Escapist Newsletter (Vol 4 Issue 6)

Is this a new cover for the eleventh Women of the Otherworld novel by Kelley Armstrong?  I remember seeing one of Savannah riding a motorcycle or standing in front of it, but I don’t remember this sassy witch hiding the motorcycle from view.  Waking the Witch releases July and you can read the first three chapters here.

News from LE

I am now linking to the Book Depository who has free international shipping and some killer deals (Bullet isn’t even out yet and they have it for 49% off).  Hopefully this will make it easier for anyone looking to get a book at a great price, regardless of where you’re located, and maybe help support LE at the same time.  One caveat, if I can’t find a Book Depository link, there’ll be a link to Amazon, so there’ll always be a place to find what you’re looking for.

Current contests:

  1. Two copies of Cheat the Grave (signed) and City of Souls to four different readers! Contest ends tonight!
  2. A copy of Moon Sworn by Keri Arthur. Contest ends June 3rd.
  3. The Baby pool – one $15 gift certificate is up for grabs. Contest ends August 26th.  (The naming portion of the contest has concluded…winner was announced on Sunday.)

The New Authors Mini-Challenge for June has been announced.  This time, I want to focus more on those first novels – the débutantes, the virgins, the first-timers.  Those novels by authors who are just starting out in the publishing world, have branched out into a new genre or have taken the plunge into a new world/series.  The theme for June is very widespread and non-genre specific, so anything can go – as long as it’s the authors’ first.  Sound interesting, then let’s get you signed up!

New Releases

June 1st
Assassin’s Honor by Monica Burns
Forgive My Fins by Tara Lynn Childs
The Hollow Crown by Diana Francis Pharoah (Crosspointe Chronicles #4)
Bullet by Laurell K Hamilton (Anita Blake #19)
Angel Slayer by Michele Hauf
Carrie Pilby by Karen Lissner
The Stars Below by Marjorie Liu (Dirk & Steele)
Demon Hunts by CE Murphy (Walker Papers #5)
Sisters Red by Pearch Jackson
Forged of Shadows by Jessa Slade (Marked Souls #2)
The Office of Shadow by Matthew Sturges
Dreamveil by Lynn Viehl (Kyndred #2)
My Soul to Keep by Rachel Vincent (Soul Screamers #3)
Revenant by Phaedra Weldon (Zoe Martinique #4)

June 3rd
Lightborn by Tricia Sullivan

June 6th
Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

June 8th
Blood Song by Cat Adams (Blood Singer #1)
Android Karenina by Ben H. Winters

June 10th
The Evil Within by Nancy Holder (Possessions #2)

June 14th
Naamah’s Curse by Jacqueline Carey

June 15th
Wings of Fire – an anthology featuring Holly Black, Orson Scott Card, George R. R. Martin, Anne McCaffrey and more

June 22nd
Dracula’s Guest: A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories – an anthology
Carnal Sin by Allison Brennan
Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich (Stephenie Plum #16)
Paul is Undead by Alan Goldsher
Blood Feud by Alyxander Harvey
Unholy Magic by Stacia Kane (Downside Ghosts #2)
Shades of Gray by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge (The Icarus Project #2)
Dark Flame by Alyson Noel
Shadows’s Son by John Sprunk

June 24th
Jealousy by Lili St. Crow (Strange Angels #3)

June 29th
A Taste of True Blood: The Fangbanger’s Guide – an anthology
Keys to the Repository by Melissa de la Cruz
Pray for Dawn by Jocelynn Drake (Dark Days #4)
I’ll be Slaying You by Cynthia Eden
Wolf’s Bluff by WD Gagliani
Night Myst by Yasmine Galenorn (Indigo Court #1)
Red Hot Fury by Kasey MacKenzie
Kraken by China Mieville
Black Dust Mambo by Adrian Phoenix
The Darkest Lie by Gena Showalter
Kitty Goes to War by Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Norville #8)

Here are a few other places with their own June releases: All Things Urban Fantasy, Wicked Little Pixie,

New Release Dates:
I just posted a slew of new release dates on May 18th, so here is what has been added since then:

From the Author Sites

Check out the shiny new cover Shiloh Walker has for Never As it Seems, due out at the end of June by Ellora’s Cave.

