This week, I participated in the #fac16 second chat that specifically featured Science Fiction/Fantasy/Historical debut books and authors on July 12, 2015. If you missed it, I am here to provide you with a full recap as well as my immediate thoughts after. To see a list of the authors that participated, check out Kristen's post!
Recap
First things first, I want to start by saying I absolutely adore Kristen, Nicola, and Rachel for hosting this and giving these authors a chance to highlight and sell their books to the masses. A huge "You guys rock!" to them. I only wish to be as awesome as the three of you at some point in my life. I am going to give you guys a quick rundown of the chat and I am going to do my best to feature every author that participated as much as possible, but there were so many so please don't have hurt feelings if I left you out. I love you all! *heart eyes*
There were SEVEN questions, so I am going to highlight three of my favourite answers for each. Feel free to scroll through my favourites on Twitter to read all my favourite answers and see about these glorious books!
The first question asked was for everyone to introduce themselves! It got the authors and Twitter users talking about the books and a short little blurb about the book itself. Some of my favourite answers were...
Q1) Hi! I’m Julie Eshbaugh, and my book, IVORY AND BONE, is an adventure romance set in prehistory #FAC16
— Julie Eshbaugh (@JulieEshbaugh) July 12, 2015
A1) Hi! I'm Kali, author of SHALLOW GRAVES, a horror/dark fantasy about a girl who dies and comes back as a magical monster. #FAC16
— Kali Wallace (@kaliphyte) July 12, 2015
Hi! THE READER (Putnam/Penguin, Aug. ‘16) is a nonlinear multi-POV fantasy with assassins, gunslinging pirates, and secret societies. #FAC16
— Traci Chee (@tracichee) July 12, 2015
The next question asked was what are some of the features of your book, including if there are any yummy boys. Some of my favourite answers were...
Q2: Teens with a rare genetic ability can access a mysterious alternate universe in WHERE FUTURES END.
#FAC16
— Parker Peevyhouse (@parkerpeevy) July 12, 2015
A2: ASBAB has 1.sorcerer boys 2.tentacled monsters 3.magicians 4.hobgoblins 5.force fields 6.setting yourself on fire and living #fac16
— Jessica Cluess (@JessCluess) July 12, 2015
Q2- My world is a desert where magic has kept the world's water safe for generations. Except oops, the magic is dying out. #FAC16
— Becky Allen (@allreb) July 12, 2015
After this, it was asked what inspired the world that the author created. I adored these answers...
A3: Much of the food is also inspired by things I've actually made. Bittersweet chocolate cream pie with toasted meringue, anyone? #FAC16
— Audrey Crass (@audwrites) July 12, 2015
Q3) The world of IVORY AND BONE was inspired by Alaska and British Columbia--the far NW of North America #FAC16
— Julie Eshbaugh (@JulieEshbaugh) July 12, 2015
A3 cont…a lot of things inspiring the setting can be found here! https://t.co/u6IFonytOC
#FAC16
— Roshani Chokshi (@NotRashKnee) July 12, 2015
Question four was about what Science Fiction and Fantasy books influenced people as they were growing up. Authors answered with...
A4: Anything Madeleine L'Engle, Lois Lowry, Neil Gaiman, and of course HP and Narnia, and ANIMORPHS was my fave for a long time. #FAC16
— Emily Henry (@EmilyHenryWrite) July 12, 2015
Q4-Growing up, it would have to be A WRINKLE IN TIME! I must've read it a million times! As an adult…OUTLANDER-no question! #fac16
— Janet B Taylor (@Janet_B_Taylor) July 12, 2015
When I was young, ERAGON by Christopher Paolini & HP of course. Later on,
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis. #FAC16 https://t.co/eJjq3sofD5
— Ava Jae (@Ava_Jae) July 12, 2015
Moving along, the discussion turned to if the author would want to live in the world they created. And the answers kept rolling in...
Q5. Hell no! There are 500 holograms heralding the end of time across the planet!
