CJ Lyons, ITW Debut Author of LIFELINES (March 4, Berkley), has just announced that its sequel, CATALYST, has also been purchased by Berkley.

The medical thriller is tentatively scheduled for January, 2009.

The plot of CATALYST features a medical student who starts to investigate unexplained patient deaths when she begins to experience the same mysterious symptoms that killed them.

Look for CJ's debut novel LIFELINES in March, and read more about it at her website.

by Laura Benedict

I swore to myself that I wouldn’t read a single review of my debut novel ISABELLA MOON when they came out. I’ve reviewed books myself on a freelance basis for a Michigan newspaper for over ten years, I’m married to a writer, and I have many writer friends, so I’m deeply aware of how affecting reviews—both positive and negative—can be. But any writer who says he or she doesn’t read reviews of their books is probably fibbing. It’s a sore, sore temptation to listen in on what folks are saying about your baby, even when you suspect that someone out there is going to claim it’s ugly as sin.

ITW Debut Authors members Leighton Gage (BLOOD OF THE WICKED) and Laura Benedict (ISABELLA MOON), as well as four other ITW members whose first novels debuted this year were featured recently in an article by Barbara Hoffert in Library Journal.

"Everybody has a story to tell," Hoffert writes, "but not everybody can tell it well, which it why some first novels jump to the best sellers lists and others fade away. This year's crop of successful first novelists come from all walks of life . . . But they share a way with words that allows them to deliver incandescent stories that could change your life."

ITW members whose debuts were featured alongside John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize nominees Junot Diaz, Austin Grossman, Mischa Berlinski, Daniel Alarcón and Jon Clinch as well as Quill nominee Pam Jenoff include Marcus Sakey (THE BLADE ITSELF), Brent Gelfi (VOLK’S GAME), Elizabeth Benedek (RED SEA), and Derek Nikitas (PYRES).

You can see the full list at: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6483884.html

CJ Lyons, ITW Debut Author of LIFELINES (March 4, Berkley), has just announced that its sequel, CATALYST, has also been purchased by Berkley.

The medical thriller is tentatively scheduled for January, 2009.

The plot of CATALYST features a medical student who starts to investigate unexplained patient deaths when she begins to experience the same mysterious symptoms that killed them.

Look for CJ's debut novel LIFELINES in March, and read more about it at her website.

by Laura Benedict

I swore to myself that I wouldn’t read a single review of my debut novel ISABELLA MOON when they came out. I’ve reviewed books myself on a freelance basis for a Michigan newspaper for over ten years, I’m married to a writer, and I have many writer friends, so I’m deeply aware of how affecting reviews—both positive and negative—can be. But any writer who says he or she doesn’t read reviews of their books is probably fibbing. It’s a sore, sore temptation to listen in on what folks are saying about your baby, even when you suspect that someone out there is going to claim it’s ugly as sin.

ITW Debut Authors members Leighton Gage (BLOOD OF THE WICKED) and Laura Benedict (ISABELLA MOON), as well as four other ITW members whose first novels debuted this year were featured recently in an article by Barbara Hoffert in Library Journal.

"Everybody has a story to tell," Hoffert writes, "but not everybody can tell it well, which it why some first novels jump to the best sellers lists and others fade away. This year's crop of successful first novelists come from all walks of life . . . But they share a way with words that allows them to deliver incandescent stories that could change your life."

ITW members whose debuts were featured alongside John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize nominees Junot Diaz, Austin Grossman, Mischa Berlinski, Daniel Alarcón and Jon Clinch as well as Quill nominee Pam Jenoff include Marcus Sakey (THE BLADE ITSELF), Brent Gelfi (VOLK’S GAME), Elizabeth Benedek (RED SEA), and Derek Nikitas (PYRES).

You can see the full list at: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6483884.html