9 new works from local authors you should read
In this column, I cover debut novels by area authors with traditional publishers, and then at the end of each year, I share new publications.
But this year, so many of our area authors are being productive, I thought I’d share a midyear update on new books, published in 2018 (or coming soon) by authors I’ve featured in the past. Perfect timing for summer reading!
■ Mindee Arnett (www.mindeearnett.com) — “Onyx & Ivory” is a young adult fantasy novel about “Traitor Kate,” a title for a noble outcast who works for a royal courier service.
■ Heather Blake (www.heatherblakebooks.com) — “To Catch a Witch” is the latest title in Heather’s “Wishcrafter” series, a blend of fantasy and mystery, due out Aug. 7. (Heather also writes as Heather Webber.)
■ Lorie Langdon (www.lorielangdon. com) — “Olivia Twist” is a young adult with a clever, well, twist — a reimagining of Charles Dickens’ classic “Oliver Twist,” featuring Olivia Brownlow, raised in a workhouse and reared as a boy among London street gangs.
■ Leslie Nagel (www. leslienagel.com) — “The Advice Column Murders” is the third and newest entry in the Oakwood Mystery Series, and will be available as audio and ebook on July 17. Yes, the setting is Oakwood, Ohio. In this novel, the heroine Charley Carpenter (a vintage fashionista and amateur sleuth) is alarmed by what appears to be a hint at peril in a new, local advice column — only to discover a murder that seems to be connected to the column.
■ Cyndi Pauwels, writing as C.L. Pauwels (www.clpauwels.com) — “Burned Bridges,” which made an ebook debut in 2017, made its paperback debut earlier this spring. The mystery is the followup to C.L.’s first novel, featuring Toledo Homicide Detective Veronica Jadzinski ( Jadz), and an old homicide case that’s reopened.
■ John Scalzi (https:// whatever.scalzi.com) —“Head On: A Novel of the Near Future,” is John’s follow-up to his best-selling and critically acclaimed “Lock In,” a near-future, gritty, police procedural in which a deadly, highly contagious virus causes an unlucky one percent of all infected to suffer “Lock In,” in which victims are awake and aware but unable to move to respond to stimuli.
■ Shelley Shepard Gray (www.shelleyshepardgray.com) — “His Risk” is the latest in the author’s Amish of Hart County series, about an undercover English DEA agent who wishes to protect the Amish girl he loves. The prolific author has three additional titles slated for publication in 2018.
■ Jessica Strawser (https://jessicastrawser. com) — “Not That I Could Tell” is the author’s second novel, exploring what happens when one member of a group of neighborhood women mysteriously disappears along with her children.
■ Tim Waggoner (www.timwaggoner. com) — “Dark and Distant Voices,” a short story collection, is the latest publication by this ever-prolific author of dark fantasy and horror.
Fiona-the-baby-hippo Mania captured in a new book for young readers
“Saving Fiona,” by Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden Director Thane Maynard, was published just this past week by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers. Geared toward elementary school-aged readers but with appeal for all Fiona fans, the book “tells the amazing, true story of baby hippo Fiona and the team of scientists and caregivers who nursed her to health after she was born six weeks premature,” according to a press release from the Zoo.
“I travel all over the world, and people ask me about Fiona wherever I go. Happily, I can tell them that she is thriving and is a normal young hippo,” said Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard. “She is here today because the Zoo care team never gave up on her. I wrote this book to share the incredible events that occurred behind the scenes in the weeks following the baby hippo’s premature birth. It’s a story about how a community rallied to save a baby hippo and fell in love with her.”
Maynard’s dozen book credits include a contribution to Jane Goodall’s 2009 release, “Hope for Animals and Their World.” He is donating all proceeds from the sale of “Saving Fiona” to the Zoo. “Saving Fiona” is available at bookstores and via online book retailers.
Upcoming Literary Events
■ Wednesday, June 27, 7 p.m., Books & Co. at The Greene — Silas House will introduce his newest novel, “Southernmost.”
■ Sunday, July 1, 3 p.m., Barnes & Noble at The Streets of West Chester (9455 Civic Centre Blvd., West Chester) — Popular children’s author Jeff Alt will sign copies of his new book in the Bubba Jones series, “The Adventures of Bubba Jones (#3): Time Traveling Through Acadia National Park.”
■ Monday, July 9, Registration Deadline for Weekend and Morning Options for Antioch Writers’ Workshop at University of Dayton Summer Program — The workshop’s summer program will be held July 14-20 at University of Dayton. Registration is open through July 9 for the Weekend Option ( July 14-15) and the Morning Option (morning classes in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and the business of writing, July 15-July 20). Learn more at www. antiochwritersworkshop. com. sharonshort.com) is a novelist and director of the Antioch Writers' Workshop. Contact Sharon with news about your book club or organization. Email: sharonshort@ sharonshort.com. Twitter: @SharonGShort