Hi, Caitlin! Welcome back! How have the past two years been since we last spoke for the release of Last to Leave the Room?

Busier than I planned on! I’ve had two book releases so far this year (The Oblivion Bride with Neon Hemlock and The Starving Saints with Harper Voyager), and now I’m in the thick of launching a third, The Graceview Patient.

Your latest novel, The Graceview Patient, is out October 14^th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Upsettingly unreliably narrated hospital gothic.

What can readers expect?

IV placement minutiae. Meditations (both calm and rageful) on being chronically ill. A sinister white board. Jello. Lots of blurring of what’s real and what’s not.

The Graceview Patient follows Meg’s last ditch attempt to cure the auto-immune condition that’s destroyed much of her life. She signs up for an experimental medical trial, and she thinks she knows what to expect, but the reality of the medication’s side effects (lost time, hallucinations, pain and disorientation) make her begin to question whether she’s suffering for her own sake, or if she’s being haunted through the halls of the hospital she’s confined to. I like to say it’s The Yellow Wallpaper by way of House, MD.

Where did the inspiration for The Graceview Patient come from?

A long term love of doctors’ memoirs, a particularly poignant nurse’s memoir about the first year of the COVID pandemic (Year of the Nurse by Cassandra Alexander), and my own more dramatic than anticipated hospitalization around the birth of my child. I came out of that last experience really wanting to write a book set in a hospital, but without making the care team sinister villains; that meant digging deep to find what felt like a more nuanced story to tell in that setting, which led naturally to styling everything after classic gothic horror.

Take the old manor house with a character all its own, turn it into the hospital itself. The mysterious groundskeeper becomes environmental services staff, the careteam closest to our trapped heroine become the inhabitants of the manor (both staff and the family). Everything falls into place and leaves fun new areas to poke at.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

Meg, our heroine, has several quiet moments with one of her main nurses, Isobel. Writing that relationship (awkward, sometimes tense, sometimes boundary-pushing, often desperate) was a lot of fun, and let me bring some of Meg’s interior life out into the open, where for other people in her life she’s very closed off and on her best behavior. There’s a particular moment where Meg has gone out into a garden on the hospital campus without telling anybody, and finds herself exhausted and unsure if she can get back to her room. Isobel appears as if by magic, and the tension between relief and terror that Isobel could find her so easily was just delicious.

Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?

I am, it turns out, not a medical professional. I am very lucky to know some, though, and my good friend Kathleen went through and did a very detailed review and edit letter identifying and fixing the vast majority of my medical mistakes (anything still in the book is entirely my fault). What could have been simple fact checking actually directed my plot edits as well; we found areas where getting more realistic made the story more nuanced, not just more accurate.

With the spooky season underway, do you have any favourite thrills or chills movies and books your turn to?

I recently saw The Autopsy of Jane Doe for the first time and wow is it made specifically for me! I also recently revisited a Norweigian found footage horror movie, Trollhunter, which is the perfect blend of the detailed mundane and the fantastic.

What’s next for you?

I’m about to start copy edits on a vampire novel that should be coming out next fall. It’s a fun one. Probably my squelchiest book yet.

Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year? Are there any you’re looking forward to picking up?

I’m so behind on my reading! But I’ve absolutely loved The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buehlman this year, and I’ve got The West Passage by Jared Pechaček beckoning to me from the other side of book launch chaos. I’ve also just finished up Demon Song by Kelsea Yu, which is an awesome Chinese-opera centered horror novella.

Will you be picking up The Graceview Patient? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Caitlin Starling, Author of ‘The Graceview Patient’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Gothic fiction, my beloved! So difficult to define, yet so recognizable when you read it. This subgenre – or, as Wikipedia would have it, this “loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting” – originates in the eighteenth century and is characterized by a claustrophobic atmosphere, strong emotions, and a non-linear and complicated form (think: dreams, stories within stories, loads of interstitials).

