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

Sure. I’m a writer, creative, and geek that has spent the majority of her existence in New England. I studied graphic design and art in college, failed to become a good enough illustrator to draw comics, and then pivoted to go all in on writing stories instead. These days I’ve settled in Boston, where I enjoy the many fine bookstores, breweries, thrift stores, and geeky conventions the area has to offer, and where I can say “wicked” without getting any strange looks. (Which, in my case, has nothing to do with growing up having Massachusetts nearby but rather from watching way too much Ninja Turtles as a kid.)

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

Long enough ago that I don’t want to admit it. Let’s just say it was in the days of having to watch TV shows when they actually aired and when phones still had cords. I was definitely that kid who loved being in the library and at the book fairs and went through books like the were potato chips. Then I discovered comics and it was all over. I spend many, many, MANY hours drawing characters (mostly X-Men knockoffs) and dreaming up the stories that went along with them.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: With more words than pictures? Probably The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Or maybe a Nancy Drew book.
• The one that made you want to become an author: Also probably The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, though comic books played a big part too.
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Not quite one, but The Locked Tomb series. Dying for the next book.

Your latest novel, The Lost Reliquary, is out October 21^st! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Deicide attempt despite exasperating co-worker.

What can readers expect?

A classic quest fantasy with a main character (Lys) whose deep, dark secret is that she wants the last living goddess—who she’s bound to—dead and gone. When a failed assassination attempt outs that there’s one weapon that could make that fantasy a reality, Lys gets teamed up with the pious Nolan to recover it, a partnership that goes from kinda hating each other, to really hating each other, to maybe not hating each other at all. Also, they have to avoid some quasi-cannibalistic heretics.

Where did the inspiration for The Lost Reliquary come from?

A big part of it was shifting away from the third person, multi-POV fantasy book I’d just finished (currently trunked) to trying out a full-length first person POV book, which I’d never done. Also transitioning from YA into adult, a line I’d been toeing for a while. But mainly this story was conceived during a period of time where current events had me thinking a lot about what people believe and why, and how far they were willing to go for those beliefs. Eventually that led to forming a story around a world where gods could be seen and heard and felt by their devoted, but could also die.

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

I love a good side character. It’s a bit torturous to write characters with small parts that you really enjoy (especially when you kill them off, which I have a habit of doing). Fortunately, most of my favorite side characters get to return in TLR’s sequel, and one even got a reprieve from death. (Which is good, because they ended up playing a pretty significant role.)

I also really enjoyed writing the moments between my two main characters, Lys and Nolan, as they navigated how to approach their mission, as well as the results of their shared (fairly traumatic) upbringing. (Most especially when they begin to consider that the other’s position may have some worthwhile points, even if it clashes with their own perspective.)

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

Two words: Day job. Writing is my side hustle, which means it takes place during evening and weekend hours. Which also means other stuff—chores, errands, socializing—often gets pushed off and pushed off and… well, let’s just say it’s a good thing I live alone with no one to witness how long it takes to empty the dishwasher sometimes. (Or fill it.)

What’s next for you?

I’m currently working on some IP projects, most notably for the Skibidi Toilet universe. (Not the fandom I’d ever have guessed I’d get invested in, but also an absolute palate cleanser of a project that has helped me do a bit of mental reset (while also allowing me to write tons of action scenes, which are my favorite.)

Also, the sequel of The Lost Reliquary is in progress and should hopefully be publishing sometime near the end of 2026.

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

You Weren’t Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White crawled right inside me and has stayed there. I also loved Chuck Tingle’s Lucky Day, which is just as weird and enjoyable, though in a (somewhat) lighter way. The still TBR book that’s been staring at me with the most judgement is a copy of Chartreuse: The Elixir Vegetal and the Liqueur, which I spent forever trying to find an English version of, finally acquired in Paris months ago, but have only read a few pages of so far.

Will you be picking up The Lost Reliquary? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Lyndsay Ely, Author of ‘The Lost Reliquary’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

From the release of the physical copy of Zenith written by BookTuber Sasha Alsberg, to a collection of short stories by some talented YA authors including Nicola Yoon and Kass Morgan. Then there’s a new novel adaption of Marvel and Hulu’s Runaways, plus new releases from Pierce Brown, Holly Black, Marie Lu, Maureen Johnson and Marissa Meyer.

Check out our picks and tell us if you will be reading one (or a few) of these great new releases!

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert | Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, passes away alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood. Soon, Alice’s mother is taken away―by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother’s stories are set. Alice’s only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”

Zenith by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings | Goodreads

Androma Racella is known as the Bloody Baroness, a powerful mercenary within the Mirabel Galaxy leading her all-girl run starship. Meanwhile, a ruthless ruler waits in the shadows waiting to exact revenge for the destruction of her people and her plan will tear Mirabel in two.

