Archives de catégorie : Fiction

DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL de Matt Dinniman

The apocalypse will be televised! They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it’s anything but a game. This series is modern day Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets Ready Player One meets Hunger Games (with a dash of The Running Man to boot!)

DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL (Book 1)
by Matt Dinniman
Independently published, September 2020
(via The Gernert Company)

A man. His ex-girlfriend’s cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible.
In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth—from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds—collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground. The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe. Only a few dare venture inside. But once you’re in, you can’t get out. And what’s worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it’s game over.
In this game, it’s not about your strength or your dexterity. It’s about your followers, your views. Your clout. It’s about building an audience and killing those goblins with style. You can’t just survive here. You gotta survive big. You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that « it » factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That’s the only way to truly survive in this game—with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy.

Book 5 in the series was published in February 2022.

Matt Dinniman is a writer and artist from Gig Harbor, Washington. He is the author of the bestselling Dungeon Crawler Carl series along with ten other novels and dozens of works of short fiction. He lives with his wife, family, and menagerie of animals.

TOO EARLY de Nora Ericson & Elly MacKay

A gentle, cozy story following a family’s bleary-eyed wake-up routine, a little one who’s eager to start the day, and the quiet magic of early mornings.

TOO EARLY
written by Nora Ericson
illustrated by Elly MacKay
Arams Books for Young Readers, November 2022

I wake up very early.
Good morning, Sun, on your way at last. You don’t wake up nearly as early as I do.
Now the wind is waking.
Tickle tickle on my cheeks,
rustle rustle through the leaves.
Birds untuck and start to coo,
Whooo whooo, you wake up too early, yes you doooo . . .

In sweet, melodic verse written from the perspective of the earliest riser, TOO EARLY follows a family’s morning routine, exploring both the groggy haze and the everyday magic inherent in the predawn hours of a loving household.

“This winning title invites readers into the morning routine of its characters. Readers may notice warm colors beginning to hint at the culminating sunrise that will conclude the book; before that, however, the quiet yet potent text engages other senses by describing rustling leaves, cooing birds, and, finally, the baby crying. Cozy, sumptuous, and stirring—the perfect way to greet the dawn.”
– Kirkus, starred review ★

Nora Ericson studied painting at Yale University and writing for children at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Originally from central New York, she now lives in Portland, Oregon, with two kids, two dogs, and two cats. Besides reading and writing, she loves cooking, tromping in the woods, and whittling spoons while daydreaming of her future miniature donkey farm. She’s also the author of Dill & Bizzy: An Odd Duck and a Strange Bird and Dill & Bizzy: Opposite Day. 
Elly MacKay is an internationally recognized paper artist and children’s book author and illustrator. She wrote and illustrated the picture books Red Sky at Night, If You Hold a Seed, and Butterfly Park, among others. The distinctive three-dimensional quality in her works is made by setting up layers of painted paper in a miniature theater. She lights the scene and photographs it to create her unique illustrations. MacKay lives in Owen Sound, Ontario, with her family.

OUT OF BREATH d’Anna Snoekstra

A compulsive, nail-bitingly tense psychological thriller that takes its readers deep into the heart of a seemingly idyllic intentional community – that proves to be anything but…For readers of Anna Downes’ The Safe Place and Sarah Bailey’s The Housemate.

OUT OF BREATH
by Anna Snoekstra
HarperCollins Australia, July 2022
(via Levine Greenberg Rostan)

Jo Ainsley has been running for a long time. From her childhood in small town England to art school in London to the messy end of a relationship in Sydney, Jo has chosen to run again and again, each time moving further from where her troubles began.
This time, her escape will bring her to the remote northwest region of Western Australia, where she must work for 88 days on a farm in order to extend her visa. There she meets an American, Gabe, with whom she has an immediate connection. He tells her of an idyllic off-grid community which seems like a refuge to her. Miserable, desperate and traumatised by a brutal event at the farm, Jo decides to run.
But the paradisal free-diving haven that embraces her without judgement is not all it seems. It harbours some sinister secrets – and so does Gabe. Jo searches for answers, but is she prepared for what she uncovers? She must decide where her loyalties lie and if she is really ready to confront the darkness of her past…

“OUT OF BREATH is a dream of a novel: intelligent, captivating, deeply-felt and thrilling, with a setting to lose yourself in. I both tore through the pages, desperate to find out what happens, and languished in the story, never wanting it to end. Wonderful.” – Anna Downes, author of The Safe Place

“OUT OF BREATH is impossible to put down. Electrifying, atmospheric and thrilling with characters that will stay with you. It raises so many questions about belonging, the nature of trauma and the power of community to both heal and destroy.” – Eliza Henry-Jones, author of Ache

Anna Snoekstra is the author of Only Daughter, Little Secrets and The Spite Game. Her novels have been published in over twenty countries and sixteen languages. She has written for The Guardian, Meanjin, Griffith Review, Lindsay,LitHub and The Saturday Paper. Her first audio drama, This Isn’t Happening, is out with Audible in late 2022.

