C.E. Murphy's Blog, page 21

new Old Races short story!

I have a new Old Races story out in an anthology! Matryoshka, in ARTIFICE & CRAFT is now available!

An excerpt follows:

***

The largest matryoshka doll was ugly as sin, and precious beyond gold.

It lay in Janx’s hoard, buried by jewels, by precious metals, by the detritus of time, forgotten even by the dragonlord until a ghost made a wish, and the world began to crack.

Within it sat a second doll, half its size, rattling in its outer ebony carving when it moved at all. Now the two pulsed, an irr...

Picoreview: Barbie

Picoreview: Barbie – I went to Barbie yesterday and left emotionally compromised. It was amazing. I had no idea Helen Mirren was narrating, and she’s incredibly funny. Margot Robbie is perfect, America Ferrera made me want to stand up and cheer, and this is the first movie I’ve ever seen that I liked Ryan Gosling in.

Also there were so many people in pink at the cinema!!!! Not just women, either! I haven’t seen that many men in pink since the 80s!

It was not, tbh, the movie I expected. IDK WHA...

Ask the Author: genres I’d like to write in

The Question: Are there any genres in which you’d like to write (that you’ve not written in already)?

Once upon a time the answer to this question was “cozy mysteries!” but since I’ve been writing the Dublin Driver series for a while now, it’s less of a pointed answer. :)

Genres, wow, well, actually yes! Having spent the past several years learning to write romance novels (which was NOT an easy task!), I’d really love to try writing romantic suspense. I have a pile of research novels to read for...

journey vs destination

I’ve had a perfectly lovely conversation with my dad about the journey vs the destination.

This was based around a couple of things: Dad wanting to visit European capitals and also do a fundraiser around walking across them, and my long-held desire to bike across America.

I’ve been working on myself on that topic, because even in concept, it’s hard to not think about the DESTINATION as the GOAL: getting each leg of the journey done, biking however many miles a day is necessary to accomplish that...

Ask The Author: magic systems, sorta

I am implementing an almost-certain-to-be-erratic Friday Blog Post based on reader questions! Today’s question is a very, very old one:

“What’s the most difficult part when constructing a system of magic for a world?”

That is a Very Good Question.

So, like, let’s take the Walker Papers and the Negotiator Trilogy, which are my two longest/best known serieseses.

You would not *believe* how many books I read about shamanism, animism, and Native American cultures while preparing to write the Walker ...

Launch Day: POLAR HEART

Today POLAR HEART, very long-awaited sequel to my first ever paranormal romance, is finally available!

This funny little bit is the moment polar bear shifter Isaiah realizes he *could* have had a Just One Bed scenario with his fated mate Davinda…

Wildlife photographer Davinda Jackson thinks she’s seen everything… until the polar bear she’s taking pictures of turns into a man right in front of her. Thrown heart-first into a world of shifters she never imagined existed, in a small town she only ...

a memory about AC Crispin

The other day there was a “heavens yes, email that author whose books you love and tell them that you loved them!” thing going around on Twitter, and I was reminded that as a teen who wanted to be a writer and loved AC Crispin’s STARBRIDGE books, I wrote her a letter in which I presumably said both of those things. I really don’t remember *what* I said, honestly.

What I do remember is that she wrote me back a 4 page handwritten in red ink on yellow legal pad letter full of encouragement, enthusi...

a happy day

The past few months–well, years, but I’m just going to focus on the months :p — have been so exhausting and wearying and overwhelming that when I noticed I was happy, I thought I better mention it.

Part of it is definitely that a friend I hadn’t seen since before I moved to Ireland was able to visit for a couple of days last week, and it was SO WONDERFUL to see her. SOMEBUNNY TO LOVE, is out, and I’m happy about that because it’s silly and sweet and has made people laugh, and right now that’s of...

Recent Reads: THE GREAT GODS

About twelve years ago, Daniel Keys Moran published a book for the first time in about twenty years. I spent hundreds of dollars to read it–I bought my first ereader to do so–and it was WORTH IT.

Last month, Dan published a novel for the first time in about, well, twelve years. This time I didn’t have to pay hundreds to read it because I already had an ereader, and also I subscribe to his Patreon (you can find him @FatSam) where he’d been giving us a chapter at a time over…IDK, a while, but actu...

VERY BIG Walker Papers news!

So I have VERY BIG NEWS! News which you might have already heard if you follow me other places, but VERY BIG none-the-less!

I have gotten the rights to the Walker Papers back!!!

Now, I’ve learned that this is a degree of Writer Speak, so let me translate: I never *lost* the rights, per se. When a publisher buys your book to publish, they *acquire* the rights, which then can, after a certain period of time, revert to the author. It doesn’t happen automatically: the author has to ask, and there ar...