#FAC16
— Kristy Acevedo (@kristyace) July 12, 2015
#FAC16 Q5) I would NOT want to live in the world of FLASHFALL.*shudders* I'm super claustrophobic--the tunnels they mine would undo me (1/2)
— Jenny Moyer (@_JennyMoyer) July 12, 2015
A5) I'd like to visit my world--magic and balls and intrigue? Yes, please! But 19th c hygiene and racism/classicism? Not permanently #FAC16
— Rosalyn Eves (@RosalynEves) July 12, 2015
The sixth question was what the authors would like to see more of in Science Fiction and Fantasy, whether it be more dragons, diversity, etc. I really loved these...
A6: Also, I would like less one-and-done from heroines, i.e they're virgins who only ever sleep with the guy they'll marry. #fac16
— Jessica Cluess (@JessCluess) July 12, 2015
A6) Also: can we PLEASE have more tall girls?! PLEASE? (And for that matter, girls of all shapes and sizes!) #FAC16
— Tara Sim (@EachStarAWorld) July 12, 2015
Q6: hands down more genre blurring. More slipstream, New Weird, pseudo-science, mystical, cosmic weirdness. #FAC16
— Emily Henry (@EmilyHenryWrite) July 12, 2015
And finally, the last question of #FAC16 was what the authors would do if they could spend the day with their main character. And these were the answers...
#fac16 A7) Oh and she knows a lot of folktales and I know a lot of YA tales so we'd probably also tell them around a campfire with smores.
— Alwyn (@AlwynFJH) July 12, 2015
A7: I WOULD PET EVERY SEA MONSTER. EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM, FROM THE GIANT TURTLES TO THE GIANT WHALES TO THE GIANT SHARKS. #FAC16
— Emily Skrutskie (@skrutskie) July 12, 2015
A7 We’d throw a party in the Night Bazaar w/ gandharvas jamming & apsaras dancing, steal bolts of lightning & Calvin Harris would DJ. #FAC16
— Roshani Chokshi (@NotRashKnee) July 12, 2015
Then Janet finished us off with...
Hey all u #FAC16 medievally-world authors. Do u have real swords at home? Cause at my house. SO. MANY. SWORDS.
— Janet B Taylor (@Janet_B_Taylor) July 12, 2015
To see all the questions and tweets from the chat, check out the hashtag on twitter HERE.
My Thoughts
Coming out of it, I have learned quite a bit about the books being published next year that fall into one of the aforementioned categories. I am going to share my thoughts and opinions as well as tell you the books that I am purchasing/preordering IMMEDIATELY (aka I already preordered it and/or it is not available for preorder but once it is I will be buying it).This in no way should affect what books you like and want to buy and is strictly my opinion.
Already Preordered
These books sounded so intriguing to me on premise alone that I had to snatch them up right away. I am actively seeking their preorder information so I can buy them right meow.
- Consider by Kristy Acevedo.
Find Kristy on Twitter: @kristyace
Release Date: April 18th 2016
Publisher: Jolly Fish Press
Summary:
As if Alexandra Lucas’ anxiety disorder isn’t enough, mysterious holograms suddenly appear from the sky, heralding the end of the world. They bring an ultimatum: heed the warning and step through a portal-like vertex to safety, or stay and be destroyed by a comet they say is on a collision course with earth. How’s that for senior year stress?
The holograms, claiming to be humans from the future, bring the promise of safety. But without the ability to verify their story, Alex is forced to consider what is best for her friends, her family, and herself.
To stay or to go. A decision must be made.
With the deadline of the holograms’ prophecy fast approaching, Alex feels as though she is living on a ticking time bomb, until she discovers it is much, much worse.
Why I'm so taken with it: A heroine with an anxiety disorder?! Yes please. Representation matters and I can't wait to read about someone who has an anxiety disorder like me!
- The Love that Split the World by Emily Henry
Find Emily on Twitter: @EmilyHenryWrite
Release Date: January 26th 2016
Publisher: Razorbill
Summary:
Natalie Cleary must risk her future and leap blindly into a vast unknown for the chance to build a new world with the boy she loves.
Natalie’s last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start…untilshe starts seeing the “wrong things.” They’re just momentary glimpses at first—her front door is red instead of its usual green, there’s a pre-school where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn’t right.
That’s when she gets a visit from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls “Grandmother,” who tells her: “You have three months to save him.” The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it’s as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau.
