A.G. Henley, Author

Category: Reading

  • Cover Reveal: Free Souls

    I’m very pleased to announce that Susan Kaye Quinn‘s final book in the Mindjack trilogy is now available. I read the first book, Open Minds, and Closed Hearts (and now Free Souls) are in my TBR pile. Enjoy this fast-paced, inventive YA spec fiction series! And for any writers out there interested in taking the Indie path to publishing, Sue’s website is jam-packed with helpful information. Check it out –

     

    Free Souls by Susan Kaye Quinn

    (Book Three of the Mindjack Trilogy) Now Available!

    When your mind is a weapon, freedom comes at a price.

    Four months have passed since Kira left home to join Julian’s Jacker Freedom Alliance, but the hole in her heart still whistles empty where her boyfriend Raf used to be. She fills it with weapons training, JFA patrols, and an obsessive hunt for FBI agent Kestrel, ignoring Julian’s worries about her safety and repeated attempts to recruit her for his revolutionary chat-casts. When anti-jacker politician Vellus surrounds Jackertown with the National Guard, Kira discovers there’s more to Julian’s concerns than she knew, but she’s forced to take on a mission that neither want and that might be her last: assassinating Senator Vellus before he can snuff out Julian’s revolution and the jackers she’s come to love.

    All of the Mindjack stories are available on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Kobo, and iTunes

    (Note Free Souls is not yet available on Kobo or iTunes)

    Early Praise for Free Souls

    “Quinn paints a picture of a not-too-distant America where politicians inflame the hatred of one section of the populace for another—all for their own gain—and you worry that her world is not so far off from our own.”

    — Dianne Salerni, author of We Hear the Dead, The Caged Graves, and the forthcoming The Eighth Day

    “Free Souls starts with a bang and doesn’t let up. Like a mash-up of all your favorite science-fiction adventures from Star Wars to The Legend of Korra, it blends nonstop action, nail-biting escapes, and great romance. I absolutely loved it! A great series conclusion—a must-read.”

    — Leigh Talbert Moore, author of Rouge and The Truth About Faking

    “Susan did it again. Free Souls was WOW! I expected Kira to step up to her role as heroine but not like this. Surprises kept coming until the very end which tied up more loose ends than I knew existed. Warning: Don’t start reading until you have time to finish. I didn’t want to put Free Souls down for a second. It’s that kind of book.”

    — Sher A. Hart, Goodreads Review

    Interview

    Susan’s over at Amy Saunder’s blog today (12.14.12), answering questions about how she came up with the mages’ abilities, what kind of mage she would be, and all about her future works.

    Digital Box Set

    Since Free Souls is out, there is now a Digital Box Set of the Mindjack Trilogy for those of you who want the whole series!

    Available on Amazon, Barnes&Noble

    Mindjack Origins Collection

    Want more Julian? Wondering how Sasha’s ability really works? Looking for EXCLUSIVE DELETED SCENES from Free Souls? This collection of novellas, scenes, and other goodies is for those craving a bit more of the characters and drama of the Mindjack series.

    Includes:

    Mindjack Novellas

    Mind Games (Raf’s story)

    The Handler (Julian’s story)

    The Scribe (Sasha’s story)

    TWO EXCLUSIVE DELETED SCENES from Free Souls (published nowhere else!)

    PLUS Mindjack flash fiction, an (imaginary) conversation between Raf and Julian, and other goodies for readers who want just a little bit more of Kira, Julian, Raf, and the Mindjack crew.

    Available on Amazon, Barnes&Noble

    ENTER TO WIN

    one of FIVE ecopies of the Mindjack Origins Collection

    a Rafflecopter giveaway

     

  • Cover Reveal: World of Shell and Bone

    I’m so excited to be hosting my very first cover reveal for Adriana Ryan‘s dystopian novel, World of Shell and Bone! You might remember from my last post that I’m thankful for the amazing writers I’ve met over the last year? Well, Adriana is one of those writers. We’ve been corresponding for months, and I can tell you she’s a wonderful person along with being a fantastic author.

    World of Shell and Bone will be released December 7th. I’ll be among the first to buy it, and I hope you’ll join me. Here is her gorgeous, provocative cover, along with a description of the book. Enjoy, and let me know what you think when you read it!

