Jennifer Jackson – Literary Agent

Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear

“Bear is paying homage to the dime novels of the era, forerunners of pulp fiction packed with larger-than-life heroes, scheming villains, and gritty action. But she’s subtly subverting this tradition, just as much as she’s giving steampunk a gentle, loving twist. An African-American marshal and a transgender prostitute are just two members of the book’s diverse cast, and it’s clear that Bear is making a point about the way history, like literary subgenres, can steamroll over anyone who falls outside the norm. She makes that point engagingly and effortlessly. Karen Memory breezes by at a leisurely pace, a bracing yet charming adventure yarn that never feels forced, despite the brassy confidence of its delivery.” — NPR.org

The cover has been revealed for The Traitor Baru Cormorant, the debut novel from Seth Dickinson!

From the catalog copy:

When the Empire of Masks conquers her island home, overwrites her culture, criminalizes her customs, and murders one of her fathers, young Baru Cormorant vows to swallow her hate, join the Empire’s civil service, and claw high enough up the rungs of power to set her people free.

Sent as an Imperial agent to distant Aurdwynn, another conquered country, Baru discovers it’s on the brink of rebellion. Drawn by the intriguing duchess Tain Hu into a circle of seditious dukes, Baru may be able to use her position to help. As she pursues a precarious balance between the rebels and a shadowy cabal within the Empire, she orchestrates a do-or-die gambit with freedom as the prize. But winning the long game of saving her people may be far more costly than Baru imagines.

“Dickinson has written a poet’s Dune, a brutal tale of empire, rebellion, fealty, and high finance that moves like a rocket and burns twice as hot. The Traitor Baru Cormorant is a mic drop for epic fantasy.” – Max Gladstone, author of the Craft Sequence

“I do not gush about books often, because I’m picky in my loves and my ADD requires they basically do handstands to keep my attention. This is less of a handstand and more an entire fucking circus shooting ferrets with tiny capes and helmets out of antique cannons into kiddie pools filled with glitter while Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now plays at an ear-rupturing volume overhead. Sweet jesus, I forget how much I crave good prose.” – Bo Bolander, Campbell-nominated author of “And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead” and “Her Words Like Hunting Vixens Spring”

Look for Dickinson’s novel in both the US and the UK on September 15, 2015!

Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear

“Karen Memory is a delight, a tour-de-force of historical reimagining and character creation, and a ripping yarn full of surprises, and despite Karen’s opening line, I can’t imagine anyone not liking what she has to tell us.” — Locus

Gideon by Alex Gordon is one of the Washington Post’s “Best new science fiction and fantasy!”

Alex Gordon’s impressive debut, Gideon, delivers a fast-paced plot that makes you want to finish it in a day, even if you don’t have time. The Midwest town of Gideon is full of witches who guard the living world against demons. An execution gone wrong in 1836 haunts the present-day inhabitants, who are worried about the “thinning” space between the living and the dead. After the sudden death of her father, Lauren Reardon comes to town to find out more about her family history and is troubled to learn that her father wielded great power in Gideon. She must face down the threat of a dead soul ready to rise again and bring most of hell with him. Lauren has the power to stop him, but can she also withstand the grudges and alliances of the townspeople? Gordon’s descriptions of the petty jealousies and insular nature of a small town make this paranormal novel feel scarily realistic. — Washington Post

Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop

Get ready to do the happy dance! It’s time to revisit Namid, Bishop’s extraordinarily gripping world with its unforgettable, haunting characters. Award-winning Bishop is fashioning a richly textured series whose reimagined Earth is so unique, it is a character itself. However, it is the distinctive protagonists who make these novels so totally addicting and completely satisfying. The hard part is waiting for the next installment!

Summary: Change is coming to the continent of Thaisia, but whether those changes are for good or ill remains to be seen. Now that the blood prophets have been freed from their imprisonment and virtual slavery, will these troubled girls be able to survive on their own? Blood prophet and Lakeside resident Meg Corbyn has a vision that suggests not…and that she may just need to blaze a trail to lead them forward. Then trouble arrives in the form of a small human girl when Nathan Wolfgard finds Lt. Montgomery’s daughter, Lizzy, alone on a train heading for Lakeside. And when Nathan smells blood on Lizzy’s stuffed “boo bear,” it seems like something terrible might have happened to Elayne, Lizzy’s mother and Montgomery’s ex-lover. Machinations orchestrated from across the ocean are fomenting dangerous events, which could upend the current detente between humans and the Others. — RT Book Reviews, 4 1/2 stars, Top Pick!