Friday, May 4, 2007

Fantastic Fives on C.E.Murphy

This week has been full of authors who are dear to me,today is no exception,she is the author who introduced me to urban fantasy....
Fantastic Fives on C.E.Murphy

Five phrases or words that describe you:

Enthusiastic,
silly,
stubborn,
ambitious,
creative.
Also, "real effin' ray of sunshine," meant in all sincerity, if we're going for entire phrases.
I'm a pretty cheerful person. :)


Five people and/or things that inspire you:

All sorts of things inspire me!

Harry Bernstein, who sold his first book at age 93 (and a *sequel* for it, which is crazy-good optimism, if you ask me!), inspires me.
Going for walks in the Irish countryside inspires me.
Jada Pinkett Smith in the Matrix movies inspires me (to go to the gym, because OMG, teh hot boday!).
The need to, as a fellow author I know says, "get the stories out of my head before I die" inspires me.
And lastly, deadlines are very, very inspiring, which means I must finish up this interview and get back to work!

Five of your favorite authors:

Oh, jeez. This is like asking people to pick their favorite child. :)
Guy Gavriel Kay.
C.S. Friedman (who is apparently writing under Celia Friedman these days).
Brian Michael Bendis, who writes for Marvel Comics, is up there in the favorites right now. Susan Cooper.
L.M. Montgomery.


Describe five of your heroes/heroines of your books in you eyes (or Five facts you would like readers to know about your Hero and Heroine):

Joanne Walker
: reluctant shaman and heroine of the Walker Papers, Joanne's of Cherokee and Irish heritage and thoroughly grounded in the real world. When the mystical comes knocking, she's completely out of her league--but I think she's finding her stride. I love to write Jo, because in a lot of ways she sounds like me, which makes her easy to write...except I think she's funnier than I am, and I don't get how that happens. :)
Captain Michael Morrison: Jo's boss and her foil, Morrison likes her shamanic abilities even less than Jo herself does...but when the weird keeps coming around, he's too good a cop to deny her talents and keep her off a case. I adore Morrison. I think he's dead sexy. So does Jo, but she'd rather bite her tongue off than admit that. :)
Gary Muldoon: a 73 year old cab driver who fell into Joanne's life in the first pages of URBAN SHAMAN, Gary's become her rock. Not only willing to accept that the world is a stranger place than he imagines, Gary actively enjoys that it is--which makes him Joanne's polar opposite, and very much someone she needs around. I've gotten so many emails (including ones from my editor!) hoping that Gary and Jo might get together, and I'm like, "But he's SEVENTY-THREE!" *laughs* And now for some upcoming heroines!
Margrit Knight: Margrit Knight is a young New York City lawyer who's finally met the perfect man. Unfortunately, he's a gargoyle, and wanted for murder... Margrit's the heroine of my new urban fantasy trilogy that'll be out over the course of 2007-2008. The first book, HEART OF STONE, is due out in November, and I'm really looking forward to seeing those on the shelves. They're sexier than the Walker Papers, and Margrit's a much more focused, together person than Jo. (I bet they wouldn't get along at all!)
Belinda Primrose: Belinda Primrose, bastard daughter of a powerful queen, is trained as a spy and an assassin. Then she awakens to sorcerous powers, a gift from the father she believes to be only human. They will help her--and condemn her--as she navigates a rocky path of seduction and betrayal through a time of political and religious upheaval.Belinda's the heroine of a new epic series starting in June (I think!) 2008. The first book is THE QUEEN'S BASTARD, I'm excited about this series because it's completely different from anything I've ever written. Lots of sex, lots of murder, lots of betrayal...how can you go wrong? :)

Five reasons to read your books:

They're in turns exciting,
entertaining,
witty,
funny,
and nerve-wracking (I said, with all due modesty)!
Also, I asked very nicely. O.O :)

C.E.Murphy
http://www.cemurphy.net/

5 comments:

Catie said...

Hey, everybody! I'll be around all day to answer questions and chat with people in Danette's comments (thank you, Danette!) so if anybody wants to talk, well, here I am! :)

-Catie

danetteb said...

Hi Catie,
Thank you for for being her,I'm excited. I've got a few questions
1) Do the characters in the Walker Papers reflect anyone in your life? I love Gary's character, I'd try to date him.*g*
2)Can you tell me a little more about your two new series? After reading about Margrit and Belinda I'd like to know more.

Catie said...

Isn't there a thing in the fine print at the beginning of the book that says, "All characters are fictional and any resemblence to living or dead persons is sheer coincidence"? :)

Actually, no, they're really not based on people I know. Erm. Of course, having said that I can think of several exceptions. Gary /is/ based on a cab driver I met once, this older man who was just in to absolutely everything. I liked him a lot. :) Billy and Mel's oldest kid is very loosely based on--as in, named after him--a friend's son, but I'm pretty sure their Robert isn't quite as phlegmatically esoteric as mine. :)

I will tell you more about the other two series tomorrow! It's closing in on bedtime here and I'm very sleepy. Thank you for having me here today! *beam*

-Catie

Jenna Leigh said...

First off, love love LOVE these books as does my hubby. But I want it noted that I loved them first, and then as always he stole them from me. Jo is one of my favorite heroines because she messes up and then has to fix it without an 'easy' way to do so, she has to work at it. Thank you so much for doing that. All too often authors do that because either they think we (the readers) won't hang around long enough to wait it out, and maybe they're right in some cases, or else, they don't have the patience to see their own stuff through. In any case, I very much enjoy all your characters and their very human flaws, even when they're not--human that is.

I have Coyote Dreams, but my husband called dibs on it citing the fact that he mowed the yard as a reason for getting to read it first. I'll let him live, for now.

Catie said...

Hey, Jenna! I'm glad you're enjoying the books, and that you're finding Jo working through all her issues worth the wait. It's an interesting balance trying to *not* have a character fix herself too easily without frustrating the readers too badly, and I hope I'm managing it. :)

And, you know, you could always buy *two* copies of the book, so you and your husband didn't have to share! *big eyes* :)

-Catie