A Taxonomy of Love by Rachael Allen | Goodreads

It’s . . . something at first sight when Spencer meets hope and they quickly become friends. He finally feels like he belongs after being outshone by his brother and teased because of his Tourette syndrome, but the label of “friend” gets messier as they grow up. Through a series of ups and downs, the two grow together and apart and Spencer learns things don’t always fit into boxes.

Runaways by Christopher Golden | Goodreads

Based on the popular Hulu television series and comic books, fans and first-time readers will enjoy this new take on the story. The novel also includes the first issue of the revived Runaways comic series written by Rainbow Rowell and with art by Kris Anka.

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black | Goodreads

Jude was seven when herself and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants to belong even though fey despise humans, especially Prince Cardan—the young and wicked son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu | Goodreads

One by one, the city’s elites are being executed. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne is turning eighteen and about to inherit his family’s fortune, not to mention the keys to Wayne Enterprises. But after a run-in with the police, he’s forced to do community service at Arkham Asylum. He meets Madeleine, a brilliant girl with ties to the Nightwalkers and she’s a mystery Bruce must unravel. But is he getting her to divulge her secrets, or is he feeding her the information she needs to bring Gotham City to its knees?

Markswoman by Rati Mehrotra | Goodreads

Kyra is the youngest Markswoman in the Order of Kali, a highly trained sisterhood of elite warriors armed with telepathic blades. After the death of her mentor, Kyra is forced to run and finds herself at the Order of Khur, an order composed of all men. With the help of Rustan, a young, disillusioned Marksman, Kyra must obtain proof of who killed her mentor.

Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined To Meet by Jennifer L. Armentrout + Various | Goodreads

Whether or not you believe in fate, or luck, or love at first sight, every romance has to start somewhere. Meet Cute is an anthology of original short stories featuring tales of “how they first met” from some of today’s most popular YA authors, including Nina LaCour, Nicola Yoon, Katharine McGee, Kass Morgan, and Dhonielle Clayton.

Everless by Sara Holland | Goodreads

In Sempera, time is currency—extracted from blood, bound to iron, and consumed to add time to one’s own lifespan. The rich have extended their lives for centuries and nobody resents them more than Jules Ember. Now with her father dying, she must go to them and earn more time for him, but going back brings danger and temptation catching her in a tangle of violent secrets.

Gunslinger Girl by Lyndsay Ely | Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Serendipity “Pity” Jones inherited two things from her mother: a pair of six shooters and perfect aim. She’s been offered a life of fame and fortune in Cessation, a glittering city where lawlessness is a way of life. But the price she pays for her freedom may be too great….

Reign The Earth by A.C. Gaughen | Goodreads

Shalia is a proud daughter of the desert, but after years of war, her people are desperate for peace. Willing to trade her freedom, Shalia becomes Queen of the Bonelands. She discovers Calix, her husband, is determined to kill off the Elementae—mystical people who can control earth, wind, air, and fire. More unsettling is Shalia’s feelings for her husband’s brother and discovering her power over the earth—a power that could get her killed.

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson | Goodreads

Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers and inventors.  But after it opened, Albert Ellingham’s wife and daughter were kidnapped and it became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history. Now true-crime aficionado Stevie Bell begins her first year at the academy and aims to solve the cold case until death revisits Ellingham Academy.

Wires and Nerves, Vol 2: Gone Rogue by Marissa Meyer | Goodreads

Iko—an audacious android and best friend to the Lunar Queen Cinder—has been tasked with hunting down Alpha Lysander Steele, the leader of a rogue band of bioengineered wolf-soldiers who threaten to undo the tenuous peace agreement between Earth and Luna. Unless Cinder can reverse the mutations that were forced on them years before, Steele and his soldiers plan to satisfy their monstrous appetites with a massacre of the innocent people of Earth.

Iron Gold by Pierce Brown | Goodreads

A decade ago, Darrow was the hero of the revolution but the Rising only brought an endless war. Now he must risk everything he has fought for on one last desperate mission with other destinies entwining with Darrow’s—A young Red girl flees tragedy and gains a new life she could never have imagined. An ex-soldier broken by grief is forced to steal the most valuable thing in the galaxy—or pay with his life. And Lysander au Lune, the heir in exile to the sovereign, wanders the stars with his mentor, Cassius, haunted by the loss of the world that Darrow transformed, and dreaming of what will rise from its ashes.

Reign of the Fallen by Sarah Glenn Marsh | Goodreads

Odessa is one of Karthia’s master necromancers, catering to the kingdom’s ruling Dead. Whenever a noble dies, it’s Odessa’s job to raise them by retrieving their souls from the Deadlands. But the Dead must remain shrouded, or risk transforming into zombie-like monsters known as Shades. Shade attacks soon rise and it appears someone is intentionally creating and training them to attack.

Nice Try, Jane Sinner by Lianne Oelke | Goodreads

17-year-old Jane Sinner’s parents push her to attend a high school completion program after her expulsion, and she agrees as long as she gets to move out. She signs up for a student-run reality show to solve her housing problem. The show goes from web series to a local TV show with fans and she’ll use her growing fan base, and whatever Intro to Psychology can teach her, to prove to the world—or at least viewers of substandard TV—that she has what it takes to win.

