The Hierophant’s Daughter
(Disgraced Martyr Trilogy #1)
by M. F. Sullivan
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GENRE: Sci-fi, Horror, LGBTQ
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BLURB:
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.
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Excerpt Two:
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.”
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
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
Interview with M.F. Sullivan
What are your favorite TV shows?
Twin Peaks: The Return, NBC’S Hannibal (RIP, still waiting for it to return to television or Netflix), The Great British Bake-Off, Fargo…I could sit here all day listing television shows, especially if you count animation.
What is your favorite meal?
There’s a restaurant in Bend, Oregon called Bos Taurus, and it is either where God eats, or the Devil. I can’t be sure when the steak is this delicious. They have Wagyu beef from Hokkaido there and the flavor is beyond anything I’ve experienced, ever—it’s this deep, salty umami flavor that’s so intense it edges into a kind of sweetness, and it’s all exuded from this teeny, tiny piece of steak (something like $30 an ounce!) which is so tender that it literally melts in your mouth. That’s not an exaggeration. Chew too fast and it’ll disappear—savor this one! But be sure to order a huge, normal steak for after—the chef will cook it in the Wagyu fat so you get all the flavor without quite the exorbitant cost. An the brussels sprouts are worth making room for, too!
Ugh, I need to get back to Bend.
If you were to write a series of novels, what would it be about?
Hah, well, The Hierophant’s Daughter is Book I of a series—Dominia’s journey is far from over at the end—but I’m actually working on another series right now which I hope to start releasing around 2021, tentatively titled The Jacob Dorn Series. I don’t know how many it will be, probably three. But it’s a psychedelic techno-noir (I’ve been calling it Blade Runner meets The Big Lebowski) sort of fashioned after Dashiel Hammet’s Continental Op novels.
Is there a writer you idolize? If so who?
Many, but I’d say Philip K. Dick, William S. Burroughs, or Gene Wolfe—all are concerned with consciousness expansion but each in his own way, and each one writes prose which is just incredible to read.
How did you come up for the title of this book?
The work I’m producing is part of a genre I call ‘psychedelic fiction’—that is, not books about psychedelics and other drugs like Inherent Vice or Naked Lunch, but rather books which, when read and analyzed and meditated upon, have the potential of producing a consciousness-expanding experience similar to chemical psychedelics. “The Disgraced Martyr Trilogy” is a reference to the chemical DMT, dimethyltryptamine, which some users believe to take them to an alien universe—and since, especially as we get into Book II and Book III, a big theme of the Trilogy is travel into and through a dimension which represents reality’s structural basis, it seemed an appropriate molecule to link to the books. There is also a resonance inherent with the name of the protagonist—Dominia di Mephitoli. Now’s probably an appropriate place to note Dominia’s first name also has a resonance with ‘DNA’. That might be relevant in future books, readers.
As for the books themselves, The Hierophant’s Daughter, The General’s Bride and The Lady’s Champion, I was interested in creating iconic book names which flowed all together, sent a clear and simple message about the focus of the book, and dealt with archetypal images the way tarot cards do. I think I accomplished these goals!
Buy/Review Links:
NetGalley: http://netgal.ly/AYYlKV
Hardback: 978-0-9965395-6-2
Paperback: 978-0-9965395-7-9
eBook: 978-0-9965395-8-6
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION
One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.
Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:
Thanks for sharing your book with us. I think we all enjoy hearing about new books we previously didn't know about. Also, thank you for the giveaway.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for hosting, and for sharing that interview! Interestingly, I am going to Bos Taurus tomorrow. Exciting stuff!
ReplyDeleteWhat types of books do you like to read?
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good book.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading the post. Sounds like a good book.
ReplyDeleteGreat post - thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched any of those shows, I will have to check them out
ReplyDeleteI would love to read your book.
ReplyDelete"Where God eats, or the devil"...great description, and perhaps a plotbunny!
ReplyDelete--Trix
I loved this post! I also enjoyed M.F. Sullivan's bio. So cute!
ReplyDelete