Archives de catégorie : London 2024 Fiction

CASUALTIES OF TRUTH de Lauren Francis-Sharma

From the author of Book of the Little Axe, nominated for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, comes a riveting literary novel with the sharp edges of a thriller that explores the abuses of history and the costs of revenge.

CASUALTIES OF TRUTH
by Lauren Francis-Sharma
Atlantic Monthly Press, February 2025

Lauren Francis-Sharma’s two previous novels have established her as a deft chronicler of history and its intersections with flawed humans struggling toward justice. Her latest is a gripping novel set between Washington, DC and Johannesburg, South Africa that asks if we are ever truly able to escape our past and how to right an unquestionable wrong.

Prudence Wright seems to have it all: a loving husband, Davis; a spacious home in Washington, DC; and the past glories of a successful career at McKinsey, which now enables her to stay home and dedicate her days to her autistic son. When she and Davis head out for dinner with one of Davis’s new colleagues on a stormy summer evening, Prudence has little reason to think that certain details of her past might arise sometime between cocktails and the appetizer course. Yet when Davis’s new colleague turns out to be an old acquaintance, Matshediso, Prudence recalls the traumatic events of her childhood growing up in Baltimore and the formative time she spent in South Africa in 1996. There, she attended the Truth and Reconciliation hearings, which uncovered the many horrors and human rights abuses of the Apartheid state. These hearings fundamentally shaped her sense of righteousness and justice, and when Mat reveals the real reason for his reappearance, Prudence’s values will be put to a more difficult test than she has ever faced before.

Lauren Francis-Sharma, a child of Trinidadian immigrants has written about the Caribbean in both her novels. “‘Til the Well Runs Dry” loosely recounts the story of her grandmother’s mid-20th century journey to the United States, with feature articles in both the Washington Post in July 2014 and The Baltimore Sun in March 2015. Her latest, “Book of the Little Axe,” takes place in the late 18th century to the early 19th century, from the changing colonial rule on the island of Trinidad to the rugged terrain of Bighorn Mountain in western North America.

RITES OF POSSESSION SERIES d’Eva Chase

A romantasy series full of forbidden magic, impossible love, hot damaged men, and a sorceress in disguise who must expose a dangerous conspiracy brewing at the royal college.

RITES OF POSSESSION SERIES
by Eva Chase
Ink Spark Press, 2023 – 2024
(via JABberwocky Literary Agency)

THIEF OF SILVER AND SOULS (Book 1 – September 2023)

What if it takes a monster to save a kingdom?

I’ll never forget the sight of my little sister’s lifeless body—or that my rogue magic killed her.

Sorcery like mine is punishable by death. So I live in the shadows, stealing from the corrupt to give to the needy. Maybe a little good can wash the blood from my hands.

It seems like a decent plan… until I try to help a dying noblewoman and somehow steal her soul instead.

Now her ghost is demanding I take up the quest that got her killed: exposing a conspiracy at the royal college to unleash a deadly power on the entire kingdom.

Do I want to infiltrate the cutthroat world of haughty elites? Gods, no. But if I can save the kingdom, I could save my own soul too.

So I’ll pose as a refined lady, attending their classes and fancy balls, sneaking and spying like I learned on the streets. But I can’t tackle this threat alone. I’ll need to win the trust of the dead woman’s allies: four arrogant noblemen.

Four damaged yet dangerously enticing men. No matter what they stir in my heart, I can’t afford to let them get too close.

Because if they discover the monstrous things I’m capable of, saving my soul will be the least of my worries…

GAME OF DEATH AND DESIRE (Book 2 – December 2023)

To prove I’m not a monster, I have to play a monstrous game.

The men I’m falling for have discovered my horrific secret. Only the intervention of a god has saved me and my forbidden magic from the gallows… for now.

We’ve barely scraped the surface of the brutal conspiracy lurking at the royal college, and the threat looms ever larger. To get to the root of the evil and destroy it, we’ll have to infiltrate it at its source.

And I’m the only viable new recruit.

So I’ll play a dangerous game, courting the favor of cold-blooded murderers while dallying with noblemen who don’t know whether to revile or desire me.

But the deeper I’m drawn into the darkness, the more I wonder if there’s any way for me to truly win…

SECRETS OF GRAVES AND GOLD (Book 3 – March 2024)

Will my magic save the realm… or drive me into madness?

In the wake of an uprising of illicit sorcery, my men and I find ourselves on the run—determined to clear our names by protecting the kingdom.

But to face off against the psychopaths who want to remake our country into a realm of chaos and brutality, I’ll need to tap into my wild magic. And the god who’s watched over me expects me to stand on my own now.

If I can’t overcome the odds against us, the lives of the men I love are forfeit. But how far can I go without becoming what I’ve feared most?

LADY OF DOOM AND DEVOTION (Book 4 – Fall 2024)

We can’t let the wild win.

Despite everything I’ve done, my kingdom is falling apart. To overturn the murderous sorcerers determined to remake the realm into something wild and cruel, we must rely an unexpected heir to the throne.

But the first fault lines started dividing our country centuries ago. We can’t reach toward the past for absolution.

The men I love and the allies we’ve gathered will have to build a new future. And I’d sacrifice anything to know I’ve finally set things right… even my hard-won happiness.

It’s time to find out whether I’m worthy of staying in this world I’ve fought so desperately to save.

Eva Chase is an Amazon top 100 bestselling author of urban fantasy and paranormal romance. She grew up on a steady diet of magic, mayhem, and romantic angst, and brings plenty of all three to her stories. But no need to fear the dreaded love triangle—Eva’s heroines never have to choose.

