Hello, chums! Today I am super excited to share with you some info about a book you should definitely add to your TBR ! Then, I am going to give you a chance to win your own copy of the book!!
The first book in a new YA fantasy duology from a bestselling genre-expanding master, about a teenager who embarks on a quest to protect the world from an alternate universe where magic abounds and history has been rewritten.
After Jonathan Lambshead’s elusive grandfather dies, the recently orphaned teenager inherits the family mansion—and its contents. Jonathan soon discovers that the mansion’s basement holds more than just oddities: three doors serve as portals, with one leading to an alt-Earth called Aurora, where magic abounds, history has been re-written, and an occult dictator called Aleister Crowley leads an army pillaging alt-Europe. Jonathan learns of his destiny as a member of The Order, a secret society devoted to keeping our world separate from Aurora, and embarks on an epic quest to protect Earth from Crowley’s dark magic.
Over the course of the duology, Jonathan uncovers more of the worlds outside of our own, the magic that permeates them, his own destiny, and the secrets buried in his family history.
About Jeff VanderMeer
Jeff VanderMeer’s NYT-bestselling Southern Reach trilogy has been translated into over 35 languages. The first novel, Annihilation, won the Nebula Award and Shirley Jackson Award, and was made into a movie by Paramount in 2018. Recent works include Dead Astronauts, Borne (a finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award), The Strange Bird. These novels, set in the Borne universe, are being developed for TV by AMC and continue to explore themes related to the environment, animals, and our future. Forthcoming work include his fantasy romp The Misadventures of Jonathan Lambshead: A Peculiar Peril (FSG Kids) and Hummingbird Salamander (MCD/FSG) which has been optioned by Netflix and Michael Sugar (Anonymous Content). His short story Secret Life has been made into a graphic novel by Theo Ellsworth (Drawn & Quarterly, 2021).
Called “the weird Thoreau” by The New Yorker, VanderMeer frequently speaks about issues related to climate change and storytelling, including at DePaul, MIT, and the Guggenheim. He has taught at the Yale Writers’ Conference and the Miami International Book Fair, among many others, and was the 2016-2017 Trias Writer-in-Residence at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in upstate New York. He is the recipient of an NEA-funded Florida Individual Artist Fellowship for excellence in fiction and a Florida Artist Enhancement Grant. Nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, Vulture, Esquire.com, and the Los Angeles Times. He was a 2019 National Book Award judge for fiction.
Over a thirty-five-year career, VanderMeer has been a three-time World Fantasy Award winner and 15-time nominee. For eleven years, VanderMeer has served as the co-director of Shared Worlds, a unique teen SF/fantasy writing camp located at Wofford College in South Carolina. Previous novels include Veniss Underground and the Ambergris Cycle (City of Saints & Madmen, Shriek: An Afterword, and Finch), being reissued this year in a hardcover omnibus from MCD/FSG, with nonfiction titles including Wonderbook, the world’s first fully illustrated writing guide, and Booklife, the first career guide to fully integrate the internet into tactics and strategy. His short story collections include The Third Bear, the title story from which is under option for development into film.
Considered one of the foremost weird fiction writers in the world, VanderMeer grew up in the Fiji Islands and spent six months traveling through Asia, Africa, and Europe before returning to the United States. These travels have deeply influenced his fiction. VanderMeer started writing at age eight and published his first short story at age 14. Early on, he wrote and published poetry and short fiction extensively, in addition to running a publishing house, the Ministry of Whimsy, and holding literary events featuring National Book Award winners like Richard Wilbur and other major poets at the Thomasville Center in Gainesville, Florida. The Ministry became the first indie publisher to have a book win the Philip K. Dick Award. (Stepan Chapman’s The Troika) and he edited the award-winning Leviathan series, which published writers such as Rikki Ducornet, Brian Evenson, and Michael Moorcock.
His wife Ann VanderMeer was the fiction editor for Weird Tales for five years and won the Hugo Award for her work there. She now serves as an acquiring editor for Tor.com and editor for XPrize anthologies including the critically acclaimed Avatars, Inc. She is also an award-winning publisher, and co-editor with Jeff on ground-breaking anthologies such as Best American Fantasy 1 and 2, Steampunk 1 and 2, New Weird, The Weird, The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, The Time Traveler’s Almanac, The Big Book of Science Fiction, The Big Book of Classic Fantasy, and the forthcoming The Big Book of Modern Fantasy.
For several years they also ran Cheeky Frawg, a small press that published Amos Tutuola and many works in translation, including Swedish writer Karin Tidbeck’s first collection in English and Finnish icon Leena Krohn’s complete stories in one mammoth volume. Together, they have taught writing workshops and given lectures all over the world. This literary “power couple” (Boing Boing) has been profiled on Wired.com, NYT blog, and on national NPR.
They live in Tallahassee, Florida, with their internet-famous cat Neo, and a yard full of native plants.
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A Peculiar Peril by Jeff VanderMeer 
The longest book I ever read was Gone with the Wind
I have this book already on my TBR, so thanks for the chance! The longest book I ever read is the Bible and it’s one of the few I reread.
The longest book I’ve ever read was “Battlefield Earth” by L. Ron Hubbard in 5th grade. It’s 1,050 pages.
Stephen King’s books are usually pretty long!
Sounds like a great read! Not sure what the longest book I’ve read is.
Ooh this one sounds pretty intriguing! The alt-countries make me think of the Shades of Magic trilogy; there are four Londons based on color so Red London, Black London, etc.
-Lauren
I don’t really read long books anymore since I gave up on fantasy books. I think all my longest books are by Sara J Maas and Cassandra Clare.
Oh wow, this sounds fantastic!
I think the longest one I’ve read so far was the unabridged brick that is Les Mis!
I just added this one onto my TBR. Thanks for the recommendation! 🙂
The longest book I ever read was probably War and Peace. I like the concept of an alternate earth (at this point, anything would be better!)
“Are you excited to read the book? What is the longest book you’ve ever read?” Yes! I have read “Remembrance Of Things Past” by Proust three or four times, and it is one of my favorite works!
I am extremely excited to read this book as I love Mr. Vandermeer’s work. As far as long books, I have read the Harry Potter series which have some long books, War and Peace, The Historian, Moby Dick,and other lengthy classics.
This book recently caught my eye. Thanks for the giveaway!
Oops, forgot to add: I think the longest books I’ve read is Winter, at 827 pages.
Sounds like a fantastic book. Great cover. I have read The Stand which was 1,000 pages long. My current read is 600 pages long.
This book is sounds really good! The longest book I read is I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb. It was over 900 pages.
I’m not sure of the longest book. Hawaii and Les Misérables are both very long.