New This Month!
Every now and then, we look at books being released this month that have caught our attention. Here are 5 books that have all been released this July that look intriguing.
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I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett
It starts with whispers.
Then someone picks up a stone.
Finally, the fires begin.
When people turn on witches, the innocents suffer. . . .
Tiffany Aching has spent years studying with senior witches, and now she is on her own. As the witch of the Chalk, she performs the bits of witchcraft that aren t sparkly, aren t fun, don t involve any kind of wand, and that people seldom ever hear about: She does the unglamorous work of caring for the needy.
But someone or something is igniting fear, inculcating dark thoughts and angry murmurs against witches. Aided by her tiny blue allies, the Wee Free Men, Tiffany must find the source of this unrest and defeat the evil at its root before it takes her life. Because if Tiffany falls, the whole Chalk falls with her.
Chilling drama combines with laughout-loud humor and searing insight as beloved and bestselling author Terry Pratchett tells the high-stakes story of a young witch who stands in the gap between good and evil.
[Description from Goodreads]
Contributor Comments:
I adore Terry Pratchett and I’ve been steadily working my way through his books for a little over a year, so I’m always excited to see new ones come out. I haven’t started reading any of the Tiffany Aching series yet, but I mean to as soon as I’m less poor/they get them in the library. I’m hoping I can my little sister hooked on Pratchett’s YA books, and from there on to the rest of Discworld.
- Jenn Fitzgerald
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I’ve actually never picked up a Terry Pratchett book (for shame!) – but that title and that cover are just absolutely amazing! I’ve heard a lot of good things about this series, so this book’s title (and man, what a title!) might just be the push I need to pick up his stuff.
And did I mention how much I love that title?
- Vanessa Di Gregorio
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I love the concept of a branch of witches devoted to “the unglamorous work of caring for the needy.” It’s being called dramatic and funny and insightful, and just the title alone makes it worth a look!
- Julie Eshbaugh
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Zombies vs. Unicorns edited by edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier
It’s a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths–for good and evil–of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. Contributors include many bestselling teen autho
rs, including Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?
The link to the original argument can be found here:
http://promo.simonandschuster.com/zombiesvsunicorns/
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“I am extremely pleased to be working with Sim
on & Schuster to ensure the clear and final victory of the
majestic unicorn over the zombie. For too long, the zombie has dominated the public consciousness, but the reign of the unicorn is at hand!”
-Team Unicorn editor Holly Black
“I think that posterity will look upon this as the moment when the mythology of rainbow-farting unicorns was finally laid to rest, and zombies took their rightful place at the top of the food chain,”
-Team Zombie editor Justine Larbalestier
[Description from Goodreads]
Contributor Comments:
Team Zombie or Team Unicorn – I can’t decide!!! But you can bet I’ll be getting my hands on this book! I mean, really… the title says it all. And that cover is absolutely brilliant.
Hmmm, I see an awesome-title trend going on here! (Damn my weakness to awesome titles!)
- Vanessa Di Gregorio
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Anything with a title like that deserves my attention, and with authors like Naomi Novik and Scott Westerfeld involved, I’ll probably get sucked into checking it out.
- Jennifer Fitzgerald
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Firelight by Sophie Jordan
With her rare ability to breathe fire, Jacinda is special even among the draki — the descendants of dragons who can shift between human and dragon forms. But when Jacinda’s rebelliousness leads her family to flee into the human world, she struggles to adapt, even as her draki spirit fades.
The one thing that revives it is Will, whose family hunts her kind. Jacinda can’t resist getting closer to him, even though she knows she’s risking not only her life but the draki’s most closely guarded secret.
[Description from Goodreads]
Contributor Comments:
I had this book in my hand at the store, but I decided to wait until my “to be read” pile gets a bit shorter before adding a new book to it. It was tough setting it back on the shelf, since I know I will love it! I read a few pages and I immediately connected with the prose. I felt the concept of a world where creatures shape shift between human and dragon form was presented with credibility. FIRELIGHT also explores the conflict between duty to one’s family and duty to oneself, which is a concept that always holds my attention. Plus there’s no denying the cover art is AWESOME!
- Julie Eshbaugh
I read an ARC of FIRELIGHT and I absolutely adored it!!!!
I’m seriously dying to read Book 2!
Everyone grab a copy NOW.
- Sarah J. Maas
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Wired by Robin Wasserman
The final book in the sci-fi trilogy Scott Westerfeld calls “spellbinding.”
It’s two months after the end of Crashed, and Lia is right back where she started: home, pretending to be the perfect daughter. But nothing’s the way it used to be. Lia has become the public face of the mechs, BioMax’s poster girl for the up-and-coming technology, devoting her life to convincing the world that she—and the others like her—deserve to exist. Then Jude resurfaces, and brings some scandalous information with him. Is BioMax really an ally to the mechs? Or are they using the technology for a great evil…and if so, can Auden really be a part of the plan? M
eanwhile, Lia also learns a shocking truth about the accident that resulted in her download…a truth that forces her to make a decision she can never reverse.
[Description from Simon & Schuster]
Contributor Comments:
How is it I never heard about this trilogy? This dystopian story about a girl who ends up in a mechanical replica of a human body after surviving a terrible car accident has really grabbed my attention. This is a future not outside the path current medical technology seems to be on, and having recently had a metal plate implanted in my own leg, I can’t help but wonder about a world where mechanical bodies might support human minds. WIRED is the third in the trilogy, preceded by SKINNED and CRASHED. It looks like that “to be read” pile is going to get even taller!
