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LOL, Can you guess who I'm going to say?

No no, I won't mention HER, no matter how amazing she is.


But there IS an awesome author named Maggie L Wood. She isn't techinally new, her first book came out in 2003.

Her books are really really well done and very addictive.

They're YA, fantasy and she's Canadian.

Her books are called Princess Pawn and Princess Mage. She's currently writing the third book and she recently wrote a short story called 'Fallen'.


Here's the link:

I have faith that there will be plenty of good newer authors just as there will be lots of junk, too. My favorite "new" author is Jonathan Safran Foer. I also like Elizabeth Brundage. Markus Zusak is somewhat new but has 4 books.

An author that I like that is not "new" but I "discovered" a couple of years ago is Mitch Cullin. Same for Bernard Schlink. I'm sure there are a bunch of established authors I would like and just haven't heard of them yet...but GR is helping with that!

I have become a devotee of the Bantam Discoveries. Each month Bantam will release a couple of novels in mass market paper for the big box shoppers (I live in a fairly small town and the supermarket is where I pick up my impulse reads), and in trade paper at the major book sellers. Through the Bantam Discoveries, I have become a huge fan of Anthony Capella (The Wedding Officer, The Food of Love) and Sarah Addison Allen (Garden Spells).

I now look for those Bantam Discoveries each month.

Fiona,
I have to give a shout out to David Maine here.
He is not a 'new' author, but still seems to be quite 'unknown' to many, which is a shame as he has written some very interesting biblical fiction novels. Fallen is a favorite of mine, and a great place to start (it was also his first published novel).

If your not a fan of biblical fiction (its not anything like DaVinci Code, dont worry!), he also wrote Monster,1959 which is a b-movie-ish throwback to the monster flicks. I really enjoyed that novel as well!

Jeremy- I may be wrong, but is Jonathan Safran Foer the guy that did Everything is Illuminated...That name sounds really familiar but I cannot remember where I've heard it?

You are right Jaime! I actually haven't read that yet (probably within the next 6 months, though). But his other book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was quite amazing.

I haven't read it yet either but I saw the movie (before I even realized it was a book)...I liked the movie so I figured @ some point I will read it.

I actually avoided watching the movie even though someone forced the DVD on me. I think they felt slighted, but it's just a little rule of mine.

The movie version was fantastic. Eugene Hutz, who is also the lead singer of the stellar gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello, played Alex perfectly.

This is an excellent thread! Thank you for posting it.

In recent years it's become difficult to discover great new literary voices. I definitely have one to recommend. But first, a few thoughts:

One problem, I'm convinced, is that the literary industry has become EXTREMELY Bottom Line-oriented. Publishers today will rarely consider an unknown author, no matter how good they think his/her book is. And even when they do, they won't part with any of their advertising budget to promote it. (That's reserved for the Stephen Kings and Philip Roths of the world, who they KNOW will pay off. Ted Weinstein, of Ted Weinstein Literary Management, lists the 7 most important words in publishing: "It's nice to see you again Oprah." Ha! I don't think it could be put more succinctly....)

Another problem is that, for some reason I don't quite understand, many writers today simply don't know how to create a really good story. I think it's relevant to point out that numerous film producers over the past 20 years have said how hard it is to find a really good script. One (I think it was Paul Newman) said that where it used to be one in ten, now it's one in fifty. I think books are the same. I've often finished a critically-acclaimed book and said, "WHERE WAS THE STORY?" I may have vivid images of things that happened TO the characters, but few images of the actions they took in response, or the events that resulted, what they did in response to those, and -- most to the point -- how the whole experience CHANGED them in any way that I could relate to! It was like reading a teenager's (albeit a quite literary one's) diary: There was a lot of reflection, a lot of descriptive prose; I was allowed to see, in great detail, how they FELT about events. But they were strangers to me. Their world view was very different from mine. This is not a problem for a writer who can create a "bridge" between self and reader. But these authors either couldn't or didn't care to, and so their experiences didn't resonate for me (and, I'm certain, for many other readers).

Okay, so here is my recommendation: The Master Planets by Donald Gallinger. This is a WILDLY compelling story with lots of satisfying complexity, all delivered in truly beautiful prose. I haven't talked to anyone yet -- male, female, almost every age -- who hasn't raved about the book. (Check out the reader reviews on Amazon.) I sincerely think it's that rare find that you're asking about: a new author who's truly great.

