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Happy Holidays!
As we launch into the holiday season and head toward the New Year, I wanted to let you know how thankful I am for your support and encouragement. Writing can be a very lonely journey, frought with anxiety and fear. Every step forward, every word written, can feel like a risk. Having a community of fans behind me - having *you* all behind me - is my safety net.
Thank you.
Book Recommendations
If you're a reader, then you know how wonderful a gift a book can be. You're giving someone not just pages or pixels, but a new universe to explore. I am a voracious reader and read across multiple genres and I'd like to share some wonderful books from my reading this past year. All four are excellent reads; all four are quite different from one another. I hope I have something here for every taste.
"X-files meets Jason Bourne"
If you enjoy action with a little bit of weird thrown in, I STRONGLY recommend Rick Wayne's THE MINUS FACTION novellas. Written as episodic fiction, they are tightly constructed, highly original, and gripping, with characters you will deeply care about. Episodes one (Breakout) and two (Crossfire) are currently available. Each story stands alone and aren't cliffhangers (or I'd have to hunt Wayne down and hurt him!). I am eagerly awaiting episode three.
Lyrical Fantasy, in the tradition of Patricia McKillip
I don't know where I picked up this book, but TILL HUMAN VOICES WAKE US is also on my favorites of 2014 list. Victoria Goddard weaves the tale of Orpheus along with a hefty dose of Shakespeare and dangerous magic into a story of contemporary London. The Lord of Ysthar, struggles with his past and the endgame to a eons long magical war as his adopted world hangs on the brink of destruction. This is a dense book, written like the poetry its title is from. And one that will stay with you for a long while.
Science Fantasy with a helping of heavy metal music and original world building
WITHOUT BLOODSHED is a complex, rambling read that takes place in modern day Boston (my fair city!) and beyond. It's the kind of genre-busting novel that is rarely published in today's world of tightly defined markets, and that's a shame. Taking place after Nationfall, Without Bloodshed isn't quite post-apocolyptic, but it is post nations, a world where The Phoenix society is the law and Morgan Stormrider is its most successful enforcer. But he is also not quite human, and the parallel stories that twist through this novel showcase a writer with a strong grasp on building myth and driving a high-octane plot. There is murder, heavy metal music, betrayal, and demigods. Oh, and swords, too.
A journey of trust between sisters seeking answers
I just finished Therese Walsh's THE MOON SISTERS a few days ago and it is still working its magic on me. Jazz and Olivia Moon, each mourning their mother's recent death in very different ways, are searching, not for answers, but for resolution. For Olivia, the younger sister, cursed/blessed with synesthesia, that means traveling to the setting of her mother's unfinished novel in order to find a will o'the wisp. For Jazz, it initially means trying to force Olivia home so they can move on with their lives. As their journey unfolds and intersects with other travelers holding their own hurts and secrets, they may both discover what they didn't know they needed. I flat out loved this book. Not my typical reading fare, I nonetheless highly recommend it.
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Buy One, Get One Free Sale!
And more book goodness. In honor of CyberMonday,if you buy any of my novels in eBook form, I will send you another free.This promotion will extend past this week to the entire month of December, for newsletter subscribers. (That's you all!)
Just email me the purchase confirmation from any of my novels purchased in December 2014 from any venue, and I will email you another of my novels, your choice, in your preferred format. You can find descriptions of each of my books and links here: http://www.ljcohen.net
Again, thank you for your support!
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Publication News
TIME AND TITHE, the long-awaited sequel to THE BETWEEN is in production for a January release. I have final edits from the editor, and am awaiting a proof of the cover art.
TIME AND TITHE
Only months after her victory over Oberon and Titania, everything Lydia thought she'd accomplished is unraveling: Faerie is falling into decay, the Fae are restless, and Taylor, the baby sister she sacrificed everything for has grown up without her.
When Taylor tumbles out of the ordinary world and into Faerie, she discovers that Aeon, her imaginary childhood friend, is all too real. He is a powerful Fae, trapped in a maze of vengeance, memory, and madness. His unleashed power threatens to free Oberon and Titania and reignite the war Lydia ended.
The sisters, now nearly strangers to one another, must figure out how to keep Aeon from destroying Faerie while safeguarding the mortal world, all without sacrificing the Fae who was once friend to them both.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
(This means you can share the newsletter and/or the story with a link back to http://www.ljcohen.net, Lisa Janice (LJ) Cohen, but please do not place it for sale or change it.) |
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