Unheralded Doomsday Prophets: 2012 Books of the Apocalypse by Debut Authors

[YetiStomper]

I know we've already got a Books of the Apocalypse thread for 2012 Release but I thought a sister thread devoted to only 2012 debuts might be interesting.

I'll have to check my notes for more but off the top of my head I'm looking forward to

The Games - Ted Kosmatka

Throne of the Crescent Moon - Saladin Ahmed

Ironskin - Tina Connolly

What new stuff are you looking forward to?

[jdiddyesquire]

Hmm..

The Alchemist of Souls / Anne Lyle (Angry Robot)

Carpathia / Matt Forbeck (Angry Robot)

Giant Thief / David Tallerman (Angry Robot)

Seven Princes / John R. Fultz (Orbit)

Faith / John Love (Night Shade books)

[YetiStomper]

Forgot about Seven Princes / John R. Fultz.

Also looking forward to

The Croning / Laird Barron (Night Shade Books)

Unwrapped Sky / Rjurik Davidson (Tor)

but I'm not sure if either will see shelves in 2012. Barron's debut has been long delayed and I'm not sure what the latest on Unwrapped Sky is.

[jdiddyesquire]

Forgot about Seven Princes / John R. Fultz.

Also looking forward to

The Croning / Laird Barron (Night Shade Books)

Unwrapped Sky / Rjurik Davidson (Tor)

but I'm not sure if either will see shelves in 2012. Barron's debut has been long delayed and I'm not sure what the latest on Unwrapped Sky is.

Some of the houses are particularly troublesome to find 2012 info on... Night Shade being one of them. A new website would welcome with an actual forthcoming catalog. Nothing like having to dig through their distributor's site.

Given how many awesome debuts came of their catalog *this* year, i have to imagine 2012 will be equally robust. Their New Voice Program seems to be working.

[jdiddyesquire]

Shadow Ops: Control Point, Myke Cole (Ace)

[Calibandar]

You guys have mentioned a few.

Unwrapped Sky by Davidson is high on there, so is Seven Princes by John Fultz.

Throne of the Crescent Moon-Ahmed

The Games-Kosmatka ( tentatively interested)

I would add So Deep a Malice by John Gwynne, due in March from Tor UK. Synopsis provided in the 2012 thread sounded interesting. I'd also be tentatively interested in the two Gollancz epic Fantasy debuts "The Traitor Son" by Miles Cameron ( June) and Empire of the Saviours by AJ Dalton ( May).

[Jerec]

Any debut authors writing books about the supposed apocalypse?

[Bastard of Godsgrace]

Gwynne and Dalton do look somewhat interesting (and perhaps Cameron as well). I am willing to give all three the chance, unless the reviews will be bad.

[Jussi]

Here is a longer synopsis for Cameron's novel:

First in an epic fantasy trilogy by a stunning debut fantasy novelist.

The Traitor’s Son is the story of a mercenary knight and his men in a world full of trials, battles and danger. Accepting a commission to protect a small community against the savage creatures besieging them, the knight is quick to realise he and his men need help.

The King is the only one who can provide it. But why should the King answer the call, when he has his own battles to fight? And why is the wayward knight so reluctant to request his aid in the first place?

Dark, violent, and brilliantly observed and written, this will be an ideal series for fans of Joe Abercrombie, George R.R. Martin and A-list epic fantasy fiction.

http://www.orionbook...guide-2011-2012

[Mark Lawrence]

> Throne of the Crescent Moon - Saladin Ahmed

All this time I hadn't realised this was going to be a debut! Saladin seems well known & popular & the book has 41 likes on it 5 months before publication. What have I missed? Has he made a name writing in some non-novel capacity?

[jdiddyesquire]

> Throne of the Crescent Moon - Saladin Ahmed

All this time I hadn't realised this was going to be a debut! Saladin seems well known & popular & the book has 41 likes on it 5 months before publication. What have I missed? Has he made a name writing in some non-novel capacity?

He was nominated for the John Campbell Award for New Writer this year at WorldCon. It was for his short fiction. I understand this is his first novel.

[beniowa]

Yup, it's Ahmed's short fiction that's been getting some attention, all of which are quite good. For the curious, all eight of his stories can be read from his website. "Where Virtue Lives" has the same setting and characters as the upcoming novel.

[YetiStomper]

Looks like RjuriK Davidson is penciled in for 2013 not 2012 as originally promised. Funny, as the blog post I discovered him in mentioned that his first book was due to Tor on January 1, 2011. I wonder if he got caught up in the whole editorgate thing that deep sixed Ian Tregillis's books, both of which are completely finished at this point.

[Calibandar]

I've been wondering about that myself Yeti. It's suspicious that this books keeps getting pushed back more and more. It could be due to the author, but one would not be baffled if Tor's editorgate was to blame.

[YetiStomper]

Bumping this thread with another promsing 2012 debut from Small Beer Press - A STRANGE IN OLONDRIA - Sofia Samatar

Jevick, the pepper merchant's son, has been raised on stories of Olondria, a distant land where books are as common as they are rare in his home. When his father dies and Jevick takes his place on the yearly selling trip to Olondria, Jevick's life is as close to perfect as he can imagine. But just as he revels in Olondria's Rabelaisian Feast of Birds, he is pulled drastically off course and becomes haunted by the ghost of an illiterate young girl.

