My debut novel is extremely nigh! It releases April 2nd in the U.S., and April 11th in the U.K.. In this post, I'll walk you through everything you need to know.
Let's start here: what is Someone You Can Build A Nest In about?
Shesheshen is a shapeshifting monster who lurks in the ruins of an isthmus, fending off monster hunters and other vile humans. After she is poisoned and driven off a cliff, she's rescued by Homily, a bookish and gentle lady who mistakes Shesheshen for a fellow human. Homily nurses her back to health, and Shesheshen is shocked to find herself growing attached. Homily seems to be an outcast like herself. The more they fall in love, the harder it is for Shesheshen to hide her true identity. She has to confess. But just as she's about to come clean, Homily reveals why she's visiting in the isthmus. Homily is hunting a shapeshifting monster. Has Shesheshen seen it anywhere?You can read the first chapter for free at Reactor.
The pre-release experience has been overwhelming. I keep getting tagged by readers who got advanced copies and have fallen in love with Shesheshen and Homily. Recently The Library Journal gave Someone You Can Build A Best In a starred review and named it the Debut of the Month for April. Ingram named it one of the three Best of the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books for 2024. Someone You Can Build A Nest In has also graced numerous Most Anticipated Bookslists, including Literary Hub, Apple Books, Polygon, FanFiAdddict, Reactor (A.K.A. Tor.com), and Winter is Coming.
The responses from authors has been amazing, too.
"Someone You Can Build A Nest In is sweetly furious, darkly funny, and gruesomely wholesome. It's a love story for the unloved, a happily-ever-after with a higher-than-average body count. I just adored it."
—Alix E. Harrow, New York Times-bestselling author of Starling House and The Ten Thousand Doors of January
“Surprisingly sweet, unsurprisingly horrific, and entirely humane—only John Wiswell could have written this monster and her book, and I'm so very glad he did.”’
—Arkady Martine, Hugo Award-winning author of A Memory Called Empire
“I love the wonder and the darkly enchanting danger of this story. It makes me think of fairy tales, but John Wiswell understands what so many have forgotten: that true fairy tales are gruesome and magical at the same time, and he nails it here.”
—C.L. Polk, bestselling author of Midnight Bargain and Even Though I Knew the End
“Someone You Can Build a Nest In is the future of fantasy: a fairy tale with boundaries, an
imaginative world created in the shape of collective values rather than the boring old id, a portal to a place you've really never seen before instead of just a princess in a different outfit. This novel is going to change the entire genre.”
—Meg Elison, Hugo and Locus award-winning author of The Book of the Unnamed Midwife
Pre-orders are available at all major book websites.
