Book Spotlight

As you know, we are offering the Debut a Debut contest. We have two goals for this contest. 1. Encourage readers to find a new author to add to their "favorite author" list. 2. Help promote debut authors and get their name out!

The other day I listed a couple of book blurbs to highlight a couple of the authors on the debut author list. I thought it would be helpful to randomly list blurbs and book descriptions to help make it easier to see the types of books that are out there that you may never have heard of! You can also find news and information on the contest at my co-host's site West of Mars.

Michael Fitzgerald's novel Radiant Days
A recent review:
“In his keenly accomplished first novel, FitzGerald’s enigmatic tale of a feckless and dissolute American caught up in world events beyond his comprehension brings a disquieting new interpretation to the old adage that truth is the first casualty of war. At the height of San Francisco’s dot-com revolution, Anthony unhesitatingly abandons his unfulfilling job to follow Gisela, a beautiful young woman he has only just met, back to her native Hungary, ostensibly on a mission to locate her missing son. Arriving during the perilous waning days of the Balkan War, the pair attach themselves to British journalist Marsh, who, at 24, already has attained a cynical disregard for humanity that endangers his two new friends. As Anthony falls more deeply in love with Gisela, Gisela’s precise reasons for being in country dissolve into drug- and lust-induced escapades. Through Anthony’s self-indulgent and alienated voice, FitzGerald flawlessly and astutely mirrors the ennui and confusion of a generation and world enervated by ceaseless and senseless images of war. “
— Carol Haggas of BOOKLIST

Robert Gregory Browne has hardcover Kiss Her Goodbye releasing in February.
From Publishers Weekly:
Provocative violence, a colorful Chicago background and a dollop of the supernatural lift Browne's debut thriller. ATF agent Jack Donovan almost captures his nemesis, ruthless gangster Alex Gunderson, during a bank robbery. Gunderson's amoral pregnant wife, Sara, is shot in the ensuing chase, leaving her in a coma. Gunderson seeks revenge by kidnapping Donovan's teenage daughter, Jessica, and burying her in a coffin with enough air for three days. As the tension builds, a vainglorious Chicago cop shoots the kidnapper, who dies without revealing Jessica's whereabouts. Browne's experience as a screenwriter shows as he shorthands the parallels between the anarchic Gunderson and straight-arrow Donovan, both of whom are single-minded and personally loyal. Elements of the supernatural, including out-of-body experiences, provide humorous relief from the breathtaking pace.