#Atheneum Books for Young Readers

[roesolo]

Tales from the TBR: Sunny Parker is Here to Stay by Margaret Finnegan

Sunny Parker is Here to Stay, by Margaret Finnegan, (Apr. 2024, Atheneum Books for Young Readers), $17.99, ISBN: 9781665930086 Ages 8-12 Sunny Parker is a kid with a sunny disposition: she goes on “Neighbor Favor” walks with her neighbor, Mrs. Garcia; she helps out her other neighbors at the Del Mar Garden Apartments, and she helps her widowed dad – the manager of the apartments – by doing…

[stephaniejoanneus]

Camp Prodigy by Caroline Palmer

Camp Prodigy by Caroline Palmer. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2024. 9781665930383 Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 5 Format: ARC (June 2024 publication date) Genre:  Realistic graphic novel What did you like about the book? Tate Seong is inspired to take up the viola after hearing about Eli Violet, a kid their age who is a virtuoso. When Tate goes to a month long music…

[winningthesweepstakes]

Camp Prodigy by Caroline Palmer

Camp Prodigy by Caroline Palmer. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2024. 9781665930383 Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 5 Format: ARC (June 2024 publication date) Genre:  Realistic graphic novel What did you like about the book? Tate Seong is inspired to take up the viola after hearing about Eli Violet, a kid their age who is a virtuoso. When Tate goes to a month long music…

[hollymbryan]

Blog Tour + #Excerpt: KIN by Carole Boston Weatherford and Jeffery Boston Weatherford (w/ #giveaway)!

Welcome to Book-Keeping and my stop on the Rockstar Book Tours blog tour by Carole Boston Weatherford and Jeffery Boston Weatherford! I've got all the details on this new book of art and poetry, an excerpt, and a giveaway below.

About the Book

title: KIN: Rooted in Hope author: Carole Boston Weatherford art by: Jeffery Boston Weatherford publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers release date: 19 September 2023

A powerful portrait of a Black family tree shaped by enslavement and freedom, rendered in searing poems by acclaimed author Carole Boston Weatherford and stunning art by her son Jeffery Boston Weatherford. I call their names: Abram Alice Amey Arianna Antiqua I call their names: Isaac Jake James Jenny Jim Every last one, property of the Lloyds, the state’s preeminent enslavers. Every last one, with a mind of their own and a story that ain’t yet been told. Till now. Carole and Jeffery Boston Weatherford’s ancestors are among the founders of Maryland. Their family history there extends more than three hundred years, but as with the genealogical searches of many African Americans with roots in slavery, their family tree can only be traced back five generations before going dark. And so from scraps of history, Carole and Jeffery have conjured the voices of their kin, creating an often painful but ultimately empowering story of who their people were in a breathtaking book that is at once deeply personal yet all too universal. Carole’s poems capture voices ranging from her ancestors to Frederick Douglass to Harriet Tubman to the plantation house and land itself that connects them all, and Jeffery’s evocative illustrations help carry the story from the first mention of a forebear listed as property in a 1781 ledger to he and his mother’s homegoing trip to Africa in 2016. Shaped by loss, erasure, and ultimate reclamation, this is the story of not only Carole and Jeffery’s family, but of countless other Black families in America.