P.S. If you read it, I'd love to hear your opinion!

I haven't read more than a few chapters so far, but I'm really loving "The Magicians and Mrs. Quent" by Galen Beckett. It's his first book and was published in early August.

What a great thread! But, here we go again -- two more books added to my too long TBR. Thanks Brenda and Doni (really!).

Hi Fiona, this isn't a comment on a specific new author, but on new authors in general. For the most part, it's harder to become a new author than it is to publish a 2nd, 3rd or 4th book. Breaking into publishing is very difficult just because there are soooo many people who want to be writers. It used to be a manuscript was pounded out on a typewriter or with a pencil and pad, revised at great agony on same, and then submitted. Not everyone even knew how to type let alone how to get a manuscript to a publisher. The info just wasn't available as it is today.

Now in our digital age, no such barriers exist and anyone/everyone who ever had an idea for a story has the means to put it into a file and click submit. The average--average, not even the BIG--literary agent gets between 200-500 requests a week from authors asking that they read their manuscripts and give them representation. I read somewhere (and please don't quote me on this because it was awhile ago) that only 5% of the people who write books ever get their first one published. Of that 5% only 10% of them "make it."

Probably way more info than you ever wanted, but my point is, if you're going to take a chance on a new author, a debut author has better odds of being a great read vs. picking up book #12 from a multi-published author. The latter has a track record of course, but I've found that sometimes by that point (not saying always by any stretch) they've lost that gritty edge that they needed to break in.

JMHO--but if you look at some of the debuts like 13th Tale, The Historian, Kite Runner, (just to name a few) you can see a "something special" in there that they had to have to ever make it out of the slush pile of submissions.

I also avoid authors who pump out a book a month. It might be VERY small minded of me, but I can't imagine how a masterpiece can be created in 30 days or less. Maybe once in a blue moon, yes, something magnificient just "happens" and the story emerges--but month after month?

New authors I've enjoyed recently are:

Lisa Shearin for her fantasy books "Magic Lost, Trouble Found" which I never would have read if I hadn't been judging a contest, and this was in my pack, and I loved it so much that I rushed straight to the bookstore to buy the sequel "Armed and Magical."

Linnea Sinclair, who isn't new, really, but her older books are being rewritten, repackaged now she is with Bantam... Games of Command, Down Home Zombie Blues, Shades of Dark.

Jacquie Rogers is very amusing. I enjoyed her linked collection of short stories of the adventures of a matchmaking immortal fairy (Faery Special Romances).

Deborah Macgillivray isn't new, but her first book to be published, A Restless Knight is very good.

Pat Rothfuss's The Name of The Wind is an awesome work.

MJRose isn't new, either, but The Reincarnationist was a new genre for her. I haven't read her mysteries, but I did enjoy her recent foray into paranormal fiction.

Jonathan Hayes first book PRECIOUS BLOOD is just coming out in PB. He is a forensic pathologist for NYC Medical Examiner's office and was at ground zero for the first six months after 9/11. The story is slow to build (I personally think his character development paralells his own ptsd from 9/11) but he has a six book deal and by the end of the first I was "dying" for another!

Happy Reading!

I will second Rowena on Rothfuss The Name of the Windis an excellant new voice in a genre that I was really getting tired of. He totally breathes new life with this first book of a series.

I wanted to second The 13th Tale. It is a great story, entertaining and very well written.

I thought THE HISTORIAN was a great debut, although I wasn't so wild on the ending. But the writing is so RICH and evocative. Her descriptions were fabulous.

Another shout for The 13th Tale. And if you are an audio fan, this one has the best readers....

And another who's only written a couple of books so far, is John Hart. DOWN RIVER was an awesome book. Great audio too.

These are a few of the new authors (who have 1 or 2 books out) I really like (a couple of them are good-reads authors so check them out)...