BUNNICULA, THE GRAPHIC NOVEL by James Howe, Andrew Donkin, & Stephen Gilpin

Celebrate over forty years of the modern classic BUNNICULA with this fang-tastic graphic novelization that will send a shiver down your spine and leave you howling with laughter!

BUNNICULA, THE GRAPHIC NOVEL
written by James Howe & Andrew Donkin
illustrated by Stephen Gilpin
Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, August 2022
(via Writers House)

Beware the hare! Harold the dog and Chester the cat must find out the truth about the newest pet in the Monroe household—a suspicious-looking bunny with unusual habits…and fangs! Could this innocent-seeming rabbit actually be a vampire? Experience the chills and thrills of this classic tale in an all-new graphic novel format!

James Howe is the author of more than ninety books for young readers. Bunnicula, coauthored by his late wife Deborah and published in 1979, is considered a modern classic of children’s literature. The author has written six highly popular sequels, along with the spinoff series Tales from the House of Bunnicula and Bunnicula and Friends. Among his other books are picture books such as Horace and Morris but Mostly Dolores and beginning reader series that include the Pinky and Rex and Houndsley and Catina books. He has also written for older readers. The Misfits, published in 2001, inspired the nationwide antibullying initiative No Name-Calling Week, as well as three sequels. A common theme in James Howe’s books from preschool through teens is the acceptance of difference and being true to oneself.
Andrew Donkin is a writer and graphic novelist. He was described by The Times (London) as “the graphic novel supremo,” which is what he’ll have on his tombstone in the unlikely event he ever dies. Andrew has written more than seventy books that sold more than nine million copies, including children’s books, graphic novels, and even the odd book for grown-ups. He is a longtime collaborator with Eoin Colfer. The pair recently coauthored the award-winning graphic novel, Illegal. Andrew lives near the river Thames in London with his partner, their two children, and no vampire bunny rabbits.
Stephen Gilpin graduated from the NYC School of Visual Arts where he studied painting and cartooning. He is the illustrator of the Who Shrunk Daniel Funk series and The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy series. Stephen currently lives in Hiawatha, Kansas.

LAVENDER HOUSE de Lev AC Rosen

A delicious story from a new voice in suspense, Lev AC Rosen’s LAVENDER HOUSE is Knives Out with a queer historical twist.

LAVENDER HOUSE
by Lev AC Rosen
Forge Books,October 2022
(via the David Black Literary Agency)

Lavender House, 1952: the family seat of recently deceased matriarch Irene Lamontaine, head of the famous Lamontaine soap empire. Irene’s recipes for her signature scents are a well guarded secret―but it’s not the only one behind these gates. This estate offers a unique freedom, where none of the residents or staff hide who they are. But to keep their secret, they’ve needed to keep others out. And now they’re worried they’re keeping a murderer in. Irene’s widow hires Evander Mills to uncover the truth behind her mysterious death. Andy, recently fired from the San Francisco police after being caught in a raid on a gay bar, is happy to accept―his calendar is wide open. And his secret is the kind of secret the Lamontaines understand.
Andy had never imagined a world like Lavender House. He’s seduced by the safety and freedom found behind its gates, where a queer family lives honestly and openly. But that honesty doesn’t extend to everything, and he quickly finds himself a pawn in a family game of old money, subterfuge, and jealousy―and Irene’s death is only the beginning.
When your existence is a crime, everything you do is criminal, and the gates of Lavender House can’t lock out the real world forever. Running a soap empire can be a dirty business.

« Lev AC Rosen’s lushly rendered mystery sets the detective novel on its head. There’s the dishonored policeman sitting on a barstool in 1950’s San Francisco and the elegant woman who slides in next to him with a job. But this femme’s wife has been murdered, and the day-drinking cop has been brutally ousted from his job for being gay. Rosen’s smart, bittersweet tale plays with the oldest truth of all: the price we pay for our identity in America. » ―Walter Mosley

« LAVENDER HOUSE is a fabulous, genre-bending mystery-noir, told with wit, panache and style. Lev Rosen is one of a kind and just gets better and better―his eye for characters is both acerbic and compassionate, and his story-telling is top notch. » ―Dan Chaon, author of Sleepwalk

« Rosen’s deeply compelling and suspenseful historical mystery pulls readers into the 1950s with Detective Evander « Andy » Mills, who was just tossed off the force for being gay and is feeling just unmoored enough to pick up a gig investigating a maybe murder…. The mystery itself borders on cozy, and wrapping it in an exploration of WWII-adjacent queer life makes for the perfect autumn page-turner. » ―BuzzFeed

Lev AC Rosen writes books for people of all ages, including Camp, which was a best book of the year from Forbes, Elle, and The Today Show, among others, and is a Lambda finalist and ALA Rainbow List Top Ten. He lives in NYC with his husband and a very small cat.