Monday, August 20, 2007

About Fantasy Debut


Fantasy Debut is owned by Tia Nevitt. This post always has my current policies. I will keep it current.

Status: Not currently taking review copies.

Please note! I only cover debuts for books published by publishers that distribute books to bookstore shelves nationwide, which puts the books on shelves, like this:

In other words, it must be the book that would permit the author to join the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America or Horror Writers of America. It's OK if the author has published other small press or POD books, or novels in non speculative genres.

All books I hear about go on my Debut Calendar, which is available through my sidebar. I also try to do a Debut Showcase for every entry in my Debut Calendar.

For reviews, I'm more selective. I'm open to most genres, with the exception of the following:
  • Vampire stories. I'm not interested in protagonists that have to devour humans or human blood. Psionic vampires might interest me, however.
  • Stories with demon or undead protagonists. It's okay if they're the bad guys.
  • Angels as sexual partners.
  • Deal-with-the-devil stories. However, I wouldn't mind reading such a book when the main protagonist is trying to save someone who has made a deal with the devil.
  • Blood and gore horror. Horror should have a supernatural element and should scare the hell out of me, not gross me out.
  • Stories with sex involving more than one partner.
  • Excessively gritty stories. Of course "excessively" is subjective.
  • Christian bashing, either overt or subtle. I don't like to see my beliefs trashed.
Raven, who also reviews here, does read dark fantasy and urban fantasy.

If you don't mind filling out a form, you can use this one to tell me about your debut. It has everything I like to know about new debut novels, which helps me when I do a Debut Showcase. You can also email me at tia dot nevitt at gmail dot com.

19 comments:

SQT said...

I'm trying to do more reviews on my blog and it is a tougher thing than I thought. I'm not into heavy literary criticism either but I don't want to be someone who loves everything and no one takes seriously, and therefore doesn't give the book a fair chance.

It's a fine line.

Tia Nevitt said...

It is. I try to put myself in the author who might read it, and couch any criticism in such a way that they might find it a useful reader perspective.

John Dent said...

Tia--

1--I can't believe you're *cough* years old! You sound much younger!

2--Thanks for the mention! ;)

3--I've noticed a couple of things you're gonna want to take a look at, drop me a line sometime.

Anonymous said...

There's no fun in reviewing books that you might not like. I understand your reluctance to feature a book that authors aren't promoting online. It makes perfect sense to me. I also think that you're doing a great job. Good luck.

Tia Nevitt said...

Thanks, John! if you got an inkling of how old I am from Remy's blog, then you need to add more years.

Thanks, Scooper!

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Hey, Tia, want to join me in this year's Debut a Debut contest? If you missed it last year, there's a big graphic in my sidebar that'll take you to the initial post about it.

It'll fit right in with what you're doing here and we can hopefully reach more potential readers and hopefully make a positive impact on a writer or three.

Drop me an e-mail if you'd like. E-mail's on my profile page.

Tia Nevitt said...

I remember last years! I'll be in touch.

Chris, The Book Swede said...

I look at Remy's blog all the time, but I missed your age! :P I'll do another trawl!

Like the others have said, you're doing a great job.

SQT--I also don't want to be somebody who likes everything, but no one takes seriously. The only problem is, that I've been getting really good recommendations from friends, reviewers, etc lately and so far haven't scored anything below 7/10! I don't always like (or dislike) what everybody else likes but still, I really need a book that's been bigged up a lot, and turns out to be a flop! :L

Sorry to go on...

Tia Nevitt said...

There's been very few books that I've read that I haven't found one redeeming quality for. I'm very picky about my purchasing decision to begin with, because I don't like wasting my money. Some books I know aren't meant to be anything more than lighthearted fun, and so I form my opinion on those accordingly.

Minnette Meador said...

Tia - I read somewhere on your blog that you don't do POD or E-Pub books shout outs or reviews. Is that true? Also, how do you determine what you're going to post? If these answers are somewhere else, I apologize. They were just a little hard to find. Maybe you could put in a link for "submissions" or "suggestions". Your site is great and I've been really enjoying it. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Hi Tia,

Mark Ferrari here, author of The Book of Joby. Robert Thompson was kind enough to point me in your direction, and I'm honored that you've taken an interest in my novel. If you have not gotten that review copy yet, please send me your postal address at mferrari@mcn.org, and I will just mail you one myself immediately! Tor is being very, very good to me, but they get a little distracted sometimes. It's almost as if they had other books to tend to ... (?)

Thanks again,

:-)

Mark Ferrari
www.markferrari.com

Lisa said...

Hi!
Wanted to give you a shout out about my debut novel "Into This Mind". It puts a unique twist on some common beliefs. I'm serious about working to promote my book, however, I mainly use my website.
I have a blog but I haven't used it very much. Sounds like you believe a blog is more effective?
If you, or someone else would like to review my novel, I'm happy to send you a complimentary copy!
I've been interested in reviewing books also but I feel that given I'm trying to promote my own, it's rather a conflict of interest!
Thanks for taking the time to do this!
Lisa
www.lisanevin.com

Tia Nevitt said...

Lisa, I do very few advance reviews, and only for "graduate" authors. Please send your book release information so I can put it on the debut calendar.

Lisa said...

Happy to provide release information.
Early release copies of my book came out June 14 - the day after my birthday :-)
Publisher: Unlimited Publishing
price: $14.99
204 pages
I'd be happy to send you a cover jpg.
One liner: When memories and mystery collide with reality.
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-58832-185-5
Available from select bookstores or from the publisher (links are on my website)
Should you decide that you'd like a review copy at a later time, give me a shout.
Lisa

Lisa said...

Question.
I decided to start a blog with blogger.com.
Can you tell me how one goes about spreading news of the blog and linking to other bloggers?

http://lisanevin.blogspot.com/

My godaddy account has some blogging submit tools, are those helpful?
thanks for any advice you or anyone reading this may have to offer!

Tia Nevitt said...

Wow; someone's asking for my advice. The best advice I can give is to link other people on your blog if you like what they have to say. Not just in your sidebars, but give them a shout-out (i.e. mention them in a blog entry, which includes a link back). People appreciate that.

All of my debut announcements include links to any quality reviews (both positive and negative, if I can find any), plus I do "author catch-ups" which link to author blog entries that I found interesting. I also do occasional shout-outs to fellow bloggers and Spotlight Reviews.

In fact, a lot of my content is actually a sort of clearinghouse for what other people are doing on their blogs. But people seem to like it anyway.

You didn't mention the title of your novel?

Lisa said...

thanks for the advice on blogging! I'll include a link to yours, for sure!
The title of my book is 'Into This Mind"
I've recently received a review from:
www.sfrevu.com/

Lisa

Mark Henry said...

Hi Tia,

I didn't notice a way to contact you on your profile, but thought you might be interested in previewing my debut urban fantasy/zombie comedy novel, HAPPY HOUR OF THE DAMNED. It's set for release on 2/26/08 from Kensington.

Let me know.

Mark

me@markhenry.us

Unknown said...

Hi, my name is Shelley. I'm new to the blogging world. I added you and look forward to reading all your reviews!!

http://bookfanaticblog.blogspot.com/