October Debut Releases

It's the first Thursday in October and that means new debut releases. 

Please take a look and let’s celebrate their success!

Susan Klaus - Secretariat Reborn (Oceanview Publishing) October 1, 2013

susanklaus.com

Christian Roberts, lanky, blond, and twenty-five-years-old, rents out small sailboats on Sarasota Bay. His peaceful life is shattered when he accepts a thoroughbred colt from his estranged, dying father, an Ocala horse trainer. When Christian promises his father that he'll race the colt, he's plunged into the underworld of horse racing. To navigate his way he naively hires Ed Price, a heartless Miami trainer. And when his colt shows potential -- a surprising resemblance to Secretariat -- a dubious wealthy sheik wants to buy him, but Christian vows to keep his promise to his father. 

With a sizable debt still owed on the horse, Christian is forced to take out a loan, his only recourse, Vince, a New York mobster. If the money is not repaid on time, Christian's life and that of Allie, his colt's trainer, are threatened. To add to his rollercoaster of troubles, he faces fraud charges since his father illegally registered the colt, and he is being stalked by a psychotic ex-girlfriend. Can Christian and Allie overcome the tornado of adversity and forge a relationship with each other and the colt?

Matthew Quinn Martin - Nightlife (Pocket Star) October 21, 2013

www.matthewquinnmartin.com

For centuries an ancient evil has slept beneath the streets of New Harbor. This Halloween, it wakes up.

An action-packed debut horror novel from talented new writer Matthew Quinn Martin, Nightlife pits a feisty bartender and a mysterious loner against bloodthirsty terrors as alluring as they are deadly.

Nightclub bartender and serial heartbreaker Beth Becker might be a cynic. But when her best friend goes missing Halloween night, Beth knows it’s up to her to find out what happened.

Her quest will take her on an odyssey through the crumbling city of New Harbor, Connecticut. Along the way she meets a homeless prophet warning of something he calls the “Night Angel”—a bloodthirsty creature that feeds on the forgotten. And she will form an unlikely bond with a hunted stranger who knows all too well what stalks the streets at night.

He tells Beth the hideous truth about the nightmare creatures that have haunted mankind’s imagination for eons—creatures the world calls vampires. Together they are the only hope for New Harbor, but to defeat what lurks in the shadows they’ll have to conquer something far stronger than fear—their own desires.

James W. Ziskin - Styx & Stone (Seventh Street Books) October 15, 2013

jameswziskin.com

Ellie Stone is a professed modern girl in 1960s’ New York City, playing by her own rules and breaking boundaries while searching for a killer.

“If you were a man, you’d make a good detective.”

Ellie Stone is sure that Sgt. McKeever meant that as a compliment, but that identity-a girl wanting to do a man’s job-has throttled her for too long. It’s 1960, and Ellie doesn’t want to blaze any trails for women; she just wants to be a reporter, one who doesn’t need to swat hands off her behind at every turn.

Adrift in her career, Ellie is back in New York City after receiving news that her estranged father, a renowned Dante scholar and distinguished professor, is near death after a savage bludgeoning in his home. The police suspect a routine burglary, but Ellie has her doubts. When a second attempt is made on her father’s life, in the form of an “accident” in the hospital’s ICU, Ellie’s suspicions are confirmed.

Then another professor is found dead, and Ellie’s investigation turns to her father’s university colleagues, their ambitions, jealousies, and secret lives. Ellie embarks on a thorny journey of discovery and reconciliation, as she pursues an investigation that offers her both a chance at redemption in her father’s eyes, and the risk of losing him forever.

September Debut Releases

It's the first Thursday in September and that means new debut releases. 

Please take a look and let’s celebrate their success!

Geoffrey Girard - Project Cain (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers) 9/3/2013

www.GeoffreyGirard.com

Fifteen-year-old Jeff Jacobson had never heard of Jeffrey Dahmer, the infamous serial killer who brutally murdered seventeen people more than twenty years ago. But Jeff's life changes forever when the man he'd thought was his father hands him a government file telling him he was constructed in a laboratory only seven years ago, part of a top-secret government cloning experiment called 'Project CAIN.' There, he was created entirely from Jeffrey Dahmer's DNA.

There are others like Jeff -- those genetically engineered directly from the most notorious murderers of all time: The Son of Sam, The Boston Strangler, Ted Bundy... even other Jeffrey Dahmer clones. Some raised, like Jeff, in caring family environments; others within homes that mimicked the horrific early lives of the men they were created from. When the most dangerous boys are set free by the geneticist who created them, the summer of killing begins. Worse, these same teens now hold a secret weapon even more dangerous than the terrible evil they carry within. Only Jeff can help track the clones down before it's too late. But will he catch the 'monsters' before becoming one himself?