At its heart, gothic works of fiction usually revolve around horrible secrets in the past now bleeding into the present. These secrets often relate to acts of horrific violence that can be read as an expression of societal conflict. Ann Radcliffe’s A Sicilian Romance (1790), for example, brims with male abuses of power towards the women in their care and includes instances of wrongful imprisonment, attempted murder, and infidelity; Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987) deals with the horrors of slavery within the US.

The secret at the core of a gothic text may also relate to something considered taboo:  Carmilla (1872) is chockful of lesbian attraction and only narrowly avoided censorship by Sheridan le Fanu arguing that the attraction was not, in fact, lesbian because Carmilla is a vampire and as such has no gender, and the phenomenal gothic movie Crimson Peak (2015) contains an incestual relationship.

Because the gothic is so obsessed with taboos, and because it is minority groups that bear the brunt of systemic violence and abuses of power, it’s not to be wondered at that minorities (such as queer people, women, and people of color) have always been attracted to and comforted by this subgenre, both as readers and authors. For your personal enrichment and entertainment, I have compiled a short and inexhaustive list of some modern sapphic gothic novels that, in my humble opinion, are well worth your time and money.

Affinity by Sarah Waters

As a way to recover from her depression and suicide attempt, upper-class Margaret decides to volunteer as a lady visitor at the women’s ward of Millbank prison. There, she meets Selina Dawes, a spiritualist medium who has been accused of fraud after a séance ended with one woman dead and another deeply disturbed. Soon, Margaret is drawn into Selina’s world and begins to question whether the girl may, in fact, be innocent, and spirits real. 

This is the first Sarah Waters’ novel I ever read, and it blew me away. The novel is beautifully written – my little dark heart throbs with writer’s envy whenever I read a passage crafted by Waters –, utterly compelling, and expertly plotted. Once I finished reading the final chapter, I had to sit for a while to process my emotions. That done, I immediately ordered all her other books. I have read Affinity almost ten years ago now, and still vividly remember it. If that’s not the hallmark of a good novel, I don’t know what is.

The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins

Frannie Langton, servant, former slave, stands accused of having murdered her employer and his wife. The evidence is damning, but though Frannie can’t remember what happened that night and how she came to be covered in the murder victims’ blood, she knows one thing for sure: she cannot have murdered her mistress, because she was in love with her.

Just like Toni Morrison’s Beloved, The Confessions of Frannie Langton lays bare the horrors of slavery and racism. It shows us how constant abuse and discrimination and the trauma and the pain and the anger resulting from that can twist a person. At the same time, this book never feels melodramatic or exaggerated, and I never felt as if Collins tried to manipulate me into feeling certain things. She simply writes about the reality of being a woman of color in an honest, unflinching way, and does so by drawing on canonical gothic texts in surprising and creative ways, showing us her skill as a writer and her mastery of this genre. As such, The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a difficult and harrowing read, but it is also an incredible and rewarding one.

Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein by Anne Eekhout

This novel contains two timelines: one set during that fateful summer in 1816 during which Mary Shelley wrote one of the most famous novels of all time, and one set four years previously, when she stayed with the Baxter family in Scotland, where the enigmatic and beautiful Isabella drew Mary into a world of spirits and witches and monsters. Bold as a flash of lightning, these two timelines together illuminate how Mary came to write Frankenstein.

We are currently experiencing something of a Frankenstein renaissance, and small wonder; it is a phenomenal piece of fiction that you can read over and over again and never grow bored with. It is also a work that many have drawn inspiration from (and will continue to do so, I am sure). What Eekhout manages to do with Mary and the Birth of Frankenstein is imagine a time in Mary Shelley’s life that has been largely neglected by most authors inspired by Frankenstein, even though, according to Mary Shelley herself, this Scottish episode was one of the main sources of inspiration for her novel. In this way, and through her gorgeous and creative writing, Eekhout manages to add a novel to the Frankenstein legacy that is well worth your time.

