Archive for the ‘worldwalker duology’ Category

WAYFINDER Day!

It’s WAYFINDER day!

WAYFINDER
Book Two of the Worldwalker Duology

Once a tailor in Boston, Lara Jansen has crossed from Earth to the Barrow-lands, a Faerie world embroiled in a bloody civil war. Armed with an enchanted and malevolent staff which seeks to bend her to its dark will, and thrust into a deadly realm where it’s hard to distinguish friend from foe, Lara is sure of one thing: her love for Dafydd ap Caerwyn, the Faerie prince who brought her to the Barrow-lands. But Dafydd is missing and his home is closer than ever to a final conflagration. Lara has no other choice: she must harness the staff’s magic and her own truthseeking talents, blazing a path to a long-forgotten truth that will save the Barrow-lands…or destroy them forever.

Read the first chapter, then run out and buy your own copy!

I’m pretty excited about this one. As I said before, this is my 16th published full-length novel in just over 6 years (plus a wide variety, at this point, of novellas, short stories and comic books o.O), and it’s the brief reprieve of having everything I’ve completed a contract for actually being on the shelves at once. It’s also kind of the breaking point of “Catie is backing off now” (though I realize with the various crowdfunding projects it doesn’t really look like that), and thus is a significant psychological book release for me too.

Also, of course, I think it’s a rather charming story, and picks up about fifteen seconds after TRUTHSEEKER leaves off, so at long last you’ll get to find out what happens in this particular fairy tale. :)

WAYFINDER teaser!

Music tore the world apart.

There was no rhythm to it, no melody to find, no predictable rise or fall to thundering notes. Instead it was the sound of instruments at war with one another, screeching and bellowing as they strove to be heard. Lara Jansen stumbled under the cacophony, battered by it from all sides, and wondered what had gone wrong. She had traveled between worlds twice before–once under her own power, which should have been impossible. Even then, though, the pathway between her home and the elfin world called the Barrow-lands hadn’t been fraught with agonizing, aggressive music.

Then again, her power had been significantly less well developed then, and she knew already that the worldwalking spell distorted the very weft of the universe. It was a magic not meant to be: her world and the Barrow-lands were barely meant to touch, much less to be traversed regularly. That was a truth she knew in her bones, in the same way she’d always known whether she was being lied to. Falsehood had rung sour notes in her mind as far back as she could remember, and that gift now said the magic that thrust her between worlds was dangerously wrong.

More, there was the staff she carried: taller than she was and carved of ivory, it contained power that could break worlds. Its presence could well distort the spell further. It seemed unlikely that a thing with such destructive capability would be welcomed in any world, and entirely possible that a land of magic might struggle to keep it away.

The music surrounding her surged, stringed instruments breaking with groaning snaps, keyboards playing flat and sharp with desperation. A vocalist joined the music in Lara’s mind, searching for a harmony until her voice turned to an unholy shriek. Lara clapped her hands to her ears, falling face-first as she was pitched into the Barrow-lands. She hit the ground with a grunt, the staff’s intricate carvings cutting into her palms as she clutched it, determined not to let go.

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Winner!

The winner of the WAYFINDER ARC is dreadzah! Please email your snailmail address to cemurphyauthor AT gmail DOT com!

ARCs!

I just got a box of WAYFINDER advanced reader copies! I’ve never in my whole career gotten ARCs before! It’s very exciting!

In celebration, I will give one away! Leave a comment here at cemurphy.net (that’ll be a test, I guess, of whether the registration is working–if you have a problem, email me at cemurphyauthor AT gmail DOT com) and I’ll draw a winner early next week!

(eta: Registration should be working now: try going here, where the fine print offers an opportunity to register…)

Live at Bitten By Books!

I’m up and running over at Bitten By Books for the next day or so–there’s a new interview posted, and I’ll be popping by regularly to answer questions. There are a couple of prizes for people who participate–a copy of TRUTHSEEKER, and an Irish Care Package which will also include a copy of TRUTHSEEKER, so come on over and chat!

Release Day!

Today is the official release date for TRUTHSEEKER! It is my fifteenth published novel. o.O Go forth to yonder bookstores and see if you can find it! Buy a copy! Buy many copies, so that there will be sixteenth and seventeenth and so on published novels*! :)

ACROSS TWO EXTRAORDINARY WORLDS, TRUTH IS THE DEADLIEST MAGIC

Acting against her practical nature, Lara agrees to step through a window into another world. Caught between bitterly opposed Seelie forces and Dafydd’s secrets, which are as perilous as he is irresistible, Lara finds that her abilities are increasing in unexpected and uncontrollable ways. With the fate of two worlds at stake and a malevolent entity wielding the darkest of magic, Lara and Dafydd will risk everything on a love that may be their salvation—or the most treacherous illusion of all.

