Author Showcase featuring C.M.J. Wallace

Please join me in welcoming C.M.J. Wallace, author of the epic fantasy series- RIFT,  to my Author Showcase.  I am delighted to showcase this amazing author and her books in my blog.  The first 3 books of this series, Sing The Midnight Stars, Flight of Shadows, and This Darkling Magic are available now from Amazon, Smashwords, and Barnes and Noble.  This Darkling Magic was recently named one of the top ten Indie Author books of the week on Indie Author Land.  Book 4, The Strange Magic, is due out in the Fall of 2013.

INTERVIEW:

Tell us about C.M.J. Wallace... 

I’ve always had a love for language. I started reading at a very young age, about three years old, because I come from a family of readers. When I was a kid, every month we received two volumes of The Happy Hollisters in the mail, and fights in our house were over who got to read them first. My dad always won. Yep, my dad. I’m a freelance medical editor (my love for language carried right through, so I was doomed to a profession related to it, I suppose). People usually get a vague, puzzled look in their eyes when I tell them what I do for a living, so for those who really, really want to know what a medical editor does, this is it in a nutshell: I edit articles written by physicians for medical journals. I live in Oklahoma but yearn for Hawaii. Someday…

What first inspired you to write books?

 

I started writing pirate stories back in the days of The Happy Hollisters. The genres aren’t related, but there you go. Then life got in the way and I didn’t write anything for many years, except for college term papers. About twenty years ago, I started writing books because I really admire Stephen R. Donaldson’s writing style and felt that I could emulate it and tell stories of my own. I can’t pinpoint my reasons for writing any more accurately than that. But maybe that’s enough.

Why do you write Fantasy novels?  Do you see yourself writing any other genre of fiction? 
 

I write fantasy because I’m lazy and don’t like to do research. (Okay, not really.) I like having the freedom to make anything happen, anything at all. The real world is constraining to me as a writer, often not as interesting as worlds people create (let’s face it, though: some of those, particularly the dystopian ones, are pretty hideous). I actually have two novels started that are suspense/thriller and have begun the rudiments of a third along those lines, but I’m not sure whether I’ll finish them. I want to bring the Rift series to a conclusion first, and it keeps stubbornly insisting that it’s not done.

Where did you find ideas and inspiration for the RIFT series?

 

Everything in my books comes straight out of my head. I couldn’t say how much I’ve been influenced by what I’ve read during the years, but no doubt some subliminal prodding has taken place. 

Tell us about the RIFT series...

 My newest book, This Darkling Magic, is part 3 of my Rift series. Sing the Midnight Stars and Flight of Shadows are books 1 and 2, respectively, and book 4 is called This Strange Magic. I hope to publish the latter sometime in the fall.

Because each of the first two books is a cliff-hanger (not by design; it was just too darned big to be a single book), as is the third, I can’t go into much detail about This Darkling Magic without introducing spoilers. But I’ll tell you a bit about the first ones and then tiptoe around the workings of the third.

Part of the synopsis of Sing the Midnight Stars sums up the content of the first four books: A cold-blooded killer lusts for others’ magic. A drug-addicted detective vows to thwart him. Dragged into a dangerous murder investigation, Andrin Sethuel alone stands between the killer’s murderous desires and his future victims’ salvation, the Torvian kingdom’s freedom and its enslavement.

In Flight of Shadows, Andrin continues tracking the killer as the enemy occupies Torvia with the blessing of its king and all but conquers the country by law and edict. But the king is sinking into madness, and when he agrees to a tribute of his subjects to the emperor, the prince knows the time has come for him to overthrow his father—and a subversive sect within the kingdom decides the time has come to kill the prince and Andrin. The Torvian resistance strikes and war breaks out, pitting Torvians against their traditional enemy and one another, ripping loyalties apart. In the face of his country’s downfall, Andrin finds that his fate has become intertwined with that of a creature called Rift, which after centuries of sorcerous imprisonment has been released to stalk him, hurtling him toward a destiny that could destroy him.

This Darkling Magic resumes the tale. Magic is failing because of a necromancer’s necrotic influence. Consequently, an unlikely alliance is born, its goal the destruction of the sorceress. Although she’s bound by enchantment, her necromancy, enhanced by the spirits of the dead she harbors and commands, confers on her the power to kill all those who bear a certain sigil and gives her the might to bring the Torvian kingdom to an end.

Tell us three reasons why readers will love this series...
 

I’ll let my reviewers tell you why readers will love Sing the Midnight Stars:

“Wow! A fascinating world and excellent writing. A joy for anyone looking for an intelligent and unique fantasy story…. What sets this book apart from so many others is the intrigue…and there is shiploads of it….”

“I just finished this book and I am thoroughly impressed with C.M.J. Wallace's rich language and intriguing storylines. I was immediately drawn into the world of Carvel and with each page became more entrenched in the plot.”

“If you enjoy masterful writing, complex characters and plots that twist and turn, read the Rift series beginning with the first book, Sing the Midnight Stars. You will definitely not be disappointed!”

What's next for C.M.J. Wallace?

As I alluded to before, I’m embroiled in writing book 5 of the Rift series, and I’m also outlining book 6. That may be it; but then, when I began writing Sing the Midnight Stars I thought it was going to be a single book....

And there you have it…so far. To avoid bewilderment and the sure consternation that follows from being plunked down smack-dab in the middle of something you really needed some context for, you should read the series in sequence, starting with Sing the Midnight Stars.

Thank you, C.M.J. Wallace, for a great interview and insight into your world and the world of RIFT!  Following is my review of the first book in the series, Sing The Midnight Stars.  I will say now, I loved it and I haven't always been a fan of fantasy.  These books are a must read!  You can find C.M.J. Wallace on her website at cmjwallace.com,  and on Goodreads and Facebook.

My Review:  Sing The Midnight Stars


One of the best Fantasy books I've ever read! C.M.J. Wallace has created an intriguing, mysterious, magical world of incredible depth with a complicated, deeply entwined plot. Sing The Midnight Stars is Book 1 of her incredible Rift series. She weaves her story with beautiful writing giving birth to believable yet mysterious, magic filled characters who live in this magnificent world of magic, suspense, murder, deceit and betrayal. Andrin Sethuel is head of the Torvian Kingdom Criminal Investigation unit. He is racing against time to discover the identity of a killer who is stealing the magic from his victims augmenting his own magic to unprecedented levels. Adding to the mayhem is a mad, crazy King and an impending invasion and takeover of Carvel by an evil Emperor of another land. With a vivid imagination, C.M.J. Wallace has created a world where an extensive cast of magical characters live and die by both magic and sword. This is a series that must be read in order as each book is a continuation of the one before it.  I wasn't sure I would like this book. I'm happy to say, I loved it!  

Rating: 5 Gorgeous ♥♥♥♥♥'s...And that's the truth!

 Cross My Heart...

Sandra