The Temple House Vanishing by Rachel Donohue

Louise and Victoria, both students at an all-girls Catholic boarding school, develop a passionate friendship that at least partly revolves around their infatuation with their charismatic art teacher. That is, until the teacher and Louise both disappear, seemingly having eloped together. Twenty-five years later, a young journalist decides to try and solve this cold case.

What better setting for a queer gothic mystery than an all-girls Catholic boarding school? Like the other books on this list (I spot a pattern!), I found this book beautifully written and completely compelling; though I tried to savor it, I ultimately ended up devouring it in two days. Unlike the three previous books, this one takes place in a more modern setting, and, though it is still gothic and deals with the taboo desire of two teenage girls for an adult who definitely shouldn’t be reciprocating but clearly revels in their attentions, it doesn’t feel as heavy as the others. If you are looking for a deeply gothic and suspenseful read that simultaneously won’t rip out your heart and stomp all over it, this is the one for you.

Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling

Shipping magnate Evelyn Perdanu has had to do unspeakable things to reach her position of power in the dying city of Delphinium. When one of her ships returns and brings with it a mysterious illness that causes all sufferers to become singularly obsessed with her, that position of power is threatened. Evelyn must uncover the link between this sickness and herself, or risk losing all she has worked so hard and suffered so terribly for to obtain.

Technically, this is a novella, and unlike the previous entries on this list, it takes place in a fantasy setting, so perhaps I am cheating a little here, but don’t be fooled: Yellow Jessamine is one gruesomely gothic and sweetly sapphic story. Despite clocking in at only 130 pages, this novella feels lush and fully realized. For those of you who have tired a little of traditional gothic, this is the book to choose.

If you are like me and you simply can’t get enough of sapphic gothic fiction, there is always more to read! You should probably check out my sapphic gothic horror novel My Darling Dreadful Thing, if I may be so bold. It is set in the Netherlands in the 1950s and revolves around Roos, a young woman with a spirit companion. Ruth looks like a bog body, has a thirst for blood, and is fiercely possessive of Roos, but she’s also the only good thing in Roos’ life, which is filled with sordid backroom séances, starvation, and other abuse at the hands of her mother. When young and wealthy widow Agnes attends one of these séances, she is so impressed by Roos that she asks her to come live with her at the dilapidated estate she inherited upon the death of her husband. From the case notes of Doctor Montague, a psychiatrist tasked with determining whether Roos is mentally fit to stand trial, we know that something awful will happen there, but what? And, more importantly, who – or what – is to blame?

Once you are done checking out my novel, may I suggest any of the following:

Historical gothic:

• Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.
• Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill.
• The Wicked Cometh by Laura Carlin.
• Maddalena and the Dark by Julia Fine.

Gothic with a modern setting:

• Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist.
• Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson.
• Sisters by Daisy Johnson.

Fantasy gothic:

• House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson.
• Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson.

The post Author Johanna van Veen’s Gothic & Sapphic Fiction Recommendations appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Hi, Caitlin! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

I’m a horror and speculative fiction writer based out of the Pacific Northwest! I have a hard time sticking to one subgenre, and I also balance writing time with way too much knitting and hanging out with my spouse, young kiddo, and two ridiculous cats.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

I’ve been writing in some form since I was around eight years old, when I wrote my first (Sailor Moon) fanfic. I got serious in high school and started doing NaNoWriMo. For a brief time in and after college, I convinced myself that trying to write professionally was so unlikely to succeed that it wasn’t worth trying, but I kept the fire burning with more fanfic. And then I wrote The Luminous Dead, and here we are!

Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!

I have a terrible memory for this sort of thing, but I loved Animorphs as a kid. I’d been reading for years before that, but that’s the series that stands out. (But if I had to guess for earlier, I’d wager it’s Winnie The Pooh.)

