The Attic Witch (head of acquisitions) has spoken! The Parliament Coven grows even more today, as we are pleased to announce TWO new acquisitions to our publishing cue for 2020!
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Brianna Sugalski
With a background in Journalism, Brianna has always been fascinated by the historical aspect of literature. She is captivated by the riveting ability of a simple story, to turn eager readers into time travelers. She now writes YA fantasy to empower teens and women to ditch the damsel act—to become heroes in their own right and spin their own versions of “Happily Ever After.”
Disenchanted
“On the eve of her tenth birthday, it is discovered that Princess Lilac Trécesson of Bretagne can speak to Darklings—the feared creatures residing in the enchanted forest, Brocéliande. After years of humiliation and controversy, her coronation draws nigh and the townspeople are riotous, refusing to be led by a wicked woman so blatantly unfit to ascend to the throne. Between everyone dreading her coronation and the other noble families vying for her position, Lilac prepares for the worst… until one fateful morning, when she receives a letter from a witch: A curious offer, to conjure the cure required to rid her of darkness forever. Days before her ceremony, Lilac embarks on a journey through the wildwood in pursuit of the mysterious witch who can help her, and to discover the meaning behind her curse. With only an inherited dagger— and unsolicited help of the gregarious stranger who inserts himself on her quest—the princess must traverse Broceliande, making it back in time to claim her rightful position as Majesty Sovereign.
That is, if the Darklings don’t get to her first.”
Chris Patrick Carolan
Chris Patrick Carolan is an author, editor, and hovercraft enthusiast originally from Glasgow but now based in Calgary, Alberta. He writes steampunk, fantasy (urban and epic), and science fiction, though he has been known to turn to crime to make ends meet. His stories have appeared in various award-nominated anthologies. In 2018, he established ExitZero Books to continue publishing the Enigma Front anthology series on behalf of IFWA, the Imaginative Fiction Writers Association. He can be found online at cpcwrites.com or on Twitter @cpcwrites but - consider this fair warning - it's mostly wisecracks about McNuggets and Simpsons memes.
Credits:
“A Murder at Carleton House” in Enigma Front: Burnt (Analemma Books, 2016)
“The Wolfville Horror” in Enigma Front: The Monster Within (Analemma Books, 2017)
“The Rankin File” in 49th Parallels: Alternative Canadian Histories and Futures (Bundoran Press, 2017)
“Let Nothing Ye Dismay” in Enigma Front: ONWARD (ExitZero Books, 2018)
“Circle of Steel” in Baby, It's Cold Outside: Dark Tales of Christmas Crime, Holiday Horror, and Yuletide Woe (Coffin Hop Press, 2018)
“Things Better Left Buried” in Tesseracts 22: Alchemy & Artifacts (EDGE Science Fiction, forthcoming 2019)
“Through Darkness Unbound” in The Stories We Hide (ExitZero Books, forthcoming 2019)
The Nightshade Cabal
All Isaac Barrow wants is to be left alone to pursue his supernatural research and tinker with his inventions. But when you’re the only technomancer openly practicing the craft in 1880s Halifax, trouble has a way of finding you. When a routine mechanical service call reveals the grisly handiwork of the Nightshade Cabal – an underground cult of necromancers – Barrow finds himself in a race against time to put a stop to the Cabal’s depredations before they can kill anyone else and turn them into office machinery.
Aided by Inspector Jonathon Eddings of the Halifax Constabulary, Barrow draws on his own supernatural abilities as well as his extensive scientific knowledge as he pursues the Cabal through the city’s grimy underside and tries to uncover the mad inventor who is crafting memory cells from the brains of the Cabal’s victims. Along the way he’ll square off against reanimated corpses, killer automatons, and a Chinese spellcaster who can conjure deadly beasts out of thin air, all while trying to discover who is flooding the streets of Halifax with Eldersight, a powerful psychoactive opiate favored by practitioners of the dark arts. It’s no wonder he hasn’t had time to field test his elementally-charged lightning gun, or finish work on the zephyr-powered personal glider!
Then there’s the mystery of Emily Skye, a missing teenager with strange abilities of her own. Believing her disappearance to be connected to the Nightshade Cabal, Barrow agrees to help track down the missing girl. But even if he can find her, will Miss Skye aid him in his struggle against the Cabal? Or might she turn out to be the deadliest threat of all?
Leave us a comment! What title are you excited to delve into?