The novella “Year of Miracles” reaches back four hundred years in the Old Races universe to tell another Janx and Daisani story, this time about Sarah Hopkins, the human woman they both loved in the year that London burned.

There is no minimum buy-in for this novella–pay whatever you feel is fair or can afford–but now through the end of July 2010 will be the only opportunity to order a copy: at the end of July, it goes off the market permanently until I find a traditional publisher for it.*

The novella will be delivered to you as a PDF on or before December 31, 2010. I’ll use your Paypal account email address as the one to send the story to unless otherwise directed, so direct me otherwise if necessary. Also, if you do subscribe to the story, please immediately add ce-murphy-patrons@googlegroups.com to your email address book so that when I send the story out it actually gets through to you.

I’d be grateful if people linked or pointed others to this and/or the original post, since I don’t know any other way to advertise!

A new excerpt from “Year of Miracles”:

“I can’t.” Sarah held back, breaking her grip on Eliseo’s hand. “I can’t.”

“Of course you can.” He stopped and turned back, a gentle brightness in his eyes. He gestured at himself, a motion that invited her to look at him as though she’d never seen him before. Dapper: that was a word she’d learned from the two extraordinary men in her life; from the slight and swarthy man before her and from beautiful, outrageous Janx.

And that was the trouble, whether Eliseo Daisani wanted to see it or not. He suited the fine clothes, the expensive shoes, the distant music and the wealthy crowd who attended such matters as balls and courts. He was not handsome, but his aspect, the part of him that was more–and less–than human, gave him a gravitas and a compulsion that drew people to him. He belonged where she did not. Even dressed in silks, even with the slaughterfields cultured from her voice, she was a daughter of blood and guts and gore.

“Sarah,” Daisani said, still gentle. “What do you see, when you look at me?”

“More than I should.” She couldn’t help it: not since the night a gleeful Janx had shed his human form, becoming the great red dragon who offered her a place on his back. She had flown so high that night, come so close to touching the winter moon, and when they landed, Eliseo Daisani, not to be outdone, was waiting for them with a waterfall of impossible flowers in his arms. The season was wrong, all wrong, and yet his arms overflowed with blooms. Daisies she knew, though the red ones were unfamiliar, but the others were thistle-purple and elongated.

“Amaranth,” Daisani said that night. “Love everlasting, and red daisies for beauty unknown.”

“Nothing lasts forever,” she had replied, and then he had offered her proof that she was wrong, never wincing as he parted the veins of his wrist and slow blood oozed out.

“Just two sips,” he warned. “The first for health. The second for life.”

“And if I take three?” she asked, playful with the wonder of Janx’s flight.

Daisani’s gaze darkened. “Do not. The third sip is death. That’s the price of a vampire’s gift.”

“More than I should,” Sarah repeated now, because she couldn’t forget, not ever, not looking at either of her men. “Always, more than I should.”

“And they see less.” He nodded toward the distant courtyard, and offered his arm once more. “They’ll see a woman of wealth and beauty, Sarah, no matter what you feel lies below.”

*I reserve the right to do a second run of sales if it turns into a novel, which is not impossible. Otherwise, though, this is it, your one and only chance.

On June 1, 2010, my 13th novel and 19th published work, DEMON HUNTS, hit the shelves.

If anybody asks what I was doing during the Oughts, this is mostly the answer:

Go me. :)

DRAGON’S LURE, featuring “Perchance to Dream”, a post-Negotiator Janx story:

The mask was nearly as beautiful as the woman bearing it.

Janx knew a thing or two about worlds that went unseen.

and

RUNNING WITH THE PACK, featuring “Blended”, a Regency-era werewolf romance:

The pack had been born savages and had, almost to a man, died that way.

But mostly, wolves died.

And just in case you missed it, THE PHANTOM QUEEN AWAKES, featuring “Cairn Dancer”, a story of the Morrigan, has been available since March:

It was not, in the end, the river which waited, not at all. It was instead the cairns, rough tall stone piles which housed the dead, and honored them. It was their song that called her down the length of the river, inviting them to their sacred place.

A fist made itself known around Mairaed’s heart: a squeeze that took her breath and sent an ache through her body. Her palms cramped; the soles of her feet shuddered, and she sipped barely enough air to whisper, “The dances.”

Go forth! Buy! Enjoy! :)

Seattle’s a great place to live…if it weren’t for the undead.

