IFWG is very pleased to announce the acquisition of Kathryn Hore’s thriller, The Wildcard. “Kathryn is an excellent speculative fiction writer,” said IFWG Managing Director, Gerry Huntman, “and we couldn’t look past this exceptional thriller piece, despite it being outside our mainstream brand. Kathryn spins an amazing story in her debut novel, of intrigue and underworld card playing taken way too far.”

Kathryn is a Melbourne writer of speculative and thriller fiction, who enjoys blending dark genres in twisting ways, often throwing in a dash of romance for good measure. Her short fiction has been published in an number of magazines, including Aurealis, Midnight Echo and The Crime Factory, and anthologies such as Transcendent (Transmundane Press), Dead of Night (AHWA), Beautiful Lies Painful Truths (Left Hand Publishers) and Hear Me Roar (Ticonderoga Publications). When not writing she works in information management, archives and libraries, and has a couple of small children to keep her busy. You can find her on her website www.letmedigress.com, or catch her on the usual social media haunts as @kahmelb.

The Wildcard:

Jem doesn’t do risk. He doesn’t play games with chance. At least not until his ex-girlfriend shows up on his doorstop in tears and tricks him into signing for an impossible debt.

Thrust into an underworld of card players who bet anything they can think of – favours, information, secrets, even coffee – Jem has to figure his way out of a debt he doesn’t understand, in a world where the rules are twisting, complex and never explained. Relying only on a woman who plays life like she plays a game of poker, and drawn to a young man who offers temptations Jem’s not sure he can trust, there is only one thing he is clear on: the consequences of losing in this crowd. Because the last guy to owe a debt like his was just found floating face down in the ocean, and if Jem doesn’t sort this out fast, he could be next.

The Wildcard will be published in late 2020/early 2021.