Geoffrey Girard - Cain's Blood (Touchstone Books) 9/3/2013

www.GeoffreyGirard.com

Ted Bundy. The Son of Sam. The Boston Strangler. Albert Fish. Henry Lee Lucas. 

The DNA of the world’s most notorious serial killers has been cloned by the U.S. Department of Defense to develop a new breed of bioweapon. Now in Phase Three, the program includes dozens of young men who have no clue as to their evil heritage. Playing a twisted game of nature vs. nurture, scientists raise some of the clones with loving families and others in abusive circumstances.

But everything changes when the most dangerous boys are set free by their creator. A man with demons of his own, former black ops soldier Shawn Castillo is hot on their trail. But Castillo didn’t count on the quiet young man he finds hiding in an abandoned house—a boy who has just learned he is the clone of Jeffrey Dahmer. As Jeffrey and Castillo race across the country on the trail of the rampaging teens, Castillo must protect the boy who is the embodiment of his biggest fears—and who may also be his last hope. Melding all-too-plausible science and ripped from- the-headlines horror, Cain’s Blood is a stunning debut about the potential for good and evil in us all.

Barry Lancet - Japantown (Simon & Schuster) Sept 3, 2013

http://barrylancet.com 

Five bodies. One clue. Not a trace of the killer.

San Francisco antique dealer Jim Brodie recently inherited a stake in his father's Tokyo-based private investigation firm, which means the single father of six-year-old Jenny is living a bi-coastal life, traveling to Japan to acquire art and artifacts for his store and consulting on Brodie Security's caseload at home and abroad.

One night, an entire family is gunned down in San Francisco's bustling Japantown neighborhood, and Brodie is called on by the SFPD to decipher the lone clue left at the crime scene: a single Japanese character printed on a slip of paper, drenched in blood.

Brodie can't read the clue either. But he may have seen it before—at the scene of his wife's death in a house fire four years ago.

With his array of Asian connections and fluency in Japanese, Brodie sets out to solve a seemingly perfect crime and at the same time learn whether his wife's tragic death was more than just an accident. And when he unravels a web of intrigue stretching back centuries and connected to the murders in San

Francisco, the Japantown killer retaliates with a new target: Brodie's daughter.

Mary Miley - The Impersonator (St. Martin's Minotaur) Sept. 17, 2013

www.marymileytheobald.com 

In 1924, a young vaudeville actress takes on the role of a lifetime when she impersonates a missing heiress. In 1917, Jessie Carr, fourteen years old and sole heiress to her family’s vast fortune, disappeared without a trace. Now, years later, her uncle Oliver Beckett thinks he’s found her: a young actress in a vaudeville playhouse is a dead ringer for his missing niece. But when Oliver confronts the girl, he learns he’s wrong: orphaned young, Leah’s been acting since she was a toddler. 

Oliver, never one to miss an opportunity, makes a proposition–with his coaching, Leah can impersonate Jessie, claim the fortune, and split it with him. The role of a lifetime, he says. A one-way ticket to Sing Sing, she hears. But when she’s let go from her job, Oliver’s offer looks a lot more appealing. Leah agrees to the con, but secretly promises herself to try and find out what happened to the real Jessie. There’s only one problem: Leah’s act won’t fool the one person who knows the truth about Jessie’s disappearance. 

Set against a Prohibition-era backdrop of speakeasies and vaudeville houses, Mary Miley’s Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition winner “The Impersonator” will delight readers with its elaborate mystery and lively prose.

Carla Norton - The Edge of Normal (Minotaur Books) 9/10/13

www.CarlaNorton.com

Reeve is a survivor—not a victim—of kidnapping and captivity. True, this 22-year-old is a damaged individual. She’s scarred. She’s flawed. She’s psychologically unbalanced. When a lurking predator threatens her young friend, Reeve quells her fears and follows her instincts down a dark trail.  But he’s watching her every move. He’s more deadly than she knows. And when she treads to close, she stumbles into the predator’s trap.

May 2012 Debut Book Releases

Happy May and Happy Thrilling Thursday. The first of every month we will feature members of our Debut Authors Program. We are excited to announce that four members have books being released in May 2012. Please take a look and let’s celebrate their success!



