I’m cheerleading for debut authors again today, because the past year has been an awfully hard time to hit the shelves for the first time. Last week, I focused on adult fantasy debuts – today I’m taking a look at YA and cross-over fantasy debuts since last year’s Wyrd And Wonder.
debut
It’s been a tricky year to release a new book. Few signings, no cons, libraries and bookshops closed half the time so fewer opportunities for eyes to snag on display copies. If it was bad for established names, think how much harder it was for authors putting their very first book out into the world. So today I’m looking back at some of the fantasy debuts since last year’s Wyrd And Wonder.
Welcome to the Forever Sea, where the magic of bone and song keeps ships aloft above the endless prairie grasses. Fleeing trouble at home, The Errant sails for the pirate-haunted Roughs, the crew’s lives in the hands of junior hearthfire keeper Kindred. But even crow-caller Sarah has no idea how far Kindred is willing to go…
Arrah is the heir to two great lines of witchdoctors, but she has no magic of her own. When children begin disappearing, she faces a terrible choice: sacrifice her years for a charlatan’s powers or lose those she loves. It’s no choice at all…
Carey is a medical care android. The interaction of its programmed empathy and its ability to emulate human responses are unique. But where is the line between software and love?
Rook has a choice: volunteer for hazardous duty or stay on the chain gang. It’s no choice at all. But deep in Open Waters, something ancient and hungry is stirring. If Rook can’t stop it, death is coming for everyone.
When Teixcalaan requests a new ambassador from Lsel Station and refuses to say why, the Council assume the worst. But it’s far worse than that…
A summer digging up Norse ruins in Greenland should have been amazing, but with a flu pandemic breaking out back home, six haunted post-docs question their choices – and their sanity. Can they rely on one another to get through the Arctic night?
A barbarian island girl has become a gifted administrator of the Empire of Masks. But to prove her loyalty, Baru must subdue a country that kills everyone who tries to rule it. She will do whatever it takes to succeed. Because only a trusted servant of the Empire can bring it crashing down.
The world is dying. The race for the stars has begun and Britain is determined to be the first to reach the promised world of Terra-Two. A small, fast ship will carry 4 experienced astronauts and 6 carefully-selected teenagers to prepare Terra-Two for colonisation. But this golden opportunity may not be what it seems…
Supernatural heroes won the Second Poppy War. Now war orphan Rin is determined to escape a future of marriage and drug running for her foster parents. She will fight herself to win a place at the Empire’s prestigious military academy – and fight everyone else to keep it. Can she learn enough to keep her country safe from the resurgent Mugen Federation?