For wanting to become an author, Anne Rice’s vampire series takes a lot of the credit.

And it’s been a few years since I read them, but Vita Nostra and The Library at Mount Char take up a lot of brain space, rent free!

Your latest novel, Last to Leave the Room, is out October 10^th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Work-From-Home Doppelganger Horror.

What can readers expect?

Claustrophobia, gaslighting, and meal kits.

Where did the inspiration for Last to Leave the Room come from?

It’s a COVID book that’s not a COVID book – the protagonist, Tamsin, ends up spending most of her time in her house, working from home, and rapidly losing her sense of identity and reality without the outside world to stabilize her. I drafted it in late 2021, after a year and a half of working from home, and a year of living in a new city I literally never went out into. Tamsin’s also based on a very old character of mine, though from much earlier in the story I’d always pictured for her. Let’s just say that in her original incarnation, she’d already Gone Through It.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

I have a massive crush on Lachlan. She’s menacing and attentive and caring and dangerous all at once, and she and Tamsin have some deliciously vicious chemistry together. Every scene she appears in was an absolute delight to write.

This is your third published novel! What are some of the key lessons you have learned when it comes to writing and the publishing world?

To trust myself! At this point, I’ve got a pretty well trained sense of how to make a story. I outlined this one from the beginning, and then I just sat down and wrote. I was going through some pretty heavy personal stuff while I wrote the first draft, and my only option was to just show up, do the work, and trust the process (and my subconscious).

What’s next for you?

I’m working on another contemporary horror novel, which I’m describing as hospital gothic. So expect more isolation, more surgeries, more drugs, and a healthy dose of oh gross.

Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?

I recently read The White Road by Sarah Lotz, which is a perfect pairing to my first book, The Luminous Dead. Physical extremes, sanity slippage, caves, and a voyeuristic fixation on death. Also, mommy issues.

Also, if you haven’t read Sarah Gailey’s The Echo Wife, and you’ve been reading this interview and making grabby hands, get yourself a copy. The Echo Wife and Last To Leave The Room are close cousins, dealing with doubles, ambition, and gendered expectations of personality and behavior.

Will you be picking up Last to Leave the Room? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Caitlin Starling, Author of ‘Last to Leave the Room’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Starling has said she was inspired by the 2015 film Crimson Peak (directed by Guillermo Del Toro and starring Tom Hiddleston and Mia Wasikowska) and having seen the film, I can definitely appreciate the spooky and creepy gothic goodness of both works. They both feature the tropes of the mysterious husband and the eerie isolation of a decrepit old house. If you liked Crimson Peak, I’d absolutely recommend that you pick up The Death of Jane Lawrence and take a trip to Lindridge Hall.

I don’t usually read too much of the gothic horror genre as in the past I have found it a bit slow, but I enjoyed Starling’s previous book The Luminous Dead so much, and that wasn’t my usual genre either, so I wanted to give this a go. Plus it was just in time for the spooky season.

I think my favourite thing about The Death of Jane Lawrence lay in the writing. I liked the way the house was made to feel like a character and constant presence brought to life throughout the book. The writing takes you there without overloading on the description. It really built up a picture of the house in my mind, I could feel the weather, and hear the bumps and creaks in the night. The gore was also very vivid and there were times when I felt like I was seeing what Jane was seeing.

The pacing was near enough perfect. There were some lulls but I felt this was necessary to allow the reader to catch their breath. The writing was easy to follow even when talking about things such as surgery and medical things that I don’t have any real knowledge of. There were parts of the book where the writing felt hectic and rushed but I felt that may have been because that was because there were times were Jane was rushing and becoming almost delirious. If anything this added to the tension.

