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Beyond The Black Sea,
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Beyond The Black Sea
(Activation Series, #2)
M. Joseph Murphy
M. Joseph Murphy
Trade Paperback, 246 pages
Council of Peacocks Press
First Edition
June 8, 2014
Fantasy, Science Fiction, Suspense,
Urban Fantasy,Thriller
Urban Fantasy,Thriller
She’s dead because of me.
Josh Wilkinson is haunted by two words written in still-warm blood: Your fault.
Wisdom, an immortal raised by the djinn, has gathered a band of super-powered teenagers to stop the Council of Peacocks, a group of evil sorcerers. After the battle in Thessaloniki, the Council is on the run. Just when final victory appears imminent, Josh’s mother is murdered. The prime suspect is his father.
Once Josh was integral to the Council’s plans for world domination. Now Josh learns his cousin, Travis, is the one set to activate the Verdenstab. If he does, the Orpheans, demonic allies to the Council, will escape the Black Sea, a pocket dimension that serves as their prison.
In a last-ditch effort to prevent the invasion, Wisdom and Josh use an ancient portal hidden beneath Gobekli Tepe to enter the Black Sea. The rest of the team – a pyrokinetic, a telepath, and a mercenary – head to stop Travis from activating a device.
The end is closer than anyone suspects. The Activation is set to happen tomorrow.
This series is entirely new to me, but, from what I've read in this excerpt, the worldbuilding is fabulous, and the plot of this novel, totally fascinating!
The setting, writing, and characterization are all very well-done; I was transported to this futuristic U.N. meeting within seconds of starting to read this first chapter!
The most prominent character here, whose name is Wisdom, is introduced to the reader in a very matter-of-fact way, but there's something ominous about him....This becomes very evident later on in this chapter, as he displays an arrogant disregard for human life. And he's supposed to be one of the good guys? It seems that Murphy has a lot of plot twists and turns up his sleeve!
I am definitely VERY intrigued!!
Chapter One
Wisdom teleported into the United Nations for his 3:00 pm meeting. Events around the world had escalated, necessitating the formation of a special committee on the Orphean invasion. He was 20 minutes early but there was a conversation he needed to have before the meeting started. He stepped out of his teleportation field -- a circle of bright yellow light -- into an executive bathroom on the third floor of the Conference Building. With a wave of his hand, he closed the portal. He turned and stared intently at the large mirror about the row of sinks.
"I know you can see me." Wisdom straightened his tie. "I have a message for you. I'm done waiting for you to make your next move. The next move is mine. And you won't see it coming until it's too late."
He waited for a response. When no message reply came from the other side of the mirror, he wasn't surprised. The Orpheans were not fond of direct confrontation.
He left the bathroom and headed towards the meeting room. Security was on high alert. Wisdom saw more armed guards than at previous meetings. It was a good sign. Maybe world leaders were starting to appreciate the risk level.
He stood outside the chamber waiting for the meeting to start. A familiar face approached him, a tall, brown-haired man in a dark suit. Gabriel Wainwright was the Canadian representative from Candleworks, an international agency devoted to stopping Orphean threats.
Gabriel extended his hand. Wisdom shook it firmly.
"Are we the first here?" Gabriel looked past Wisdom at the closed door to the meeting room.
"Hardly." Wisdom pointed at the door and sighed, annoyed, "The members from the Security Council are in there having their own meeting before we enter,"
Gabriel nodded. Typical. So much for an equal seat at the table. You'd think after what happened at the Vatican they'd be more open."
"This IS them being more open. At least they've stopped ignoring the problem."
"True." Gabriel looked over his shoulder and waved at three women, also dressed in dark suits, who walked towards them. "Here come the other representatives. How did you manage to get through security so quickly?"
Wisdom rolled his eyes. "I don't do security checks. They're stupid. I could blow up this whole building if I wanted to with a blink of my eyes. I don't need weapons."
Several security guards nearby stood up taller, hands a little closer to their weapons.
Gabriel laughed nervously and waved at the guards. "Ixnay on the hreattnay. Or is that 'reathrnay'?"
"You're horrible at Pig Latin. Why do you always try to work it into a conversation?"
Gabriel shrugged. "If you can't have fun with words, what's the point in living?"
The meeting room door opened. Wisdom allowed the Candleworks representatives to enter before him. The seating was assigned. There was no reason to rush.
After several minutes of obligatory small talk, everyone sat and the guards closed the doors again.
At the head of the table sat Penny Dulany, the woman chosen as chair of the special committee. Wisdom had known her since she was a child. Though in her late fifties, Penny looked ten years younger. Her amazing smile could fill up any room. Today, her face was drawn and her eyes uncharacteristically dull.
"We've had news from China," Penny motioned to one of the assistants at the back of the room. He proceeded to distribute manila folders to everyone around the table. "These are pictures from Beijing. The Council of Peacocks attacked a safe house where we'd found and harbored ten Anomalies. All were taken. As you can see in the photos, we paid a high cost."
Wisdom opened his folder and flipped through several black and white photos. Each showed a body.
"How many did we lose?" This came from one of Gabriel's counterparts at Candleworks. Her name was Dr. Melinda Uyldert from the UK. With her short blond hair, she looked like a young Helen Mirren.
"Forty soldiers." Penny took a deep breath. "Amazing how calling them soldiers is supposed to make it easier to lose them. Soldiers. Like they're not people." She pushed her shoulders back and sat up a little straighter. Unfortunately, we have more bad news. We don't have all the details but it appears a band of Edimmu attacked a Sasquatch settlement in Tibet."