Check out other books coming out in January 2018 on our Goodreads list!

The post January Book Releases: YA appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Read on to discover our picks and tell us what book you are most excited to pick up in January 2018!

Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee | Goodreads

Two sisters: Miranda, the older and responsible one, and Lucia, vibrant and headstrong. When Lucia starts to hear voices, it’s Miranda who must fight for the help her sister needs. Lucia tries to lead a normal life and moves her new family to Ecuador, but she cannot escape her own mental illness. Miranda must decide, again, whether or not to step in, but Lucia may not want to be saved.

Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu | Goodreads

One by one, the city’s elites are being executed. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne is turning eighteen and about to inherit his family’s fortune, not to mention the keys to Wayne Enterprises. But after a run-in with the police, he’s forced to do community service at Arkham Asylum. He meets Madeleine, a brilliant girl with ties to the Nightwalkers and she’s a mystery Bruce must unravel. But is he getting her to divulge her secrets, or is he feeding her the information she needs to bring Gotham City to its knees?

The English Wife by Lauren Willig | Goodreads

Annabelle and Bayard Van Duyvil live a charmed life even though there are rumours she’s having an affair with the architect. But then Bayard is found dead with a knife in his chest on the night of their Twelfth Night Ball, Annabelle goes missing, presumed drowned, and the papers go mad. Janie, Bay’s sister, teams up with a reporter to uncover the truth and she learns more about her brother and his wife.

Iron Gold by Pierce Brown | Goodreads

A decade ago, Darrow was the hero of the revolution but the Rising only brought an endless war. Now he must risk everything he has fought for on one last desperate mission with other destinies entwining with Darrow’s—A young Red girl flees tragedy and gains a new life she could never have imagined. An ex-soldier broken by grief is forced to steal the most valuable thing in the galaxy—or pay with his life. And Lysander au Lune, the heir in exile to the sovereign, wanders the stars with his mentor, Cassius, haunted by the loss of the world that Darrow transformed, and dreaming of what will rise from its ashes.

Still Me by Jojo Moyes | Goodreads

Louisa Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam alive across several thousand miles. Before she knows what’s happening, Lou is mixing in New York high society, where she meets Joshua Ryan, a man who brings with him a whisper of her past.

A Time of Dread by John Gwynne | Goodreads

The Ben-Elim, a fierce race of warrior-angels, burst into the Banished Lands over a hundred and thirty years ago in pursuit of their eternal enemy, the Kadoshim demon-horde. Now much of the Banished Lands is ruled by the Ben-Elim extending their influence and power as they swallow ancient kingdoms into the protective grasp of their ever-extending borders. But peace is fragile within the realm and the Kadoshim that remain are now amassing on the edges of the empire….

Gunslinger Girl by Lyndsay Ely | Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Serendipity “Pity” Jones inherited two things from her mother: a pair of six shooters and perfect aim. She’s been offered a life of fame and fortune in Cessation, a glittering city where lawlessness is a way of life. But the price she pays for her freedom may be too great….

Click to read the first five chapters HERE

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin | Goodreads

If you were told the date of your death, how would it shape your present? In 1969 New York, word has spread of the arrival of a travelling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children—four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness—sneak out to hear their fortunes and their prophecies will inform their next five decades.

Zack by Mons Kallentoft and Markus Lutteman | Goodreads

Zack Herry is the golden boy who has stumbled into a career in the Stockholm police force. At night, he hangs out at the clubs, partying with the people he should really be arresting. But when four Thai women from a massage parlor in Stockholm are found brutally executed and a fifth badly mutilated and dumped outside a nearby hospital, Zack must get his act together and try to figure out the motives behind the vicious murders, together with his partner, Deniz.

The Wolves of Winter by Tyrell Johnson | Goodreads

Lynn McBride has learned much since society collapsed in the face of nuclear war and the relentless spread of disease. As memories of her old life haunt her, she has been forced to forge ahead in the snow-covered Canadian Yukon, learning how to hunt and trap to survive. Shadows of the world before have found her tiny community—most prominently in the enigmatic figure of Jax, who sets in motion a chain of events that will force Lynn to fulfill a destiny she never imagined.

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert | Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice’s life on the road, but when Alice’s grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: Her mother is stolen away―by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother’s stories are set. Alice’s only lead is the message her mother left behind: “Stay away from the Hazel Wood.”

The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor | Goodreads

In 1986, Eddie and his friends are just kids on the verge of adolescence and use little chalk stick figures to leave messages they can only understand. But then a mysterious chalk man leads them to a dismembered body. In 2016, Eddie gets a letter in the mail containing a single chalk stick figure. His friends receive the same message, and one of them turns up dead.

Check out other books coming out in January 2018!

The post January Book Releases appeared first on The Nerd Daily.