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“And just that clearly, in the muddled, whiskey-soaked place where terrible ideas pose as good ones, I knew what I had to do. It made perfect sense. I would write my obituary.��

That is an excerpt from John Kenney’s new novel I See You've Called in Dead: A Novel, which reads smoothly, easily, amusingly and sounds as if it might actually live up to what the publisher claims it to be: “The Office meets Six Feet Under meets About a Boy in this coming-of-middle-age tale about having a second chance to write your life’s story.��

Kenney’s won several awards and is a contributor to 'The New Yorker', so you know you’re in the hands of an experienced writer.

Much-loved author Emma Donoghue, (with sixteen novels, including Room under her belt, or in the back of her brain, or wherever she keeps them) is releasing The Paris Express soon. It’s historical fiction, based on an 1895 train disaster, described by the publisher as “a propulsive novel set on a train packed with a fascinating cast of characters who hail from as close as Brittany and as far as Russia, Ireland, Algeria, Pennsylvania, and Cambodia.��

It opens with a young woman hesitating as she’s about to board the train, and I imagine many readers will want to know what happens to her.

The next one that caught my eye is a debut novel, The Names, by Florence Knapp, who has previously written nonfiction. The excerpt was compelling and I hope I get to read the rest of it. Cora’s husband, Gordon, has instructed her to register the baby’s name, today. Cora and her young daughter walk to the registry office and the little girl suggests a name.

“Cora has never liked the name Gordon. The way it starts with a splintering sound that makes her think of cracked boiled sweets, and then ends with a thud like someone slamming down a sports bag. Gordon. But what disturbs her more is that she must now pour the goodness of her son into its mold, hoping he’ll be strong enough to find his own shape within it. Because Gordon is a name passed down through the men in her husband’s family, and it seems impossible it could be any other way.��

Does a person grow into the name or does the name define your trajectory? I completely forgot this was a debut, at least for fiction, and that is was only an excerpt. It’s imaginative and thoughtful and I’d like to read more, please.

Notes on Infinity is a debut by Austin Taylor, who is a recent Harvard graduate with joint degrees in chemistry and English, which she certainly put to good use here. The excerpt opens with Zoe in a dressing room, feeling manic, getting sick, and finally downing four pills before getting her makeup redone and going onstage.

She introduces herself and says she’s going to tell the audience a story.

Then the book cuts to Part 1, and I got caught up in the meeting of two bright students, kind of competing against each other in chemistry classes, which was a lot more interesting than I’ve made it sound - sort of a cat and mouse, unspoken rivalry between exceptionally smart young people.

The publisher describes it as two people going into a biotech startup and discovering a cure for aging, That got my attention, too. I immediately thought of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, although this may be completely different, of course.

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There are excerpts from 49 books, but there are a lot more titles and release dates for books by acclaimed authors. There are no excerpts, but many authors are famous, so you may find a favourite with a new book to look forward to.

Get a copy and have a look.

Thanks to #NetGalley for my copy for review, but you can download these books for free.