Blood in the Water, the 11th book in the New York Times bestselling Destroyermen saga by Taylor Anderson is releasing June 14, 2016. The good people at Roc have given us a Destroyermen Starter Kit bundle containing the first four books in the series to giveaway. This is a great opportunity to get a start on the series! “Taylor Anderson…[has] steamed to the forefront of alternative history.”—E. E. Knight, national bestselling Author “Intriguing what-ifs…combine with churning, bloodthirsty warfare.”—Kirkus Reviews “Action sci-fi doesn’t get significantly better than this.”—Booklist     The four books we have for the giveaway are, you can read their descriptions below the giveaway: Destroyermen Series ORDER Into the Storm Crusade Maelstrom Distant Thunders Rising Tides Firestorm Iron Gray Sea Storm Surge Deadly Shores Straits of Hell Blood in the Water (out June 14, 2016) Giveaway   ABOUT THE BOOKS INCLUDED IN THE GIVEAWAY Enter Giveaway About the Author Taylor Anderson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Destroyermen series, including Straits of Hell, Deadly Shores, and Storm Surge. A gunmaker and forensic ballistic archaeologist, Taylor has been a technical and dialogue consultant for movies and documentaries, and an award-winning member of the National Historical Honor Society and of…

Today we welcome Anna Kashina, whose latest book Assassin Queen is out today.  She’s here to talk about her experience with worldbuiling! ______________________________________________________________ Worldbuilding for a fantasy series. My just-released novel, “Assassin Queen”, the concluding book 3 of the “Majat Code” series, is a historical adventure fantasy featuring political intrigue, swordplay, and elements of romance. I had lots of fun creating these series. Much of this creative work went into worldbuilding, which seemed so natural at the time, but also ended up being fairly systematic. Today, I wanted to share the key steps of this process, which has become both my enjoyment and my routine and taught me so much building new fantasy worlds. I planned out the “Majat Code” world as the blend of East and West, which reflects my own origin from Russia, a true melting pot for eastern and western cultures. The setting in the “Majat Code” resembles medieval Europe, but with a lot of Asian elements – such as the ninja-like fighting style of the Majat warriors. This concept became my starting point, on which I built the rest. After writing a few opening scenes I quickly realized that I wouldn’t be able to get any…

Spells of Blood and Kin presents a fresh and interesting twist on the paranormal. This is not as dark or gritty as a horror novel, but it is darker and more violent than I expected. It is also not a paranormal book that romanticizes the violent creatures of the world and for me, that honestly was a positive. I found it overall rather unexpected and definitely could not predict the way things would go. Also a positive. Lissa is a witch whose grandmother (and mentor in all things witch related) just died. She comes across as quite sheltered, having really had little interaction with anyone but her grandmother. I found her character to be a bit naive in some respects, also sweet, kind and found myself interested in her story. She is faced with having to replace her grandmother’s role and services in the community. Most the the magic she performs is based on placing spells on eggs, the recipients use the eggs when they want to release the spell. There is a time constraint on how long the eggs/spells are good and all of them are temporary (tied to the life of the egg they were cast on). But in the course of taking over…

Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION           HORROR   FANTASY               URBAN FANTASY         SCIENCE FICTION         HORROR       FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION           HORROR   Saint’s Blood (US) Sebastien de Castell 6/7/2016 Jo Fletcher The Root Na’amen Gobert Tilahun 6/7/2016 Night Shade Books Pathfinder Tales: Liar’s Bargain Pratt, Tim 6/7/2016 Tor Books Infomocracy Older, Malka 6/7/2016 Tor.com The Wheel of Osheim Lawrence, Mark 6/7/2016 Ace Last Call at the Night Shade Lounge Paul Krueger 6/7/2016 Quirk An Affinity for Steel Sam Sykes 6/7/2016 Orbit Spear of Light Brenda Cooper 6/7/2016 Pyr A Green and Ancient Light Frederic S. Durbin 6/7/2016 Saga Dr. DOA Simon…

