Archives de catégorie : London 2022 Fiction

THE MASK OF MIRRORS by M.A. Carrick

Darkly magical and beautifully imagined, THE MASK OF MIRRORS is the unmissable start to the Rook & Rose trilogy, a rich and dazzling fantasy adventure in which a con artist, a vigilante, and a crime lord must unite to save their city.

THE MASK OF MIRRORS
(Rook and Rose, Book 1)
by M.A. Carrick
‎ Orbit, January 2021
(via JABberwocky)

Nightmares are creeping through the city of dreams . . . Renata Virdaux is a con artist who has come to the sparkling city of Nadezra – the city of dreams – with one goal: to trick her way into a noble house and secure her fortune and her sister’s future. But as she’s drawn into the aristocratic world of House Traementis, she realises her masquerade is just one of many surrounding her. And as corrupted magic begins to weave its way through Nadezra, the poisonous feuds of its aristocrats and the shadowy dangers of its impoverished underbelly become tangled – with Ren at their heart.

“Utterly captivating. Carrick spins an exciting web of mystery, magic, and political treachery in a richly drawn and innovative world.” ―S. A. Chakraborty, author of The City of Brass

“Wonderfully immersive—I was unable to put it down.” ―Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter

Book 2: THE LIAR’S KNOT (Orbit, December 2021)
An unmissable fantasy collaboration by two renowned authors in which a con artist returns to the city that betrayed her, determined to have her revenge—only to find that her fate might be to save it.

M.A. Carrick is the joint pen name of Marie Brennan (author of the Memoirs of Lady Trent) and Alyc Helms (author of the Adventures of Mr. Mystic). The two met in 2000 on an archaeological dig in Wales and Ireland — including a stint in the town of Carrickmacross — and have built their friendship through two decades of anthropology, writing, and gaming. They live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

SWEEP OF STARS de Maurice Broaddus

The first in a trilogy that explores the struggles of an empire. Epic in scope and intimate in voice, it follows members of the Muungano empire – a far-reaching coalition of city-states that stretches from O.E. (original earth) to Titan – as it faces an escalating series of threats.

SWEEP OF STARS
by Maurice Broaddus
‎ St. Martin’s Press, February 2023

The Muungano empire strived and struggled to form a utopia when they split away from old earth. Freeing themselves from the endless wars and oppression of their home planet in order to shape their own futures and create a far-reaching coalition of city-states that stretched from Earth and Mars to Titan. With the wisdom of their ancestors, the leadership of their elders, the power and vision of their scientists and warriors they charted a course to a better future. But the old powers could not allow them to thrive and have now set in motion new plots to destroy all that they’ve built. In the fire to come they will face down their greatest struggle yet. Amachi Adisa and other young leaders will contend with each other for the power to galvanize their people and chart the next course for the empire. Fela Buhari and her elite unit will take the fight to regions not seen by human eyes, but no training will be enough to bring them all home. Stacia Chikeke, captain of the starship Cypher, will face down enemies across the stars, and within her own vessel, as she searches for the answers that could save them all. The only way is forward.

“Powerful, sweeping Afrofuturist space opera…. A hugely ambitious and notable work of postcolonial science fiction. This takes the genre in an exciting and challenging direction.”―Publishers Weekly, starred review

Maurice Broaddus is a fantasy and horror author best known for his short fiction and his Knights of Breton Court novel trilogy. He has published dozens of stories in magazines and book anthologies, including in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Black Static, and Weird Tales.

AMERICAN MERMAID de Julia Langbein

The Pisces by way of Emily St. John Mandel or Karen Russell meets The Snow Child and The Need, AMERICAN MERMAID is by turns both a comic and fabulously insightful tale of two female characters in search of truth, love and self-acceptance as they move between worlds without giving up their voices.

AMERICAN MERMAID
by Julia Langbein
‎ Doubleday, Spring 2023
(via Levine Greenberg Rostan)

Penelope Schleeman, a consistently broke Connecticut high school teacher, is as surprised as anyone when her sensitive debut novel, American Mermaid—the story of a wheelchair-bound scientist named Sylvia who discovers that her withered legs are the vestiges of a powerful tail—becomes a bestseller. Penelope soon finds herself lured to LA by promises of easy money to co-write the American Mermaid screenplay for a major studio with a pair of male hacks. As the studio pressures Penelope to change American Mermaid from the story of a fierce, androgynous eco-warrior to a teen sex object in a clam bra, strange things start to happen. Threats appear in the screenplay draft; siren calls lure people into danger. When Penelope’s screenwriting partners try to kill Sylvia off entirely in a bitterly false but cinematic end, matters off the page escalate. Is Penelope losing her mind, or has her mermaid come to life, enacting revenge for Hollywood’s violations?