Add to Goodreads Purchase the Book

About the Author and Artist

Hailed as “a master” and “the dean” of nonfiction for young people,” Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King  Award winner Carole Boston Weatherford is a New York Times best-seller and two-time NAACP Image Award  winner. Since her 1995 debut, she has authored 70-plus books including four Caldecott Honor winners: Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre; Freedom in Congo Square, Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer: Spirit  of the Civil Rights Movement, and Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom. Her books have  won nine Coretta Scott King Awards or Honors. She writes the diverse books that she lacked as a child. A Baltimore native and the daughter of educators, Carole was virtually born with ink in her blood. At age six,  she dictated her first poem to her mother. Her father, a high school printing teacher, published a few of her  early poems on the press in his classroom. Meanwhile, her grandmothers passed down oral traditions and  stories. By middle school, Carole had transferred from an all-black public school to a majority-white, private  school where a teacher wrongfully accused her of plagiarism. That slight compelled her to chronicle a more  inclusive history, to amplify marginalized voices and to build monuments with words. Now, children’s books are a family affair for Carole. In KIN: Rooted in Hope, she and her son, award-winning  illustrator Jeffery Weatherford embark on a genealogical quest. Through multi-voiced poems and dramatic scratchboard illustrations, mother and son conjure the voices and visages of their forebears. Their ancestors lived through the American Revolution, fought in the Civil War, were enslaved alongside Frederick Douglass,  cofounded Reconstruction-era villages, and according to local lore, descended from African royalty.  A professor at Fayetteville State University, an HBCU in North Carolina, Carole has been recognized with the  Nonfiction Award from the Children’s Book Guild, the North Carolina Literature Award, the Ragan-Rubin  Award from North Carolina English Teachers Association and a place in the North Carolina Literary Hall of  Fame. She is a life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.  Jeffery earned his M.F.A. from Howard University where he was a Romare Bearden scholar and studied under artists from the Black Arts Movement. A rapper and a fine artist, Jeffery has performed or exhibited in  Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Baltimore, North Carolina, West Africa and the Middle East. Jeffery’s first book was  You Can Fly the Tuskegee Airmen, and his first picture book was Call Me Miss Hamilton. Both appeared on best  book of the year lists. 

Connect with Carole and Jeffery: Website | Twitter | Carole Instagram | Jeffrey Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub

Excerpt

Read the excerpt here.

About the Giveaway

One (1) lucky winner will receive a finished copy of KIN by Carole Boston Weatherford and Jeffery Boston Weatherford! This one is US only and ends 19 September. Enter via the Rafflecopter below, and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

[readtilyoudie]

FOREST HILLS BOOTLEG SOCIETY

[thegirlwiththelantern]

2023 Children's and Middle Grade Releases

This is the second 2023 Children’s and Middle Grade Releases post. In the first I tried to focus on UK authors but here I’ve cast a wider net. The release dates reflect the UK in the first section and US in the second. The Pearl Hunter by Miya T. Beck | 16 / 03 / 23 – HarperCollins Set in a world inspired by pre-Shogun era Japan, this is a stunning debut fantasy in the vein of Grace Lin about…

[graphicpolicy]

Brett's Favorite Comics of 2022 and a Reflection on the Past Year

Brett's Favorite Comics of 2022 and a Reflection on the Past Year. 30 comics and graphic novels that stood out in the past year #comics #comicbooks #graphicnovel

Much like 2021 and 2022, It feels weird writing a “best of” list for the past year since it’s been so difficult and so strange for so many. Comics, and entertainment as a whole, continued to be an escape from the rough reality of the previous year that was. Things struggled to get back to normal, whether you think it was too soon or not. There was some return to normality as comic conventions…

[librarycomic]

The Heart Never Forgets written by Ana Ot, illustrated by Hayden Goodman. Atheneum Books For Young Readers, 2024. 978-1665913058

Every page of this book is visually stunning, including the endpapers. The story is about townspeople gathering for a masquerade as the narrator remembers her beloved grandfather. My favorite thing about this book is the costumes and how Goodman's illustrations capture their dancing. It's a beautiful book about loss.

The Rock in My Throat by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Jiemei Lin. Carolrhoda Books, 2024. 9781728445687.

This picture book is heartbreaking. Yang's family's first language was Hmong. They moved to the US as refugees from Thailand when she was young. This is forty-three-year-old Yang's answer to why she became selectively mute in early grade school, and "wouldn't speak in English voluntarily until…college." (There's a more detailed explanation in the author's note at the end.) Lin's illustrations are amazing at capturing and conveying everything from Yang's withdrawal to the disrespect she and her parents suffered.

Creepy by Lee Sensenbrenner & Keiler Roberts. Drawn & Quarterly, 2022. 9781770466197.

Roberts' autobiographical family comics always make me laugh. In this story she draws herself as a creepy lady who only eats one thing (also creepy). It's a fable warning kids not to pay too much attention to screens while ignoring the world around them.

