Upcoming Authors I Can’t Wait to Tell You About

Instead of raving about already-established authors, I thought I’d use this platform to promote some of my favorite upcoming and aspiring authors. People I’ve met along the way who have a wicked talent that hasn’t yet hit the bookshelves.

 

First up is Amy Mason Doan, who is also my partner at a couple book events this summer (here and here). Her debut, THE SUMMER LIST, is a gorgeous book that will completely capture your mind and heart.

In the tradition of Judy Blume’s Summer Sisters, The Summer List is a tender yet tantalizing novel about two friends, the summer night they fell apart, and the scavenger hunt that reunites them decades later—until the clues expose a breathtaking secret that just might shatter them once and for all.

Laura and Casey were once inseparable: as they floated on their backs in the sunlit lake, as they dreamed about the future under starry skies, and as they teamed up for the wild scavenger hunts in their small California lakeside town. Until one summer night, when a shocking betrayal sent Laura running through the pines, down the dock, and into a new life, leaving Casey and a first love in her wake.

But the past is impossible to escape, and now, after seventeen years away, Laura is pulled home and into a reunion with Casey she can’t resist—one last scavenger hunt. With a twist: this time, the list of clues leads to the settings of their most cherished summer memories. From glistening Jade Cove to the vintage skating rink, each step they take becomes a bittersweet reminder of the friendship they once shared. But just as the game brings Laura and Casey back together, the clues unravel a stunning secret that threatens to tear them apart…

Mesmerizing and unforgettable, Amy Mason Doan’s The Summer List is about losing and recapturing the person who understands you best—and the unbreakable bonds of girlhood.

THE SUMMER LIST releases June 26 from Graydon House, and I’m certain it will be one of the summer’s hottest books! Preorder here!

 

Meghan Scott Molin is the amazing author of THE FRAME UP. She’s an avid lover of all the nerd things—Star Wars, Star Trek, hobbits, Doctor Who, and more. What’s most incredible about her is that she has a preschooler and a new baby at home, and she’s still meeting her word count every day!

By day she writes comic books. By night, she lives them.

MG Martin lives and breathes geek culture. She even works as a writer for the comic book company she idolized as a kid. But despite her love of hooded vigilantes, MG prefers her comics stay on the page.

But when someone in LA starts recreating crime scenes from her favorite comic book, MG is the LAPD’s best—and only—lead. She recognizes the golden arrow left at the scene as the calling card of her favorite comic book hero. The thing is…superheroes aren’t real. Are they?

When too-handsome-for-his-own-good Detective Kildaire asks for her comic book expertise, MG is more than up for the adventure. Unfortunately, MG has a teeny little tendency to not follow rules. And her off-the-books sleuthing may land her in a world of trouble.

Because for every superhero, there is a supervillain. And the villain of her story may be closer than she thinks…

THE FRAME UP will release December 1, 2018 from 47 North. Preorder here! (and if you’re on NetGalley, you can request it there!)

 

Next, I’d like to rave about Julie Carrick Dalton’s amazing book, FOUR DEGREES. Julie is represented by the amazing Stacy Testa at Writer’s House, and publishers will want to get their hands on this compelling read about friendship, family, and the high price of secrets. Set against the lush background of the New Hampshire woods, Julie Carrick Dalton reminds us that seemingly small actions can have catastrophic consequences.

Four degrees changed everything. The rise in summer temperatures led to drought, an invasive beetle infestation, wildfires, crop failure, farm foreclosures, migrant farm worker job losses, and a widening racial rift in one New Hampshire town. Even worse, that four-degree bump prompted the discovery of a body one entomologist hoped no one would ever find.

Sadie Kessler, an entomologist with the forestry department, races to halt a forest fire, but when fire crews unearth a long-buried body, Sadie must confront the murder she covered up as a child before an innocent man is convicted–or worse, deported–because of her silence. The narrative unfolds in two timelines, from the perspectives of Sadie at ages eleven and thirty-eight. FOUR DEGREES will appeal to fans of All the Missing Girls, History of Wolves, Heart Spring Mountain, and The Dry.

 

Also on my list of amazing authors I think the whole world should know about…the talented Suzanne Park! Suzanne is not only a writer, but a stand-up comic who has appeared on BET. Her debut YA novel TOUGH LUCK ANA CHO is equal parts hilarious and poignant. She’s represented by the fabulous Brent Taylor at TriadaUS.

Rising high school senior Ana Cho is nothing like her older brother Henry. He’s good looking, athletic, and an aspiring doctor. Ana is, well, absolutely none of those things. Though she’s a banjo virtuoso and talented journalist, her Korean parents are constantly pushing her further.

She can’t stand it.

After collapsing at school, Ana is diagnosed with a rare and fatal vascular brain disorder. In a race against time, she and her parents clash over which break-the-bank, risky treatment to pursue: invasive brain surgery, or an unproven clinical trial. For this life-or-death decision, she must choose between obeying her parents and fighting them tooth and nail for the treatment she wants, at the risk of shattering their already fragile relationship.

Fans of Jenny Han and Sandhya Menon are going to flock to Suzanne’s books. Just you watch.

 

And finally, I must tell you about the amazing Nancy Johnson, who is revising her novel as she seeks literary representation for THE KINDEST LIE.

She’s not his mother. He’s not her son. But when a black woman engineer and a poor, eleven-year-old white boy become desperate for family connection, their needs collide at the intersection of race and class in a dying Indiana factory town.

Ruth, a black engineer in Chicago, desperately wants to reconnect with the son she walked away from eleven years ago when she gave birth to him as a teenager. When she returns to her hometown in Indiana to find him, she forms an unlikely friendship with her son’s best friend, Midnight, an eleven-year-old white boy who is adrift and searching for a place to call home. Their mutual need for family connection erupts in a tragedy that exposes the racial and class divisions in this dying Indiana factory town. This novel centers on the promise and limits of hope at the start of the Obama presidency and the 2009 collapse of the auto industry.

THE KINDEST LIE explores motherhood, family, and the fallout from the choices of our youth through the lives of ordinary Americans.

Nancy is an incredible writer. She is an Emmy-nominated, award-winning television journalist whose stories often explore life’s complexities at the intersection of race and class. Her work has appeared in O, The Oprah Magazine and she’s a regular contributor to Writer Unboxed. Tin House and Kimbilio selected Nancy to participate as a Fellow in their 2018 summer novel workshops.

 

Publishing is a tough business, where can be easy to feel overlooked. But authors like the ones I mention above are the up-and-comers, the ones whose names you’ll be seeing in bookstores very, VERY soon. And I’m lucky to be able to call them friends.

 


The Ones We Choose is available everywhere!

Amazon

 

Barnes & Noble

Author: Julie Clark

Born and raised in Santa Monica, California, Julie Clark grew up reading books on the beach while everyone else surfed. After attending college at University of the Pacific, and a brief stint working in the athletic department at University of California, Berkeley, she returned home to Santa Monica to teach. She now lives there with her two young sons and a golden doodle with poor impulse control. Her debut, THE ONES WE CHOOSE, will be published by Gallery/Simon & Schuster in May 2018.

2 Replies to “Upcoming Authors I Can’t Wait to Tell You About”

  1. Julie, thanks so much for including me on your list. I’m honored and can’t wait to read all these amazing books when they’re released.

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