Hope and Red could be the fun read you are looking for, especially if you love stories about thieves and vengeance, and warrior women. The two main characters are in quite different settings, each with intriguing elements. The story follows these two characters whose lives are both shattered from what they knew when they were young. Their paths after their tragedies are very different, yet similar in some ways. Here is the thing about this book. It is full of familiarity and predictability. These are not necessarily bad, depending on what you are looking for. I mean, there is a reason certain elements become familiar and predictable. It’s because generally, people enjoy them! If you are craving an easy, fun read with adventure and ups and downs, this could be good. I am always a sucker for stories of women who break the normal gender barriers. So, for this, I love that Hope is being trained to be a Vinchen warrior. This training is not easy, and she is certainly not accepted among the men of the order. But she powers through with dedication and becomes a fierce warrior. She becomes proof that, given the chance, there are some women…

Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY          HORROR          OTHER   FANTASY           HORROR OTHER         FANTASY          HORROR          OTHER   Dancer’s Lament Ian C. Esslemont 5/31/2016 Tor Books Leviathan’s Blood Ben Peek 5/31/2016 Thomas Dunne The Geek Feminist Revolution Hurley, Kameron 5/31/2016 Tor Books The Lazarus War: Legion Jamie Sawyer 5/31/2016 Orbit The Sleeping Prince Melinda Salisbury 5/31/2016 Scholastic Press Savage Thomas E. Sniegoski 5/31/2016 Simon Pulse Lord of Ashes Richard Ford 5/31/2016 Headline

  What could be more exciting than heading into a three day weekend? How about giving away one of our favorite books! Today we are very excited to offer a giveaway of Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine. If you’re not familiar with the book, it took the #2 spot on our Best of 2015 list! (and the #1 spot requires reading about 14 books first, and this one is a first in series! A great place to start) Pretty much, we loved this book and thanks to the great people at NAL, we have a copy of the paperback to share! If you’d like to hear more about it, feel free to check out our review or see the details below!     ABOUT THE BOOK

The Suicide Motor Club is a visceral portrayal of the darker side of vampires. As you would expect from Buehlman, these are not the sparkly, hunky types of vampires that teenage girls swoon over. These are the things of your nightmares becoming reality. The pacing and emotions are as relentless as the vampires of the suicide motor club. The main vampires we meet are part of what is called The Suicide Motor Club. They stalk their prey on the highways (if the word stalking can be used when they are driving over 100 miles per hour. At night, with no lights.) Choosing their victims, causing horrific crashes, and feasting on the survivors. This to me, is just a terrifying scenario. It shows a vulnerability as there is little you can do when driving down the highway if another car decides their purpose is to make you crash. Normal people are not trained or capable of evading this. The fear of crashing is honestly scary enough for me. Especially in the 1960s before there were as many safety features on cars. But then to survive the initial crash, trapped and bleeding as waiting prey for the vampires to feast on and finish the job just…

Here’s a rundown of the books we think you should look out for in coming in the week. See any that you are really looking forward to? Find any you had not heard of yet? Know of books we missed? We know we don’t have everything and would love to hear what you feel we may have overlooked.   FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION     FANTASY           URBAN FANTASY   SCIENCE FICTION       FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION     Exile for Dreamers Baldwin, Kathleen 5/24/2016 Tor Teen All Fixed Up Grimes, Linda 5/24/2016 Tor Books Dark Run Mike Brooks 5/24/2016 Saga The Sorcerer’s Daughter: The Defenders of Shannara Terry Brooks 5/24/2016 Del Rey A Blade of Black Steel Alex Marshall 5/24/2016 Orbit Smoke Dan Vyleta 5/26/2016 Doubleday

Today, we are happy to feature a conversation with Ernest Cline, author of Armada and Ready Player One!   Q) Let’s get right to the elephant in the room. The news is now out that your debut novel, Ready Player One, will be made into a film by Warner Brothers and legendary director Steven Spielberg (set to debut in theaters March of 2018)! What did you do when you got the news? A) I pinched myself a few hundred times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming—then I re-watched all of his movies—including the Indiana Jones films, which helped inspire certain elements of RPO’s story, along with T. and Close Encounters, two Spielberg films that played a large role in inspiring Armada. His work has influenced me throughout my life and writing career, so it’s a dream come true to have the opportunity to collaborate with him on the film adaptation of a story that his work helped inspire.   Q) What do you think of the casting announcements that have been made already? A) I think they’re fantastic! I’ve been a fan of Ben Mendelsohn’s acting since the ’80s, and his portrayal of John Daggett in The Dark Knight Rises…