[richincolor]

New Releases - Week of August 27, 2024

We've found eight different new releases to shout about this week. Are any of them on your TBR? 

Bridge Across the Sky by Freeman Ng Atheneum Books for Young Readers

A raw and honest historical novel in verse about a Chinese teen who immigrates to the United States with his family and endures mistreatment at the Angel Island Immigration Station while trying to navigate his own course in a new world.

Tai Go and his family have crossed an ocean wider than a thousand rivers, joining countless other Chinese immigrants in search of a better life in the United States. Instead, they’re met with hostility and racism. Empowered by the Chinese Exclusion Act, the government detains the immigrants on Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay while evaluating their claims.

Held there indefinitely, Tai Go experiences the prison-like conditions, humiliating medical exams, and interrogations designed to trick detainees into failure. Yet amid the anger and sorrow, Tai Go also finds hope—in the poems carved into the walls of the barracks by others who have been detained there, in the actions of a group of fellow detainees who are ready to fight for their rights, in the friends he makes, and in a perceived enemy whose otherness he must come to terms with.

Unhappy at first with his father’s decision to come to the United States, Tai Go must overcome the racism he discovers in both others and himself and forge his own version of the American Dream.

The Sticky Note Manifesto of Aisha Agarwal by Ambika Vohra Quill Tree Books, Harper Collins

“How have you gotten out of your comfort zone?”

That’s the Stanford admissions prompt that valedictorian shoo-in Aisha Agarwal can’t answer. Her life’s been homework and junk food. So, when her crush, Brian, asks her to winter formal, Aisha thinks her fate is changing . . .

. . . until Brian stands her up.

As if on cue, a banged-up Volkswagen arrives outside the dance; the driver profusely apologizing for being late to pick her up. Does Aisha know him or what he’s talking about? No. Does the Stanford essay convince her to take him up on the ride? Absolutely.

To Aisha’s relief, seventeen-year-old Quentin Santos isn’t a kidnapper, but he is failing math. They strike a deal: if Aisha helps Quentin pass math, he’ll help push her out of her comfort zone, using a series of sticky note to-do’s—dares—that will not only give Aisha content for her essay, but will turn her into the confident person she’s always wanted to be.

From New Year’s Eve kisses to high school parties, Aisha’s sticky note manifesto is taking off. But when she falls for the wrong guy, hurts her best friend, and still can’t finish her essay, victory feels far from reach.

Is winning worth it if you end up losing yourself in the process?

Indiginerds edited by Alina Pete Iron Circus Comics

First Nations culture is living, vibrant, and evolving…

…and generations of Indigenous kids have grown up with pop culture creeping inexorably into our lives. From gaming to social media, pirate radio to garage bands, Star Trek to D&D, and missed connections at the pow wow, Indigenous culture is so much more than how it’s usually portrayed. These comics are here to celebrate those stories!

Featuring an all-Indigenous creative team, INDIGINERDS is an exhilarating anthology collecting 11 stories about Indigenous people balancing traditional ways of knowing with modern pop culture.

Bvlbancha Forever, by Ida Aronson and Tate Allen

Walk With The Earth Mother, by Maija Plamondon and Milo Applejohn

Roll Your Own Way, by Jordanna George

Digital Eden, by Raven John and Asia Wiseley

Amplification/Adaptation, by Em Matson and Nipinet Landsem

Welei (I Am Fine), by Bianca “binkz17” and Rhael McGregor

Saving Throws, by James Willier and Sam “Mushki” Medlock

Dorvan V, by Alina Pete

Uncured Horror, by Gillian Joseph and Wren Rios

Airwaves Pirates, by Autumn Star and PJ Underwood

Missed Pow Wow Connection, by Kameron White

Twin Flames by Olivia Abtahi Lee & Low Books

When djinn start to show up in twins Leila and Bianca’s small Virginia hometown, the only way they and their families will survive will be if the twins can get past their differences and start to act like sisters again.

