The Lily Cafe is thrilled to present author Douglas Murphy and his first novel Umbral Ten, the first book in his Khaldaia Chronicles series! Title: Umbral Ten Author: Douglas Murphy Publisher: Self-published Publication date: April 21, 2020 Genre: Fantasy, Dark Fantasy A blood moon rises, demons roam, and the Inquisition approaches.Theodosia Archmail wakes up on the towers of Starkwind Monastery to find that her world has been turned upside down. Corpses litter every room; a beast that was once human roams the ruined halls; and a second, blood red moon hangs in the sky above her.The last thing she remembers is escorting her mother and a delegation of mages to a ceremony of purely…
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Guest Post: Writing to Express Myself by Idelle Kursman
The Lily Cafe is thrilled to welcome author Idelle Kursman! The author of two novels, True Mercy and The Book of Revelations, her post really speaks to my heart in so many ways and her novels sound absolutely fascinating while also spreading awareness for causes close to her heart. Also, please head over to Reedsy and upvote her new novel The Book of Revelations by Friday. Thank you! Writing to Express Myself Being an introvert, I have always found writing the best vehicle to express myself. Most people would describe me as a very quiet person, but that does not mean I do not have ideas or opinions that I would like to share. When…
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Book Review: Cynetic Wolf by Matt Ward
Title: Cynetic Wolf Author: Matt Ward Publisher: Myrmani Press Publication date: March 22, 2020 Genre: Science fiction, YA, Dystopian Summary: It starts simply enough: something with six claws killed someone. While out hunting for the six clawed thing, wolfish Raek discovers a startling secret about himself. Half animote (human-animal hybrid) and half cynetic (human-machine hybrid), he’s something of a freak, and the key to gaining power for the underground animote movement. I’m not a big fan of YA, but I was intrigued by the human-animal hybrid component. It sounded like a far cry from werewolf, which made me happy. I was drawn in by the dystopian setting and the fact that the description mentioned a mysterious…
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Guest Post: The Mysterious Teenage Hominid – Writing for Teens by Chris Stevenson
The Lily Cafe is thrilled to welcome Chris Stevenson! He is a YA author and shares here about why he writes in that genre and what the adolescent years offer to a writer. The Mysterious Teenage Hominid – Writing for Teens There was no question why I wrote YA fiction in the first place. When I got into it, it was a thrilling, lucrative and expressive category. Harry Potter was dominating the charts. The Hunger Games appeared, along with Divergent and Twilight. Writing young adult fiction then was like being on a speeding freight train which had no brakes and a throttle that only went forward.There are no estimates of…
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Novel Excerpt: Into the Suffering City: A Novel of Baltimore by Bill LeFurgy
The Lily Cafe is thrilled to present author Bill LeFurgy and his historical thriller Into the Suffering City: A Novel of Baltimore! Title: Into the Suffering City: A Novel of Baltimore Author: Bill LeFurgy Publisher: High Kicker Books Publication date: April 15, 2020 Genre: Historical, Historical Thriller Baltimore, 1909. The city is jumping with danger and excitement. New thrills are everywhere: cars, cocaine, ragtime music, moving pictures. Old troubles also thrive, including murder, corruption, and the painful divisions of gender, class, and race. Dr. Sarah Kennecott is on the autism spectrum—a trait that is unidentified and unappreciated at the time. Her passion is justice for murder victims, and after getting fired for looking too closely…
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Book Review: The Sisters Grimm by Menna van Praag
Title: The Sisters Grimm Author: Menna van Praag Publisher: Harper Voyager Publication date: March 31, 2020 Genre: Fantasy Summary: When a demon seeks to dominate humanity and spread darkness, he fathers a string of sons and daughters, pitting them against each other once his daughters turn 18 before giving them the choice of joining his side. Goldie, Scarlet, Bea, and Liyana are four such daughters. As children they discovered the unique link between them, their powers, and a magical place called Everwhere that can only be accessed in dreams at certain points in their lives, and specific gates. When they turned 13, Everwhere became lost to them, as well as their memories of the place and…
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Book Review: Special by Chino Chakanga
Title: Special Author: Chino Chakanga Publisher: Self-published Publication date: August 14, 2019 Genre: YA, Science fiction/Fantasy, Superhero Summary: Everyone in the world has a special ability, from flying to weather manipulation. Everyone, that is, except Hope. Hope is perfectly normal. She has zero abilities and has spent years undergoing treatments in the hopes of developing one. But it’s this specialness that makes it possible for her to help save the world she loves despite being different. Most people have, at one time or another, felt different from everyone else. As soon as the author contacted me for a review, I knew I had to read this one. It wasn’t quite what I had expected, wasn’t…
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Book Review: The Omega Archives by Erik Melendez
Title: The Omega Archives Author: Erik Melendez Publisher: Self-published Publication date: December 1, 2019 Genre: YA, Science Fiction Summary: Born with scientifically engineered mutated genes into a training facility, Alex is anything but a normal teenager. When the facility is attacked and everyone either killed or taken, Alex is the sole survivor. Adopted by loving and patient parents who work hard to remediate him and assimilate him into normal society, Alex just tries to live a normal life. But he and his town are attacked and he ends up being recruited by a counter-terrorist group searching for the mastermind behind the attack on the training facility. And Alex will do anything he can to find answers…
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Novel Excerpt: The Midnight Before Me by Elizabeth Lo
The Lily Cafe is thrilled to present author Elizabeth Lo and her debut YA Dark Fantasy novel The Midnight Before Me! Title: The Midnight Before Me Author: Elizabeth Lo Publisher: Westbrook Publishing Publication date: October 9, 2019 Genre: YA, Dark Fantasy HOW MUCH IS A LIFE WORTH? WHEN THE WORLD DEMANDS AN ANSWER WE ALL SCRAMBLE TO FIND ONE. My name is Midnight Thunder. The town crazy person; the Demon Eyes girl. The girl whose existence rests on a curse that saves her from death yet sets her on a path to an inevitable end. I live in a world full of magic: spells, curses, enchantments, and everything in between. It would be a whimsical…
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Why I Don’t Read YA
It’s nothing personal; it’s just not my cup of tea. See, YA as it stands today is actually a little foreign to me. Sure, it existed while I was growing up, but it was a tiny section at the bookstore with the heading “Teen.” While not a teen, I moved on from children’s books and into teen reads when I was ten, after having pretty much read my way through the children’s section. But I found this teen section lacking and a little sad with all of it’s heavy topics, too heavy for a ten-year-old. This was also before the rise of fantasy and vampires in this age group. So,…