ROGUE SEQUENCE de Zac Topping

Perfect for fans of Tom Clancy and Nicholas Irving’s Reaper books, ROGUE SEQUENCE is pulse-pounding technothriller about an imprisoned soldier who has a chance at freedom but the price to pay is greater than he could have ever imagined.

ROGUE SEQUENCE
by Zac Topping
Forge, June 2024
(via JABberwocky Literary Agency)

It’s 2091 and independent contract companies around the world are producing genetically modified soldiers…to be sold to the highest bidders.

Ander Rade is a super-soldier, a genetically engineered living weapon, and has been dutifully following orders since he gave himself to Xyphos Industries’ Gene-Mod Program several years ago. But when a mission goes sideways, he’s captured, imprisoned, and forced into brutally violent fighting pits for the better part of the next decade…until agents from the Genetic Compliance Department of the United American Provinces appear in the visiting room.

Things have changed since Rade was captured. Shortly after his incarceration, the World Unity Council banned human genetic engineering and deemed all modified individuals a threat to society. Overnight, an entire subculture of people became outlaws simply for existing. But instead of leaving Rade locked behind bars, the GCD agents have come with an offer: Freedom in exchange for his help tracking down one of his former teammates from that ill-fated mission all those years ago.

It’s an offer Rade can’t refuse, but he soon realizes that the situation is far more volatile than anyone had anticipated, and is forced to take matters into his own hands as he tries to figure out whose side he’s really on, and why?

Zac Topping grew up in Eastern Connecticut and discovered a passion for writing early in life. He is a veteran of the United States Army and has served two tours in Iraq, and is the author of the critically acclaimed novel, Wake of War. He lives with his wife and dog in a quiet farm town and currently works as a career firefighter.

THE KNIGHTS OF BRETON COURT de Maurice Broaddus

The Wire meets Excalibur in this urban fantasy reimagining of Arthur and Camelot, in which gang leader King gathers his brethren and attempts to end the cycle of greed, desperation, and honor in their crime ridden neighborhood.

THE KNIGHTS OF BRETON COURT
by Maurice Broaddus
JAB Books, January 2024
(via JABberwocky Literary Agency)

KING MAKER (Book 1)

The King Arthur myth gets dramatically retold through the eyes of street hustler King, as he tries to unite the crack dealers, gangbangers and the monsters lurking within them to do the right thing. From the drug gangs of downtown Indianapolis, the one true king will arise. Broaddus’ debut is a stunning, edgy work, genuinely unlike anything you’ve ever read.

KING’S JUSTICE (Book 2)

Spurred on by ever more urgent visions by his mystic advisor, Merle, King attempts to unite the warring gangs. But the knights of Breton Court are assailed on all sides by greed, temptation and some very real monsters. But worse, there is betrayal from within King s innermost circle.

KING’S WAR (Book 3)

From the street gangs of downtown Indianapolis, the one true king will arise. King has been betrayed, but he has no time to lick his wounds – he has to draw his people together to fight the ultimate foe in this conclusion to the stunning THE KNIGHTS OF BRETON COURT trilogy.

Available as three volumes or in omnibus format.

An accidental teacher, an accidental librarian, and a purposeful community organizer, Maurice Broaddus’ work has appeared in Magazine of SF&F, Lightspeed Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Asimov’s, and Uncanny Magazine, with some of his stories having been collected in The Voices of Martyrs. His novels include the urban fantasy trilogy, THE KNIGHTS OF BRETON COURT, the steampunk novel, Pimp My Airship, and the middle grade detective novel series, The Usual Suspects. As an editor, he’s worked on Dark Faith, Fireside Magazine, and Apex Magazine. His gaming work includes writing for the Marvel Super-Heroes, Leverage, and Firefly role-playing games as well as working as a consultant on Watch Dogs 2.

WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYARD GIRLS de Grady Hendrix

In the vein of Rosemary’s Baby, Grady Hendrix’s next highly-anticipated horror novel takes place in the 1970s at a home for unwed mothers, exploring motherhood and women’s autonomy.

WITCHCRAFT FOR WAYARD GIRLS
by Grady Hendrix
Ace, TBD
(via JABberwocky Literary Agency)

Set in 1970, at a home for unwed mothers in Florida, this book follows five pregnant teenage girls as they wait out the last three months of their pregnancy in seclusion, hoping to have their babies, surrender them for adoption, and return to their regular lives. They must be hidden away from the public, their communications are monitored, and they’re not even allowed to share their real names with each other.

Each girl has a betrayal in her recent past that brought her here, whether it’s being ditched by her married lover, parents breaking up her planned marriage to a boyfriend they think is inappropriate, or rape. Then there’s Holly, barely 13 years old and enormously pregnant, who doesn’t speak at all. In the pressure cooker of the home, the girls begin to believe that the house is haunted, and they soon realize that most of the supernatural activity revolves around Holly. One by one they reach their due dates and come back from the hospital traumatized, prompting the remaining girls to vow that they won’t give up their babies, which sets them against the women who run the home and who are determined to get them to surrender their babies.

As the war between the girls and their social workers intensifies, it becomes very clear that the house isn’t haunted, Holly is. The father of her baby may not be human, and soon the house’s worst nightmare is going to come true as he shows up to cause a kind of trouble few people have seen and survived.

Grady Hendrix is the author of the novels Horrorstör, about a haunted IKEA, and My Best Friend’s Exorcism, which is like Beaches meets The Exorcist, only it’s set in the Eighties. He’s also the author of We Sold Our Souls, and The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.

He’s also the jerk behind the Stoker award-winning Paperbacks from Hell, a history of the 70’s and 80’s horror paperback boom, which contains more information about Nazi leprechauns, killer babies, and evil cats than you probably need.