Twins Bianca and Leila could not be more different from each other. Being both Argentinian and Iranian in a small town has always been hard, but with Leila shunning her heritage and Bianca embracing it, the two walk very different paths. They run in different circles of friends, and barely talk anymore. Leila’s a homebody who loves to craft and plans on marrying her high school sweetheart. Bianca’s more anti-establishment and plans to get out of Dodge as soon as humanly possible.

But on their eighteenth birthday, the neighbor’s barn is burned down–and it doesn’t seem to have been caused by anything normal like an electrical or fuel source. When Leila encounters a mysterious monster arising from the fire, suddenly she gains strange powers–and can no longer touch iron or even eat foods with high iron content.

What are these creatures and where are they coming from? What do they want with Leila–or other people in town, for that matter? Can the twins learn to rely on each other–and their cultures–to banish them? It’ll take a sisterly reconciliation for the girls to find out and to save their hometown in this New Visions Award-winning fantasy adventure.

Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay Kokila

From the author of the National Book Award finalist Patron Saints of Nothing comes an emotionally charged, moving novel about four generations of Filipino American boys grappling with identity, masculinity, and their fraught father-son relationships.

Watsonville, 1930. Francisco Maghabol barely ekes out a living in the fields of California. As he spends what little money he earns at dance halls and faces increasing violence from white men in town, Francisco wonders if he should’ve never left the Philippines.

Stockton, 1965. Between school days full of prejudice from white students and teachers and night shifts working at his aunt’s restaurant, Emil refuses to follow in the footsteps of his labor organizer father, Francisco. He’s going to make it in this country no matter what or who he has to leave behind.

Denver, 1983. Chris is determined to prove that his overbearing father, Emil, can’t control him. However, when a missed assignment on “ancestral history” sends Chris off the football team and into the library, he discovers a desire to know more about Filipino history―even if his father dismisses his interest as unamerican and unimportant.

Philadelphia, 2020. Enzo struggles to keep his anxiety in check as a global pandemic breaks out and his abrasive grandfather moves in. While tensions are high between his dad and his lolo, Enzo’s daily walks with Lolo Emil have him wondering if maybe he can help bridge their decades-long rift.

Told in multiple perspectives, Everything We Never Had unfolds like a beautifully crafted nesting doll, where each Maghabol boy forges his own path amid heavy family and societal expectations, passing down his flaws, values, and virtues to the next generation, until it’s up to Enzo to see how he can braid all these strands and men together.

Our Shouts Echo by Jade Adia Disney-Hyperion

Survival Tip #1: The world is going to shit. Whatever you do, trust no one.

Sixteen-year old Niarah Holloway’s only goal in life is to get through it unnoticed. That, and to spend her first summer in LA building a doomsday bunker in her backyard. Because if the past few years have taught Niarah anything, it’s that the ocean levels are rising, minimum wage is a scam, and the people who are supposed to protect you will hurt you. Now the only thing that helps Niarah stay afloat amidst the constant waves of anxiety and dread that threaten to drag her under is her new mantra: Be prepared.

But Niarah wasn’t prepared for Mac Torres. Not for his disarmingly cute face, or for his surfer lifestyle, or for the way his smile resuscitates her heart. Mac is a bomb that blows Niarah’s world to pieces, but instead of disaster, he fills it with sunset bonfires, breakfast burritos, and new friends.

For years, Niarah’s life has revolved around ignoring the demons of her past, avoiding the problems of her present, and preparing for the catastrophes of the future. Now Mac—with his sunshine laugh and infectious optimism— is determined to show her another way to be. But in a world where the worst feels inevitable, can one summer be enough to light the way to a hopeful future? Can one summer be enough to fall in love?

With Love, Echo Park by Laura Taylor Namey Atheneum

Seventeen-year-old Clary is set to inherit her family’s florist shop, La Rosa Blanca—one of the last remnants of the Cuban business district that once thrived in Los Angeles’s Echo Park neighborhood. Clary knows Echo Park is where she’ll leave a legacy, and nothing is more important to her than keeping the area’s unique history alive.

