Debut Spotlight (4/10/20)

With genres from literary fiction to fantasy, and authors from Australia to LA, this month’s debut round-up has something for everyone! Check out some of the new faces coming soon.

FLYAWAY by Kathleen Jennings

“Jennings’s wonderful, slim debut pulls readers into an eerie, enchanting fairy tale set in a trio of Australian towns so tiny that they hardly exist…In spellbinding, lyrical prose Jennings lulls readers into this rich, dreamlike world. Lovers of contemporary fairy tales and magical realism will find this a masterful work.”–Publishers Weekly, starred review

A STAR IS BORED by Byron Lane

“Lane debuts with a fizzy roman à clef about a celebrity assistant, playfully alluding to his experience working for the late actor Carrie Fisher. Lane begins with Charlie Besson’s job interview, ‘panicked and parked outside the estate of Hollywood royalty’…If any of this were true (a note from Lane’s attorney says otherwise), Lane’s affecting tale would show how the real Charlie found his own superpower—as a novelist.”–Publishers Weekly

THE SAFE PLACE by Anna Downes

“A prize finalist in Australia, Downes brings us disappointed thespian Emily Proudman, who thinks she’s found THE SAFE PLACE she needs when she agrees to become housekeeper/nanny at the French estate of the Dennys—but her employers’ dark secrets will out.”–Library Journal Pre-Pub Alert

CROSSINGS by Alex Landragin

“Comprising three different narratives that can be read either sequentially or by following a different pathway, Landragin’s CROSSINGS blends rumors of a ghost story by Baudelaire, a noir fantasy whose protagonist suggests Walter Benjamin, and the fantasies of a queen whose life spans seven generations. (A former author of Lonely Planet travel guides, Australian grant winner Landragin just can’t settle down to one place.)”–Library Journal Pre-Pub Alert

THE SIN IN THE STEEL by Ryan Van Loan

A sparkling debut fantasy set in a diverse world, featuring dead gods, a pirate queen, shapeshifting mages, and a Sherlockian teenager determined to upend her society.

ARTIFACT by Arlene Heyman

An intimate and sweeping portrait spanning half a century about love, sex, motherhood, and ambition, and the life of biologist Lottie Kristin.

FLYAWAY by Kathleen Jennings; 9781250260499; available 7/28/20.
A STAR IS BORED by Byron Lane; 9781250266491; available 7/28/20.
THE SAFE PLACE by Anna Downes; 9781250264800; available 7/14/20.
CROSSINGS by Alex Landragin; 9781250259042; available 7/28/20.
THE SIN IN THE STEEL by Ryan Van Loan; 9781250222589; available 7/21/20.
ARTIFACT by Arlene Heyman; 9781635574715; available 7/7/20.