A teaser chapter is posted here. I think this one’s a charming little story. A fairy tale, in fact, although being merely the writer, I didn’t actually realize that until I was nearly done writing its sequel. :)

Today I’m blogging over at Suvudu, about what happens when an editor asks a writer (or at least this writer) to do a blog on a specific topic. Tomorrow I will start a month of being the Featured Author at Drey’s Library, which should be fun, and later in the month I’ll be blogging at Bitten By Books. I’ll link to those things as they come up, but there’ll be chances to win copies of TRUTHSEEKER at both those locations during the month.

*ok, technically, the 16th and 17th novels are already done and dusted, as those are SPIRIT DANCES, the 6th Walker Papers novel, and WAYFINDER, the sequel to TRUTHSEEKER, both of which are out in 2011. Let us not get hung up on details. :)

TRUTHSEEKER excerpt!

There’s something screwy with the font sizes on my websites. I’m vaguely assuming this has to do with the need to upgrade to WP 3.0, which I haven’t done yet. I am, though, aware of the problem and I’ll try to get it fixed this week.

In the meantime, have an excerpt from TRUTHSEEKER, out in September 2010!

“–once upon a time, not so long ago, it was driven by a little old lady I know personally. She drove it to the store weekly, that’s it, so its four thousand miles are gentle ones, ladies. It’s just two years old and has all the extras. You won’t find a better deal than this here or anywhere else. Now, I know the sticker price is eighteen five and you’re not looking to spend quite that much.” The salesman leaned out from beneath his umbrella to get a better look at the V of Kelly Richards’ T-shirt, and smiled. “It’s cutting my own throat, but I think I can knock it down to seventeen flat. It’s a bargain, ladies, a real bargain.”

“Lara?” Kelly folded her arms beneath her breasts.

For a moment Lara found herself studying her friend’s cleavage, though less avidly than the salesman had. Kelly had a lifetime’s experience in using her assets to distract and command, whereas Lara’s own figure had been described as more of a pirate’s treasure: a sunken chest. Clinical curiosity made her wonder what it would be like to take control of a situation just by inhaling deeply.

“Earth to Lara, hello?” Kelly snapped her fingers under Lara’s nose. “Are you in there?”

“Of course I am.” Lara turned her attention back to the yellow Mazda Miata the salesman hawked. Or, rather, to the patter he’d shared, the quick flow of words meant to distract and impress in the same way Kelly’s T-shirt was. Lara thought Kelly had taken the upper hand in dedication to distraction, though. It was too cold, with too much promise of serious rain, to be out without a coat, and the salesman’s gaze kept wandering to Kelly’s chest instead of the vehicle lot. “And he’s lying.”

Read more »

TRUTHSEEKER revealed!

Finally the TRUTHSEEKER cover has been presented to booksellers, which means I can finally post it myself! Hooray!

ACROSS TWO EXTRAORDINARY WORLDS, TRUTH IS THE DEADLIEST MAGIC

Acting against her practical nature, Lara agrees to step through a window into another world. Now caught between bitterly opposed Seelie forces and Dafydd’s secrets, which are as perilous as he is irresistible, Lara finds that her abilities are increasing in unexpected and uncontrollable ways. With the fate of two worlds at stake and a malevolent entity wielding the darkest of magic, Lara and Dafydd will risk everything on a love that may be their salvation—or the most treacherous illusion of all.

Available August 31, 2010–pick a link from the navigational column to pre-order it now! And there’s a much bigger version behind the cut. :)

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Welcome to 2010!

Happy New Year!

I’m guest blogging over at Temple Library Reviews about some of the differences between writing comics and novels. Thanks very much to Harry for inviting me to come play at his review site!

As reminded by several persons, THE PRETENDER’S CROWN has been nominated for the 2009 David Gemmell LEGEND Award for Fantasy. It’s on the long list, which is incredibly flattering, and it would be even more flattering to make it to the short list. My understanding is that voting between now and March will winnow the list down, so if you’ve any inclination, here’s the voting page.

And here’s this year’s publication schedule:

February: THE PHANTOM QUEEN AWAKES (anthology with a story of the Morrigan)


May: DRAGON LURE (anthology with a post-Negotiator-trilogy Janx story)


May 29: RUNNING WITH THE PACK (anthology with a Regency werewolf story)


June 1: DEMON HUNTS (book 5 of the Walker Papers. Birthday release date!)


August 31: TRUTHSEEKER (book 1 of the Worldwalker Duology)

Minor publishing news

I have, as of a few days ago, delivered TRUTHSEEKER, first of the paranormal romance duology due out from Del Rey in late 2010. TRUTHSEEKER is the story of Lara Jansen, who always knows when she’s being lied to–and who is therefore somewhat shocked when the new man in her life confesses–truthfully–to being a prince of Faery.

I’ll be starting book five of the Walker Papers in about ten days here. Keep an eye on the site, because I’ll be auctioning off a “Tuckerization”–a chance for a reader to have his or her name in the book as a character name.