The Emperor's Opal

by Christopher Morgan

Overview

Vampires are dying. So what? Six months ago, I wouldn't have cared. My name is Preston Black and until quite recently, I was a senior partner in a small, but successful advertising firm, a confirmed bachelor and a stay-at-home New Yorker. Then, while stopping in for a beer at a pub in Greenwich Village, I met Tamantha McKinley, a student at the New York campus of the University of Wizardry. Yeah, really. All I wanted was a date. Instead I got pulled into a world where vampires, along with ghouls, faeries, pixies and trolls went from being creatures of fantasy to things as real as you and me. I got an offer I couldn't refuse and became the proprietor of the only store catering to the needs of New York's magical community.

As crazy as that was, what happened next was worse. I was commissioned by a Count of the Spanish Vampire Court to find a very special white opal named Orphanus. The opal, lost 500 years previously, was believed to have magical properties that might save the vampires. While difficult, this quest wasn't supposed to be dangerous. That would all change as new players entered the game. The line between good and evil became increasingly blurred. I was forced to rethink all I believed in while Tammy and I were racing across central Europe, dodging sorcerers, demons and magical traps. Tamantha McKinley, my newly minted wizard partner, would be tested as we neared the end of our journey. You see, Orphanus, the Emperor's Opal, contains enough magical power to greatly enhance the abilities of any magical creature and Tammy's both gifted and ambitious. I wasn't at all sure she would be able to resist its lure once we found it. What would happen to her if she couldn't? For that matter, what would happen to me?

Product Details

BN ID:	2940032942085
Publisher:	Christopher Morgan
Publication date:	12/01/2011
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	319 KB

About the Author

I was born in Montreal, Canada in the Summer of 1966. To the sheer frustration of many teachers throughout my life, my grades tended to directly reflect my interest in a given subject. Literature was the worst, with marks varying between A+ and D-, depending on the book being covered at the time.
A fan of Historical Fiction from an early age, I fell in love with Fantasy at the age of 16, when I was given a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. I've since read it a dozen times. I followed that by reading most of the classics of Sci-Fi and Fantasy before venturing into the new breeds of work that were blossoming during the '90s. After moving to New York in the late 1990s, I started considering some of the stories that had been mulling around in my head might be worthy of being put to paper. It wasn't until reading a copy of Jim Butcher's Stormfront that I decided to stop procrastinating and get to it. While living in Boulder, Colorado in 2008, I finished The Emperor's Opal and posted it on Createspace and Amazon. I then moved back to Canada and was unable to collect royalties from it, so I basically just let it sit, unloved.
Over the past few months I have redeveloped the itch to bring my characters back to life, so I started book 2 and decided to put some time, effort and money into promoting book 1. I think it's a good book. Otherwise I wouldn't bother. Those who have read it enjoyed it and have been bugging me about book 2, so I figure it must be decent. Did I mention I stink at blowing my own horn. :)
I live in Ottawa, Canada, with my fiancé. I have four children from a previous relationship, three of which are in college. I spend my weekends rebuilding an old house in the Laurentians region of Quebec, where my family has lived for over 80 years.