Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Cover Reveal News Round-Up, Including Books By Homer & Translator Emily Wilson, Sajni Patel, Mitch Albom, Brandon Sanderson

Cheer up as new books from Sajni Patel, Mitch Albom, Brandon Sanderson, and the late Homer with translator Emily Wilson are on their way.

The Iliad by Homer, Translated by Emily Wilson

The Iliad by Homer, Translated by Emily Wilson

Synopsis

The greatest literary landmark of classical antiquity masterfully rendered by the most celebrated translator of our time.

When Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey appeared in 2017―revealing the ancient poem in a contemporary idiom that was “fresh, unpretentious, and lean” (Madeline Miller, Washington Post)―critics lauded it as “a revelation” (Susan Chira, New York Times) and “a cultural landmark” (Charlotte Higgins, Guardian) that would forever change how Homer is read in English. Now Wilson has returned with an equally revelatory translation of the first great Homeric epic: the Iliad.

In Wilson’s hands, this exciting and often horrifying work now gallops at a pace befitting its best battle scenes, roaring with the clamor of arms, the bellowing boasts of victors, and the anguished cries of dying men. Wilson’s unadorned but resonant language plumbs the poem’s profound pathos and reveals its characters as palpably real, even “complicated,” human beings. Capping a decade of intense engagement with Homer’s poetry, Wilson’s Iliad now gives us a complete Homer for our generation.


The Iliad by Homer, Translated by Emily Wilson will be released on September 26, 2023.

A Drop of Venom by Sajni Patel

A Drop of Venom by Sajni Patel

Synopsis

Circe goes YA in this unapologetically feminist retelling of the Medusa myth steeped in Indian mythology, a YA epic fantasy addition to the Rick Riordan Presents imprint.

All monsters and heroes have beginnings. This is mine.

Sixteen-year-old Manisha is no stranger to monsters—she’s been running from them for years, from beasts who roam the jungle to the King’s army, who forced her people, the naga, to scatter to the ends of the earth. You might think that the kingdom’s famed holy temples atop the floating mountains, where Manisha is now a priestess, would be safe—but you would be wrong.

Seventeen-year-old Pratyush is a famed slayer of monsters, one of the King’s most prized warriors and a frequent visitor to the floating temples. For every monster the slayer kills, years are added to his life. You might think such a powerful warrior could do whatever he wants, but true power lies with the King. Tired after years of fighting, Pratyush wants nothing more than a peaceful, respectable life.

When Pratyush and Manisha meet, each sees in the other the possibility to chart a new path. Unfortunately, the kingdom’s powerful have other plans. A temple visitor sexually assaults Manisha and pushes her off the mountain into a pit of vipers. A month later, the King sends Pratyush off to kill one last monster (a powerful nagin who has been turning men to stone) before he’ll consider granting his freedom.

Except Manisha doesn’t die, despite the hundreds of snake bites covering her body and the venom running through her veins. She rises from the pit more powerful than ever before, with heightened senses, armor-like skin, and blood that can turn people to stone. And Pratyush doesn’t know it, but the “monster” he’s been sent to kill is none other than the girl he wants to marry.

Alternating between Manisha’s and Pratyush’s perspectives, Sajni Patel weaves together lush language, high stakes, and page-turning suspense, demanding an answer to the question “What does it truly mean to be a monster?”


A Drop of Venom by Sajni Patel will be released on January 16, 2024.

The Little Liar by Mitch Albom

The Little Liar by Mitch Albom

Synopsis

Beloved bestselling author Mitch Albom returns with a powerful novel that moves from a small village in Greece during the Holocaust, to America, where the intertwined lives of three survivors are forever changed by the perils of deception and the grace of redemption.

Eleven-year-old Nico Crispi never told a lie. When the Nazi’s invade his home in Salonika, Greece, the trustworthy boy is discovered by a German officer, who offers him a chance to save his family. All Nico has to do is convince his fellow Jewish residents to board trains heading towards “the east” where they are promised jobs and safety. Unaware that this is all a cruel ruse, the innocent boy goes to the station platform every day and reassures the passengers that the journey is safe. But when the final train is at the station, Nico sees his family being loaded into a large boxcar crowded with other neighbors. Only after it is too late does Nico discover that he helped send the people he loved—and all the others—to their doom at Auschwitz.

Nico never tells the truth again.

In The Little Liar, his first novel set during the Holocaust, Mitch Albom interweaves the stories of Nico, his brother Sebastian, and their schoolmate Fanni, who miraculously survive the death camps and spend years searching for Nico, who has become a pathological liar, and the Nazi officer who radically changed their lives. As the decades pass, Albom reveals the consequences of what they said, did, and endured.

A moving parable that explores honesty, survival, revenge and devotion, The Little Liar is Mitch Albom at his very best. Narrated by the voice of Truth itself, it is a timeless story about the harm we inflict with our deceits, and the power of love to ultimately redeem us.


The Little Liar by Mitch Albom will be released on November 7, 2023.

The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson

Synopsis

#1 New York Times Bestselling author Brandon Sanderson meshes Jason Bourne and epic fantasy in this captivating adventure that throws an amnesiac wizard into time travel shenanigans―where his only hope of survival lies in recovering his missing memories.