Besides Clary’s florist shop, there’s only one other business left founded by Cuban immigrants fleeing Castro’s regime in the sixties and seventies. And Emilio, who’s supposed to take over Avalos Bicycle Works one day, is more flight risk than dependable successor. While others might find Emilio appealing, Clary can see him itching to leave now that he’s graduated, and she’ll never be charmed by a guy who doesn’t care if one more Echo Park business fades away.

But then Clary is caught off guard when an unexpected visitor delivers a shocking message from someone she thought she’d left behind. Meanwhile, Emilio realizes leaving home won’t be so easy—and Clary, who has always been next door, is who he confides in. As the summer days unfold, they find there’s something stronger than local history tying them together.

Libertad by Bessie Flores Zaldivar Dial Books

A queer YA coming-of-age set during the rigged Honduran presidential election, about a young poet discovering the courage it takes to speak her truth about the people and country she loves.

As the contentious 2017 presidential election looms and protests rage across every corner of the city, life in Tegucigalpa, Honduras churns louder and faster. For her part, high school senior Libertad (Libi) Morazán takes heart in writing political poetry for her anonymous Instagram account and a budding romance someone new. But things come to a head when Mami sees texts on her phone mentioning a kiss with a girl and Libi discovers her beloved older brother, Maynor, playing a major role in the protests. As Libertad faces the political and social corruption around her, stifling homophobia at home and school, and ramped up threats to her poetry online, she begins dreaming of a future in which she doesn’t have to hide who she is or worry about someone she loves losing their life just for speaking up. Then the ultimate tragedy strikes, and leaving her family and friends—plus the only home she’s ever known—might be her only option.

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 3.5/5

Book Blurb:

From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, this novel follows two Cuban teens in LA’s Echo Park neighborhood who clash over their visions for the future, the secrets between their families…and the sparks flying between them.

Seventeen-year-old Clary is set to inherit her family’s florist shop, La Rosa Blanca—one of the last remnants of the Cuban business district that once thrived in Los Angeles’s Echo Park neighborhood. Clary knows Echo Park is where she’ll leave a legacy, and nothing is more important to her than keeping the area’s unique history alive.

Besides Clary’s florist shop, there’s only one other business left founded by Cuban immigrants fleeing Castro’s regime in the sixties and seventies. And Emilio, who’s supposed to take over Avalos Bicycle Works one day, is more flight risk than dependable successor. While others might find Emilio appealing, Clary can see him itching to leave now that he’s graduated, and she’ll never be charmed by a guy who doesn’t care if one more Echo Park business fades away.

But then Clary is caught off guard when an unexpected visitor delivers a shocking message from someone she thought she’d left behind. Meanwhile, Emilio realizes leaving home won’t be so easy—and Clary, who has always been next door, is who he confides in. As the summer days unfold, they find there’s something stronger than local history tying them together.

Review:

When a seventeen year old florist life is thrown for a loop by a visit from her half sister (which she had no clue she had) and the fact that many of the other Cuban immigrant founded businesses around her are gone. Clary is determined to inherit her family's florist shop and leave behind a legacy. She's determined to keep the stronghold of her family's business and the only other Cuban founded business around is the bicycle shop where Emilio, a charming flighty boy works. Emilio is determined to leave his family's bicycle shop after he graduates and Clary doesn't understand why he would want to. Clary and Emilio begin spending time together and sharing their secrets as both their lives are getting more difficult. Yet as they start falling for one another, can a romance really work between a boy who wants to go and a girl who is determined to stay? This story deals a lot with family, community, guilt, and secrets. The romance was sweet overall but the emphasis on the community and family aspect of this book was what made it really well done. I liked that it was a sweet read overall and that the community and culture is shown throughout the book.

Release Date: August 27,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing | Atheneum Books for Young Readers for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[literaticat]

Hi Jenn! You've been getting so many middle grade and chapter book questions; it was making me wonder, how does submission work for that? Would you ever be in a situation where you go one sub with an author for their MG book while also on sub for CBs? Or are they do close editor/imprint-wise? I'm curious because a 50k MG is for a totally different audience than a 10k CB, but it seems like there could be overlap? Or would you have to wait until the MG sells or is "dead" to go on sub with CBs?