Sarah Addison Allen
Anita Amirrezvani
Bridget Asher
Christine Blevins
Lynn Kiele Bonasia
Janelle Brown
Charlotte Connors
Andrew Davidson
Chris Ewan
Eileen Favorite
Bill Folman
Susan Gregg Gilmore
Amanda Goldberg
Nancy Horan
Syrie James
Louisa Mccormack
Michelle Moran
Kate Morton
Janet Mullany
Marie Phillips
Mary Ann Shaffer
Rebecca Stott

Working at the library has really helped me discover a lot of new writer's that are really interesting in their own way.

I would also have listed "The Historian" and probably "The Name of the Wind," but I wasn't sure if those were recent enough for the list.

Also, Susanna Clarke's "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell," if a first novel published in 2004 counts as new. Still my favorite book ever, and I'm dying to read whatever she does next.

Fionna,

You don't say what genre you like best.
Although far from being a teenager myself, I love YA books. I just finished The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfus (Not to be confused with The Shadow of the Wind, which I also read, but I am not so enthousiastic about).
I really enjoyed The Name of The Wind and it is a first book.

Of late, I've been taking up the Romantic Times Book Review magazine which provides book recommendations from new and veteran authors. The magazine is divided into sections for western, romance, erotic, young adult, sci-fi/fantasy, paranormal, mystery, thriller, etc. It doesn't five ONLY romantic reading recommendations. It covers them all.

It's a terrible new addiction and a new issue comes out each month with MORE recommendations. My TBR just grows, and grows, and grows.

So, just because Oprah (bleckkkkkkkkk)found David Wroblewski is no reason to discount this guy. He is very much the real deal and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is fabulous dahlinks.

Also, gotta toot the horn for John Hart - King of Lies and Down River. The second (in my most humble opinion) is better than the first, but neither one is too shabby.

J.T. Ellison - All The Pretty Girls - does a good job of it and her books come out in paperback so don't hit the pocketbook so hard.

Definitely Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I am reading it now, and finding it excellent. I guess 2004 is recent?

If you like YA fantasy, you may like The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (2006). I am reading it right now and so far it's great.
He wrote a sequel since. But this was his first book.

Brandon Sanderson- he's finishing Jordan's last book in the Wheel Of Time Series

CARMEN : how could you not like Shadow of the wind ???

I read a really compelling new-to-me YA novel about a year ago: How I Live Now by Meg Rossoff. (Note: I'm by no means a 'young' adult!--only wish I were.) I loved this book, but found another of her titles--Just In Case--not nearly as appealing.

Thorn, Susanna Clarke published The Ladies of Grace Adieu a couple of years ago, and it's pleasantly similar to Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell.



Also, "new" authors that I've enjoyed:

Elliot Perlman - His first book, Seven Types of Ambiguity, is written from seven different characters' perspectives and it's so engrossing, despite being a really long novel.

Carissa Halston - Her novel, A Girl Named Charlie Lester, could be YA if it weren't for all the swearing and sex. A great read, realistic without being depressing.

Kelly Link - Her most recent book is called Pretty Monsters, YA fantasy stuff. Interesting cover, if I recall. But her first collection, Stranger Things Happen, I would recommend as adult fantasy for people who don't like adult fantasy, if that makes sense. It's surreal stuff, but not off-putting.

Give this one a try:
Smashed, Squashed, Splattered, Chewed, Chunked and Spewed

Read it in two days flat.... LOVED IT!
He's a goodreads author too!

I read How I Live Now about a year ago, maybe 7 months, anyway I really liked it. My library didn't have ANY of her other books though. So that's the only one I read. I got through the first few chapters of another one on dearreader.com, but couldn't find the book in the system. Oh well.

A great thread, Fiona, which I've just joined.

I especially liked Doni and Erin's "writers' perspectives." There is another kind of "new author" who is often treated as a pariah by the publishing world. This would be the "self-published" or "indie" writer. As one successful indie writer pointed out, our culture celebrates self-propelled musicians in "Garage Bands" and there are even international festivals (with awards!) for indie film makers. But alas, the writing industry bestows no such honors on the self-starter, faithfully honing her craft. (Sigh)

Anyway, to continue the thread, one of my favorite "new authors" who is in fact published by a traditional publisher is Laila Lalami. Her first novel (or collection of related short stories if you will) is "Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits." It is a riveting, non-judgmental account of ordinary people searching for a better life, even if it means risking everything to reach it.

(slowly backing away from this thread) I can't afford to read these posts!!