 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Tor Teen (September 29, 2020) Language: English ISBN-10: 1250297540 ISBN-13: 978-1250297549 Praise for A NEON DARKNESS Praise for THE INFINITE NOISE “Emotional and inventive, Lauren Shippen has written a queer love story for anyone who’s ever felt like an outsider. The Infinite Noise managed to make me swoon even as it broke my heart. A thoughtful and tender exploration of mental health, it will make you want to go to therapy, whether you have superpowers or not.” ―Britta Lundin, Riverdale screenwriter and author of Ship It “The Infinite Noise is a marvelous book about love, mental health, and connection. Lauren Shippen writes with a clean and honest warmth that is deeply refreshing, and her sharp representation of depression and anxiety rings true. Once I started reading The Infinite Noise, I couldn't stop; now that I've read it, my life has become a matter of waiting to get my hands on whatever Shippen creates next.” ―Sarah Gailey, Hugo Award winning author of Magic for Liars “Fans of the podcast will revel in this closer look at the lives of the characters, and readers new to the franchise will drop into this world without missing a beat. Give this to fans of the podcast, as well as readers who enjoy Becky Albertalli's Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, Rainbow Rowell's work, and Welcome to Night Vale.” ―School Library Journal “The author gives emotions form, texture, and color, taking readers along on Adam's and Caleb's journeys while remembering that a boyfriend is not an antidote to life's supernatural―or mundane―problems.... A warm, satisfying love story with depth.” ―Kirkus Reviews "Shippen does a superb job of handling a swirl of complex emotions, ranging from subtle to fiery as the boys struggle to complete each other and share their differences." ―Booklist 
Los Angeles, 2006. Eighteen-year-old Robert Gorham arrives in L.A. amid the desert heat and the soft buzz of neon. He came alone with one goal: he wants to see the ocean. And Robert always gets what he wants. At a very young age, Robert discovered he had the unusual ability to make those close to him want whatever he wants. He wanted dessert instead of dinner? His mother served it. He wanted his Frisbee back? His father walked off the roof to bring it to him faster. He wanted to be alone? They both disappeared. Forever. But things will be different in L.A. He meets a group of strange friends who could help him. Friends who can do things like produce flames without flint, conduct electricity with their hands, and see visions of the past. They call themselves Unusuals and finally, finally, Robert belongs. When a tall figure, immune to their powers, discovers them, the first family that Robert has ever wanted is at risk of being destroyed. The only way to keep them all together is to get his powers under control. But control is a sacrifice he might not be willing to make. A Neon Darkness is the origin story of Damien and the second stand-alone story in the Bright Sessions Novels.
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My review: The concept of this book is really cool, along with the idea of teens with powers like the X-men, some with a guilty conscious and most with an identity crisis. That said, not much really happened here... until the end. They hung out, drank and smoke, went to concerts, swindled ordinarily people. I don’t know... I couldn’t really get attached or seem to care about the characters. That said, I have not read The Infinite Noise, and I’m seeing that Robert/Damien is a character from the first book and this is his origin story. If that’s true, then it probably means more if you know this character already. I immediately found him to have no remorse at manipulating others, which didn’t sit well with me. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. The writing is excellent, which is why I give it 3 stars. It probably deserves higher. The characters and plot just didn’t pull me in.
Photo Content from Lauren Shippen
Lauren was named one of Forbes 2018 30 Under 30 in Media and one of MovieMaker Magazine and Austin Film Festival’s 25 Screenwriters to Watch. In 2019, she founded Atypical Artists, a company dedicated to audio storytelling. Shippen grew up in New York, where she spent most of her youth reading and going to Panic! at the Disco shows. She now lives in Los Angeles, where she does the same thing.     
