Great news: Indie Next!

Hard to put into words how MASSIVELY EXCITING this is, but The Magician's Lie has been named to the Indie Next list for January 2015. Books are nominated and voted on by indie booksellers across the country, and the list is circulated to every bookstore in the American Booksellers Association. It's a BIG DEAL and I cannot BELIEVE how lucky I am to have my book chosen. AMAZING!

Here's the list of titles, on the ABA site.

And here's what they say about The Magician's Lie. YAY!

“Macallister’s debut novel is historical fiction that blends magic, mystery, and romance. In turn-of-the-century America at the height of stage magic’s popularity, the renowned female illusionist Amazing Arden must convince a young police officer, Virgil Holt, of her innocence in a murder that looks suspiciously like one of her most famous illusions gone wrong. As Arden’s story unfolds over the course of the night she spends in police custody, the reader, as well as Officer Holt, must decide if she is telling the truth or if this, too, is part of her act.” —Meagan Albin, Breakwater Books, Guilford, CT 

The Magician's Lie is a Midwest Connections Pick!

As I put it on Twitter: this is ALL CAPS NEWS.

TML is a Midwest Connections pick for January 2015! I have been so thrilled with how independent bookstores all over the country have been embracing TML so far, and this is such an amazing honor, especially given how near and dear the Midwest is to my heart.

This means that if you live in the area covered by the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association -- Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and part of Michigan -- you've got a very good chance of seeing TML in your local indie. Yay!

If you haven't read TML yet, a large part of the action is set in Janesville, Iowa, with some pivotal action in Chicago, and mentions of towns from Davenport to Okonomowoc. So this is very much on Arden's, and my, home turf.

Check out the pick info on the MIBA site (thank you, MIBA!!) here.

Back from Heartland Fall Forum

Had an utterly wonderful time at my very first regional trade show for booksellers. The Heartland Fall Forum is a joint show for bookstores in the Midwest and Great Lakes areas, and I met SO many wonderful booksellers there, not to mention other wonderful authors, whose books I am now totally dying to read.

And it never hurts to see one's book prominently displayed, does it? I love this cover more every time I see it, still.


Click here for the Publishers Weekly writeup on the event (which even mentions TML, yay!)