Good morning and please welcome author M.F. Sullivan to Full Moon Dreaming! She is here to talk about her new release, The Hierophant's Daughter, the first book in her Disgraced Martyr Trilogy. M.F. will be giving a $50 Amazon/BN GC to one randomly drawn commenter via Rafflecopter. The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. To find the other stops on her tour, go
here. Don't forget to look for the Rafflecopter at the end of this post! Also, be sure to read my review of The Hierophant's Daughter, right before the Rafflecopter.
The Hierophant’s Daughter
(Disgraced Martyr Trilogy #1)
by M. F. Sullivan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Sci-fi, Horror, LGBTQ
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
By
4042 CE, the Hierophant and his Church have risen to political dominance with
his cannibalistic army of genetically modified humans: martyrs. In an era when
mankind's intergenerational cold wars against their long-lived predators seem
close to running hot, the Holy Family is poised on the verge of complete
planetary control. It will take a miracle to save humanity from extinction.
It will also take a
miracle to resurrect the wife of 331-year-old General Dominia di Mephitoli, who
defects during martyr year 1997 AL in search of Lazarus, the one man rumored to
bring life to the dead. With the Hierophant's Project Black Sun looming over
her head, she has little choice but to believe this Lazarus is really all her
new friends say he is--assuming he exists at all--and that these companions of
hers are really able to help her. From the foulmouthed Japanese prostitute with
a few secrets of her own to the outright sapient dog who seems to judge every
move, they don't inspire a lot of confidence, but the General has to take the
help she can get.
After all, Dominia is
no ordinary martyr. She is THE HIEROPHANT'S DAUGHTER, and her Father won't let
her switch sides without a fight. Not when she still has so much to learn.
The dystopic first
entry of an epic cyberpunk trilogy, THE HIEROPHANT’S DAUGHTER is a
horror/sci-fi adventure sure to delight and inspire adult readers of all
stripes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
The Flight of the Governess
The Disgraced Governess of the United Front was blind in her
right eye. Was that blood in the left, or was it damaged, too? The crash
ringing in her ears kept her from thinking straight. Of course her left eye
still worked: it worked well enough to prevent her from careening into the
trees through which she plunged. Yet, for the tinted flecks of reality
sometimes twinkling between crimson streaks, she could only imagine her total
blindness with existential horror. Would the protein heal the damage? How
severely was her left eye wounded? What about the one she knew to be blind—was
it salvageable? Ichigawa could check, if she ever made it to the shore.
She couldn’t afford to think that way. It was a matter of
“when,” not of “if.” She would never succumb. Neither could car accident, nor
baying hounds, nor the Hierophant himself keep her from her goal. She had
fourteen miles to the ship that would whisk her across the Pacific and deliver
her to the relative safety of the Risen Sun. Then the Lazarene ceremony would
be less than a week away. Cassandra’s diamond beat against her heart to pump it
into double time, and with each double beat, she thought of her wife (smiling,
laughing, weeping when she thought herself alone) and ran faster. A lucky thing
the Governess wasn’t human! Though, had she remained human, she’d have died
three centuries ago in some ghetto if she’d lived past twenty without becoming
supper. Might have been the easier fate, or so she lamented each time her mind
replayed the crash of the passenger-laden tanque at fifth gear against the side
of their small car. How much she might have avoided!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
M.F. Sullivan
is the author of Delilah, My Woman, The Lightning Stenography Device, and a
slew of plays in addition to the Trilogy. She lives in Ashland, Oregon with her
boyfriend and her cat, where she attends the local Shakespeare Festival and
experiments with the occult. Find more information about her work (and plenty
of free essays) at https://www.paintedblindpublishing.com!
Author Links:
Blog:
https://www.paintedblindpublishing.com
Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/TheRealMFS
Amazon Author
Page: https://www.amazon.com/M.-F.-Sullivan/e/B013DDEQVE
Goodreads
Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14199461.M_F_Sullivan
Buy/Review
Links:
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Hierophants-Daughter-M-F-Sullivan/dp/0996539565
NetGalley: http://netgal.ly/AYYlKV
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42921564-the-hierophant-s-daughter
Barnes &
Noble:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-hierophants-daughter-m-f-sullivan/1129918390
Hardback:
978-0-9965395-6-2
Paperback: 978-0-9965395-7-9
eBook:
978-0-9965395-8-6
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The
Hierophant’s Daughter
Author: M.F. Sullivan
Publisher: Painted Blind Publishing
American
release date: May 19, 2019
Format/Genre/Length: Kindle/Urban Fantasy/267 pages
Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★
Disgraced Governess Dominia
di Mephitoli is on the run. Member of the Holy Family and one-time ruler of the
land formerly known as Italy, her sole focus is on, besides staying alive,
resurrecting her dead wife, Cassandra, whom she wears in a diamond around her
neck. Rumor has it that the man known as Lazarus can help her with this. But,
assuming he is not a myth, no one knows where to find him.