No one’s getting out of there alive.

To go along with WALKING DEAD’s release, my web guru, Laura Denson, recently did a recording of “Rabbit Tricks”, the Walker Papers short story that fits chronologically between COYOTE DREAMS and WALKING DEAD.

My longtime friend and writing partner Sarah Palmero did a two-minute voice recording from THE QUEEN’S BASTARD. I think both of these are pretty damned cool (if utterly bizarre, because wow, really weird to hear someone else reading my words!), and would like to thank them both profusely for doing these and letting me post them publicly!

Fifth, I’m terribly smug to show off the (tiny–if you want to see it full sized you’ll have to buy the story) cover for “Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight”, which was painted by manga artist Lanny Liu.

Along those same lines, “Hot Time” has debuted amongst its patrons today. (I wasn’t thinking, when I changed its due date to September 1st, that that was also the release date for WALKING DEAD. Oh well, everybody got WD early anyway, so “Hot Time” still gets to be a little bit special.) For those who didn’t join the fundable commission the first time through, the novella will be available to purchase in February 2010, after which it’ll go off the market permanently until it finds a traditional publisher.

And I just noticed several of my books have been nominated as contenders for 101 Best Fantasy novels. I have to admit that given some of the company (which ranges from Lloyd Alexander to Diana Wynne Jones with all points between), I feel my presence there is a bit ludicrous, but also quite wonderful and I wouldn’t mind making it onto somebody’s top 100 list, so if you wanted, you could go vote. :) And my thanks to whomever nominated me, how cool of you. :)

The winner is /blythe025, who said I would love to see a story told from the point of view of a priest.

For some reason this idea really caught me. Possibly because I like the priest in the Negotiator trilogy so much, but somehow there’s just a real romanticism to that idea for me. I actually feel like I could build a book around the idea of a priest dealing with the Old Races, though I’m already terribly torn on *when* I would set that story. Or whether it would have to be a longer story, a series of its own, just trying to deal with the religious and spiritual connotations of the Old Races’ existence, from a Western theology’s point of view. I’m just utterly enamored of this idea!

Other ideas, including exceedingly moderate spoilers, are behind the cut.

There were no fewer than five requests/suggestions for a story about Grace. Sadly for all the people who proposed that, you did not win, because I already plan to write a story about Grace someday (I realize you couldn’t possibly have known that, but it’s on my list of things to do). So on the one hand, you didn’t win. On the other, you’ll get your story, eventually. It’ll be at least novella-length, it will be called KISS OF ANGELS, and that’s all I can tell you now. :)

Chelsea got two requests (though somehow it seemed like more). I’m afraid Chelsea’s story will not be told. Chelsea feels it’s none of your business. (My *agent* doesn’t know Chelsea’s story, and I got a whole series of emails from her where she tried to guess it. It drives her nuts. :))

There were also requests for:
- more about Daisani’s secretary Vanessa,
- more about Sarah Hopkins (there’s a part of me that wants to go back and write that whole story, which would be called LONDON BURNING, but I donno, so much of it got told, or at least all the highlights, within the Negotiator trilogy that I’m not sure it’s worth doing…)
- the story of “the first time Malik lost” (I really, *really* liked that idea, I don’t know why I never thought of telling it!)
- the early days of Daisani and Rebecca’s (Margrit’s mother) relationship
- the world before humans arose and the Old Races were still battling it out for who might be in charge (that’d be book-length, I think, & I rather adore the idea)
- the Biali/Alban/Hajnal love triangle
- anything from Janx & Daisani’s past/future (apparently you guys like them as much as I do :))
- more about the selkies in the centuries they were gone

THE CONTEST: tell me (in no more than 50 words) what Old Races story you would like to see told. It doesn’t have to be something that comes organically from the books; you can just randomly want “a story about the djinn” or something.

THE CAVEAT: I may make off with one or more idea and turn it into a story at some point. :)

THE OTHER CAVEAT: This contest is also running at my main blog at mizkit.com/mizkit.livejournal.com, so it’s possible the winning entry won’t actually show up in *this* comment thread. I will, however, post the winner’s entry at both locations, so everybody’ll know who won and for what story idea.

THE WARNING: I expect there will be spoilers for the Negotiator trilogy in this thread. If you don’t want to be spoiled, stay out of the comments.

THE WINNER: will be the person whose story idea I like best!