Julia Langbein (BA, Columbia University, 2003; PhD, University of Chicago, 2013) held a postdoctoral fellowship in Art History at Oxford University from 2014-2018 and is currently a research fellow at Trinity College Dublin, where she is writing a book about how generational conflict and changing ideas of old age have shaped modern art. Her monograph, Laugh Lines: Caricaturing Painting in Nineteenth-Century France, which brings to light a brilliant subculture of comic criticism and argues for its importance in the development of modernist painting, will be published in March 2022 by Bloomsbury Visual Art and has received outstanding advance praise from senior scholars (“impeccably researched,” “engaging,” “essential”). Langbein, a sketch and standup comedian for many years, was the author of the viral comedy blog The Bruni Digest (2003-2007), which reviewed New York Times critic Frank Bruni’s restaurant reviews every week. She has since written about food, art and travel for Gourmet, Eater, Salon, Frieze and other publications.

THE MOON REPRESENTS MY HEART de Pim Wangtechawat

The Joy Luck Club meets The Time Traveller’s Wife with the power of The Immortalists in this story that explores the ramifications of choices made by the generations of a British-Chinese family of time-travellers. A heart-warming, richly poetic novel, brimming with tenderness, joy and loss. Pim Wangtechawat strikes a perfect balance between vulnerability, fallibility and warmth.

THE MOON REPRESENTS MY HEART
by Pim Wangtechawat
Oneworld UK, Spring 2023
(via Mushens Entertainment)

Father: Joshua understands the strict rules of time travel: only observe, things cannot be changed. But things are changing quickly for him. When the opportunity of a lifetime comes to attend university in London and leave the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong behind, he finds the courage to take it. From there, he feels it: this is where life begins. Stepping on that plane is the first decision that will have ramifications for generations to come.
Son: When Tommy’s parents travel to the past and never reappear, it feels as though time has stopped. But as it slowly restarts and everyone else moves forward, Tommy looks to the past. Struggling with the loss of his father, Tommy falls in love with a girl from the 1930s. Although his gifts allow him to walk through time, Tommy’s inability to confront his own history in the face of tragedy begins to affect his present, and has severe ramifications for the people who can truly bring him happiness.

Pim Wangtechawat is a Thai-Chinese writer from Bangkok with a Masters in Creative Writing from Edinburgh Napier University. Her short stories, poems, and articles have been published in various magazines and journals such as The Mekong Review, The Nikkei Asian Review, and YesPoetry. She has performed her poetry at events in Edinburgh hosted by Shoreline of Infinity and the Scottish BAME Writers Network, and has given talks about her writing at Chulalongkorn University and Ruamrudee International School. She is currently working on her second book and aims to tell stories that reflect our shared humanity and bring more Asian writers to the forefront. THE MOON REPRESENTS MY HEART is inspired by the author’s family. She would like to note that her family are not time travellers, even though she wishes they were.

THE HONEYMOON de Kate Gray

When Erin and Sophia meet on the last night of their honeymoons in Bali, neither could predict that the night will end in tragedy.

THE HONEYMOON
by Kate Gray
‎ Welbeck UK, July 2023
(via Mushens Entertainment)

Erin is married to handsome and thoughtful Jamie, who sells elaborate security systems: he represents safety to a woman who hasn’t always had that stability in her life. Sophia was an ambitious and successful investigative journalist until a scoop went horribly wrong – leaving her working an entry-level role in local news. Her honeymoon with supportive Mark is a chance to escape and hatch a plan for redemption. When the two women meet at the hotel pool, they spontaneously decide to go on a double date to celebrate their last night. But when a stranger spills a drink over Erin the evening ends abruptly. Hours later he is discovered dead. But it was an accident… right? Back home, and when Erin struggles to answer Sophia’s questions, it becomes clear that there’s another side to this story. Many marriages can survive anything – but when it starts on a lie is it really ’til death do us part?

Kate Gray is a psychological thriller author. She has also written commercial women’s fiction as Katy Colins, her previous six novels have been translated into several languages and been published internationally. Kate Gray has a degree in Journalism and has previously worked in public relations. She lives in Warwickshire, England and juggles her love of writing around her two young children.