Keri Arthur had some terrible news to report – the release dates for Mercy Burns and Risa’s first novel were pushed back 5 months!  Mercy Burns will now be out May 2011 and Risa will be out in August 2011.  That’s so far away!  On the positive side, Keri said we’ll be seeing the cover for Mercy Burns soon.

Lilith Saintcrow and Devon Monk are having a good ole fashion smackdown.  They are trying to see who can sell all of their 15 signed copies of Flesh Circus and Magic on the Storm first or who sells the most books by June 6th.  The winner will be posting a new excerpt from one of their non-released novels on the losers blogs.

Dakota Cassidy has herself a new Facebook page and wants to make sure everyone knows they can stop on by at any time.

Have you heard about the Supernatural Underground?  It’s a fabulous new collaborative site involving quite a few urban fantasy/paranormal romance authors from HarperCollins and they are kicking it off with a huge event in June.

Marjorie Liu has posted that the title to the tenth Dirk & Steele novel, The Stars Below, has been renamed to In the Dark of Dreams.

Charlaine Harris’ website had some interesting news.  Her Harper Connelly series is going to be featured in a new comic series by Dynamite Entertainment.

Acclaimed author Charlaine Harris, the writer of the Sookie Stackhouse series, is joining the Dynamite Entertainment family in 2010! W e are proud to announce that the first book of her hit Harper Connelly series, Grave Sight, will be adapted by Dynamite Entertainment in 2010!

Meljean Brook has an updated cover for her first steampunk novel, The Iron Duke.  Now she does say there will be one small addition to the background, that of an airship, but this is it.  The Iron Duke releases October 5, 2010.

While browsing around Eileen Wilk’s website, I noticed the title for the seventh World of the Lupi novel.  We’ll have Blood Challenge in January 2011.  The latest novel, Blood Magic, was released earlier this year.

Jeaniene Frost has posted a release date for the fifth Cat and Bones novel.  We have to wait until February 22, 2011 to get our hands on the yet unnamed book.  *sigh*  At least we’ll have Eternal Kiss of Darkness out in July.

Karen Chance has The Queen’s Witch and The Day of the Dead, both Cassie Palmer world novels, available for free.

Oohhh….I love Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series and guess who will be getting their book after Play of Passion comes out in November.  Hawke!  That’s right, Nalini has on her website that Hawke will be the next changeling to find his mate.  Any ideas on who it could be?  I have a feeling, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Gerry Bartlett has posted the title to the sixth Glory St. Clair novel (although I’m not sure how new this is).  We’ll have Real Vampires Have More to Love in December.

New Excerpts or Reading for Free

Marjorie Liu has posted an excerpt for her upcoming novel, A Wild Light.

Chloe Neill has posted a new teaser for her upcoming Chicagoland Vampires novel, Twice Bitten.

Rachel Caine has the first two chapters posted for Ghost Town, due out in October 2010.

Ilona Andrews has posted an excerpt for Kate Daniels #5.

Lauren Dane has posted an excerpt for her upcoming novel, Insatiable, the third Federation/first Phantom Corps novel.

Keri Arthur has posted an excerpt for the last Riley Jenson novel, Moon Sworn.

Kalayna Price has posted an excerpt from her upcoming new UF novel, Grave Witch, which will be released October 5th.

We’re starting to see more of the Burning Up anthology.  Nalini Sin has added an excerpt for her contribution, Whisper of Sin. Featuring Angela Knight, Nalini Singh, Virginia Kantra, and Meljean Brook, Burning Up will be released August 3rd.

Ann Aguirre has posted an excerpt for the fourth Sirantha Jax novel, Killbox.

Random House has posted the first chapter to Kelly Meding’s second Dreg City novel, As Lie the Dead, which releases July 27th.

Yasmine Galenorn has been posting excerpts from her upcoming novel, Night Myst, and she’s already posted Chapter 1 and has Chapter 2 coming in at least three parts: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Harper Collins has Chapters 1 and 2 up for Kim Harrison’s Early to Death, Early to Rise, the second Avery Madison novel.

