Category Archives: Writing
Don’t Quill the Messenger interview
My interview with Don’t Quill the Messenger is now live. It was a great conversation about my book The Dead Hamlets, who really wrote Shakespeare’s plays and the power of theatre. (Direct link: https://www.dragonwagonradio.com/dontquillthemessenger/2024/12/28/the-dead-hamlets)
New Cross editions make list of best book covers of 2024
I’m delighted to see my Cross series of supernatural thrillers make the list of best book covers of 2024 from the Hamilton Review of Books! I do love these covers.
Unboxing the new books!
The new editions of my Cross series of supernatural thrillers have arrived so I made my first unboxing video! Check out the lovely new versions of The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, The Dead Hamlets and The Apocalypse Ark!
A supernatural thriller for a supernatural holiday
The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, the first book in my Cross series of supernatural thrillers, has made The Tyee’s holiday gift list! Very happy to see this. https://thetyee.ca/Presents/2024/12/05/Holiday-Book-Recommendations-Part-Two/
Update: The Mona Lisa Sacrifice also made the Fraser Valley Current’s Holiday Book Guide!
Turning pages with The Mona Lisa Sacrifice
I had a lovely conversation with Michael Elves about The Mona Lisa Sacrifice over at the Turning Pages radio show on 101.5 UMFM. We talked about the origins of the series, how difficult it is to write characters like Cross and his friends (namely Alice!), and the importance of knowing when to research the hell out of something and when to let the imagination run wild. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.
YouTube version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ShO9CtDTv0
“Roger Zelazny is one of the reasons I wanted to become a writer”
I feel incredibly honoured to have been invited to the Re-Creative podcast to discuss Roger Zelazny’s The Chronicles of Amber series, which is probably more responsible than anything else for me becoming a writer. It’s a great conversation between Joe Mahoney, Mark Rayner and myself about the Amber books, my Cross series (The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, The Dead Hamlets, The Apocalypse Ark), spirituality, medical crises, the writing life and more.
We’re Not Dead Yet! – The interview
My interview with the fabulous We Aren’t Dead Yet team is now live! I had a great time discussing my book The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, the confused state of spirituality in our troubled times, and how best to charm a Beholder and ride it into battle in D&D.
Related:
Under the Cover: Behind the scenes of the Cross books
All Lit Up has published my “behind the scenes” account of creating my Cross series of supernatural thrillers. Learn about the ancient poem that was the inspiration for Cross and the first book, The Mona Lisa Sacrifice; why the second book, The Dead Hamlets, had to be a ghost story set in the theatre world; and why the third book, The Apocalypse Ark, is literary chaos.
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Publication day for The Mona Lisa Sacrifice!
It’s publication day for The Mona Lisa Sacrifice. I am absolutely thrilled to see the first book of my Cross series of supernatural thrillers back in print with a special new edition from Poplar Press, an imprint of Wolsak and Wynn.
The early reviews have been positive, and it’s been gratifying to see all the love and interest in the book on social media. I’ve particularly enjoyed the podcast conversations I’ve had around the book — it’s always lovely to be able to talk about books and the writing process. Here are a couple that have gone live so far:
If you’ve read The Mona Lisa Sacrifice and enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review on your platform of choice and/or spread the word about it on social media. Positive word of mouth is how most people discover new reads now, and it’s incredibly important to writers such as myself. The more people that learn about a book, the more potential readers it has. That means a greater chance of future books by the same author!
If you haven’t read The Mona Lisa Sacrifice yet, here’s a brief summary:
For thousands of years, Cross has wandered the earth, a mortal soul trapped in the undying body left behind by Christ. He’s been a thief, a con man, a soldier and a drunkard. He’s fought as a slave in the Colosseum and as a knight at King Arthur’s side. But now he must play the part of reluctant hero, as an angel comes to him for help finding the Mona Lisa—the real Mona Lisa that inspired the painting. Cross’s quest takes him into a secret world within our own, populated by characters just as strange and wondrous as he is: gorgons and dead gods hidden away in museums; faeries that live in countryside pubs, trapping and enslaving unwary travellers; and super-rich collectors who trade magical artifacts among themselves. He’s haunted by memories of Penelope, the only woman he truly loved, and he wants to avenge her death at the hands of his ancient enemy, Judas, a forgotten god from an ancient time. The angel promises to deliver Judas to Cross, but nothing is ever what it seems when Judas is involved, and when a group of renegade angels looking for a new holy war show up, things truly go to hell.
Anyway, I hope you like(d) the book. As always, thanks for reading!
Peter
From inspiration to The Dead Hamlets
I had a wonderful time talking to Ruff Radio about my book The Dead Hamlets and all things theatre — Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, performance vs. text, representation, the creative process, Ur-Hamlets and more. I actually worked in theatre a little in the past, and The Dead Hamlets is very much a love letter to those days. Many thanks to Christine Horne of Shakespeare in the Ruff for her thoughtful questions and theatre insights! I’d appreciate it if you give the interview a listen.
Here’s a bit of background to The Dead Hamlets if you’re not familiar with the book:
Something is rotten in the court of the faerie queen. A deadly spirit is killing off the faerie, and it has mysterious ties to Shakespeare’s play, “Hamlet.” The only one who can stop it is the immortal Cross, a charming rogue who also happens to be a drunk, a thief, and an angel killer. He is no friend of the faerie since they stole his daughter and made her one of their own. When it appears she may be the next victim of the haunting, though, he must race against time to save her. He encounters an eccentric and deadly cast of characters along the way: the real Witches of Macbeth, the undead playwright/demon hunter Christopher Marlowe, an eerie Alice from the Alice in Wonderland books, a deranged and magical scholar – and a very supernatural William Shakespeare. When Cross discovers a startling secret about the origins of “Hamlet” itself, he finds himself trapped in a ghost story even he may not be able to escape alive!
peter darbyshire 