Dream of Asarlai
For centuries, the gadda have
worked to keep their identity secret from the rapidly expanding human
race. All this is now at risk - the most terrible of gadda teachings,
the Forbidden Texts, have been stolen and the race is on to find them.
Asarlai believes the gadda should rule the world, and she will risk
everything, and everyone, to achieve her ambition. As the body-count
mounts, Asarlai finds a powerful ally and the pressure builds to stop
her and retrieve the Forbidden Texts before she can change the world
forever.
Join Maggie Shaunessy, Ione Gorton and Hampton Rouke on their
quests to save what is dear to them ... and the world as they know it.
Praise for Nicole Murphy: 'engaging' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'compelling' KIWI
REVIEWS 'fresh and interesting approach to an urban fantasy series'
Bookseller+Publisher 'a rollicking romp through the space where romance
and fantasy collide' The Courier-Mail
The trouble with trilogies
People have issues with trilogies. What if they don’t have
the first book – will it make sense? What if they start, and fall in love with
the story, but for some reason the author doesn’t finish it? What if they get
the first book straight away, love it, but then they have to wait for months
(even years) for the next book?
Well, my publisher HarperCollins has solved all those fears
for people interested in the Dream of Asarlai trilogy by publishing all three
books in the one volume! It’s called an omnibus. If it was a print version, it
would be huge! Luckily, it’s electronic so you don’t have to worry about
hurting your hands trying to hold it.
Nearly 350,000 words, broken into three action packed
fantasy romances – Secret Ones, Power Unbound and Rogue Gadda. All for less
than $10!
So jump online at your favourite bookstore and download it.
Better yet, answer the question below and go into the draw to win a copy (sorry
Kindle readers – this is for Apple or general ePub readers only).
Excerpt from Secret Ones, book one of the trilogy.
A huge beast towered over her
grandfather. Maggie recognised it as a fuiparra, a medium-level beast that was
even stronger than its size warranted. It was seven feet tall, slender and
whiplike, with a pointed chin, nose and teeth. Its skin was grey with an oily
sheen, and pulled tight over the long muscles in its thighs and arms. A sour
smell of over-boiled cabbage wafted from the room. As she watched, a thin
extension of an arm flicked out, lashing her grandfather and, thanks to the
burst of power behind it, sending him flying across the room, crashing into a
bookcase. Heavy texts cascaded down on the crumpled old man.
She stepped into the office,
lifted her hands and sent a bolt of power, an energetic dark pink, toward the
creature. The power hit the fuiparra and sent it sideways, crashing into the
wall. The creature saw her and screamed, the sound almost splitting her
eardrums, before moving toward her.
She sent another bolt, this time
trying to hold the creature. For a moment, it halted. She took advantage of the
reprieve to look at her grandfather. He wasn’t moving. Blood dripped down from
a wound in the side of his face and his arm wasn’t straight where it should
have been.
How could that have happened? He
was sixth order; taking care of a fuiparra, while challenging, shouldn’t have
been a major problem. Had the creature surprised him and managed to injure him
before he was ready to fight back?
Her concentration wavered, and
the fuiparra pushed through her hold and continued toward her.
She gulped. As a second level
gadda, she didn’t have the skills to fight a beast this powerful. She prepared
to send power out to hold it again, but the fuiparra lifted one arm and swung
at her. She flew through the air, back out the door and crashed into the wall
on the other side of the hall before hitting the floor.
Pain rocked through her and she
quickly sent her power through her body, healing the minor bruises and nerve
damage the fall had caused. For a moment, she was dazed and then she shook her
head and moved. She stood and moved over to the door and then stopped in shock.
Lucas was taking on the beast, wielding a lamp in one hand and one of her
grandfather’s awards in the other. He stabbed at the creature with one hand,
slashed with another, moving gracefully around his opponent. The fuiparra
seemed unsure how to handle this unique form of attack and rather than whipping
at Lucas was trying to push him away.
Maggie stepped forward, gathered
her power into the strongest hold she could muster and fired it at the
fuiparra. The beast screamed, but she held it.
‘Check Grandpa,’ she yelled at
Lucas, then mentally called for her mother. Lucas didn’t listen and used the
hold Maggie had to attack the beast frenetically. The fuiparra screamed and
pushed against Maggie’s power and she could feel the edges fraying.
‘Leave it alone, Lucas,’ she
shouted. ‘I can’t hold it while you’re upsetting it.’
Then a stream of pale lavender
power flashed past her shoulder and struck the fuiparra, pushing it back and
pinning it against the wall. ‘Get out of the way, Lucas,’ Siobhan shouted as
she came to stand next to Maggie.
Maggie was miffed that he
instantly obeyed her mother. Siobhan pulled back one hand, gave it a whirl and
then sent a beating pulse of power at the creature. The fuiparra roared and
pushed away from the wall, breaking through the hold and staggering toward the
two women.
‘Shit,’ Siobhan said before
reinforcing the hold and pushing the fuiparra back against the wall. ‘That
should have worked.’
Maggie quickly looked over at her
grandfather. He hadn’t moved, hadn’t regained consciousness. Her mind battled
with the concept that her grandfather had failed. She shook her head to focus
on the situation at hand. ‘What do we do now?’
The fuiparra struggled and
started to move slowly from the wall, slowly against their power, slowly
breaking through. They had only seconds.
‘Lucas,’ her mother shouted. ‘The
head, that’s where it’s most vulnerable.’
Lucas nodded, dropped the lamp,
held the award in two hands and lifted it high above his own head. Then he
brought it crashing down upon the fuiparra.
The creature stilled and Maggie
swore an expression of astonishment flickered over its features. Then it
collapsed onto the floor.
Lucas knelt down next to it,
grabbing the lamp as he did so. ‘Check on John,’ he said as he began to use the
lamp’s cord to tie up the fuiparra.
Maggie and Siobhan pulled back
their power. Siobhan turned, gasped and rushed over to her father. Maggie stood
in the middle of the trashed office, panting, unable to think. Lucas stood and
walked over to her. He put his hands on her shoulders and gave her a gentle
shake. She focussed what little attention she could muster on him.
‘Are you OK? That was quite a
flight you took out into the hall,’ he said.
Maggie blinked and then she
smiled. ‘I’m fine. And I guess you have more pressing questions.’
Lucas released her and took a
step back. He narrowed his eyes. ‘I must be going mad. I thought I saw you using
magic.’
Answer this question in the comments for the opportunity to
win a copy of the Dream of Asarlai trilogy: what is the name of the three books
that make up the trilogy? Winner will be chosen at random.
Bio
Nicole Murphy is a writer, editor and teacher from getting
quite wintery Canberra. The Dream
of Asarlai trilogy was first published in print and electronic form in
2010/2011 and released as an omnibus in April 2014. She has published more than
two dozen speculative fiction short stories. As Elizabeth Dunk, she had
published two contemporary romances with Escape Publishing and in June, will publish
‘Release’, a collection of paranormal erotica.
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