Witch
(previously issued as Warrior and Witch)
When a witch is born, a doppelganger is created. For the witch to master her powers, the twin must be killed. Until now . . .
Mirei's extraordinary magic makes her the most powerful witch alive. By some, she is hailed as a miracle, while others proclaim her to be an evil abomination . . . and vow to destroy those who champion her.
Now the different factions of witches engage in a bloody war, with magic, treachery, and murder. But both sides may be fighting for nothing. For the power that the rebel witches fear, the magic that Mirei alone possesses, is killing her.
Read an excerpt from the novel
Novel News
Cover flats have arrived for the reissues of this novel and Warrior (formerly Doppelganger), moving them one step closer to the shelves.
Ordering
The new edition of Witch will hit shelves on August 1st; until then, you can pre-order
it
About the Novel
I've found out the hard way that it's remarkably difficult to say anything about Warrior and Witch that isn't a spoiler, seeing as how one of the central questions of Doppelganger was which of the two would survive. Now, that's less true here, since there's a giant spoiler sitting at the top of this page in the form of the cover copy -- I don't think any copy-writer in the 'verse could have described the novel in a way that avoided mentioning Mirei. (Not without sucking, anyway.) Nonetheless, I shall attempt to avoid further spoilers -- and to hope that the people looking at this page already read the first book.
This novel came about by request of the publisher. When they offered for Doppelganger, they asked if I would be willing to write a sequel. Much like when someone asks if you're a god, you say "yes." Fortunately, I had good reasons for saying yes. Doppelganger in its original incarnation did its best to stand alone, but the fact is that what happened there would undoubtedly have repercussions I was glossing over, so step one was simply to remove the gloss.
Step two was to tease out a few loose threads . . . like the Cousins. They originated in the first book as a random idea I tossed in without really thinking about it, but long before I reached the end, I had to stop and figure out who they were, and where they came from. And as Ashin pointed out, they're in this up to their eyeballs. I couldn't deal with them then, but the minute I was asked to write a sequel, I realized this would be my chance.
Step three came from a vague idea I'd had, of writing a short story that took place some years after Doppelganger, when the eldest of the new doppelgangers came to Starfall to meet her other half. That story as envisioned wouldn't have worked, for half a dozen reasons, but as you can see in the excerpt, a shadow of it survives; the young doppelgangers form a key part of the sequel.
I wrote Warrior and Witch on a fairly tight schedule, turning in the manuscript about nine months after the deal was closed, and doing most of the writing in three. The purpose of that was to get it on the shelves soon after Doppelganger. At present, it is the last book in this setting, but that may be subject to change.
What's with the reissue?
Both books have done well enough (selling nearly forty thousand copies each!) that my publisher wants them to have continued life; the reissue is timed for two months after the release of Midnight Never Come, to attract new readers from that book. The change in title comes about because they wanted to redesign these two to more obviously form a pair; in addition to the minor changes you see on the front cover, the spine will have the witch's symbol with a number on it, to make clear the order in which the books go.
Music
I mentioned on the page for Doppelganger that the Enigma song "The Eyes of Truth" is the music for that book's trailer in my mind. Oddly, it then ended up becoming the central song for Warrior and Witch. The writing of this novel was the first time I used iTunes as my preferred audio software, which means it's also the first time I've had the opportunity to track the number of times I've listened to a particular song while writing a novel. After brainstorming, writing, revision, copy-edits, and page-proofs, I had listened to "The Eyes of Truth" a terrifying seven hundred and ninety-three times. Yes, this appalls me, too.
It was not, though, the only thing I listened to. "Ceremony of Passage," from Vas' album In the Garden of Souls, was my usual battle music, being drummy and fast and cool. Finally, though I wish to avoid spoilers, I will say that the song for the final scene of Chapter Eighteen was another piece from that same album, "Beyond Despair." It's a truly beautiful choral piece, and very well-suited.
Other Goodies
I hope to have more of a cover gallery to display over time (come on, foreign sales!), but for now you can have the cover of the original edition (also available in extra-large) and the cover for Luebbe's German edition. Or, if you just want to see more of the new one, I also have a large version of that.
And, in case you missed all of my previous attempts to send you that way, you can read an excerpt from the novel.