Saturday Spotlight: New Book Releases December 2024
By Claire Buss, Deputy Editor, Write On!
At Write On! and Pen to Print, we want to help connect authors and readers, playwrights and audiences, so we’ve created a Spotlight page on the last Saturday of the month, showcasing some of the exciting new reads and plays available. The curated list is based on books and plays that you send us, so if you’re an author or a playwright and you’d like your book or play in the spotlight, reach out to us at pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk. Whether you’re an indie author, with a small press or mainstream publisher, established or brand new playwright, we’d love to hear from you and shine a light on your new work.
Write On! offers other opportunities for writers as well. If you’d like us to feature an extract from your book or a short story, please send the extract, book cover and blurb to pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk with the subject: Write On! Showcase (ensuring you have your publisher’s permission, of course).
Pen to Print are also looking for short videos from people reading a passage from their favourite book, or authors reading extracts from their own books. These videos will be featured on the Pen to Print YouTube channel and across our social media. Please send in your videos or links to pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk with the subject: Video Stories.
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Shadows In The Snow by TWM Ashford
Sometimes you have to play the cards you’re dealt.
The Lucky Quark casino ship couldn’t have found a worse place to crash than Gressil Prime. If the planet’s vicious blizzards weren’t bad enough, deadly hurricane storms tear apart anything that enters the atmosphere. Nobody, not even the corporation behind the casino, has made it through to the crash site alive.
Yet.
Sheni and his spacer crew only steal from people who don’t deserve what they’ve got. Unfortunately, a penthouse robbery puts them in hot water with a crooked art dealer who loves nothing more than a high-stakes hunt. If they don’t cough up a small fortune, their heads will be the next trophies on her wall.
Good thing there are millions of credits still sitting in the Lucky Quark’s vault, just waiting for a crew desperate and stupid enough to rescue them.
Available to buy here
Connect with T.W.M Ashford
Pick-Up by Nora Dahlia
Sasha Rubinstein is not on her game.
Parenting with an absent (and objectively douchey) ex has never been easy, but, lately, the judgmental side-eye from people at school pick-up feels extra. It doesn’t help that some entitled dad – with his perfect T-shirts and perfectly punchable (yet adorable) face – keeps stealing the last after-school spots and school hoodies out from under her.
Ethan Jones is not trying to trip Sasha up… at school or otherwise. In fact, ever since they met (which she promptly forgot), he’s been hoping for the exact opposite, or at least to stop thinking about her.
When a game-changing job lands them trapped together on an exclusive private island, they resolve to stop sniping at each other and keep things professional. But with tension building between them and the intoxication of island time, temptation blows in with the tropical breeze.
Ogaman: The Birth Of A New King by Dami Edun
Tundé Adeyemi is just another British Nigerian teenager in a dystopian, poverty-stricken London, struggling with school bullies and the harsh realities of his family’s living conditions.
But when a chain of chaotic events grants him extraordinary powers, Tundé seizes the chance to change his life and chase his desires — only to find that power comes with a heavy price.
As his choices lead to tragic consequences, a much darker force threatening the city emerges. Caught between doing what’s right and his thirst for vengeance, Tundé must confront not only the enemies outside, but also the battle within himself.
Will he become the hero that’s needed or the villain that succumbs as London’s fate hangs in the balance?
Night Into Light: A Mother’s Journey Of Grief And Transformation by Dianne Esguerra
A deeply personal memoir about recovering from bereavement, by a professional therapist and grief counsellor.
Can a parent ever survive the death of a daughter or son? Drowning in grief and with her life in pieces, psychotherapist Diane Esguerra asks herself this question as she sets off for Peru to scatter the ashes of Sacha, her only child, at the sacred Inca citadel Machu Picchu, a place he loved.
Every step of the journey triggers memories of the young man’s troubled life of abuse and addiction. As Diane makes connections with other bereaved people in the unlikeliest of settings, she also has mystical encounters that affirm her Buddhist faith and put her on a path to acceptance and healing. The fragments of her life gradually reassemble, creating a more meaningful pattern than ever before.
By turns funny, engaging and moving, this richly coloured account of one mother’s physical and spiritual journey shows it’s possible not only to survive every parent’s worst nightmare, but to experience growth and transformation along the way.
How To Steal A Galaxy by Beth Revis
Rise Of The Community by Tracy Ryden
It’s London England, contemporary times and like many communities the Lawson Road community are faced with some devastating news, following a decision made by the local Council.
The local MP is harbouring an ambitious vision for the area and one he will go to great lengths to achieve. However, in the midst of the MP’s manipulative scheming and the council’s planning they underestimate the resourceful dedication of the local community and of one man.
In his mid fifties, Malcolm has always lived at home with his mother and worked in a supermarket. Never an ambitious man, and lacking in confidence in himself, he appears to not have much going for him, but appearances can be deceptive as he proves himself a force to be reckoned with. Malcolm’s journey is one of physical and psychological transformation, all whilst avoiding the romantic advances and his mother’s matchmaking with the haughty Diane, who also goes on a journey; hers involving a fall from grace.
Follow the dramatically entertaining tale with its unanticipated twists and turns. An inspirational tale of the power of motivation, self-discovery and of finding a common purpose. A story of hope, discovery and fighting against the odds, and the difference which can be made when people come together for a common cause.
Available to buy here
Connect with Tracy Ryden
Remember, if you’re an author and you’d like to see your book in our Saturday Spotlight, email: pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk and send us the details of your new novel.
For details of Penguin RandomHouse new releases, visit their website here.
For details of Hachette new releases, visit their website here.
For details of HarperCollins new releases, visit their website here.
For details of PanMacmillan new releases, visit their website here.
For details of Simon & Schuster new releases, visit their website here.
Disclaimer: Amazon links are given for ease but please remember there are a number of other online retailers operating, including hive (which helps to support independent book shops), Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play and Nook as well as online stores for bookstores such as Waterstones, Barnes & Noble and WHSmiths.
Issue 23 of Write On! is out now and you can read it online here. Find it in libraries and other outlets. You can find previous editions of our magazines here.
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We want to help connect authors and readers, so our Saturday Spotlight page showcases some of the exciting new reads available each month.
