The Lily Cafe is thrilled to present author Celinka Serre and her YA High Fantasy novel Stardust Destinies I: Variate Facing! Title: Stardust Destines I: Variate Facing Author: Celinka Serre Publisher: Binky Ink Publication date: May 3, 2019 Genre: Fantasy, YA Prompted by a cryptic message from her deceased master, Niome, a young wizardess, embarks on a journey to discover many truths. Leaving her country, Teloria, behind, and accompanied by her brother, his best friend, her brother’s master and his best friend, she discovers the prophecies that were written in the stars and dictated by the dragons. Being the guardian of the remaining safe magical book of spells, the Compliment Book, Niome and her companions…
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Book Review: Strand: The Silver Radio by Justin Attas
Title: Strand: The Silver Radio Author: Justin Attas Publisher: Self-published Publication date: February 14, 2019 Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian, YA One Sentence Summary: Quincy doesn’t fit in in the great tower called Strand no matter what he tries, but, when he’s forced into the Nether Layer, he finds adventure, danger, and purpose. I have a love-hate relationship with dystopian sci-fi novels. On one hand, there’s something that’s just appealing about them. I love when authors take our world, push it far into the future, and re-imagine what life might be like if there had been some major catastrophe. On the other hand, most dystopian sci-fi novels have let me down. They tend to follow the same…
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Book Review: Awkward by Gurpreet Kaur
Title: Awkward Author: Gurpreet Kaur Publisher: Self-published Publication date: June 13, 2020 Genre: YA, Fiction Summary: Awkward is just a normal teen in India. Except she’s really awkward. And makes every situation she’s in awkward. I’m not really a YA reader, but, when the author contacted me for a review and mentioned it was a comedy with plenty of awkwardness, I was intrigued. After looking into it, it looked really cute and I could already see awkward pieces of myself in Awkward, so I was more than happy to read this quick book! The Characters: Cute and Awkward The main character is Awkward, a seventeen-year-old student in India. She has the uncanny ability to make…
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Novel Excerpt: Umbral Ten by Douglas Murphy (revisited)
This past Thursday I posted my review of this fantasy novel. It was a delightful book and, if you haven’t had a chance to take a peek of it, I thought I’d revisit the excerpt the author generously allowed me to post back in May. First published May 19, 2019 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…
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Novel Excerpt: Umbral Ten by Douglas Murphy
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…