Another strength was the characters. Both Jane and Mr Lawrence particularly. Mr Lawrence was always keeping me guessing and I loved Jane, she was no-nonsense and took no shit. I liked her methodical approach to things. Her motivation to get married wasn’t setting out to find a love match, she had criteria she wanted to meet for a partnership and convenience and she went out and got it. She observes, sees more than people think she does and isn’t afraid to ask questions. She isn’t the girl from that time period that faints at the sight of blood.  When it got to the part in the story where you are reading about her character having to question things and then seeing her become more frazzled and verging on deranged really had me rooting for her, like come on Jane you can do it!

I also enjoyed many scenes with Jane and Mr Lawrence together and I wish there had been more. I liked how she was falling for him despite herself. I enjoyed the romantic part of the story where you could see them being drawn towards each other despite their initial arrangement.

When it comes to themes, I may be wrong, but I feel like the book was trying to blend the lines behind scientific medicine and ritual. I like magic in books to feel realistic and like it could be possible, and whilst I didn’t quite get that from this book, it did get me thinking a number of times about how different belief systems and rituals have things in common with science in maths, like how it can be so methodical. I felt like Jane was the perfect character for this, as she has to take her logical and practical side and apply it to the fact that things around her are happening that really should be a fantasy.

After finishing the book I felt a bit confused, a bit unsettled. Although I knew I didn’t completely “get” the ending, I still felt satisfyingly spooked. Whilst I didn’t enjoy it as much as The Luminous Dead, I am still a fan of Starling’s writing and ideas and I will definitely continue to read whatever she brings out.

I would recommend this book to fans of the gothic horror genre, but also to readers that like a bit of dark romance, to readers who like their female protagonists tough as nails, and also to anyone that’s just looking for a spooky read.

The Death of Jane Lawrence is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of October 5th 2021.

Will you be picking up The Death of Jane Lawrence? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Practical, unassuming Jane Shoringfield has done the calculations, and decided that the most secure path forward is this: a husband, in a marriage of convenience, who will allow her to remain independent and occupied with meaningful work. Her first choice, the dashing but reclusive doctor Augustine Lawrence, agrees to her proposal with only one condition: that she must never visit Lindridge Hall, his crumbling family manor outside of town. Yet on their wedding night, an accident strands her at his door in a pitch-black rainstorm, and she finds him changed. Gone is the bold, courageous surgeon, and in his place is a terrified, paranoid man—one who cannot tell reality from nightmare, and fears Jane is an apparition, come to haunt him.

By morning, Augustine is himself again, but Jane knows something is deeply wrong at Lindridge Hall, and with the man she has so hastily bound her safety to. Set in a dark-mirror version of post-war England, Starling crafts a new kind of gothic horror from the bones of the beloved canon. This Crimson Peak-inspired story assembles, then upends, every expectation set in place by Shirley Jackson and Rebecca, and will leave readers shaken, desperate to begin again as soon as they are finished.

The post Review: The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

We believe every new author deserve an opportunity to get recognised in this community. If you agree with us and want to give more support for new authors and appreciation for their hard works, in today’s post, we’re going to feature a selection of debut books with under 100 ratings on Goodreads that we believe deserve more recognition in April 2019!

The Affairs of the Falcóns by Melissa Rivero (April 2)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

The journey of the Falcón family who just moved from Peru to New York City in the 1990s. But being undocumented has significantly curtailed the family’s opportunities. While the husband dreams of returning to Peru, the wife determined to persevere in this new country. But how many sacrifices is she willing to make before admitting defeat and returning to Peru? And what lines is she willing to cross in order to protect her family?

Beyond the Point by Claire Gibson (April 2)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Beyond the Point is a heartfelt look at how our closest friends can become our fiercest battle buddies. After all, the greatest battles we fight rarely require a uniform.

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling (April 2)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

The Martian and Gravity meets Annihilation in this thrilling debut story where a caver on a foreign planet finds herself on a terrifying psychological and emotional journey for survival.

Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine (April 2)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A haunting debut story collection on friendship, mothers and daughters, and the deep-rooted truths of our homelands, centered on Latinas of indigenous ancestry that shines a new light on the American West.

