ONLINE: C.L. Polk, Amal El-Mohtar

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Author C.L. Polk.

Canadian author C.L. Polk's 2018 debut, Witchmark, earned a slew of best novel nominations in the fantasy and science fiction fields, including a World Fantasy Award win. After following up in 2019 with a second "Kingston Cycle" novel (Stormsong), Polk now returns with The Midnight Bargain, the tale of a sorceress in a world where one's powers must be given up upon marriage. Will she choose a potentially family-saving marriage or following her dream of becoming a magus? Learn more about the novel by signing up for this livestream hosted by A Room of One's Own. Update: Polk will be joined by New York Times Book Review columnist Amal El-Mohtar.

media release: A Room of One's Own is thrilled to welcome C.L. Polk, author of The Midnight Bargain, for a virtual event on Zoom!

Update! AMAL  EL-MOHTAR will join C.L. Polk for Tuesday's virtual conversation about fantasy and sci-fi! Our Apologies: We have encountered a slight delay with accessing the Zoom link for Tuesday's event. Attendance registrations are still all accounted for; we will distribute the link as soon as we can. Watch your inboxes! Thank you for your understanding.

About The Midnight Bargain: From the beloved World Fantasy Award-winning author of Witchmark comes a sweeping, romantic new fantasy set in a world reminiscent of Regency England, where women’s magic is taken from them when they marry. A sorceress must balance her desire to become the first great female magician against her duty to her family.

Beatrice Clayborn is a sorceress who practices magic in secret, terrified of the day she will be locked into a marital collar that will cut off her powers to protect her unborn children. She dreams of becoming a full-fledged Magus and pursuing magic as her calling as men do, but her family has staked everything to equip her for Bargaining Season, when young men and women of means descend upon the city to negotiate the best marriages. The Clayborns are in severe debt, and only she can save them, by securing an advantageous match before their creditors come calling. In a stroke of luck, Beatrice finds a grimoire that contains the key to becoming a Magus, but before she can purchase it, a rival sorceress swindles the book right out of her hands. Beatrice summons a spirit to help her get it back, but her new ally exacts a price: Beatrice’s first kiss . . . with her adversary’s brother, the handsome, compassionate, and fabulously wealthy Ianthe Lavan. 

The more Beatrice is entangled with the Lavan siblings, the harder her decision becomes: If she casts the spell to become a Magus, she will devastate her family and lose the only man to ever see her for who she is; but if she marries—even for love—she will sacrifice her magic, her identity, and her dreams. But how can she choose just one, knowing she will forever regret the path not taken?

C.L. Polk is the World Fantasy Award-winning author of the critically acclaimed debut novel Witchmark, which was also nominated for the Nebula, Locus, Aurora, and Lambda Literary Awards. It was named one of the best books of 2018 according to NPR, Publishers Weekly, BuzzFeed, the Chicago Review, BookPage, and the B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog. She lives in Alberta, Canada.

Amal El-Mohtar is an award-winning writer of fiction, poetry, and criticism. She is the science fiction and fantasy columnist for the New York Times Book Review and the co-author, with Max Gladstone, of This Is How You Lose the Time War, which has received several honors including the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. She teaches creative writing at the University of Ottawa.