Blog Archives

30% off all books!

My publisher Wolsak and Wynn is holding a holiday sale and all books are 30% off until Dec. 15. Plus free shipping on orders over $50. Here’s your chance to complete your library of my books at a discount!

Direct links from Wolsak and Wynn

Has the World Ended Yet?

In Has the World Ended Yet? we start with retired superheroes living in a soulless suburbia where everyone gets lost trying to get home. Then the angels start to fall from the sky. Is it Armageddon? And do we want the world to end or not?

These tales link together superheroes, ghosts, the undead, a hired hitman, the Cold War, the Rapture and avenging angels in a Twilight Zone–style collection that is riveting and human. We follow characters that are identifiable through situations that are unreal, through a technicolour landscape we are all familiar with. The end of the world is not what we expect, what any of Darbyshire’s characters expect and may not really be happening at all. But should it?


The Mona Lisa Sacrifice

“Even angels have to make a living these days.”

With this dry observance Peter Darbyshire introduces us to Cross, a man who has lived thousands of years, though he’d prefer not to have, and who is now hunting angels in a Barcelona filled with tourists, phone cameras and deep mystery.

The Mona Lisa Sacrifice is a layered supernatural thriller, filled with history, magic and beloved characters. When an angel promises to deliver Judas, a forgotten god of a forgotten people, to Cross for revenge if he can find the real Mona Lisa, a cascading set of mysteries involving a sisterhood of gorgons, Alice from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Morgana le Fay and renegade angels is set in motion. Everything hangs in the balance. Even the fate of the world.


The Dead Hamlets

The Witches never failed to extract a price somehow.

When Cross stumbles drunkenly into a darkened Berlin theatre that is staging Hamlet, he does not expect to see Morgana le Fay on stage as Queen Gertrude or witness a real murder. But a deadly ghost is haunting the faerie queen’s plays and Morgana expects Cross to solve the mystery or risk his daughter, Amelia, becoming the next victim. With the fate of Amelia in the balance Cross tries to unravel a mystery that takes him to libraries outside of time, into battles alongside an undead Christopher Marlowe and to bargaining with the real Witches of Macbeth. But is the play the thing, or is there something far older haunting Shakespeare’s famous work?


The Apocalypse Ark

“You fool,” Sariel said. She gestured with a hand and the table between us slid to the side. “You ridiculous mortal fool. What did you do with the sphinx?”

With these words Cross finds himself thrust into his most dangerous adventure yet, working with the double-crossing angel Sariel to stop Noah from ending his eternal suffering by ending the world. But this Noah has not saved any beings from the flood, he is God’s warden, and he is bound to hold all God’s mistakes captive on his ark for eternity. And he has gone mad. Between provoking the sorcerous pirate Blackbeard, dealing with the devious vampire Ishmael and travelling beneath the seas with Captain Nemo and the last of the Atlanteans, Cross struggles to keep one step ahead of Noah until the last battle occurs before the very doors of Atlantis itself.


The Wonder Lands War

The immortal Cross is back in a wild new adventure – a desperate hunt to find the enigmatic Alice from the Wonderland tales. Alice has helped Cross save the world countless times over since she stepped out of the pages of her book, but now she is the one that needs rescue after vanishing during an apocalyptic battle. Aided by the faerie queen Morgana and her court, Cross journeys to mystical islands populated with murderous immortals and into famous libraries with powerful librarians and magical texts until they reach the chaotic and terrifying Wonder Lands, the dangerous inspiration for the original Alice tales. But they are not the only ones looking for Alice – a rogue group of angels are also hunting her for mysterious reasons of their own. The very fate of the world may rest upon who finds Alice first.

A supernatural giveaway!

Wolsak and Wynn, the publisher of my Cross series of supernatural thrillers, is giving away the entire series! To enter, follow them on Instagram and share the giveaway post.

Wolsak and Wynn link: https://www.instagram.com/wolsakandwynn/

Giveaway post: https://www.instagram.com/p/DQU_RYSj6bv/

Behind the Screens: Author interview with Night Beats

I’m over at Night Beats talking about my Cross series of books (The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, The Dead Hamlets, The Apocalypse Ark).

Link: https://nightbeatseu.ca

Get Lit with The Mona Lisa Sacrifice

I had a great conversation with Canadian writer and radio host Jamie Tennant for his show Get Lit on 93.3 CFMU. We talked why anyone would ever want to be a writer, where the idea for my Cross series of supernatural thrillers came from, and what it’s been like to publish the books in new editions, among other things. The interview is only a half hour so check it out when you have time!

Related: My other radio interviews and assorted video pieces.

A Howling good time

I recently appeared on the radio show Howl on CIUT 89.5 FM to discuss the first book of my Cross series, The Mona Lisa Sacrifice. Topics covered:

  • The pros and cons of writing immortal characters
  • How much of the roguish antihero Cross is really me
  • The experience of getting to update the book series for the newer editions
  • And of course Dungeons & Dragons!

Bonus feature: I read from the first chapter of The Mona Lisa Sacrifice.

Interview starts around the 33:30 mark. I hope you’ll check it out.

Read an excerpt of The Apocalypse Ark on The Civilian Reader

The Civilian Reader has posted an excerpt of The Apocalypse Ark, the third book in my Cross series of supernatural thrillers. The Civilian Reader previously posted excerpts of the first two books in the series, The Mona Lisa Sacrifice and The Dead Hamlets. If you haven’t yet read the books, here’s a chance to preview them. If you have read them, thanks for reading!

Read an excerpt of The Mona Lisa Sacrifice in The Civilian Reader

Interested in a preview of The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, my first book in the Cross series? Check out The Civilian Reader for an excerpt!

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.

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!