Amazon and Harper Collins are offering Vicki Pettersson’s The Scent of Shadows as a free Kindle download.  I’m not sure how long this will last, so if you want to snag a copy, I would do it now.

Joey W. Hill has posted the fourth part to her Vampire Queen vignette featuring Mason and Jessica.  If you haven’t seen it yet, here are the first, second and third parts to the story.

Ilona Andrews has posted a snippet from their upcoming Edge novel, Bayou Moon, which will be released on September 28th.

Tor.com has posted excerpts for The Mad God’s Amulet by Michael Moorcock (Chapter 1) and He Walked Among Us by Norman Spinrad (a portion of Chapter 1).

Gordon Andrews has posted a new snippet from Magic Bleeds and this one is from Curran’s POV, while Ilona has a great snippet up from Kate 5.

What Bears Repeating

Ilona Andrews has received an interesting review for Magic Bleeds and it inspires an interesting Twitter conversation between Kate, Curran and Jim.  Seriously, go read it…it’s a riot!

Lauren Dane has posted the blurb for Revelation, the next de la Vega Cats novel.

Larissa Ione isn’t finished with our favorite bad boys from the Demonica series and will be posting free online stories featuring each of the brothers.  The first, Demonica: Overkill, is currently up and features Wraith and Serena.  Larissa has more fabulous news regarding a new Demonica spinoff series titled Lords of Deliverance.  This new series will feature the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and begins with Ares’ (War) story in Eternal Rider and will be out March 2011.  The question does come to mind on whether this new series will end at four books (since there’s four horsemen) or if it will go on, but we’ll have to see.

Jennifer Estep has announced the title to the fourth Elemental Assassin novel.  The first three – Spider’s Bite, Web of Lies and Venom – will be followed by Tangled Threads.  Don’t expect it too soon though. The publish date isn’t until May 2011.  Jennifer has also posted a rough blurb.

Jackie Kessler has begun the serialization of the fourth Hell on Earth novel, Hell to Pay.  Starting on May 18th, Jackie will be posting a chapter a week and I’ve heard there’s around 33 chapters – so it’ll go on for awhile.  For those who are not so crazy about serials, Jackie has mentioned that she has thoughts on offering the whole shebang after the final installment, but in what format hasn’t been decided yet.

Nalini Singh has announced the title to the third Guild Hunters novel.  We’ll be having Archangel’s Consort sometime in 2011.

Kelly Gay has introduced her alter-ego via Facebook.  Kelly Keaton will be debuting on February 22, 2011 with her novel, Darkness Becomes Her, the first novel in the new Gods & Monsters series.  There will be a second novel that will follow in 2012 and we can only hope there’ll be a third as well.  Here’s what Kelly has to say about Darkness Becomes Her:

Darkness Becomes Her, (Gods & Monsters, Book 1), in which a hardened teen on the run searches for the truth about her monstrous heritage with a group of misfit kids in a post-apocalyptic New Orleans, a city state now run by the creatures of the night.

Did you see the cover Karen Marie Moning posted for Shadowfever (December 7, 2010)?  I posted it the other day, which means I’m not going to do it again, but was it not fabulous? Karen also talked about how they came up with the concept, plus a blurb has been posted

Featured Book

I really do love browsing publisher catalogs. I never know what I’ll find. For instance, Robyn Bachar’s Blood, Smoke and Mirrors. What can I say, I’m a cover whore and a great cover will catch my attention every time.  That’s how I stumbled upon Blood, Smoke and Mirrors; isn’t the cover fascinating?  I am definitely digging it and the blurb sounds interesting too.

Even a bad witch deserves a second chance.
Wrongly accused of using her magic to harm, the closest Catherine Baker comes to helping others is serving their coffee. Life as an outcast is nothing new, thanks to her father’s reputation, but the injustice stings. Especially since the man she loved turned her in.

Now the man has the gall to show up and suggest she become the next Titania? She’d rather wipe that charming grin off his face with a pot of hot java to the groin.

Alexander Duquesne has never faltered in his duties as a guardian—until now. The lingering guilt over Cat’s exile and the recent death of his best friend have shaken his dedication. With the murder of the old Titania, the faerie realm teeters on the brink of chaos. His new orders: keep Cat alive at all costs.

