Smoke in the Glass
(Immortal's Blood, #1)
by Chris Humphreys
Release date: May 2019
Genres: fantasy > dark fantasy + high fantasy
A thrilling new dark fantasy series about immortality, war and survival, from the bestselling historical author Chris (CC) Humphries
A world of immortals living among humans. Anyone may be immortal, but there is no way to know until you die. If you are one of the very lucky few, you will live an endless life of pleasure and power, considered to be a god. Only decapitation and the rapid separation of body and head for a few days can kill an immortal.
In the southlands, a common soldier dies and is reborn, and is inducted into the world of the immortals. But the Empire has become decadent, and what he discovers there will shock him.
In the dry lands of the west, one man has set himself up as the sun god. But there is a prophecy that he will be killed by his son - and so all of his male children are killed at birth. Until his most recent wife bears a child who is nether male nor female, and is determined to protect them from sacrifice.
In the cold north, the immortal Luck - clever, tricksy, clubfooted - harbours suspicions that many of the immortals have been killed. When he intervenes in an attack on one of his fellows, he realises something new. Someone is hunting the Gods.
For there is a fourth land. They know of the other three. And they are planning their attack.
Our three heroes - damaged soldier, protective mother, clever cripple - must find a way to unite their different lands, and defend against this new enemy.
About the Author :: Chris Humphreys
Chris (C.C.) Humphreys was born in Toronto and grew up in the UK. All four grandparents were actors and since his father was an actor as well, it was inevitable he would follow the bloodline. He has acted all over the world and appeared on stages ranging from London's West End to Hollywood's Twentieth Century Fox. Favorite roles have included Hamlet, Caleb the Gladiator in NBC's Biblical-Roman epic mini-series, 'AD – Anno Domini', Clive Parnell in 'Coronation Street', and Jack Absolute in Sheridan's 'The Rivals'.
Chris has written ten historical novels. The first, 'The French Executioner' told the tale of the man who killed Anne Boleyn, was runner up for the CWA Steel Dagger for Thrillers 2002, and has ... (more)
been optioned for the screen. Its sequel was 'Blood Ties'. Having played Jack Absolute, he stole the character and has written three books on this '007 of the 1770's' – 'Jack Absolute', 'The Blooding of Jack Absolute' and 'Absolute Honour'- short listed for the 2007 Evergreen Prize by the Ontario Library Association, all currently being re-released in the US by Sourcebooks. His novel about the real Dracula, 'Vlad, The Last Confession' was a bestseller in Canada and his novel, 'A Place Called Armageddon' was recently published in Turkish. All have been published in the UK, Canada, the US and many have been translated in various languages including Russian, Italian, German, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Serbian, Turkish and Indonesian. His adult novel 'Shakespeare's Rebel', about William Shakespeare's fight choreographer at the time of 'Hamlet', was released in the UK in March 2013 and in Canada August 2011.
His most recent adult novels for Century in the UK and Doubleday in Canada are 'Plague' and 'Fire'. Tales of religious fundamentalist serial killers set against the wild events of 1665 to 1666, London, 'Plague' won Canada's Crime Writers' Association Best Crime Novel Award, the Arthur Ellis in 2015. In the Summer of 2016, both novels spent five weeks in the Globe and Mail Top Ten Bestseller list.
He has also written a trilogy for young adults 'The Runestone Saga'. A heady brew of Norse myth, runic magic, time travel and horror, the first book in the series 'The Fetch' was published in North America in July 2006, with the sequel, 'Vendetta' in August 2007 and the conclusion, 'Possession', August 2008. They are also published in Russia, Greece, Turkey and Indonesia. His Young Adult novel 'The Hunt of the Unicorn' was released by Knopf in North America in March 2011 and also published in Spain. A loose sequel, The 'Hunt of the Dragon', was published in Canada in Fall 2016.
His new novel is in the editing stage and has a working title of 'Girl on a Zeppelin'. It tells of Roxy Loewen, a 1930's Aviatrix, a tough and sassy flyer who steals art from under Hitler's nose at the Berlin Olympics and ends up on the Hindenberg. Look for it in May 2018.
Chris lives on Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada, with his wife, son and his writing partner, Dickon the Cat.
Chris Humphreys >
Immortal's Blood