Excerpt Wednesday — Magic Without Mercy

Only nineteen days until Magic Without Mercy is on the shelves!  Sometimes my books show up in stores early, so really, it might only be a little over a week before it starts popping up here and there.  If you do get your hands on it early, let me know. I love hearing about the early catches in the wild (and I am not one of those authors who doesn’t want readers to buy the book early, so don’t worry about that.)

A few cool things have happened over the last week.  I got my very first peek at the cover for MAGIC FOR A PRICE.  Hands down, it is my favorite of the series, and I am so grateful and thrilled that Allie and her world has been in the hands of the wonderful artist Larry Rostant.  He is amazing.  As soon as I get the ok to share, I’ll do a big ol’ cover reveal.

I’ve also seen the awesome cover for the UK MAGIC WITHOUT MERCY, which appears to be coming out on May 12th.  I am not 100% sure about that release date, but I’ll keep you informed if I get any more information. (and hope to share that cover soon too!)

Let’s see….oh! DEAD IRON got some terrific review love here on Doctor Fantastique’s Show of Wonder.  A few things he said: “Dead Iron is a character driven adventure where the innocent believe in hope and the mystic believe in power.” and “With Dead Iron, Devon Monk has created a world full of mystery, magic, steam, and mayhem.”  Thank you, so much, reviewer Ricky L. Brown!

I’m sure there are more things slipping my mind at the moment…one of them being that I plan to blog a little more consistently, so do come on back and check in.  Also, I should have goodies for giveaways soon.  But hey, it’s Wednesday, and that means it’s time for another snippet from MAGIC WITHOUT MERCY.

Excerpt — MAGIC WITHOUT MERCY

“No,” Shame said as he helped me get Davy to the edge of the gate. “You take him. I’ll knock Z. out and drag him through behind me.”

“We all go,” I said.

“Look at him. Allie,” Shame said, urgently, “look at him.”

I looked at Zayvion.

He burned with gold light. Black fingers of smoke curled around him, feeding magic into the Gate. His eyes were pure gold, no white, no pupils. He looked like a pillar of magic, a grounding wire, a storm rod.

“You touch him, and you’re going to get swept up in that. I’m just going to hit him over the back of the head,” Shame said. “Go!”

He let go of Davy, who slumped against me.

“Don’t hit him,” I said as I took the three steps needed to get to the Gate. “And do not make me turn around and come back here after you two.”

God. I sounded like a den mother.

“Hang on, Davy,” I said. “This might be a little rough.”

I stepped into the Gate.

Magic hit me like a truck. I screamed and fell as if I’d just stepped off a cliff. Magic poured through me, burning, slicing, taking me apart and fusing me back together with lashes of pain. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t see. And then I couldn’t even scream.

I hit. Hard. Shoulder, hip. Something landed on top of me. Someone. Davy. Damp grass beneath me, darkness around.

“Zay?” I said.

I stared at the Gate. It wavered there, flickering. Two shadows filled the hole in the air, filled the Gate, and then the entire thing imploded. The shadows were thrown to the ground, and gray ashes rained down from where the gate used to be.

I knew who those shadows were—Shame and Zayvion.

I pushed myself up onto my feet and ran for them.

Terric was on his feet, running right beside me, reaching for Shame, fear hard in his eyes, on his lips, as I reached for Zayvion, my heart pounding too fast, fear caught in my breath, slick and hard in my chest.

We pulled them from each other, Shame having fallen beneath Zayvion.

“Zay?” I touched his face, his neck. Breathing, heartbeat, he was alive, covered in ash, knocked out. Relief flooded me, and was swallowed down by fear.

Terric swore. “You fucking kill me, Flynn. That’s the way you go through a Gate? What were you trying to do? Burn all the clothes off your back?”

He paused. “Breathe, you idiot.” Terric placed his right hand over the crystal that lay within Shame’s breast. Then, softer, “Breathe.” He exhaled, and it was almost like he dimmed just the smallest amount, that light filtering into Shame.

Shame coughed, groaned, and elbowed up. “Goddamn.” He turned his head and spit, then wiped blood off his mouth. “Forget what I said. Next time you can drag him through the Gate, Beckstrom.”

April 3, 2012