(say it with me)

IT DEPENDS! :D

Not every imprint publishes both MG and chapter books. (Some do one, or the other! Some do both! Some do neither!). Not every editor wants both. (Some do both! Some want one, or the other, or neither!)

It's also kind of unlikely that a given author would have a MG and a chapter book proposal ready to go out at the exact same time. That's just not how it usually works in my experience -- usually, an author would finish a book, we'd polish it, we'd go out with it -- then later, at some point, they'd finish the proposal, we'd polish it, we'd go out with it. If we WERE going out at the exact same time, we might have to just split up the publishers in such a way that there was no conflict at all.

But the more likely scenario is, there will be some space between the two, so either the first thing would have sold by then, OR we'd at least have a good idea of where it had gone and where it was going to, so we could work around those imprints and go to different places as appropriate. We wouldn't have to wait until the MG was "dead" (your words not mine!), but it would be extremely helpful to know who we had already hit, and when, and what the outcome was, before peppering that editor or imprint with more submissions from the same author.

So for example, I sent the MG to Editor A at Atheneum, an imprint of S&S -- they passed. I then send the MG to Editor B at S&S Books for Young Readers. They are still considering. When the chapter book is ready, I probably wouldn't go to Editor A, since they JUST passed on this author's other work and don't do a lot of chapter books, or Editor B, since they are actively considering this author's MG work -- but I probably could go to Editor C at Aladdin, a third imprint of S&S that does more chapter books, there's not a conflict there.

I send the MG to Editor X at Little Brown, who loves MG but doesn't do chapter books. They decline. Well, I can't send to anyone else at LB, that's just how it works, they are "one and done" -- but when the chapter book is ready, I could send the chapter book to Editor Y at Little Brown, who does chapter books.

(But a different author, or different manuscripts, or different timing, might have different considerations. There's simply not one answer, making submission lists is one of the things i spend more time on than anything else, it's a whole THING. A new puzzle every time!)

[roesolo]

A British Girl's Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak coming to paperback in August!

A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak, by Laura Taylor-Namey, (Sept. 2023, Atheneum Books for Young Readers), $19.99, ISBN: 9781665915335 Ages 12+ I am a latecomer to this one – my 2023 was a case study in “my spirit was willing but my reading ability was weak” – but you don’t need to be! Flora is grieving. Her mother has died after a long illness, and her grief is mixed with the…

[book-bar-review]

Stranger Than Fanfiction by Chris Colfer

Title: Stranger Than Fanfiction Author: Chris Colfer Genre: Road Fiction Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Release Date: February 28, 2017 Method: Hardcover Pages: 295 ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

What if Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, or Kevin Hart emailed you and said that they were going to join you and your friends on your road trip? Well, in Chris Colfer's road fiction novel Stranger Than Fanfiction, we jump into just that topic.

When Topher Collins jokingly invited Cash Carter (The main actor of Topher's favorite TV show.) to Collins and his friends' road trip, he'd never imagined that Cash would actually say yes. Now, the four friends and a famous celebrity embark on a life changing trip filled with adventure, secrets, and bloodthirsty paparazzi. The question is, how long will it take for the band of companions to find out the truth about their favorite superstar?

The narrative shows the truth and gives us situations the targeted audience can relate to as well as characters, which is what I really like to see in any novel. It dives into themes of race, friendship, fame, and the LGBT community. It deals with sexual identity, gender identity, transitioning into adulthood, pivoting from your family's expectations, and the cons of being a celebrity, which I quite like.

This book is a great read if you're traveling or just sitting at home and need something to pass the time. Chris Colfer put so much time and emotion into this book that sometimes I forget it's fictional. Many of his own experiences are scattered across the pages. With every sentence and every word, you can feel something. Yes, it may just be a stack of bound paper, but that doesn't mean that the passion isn't there.

