Review: Takeover by Anna Zabo

Sep 152014
 

Cover for Takeover by Anna Zabo. Two men, visible from torso to nose, stand stand in fancy modern suits above a nighttime cityscape.Library Journal: This hot, heady title excels in both porn and plot. Recommended for those seeking a solid BDSM-tinged M/M romance with plenty of backstory. Embittered, overworked Michael Sebastian tries to escape the grip of his sinking engineering company for just a week, fleeing to the gay-friendly town of Curacao. He finds himself still living in his head, overthinking and woefully unattached until he meets Sam, a mysterious well-dressed stranger who ends up needing just the punishment Michael has been desperate to give (and then some). Continue reading »

Takeover by Anna Zabo

Aug 192014
 

Cover for Takeover by Anna Zabo. Two men, visible from torso to nose, stand stand in fancy modern suits above a nighttime cityscape.Michael Sebastian thought Curacao would be the perfect place to have a little fun in the sun–and between the sheets. So far, no one has struck his interest, until Sam Anderson walks into the bar. With one look at his tense body and expensive suit, Michael knows that this is a man in need of release. And Michael is more than willing to lend a hand.

Shattered by the most intense sex he’s ever had, Sam has to face the facts–one night with a handsome, dominating stranger is all he gets before returning to the closet he’s been suffocating in for years. But when Sam starts his new job as the CEO of a failing technology company, he discovers that Michael is one of his new employees.

While Michael is desperate for another night with Sam, he knows he shouldn’t get involved with his boss, let alone another man who can’t accept who he is. But as they’re forced to work together to save the company, the desire sparking between them becomes impossible to ignore…

The Longest Night by Kara Braden

Jul 012014
 

Cover for The Longest Night by Kara Braden. A white woman with brown hair leans down, nose-to-nose with a white man with brown hair and a couple days stubble. Her hand cups his jaw, thumb along his cheekline. Below them is a secluded winterscape, a lone cabin in snow-covered pines.Years ago, former Marine Captain Cecily Knight fled her dark past and the nightmares forever haunting her nights. Alone in the remote Canadian wilderness, she survives day to day…until Ian Fairchild comes storming into her life and shatters her protective seclusion.

Aloof but intriguing, defensive but undeniable, Ian is everything Cecily shouldn’t want but can’t ignore. He watches her with shrewd blue eyes, as if determined to decipher her secrets…and for the first time in years, she finds herself coming alive beneath the hands of a man with too many scars to count.

As the hushed and harsh winter closes in around them, two lost souls find themselves on the precipice of a love that could save their lives…or destroy them forever.

Starred Review: The Longest Night by Kara Braden

Jun 252014
 

Cover for The Longest Night by Kara Braden. A white woman with brown hair leans down, nose-to-nose with a white man with brown hair and a couple days stubble. Her hand cups his jaw, thumb along his cheekline. Below them is a secluded winterscape, a lone cabin in snow-covered pines.Library Journal: Watching this romance unfold from Ian’s point of view is refreshing and insightful. A stock womanizer soon unfolds into a complex hero. But as with all heroes, Ian has flaws and is all the more lovable for them. Savoring each page of this novel, this reviewer found the end unfolding a bit too quickly; still, with this first-time effort, Braden will soon amass a strong readership.

Debut author Braden introduces us to Ian Fairchild, a Manhattan playboy forced to take a break from his law firm after a rough case results in an accident and an addiction to painkillers. Ian’s brother, Preston, a military contractor, calls on the one person he can trust—former U.S. Marine captain Cecily Knight—to take Ian in and give him the help the treatment centers could not provide. With that setup, readers might look to the traditional plot of the female caretaker saving the damaged philanderer; however, Braden soon reveals why Cecily is beholden to Preston Fairchild. Preston defied military codes of conduct to rescue Cecily after three days of torture and captivity in the Middle East, after which Cecily withdrew from society and retreated to the Canadian wilderness. Perhaps the wounded player can take on the role of caretaker to heal both of their hearts.

