Saturday Spotlight: New Book Releases November 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 Stars by TWM Ashford
Four desperate thieves. One crystal egg. A debt that needs to be repaid.
Cast out by humanity yet burdened with a conscience, Sheni Dupont wouldn’t say he’s found his calling in space piracy. But in the cramped and rusty halls of the ship he shares with reptilian captain Gecki, starfish pilot Xotl and the weird green enigma known only as Alan, he may have found a home.
So when a loan shark threatens to repossess their ship if they don’t pay back the credits they’ve borrowed, the crew of the Silver Hart are forced to take the only job going – stealing a crystal egg from a backwater planet on the brink of cosmic destruction.
Unfortunately, they’re not the only pirates headed for Nasako. A routine heist soon becomes a fight for their lives, with the fate of far more than one hallowed egg at stake.
And somehow Sheni has to do the right thing without tearing his family of misfits apart…
Available to buy here
Connect with T.W.M Ashford
Wonky Thoughts: An Insight Into An Anorexic Journey by Gemma Bishop
Wonky Thoughts: An Insight Into An Anorexic Journey offers a profound exploration of inner turmoil, self-discovery, and the healing power of words.
Through a collection of poignant poems, the author delves into themes of depression, anorexia and the struggle to cope with life’s challenges. Each poem captures raw emotions, from the pain of sleepless nights to the comfort found in love and connection.
This book doesn’t provide easy answers but opens a door to hope and understanding, illuminating a path through the darkness towards the light. It’s a testament to resilience and the small steps that lead to finding oneself amidst life’s battles.
Myth In The Mountain by Claire Buss
Winter has exploded in Roshaven.
Ned’s city is buried under enormous amounts of snow and ice and nobody quite knows why. Yes, it’s winter but… it’s never been this winter. There’s a strange magic in the snow calling to Jenni which she has to avoid at all costs, while a stranger from the mountain searches for Ned the Sorcerer Slayer.
The stranger is definitely hiding something but, with the snow drifts getting worse and the Jacks out of icy control, Ned has to find a way to defrost Roshaven. It’s freezing cold and without Jenni on his team, Ned must turn to old friends and ask for help. Trouble is… what exactly is lurking in the mountain?
The Twelve Murders Of Christmas by Sarah Dunnakey
Twelve murderous mysteries to read. 20 perplexing puzzles to solve. One mystifying murder to unravel…
Mastermind Puzzlemaster Sarah Dunnakeycordially invites you to crack the code of who killed Edward Luddenham.
It’s the first anniversary of the mysterious death of Edward Luddenham, found dead at his home on the Yorkshire moors one frosty Christmas Eve.
Now nine people gather at his manor house for the reading of the will. Each has their own motivations for coming: curiosity, duty, unrequited love, desperation, greed.
They have been instructed to bring a festive mystery story to share.
But all you need is a pencil.
Safe from the biting cold and the relentless snowfall outside, settle in with your favourite tipple in hand, as the storytelling begins.
Though you’ll need to keep your wits about you – for among those present is Edward’s killer…
Can you solve the puzzles and unmask the murderer before they strike again?
Warring Twenties by Charlotte R Faulconbridge
When The Small Creatures Wake by Brigid Griffin
It’s 1982 in Gritstone, North West England. Despite the mill town being in the grip of a deepening recession, the community survives.
Stella, always wanting more in adulthood after a childhood being stigmatised, is trapped in an abusive relationship. Her teenage twins consider a different, better future for themselves, but are compromised by fears for their mothers’ safety. Meanwhile, Stella’s mother, Alice, ignores the chaos – living high above town on the moors, immersed in the natural world with her memories embedded in her beloved countryside.
Jean, a single mother, irrepressible and tough, carries on, regardless of the slow decline in the industry that has held their community together for centuries. Midge, her youngest daughter, introspective and intelligent, has dreams of a future different to the adults around her, but pays a high price for her curiosity and thirst for knowledge.
When The Small Creatures Wake is a story of individuals linked by community and circumstance, abuse and austerity, conflict and challenge. But above all, it’s a story of hope, friendship, humour and resilience.
Available to buy here
Connect with Brigid Griffin
Hum by Helen Phillips
In a hot and gritty city populated by super-intelligent robots called ‘Hums’, May seeks some reprieve from recent hardships and from her family’s addiction to their devices.
She splurges on a weekend away at the Botanical Garden – a rare, green refuge in the heart of the city, where forests, streams and animals flourish. But when it becomes clear that the Garden is not the idyll she hoped it would be, and her children come under threat, May is forced to put her trust in a Hum of uncertain motives in order to restore the life of her family.
Gripping and unflinching, Hum is about our most cherished human relationships in a world compromised by climate change and dizzying technological revolution; a world with both dystopian and utopian possibilities.
Last Of The Coalmine Choirboys by Graeme Richardson
In this deeply personal collection, elegy and lament mix with tall tales and double entendre.
Far from home, looking at parenting and priesthood, at the death of children and the end of childhood, these poems contend that the solution to the pain of loss and persistence of grief is humour, music, memory.
Graeme Richardson grew up in Nottinghamshire and now lives and works in Germany. A former Chaplain and Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, he also served as a parish priest in Hertfordshire and Birmingham. His first pamphlet, Hang Time, was published in 2006.
A regular contributor to the TLS since 2010, for the last few years he has also been the poetry critic of The Sunday Times.
Available to buy here
Connect with Graeme Richardson
Christmas With The Engine Girls by Daisy Styles
An aspirational story of friendship, fortitude and the joy of Christmas…
As the Autumn of 1941 dawns, and female conscription looms, three women arrive at the Bell Works Factory in Hucknall to work on the Spitfire production line: Lily, Edna and Jeannie.
Lily soon realises her real dream is to pilot the planes, Edna longs to be reunited with her evacuee daughter while facing a much bigger problem and Jeannie fears the worst after weeks of no news from her fiancé.
Despite all the heartache, with a bit of Christmas cheer and a ‘can do’ attitude, The Engine Girls will pull together and do all they can to ensure Britain is safe for the New Year!
Poor Girls by Clare Whitfield
Don’t get angry.
Get rich.
It’s 1922 and 24-year-old Eleanor Mackridge is horrified by the future mapped out for her; to serve the upper classes or find a husband. During the war, she found freedom in joining the workforce at home, but now women are being put back in their place.
Until Eleanor crosses paths with a member of the notorious female-led gang the Forty Elephants: bold women who wear diamonds and fur, drink champagne and gin, who take what they want without asking. Now, she sees a new future for herself; she can serve, marry or steal.
After all, men will only let you down. Diamonds are forever.
In Poor Girls, Clare Whitfield exposes the criminal underbelly of 1920s London. But this isn’t a morality tale, it’s an adventure for the willingly wicked.
Available to buy here
Connect with Clare Whitfield
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 22 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.