Diving in blind,

Atheneum Treasure

[winningthesweepstakes]

Stuntboy, In-Between Time  by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Raúl the Third

Stuntboy, In-Between Time  by Jason Reynolds, illustrated by Raúl the Third. A Caitlyn Dlouhy Book, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2023. 9781534418226 Rating:  1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 4 Format: Hardcover Genre: Realistic fiction What did you like about the book?  When last we saw our hero, Portico Reeves, a.k.a. Stuntboy, “the best superhero most people have never heard…

[reviewsthatburn]

As the final book of Alanna’s quartet, LIONESS RAMPANT wraps up several things left hanging from the previous books. Since the previous book (rather dramatically) featured Alanna rejecting Jon’s proposal, this shows Alanna having other relationships (George and a new person), and gives a strong indication as to who Jon’s queen will be. It reveals the result of Thom’s magical experiments, Claw’s attempt at George’s throne, and the contents of the mysterious letter from the sorceress of Alois. 

Full Review at Link.

[fearsmagazine]

The 2022 Bram Stoker Awards® Final Ballot

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) announced the Final Ballot for the 2022 Bram Stoker Awards®, an award they’ve been presenting  in various categories since 1987 (see http://www.thebramstokerawards.com/)

Works appearing on this Ballot are Bram Stoker Award® Nominees for Superior Achievement in their Category, e.g., Novel.  Congratulations to all those appearing on the Final Ballot.

THE 2022 BRAM STOKER AWARDS® FINAL BALLOT

Superior Achievement in a Novel • Iglesias, Gabino – The Devil Takes You Home (Mullholland Press) • Katsu, Alma – The Fervor (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) • Kiste, Gwendolyn – Reluctant Immortals (Saga Press) • Malerman, Josh – Daphne (Del Rey) • Ward, Catriona – Sundial (Tor Nightfire)

Superior Achievement in a First Novel • Adams, Erin – Jackal (Bantam Books) • Cañas, Isabel – The Hacienda (Berkley) • Jones, KC – Black Tide (Tor Nightfire) • Nogle, Christi – Beulah (Cemetery Gates Media) • Wilkes, Ally – All the White Spaces (Emily Bestler Books/Atria/Titan Books)

Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel • Dawson, Delilah S. – Camp Scare (Delacorte Press) • Kraus, Daniel – They Stole Our Hearts (Henry Holt and Co.) • Malinenko, Ally – This Appearing House (Katherine Tegen Books) • Senf, Lora – The Clackity (Atheneum Books for Young Readers) • Stringfellow, Lisa – A Comb of Wishes (Quill Tree Books)

Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel • Aquilone, James (editor) – Kolchak: The Night Stalker: 50th Anniversary (Moonstone Books) • Gailey, Sarah (author) and Bak, Pius (artist) – Eat the Rich (Boom! Studios) • Manzetti, Alessandro (author) and Cardoselli, Stefano (artist/author) – Kraken Inferno: The Last Hunt (Independent Legions Publishing) • Tynion IV, James (author) and Dell’Edera, Werther (artist) – Something is Killing the Children, Vol. 4 (Boom! Studios) • Young, Skottie (author) and Corona, Jorge (artist) – The Me You Love in the Dark (Image Comics)

Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel • Fraistat, Ann – What We Harvest (Delacorte Press) • Jackson, Tiffany D. – The Weight of Blood (Katherine Tegen Books) • Marshall, Kate Alice – These Fleeting Shadows (Viking) • Ottone, Robert P. – The Triangle (Raven Tale Publishing) • Schwab, V.E. – Gallant (Greenwillow Books) • Tirado, Vincent – Burn Down, Rise Up (Sourcebooks Fire)

Superior Achievement in Long Fiction • Allred, Rebecca J. and White, Gordon B. – And in Her Smile, the World (Trepidatio Publishing) • Carmen, Christa – “Through the Looking Glass and Straight into Hell” (Orphans of Bliss: Tales of Addiction Horror) (Wicked Run Press) • Hightower, Laurel – Below (Ghoulish Books) • Katsu, Alma – The Wehrwolf (Amazon Original Stories) • Knight, EV – Three Days in the Pink Tower (Creature Publishing)