A man awakes in a clearing in what appears to be medieval England with no memory of who he is, where he came from, or why he is there. Chased by a group from his own time, his sole hope for survival lies in regaining his missing memories, making allies among the locals, and perhaps even trusting in their superstitious boasts. His only help from the “real world” should have been a guidebook entitled The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, except his copy exploded during transit. The few fragments he managed to save provide clues to his situation, but can he figure them out in time to survive?


The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England by Brandon Sanderson will be released on June 27, 2023.

Monday, April 3, 2023

Cover Reveal News Round-Up, Including Books By Terry Brooks, John Grisham, Susan Dennard, And Tad Williams

Here is a line-up of upcoming sequels by veteran and beloved authors, including Terry Brooks, John Grisham, Susan Dennard, and Tad Williams.

Sister of Starlit Seas by Terry Brooks

Sister of Starlit Seas by Terry Brooks

Synopsis

A rebellious young heroine sets off on an adventure of self-discovery in the third novel of an epic fantasy series set in the world of Viridian Deep, from the legendary author behind the Shannara saga.

Auris’s adoptive sister Char has always been the baby of the family—a position that grates on her, especially when everyone is so intent on telling her exactly what to do and how to do it. Plus, there is her headstrong, impulsive behavior, which her family has always seen as a liability. But Char is certain that the quality most see as her greatest weakness is actually her greatest strength: her willingness to instantly brave danger and leap to the rescue the minute anyone she loves is threatened.

Char knows she can never grow into the woman she was meant to be under her family's loving but repressive eye, so a month before she turns fifteen, she runs away, and ends up joining a Human pirate crew in the warm, southerly regions of her world, and she has not been home since. But three years into her pirate career, her captain—and the man she is convinced she loves—is captured by the those in charge of the slave trade he has been fighting. And when Char leaps in to rescue him, she suddenly finds herself thrust into an adventure that will uncover secrets she never suspected about herself. And which will maybe, finally, teach her to look before she leaps.


Sister of Starlit Seas by Terry Brooks will be released on November 14, 2023.

The Exchange: After The Firm by John Grisham

The Exchange: After The Firm by John Grisham

Synopsis

#1 New York Times bestselling author John Grisham delivers high-flying international suspense in a stunning new legal thriller that marks the return of Mitch McDeere, the brilliant hero of The Firm.

What became of Mitch and Abby McDeere after they exposed the crimes of Memphis law firm Bendini, Lambert & Locke and fled the country? The answer is in The Exchange, the riveting sequel to The Firm, the blockbuster thriller that launched the career of America’s favorite storyteller. It is now fifteen years later, and Mitch and Abby are living in Manhattan, where Mitch is a partner at the largest law firm in the world. When a mentor in Rome asks him for a favor that will take him far from home, Mitch finds himself at the center of a sinister plot that has worldwide implications—and once again endangers his colleagues, friends, and family. Mitch has become a master at staying one step ahead of his adversaries, but this time there’s nowhere to hide.

Don’t miss John Grisham’s new book, THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM, coming soon!


The Exchange: After The Firm by John Grisham will be released on October 17, 2023.

The Hunting Moon by Susan Dennard

The Hunting Moon by Susan Dennard

Synopsis

The highly anticipated sequel to The Luminaries by New York Times bestselling author Susan Dennard.

Winnie Wednesday has gotten everything she thought she wanted. She passed the deadly hunter trials, her family has been welcomed back into the Luminaries, and overnight, she has become a local celebrity.

The Girl Who Jumped. The Girl Who Got Bitten.

Unfortunately, it all feels wrong. For one, nobody will believe her about the new nightmare called the Whisperer that's killing hunters each night. Everyone blames the werewolf, even though Winnie is certain the wolf is innocent.

On top of that, following her dad's convoluted clues about the Dianas, their magic, and what happened in Hemlock Falls four years ago is leaving her with more questions than answers.

Then to complicate it all, there is still only one person who can help her: Jay Friday, the boy with plenty of problems all his own.

As bodies and secrets pile up around town, Winnie finds herself questioning what it means to be a true Wednesday and a true Luminary―and also where her fierce-hearted loyalties might ultimately have to lie.


The Hunting Moon by Susan Dennard will be released on November 7, 2023.

The Navigator's Children by Tad Williams

The Navigator's Children by Tad Williams

Synopsis

The latest saga in the New York Times bestselling world of Osten Ard concludes in the fourth and final Last King of Osten Ard novel.

The Hayholt is besieged by the Norns. Once the home of their immortal brethren, the Sithi, now capital of the kingdom of men, the fabled castle is under attack. And as the world is distracted by this strike against humankind, the Norns’ deathless witch-queen Utuk’ku turns towards the mysterious fateful valley called Tanakirú—the Vale of Mists.

Meanwhile, Queen Miriamele hurries to save the Hayholt and capture the treacherous noble Pasevalles, but arrives to discover the traitor has escaped.

And inside Tanakirú, Vale of Mists, the bond between Prince Morgan and Nezeru, a renegade Norn, has become something deeper and stranger than either of them could have anticipated. They journey ever deeper to the heart of the valley’s mystery, encountering wonder and horror, and come face to face at last with the ancient secret that has kindled the Norn Queen’s war—a secret that will destroy immortals and humans alike.


The Navigator's Children by Tad Williams will be released on November 7, 2023.