Author

Julia Whicker is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop where she won both the prestigious Capote Fellowship and the Teaching-Writing Fellowship. She’s had her poetry published in the Iowa Review, Word Riot and The Millions, among others, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. A version of the first chapter of Wonderblood was published in the literary journal, Unstuck.
She lives with her husband and daughters in State College, Pennsylvania.

Wonderblood (St. Martin’s Press and Random House Canada, 2018) is a post-apocalyptic fantasy about religious war, perverse faith, and waiting for the space shuttles to return.
In the city of Cape Canaveral, the royal establishment is steeped in excess, and science has been corrupted into a blood-soaked religion. The time of rational thought is long past. Meanwhile, in Kansas, an opposing sect sends a criminal on a mysterious mission to infiltrate the fortified Cape.
When an outcast girl is captured by a self-styled prophet and warlord, she is thrust into his violent designs on the throne. Just as she finds her footing in her horrific new surroundings, she discovers that David, her captor, already has a wife–a terrifying executioner who will stop at nothing to be rid of Aurora.
As war nears, Aurora must decide if she is willing to accept David’s violent faith. Will she become her captor’s queen? How far will she go to protect herself from David’s ruthless first wife?
After two strange lights appear in the night sky, all must decide if the shuttles of their forebears have returned, or if their beliefs have led them to ruin.
Awards and Praise
Under the Radar Favorites (May 2018) ―Lithub
Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Book (April 2018) ―Washington Post
“Whicker has imagined a fierce future…Dense, dark, haunting.” ―Booklist
“Whicker’s debut sets the stage for a possible series full of bloodlust, court intrigue, and unforgettable characters. For fans of Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven, N.K. Jemisin’s “Broken Earth” series, and George R.R. Martin’s “Song of Ice and Fire” books.” ―Library Journal
“Told in rich, dense prose, Whicker’s fantasy feels like a blood-steeped dream: there are mummified heads and a religion based on astronauts. The story’s voice is vibrant and warm as the Florida heat” ―Publishers Weekly
“In a novel marked with heart-stopping violence, brutal ritual, surreal courtly intrigue, and moments of piercing beauty, Julia Whicker imagines a clash of religions in a broken future. The characters, and their world, are unforgettable.” ―Vivien Shotwell, author of Vienna Nocturne
“Visceral and intense… a fully built-out world, rich with color and detail.” ―Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
“Wonderblood is a richly imagined, otherworldly tale about the power – and danger – of faith and belief. I loved this book’s beautiful prose and its startling, brutal, and poetic images; I loved its unique premise and masterful worldbuilding; I loved its complicated, passionate, and mesmerizing characters. Julia Whicker is a genius. This is a strange, daring, and masterful first novel.” ―Edan Lepucki, New York Times bestselling author of California
“A richly imagined broken world, one whose land, customs, history, and people are so sharply conveyed that they seem almost to have been incised into the page. I admire Wonderblood for its absorbing and unsettling story, for the uncanny beauty of its prose, but above all else for the daring of its tone, which begins in pitch darkness and brightens not to white but to a more lustrous black.” ― Kevin Brockmeier, New York Times bestselling author
“In fiercely glittering prose Julia Whicker evokes an apocalyptic America where medicine is illegal, everyone is searching for portents and only a severed head can offer protection. I love how richly imagined this novel is and I love how relentlessly it moves towards its amazing climax. Wonderblood is a stunning debut.” ―Margot Livesy, New York Times bestselling author
Publications
Wonderblood (hardback and ebook), Available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indiebound, Books-a-Million, and Powells.