Hunted by a powerful stranger intent on drawing her into an evil web, Cat reluctantly accepts Lex’s protection and the resurrected desire that comes along with it. Lex faces the fight of his life to keep her safe…and win her back. If they both survive.

This Month’s Reviews

Gift of the Unmage by Alma Alexander
Kat by Kelley Armstrong
In the Darkest Night by Patti O’Shea
The Thirteenth Step by Libby Bray
Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
All Hallows by Rachel Caine
Wet Teeth by Cecil Castellucci
Other Boys by Cassandra Clare
Dead Girls Are Easy by Terri Garey
Poison Study by Maria Snyder
Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews
Cheat the Grave by Vicki Pettersson
Into the Dark by Gena Showalter
Dawnbreaker by Jocelynn Drake
The Nymphos of Rocky Flats by Mario Acevedo
Web of Lies by Jennifer Estep
The Wish List by Gabi Stevens
Ill Wind by Rachel Caine
and Falling, Fly by Skylar White
A Darkness Forged in Fire by Chris Evans
Song of Seduction by Carrie Lofty
Moon Sworn by Keri Arthur
Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews
The Witches of Dixie by Laura Stamps

From the Reader

io9 has reported that Kelly Meding has sold Warden’s Trance to Pocket Books in a two-book deal. Check out the premise:

The first book in a new series in which adult children of the world’s slaughtered heroes suddenly regain their lost superpowers after a mysterious, ten-year absence, only to face a fearful public, a leery government, and the villain responsible for the deaths of their parents.

The latest addition to Fifty-Two Stories has been posted – The Lakes of Florida by Charlie Smith.

Subterranean Press has found a few boxes of lost titles in their warehouse and have them up for sale.  Their list includes a lot of out of print titles, so make sure you head over and check it out if you missed out on a few.  Two fabulous examples would be The Women of Nell Gwynne’s by Kage Baker and A Fantasy Medley edited by Yanni Kuznia.

Bitten by Books has a new poll up and this time they are wondering if you would read a paranormal book whose main character was an addict.

Suburban Vampire found a new trailer for the upcoming film, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead.

New Interviews

For the full listing of this month’s interviews, click here.

Contests

Fiction Vixen is giving away a copy of Keri Arthur’s Moon Sworn. Contest ends June 4th. Sorry – US residents only

Ilona Andrews is giving away a few copies of David Williams’ Mirrored Heavens.  Contest ends June 4th.

Vampire Wire is giving away a copy of Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty’s House of Horrors.  Contest ends June 5th.

Book Lovers Inc is giving away the entire Casa Dracula series by Marta Acosta.  Contest ends June 24th.

The Book Pushers are giving away three copies of Ilona Andrews’ Magic Bleeds.  Contest ends June 4th.

Vampire Wire is giving away a copy of Shana Abe’s The Treasure Keeper.  Contest ends June 9th.

All Things Urban Fantasy has another fabulous list of ongoing contests right – a total of 128.

Vampire Wire is giving away a copy of Keri Arthur’s Moon Sworn.  Contest ends June 6th.

Dakota Cassidy is giving away a copy of her My Way to Hell.  Contest ends June 6th.

All Things Urban Fantasy is giving away a copy of Keri Arthur’s Moon Sworn.  Contest ends June 4th.

Moira Rogers is giving away a Kindle plus some a gift card. Contest ends

Cover Extravaganza

This month, there were 59 different covers revealed, so needless to say, I’m not posting them all here. Sorry guys, but I did save them all over at the Facebook Fan page. So if you want to see all of them, head over here; however, that doesn’t mean I won’t paste some of them here.

One thing I should mention, in case some think this is not the case, there is no way in hell I could ever find all of these covers on my own.  I stumble upon a lot of them, but I will say these ladies are amazing with undercovering some fabulous covers: All Things Urban Fantasy, Dark Faerie Tales and Tez Says.

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

4 Comments

  1. Just wow. Awesome newsletter. Fantastic for me because I seem to be constantly behind on new releases–except Andrews, Briggs and Shearin–I keep up with those :) Thank you

  2. my goodness, you have been busy. I have a new respect for you . Compiling all this info with a toddler at home? Who knew it could be done!

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