Manly Wade Wellman Award 2014

Jun 202014
 

cover for Mur Lafferty's The Shambling Guide to New York City. A woman with curly brown hair walks down a New York City street, looking thoughtfully at the notepad she's writing on. Behind her are the usual pedestrians, cars, and buildings, but also a man with a tail, a goblin eating out of the trash, and a dragon perched on the Empire State Building.Congratulations to Mur Lafferty on the nomination of THE SHAMBLING GUIDE TO NEW YORK CITY for the 2014 Manly Wade Wellman Award for North Carolina Science Fiction and Fantasy!

Because of the disaster that was her last job, Zoe is searching for a fresh start as a travel book editor in the tourist-centric New York City. After stumbling across a seemingly perfect position though, Zoe is blocked at every turn because of the one thing she can’t take off her resume — human.

Not to be put off by anything — especially not her blood drinking boss or death goddess coworker — Zoe delves deep into the monster world. But her job turns deadly when the careful balance between human and monsters starts to crumble — with Zoe right in the middle.

British Fantasy Awards 2014

Jun 112014
 

Cover for Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman. A dark red cover with "The Split Words" in smaller gray words atop, and "Between Two Thorns" in fancy big white text in the center. Below is an aqueduct with a gate, illustrated in black ink. Black ink filigree climbs either side of the cover, with flowers, bottles, eyes?, gargoyles???Cover for The Glass Republic by Tom Pollock. A black cover, with the title in large fancy silver letters in the center, and a silver London skyline running along the bottom edge.Congratulations to the DMLA authors nominated by the British Fantasy Society’s awards for 2014!

 

 

 

 

Best Fantasy Novel

  • BETWEEN TWO THORNS, Emma Newman (Angry Robot)
  • THE GLASS REPUBLIC, Tom Pollock (Jo Fletcher Books)

Best Newcomer:

  • Emma Newman, for BETWEEN TWO THORNS

Deal: Lisa Nicholas

Jun 022014
 

Photo of author Lisa Nicholas.Lisa Nicholas’s debut THE FARTHER I FALL, about a British army veteran who gets a job as the tour manager for a recently-out-of-rehab rocker, only to discover the job and the man are more exciting and more dangerous than she ever expected, to Kristine Swartz at Intermix in a two-book deal, for publication in Jan 2015, by Jennifer Udden.

Starred Review: The Longest Night by Kara Braden

May 092014
 

Cover for The Longest Night by Kara Braden. A white woman with brown hair leans down, nose-to-nose with a white man with brown hair and a couple days stubble. Her hand cups his jaw, thumb along his cheekline. Below them is a secluded winterscape, a lone cabin in snow-covered pines.Publishers Weekly: In this touching and stupendously fresh debut, Braden proves that one doesn’t have to turn an entire genre on its head to get something new and exciting. For Cecily Knight, formerly a Marine captain, and Ian Fairchild, a hotshot criminal defense lawyer in need of a vacation, it’s neither love nor hate at first sight. The two begin as cordial strangers, forced by circumstances and by favors owed to share space in Knight’s remote cabin—he to avoid the temptation of relapse after an injury leaves him addicted to painkillers, she to avoid other people who might inadvertently trigger her PTSD. The two of them grow to respect, like, and then lust for one another, their relationship hindered by Ian’s overly logical approach to life and Cecily’s self-doubt and fear. Their blossoming is slow, steady, inevitable, and entrancing. Braden allows them to have their doubts and assumptions without making angst the focus of the plot, lending their story credibility and sweetness. Contemporary romance fans will savor every page.

2014 Hugo Awards Finalists

Apr 232014
 

Congratulations to the DMLA authors who were named finalists for the 2014 Hugo Awards!

  • Best Novelette: “The Lady Astronaut of Mars,” Mary Robinette Kowal
  • Best Fancast: Tea and Jeopardy, Emma Newman
  • Best Related Work: Writing Excuses Season 8, Mary Robinette Kowal (with non-DMLA authors Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, and Jordan Sanderson)

 

Deal: Anna Zabo

Feb 102014
 

anna-zaboAuthor of the Rainbow Award-nominated and EPIC award finalist CLOSE QUARTER Anna Zabo’s MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS,  a contemporary erotic office romance which follows Mike, who has a one-night stand on his last night of vacation only to get back to work and realize that it was with his new CEO, a man so deep in the closet he may as well be in Narnia, to Cindy Hwang at Berkley Intermix, by Jennifer Udden.

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