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 Publication Date: May 12, 2020 Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC Language: English ASIN: B084Z551M6
Praise for TERRAFORMER
“I was rooting for Astra and entranced by the seamlessly crafted world of TERRAFORMER! Colleen Houck gives you a chilling glimpse into what can happen when technology and nature collide.” --Kimberly Derting, author of award-winning young adult novels The Body Finder, The Pledge, and The Taking "A richly imaginative page-turner!" --Melissa Landers, bestselling author of Blastaway, the Alienated trilogy and the Starlight duology 
Warning all Astronauts: COLONY BOUNDARY WARNING! PERMISSION TO ENTER ALIEN FOREST IS REQUIRED NOTE: NO RESCUE ATTEMPTS WILL BE MADE In the future, a terraforming ship lands on a perfectly green planet. Two perfect young men, one a budding colony leader, the other an engineer, compete for the affection of one perfect young woman training as a botanist. The only problem? She’s not perfect. Astra has a secret. A big one. And someone or some thing just maybe trying to kill her for it Deadly toxins can be hidden inside the most beautiful flowers. That's what Astra Meador's famous biophysicist mother taught her. As her mother's apprentice, Astra has developed skills in botany, chemistry, medicine, and, most importantly, in keeping secrets. In fact keeping Astra's secret was the reason her family decided to leave the Earth and join a terraforming mission to colonize a distant planet called Crillain IV. But when Astra wakes early from hypersleep, she discovers that her mother never made it onboard, her father died in transit and his body has been ejected from the ship, and she suspects that she's not the only one awake. When the ship finally lands and she's reunited with her brother, Nash, Astra hopes to settle into a new life, especially when she meets the charming young engineer, Jax, and is recruited by the mission commander to train alongside his handsome son to be a future leader of the small colony. Then Astra learns that she's not the only one with a dark secret. As both young men contend for her affection, Astra searches for answers, trying to determine who to trust. But with theft and murder occurring in the colony along with the sudden disappearance of her beloved brother, Astra can't listen to the whisperings of her heart, especially when someone or something else on the planet is whispering to her mind even louder. My review
Wow. What an an absolutely unique and fully imagined story. As a longtime fan of Colleen Houck, I’ve come to expect interesting, well developed characters and immersive worlds when reading her books. While Terraformer is her first foray into science fiction, it can stand with any of her previous novels. It is a quick read and very engaging - I finished it in one day.
I really liked Astra and Jax. I adored the planet and the beings that lived there. If you like science fiction and mystery sprinkled with romance, then you’ll enjoy Terraformer. This is a solid 4.5 stars from me.
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Photo Content from Colleen Houck
New York Times Bestselling author Colleen Houck is a lifelong reader whose literary interests include action, adventure, paranormal, science fiction, and romance. When she’s not busy writing, she likes to spend time chatting on the phone with one of her six siblings, watching plays, and shopping online. Colleen has lived in Arizona, Idaho, Utah, California, and North Carolina and is now permanently settled in Salem, Oregon with her husband and a huge assortment of plush tigers.
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 Publisher: Crossroad Press (July 1, 2020) Language: English ISBN-10: 1951510399 ISBN-13: 978-1951510398 Praise for THE SECOND STAR “Like its cast of returned starfarers, this rich and continually surprising novel is many things at once: a religiously-inflected first contact story; an engaging psychological mystery; a glimpse of the future through the eyes of the past; and a moving tale about the difficulties of homecoming. I highly recommend it. ” --Matt Ruff, author of Set This House in order "The Second Star is a grandly deep wallow in multiple personality disorder material. Dr. Stella Froud is wonderful as she studies six star-faring humans who come home fractured." --Jennifer Stevenson, author of Walking on Sunshine 
But that was not the miracle. The miracle was that the crew was still alive. That was also the problem. Six crew members went out on the Parada, Earth’s first starship. All contact was lost, and the ship vanished for almost two centuries. When the Parada’s successor found the drifting ship and somehow managed to bring it home, the six crew members were not only still alive but barely older, due to the time dilation effects of near-FTL travel. Their return was a miracle – but it could not be revealed to the waiting world. The problem was, six individuals went out to the stars. More than seventy fractured personalities came back. Psychologist Stella Froud and Jesuit Father Philip Carter were recruited as part of the team assembled to investigate the mystery, and to try and help the Parada’s crew understand their condition and possibly reverse it. What they discovered was a deepening mystery, and very soon they found themselves forced to take sides in a conflict that nobody could have possibly predicted. Their world would never be the same again.
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Ten reasons to read THE SECOND STAR
Photo Content from Alma Alexander
Alma Alexander is an author whose books include the internationally acclaimed historical fantasy The Secrets of Jin-shei published in 13 language, and its follow-up, Embers of Heaven, set in a fantasy China. VOYA suggested that her Worldweavers series (Gift of the Unmage, Spellspam, Cybermage, Dawn of Magic) might be just the thing "for readers suffering Harry Potter withdrawal." Another series, The Were Chronicles (Random, Wolf, Shifter), which dramatically changes the Were world, is about to be republished, Other fantasies include her haunting and newly republished Midnight at Spanish Gardens, as well as Changer of Days, Wings of Fire, Empress, and a humorous science fiction novel, AbductiCon. She has edited two anthologies, River and Children of a Different Sky. More on all her books - and links for buying them - can be found under the pull-down menu BOOKS at the top of the page. Alma Alexander was born on the banks of the Danube in a country that no longer exists, grew up in Africa, and is married to an American she met online. She lives with him and two cats in the cedar woods of the U,S. Pacific Northwest.
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