The Traitor's Trap by Brendan Murphy
It’s tough being a thirteen-year old schoolboy, especially when you’re a coward and the big brother who stuck up for you is dead. Oh, and you’ve been thrust into a magical realm you’re expected to save single-handedly. Sebastian Duffy has to learn an awful lot of skills in a hurry if he is to defeat Phobitor by stealing the Spear of Lugh from the peace-loving Tuath. He’s been given some help of course–a mercurial sorceress, an orphaned druidess, a taciturn warrior, a snuff-sniffing leprechaun and a lovelorn poet– an outfit known as the Hibernauts, but can he really overcome a psychopathic, warmongering god when half the realm is bent on his destruction? If he is to have the remotest chance he will have to do deal with aiia, cluricaun, brigands, woodwose, undead warriors, speckled bats, spies, hunkypunks, traitors, skeletons and battle-swine first. And are those Tuath really so peaceable? If only he could find his courage.
Praise for The Traitor's Trap An imaginative epic…an intricate and fully realised fantasy world with a big cast of likeable characters that are charming, well drawn and endearing, with wonderfully apt names. The depth and breadth of the author’s high-voltage imagination, and the richness of the world created is very impressive. ~Sam Mills, author of Blackout, The Boys Who Saved the World, and The Quiddity of Will Self I cannot say just how much I have enjoyed this book ... a very accomplished writer with a wonderfully rich imagination and an incredibly inventive mind. Readers will come to love the many wonderful creations in this novel, it is jam-packed with the most wonderful and inventive characters; new, exciting and beautifully realized. ~Cherry Mosteshar, author of Unveiled: One Woman's Nightmare in Iran
Author Brendan Murphy
Brendan Murphy was raised in Sheffield, England, with dreams of becoming a writer, and has written every day since he was nine years old. After reading medicine in London and psychiatry in Manchester, he moved to Australia in 1999. He is an Associate Professor at Monash University and has written widely on youth mental health. His nonfiction work on the development of football in Victorian society, From Sheffield with Love, was published in 2007. He is contracted to Assent Publishing for his six-book fantasy series, Sebastian and the Hibernauts. The first adventure, Beyond the Gloaming was published in 2014 and the sequel, The Traitor’s Trap, in 2015. He is a columnist for Aontacht magazine. He lives with his wife, Katrina, and their children, Sebastian and Violette, in a sprawling property built for the composer, Dorian Le Gallienne. They share their garden with a mob of kangaroos, a wombat, two possums, any number of creepy crawlies, and some very feisty kookaburras.
Excerpts -
They
descended into the hubbub. Tuathans swarmed the thoroughfares, some in
shimmering robes, others in simple garments. Many appeared to be heading
home, eager to make the most of the big day ahead. Sebastian was sure
they would be spotted, not least on account of Porrig and Quilliog’s
shortness, yet no one paid them the slightest bit of notice, except to
apologize when they bumped into them. Crazily happy to be there, his
eyes darted joyously about the festooned streets. Ribbons of tinsel flew
of their own accord, vying for attention with the countless floating
baubles that glowed different colors, expanding and contracting like
bubbles. Elsewhere, paper lanterns drifted about, folding into different
shapes at will, first one was a dragon, then it was a ship, now it was a
castle. Adults cheered and children squealed as minstrels jostled them,
tumbling and juggling, and musicians wove through the crowds playing
ethereal music on instruments Sebastian had never seen before, bell
cymbals and fairy fifes, bodhraìn and hand-harps. He was enthralled to
see stately white stags drawing slowly progressing carriages, their
happy occupants leaning out to greet strangers and wave hats. Ladies in
fineries rode upon fallow deer with reticulated bridles of silver, while
children sat upon prickets and fawns. Hawkers sold red ale from huge
barrels off the back of carts drawn by wooden-yoked oxen and street
vendors bawled out their wares. Some sold warblers—blackcaps and
chiffchaffs—that trilled exquisitely as they perched tamely or flew
above the crowds, always returning to their stall, others sold the
rarest herbs, virtually unobtainable in Hibercadia— wintersweet and
maidenhair, featherfoil and foxtail—and the other Hibernauts had to peel
Roisin from the stalls. Sebastian was so enthralled by all that he saw
that he hardly noticed his littlest fingers beginning to pulsate.
Blog Tour $25 Giveaway $25 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Ends 12/28/15 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
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