- Julie Eshbaugh
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Losing Faith by Denise Jaden
When Brie’s sister, Faith, dies suddenly, Brie’s world falls apart. As she goes through the bizarre and devastating process of mourning the sister she never understood and barely even liked, everything in her life seems to spiral farther and farther off course. Her parents are a mess, her friends don’t know how to treat her, and her perfect boyfriend suddenly seems anything but.
As Brie settles into her new normal, she encounters more questions than closure: Certain facts about the way Faith died just don’t line up. Brie soon uncovers a dark and twisted secret about Faith’s final night…a secret that puts her own life in danger.
[Description from Goodreads]
Contributor Comments:
It might just be me, but I feel like there have been a great number of books lately about girls losing older sisters. So far, none have stayed in my mind and heart like THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE, but LOSING FAITH looks intriguing, and how can I say no to such a pretty cover? Also, I hear there’s something about cults in there, too…hm….
- Kat Zhang
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Z by Michael Thomas Ford
Josh is by far the best zombie Torcher around. At least, he is in his virtual-reality zombie-hunting game. Zombies haven’t existed in the real world in more than fifteen years, and the battle to defeat the devastating zombie epidemic is now the stuff of history lessons. Or so it seems.
When Josh accepts a coveted invitation to join an underground gaming league in the dark, forgotten tunnels of the city, he soon realizes that hunting zombies is not all fun and games. Real blood is spilling, members of the team are disappearing, and the zombies in the game are acting strange. And then there’s the matter of a mysterious drug called Z…
This darkly thrilling teen novel will have readers holding their breath as they turn every page.
[Description from Goodreads]
Contributor Comments:
Look, it’s well documented that I’m a zombie fan (in a terrified, hiding in my closet with a crowbar kind of way). So I didn’t need much convincing that this book should immediately be purchased, but even if I weren’t such a zombophile, I’m pretty sure I’d be dying to get my hands on Z anyway.
The premise reminds me a lot of the movie Gamer (starring Gerard Butler, omg!), with the virtual games that moved into reality. Add to that a zombie Apocalypse 15 years earlier, the threat of re-emergence, and a drug called Z (True Blood anyone?), and I can just feel that this is going to be a page turner. It’s on it’s way to me right now 
- Savannah J. Foley
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Mashup:
Here are some great links on writing, the industry, and all things book related. Some are serious, and some are just downright hilarious. We highly recommend you read them!
- This Guy Thinks SPEAK is Pornography
- SPEAKing Out
- Watermelon
- On Word Counts and Novel Length
- When all of us at LTWF heard about this, we were all sick to our stomachs. And very, very angry. For those of you who haven’t heard, read the above article. This isn’t a happy article, but it’s something people should be aware of.
- This made all of us cry. It also has to do with the whole SPEAK issue. Very powerful – a must-read.
- And now, get ready to laugh! You know you’re a writer when…
- A MUST-READ article on word counts by former literary agent and current Penguin business developer Collen Lindsay.
- Ender’s Game Film Back in Development
- Some might find this to be awesome news! Others might be worried – how will this translate to film?
- Color vs. Colour – The Great Spelling Battle
- An interesting article on the different spellings or certain words (such as color/colour), and why these various spellings exist.
- Guest Post From the LTWF Ladies!: What’s Your Worst Query Blunder?
- The Most Accurate Science Fiction in the Field
- THAT’S RIGHT! We got to guest post at C.A. Marshall’s blog!!! And we talk about our own querying mistakes. (Just don’t laugh TOO hard at us…)
- Six scientists share which authors got it right in the SciFi genre.
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Quotes:
“Prose is architecture, not interior decoration.“
— Ernest Hemingway
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“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.“
— Cyril Connolly
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“Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.“
— Willa Cather
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“We read to know we are not alone.“
— C.S. Lewis
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Interested in any of these new releases (or have you read them already)? Have you found any awesome quotes? Share them with us in the comments!
Eron De Marchelle isn’t supposed to feel a connection. He is a Sandman, a supernatural being whose purpose is to seduce human charges to sleep. While he can communicate with his charges in their dreams, he isn’t encouraged to–after all, getting too involved in one human’s life would prevent him helping his other charges get their needed rest.
When Adrianne comes face-to-face with the mermaid of Windwaithe Island, of whom she has heard terrible stories all her life, she is convinced the mermaid means to take her younger sister. Adrianne, fierce-willed and courageous, is determined to protect her sister from the mermaid, and her family from starvation. However, the mermaid continues to haunt Adrianne in her dreams and with her song.
Jessamine Luxson lives with her father, Thomas, an apothecary, in an isolated cottage near Alnwick Castle. Thomas’s pride and obsession is his locked garden full of dangerous plants, which Jessamine is forbidden to enter.
Young and beautiful Violetta may be of royal blood, but her kingdom is in shambles when she arrives in London on a mysterious mission. Her journey has been long and her adventures many, but it is not until she meets the playwright William Shakespeare that she gets to tell the entire story from beginning to end. Violetta and her comic companion, Feste, have come in search of an ancient holy relic that the evil Malvolio has stolen from their kingdom. But where will their remarkable quest—and their most unusual story—lead? In classic Celia Rees style, it is an engrossing journey, full of political intrigue, danger, and romance.
Bet is sixteen, very intelligent, but only knows as much as her limited education will allow. In Victorian England, girls aren’t allowed to go to school.
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