. When Melaia becomes a target, she finds refuge with a band of angels attempting to restore the stairway. But the restoration is impossible without settling an ancient debt—the "breath of angel, blood of man," a payment that involves Melaia's heart, soul, and destiny.

(it feels a little weird to have to point this out, but in the interests of transparency, this is obviously my own book)

CAT HELLISEN – WHEN THE SEA IS RISING RED

After seventeen-year-old Felicita's dearest friend Ilven kills herself to escape an arranged marriage, Felicita chooses freedom over privilege. She fakes her own death and leaves her sheltered life as one of Pelimburg's magical elite behind. Living in the slums, scrubbing dishes for a living, she falls for charismatic Dash while also becoming fascinated with vampire Jannik. Then something shocking washes up on the beach: Ilven's death has called out of the sea a dangerous wild magic. Felicita must decide whether her loyalties lie with the family she abandoned . . . or with those who would twist this dark power to destroy Pelimburg's caste system, and the whole city along with it.

(And special thanks to Marieke Nijkamp who threw titles in my direction with gusto. You are a rock star.

Thanks also to Beth Bernobich, Sage Collins, Cindy Pon, Erica, Sarah, and Ashelynn Hetland My list of things to read grows larger. )