In desperation, Jevick seeks the aid of Olondrian priests and quickly becomes a pawn in the struggle between the empire's two most powerful cults. Yet even as the country shimmers on the cusp of war, he must face his ghost and learn her story before he has any chance of becoming free by setting

her

free: an ordeal that challenges his understanding of art and life, home and exile, and the limits of that seductive necromancy, reading.

A Stranger in Olondria

is a skillful and immersive debut fantasy novel that pulls the reader in deeper and deeper with twists and turns reminiscent of George R. R. Martin and Joe Hill.

Sofia Samatar

is an American of Somali and Swiss German Mennonite background. She wrote

A Stranger in Olondria

in Yambio, south Sudan, where she worked as an English teacher. She has worked in Egypt and is pursuing a PhD in African languages and literature at the University of Madison, Wisconsin.

http://www.amazon.co...21448316&sr=1-2

[peterbound]

> Throne of the Crescent Moon - Saladin Ahmed

All this time I hadn't realised this was going to be a debut! Saladin seems well known & popular & the book has 41 likes on it 5 months before publication. What have I missed? Has he made a name writing in some non-novel capacity?

I really want to like/try this book, but i don't think i can get past that god awful cover they settled on. Looks like a fucking bad 80's middle eastern exploitation film.

[Datepalm]

Were those common?

[Garlan the Gallant]

City of the Lost by Stephen Blackmoore January 3, 2012 (US)

Seven Princes by John R. Fultz January 3, 2012 (US)

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed February 7, 2012 (US)

The Scar by Sergey Dyachenko February 28, 2012 (US)

The Games by Ted Kosmatka March 13, 2012 (US)

The Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle March 27, 2012 (US)

Empire of the Saviours by AJ Dalton May 17, 2012 (UK)

Traitor Son by Miles Cameron June 21, 2012 (US)

Stands a Shadow by Colin Buchanan

So Deep a Malice by John Gwynne

The Crimson Shield – Gallow by Nathan Hawke

I'm not sure if these are debut authors:

Chrysanthe by Yves Meynard March 13, 2012 (US)

Son of the Morning by Mark Alder April 1, 2013 (UK)

vN by Madeline Ashby

[Jussi]

Blades of Winter by G. T. Almasi will be published in August (Del Rey).

In one of the most exciting debuts in years, G. T. Almasi has fused the intricate cat-and-mouse games of a John le Carré novel with the brash style of comic book superheroes to create a kick-ass alternate history that reimagines the Cold War as a clash of spies with biological, chemical, and technological enhancements.

Nineteen-year-old Alix Nico, a self-described “million-dollar murder machine,” is a rising star in ExOps, a covert-action agency that aggressively shields the United States from its three great enemies: the Soviet Union, Greater Germany, and the Nationalist Republic of China. Rather than risk another all-out war, the four superpowers have poured their resources into creating superspies known as Levels.

Alix is one of the hottest young American Levels. That’s no surprise: Her dad was America’s top Level before he was captured and killed eight years ago. But when an impulsive decision explodes—literally—in her face, Alix uncovers a conspiracy that pushes her to her limits and could upset the global balance of power forever.

For it seems her father may still be alive, a prisoner of the Germans, handed over to them by a traitor in ExOps—a traitor who will stop at nothing to see Alix dead as well.

http://www.randomhouse.com/book/209527/blades-of-winter-by-g-t-almasi/book

[Jussi]

New blurb for Miles Cameron's The Black Captain, Book One of The Traitor Son Cycle:

A violent, fast-paced and compelling debut fantasy novel, in a world where heroes and monsters are not quite as they seem...

This is a world dominated by The Wild. Man lives in pockets of civilisation claimed from The Wild. Within men's walls life is civilised, the peace punctuated by tournaments, politicking, courtly love and canny business. Beyond those walls men are prey - vulnerable to the exceptionally powerful and dangerous creatures which populate the land, and even more vulnerable to those creatures schemes.

So when one of those creatures breaks out of The Wild and begins preying on people in their homes, it takes a specialist to hunt it down or drive it out... and even then, it's a long, difficult and extremely dangerous job. The Black Captain and his men are one such group of specialists. They have no idea what they're about to face...

Forget George and the Dragon. Forget Sir Lancelot and tales of Knightly exploits. This is dirty, bloody work. This is violent, visceral action. This is a mercenary knight as you've never seen one before.

http://www.amazon.co...27344935&sr=1-1

The release date has been pushed back to September. Here is some advance praise from Gollancz:

Miles Cameron is going to get mediaeval on your fantasy . . . and you’re about the meet the toughest, meanest knight in history. He and his company are professional killers – dragon slayers, mercenaries and demon killers. If something big and nasty is killing people, he and his mobile army will put it down for good. He is the best at what he does. He is more than he seems. He is about to square off against something far, far more dangerous than he expected . . .This is a great setting, an amazing character and a brilliant story. More: this is fantasy made real. Hold on to your helmet, we’re going dragon slaying for real . . .

http://fantasy-faction.com/2012/fantasy-books-due-in-2012-publishers-choice