Why I'm so taken with it: Look at that cover! It is absolutely GORGEOUS. Plus, the whole "you have three months to save him" quote has me hook, line, and sinker. - The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye
Find Evelyn on Twitter: @EvelynSkyeYA
Release Date: 2016
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Summary Sixteen-year-old Vika Andreyev can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Eighteen-year-old Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters, and with the Ottoman Empire and other enemies threatening Russia, the Tsar wants an enchanter by his side.
Two enchanters in the same generation, however, are a rarity. And a problem. There is only so much magic in Russia, and it cannot be diluted. So the Crown’s Game was invented, a duel of magical skill. The victor becomes the Royal Enchanter and the Tsar’s most respected advisor.
The defeated is sentenced to death.
The Crown’s Game is not one to lose.
Of course, they both want to win. Until now, Vika’s magic has been confined to her tiny island home, and she’s eager to showcase her skill in the capital city of St. Petersburg. It also doesn’t hurt that the competition allows her to express her mischievous streak. Nikolai, on the other hand, is a study in seriousness. As an orphan with not a drop of noble blood in his veins, becoming the Royal Enchanter is an opportunity he could, until now, only dream of. But when Vika and Nikolai begin to fall for each other, the stakes change.
And then, the stakes change again, as secrets from both their pasts threaten to upset the balance of the Tsar’s—and the Russian Empire’s—power.
The Game is so much more complicated than it looks
Why I'm so taken with it: Holy crap does this sound amazing. A fight to the death with star crossed lovers and bigger politics in play? I will sell my soul for this. - The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi HeiligFind Heidi on Twitter: @heidiheilig
Release Date: February 16th 2016
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Summary: Heidi Heilig’s debut teen fantasy sweeps from modern-day New York City to nineteenth-century Hawaii to places of myth and legend. Sixteen-year-old Nix has sailed across the globe and through centuries aboard her time-traveling father’s ship. But when he gambles with her very existence, it all may be about to end. The Girl from Everywhere, the first of two books, will dazzle readers of Sabaa Tahir, Rae Carson, and Rachel Hartman.
Nix’s life began in Honolulu in 1868. Since then she has traveled to mythic Scandinavia, a land from the tales of One Thousand and One Nights, modern-day New York City, and many more places both real and imagined. As long as he has a map, Nix’s father can sail his ship, The Temptation, to any place, any time. But now he’s uncovered the one map he’s always sought—1868 Honolulu, before Nix’s mother died in childbirth. Nix’s life—her entire existence—is at stake. No one knows what will happen if her father changes the past. It could erase Nix’s future, her dreams, her adventures . . . her connection with the charming Persian thief, Kash, who’s been part of their crew for two years. If Nix helps her father reunite with the love of his life, it will cost her her own.
Why I'm so taken with this: Time travel, pirates, awesome mythology... Need I say more?
- The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrustkie
Find Emily on Twitter: @skrustkie
Release Date: February 8, 2016
Publisher: Flux
Summary: For Cassandra Leung, bossing around sea monsters is just the family business. She’s been a Reckoner trainer-in-training ever since she could walk, raising the genetically-engineered beasts to defend ships as they cross the pirate-infested NeoPacific. But when the pirate queen Santa Elena swoops in on Cas’s first solo mission and snatches her from the bloodstained decks, Cas’s dream of being a full-time trainer seems dead in the water.
There’s no time to mourn. Waiting for her on the pirate ship is an unhatched Reckoner pup. Santa Elena wants to take back the seas with a monster of her own, and she needs a proper trainer to do it. She orders Cas to raise the pup, make sure he imprints on her ship, and, when the time comes, teach him to fight for the pirates. If Cas fails, her blood will be the next to paint the sea.
But Cas has fought pirates her entire life. And she’s not about to stop.
Why I'm so taken with this one: QUEER PIRATES. That is all.
To find out more about all the books that are debuting in 2016, check out Kristen's post!! It has the summaries of the books as well as the Goodread links and any other information you may want to know about when they will be published, who by, etc.
Thanks again to all the authors for participating and to Kristen, Nicola, and Rachel for being such lovely hosts. I cannot wait for 2016, even though I am sure my bank account can!
What books from the #FAC16 are you guys checking out?! Sound off in the comments! Lots of love and happy reading! xx
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