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 . . .
Created by the merging of witch and doppelganger, Mirei is a unique being. Her extraordinary magic makes her the most powerful witch alive -- and a notorious social outcast. While Satomi, the leader of the witches' ruling Primes, hails Mirei as a miracle, rival Primes proclaim that Mirei is an evil abomination . . . and that those who champion her must be destroyed. 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 Primes fear, the magic that Mirei alone possesses, is killing her.
Read an excerpt from the novel
Novel News
I don't have a street date yet for the German edition (Doppelgònger will be out in January or February), but Internet research has netted me the cover they'll be using, which you can see over there to your left.
Ordering
Warrior and Witch is now available. You can order
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.
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
Is the cover up at the top too small? Try this ridiculously big one.
And, in case you missed all of my previous attempts to send you that way, you can read an excerpt from the novel.