Ice Will Reveal
Here's the short blurb for my new novel, Ice Will Reveal, which is coming out from Hadley Rille Books in early 2013:
Siblings Whisper and Jarrod Thornn are different as whiskers and claws. Both grew up in the orphanage run by the powerful Holy Temple of the One Goddess. But restless, unscrupulous Whisper escaped to an apprenticeship with a rich thief, while devout, law-abiding Jarrod stayed to become a loyal Temple Guardian. For years, they have barely seen or needed each other—but that changes when destiny calls and their seemingly disparate lives come together.Whisper accepts a perilous assignment to beguile a reclusive and malicious sorcerer in order to swipe an arcane artifact. Upon her triumphant return, a double-cross leaves her alone and hunted, with the Temple she rejected her only refuge.
Meanwhile, Jarrod accepts his own perilous assignment: the Temple has tapped him as their Foretold, the one who will heal the land and turn the absent Goddess back to Her people. But not everyone agrees, and amidst the swirl of religious politics, even Jarrod is unsure. His test: he and several companions must investigate a breach in the 300 year-old magical Boundary that has protected their city from the apocalyptic influence of the Blighted Lands. He is not the only one being tested...but after a surprise attack by a group of magic-twisted, life-sucking wraiths at the edge of the Blighted Lands, he is the only one who returns.
Then Whisper and Jarrod’s paths converge and they must work together to face betrayal, wraiths and sorcerers with hidden agendas as they journey towards a fateful encounter at the Boundary. The lives of both brother and sister are irrevocably changed: each must accept or reject the unanticipated destiny that events have brought to them, and choose selfishness or selflessness when the stakes are nothing less than the survival of their city and society.
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And if that intrigued you....here's the somewhat longer synopsis of Ice Will Reveal (not easy squeezing a 140,000 word novel into a few paragraphs!):
Siblings Whisper and Jarrod Thornn may have been raised in the same place, but they couldn't have turned out more differently. Both grew up in the ancient graystone city of Mycea, in the orphanage run by the powerful Holy Temple of Ahnweh, the One Goddess. But devout, law-abiding Jarrod stayed at the Temple, becoming a sword-wielding Temple Guardian, while restless, roguish Whisper abandoned the Temple the day she came of age, after finagling an apprenticeship to a rich information broker. For years, sister and brother have rarely seen each other--but all that is about to change as their disparate paths come together in ways neither would ever have expected.
On one side of the city, Whisper lives a luxurious lifestyle, honing her skills in disguise, theft, seduction and information gathering while continually trying to prove herself to her demanding mistress, Mins Delacorr. Finally, Mins gives Whisper a juicy solo assignment with a fat reward: seduce a reclusive sorcerer in order to swipe an obscure artifact in his possession. It is an artifact that the Temple wants badly enough to pay handsomely for without asking questions, and a job Whisper wants badly enough to take solo, without asking why Mins wouldn't do it herself.
Whisper succeeds in her unexpectedly dangerous assignment, but she and her mistress are ambushed by a rival gang as they attempt to deliver their artifact. Mins is seized but Whisper makes it away with the artifact. Whisper is faced with a choice: turn in the artifact for the reward and take off, or save her kidnapped mistress from a hostage's piecemeal death by enlisting the help of an old enemy. She decides to save her mistress, but after victory is reversed by double-cross, Whisper finds herself alone and hunted, with the Temple she rejected now her best refuge.
On the other side of the city, her brother Jarrod and several companions are sent away by the Temple to investigate a breach in the 300 year-old magical boundary that has protected Mycea and the surrounding lands from the remains of an ancient apocalypse called the Blight. Jarrod is being tested--the Holy Temple thinks that Jarrod is the Foretold of prophecy, the Promised One who will find and use Ahnweh's lost Cauldron to help heal the land and turn the distant Goddess' face back to Her people.
But not everyone agrees that Jarrod is the Foretold, and even earnest, devoted Jarrod is unsure of his fitness for the role. Is Yonenn, the young priestess from a heretic cult who travels with Jarrod, the "real" Foretold? Events seem to favor Yonenn over Jarrod--until Yonenn is killed during a surprise attack by a group of twisted, life-sucking wraiths at the edge of the Blighted Lands. Jarrod and his remaining companions must flee back to Mycea and the Temple with their news that the breach in the Boundary is real and purposeful. A larger evil lurks behind the Boundary--and that evil has the Cauldron.
Whisper and Jarrod's paths converge back at the Temple and continue together towards a final, fateful encounter at the Boundary around the Blighted Lands. Hidden agendas come to a head and the lives of both brother and sister are irrevocably changed. Each must decide whether to accept or reject the destiny that events have laid upon them: Jarrod as the Foretold who will find and use the Cauldron, and Whisper as the Goddess' first direct conduit in 300 years.




