Search results for ""author j. r. dawson""

If you knew how dark tomorrow would be, what would you do with today?The First Bright Thing by J. R. Dawson is a spellbinding debut for fans of The Night Circus and The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue.Welcome to the Circus of the Fantasticals.Ringmaster – Rin, to those who know her best – can jump to different moments in time as easily as her wife, Odette, soars from bar to bar on the trapeze. With the scars of World War I feeling more distant as the years pass, Rin is focusing on the brighter things in life. Like the circus she’s built and the magical misfits and outcasts – known as Sparks – who’ve made it their home. Every night, Rin and the Fantasticals enchant a Big Top packed full with audiences who need to see the impossible.But while the present is bright, threats come at Rin from the past and the future. The future holds an impending war that the Sparks can see barrelling toward their Big Top and everyone in it. And Rin's past creeps closer every day, a malevolent shadow Rin can’t fully escape. It takes the form of another Spark circus, with tents as black as midnight and a ringmaster who rules over his troupe with a dangerous power. Rin’s circus has something he wants, and he won't stop until it’s his.

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When darkness descends, expect sparks. The First Bright Thing by J. R. Dawson is a spellbinding debut for fans of The Night Circus and The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue.Welcome to the Circus of the Fantasticals . . .After World War I, a select few wake up with frightening magical abilities. Rin can jump through time. Her wife, Odette, can heal the unhealable. And their friend, Mauve, sees what others can’t. Alone, afraid and exiled from regular society, the trio create a haven for Sparks – people like them – a circus housing those who are powerful and lost.Now it’s 1926, and Rin runs the Circus of the Fantasticals. It travels across the States, spreading enchantment and joy to those who need it. Rin hopes their performances leave the world brighter than before. But new threats loom that even circus lights can’t vanquish. Another devastating war is barrelling across the world. Worse still, Rin’s past creeps closer every day, a malevolent shadow she can’t fully escape. This takes the form of a rival circus, with tents as black as midnight. Its leader has dark powers and even darker desires. For the Sparks have something he wants – and Rin knows he won’t stop until he has it.‘This is the magic circus book that I have been looking for all my life. It's compelling and brilliant' - Seanan McGuire*Longlisted for Best Novel at the British Science Fiction Association Awards 2023*

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J. R. Dawson is a writer and educator with shorter works in places such as F&SF, The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018 and Lightspeed. Dawson lives in Omaha with a loving spouse and three dogs. Having earned a BFA from the Theatre School at DePaul and an MFA in creative writing from Stonecoast, Dawson works as a teaching artist with assorted nonprofits that bring the power of the performing arts to children in the Midwest. They are the author of The First Bright Thing.

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