Blood Magic by Matthew Cook

Another recent Juno Books release by a debut author is BLOOD MAGIC by Matthew Cook. Here is the blurb:

Her sister was murdered, and Kirin hungers for revenge. Using the power of her "blood magic," the young necromancer creates grotesque and inhumanly strong creatures by calling men's souls back into their dead bodies. These "sweetlings," as she calls them, are utterly devoted to her, and Kirin cherishes them as if they were her own children. But while fighting a bloody war against a relentless enemy, she meets Lia Cho, a beautiful and gentle woman who can call the power of storms... and soon, Kirin learns that there is more to life than pain and vengeance.

You can download the first three chapters from the publisher's website. The author maintains a blog, which he regularly updates. I found a review by Chris Howard.

BLOOD MAGIC is the first mass-market paperback that Juno has published. I found an interview with Paula Guran, the editor of Juno books at Dee and dee Dish About Books. In addition, the latest Juno Books newsletter, not yet available on line, has this to say about BLOOD MAGIC:

We have two special requests for your help!

The first is to run out to your local chain store and buy copies of BLOOD MAGIC as soon as it hits the shelves. Why? Other than it is a terrific fantasy and we like to sell books, BLOOD MAGIC is our first mass market. The chain stores are stocking what we think is a minimal number or copies per store. We'd like those to disappear as soon as possible so they will see that they need to not only order more of BLOOD MAGIC, but to order more of all our mass markets to start with.

The idea behind going into mass market paperbacks is simple: we can usually get copies of our books into virtually every chain store as opposed to some copies in some of the stores as we do
with the trade paperbacks. We'd love to show them they need lots of copies in every store.

BLOOD MAGIC should be hitting shelves between September 7 and September 14. (We'll try to update you on the blog as to exactly when...and see the "Spot Blood Magic" contest below!)

You got to admire these small press books with large press ambitions. You now know what to do.! :)