We Rule the Night by Claire Eliza Bartlett (April 2)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Two girls use forbidden magic to fly and fight–for their country and for themselves–in this riveting debut that’s part Shadow and Bone, part Code Name Verity. We Rule the Night is a powerful story about sacrifice, complicated friendships, and survival despite impossible odds.

White Rose by Kip Wilson (April 2)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A gorgeous and timely novel based on the incredible story of Sophie Scholl, a young German college student who challenged the Nazi regime during World War II as part of The White Rose, a non-violent resistance group.

We Are Blood and Thunder by Kesia Lupo (April 4)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A powerful and terrifying storm cloud unites Lena, a young woman who runs for her life, convicted of being a mage and sentenced to death and Constance, an escapee of Duke Forest from years ago before her powers were discovered and now she’s determined to get back in. Together, they hold the key to destroying the spell.

Every Moment After by Joseph Moldover (April 9)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Best friends Matt and Cole grapple with their changing relationships during the summer after high school in this impactful, evocative story about growing up and moving on from a traumatic past.

In the Neighborhood of True by Susan Kaplan Carlton (April 9)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A powerful story of love, identity, and the price of fitting in or speaking out centers around Ruth Robb and her family transplant themselves in the summer of 1958 from New York City to Atlanta, after her father’s death. In her new hometown, Ruth quickly figures out she can be Jewish or she can be popular, but she can’t be both. Eager to fit in with the blond girls in the “pastel posse,” Ruth decides to hide her religion. Before she knows it, she is falling for the handsome and charming Davis and sipping Cokes with him and his friends at the all-white, all-Christian Club.

Soon the Light Will Be Perfect by Dave Patterson (April 9)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Set over the course of one propulsive summer, Soon the Light Will be Perfect chronicles the journey of a young man on the cusp of adulthood, a town battered by poverty, and a family at a breaking point. In spare, fiercely honest prose, Dave Patterson captures what it feels like to be gloriously, violently alive at a moment of political, social, and familial instability.

The Dream Peddler by Martine Fournier Watson (April 9)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A page-turning debut novel about a traveling salesman who arrives to sell dreams to a town rocked by a child’s disappearance–both a thoughtful mediation on grief and a magical exploration of our innermost desires.

The Risk of Us by Rachel Howard (April 9)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A poignant, dazzling debut novel about a woman who longs to be a mother and the captivating yet troubled child she and her husband take in. It explores the inevitable tests children bring to a marriage, the uncertainties of family life, and the ways true empathy obliterates our defenses.

Earth to Charlie by Justin Olson (April 16)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A high school outcast, Charlie, spends his life hoping to be abducted by aliens in this funny, quirky novel about finding your footing in a world that sometimes feels like Mars. But that’s before he meets the popular and easy-going Seth, who shows him what real friendship is all about. And now Charlie has to make a decision: should he stay or should he go?

Viper (Isles of Storm and Sorrow #1) by Bex Hogan (April 18)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A story of Marianne, who has been training to be the Viper for her entire life – to serve and protect the King and the citizens of The Twelve Isles – but to become the Viper and protect the islands she loves she must find the strength to defeat her father.

Emily Eternal by M.G. Wheaton (April 23)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Meet Emily – she can solve advanced mathematical problems, unlock the mind’s deepest secrets and even fix your truck’s air con. And she’s an artificial consciousness who designed in a lab to help humans process trauma, which is particularly helpful when the sun begins to die 5 billion years before scientists agreed it was supposed to. But unfortunately, she can’t restart the Sun.

The Abolitionist’s Daughter by Diane C. McPhail (April 30)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

An emotional debut novel that explores a little-known aspect of Civil War history—Southern Abolitionists—and the timeless struggle to do right even amidst bitter conflict.

