2024 COVERS

2024 covers

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We are writers mainly from Australia and New Zealand who write speculative fiction with romantic elements. Be it fantasy, paranormal, dark urban fantasy, futuristic and everything in between.

Wednesday 13 June 2012

A Bite Of...The Festival

 This fortnight, allow me to introduce...
Nicole Murphy with her novel The Festival from her Dream of Asarlai Trilogy.



 
 Can you, in less than five words describe your book The Festival?

Gadda, sequel, trouble, sexy, happily-ever-after :).

What inspired you to write it?

The Festival is the sequel to the Dream of Asarlai trilogy.The Dream of Asarlai tells the story of the gadda, a secret magical race that lives amongst us human beings. One woman, Asarlai, thinks this secrecy is holding the gadda back from their true potential and wants to reveal them and take over the world. It’s up to the guardians to find and stop her, a task complicated by three of them falling in love.

I wrote The Festival as a thank you to everyone who’s loved the books and let me know. Also it was planned originally to be a bridgebetween the publication of Dream of Asarlai and the sequel trilogy, People of the Star. But then People of the Star got knocked back, other things happened and so it’s being re-born as a self-publication to be released July12 – an important date for the gadda.

Below is the teaser for The Festival, then you can go buy and read the trilogy before it comes out. Follow my blog at http://nicolermurphy.com to find out when The Festival is released.

Now grab your coffee and settle down for the excerpt!
Maggie Shaunessy, the Ceamir and thus the guardian responsible for overseeing human-gadda interactions, smiled down at the shimmering green diorama of Sclossin that sprawled across the floor of her office. Every building – houses, shops, pubs, the bardria building – stood clearly within the maze of streets.

 While for the most part she was now used to living in a world in which use of power was normal, from time to time she found herself in wonder. She’d tried to be human until she was seventeen and had then used only basic amounts of power until she’d become  a guardian about eighteen months ago.

This was one of those moments of wonder that rammed home to her that she really was gadda. The Garramir had created this translucent model of the village so Maggie could oversee her plans for the upcoming Festival of the Star. It sprawled across her floor, even the trees near the creek and the bushes in people’s yards visible. It was something that only the best computer graphics wizards could create in the human world,and then only on screen.
This was gadda power, and it was beautiful.

She shook the awe away to focus again on her work. Over the village floated marks – red circles, yellow crosses, blue ticks. Maggie leant forward and stabbed a finger at each of the marks.
“Cameras all in place, good coverage of all the stalls, the parade route and Riverside Park,”she murmured to herself as she pointed at the red circles. “Stephen and Alana have been working with the software and they’re going to keep a close eye on everything.”

Next was the yellow crosses. “Hampton’s turning on the signal incantations now, so we’ll be alerted to sudden uses of power. Bridget has the first aid stations under control.” Her finger moved to the blue ticks.

She leant back on her heels and frowned at the diorama. It seemed they’d done everything they could to negate whatever the purists had planned for the festival tomorrow.
It was annoying, that the purists continued with their campaign to see that the gadda and humanity were kept apart. It created so much extra work for the guardians.
But the job had to be done.

Maggie stood, straightening her legs. Her body ached from days of stress trying to anticipate moves she wasn’t sure would happen. She rolled her head around on her neck and considered having a hot bath, hoping that it would help her sleep.
Then she thought of a much better idea and headed for Lucas’ laboratory. She knocked on the door first then pushed it open slowly, in case he was in the middle of something important and she would be disturbing him.

Lucas was bent over a table, his back to Maggie. It looked like he was adjusting a laser array. Maggie ignored his latest experiment to focus on the man himself – just the distraction she needed.
She’d met Lucas eighteen months ago – around the same time as the events that had changed her life and made her one of the most powerful gadda alive. Despite the time elapsed, Maggie stillcouldn’t get enough of her lover. Everything about him appealed – his smile,his intelligence, his laughter.
His body. Right now, bent over as he was, she could admire the cling of his jeans to his tight arse.

She leant against the door, a smile curving her lips.
It was several minutes until Lucas was happy with what he was doing and thus prepared to leave it and turn to Maggie – minutes during which she mentally undressed him several times.
Thus when he did finally meet her eyes, she knew he was seeing desire shining.

Lucas quirked an eyebrow. “Can I help you with something?”
“Yes, you certainly can.” Maggie deftly avoided the piles of wire and paper on the floor as she sashayed over to him. She wound her arms around his neck and arched her body, slowly bringing herself into contact with him. Thighs. Hips. Stomach. Chest.
“I need you to help me with an experiment,” she murmured, her lips just millimetres from touching his.
“Such as?” His breath whispered over her skin, inflaming her.
“It’s about friction.”
“Ah. One of my favourite forces.” He put his arms around her waist and pulled her tighter against him. Maggie could clearly feel that he didn’t mind her interruption at all. Not just from the growing erection pressed against her stomach, but from the pulses of his power teasing hers.
“I thought you liked it.”
“What exactly were you interested in testing?”
“The differences between being clothed and unclothed.” She drew on her power, clicked her fingers and then they were standing naked, skin pressed tight against skin.
“I think unclothed is better.”
“Me too.”

 Thanks for sharing Nicole!


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Website and blog:
Twitter:
@nicole_r_murphy

2 comments:

  1. I'm about to read the Secret Ones and so am covering my eyes to the excerpt because I don't want to know what happens. Like a kid covering their eyes, going 'la la la la'. :)

    I'm sure the excerpt is great though!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so happy you're going to read the book - hope you enjoy. And yeah, that excerpt is a tad of a spoiler for Secret Ones in particular.. :)

    ReplyDelete

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