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C.E. Murphy
(1973- )
C.E. Murphy writes urban fantasy. She also writes romances under the name
Cate Dermody. Read excerpts at
C.E. Murphy‘s
website.
Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy
In Urban Shaman, the first installment of The Walker Papers, C.E. Murphy creates a character who's rather similar to a number of other urban fantasy heroines, but makes her someone worth reading about.
Joanne Walker has a background with the supernatural but has rejected its influences in her life. But now she is being forcibly drawn back into the world of faerie and magic.
Urban Shaman was interesting enough to keep me turning pages. The characters were well-written and I appreciated that C.E. Murphy was able to tease us with a bit of romantic interest without moving the story completely into paranormal romance.
Urban Shaman was a nice read. Read More
The Negotiator
The Negotiator — (2007-2008) Publisher: WHAT SECRETS LIE SHROUDED IN DARKNESS? Okay, so jogging through Central Park after midnight wasn’t a bright idea. But Margrit Knight never thought she’d encounter a dark new world filled with magical beings — not to mention a dying woman and a mysterious stranger with blood on his hands. Her logical, lawyer instincts told her it couldn’t all be real — but she could hardly deny what she’d seen… and touched. The mystery man, Alban, was a gargoyle. One of the fabled Old Races who had hidden their existence for centuries. Now he was a murder suspect, and he needed Margrit’s help to take the heat off him and find the real killer. And as the dead pile up, it’s a race against the sunrise to clear Alban’s name and keep them both alive.…
Available for download at Audible.com
Heart of Stone of C.E. Murphy
C.E. Murphybegins Heart of Stone, the first of the Negotiator books, with our main character “Grit” being shadowed by a Gargoyle as she runs through Central Park. The Gargoyle, Alban, is a member of the few Old Races that are hidden in plain sight from the rest of humanity. His tragic history and how it compels him and leads him to eventually interact with Grit is the meat of the tale.
Murphy creates a plausible background and history for this story, but her main character is cookie-cutter urban fantasy: She’s smart, she’s athletic, and she’s a maverick who fights against injustice… If you read urban fantasy, then you know where this is going.
Murphy's supporting characters are better, though. From Alban the Gargoyle to the quirky bookstore clerk who happens to know a whole bunch about the Old Ra... Read More
The Inheritors’ Cycle
The Inheritors’ Cycle — (2008-2009) Science-Fantasy. Publisher: In a world where religion has ripped apart the old order, Belinda Primrose is the queen’s secret weapon. The unacknowledged daughter of Lorraine, the first queen to sit on the Aulunian throne, Belinda has been trained as a spy since the age of twelve by her father, Lorraine’s lover and spymaster. Cunning and alluring, fluent in languages and able to take on any persona, Belinda can infiltrate the glittering courts of Echon where her mother’s enemies conspire. She can seduce at will and kill if she must. But Belinda’s spying takes a new twist when her witchlight appears. Now Belinda’s powers are unlike anything Lorraine could have imagined. They can turn an obedient daughter into a rival who understands that anything can be hers, including the wickedly sensual Javier, whose throne Lorraine both covets and fears. But Javier is also witchbreed, a man whose ability rivals Belinda’s own… and can be just as dangerous. Amid court intrigue and magic, loyalty and love can lead to more daring passions, as Belinda discovers that power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
The Queen's Bastard by C.E. Murphy
On paper, The Queen's Bastard is right up my alley. Court intrigue plus magic plus sex? Where do I sign up? I've seen comparisons to the Kushiel series and it's not hard to see why; it's partly the intrigue/magic/sex combination and partly the prose, which is lush and has moments of exquisite beauty. It was the prose that hooked me from the first page.
Unfortunately, other factors "unhooked" me later in the book, and now I'm three-quarters of the way through The Queen's Bastard and not really feeling the urge to go on.
First of all, having the Queen's secret illegitimate daughter become a spy is requiring a lot of suspension of disbelief on my part. One would think Queen Lorraine would want t... Read More
A Fantasy Medley edited by Yanni Kuznia
FORMAT/INFO: A Fantasy Medley is 136 pages long divided over four short stories and is published by Subterranean Press in two editions: A fully clothbound hardcover limited to 3000 copies and a numbered hardcover limited to 200 copies and signed by the authors and editor. Dust jacket by Kristy Doherty.
ANALYSIS:
1) “Zen and the Art of Vampirism” by Kelley Armstrong. “Zen and the Art of Vampirism” is an urban fantasy tale with all of the usual trimmings including a female protagonist, a contemporary setting, supernatural elements, humor, etc. The story is actually pretty interesting and follows a lesbian Japanese vampire who uses wits instead of violence to prevent two o... Read More
More by C.E. Murphy
The WorldWalker — (2010-2011) Publisher: ACROSS TWO EXTRAORDINARY WORLDS, TRUTH IS THE DEADLIEST MAGIC. Though gifted with an uncanny intuition that allows her to discern when someone is lying, Lara Jansen is sure there’s nothing particularly special about her. All that changes when a handsome but mysterious man enters her quiet Boston tailor shop and reveals himself to be a prince of Faerie. What’s more, Dafydd ap Caerwynn claims that Lara is a truthseeker, a person with the rare talent of being able to tell truth from falsehood. Dafydd begs Lara to help clear his name by solving his brother’s murder, of which Dafydd himself is the only suspect. 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.
Story Collection:
Baba Yaga’s Daughter: And Other Stories of the Old Races — (2012) Publisher: Ancient rivals, worst of friends, best of enemies: dragonlord Janx and master vampire Eliseo Daisani are the threads upon which a tapestry of lives and loves are woven across the centuries. From the coldest Russian nights to the heat of Chicago’s greatest fire, nothing brings the immortal adversaries together — or tears them apart — like a woman. And there is always a woman. Vanessa Grey has been at Daisani’s side for decades, but the secrets borne by a witch may be her undoing. Baba Yaga’s daughter has plots that are decades in the hatching, but they may only succeed if Margrit Knight, named ‘the Negotiator’ by Daisani and Janx themselves, will work with her. And there are others: the deadliest vampire hunter mankind has ever known, and a woman for whom the Old Races are a wonder to walk away from. Revisit C.E. Murphy’s world of the Old Races with ten stories that delve into the past and future of the two most beloved characters from her urban fantasy trilogy The Negotiator!
Easy Pickings
Easy Pickings — (2012) C.E. Murphy and Faith Hunter. Publisher: Two heroines. Two magics. One world. There’s nowhere in America like the Big Easy. Just ask Jane Yellowrock, shapeshifting vampire killer, whose hunting grounds run the length and breadth of the Bayou. Just ask Joanne Walker, whose shamanic magic has drawn her to the heart of American Weird. But it’s not Joanne’s world, and it isn’t Jane’s either. In a New Orleans where Katrina never hit and supposedly-dead vampires stalk the streets, Jane and Jo have to find and defeat the magic that brought them there–or they just might find themselves… EASY PICKINGS!
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The Blade Itself: Fantasy noir and cutting edge sword-and-sorcery too!
Mirrorscape: Flat characters ruin a great idea