Chuck Greaves HUSH MONEY (St. Martin's Minotaur) May 2012


Julia Heaberlin PLAYING DEAD


Jeremy Bates WHITE LIES


Daniel Friedman DON’T EVER GET OLD


*note. this post disappeared for some odd reason. I will upload the book synopsis for these titles by the weekend

ONE DEBUT AUTHOR'S EXPERIENCE

Shared by ITW Debut Author :: Grace Greene
First, a disclaimer:  I'm a big fan of ITW and the Debut Author Program and definitely benefitted from it.
Second, a helpful hint: Never underestimate the value of a friend or the help of kind people.
Third, some good advice: Learn what you can where you can - AKA - avail yourself of opportunities.

My debut release is Beach Rental. It came out in July. Every new author will tell you they need help figuring out how to navigate the release world.  Certainly, I did, and ITW offered me some concrete options from which to choose:  The Thrill Begins Blog, The ITW Debut Authors Mentor Forum, an interview or feature story, Roundtable Discussions, Book Giveaways, and monthly communications–the BIG THRILL Webzine, the ITW Bulletin with Promo Ops, and the ITW Members Bulletin with News and Updates.

Thanks, ITW.

My friend and critique partner, Nancy Naigle (author of Sweet Tea and Secrets, and co-author of InkBLOT) also had her book debut in 2011 and she introduced me to the ITW Debut Authors Program. I joined, but mixed some things up (as usual) and the wonderful Al Leverone (debut author membership coordinator and debut author of Final Vector ) got my membership all straightened out and Carla Buckley (debut author of The Things That Keep Us Here) got me added to the discussion forum and Lynn Sheene (debut author of The Last Time I Saw Paris) got me on the Mentors Forum. Others helped me, too–so many helping hands that I'm sure I've missed some. These volunteers are authors and they give their time in a world where no one has any extra.

I tried to keep up with tasks related to the release of Beach Rental, but I was busy with editing, blogging and so on and quickly feeling buried by the demands of writing and marketing. Nancy gave me the kick in the britches when, overwhelmed, I almost didn't follow up with ITW about the author interview.

Thanks, Nancy.

For the ITW Debut interview, Janice Bashman (managing editor of The Big Thrill and co-author of Wanted Undead or Alive) offered me the choice of an actual interview or an interview crafted from the information I'd already submitted on the book submission form about me and my book.  How easy was that? In the midst of trying to juggle all of the elements, I opted for the second choice–and it was wonderful!

Here's the link to my interview. Check it out. Isn't it wonderful?  http://ow.ly/5WWRQ

Educational and marketing opportunities–and another interesting benefit of my membership in ITW and participation in the Debut Author Program, is that a large percentage of the visitors to my author website come there from the ITW website. Take it from me, an often overwhelmed debut author, ITW and the Debut Authors Program–I've already received a lot and I'm still learning and benefitting. Thank you, ITW and the Debut Authors Program, and all of the splendid people who've  made my journey a little easier.

     About the Author:
Grace Greene writes fiction with romance, suspense and inspiration, always with a strong heroine at its heart. Vivid settings and quirky secondary characters round out the stories and there’s a happily-ever-after-ending—most of the time. Grace is also an artist and photographer. She is drawn to houses and landscapes that ooze character and is fascinated by history and human nature. When she’s writing, all of these interests show up on the page.

Beach Rental is her debut release. Her next novel, Kincaid's Hope, is scheduled for release in January 2012. In Kincaid's Hope, Beth Kincaid finds that swearing off the Kincaid temper and creating the perfect life free from untidy emotionalism has its own dangers and can even get you killed.

A Virginia native, Grace lives in central Virginia. Stay current with Grace’s releases and appearances at www.GraceGreeneAuthor.com

Beach Rental Blurb:

On the Crystal Coast of North Carolina, in the small town of Emerald Isle…

Juli Cooke, hard-working and getting nowhere fast, marries a dying man, Ben Bradshaw, for a financial settlement, not expecting he will set her on a journey of hope and love. The journey brings her to Luke Winters, a local art dealer, but Luke resents the woman who married his sick friend and warns her not to hurt Ben—and he’s watching to make sure she doesn’t.

Until Ben dies and the stakes change.

Framed by the timelessness of the Atlantic Ocean and the brilliant blue of the beach sky, Juli struggles against her past, the opposition of Ben’s and Luke’s families, and even the living reminder of her marriage—to build a future with hope and perhaps to find the love of her life—if she can survive the danger from her past.