Seeking refuge with a family
in a remote farmhouse, she realizes too late that the Hierophant—her father—is
there, seeking to reunite her with the family. She knows better than to trust
him, however, which he proves with his actions, killing the family and taking
out one of Dominia’s eyes, as well as her incisors. Dominia is no ordinary
woman, she is a martyr, as are all the Holy Family—the Hierophant, who is the
head of the family; brothers Cicero and Elijah (also known as the Lamb), who
are husbands as well as brothers, sweet innocent sister Lavinia, and Dominia.
Once Dominia’s name was Morgan, but many years have passed since she answered
to that appellation. Besides possessing special strength and abilities, martyrs
subsist on a diet of blood and flesh, and are restricted in their movements by
the sun. The Hierophant has walked among the people of Earth for many years,
and claims to come from a distant planet, but no one can either prove or
disprove his story, so it remains accepted as truth. At least for now.
Once the poor family is
dead, and the Hierophant gone, Dominia flees once more, taking the family dog
with her. Why, she isn’t sure, but it seems like the thing to do.
Dominia reunites with an
acquaintance of hers, René Ichigawa, a Franco Japanese professor, who is
helping her to reach Lazarus. First, they have to get to safety, which is a
challenge considering both Dominia’s restrictions and her infamy. Her
reputation as a ruthless general precedes her, and not in a good way. René’s
plan is for them to go to Japan, which is one of the few areas not under the
Hierophant’s control, via boat. When Dominia awakens in the hold, she is
surprised to find the dog still there. René assumed he was hers since he
wouldn’t leave her and followed them onto the boat.
All Dominia has to do is
find Lazarus—assuming he actually exists—have him resurrect Cassandra—assuming
he can actually do that—and keep from being killed by a member of the Holy
Family… or anyone else, for that matter. This is one journey Dominia won’t soon
forget.
The Hierophant’s Daughter is the first book in the Disgraced Martyr Trilogy. I received a
Kindle copy of the book in exchange for my review. Before I had even finished reading the book,
I had placed a pre-order for the paperback, which will show how very much I liked
it, since I’d already been given a copy. The
Hierophant’s Daughter turned out to be much more than I expected. M.F.
Sullivan did a fabulous job of world-building, and gives us a creative and
unique take on this world. The Hierophant is the benevolent (somewhat) holy
father who has managed to gain control of most of the planet. It’s not hard to
guess what his ultimate goal is. Martyrs are a unique spin on vampires. In this
world, humans know they exist and co-exist with them… for the most part.
The Holy Family is most
fascinating, especially the Hierophant. While I know in my head he’s the
villain, it’s not quite so cut-and-dried as that, since he is at the same time
terrible and compelling, a very charming man indeed. I found myself looking
forward to seeing more of his scenes. Cicero is cruel and vicious but when it
comes to his husband, Elijah (the Lamb, an obvious reference to Jesus), he
would do anything for him, and the feeling is mutual (before anyone gets
squicked out by them being brothers, they are not blood brothers, vampires
don’t have children, and they were together as a couple before they even met
the Hierophant). Lavinia is an unusual case in that she died while an infant,
too young to become a martyr, yet she ended up growing even after death… so she
is looked upon as very holy. Well, still waters do run deep.
Dominia is someone you have
to admire for her strength and her character
. She’s done
many terrible things in her long life and she knows it. And yet, despite being
a martyr, she is quite human in many ways, and vulnerable to making mistakes.
Sometimes she just has no choice.
The more I read of this
book, the deeper into it I got. The characters draw you in and make you want to
know more. It’s a horrible world, and I wouldn’t want to live there, but
reading about it is a different matter entirely. The biggest criticism I can
make is that the author would have benefited from better editing. There are
some especially stupid errors which should have been caught. But these do not
detract from the overall value of the story.
There are so many things
about it that I love, including the religious allegory. It’s a terrifying
glimpse into a future that could be if vampires existed on other planets and
came here to make this their new home. At the end of the book is a timeline
that chronicles the Hierophant’s ascent, from the time of his arrival. It’s
well worth reading.
I highly recommend this
book, and can’t wait for the next volume in the trilogy to come out.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