THE DEADLINE: the contest will end on June 9th. :)

THE OTHER CONTEST: My agent, the incomparable Jennifer Jackson (who apparently started agenting at the tender age of nine), is celebrating her 16th year of being an agent by running a contest for ARCs and books written by her clients. Go read her instructions carefully and participate! :)

Belinda – Michelle Trachtenberg
Javier – Kyle Schmid
Lorraine Walter – Tilda Swinton
Eliza Beaulieu – Natalie Portman
Lord Drake – Eric Braeden
Marius Poulin – Henry Cavill
Sacha Asselin – Paul Walker
Sandalia – Orla Brady
Irina – Cate Blanchett
Akilina – Shirley Henderson
Rodrigo – Javier Bardem
Dmitri – Clive Owen
Gondola Boy – Jim Sturgess

The most interesting thing about this contest, for me, is that not one of the actors is somebody I’d thought of when I ‘cast’ this book in my mind–and TQB is about the only book I’ve ever cast anybody for. I *love* the choices people made, but it’s fascinating to see the different ideas!

Also:
I have received in the mail a small box of A FANTASY MEDLEY.

Many people said “Gosh, I could cast the Old Races or the Walker Papers”, and so, because there will be no more Negotiator books, I will give you the opportunity to win a copy of A FANTASY MEDLEY, which has a Janx & Daisani story in it, by casting the Negotiator trilogy. My favorite cast list gets a copy of the anthology. Major characters: Margrit Knight, Alban Korund, Grace O’Malley, Janx, Daisani, Kaimana, Cole, Cameron, Tony. Bonus points for casting any of the following: Margrit’s parents, Chelsea, Russell, Cara, Tariq, Biali, Malik, Ausra, Kate, Ursula, Sarah, Hajnal.

It isn’t necessary to cast all of them. It’s not even necessary to cast most of them. Just have fun with it. :) I’ll close the contest a week from now, at about noon Eastern time on Tuesday April 14th.

In “Zen and the Art of Vampirism,” Zoe Takano, the only vampire in Toronto, a city filled with supernatural creatures of Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld, finds her place in the hierarchy threatened by two interlopers.

“Riding the Shore of the River of Death” returns us to the world of Kate Elliott’s Crown of Stars. Kareka, daughter of the begh of the Kirshat, hunts to take a man’s head. It is her last opportunity to prove herself as a man or else she will find herself restricted to the role of woman and wife in the clan forever.

Robin Hobb revisits her Farseer world in “Words Like Coins.” Mirrifen, a failed hedge-witch’s apprentice who has married to find security finds that threatened by a severe drought and the appearance of a pregnant female pecksie.

C.E. Murphy takes us to frozen Moscow in “From Russia, with Love.” Baba Yaga’s daughter is a barmaid at a dive when Janx and Eliseo Daisani walk in. They discover, as they compete for the girl’s affections, that Baba Yaga has plans for Janx and that her beautiful daughter had merely been the bait.

Limited: 200 numbered copies signed by the authors and editor
Trade: 3000 fully clothbound hardcover edition

Supplies are quite literally limited, so pre-order it now!

A new Tale from Gryphon Beach, my collection of short stories for children

Glasslands, a prequel to an unwritten science fiction saga

A Compendium of Kitlings, a very silly story written for an anthology that never happened, in which, in turn-of-the-century Chicago, Mrs. O’Leary discovered that aliens (the sort from outer space) tended to pay their boarding fees more promptly than human boarders, and also in gold. This, then, is the story of one of her boarders….

Previously, on Take A Chance…, a prequel to my comic book TAKE A CHANCE, and also an audition script for any artist who’d like to try their hand at Chance

New York Hold ‘em, a story of the Old Races, and

Rabbit Tricks, a Walker Papers short story to tide you over until the release of book four, WALKING DEAD in September 2009.

My short story Ill Met by Moonlight–the story of a Hollywood starlet trapped on the wrong side of a mirror–is also once more being featured at eharlequin.com. I don’t know how long this one will be available, so if the URL isn’t working, sorry.

As it is (with apologies to Jane Austen) a truth universally acknowledged that a mid-list author in possession of good reviews must be in want of an income, if you enjoy the stories and have it to spare, I would be delighted if you wanted to send a few quid (as they say here) my way. You can use the button below, or if for some reason it doesn’t work, use the email address open AT mizkit DOT com. Thanks!