LITERATURE + LECTURES

Monday, June 25th at 6:30pm, Murder by the Book presents a signing and discussion of Stina Leicht's book And Blue Skies From Pain (Night Shade Books; $14.99).

Northern Ireland, 1977. Liam Kelly is many things: a former wheelman for the IRA, a one-time political prisoner, the half-breed son of a mystic Fey warrior and a mortal woman, and a troubled young man literally haunted by the ghosts of his past. Liam has turned his back on his land's bloody sectarian Troubles, but the war isn't done with him yet, and neither is an older, more mythic battle-between the Church and its demonic enemies, the Fallen.

After centuries of misunderstanding and conflict, the Church is on the verge of accepting that the Fey and the Fallen are not the same. But to achieve this historic truce, Liam must prove to the Church's Inquisitors that he is not a demon, even as he wrestles with his own guilt and confusion, while being hunted by enemies both earthly and unworldly.
A shape-shifter by nature, Liam has a foot in two worlds-and it's driving him mad.

Stina Leicht was born in St. Louis, Missouri where she attended Catholic school, climbed trees, learned to skate, fought pirates and rescued her sister's dolls from terrible fates. Currently, she lives in central Texas with her husband, their shared library, too many music cds, and a cat named Sebastian.

She's famous for singing too loud to punk music in her car, reading too much, taking photographs almost no one has seen, making art out of wooden cigar boxes and baking homemade apple pie from scratch. In the course of her research, she has driven really fast in rally races, taken Irish language lessons and studied Northern Irish politics.

She still fights pirates but has traded her trusty wooden stick for a rapier and dagger. Of course, pirate ships being somewhat rare in central Texas, she makes do with a friend's back yard--which is fine since she gets stabbed quite a lot and would only end up tossed into the sea anyway.