Bronze Medal winner, Fantasy/Science-Fiction, 2010 Independent Publishers Book Awards.
A wild tongue-in-cheek Civil War-era urban fantasy featuring a female Huck Finn and a smart-aleck shape-shifting talking sword.
"Ma's missin', my only friend's been kidnapped by monsters, sorcerers are tryin' to shred my soul...but heck, at least my sword still talks to me."
In 1862, at the height of the Civil War, precocious but lonely tomboy Verity Sauveur falls through the floor of Ford’s Theatre and discovers a smart-aleck sword.
The shape-shifting weapon contains the wisecracking, pun-loving spirit of a boy she names Jasper. He tells Verity that she is the new Stone-Warden, chosen to undo the wrongs of the Honourable Merchantry. This evil corporation’s sorcery has reshaped every nation's character in order to profit from the misery that fuels its dark magic: Ireland is populated by feuding literary characters, Scandinavia holds fairy tale creatures, etc.
But the Merchantry fights its own civil war against its allies in the Obverse, a demon world.
Her relationship with Jasper becomes complex as they journey through Confederate territory, pursued by magic-armed assassins, zombies, demons, even poop monsters, to rescue her friend Eddie from the Merchantry’s clutches. Jasper becomes her hilarious soul mate, tossing off insults and goofy comments, which Verity returns with interest. Though his power enables her to do amazing things, and he shows her how to grow up, is he more enemy than friend.
A bit of Mark Twain, a bit of Phillip Pullman, with a dash of Douglas Adams...BRIMSTONE AND LILY is full of non-stop action and dozens of allusions to famous works of literature.