When I Was Summer by J.B. Howard (April 30)
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A story about unrequited love, rock ’n’ roll, and what you find when you go searching for yourself, centers around sixteen-year-old Nora Wakelin, who has always felt like an outsider in her own family. Being adapted, now Nora is in a mission to find her biological mother. So she sets out to track them each down, one by one, under the pretense of a statewide tour with her rock band, Blue Miles. Three cities, three gigs, three possible birth mothers—it should be easy. But is it?

Will you be checking out any of these debut book releases? Tell us in the comments below!

The post 17 April Debut Book Releases To Check Out appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Read on to discover our picks and tell us in the comments below if you will be reading any!

Upon A Burning Throne by Ashok K. Banker
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

From international sensation Ashok K. Banker, pioneer of the fantasy genre in India, comes the first book in a ground-breaking, epic fantasy series inspired by the ancient Indian classic, The Mahabharata.

Emily Eternal by M.G. Wheaton
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Meet Emily – she can solve advanced mathematical problems, unlock the mind’s deepest secrets and even fix your truck’s air con, but unfortunately, she can’t restart the Sun. She’s an artificial consciousness, designed in a lab to help humans process trauma, which is particularly helpful when the sun begins to die 5 billion years before scientists agreed it was supposed to.

Seven Blades In Black by Sam Sykes
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Sam Sykes returns with a new fantasy that introduces to an unforgettable outcast magician caught between two warring empires. Betrayed by those she trusts most and her magic ripped from her, all Sal the Cacophony has left is her name, her story, and the weapon she used to carve both. But she has a will stronger than magic, and knows exactly where to go.

Defy Me by Tahereh Mafi
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

The gripping fifth installment in the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling Shatter Me series. Will Juliette’s broken heart make her vulnerable to the strengthening darkness within her?

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A thrilling, atmospheric debut with the intensive drive of The Martian and Gravity and the creeping dread of Annihilation, in which a caver on a foreign planet finds herself on a terrifying psychological and emotional journey for survival.

Sixteen Ways To Defend A Walled City by K.J. Parker
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

We Are Mayhem by Michael Moreci
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

The second entry in the Star Wars-inspired series that Nerdist calls “the next big thing.” Though the ragtag group of misfits known as the Black Star Renegades won a decisive battle by destroying Ga Halle’s War Hammer, the war is far from over.

A Pack of Blood and Lies by Olivia Wildenstein
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Three months shy of her eighteenth birthday, Ness is forced to return to Colorado. Even though it’s been six years, and the wolves of her all-male pack don’t recognise her, she recognises them. Especially Liam Kolane–son of Heath, the crudest and cruellest Alpha to have ruled the Boulder Pack. Liam is as handsome as he is infuriating, as kind as he is punishing, and he makes Ness’s traitorous heart race, which isn’t good. When Heath dies, Liam vies to become the new Alpha and no one dares challenge him. Except Ness.

A Boy and His Dog At The End of the World by C.A. Fletcher
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

When a beloved family dog is stolen, her owner sets out on a life-changing journey through the ruins of our world to bring her back in this fiercely compelling tale of survival, courage, and hope. Perfect for readers of Station Eleven and The Girl With All the Gifts.

We Rule The Night by Claire Eliza Bartlett
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

Two girls use forbidden magic to fly and fight–for their country and for themselves–in this riveting debut that’s part Shadow and Bone, part Code Name Verity.

Finder by Suzanne Palmer
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

From Hugo Award-winning debut author Suzanne Palmer comes an action-packed sci-fi caper starring Fergus Ferguson, interstellar repo man and professional finder

The Sword and the Dagger by Robert Cochran
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A rousing tale of adventure and romance about three young people who must grapple with fundamental issues of loyalty, friendship, faith, honor, and courage against the backdrop of conflicts that still resonate today.

Any other April fantasy or sci-fi books you’re excited to read? Tell us in the comments below!

The post April Book Releases: Fantasy + Sci-Fi appeared first on The Nerd Daily.