    Cover of World of Shell and Bone by Adriana Ryan

    Cover by: James Helps (humblenations.com)

    In a world ravaged by a nuclear holocaust, Vika Cannon knows there are no guarantees: no guarantees of safety, no guarantees that your neighbor is not actually a spy for the government, and no guarantees you’ll be allowed to emigrate to a new life in Asia.

    New Amana is dying. Food and water are scarce, and people suffering from radiation-caused mutations—the Nukeheads—are the new class of homeless. 

    Vika has just one purpose: to produce healthy progeny using a Husband assigned by the Match Clinic. Unhealthy children are carted away to Asylums to be experimented on, just as Vika’s little sister Ceres was, eight years ago. Parents incapable of producing healthy progeny are put to death in gas chambers.
    When she’s assigned a Husband shortly after her twentieth birthday, Vika expects him to be complacent and obedient. But Shale Underwood has a secret. He is a member of the Radicals, the terrorist group intent on overthrowing the government. And Shale has information about Ceres.

    As she learns more about the Rads’s plan, Vika finds herself drawn to Shale in ways she’d never imagined. When freedom calls in the way of a healthy pregnancy, will she betray her government and risk death for Shale and Ceres? 

    Adriana Ryan lives and writes in Charleston, SC. She is currently at work on a dystopian and an urban fantasy series. A huge fan of spooky stuff and shoes, she enjoys alternately hitting up the outlet malls and historic graveyards.

    Adriana Ryan is a member of the Romance Writer’s Association (RWA).

    Contact: Adriana@adrianaryan.com
    http://adrianaryan.com
    www.facebook.com/authoradrianaryan
    www.twitter.com/adrianaryansc

     

  • Because I Said So: The Breeders by Katie French

    The Breeders (The Breeders Series)

    It’s been a while since I recommended a book. Not because I haven’t been reading (oh, far from that), or because I couldn’t find anything to recommend (please read Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi. Please. You will love it.) I just haven’t gotten around to writing a post, until today. I offer you The Breeders, by Katie French.

    The Breeders is a YA dystopian read that’s as gritty and dark as the cover and title suggest. It takes a look at how society might devolve if females were commodities: bought, sold, stolen, and traded to keep the dwindling human race going. Frightening concept. I loved it. You might recognize Katie French’s name from her review of The Scourge and an interview she did with me a few weeks ago. Turns out she’s an Indie author as well as a book blogger. She didn’t ask me to read or review her book, and I certainly won’t make it a habit to recommend every book by an author that liked mine. I bought The Breeders because I was drawn in by the cover and the promise of an exciting tale set in the American West, an unusual choice for YA speculative fiction novels. I wasn’t disappointed.

    Protagonist Riley is an impetuous sixteen-year-old girl hiding out with her family in one rusty, dusty farmhouse after another. They’re avoiding the Breeders, a mysterious group hell-bent on rounding up the last of the girls and women of childbearing years to play with like chemistry sets. They’d snatch Riley and her mother in a New Mexican minute . . . if they knew they existed. Riley’s lost any hope of falling in love, or having a life of her own. She’s focused on survival. And survival becomes difficult indeed when her stepfather doesn’t come home after a trip to trade for needed supplies. Determined to find him, Riley walks into a town full of smelly, dirty men who would just love to sell her to the Breeders for a princely sum, or use her for their own purposes. Sound like fun? Read it. It gets even better.

    The Breeders is action-packed, and genre-bending. Cowboys and banditos have shootouts in saloons and ghost towns, but elements of modern medicine and technology like Tasers and ATVs indicate the story is set sometime in the near future. Being YA, there’s also a sweet romance, but it takes a back seat to the action. I liked Riley a lot. She’s a real girl with real faults who makes plenty of mistakes while still remaining sympathetic. But my favorite character is Riley’s Auntie, who may be too old to pack heat, but sure can sling a good insult (“You stinking, rotten pig eater! . . . You loathsome, dirty hair pie! I spit in your mother’s grave!”) Hair pie? Love it. The villains remind me of the bad guys in the films Cool Hand Luke and O Brother Where Art Thou? While there are some line editing problems (spelling issues, missing words, misuse of homophones), the writing overall is very good. The dialogue is especially good, IMO.

