Top Ten Authors I'd Love A New Book From
Note: this is a queued post and will be linked back to the main blog when I have a chance. It will also be mirrored at literaryloot.wordpress.com for ease of commenting.
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For this week's topic at That Artsy Reader Girl, Jana says, "These could be authors that have passed away, who have retired from writing, who have inexplicably gone quiet, or who might just not be able to keep up with how quickly you read their books!"
First of all, that "authors who have passed away" suggestion is a great reminder that there ARE still unread books from literally all my favorite authors, deceased, retired or otherwise. I don't know if I've ever completed the back catalog of anyone who's published more than 5 books. My tastes simply range too far and wide; I wanna sample it all!
Secondly, this post is mainly about authors who've disappeared and/or who seem to have had poor sales from the start, and kinda serves as an example of #10 on my bookish superpower list... ("authors I would make MORE successful").
Thirdly: this post was a fun exercise in choosing authors that didn't quite make my " one-hit wonders" list (bonus post for you circa 2021!). But all of those authors? I still want new books from them, too.
1. Kirsten Hubbard (Wanderlove; Like Mandarin)
PLEASE I would give seven left toes (that's right, not all mine) for a new YA novel. It should be illegal for someone to write two 5-star contemporary YA novels and then switch to middle grade, mostly with a fantasy twinge at that. Forever in rage that she had sold two more, but then the publisher closed.
2. Kristen Chandler (Wolves, Boys & Other Things That Might Kill Me; Girls Don't Fly; Thief of Happy Endings)
She wrote 3 animal-inclusive YA novels in the 2010s, and they're all perf and I need more but there are no more??
3. Polly Carlson-Voiles (Summer of the Wolves)
She wrote an AMAZING middle grade novel and then...just a couple of picture books.
4. Alexandra Coutts (Young Widows Club)
She wrote two YA novels, both of which are below a 3.3 average rating on Goodreads right now, and then disappeared. I'm not that interested in her it's-the-end-of-the-world-before-an-asteroid-strike debut, but the second one was great and I want more options to choose from.
5. Kim Purcell (Trafficked; This Is Not a Love Letter)
Two hard-hitting YA novels and then...crickets???
6. Jessi Kirby (Golden; The Other Side of Lost)
Admittedly I've still only read half of them*, but she only wrote six? Last sighted in 2018? That's not right for a YA author so talented!
*and I technically only like two, but the thing is I DID also like the third one [In Honor], it was just the love interest that filled me with too much rage to give the book more than 2 stars. like, everything else was wonderful. That's why I need more possibilities!
7. Ellen Airgood (Prairie Evers; sequel The Education of Ivy Blake; Tin Camp Road)
I still have her debut South of Superior to read, and TCR only came out 3 years ago, but I just love the richness of her books and the fact that she's equally skilled at writing for children & adults.
8. Kim Culbertson (Songs for a Teenage Nomad; Instructions for a Broken Heart, and more)
I've always considered her a fave, and I've read four of her six YA novels -- every one a winner, two 5-stars, one 4 and a 3 that's really more like 3.5 -- but she's released nothing since 2018's The Wonder of Us. :( :(
9. Jean Slaughter Doty (Summer Pony; Can I Get There By Candlelight?; If Wishes Were Horses; etc)
This is the only throwback name on my list today (AKA zero chance of a new release unless someone unearths a forgotten manuscript), but it's frankly wrong that I am able to complete the entire backlist of a 20th century juvenile horse-book writer. She wrote like the kind of person who publishes 30-50 kids' books in their lifetime, but as far as I can find she only released 9 novels and a bit of nonfiction under her maiden name (pre-Doty). And because of that sad fact, I still technically have a couple of hers I can't bring myself to finish yet.
10. Aleksandra Drake (A Short Walk to the Bookshop)
I swear, like 95% of people who self-publish a novel immediately go on to merrily continue writing & releasing self-published books to their heart's desire, regardless of quality or sales, and I had to go and find the ONE who wrote something 6-star perfect for me and then just disappeared cold turkey.
P.S. In researching this post, I was thrilled to be able to remove two names after finding signs that they have books planned for 2025 -- Amy Mason Doan (Lady Sunshine; The Summer List) & Mollie Rushmeyer (The Bookshop of Secrets; The Lost Manuscript)! PLEASE tell me the good news if I'm wrong about anyone else on this list.
P.P.S. I feel like I retroactively wished one of these into existence -- Marjorie Hart wrote the short memoir Summer at Tiffany (2007), which I finally read 3 months ago and immediately hoped she had more, only to find that no, that was it...except she had suddenly self-pubbed Story City Stories in December 2023! I have not actually read it yet but I did get it for my birthday, and I am spreading the gospel about it wherever I go because it has no reviews at all yet. But it is now on Kindle Unlimited!
