The Ones that Got Away

Over the months, various debuts have unfortunately slipped through the cracks. I rely on publisher newsletters and other blogs to discover debuts, and occasionally the publishers, themselves. As a fall-back measure, I read Locus's Monitor for any debuts that I may have missed.

Monitor is a great way to get exposure for your books. Check out the side bar of their latest post for how to get your book listed. (Here's the short version -- you send your book, not a galley. They pick which books they feature. However, I've seen them list small press books, so if you go ahead and send a copy, you'll only be out some postage.)

Anyway, I've missed a few from September, so I thought I'd devote a post to them in order to get caught up. These are from September.

Master of Shadows by Janet Lorimer came out in September through Juno Books. Here's the blurb:

As a child, Ariel McPherson was warned about a ferocious creature that allegedly stalked the forest near her family's summer cottage during the full moon. But surely those were merely stories meant to warn a little girl of dangers that lurk in any wood? When her adult world collapses, Ariel takes refuge in the cottage. Forced to go on an errand of mercy during a night of the full moon, Ariel finds legend crashing into reality. She meets a mysterious stranger, Louvel, in the forest. He will not allow her to see his face, but still strangely captures her heart. Then Ariel's life is shattered by a mysterious death; secrets are revealed and suspicions raised. Ariel's search for answers endangers her own life. Louvel may possess powers that can protect and help her...or he may a beast more fearsome than any found in a fairy tale.

Janet Lorimer is a former children's book author, and this is her first adult novel. You can read more about the novel at the publisher website, which also has an excerpt.

Dark Maiden by Norma Lehr also came out in September through Juno Books.

Sheila Miller's newborn baby is gone. His death certificate is stamped SIDS, but Sheila knows her Timmy did not die in his crib from natural causes - he was taken. But no one believes Sheila's tale of standing helpless while a mysterious veiled woman hovered over the crib. Karl, Sheila's rigid, insensitive husband, openly scoffs at the supernatural and is convinced Sheila is emotionally ill. Her Aunt Iris - a sensual, counter-culture writer and a continuum of the sixties who loves her niece dearly - can't accept the story even though she wishes with all her heart she could. At least Iris is a positive, supportive force in Sheila's life and gives her a needed refuge in her mountain cabin. But as a series of bizarre incidents destroy innocent people linked to Sheila, those closest to her - including Chad Olsen, a student of Eastern philosophy to whom Sheila is inexplicably drawn - listen when a Chinese legend historian reveals a terrifying story involving a white jade amulet and a ferocious fox-maiden, an entity determined to destroy Sheila.

Norma Lehr is also a former middle-grade novelist. As usual, Juno Books provides more details at the book's page, along with an excerpt.

Moving away from Juno Books, Lisa Nevin writes to me of her book, Into This Mind. The link is to the publisher's page and for now has limited distribution during a review period. Despite this, the author managed to get her novel on the shelves at bookstores in Ohio and Massachusetts.

Believing that the newly opened Betta Conservation Land holds many long-forgotten mysteries, Jena eagerly seeks to explore it. In the most unlikely of places, an abandoned ballroom, her intuition is validated as she enters the mind of a young woman named May. Ready to dismiss the experience as a daydream produced by her overactive imagination, Jena is stunned when her best friend, Katri, encourages her to return to the ruined building. Suspecting that Katri knows more than she's telling, Jena follows Katri's advice and finds herself once again inside May's mind. Through repeated visits, Jena discovers a terrible secret involving murder and intrigue. But can she stop it, or will it destroy her?

SFRevu and Ghostwriter have both reviewed it.

I may have more over the next few days as I did through my email archives and try to get caught up.