By 4042 CE, the Hierophant and his Church have risen to political dominance with his cannibalistic army of genetically modified humans: martyrs. In an era when mankind's intergenerational cold wars against their long-lived predators seem close to running hot, the Holy Family is poised on the verge of complete planetary control. It will take a miracle to save humanity from extinction.
It will also take a miracle to resurrect the wife of 331-year-old General Dominia di Mephitoli, who defects during martyr year 1997 AL in search of Lazarus, the one man rumored to bring life to the dead. With the Hierophant's Project Black Sun looming over her head, she has little choice but to believe this Lazarus is really all her new friends say he is--assuming he exists at all--and that these companions of hers are really able to help her. From the foulmouthed Japanese prostitute with a few secrets of her own to the outright sapient dog who seems to judge every move, they don't inspire a lot of confidence, but the General has to take the help she can get.
After all, Dominia is no ordinary martyr. She is THE HIEROPHANT'S DAUGHTER, and her Father won't let her switch sides without a fight. Not when she still has so much to learn.
The dystopic first entry of an epic cyberpunk trilogy, THE HIEROPHANT’S DAUGHTER is a horror/sci-fi adventure sure to delight and inspire adult readers of all stripes.
Excerpt
VII
The Light Rail
Cassandra’s absence was not her first discovery. That was her (officially) broken watch, whose blank face reflected her own bleary one. Then came the porter’s uniform, folded beside her unconscious body with such tight creases it looked as if it had been ironed: it smelled like the lavender of the woman who had pinned her against the cool metal of the train car to multiply the current’s kick. That, plus the ache in her stiff muscles, meant the woman was no hallucination. Dominia had escaped Japan, and now had a whole new level of problems. Who was she? Miki Soto. A card sat atop the uniform, its front embossed with a black-petaled, red-outlined lotus. Familiar symbol, but one she couldn’t place in her post-electric haze. She sat up to rub her head and neck with a pained sigh that turned into suffocation as her hand found the necklace gone from her throat.
Her palms were wet with sweat beneath her gloves. She stripped them off to feel around on her chest, then cried out to confirm Cassandra gone. Up the General sprang, then back down on hands and knees in search of her beloved’s remains. No trace.
Dominia knew where she was: with that same woman who had left the uniform. A disguise for the train, in exchange for her wife’s body. Cassandra! Oh, poor Cassandra, forever dying in Dominia’s mind, much as she forever stood in her flowing black dress, whose lace she smoothed while they waited outside the throne room of the Hierophant. Telling her, “You look beautiful, don’t worry; you’re so smart and funny, everyone will love you.”
Interview
Do you have any tattoos? Where? When did you get it/them? Where are they on your body?
You know it! I have three tattoos, all literary quotes. I’d like to be covered in them, but they’re pretty expensive, so I’m waiting for The Disgraced Martyr Trilogy to come out to get the next! One, a quote from Ginseberg’s poem “America”, is on the front of my shoulder; the other two are Charles Bukowski poems: one on my forearm and one on my left bicep. The Ginsberg one has been with me since I was in Ohio, when I was nineteen; one of the Bukowskis (“the price of creation is never too high”, from the poem “final story”) was actually a gift from a friend about two years after. About two years after that I got the Bukowski poem “art” tattooed in its entirety, since it’s so short. Both Bukowskis were done in Tucson, at two different parlors—the second one on my lunch break from managing the office of the window and door company I worked for!
Is your life anything like it was two years ago?
Not really…three years ago would be the even better question! Back then I was living in a one-bedroom apartment in Tucson with my ex-boyfriend in a really crumby situation. Struggling to balance working and writing…every writer knows how it is. I’m doing much better now, my life has completely turned around. The magic of literature, I think. It brought me a very fine, different boyfriend, a very fine home, a very fine cat…I’ve even gone to the gym and quit smoking cigarettes in the past three years!
How long have you been writing?
Since I could hold a pen! I wrote my first coherent short story in third grade but in second grade, every Wednesday was writing day, where we had to sit at our desks and make little picture books…I was by far the most prolific in the class. Doomed from the start! Then, in middle school, I tried (and failed) to write my first novel, but at the age of fifteen, I discovered NaNoWriMo, and that was it. I was stealing time in my high school’s computer lab to write, writing on days off, writing while home sick (sometimes “sick”), writing in class, writing in bed. I’ve written…I don’t know, fifteen or sixteen novels including my short and undesirable ghostwriting career, twenty if you include the failed drafts of Delilah, My Woman written from scratch each time. This book, The Hierophant’s Daughter, is coming out on my 28th birthday, which means I’ve been writing novels for close to half my life by now. I’m positive I’ve written 1,000,000 words by this point, and as for hours spent, if it’s not already 10,000, it’s very close.
Some might say I’m mentally ill, but I prefer ‘dedicated’.
What advice would you give a new writer just starting out?
Make it part of your routine, no matter what—and don’t ever let anybody convince you to settle, either for being less than the writer you want to be, or for producing a work that’s beneath you.
Tell us something about your newest release that is NOT in the blurb.
A secret cabal of prostitutes called the Red Market starts to play a pretty significant role in this book, but doesn’t reveal its true importance until BOOK II, THE GENERAL’S BRIDE. Oh—and keep an eye on that dentist!
M.F. Sullivan is the author of Delilah, My Woman, The Lightning Stenography Device, and a slew of plays in addition to the Trilogy. She lives in Ashland, Oregon with her boyfriend and her cat, where she attends the local Shakespeare Festival and experiments with the occult. Find more information about her work (and plenty of free essays) at https://www.paintedblindpublishing.com!
Author Links:
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TheRealMFS
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/M.-F.-Sullivan/e/B013DDEQVE
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14199461.M_F_Sullivan
Buy/Review Links:
NetGalley: http://netgal.ly/AYYlKV
Giveaway
One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you taking the time to give us a great book description and giveaway as well. Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteHey Edgar, thanks for being part of the blog tour! Wow, just look at that raffle! It just started and has so many entrants. I wonder how many of your readers will enter today.
ReplyDeleteDid you design the cover?
ReplyDeleteI wish! No, that was Nuno Moreira. He's worked on a couple of other covers for me but really knocked it out of the park with these.
DeleteSounds like a good book.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, I enjoyed reading it!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the interview and exerpt! Sounds good!
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