Superior Achievement in Short Fiction • Dries, Aaron – “Nona Doesn't Dance” (Cut to Care: A Collection of Little Hurts) (IFWG Australia, IFWG International) • Gwilym, Douglas – “Poppy’s Poppy” (Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine, Vol. V, No. 6) • McCarthy, J.A.W.  – “The Only Thing Different Will Be the Body” (A Woman Built by Man) (Cemetery Gates Media) • Taborska, Anna – “A Song for Barnaby Jones” (Zagava) • Taborska, Anna – “The Star” (Great British Horror 7: Major Arcane) (Black Shuck Books) • Yardley, Mercedes M. – “Fracture” (Mother: Tales of Love and Terror) (Weird Little Worlds)

Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection • Ashe, Paula D. – We Are Here to Hurt Each Other (Nictitating Books) • Joseph, RJ – Hell Hath No Sorrow Like a Woman Haunted (The Seventh Terrace) • Khaw, Cassandra – Breakable Things (Undertow Publications) • Thomas, Richard – Spontaneous Human Combustion (Keylight Books) • Veres, Attila – The Black Maybe (Valancourt Books)

Superior Achievement in a Screenplay • Cooper, Scott – The Pale Blue Eye (Cross Creek Pictures, Grisbi Productions, Streamline Global Group) • Derrickson, Scott and Cargill, C. Robert – The Black Phone (Blumhouse Productions, Crooked Highway, Universal Pictures) • Duffer Brothers, The – Stranger Things: Episode 04.01 "Chapter One: The Hellfire Club" (21 Laps Entertainment, Monkey Massacre, Netflix, Upside Down Pictures) • Garland, Alex - Men (DNA Films) • Goth, Mia and West, Ti – Pearl (A24, Bron Creative, Little Lamb, New Zealand Film Commission)

Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection • Bailey, Michael and Simon, Marge – Sifting the Ashes (Crystal Lake Publishing) • Lynch, Donna – Girls from the County (Raw Dog Screaming Press) • Pelayo, Cynthia – Crime Scene (Raw Dog Screaming Press) • Saulson, Sumiko – The Rat King: A Book of Dark Poetry (Dooky Zines) • Sng, Christina – The Gravity of Existence (Interstellar Flight Press)

Superior Achievement in an Anthology • Datlow, Ellen – Screams from the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous (Tor Nightfire) • Hartmann, Sadie and Saywers, Ashley – Human Monsters: A Horror Anthology (Dark Matter Ink) • Nogle, Christi and Becker, Willow – Mother: Tales of Love and Terror (Weird Little Worlds) • Ryan, Lindy – Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga (Black Spot Books) • Tantlinger, Sara – Chromophobia: A Strangehouse Anthology by Women in Horror (Strangehouse Books)

Superior Achievement in Non–Fiction • Cisco, Michael – Weird Fiction: A Genre Study (Palgrave Macmillan) • Hieber, Leanna Renee and Janes, Andrea – A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts (Citadel Press) • Kröger, Lisa and Anderson, Melanie R. – Toil and Trouble: A Women’s History of the Occult (Quirk Books) • Waggoner, Tim – Writing in the Dark: The Workbook (Guide Dog Books) • Wytovich, Stephanie M. – Writing Poetry in the Dark (Raw Dog Screaming Press)

Superior Achievement in Short Non–Fiction • Murray, Lee – “I Don’t Read Horror (& Other Weird Tales)” (Interstellar Flight Magazine) (Interstellar Flight Press) • Pelayo, Cynthia – “This is Not a Poem” (Writing Poetry in the Dark) (Raw Dog Screaming Press) • Wetmore, Jr., Kevin J. – “A Clown in the Living Room: The Sinister Clown on Television” (The Many Lives of Scary Clowns: Essays on Pennywise, Twisty, the Joker, Krusty and More) (McFarland and Company) • Wood, L. Marie – “African American Horror Authors and Their Craft: The Evolution of Horror Fiction from African Folklore” (Conjuring Worlds: An Afrofuturist Textbook for Middle and High School Students) (Conjure World) • Wood, L. Marie, “The H Word: The Horror of Hair” (Nightmare Magazine, No. 118) (Adamant Press)