-----------
For this week's topic at That Artsy Reader Girl, Jana says, "These could be authors that have passed away, who have retired from writing, who have inexplicably gone quiet, or who might just not be able to keep up with how quickly you read their books!"
First of all, that "authors who have passed away" suggestion is a great reminder that there ARE still unread books from literally all my favorite authors, deceased, retired or otherwise. I don't know if I've ever completed the back catalog of anyone who's published more than 5 books. My tastes simply range too far and wide; I wanna sample it all!
Secondly, this post is mainly about authors who've disappeared and/or who seem to have had poor sales from the start, and kinda serves as an example of #10 on my bookish superpower list... ("authors I would make MORE successful").
Thirdly: this post was a fun exercise in choosing authors that didn't quite make my " one-hit wonders" list (bonus post for you circa 2021!). But all of those authors? I still want new books from them, too.
1. Kirsten Hubbard (Wanderlove; Like Mandarin)
PLEASE I would give seven left toes (that's right, not all mine) for a new YA novel. It should be illegal for someone to write two 5-star contemporary YA novels and then switch to middle grade, mostly with a fantasy twinge at that. Forever in rage that she had sold two more, but then the publisher closed.
2. Kristen Chandler (Wolves, Boys & Other Things That Might Kill Me; Girls Don't Fly; Thief of Happy Endings)
She wrote 3 animal-inclusive YA novels in the 2010s, and they're all perf and I need more but there are no more??
3. Polly Carlson-Voiles (Summer of the Wolves)
She wrote an AMAZING middle grade novel and then...just a couple of picture books.
4. Alexandra Coutts (Young Widows Club)
She wrote two YA novels, both of which are below a 3.3 average rating on Goodreads right now, and then disappeared. I'm not that interested in her it's-the-end-of-the-world-before-an-asteroid-strike debut, but the second one was great and I want more options to choose from.
5. Kim Purcell (Trafficked; This Is Not a Love Letter)
Two hard-hitting YA novels and then...crickets???
6. Jessi Kirby (Golden; The Other Side of Lost)
Admittedly I've still only read half of them*, but she only wrote six? Last sighted in 2018? That's not right for a YA author so talented!
*and I technically only like two, but the thing is I DID also like the third one [In Honor], it was just the love interest that filled me with too much rage to give the book more than 2 stars. like, everything else was wonderful. That's why I need more possibilities!
7. Ellen Airgood (Prairie Evers; sequel The Education of Ivy Blake; Tin Camp Road)
I still have her debut South of Superior to read, and TCR only came out 3 years ago, but I just love the richness of her books and the fact that she's equally skilled at writing for children & adults.
8. Kim Culbertson (Songs for a Teenage Nomad; Instructions for a Broken Heart, and more)
I've always considered her a fave, and I've read four of her six YA novels -- every one a winner, two 5-stars, one 4 and a 3 that's really more like 3.5 -- but she's released nothing since 2018's The Wonder of Us. :( :(
9. Jean Slaughter Doty (Summer Pony; Can I Get There By Candlelight?; If Wishes Were Horses; etc)
This is the only throwback name on my list today (AKA zero chance of a new release unless someone unearths a forgotten manuscript), but it's frankly wrong that I am able to complete the entire backlist of a 20th century juvenile horse-book writer. She wrote like the kind of person who publishes 30-50 kids' books in their lifetime, but as far as I can find she only released 9 novels and a bit of nonfiction under her maiden name (pre-Doty). And because of that sad fact, I still technically have a couple of hers I can't bring myself to finish yet.
10. Aleksandra Drake (A Short Walk to the Bookshop)
I swear, like 95% of people who self-publish a novel immediately go on to merrily continue writing & releasing self-published books to their heart's desire, regardless of quality or sales, and I had to go and find the ONE who wrote something 6-star perfect for me and then just disappeared cold turkey.
P.S. In researching this post, I was thrilled to be able to remove two names after finding signs that they have books planned for 2025 -- Amy Mason Doan (Lady Sunshine; The Summer List) & Mollie Rushmeyer (The Bookshop of Secrets; The Lost Manuscript)! PLEASE tell me the good news if I'm wrong about anyone else on this list.
P.P.S. I feel like I retroactively wished one of these into existence -- Marjorie Hart wrote the short memoir Summer at Tiffany (2007), which I finally read 3 months ago and immediately hoped she had more, only to find that no, that was it...except she had suddenly self-pubbed Story City Stories in December 2023! I have not actually read it yet but I did get it for my birthday, and I am spreading the gospel about it wherever I go because it has no reviews at all yet. But it is now on Kindle Unlimited!