    At the gun-powdery heart of The Breeders there’s a fundamental tension. The women and girls left in this dark world both love and rely on the men in their lives. But break the somewhat tenuous ties of their emotional bonds, and those same men can easily become the enemy. And if there are no ties at all . . . watch out. It’s a tension that exists for many women in our world, too, which makes Riley’s story both familiar and uncomfortable.

    My advice? Pour yourself a shot of cheap whiskey, settle into your bar stool, and grab The Breeders. For $2.99 you’ll have yourself a darn good read.

    Picture Find Katie at www.katiefrenchbooks.com

  • Getting The Giver

     This past weekend my daughter and I had the opportunity to see Lois Lowry’s The Giver performed onstage at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Published back in 1993, The Giver is frequently credited as the first dystopian novel written for children. After the steady stream of amazing dystopian young adult novels published in the last few years, including Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games and Veronica Roth’s Divergent, LL must be feeling pretty cutting edge. Oh, and did I mention The Giver won the Newbery Medal in 1994? Yeah, she’s feelin’ good.

    I read The Giver shortly before writing The Scourge. Seeing the plot play out onstage, I realized how much it influenced my story, particularly the idea of the Exchange. I don’t think I’m alone in ripping off being influenced by The Giver, either. Parts of the dystopian societies created in Divergent and Ally Condy’s Matched were reminiscent of Lowry’s novel.

    The stage performance included four adult actors, and four fine young actors, several of whom attend Denver School of the Arts. The set, props, and costumes were minimal and painted in a very neutral gray, which suited the story and enhanced the impact of the occasional use of color. With the help of some AV and lighting to pull off showing the Giver’s memories, and protagonist Jonas’ harrowing experience of receiving those memories, it was all very well done.

    I don’t think my daughter understood the full implication of the story, even after reading the novel and seeing the performance. But one thing I love about the best children’s literature is that she doesn’t have to. She can derive her own meaning from this reading. Then she can read the novel again in the coming years and gain an even richer understanding with the benefit of maturity.

    Behold the power of the arts.

     

  • When was the last time you had a book hangover?

    Reader Michelle W. of Kailua, Hawaii sent me the following message on Goodreads.com:

     

    Michelle W

    As I was checking out your website I came across a post written in April titled Boundary Issues. *slowly raises her hand* That was definitely me the other night. The only difference, it was with my Kindle Fire and your book, THE SCOURGE. Thank you for writing such a creative, unique, well-written story with characters you can’t help but fall in love with. I can’t wait to read the sequel. My only hope is that I won’t have to wait too long.

    P.S. Because of you I’m now suffering from a book hangover.

     

    Book Hangover: Inability to start a new book because you’re still living in the last book’s world.

     

    I’m not gonna lie. I love being the cause of a wicked book hangover! So, you’re welcome, Michelle. Or maybe I’m sorry? Either way, thank you for reading and for getting in touch.

    My latest book hangover was caused by doing shots with the appropriately named SLAMMED, by NYT bestselling Indie author, Colleen Hoover. It’s a good read from the up-and-coming New Adult genre, which typically features characters that are in the 18 to mid-20s age range, and are often set in college or soon thereafter. Other examples include EASY by Tammara Webber, or BEAUTIFUL DISASTER, by Jamie McGuire.

    What book led to your most recent book hangover?

  • I love the smell of new books in the morning

    Have you ever been in a brand new public library before? A library in it’s infancy, only a few days old?

    I had the chance today to do just that. Our squalling, red-faced neighborhood library branch was born last Friday. It was so cool to see all the materials before they were checked out and picked over, marked up and torn down, or drooled on and flung around by book-crazed toddlers. The library features:

    • rows and rows of new books

     

    • a huge number of DVDs and audiobooks

    • a legion of computer workstations, both kid and adult sized

    • a conveyor belt behind the book drop

    • an inviting fireplace surrounded by still-pristine, comfy seating

    • lots of natural light

    • helpful librarians waiting to direct you to the young adult section that’s hidden around a corner like it’s harboring erotica

    I rode my bike over, checked out a huge stack of stuff with my children and my friend Jenny, and rode back, all the while having flashbacks of the intense pleasure of checking out a stack of books with my mom and sister when I was a kid. The feeling that I’d won the literary lottery hasn’t changed. (We won’t talk about the fact that my childhood predated DVDs, audiobooks, and desktop computers. No, we really don’t need to go there.)

    Having a new library in the hood is sweet. Thank you Denver Public Libraries – you done good.