Every Friday, we here @ Del Rey Spectra will place a 50 page excerpt of a selected title on Suvudu. Whether it is science fiction, epic fantasy, alternate history, horror, urban fantasy, paranormal, the possibilities are endless.
This week’s excerpt comes from Switchblade Goddess, the third book in the Jessie Shimmer series after Spellbent and Shotgun Sorceress. The author of this exciting series, Lucy Snyder, took a little time to talk about her latest book. Here’s what she had to say:
“Switchblade Goddess is the third book in my Jessie Shimmer series. Jessie is still in a whole lot of trouble. She’s saved the town of Cuchillo from the death goddess Miko, but Miko is still alive, and Jessie feels that she’s the only person who can free the thousands of souls that the goddess has trapped.
In a lot of ways this novel is the second half of Shotgun Sorceress; when I was plotting the series out, I envisioned that plot arc as a single book, but the story expanded once I started writing it. I did my very best to help this novel stand on its own, but I do think it will be most rewarding to people who have read the first two books, starting with Spellbent.
Readers of the series have noted that Jessie’s nemesis Miko is featured on the cover of Switchblade Goddess. Miko is both the title and cover character for a reason — the novel deals with her history and motivations far more than Shotgun Sorceress did. There’s more mythology, and more glimpses the larger forces that are at work in Jessie’s world.
As always, the focus is on adventure. This is a dark urban fantasy novel with a love story; it’s not a romance series and was never intended to be one. There’s nothing at all wrong with romance; it just isn’t what I write.
More than one reviewer has referred to this series as “edgy”, and some have been surprised at the horror elements that I’ve integrated into the story (fans of giant spiders and Lovecraftian eldritch monsters should be pleased). Readers can expect this novel to go to some very dark places, but I’ve also tried to balance those scenes with moments of humor and some sweetness between Jessie and Cooper. There’s a fair bit of sex, but I’ve tried to make it plotworthy.
And, as a final note, I will be the first to admit that this is perhaps less urban that most urban fantasies; a city setting isn’t as important here as it was in Spellbent. The story moves from West Texas to an island in the South Pacific to the Louisiana bayou to a town in the Swiss Alps. As a reader I love books with a fast pace and lots of variety, and so I’ve tried to offer that here in Switchblade Goddess. I hope you enjoy it.”
As always, feel free to give us feedback in the comments. Or let us know on Twitter via a direct message to our esteemed Twitter maven, editor David Pomerico: www.twitter.com/delreyspectra . Or write on the wall of our Facebook page: Like us at www.facebook.com/delreyspectra .
Please enjoy this excerpt of Switchblade Goddess, available everywhere December 27th!