Wisdom groaned. "Don't call them that. It's a silly name."
Penny threw her hands in the air. "Fine. Lemurians. Whatever you want to call them. Here's the problem: seven shell-shocked survivors wandered into a tourist area. As you can imagine, their appearance started a riot. Thanks to smart phones, that led to dozens of videos uploaded to the Internet before we could rein them in."
Mischa Fradkov, from Russian, cleared his throat. "As you Americans say, the genie is out of the bottle. We cannot put it back. We will go on TV in a few hours to acknowledge the Lemurians are real."
"You can't do that." Wisdom leaned forward. They'll be hunted. Candleworks promised to ensure their safety in exchange for the barrier technology that blocks Orphean communication. You're in debt to them for half the projects at the Black Pyramid."
"We know, Wisdom." Shaun Brennan, head of the CIA, hung his head. "The president is meeting with advisors right now right now on how to handle this. It can't be stopped. Too much evidence to bury, even for us."
Wisdom frowned. "Can't we just kill all the witnesses?"
Gabriel extended his hand. Wisdom shook it firmly.
"Are we the first here?" Gabriel looked past Wisdom at the closed door to the meeting room.
"Hardly." Wisdom pointed at the door and sighed, annoyed, "The members from the Security Council are in there having their own meeting before we enter,"
Gabriel nodded. Typical. So much for an equal seat at the table. You'd think after what happened at the Vatican they'd be more open."
"This IS them being more open. At least they've stopped ignoring the problem."
"True." Gabriel looked over his shoulder and waved at three women, also dressed in dark suits, who walked towards them. "Here come the other representatives. How did you manage to get through security so quickly?"
Wisdom rolled his eyes. "I don't do security checks. They're stupid. I could blow up this whole building if I wanted to with a blink of my eyes. I don't need weapons."
Several security guards nearby stood up taller, hands a little closer to their weapons.
Gabriel laughed nervously and waved at the guards. "Ixnay on the hreattnay. Or is that 'reathrnay'?"
"You're horrible at Pig Latin. Why do you always try to work it into a conversation?"
Gabriel shrugged. "If you can't have fun with words, what's the point in living?"
The meeting room door opened. Wisdom allowed the Candleworks representatives to enter before him. The seating was assigned. There was no reason to rush.
After several minutes of obligatory small talk, everyone sat and the guards closed the doors again.
At the head of the table sat Penny Dulany, the woman chosen as chair of the special committee. Wisdom had known her since she was a child. Though in her late fifties, Penny looked ten years younger. Her amazing smile could fill up any room. Today, her face was drawn and her eyes uncharacteristically dull.
"We've had news from China," Penny motioned to one of the assistants at the back of the room. He proceeded to distribute manila folders to everyone around the table. "These are pictures from Beijing. The Council of Peacocks attacked a safe house where we'd found and harbored ten Anomalies. All were taken. As you can see in the photos, we paid a high cost."
Wisdom opened his folder and flipped through several black and white photos. Each showed a body.
"How many did we lose?" This came from one of Gabriel's counterparts at Candleworks. Her name was Dr. Melinda Uyldert from the UK. With her short blond hair, she looked like a young Helen Mirren.
"Forty soldiers." Penny took a deep breath. "Amazing how calling them soldiers is supposed to make it easier to lose them. Soldiers. Like they're not people." She pushed her shoulders back and sat up a little straighter. Unfortunately, we have more bad news. We don't have all the details but it appears a band of Edimmu attacked a Sasquatch settlement in Tibet."
Wisdom groaned. "Don't call them that. It's a silly name."
Penny threw her hands in the air. "Fine. Lemurians. Whatever you want to call them. Here's the problem: seven shell-shocked survivors wandered into a tourist area. As you can imagine, their appearance started a riot. Thanks to smart phones, that led to dozens of videos uploaded to the Internet before we could rein them in."
Mischa Fradkov, from Russian, cleared his throat. "As you Americans say, the genie is out of the bottle. We cannot put it back. We will go on TV in a few hours to acknowledge the Lemurians are real."
"You can't do that." Wisdom leaned forward. They'll be hunted. Candleworks promised to ensure their safety in exchange for the barrier technology that blocks Orphean communication. You're in debt to them for half the projects at the Black Pyramid."
"We know, Wisdom." Shaun Brennan, head of the CIA, hung his head. "The president is meeting with advisors right now right now on how to handle this. It can't be stopped. Too much evidence to bury, even for us."
Wisdom frowned. "Can't we just kill all the witnesses?"
Purchasing Links
M. Joseph Murphy was born and raised in Ontario,
Canada. He earned his geekdom at an early age. He read X-Men comics from the age of 8, and it only went downhill from there.
As a teenager, he wrote short stories, and wanted to be the next Stephen King. Instead of horror, however, he kept writing fantasy stories. After surviving high school as a Goth with a purple Mohawk, he studied English and Creative Writing at the University of Windsor.
When not writing, Joseph works as Lead Accounting Instructor at a local college. He lives in Windsor, ON (right across the stream from Detroit, Michigan), with his husband, two cats, and a shy-but-friendly ghost.
This giveaway is open internationally.
Must be 15+ to enter.
2 Winners - ecopy of Council of Peacocks
2 Winners - $5 Amazon Gift Card
2 Winners - ecopy of Council of Peacocks
2 Winners - $5 Amazon Gift Card
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