Okay, are you ready? (Kidding! I know I’ve been teasing you guys about this FOREVER.)
First things first — Girl in the Shadows is a companion to Girl on a Wire. While they do take place in sequence, you can read one before the other and vice versa (though the suggested order is still Girl on a Wire first; I worked hard to make this satisfying all on its own too!). It’s my longest book to date, and it was a hard one. But I’m so happy about it and so grateful to the tireless work of my editors Courtney Miller and Marianna Baer, plus my copy editor Elizabeth Johnson, mwah to you all.
Without further ado, however, the BEAUTIFUL LUMINOUS PERFECT cover by artist/designer M. S. Corley. I hope you all love it as much as I do.
I love it because it’s magic and beautiful at a look, but the more you look the more you also see all these different elements of the book reflected. Did you notice the Ferris wheel top yet? And here’s the book description:
Eighteen-year-old Moira Mitchell grew up in the shadows of Vegas’s stage lights while her father’s career as a magician soared. More than anything, Moira wants to be a magician too, but her father is dead set against her pursuing magic.
When an invitation to join the Cirque American mistakenly falls into Moira’s possession, she takes action. Instead of giving the highly coveted invitation to its intended recipient, Raleigh, her father’s handsome and worldly former apprentice, Moira takes off to join the Cirque. If she can perform alongside its world-famous acts, she knows she’ll be able to convince her dad that magic is her future.
But when Moira arrives, things take on an intensity she can’t control as her stage magic suddenly feels like…real magic. To further distract her, Raleigh shows up none too pleased at Moira’s presence, all while the Cirque’s cocky and intriguing knife thrower, Dez, seems to have it out for her. As tensions mount and Moira’s abilities come into question, she must decide what’s real and what’s an illusion. If she doesn’t sort it out in time, she may forever remain a girl in the shadows.
Girl in the Shadows is a companion novel to Girl on a Wire, and will be out on July 5, 2016.
There’s more Cirque American-related news to come soonish. *twirls fingers*
For now, I also have some advanced reader copies to give away! So drop a comment below and tell me what’s your favorite or LEAST favorite thing about magicians and I’ll give away three random early copies to the winners. If it doesn’t show up right away, don’t worry; I just have to moderate it.
Yay! Also if I saw you at ConFusion this weekend, I love you — best convention was best!
It’s a tough one…but I’m gonna have to go with top hats.
The real question is: Is that my favorite thing or least favorite thing?! 😉
I love the SPECTACLE of a magic act – I know it’s a trick, but it’s still so darn exciting.
For me magicians, using real magic or mere illusions, create a world where anything becomes possible. I love when magicians are so good you feel suspended in mid-air with anticipation and excitement.
The theatricality of magicians and magic shows has to be my favorite thing, I love the suspense, the glamour, the fantasy, the romance, and the history behind it all!
My favorite thing about magicians is their ability to give us complete entertainment even though we all know that this is just all mind-trick and my least favorite thing is using magic advantegously in getting what someone wants, thus using magic badly.
However, the feeling of anticipation and excitement in waiting on what will happen next on their acts still never gets old. 🙂
The thing I like the best about magicians is the possibility that what they’re doing isn’t a trick, but real magic. The thing I like the least is knowing that what they’re doing is most likely not real magic at all.
My favorite thing about magicians is their gloves. They can be many different colors (usually black or white though) and there’s something about not being able to see a magician’s hands that adds to the magic/mystery.
My favorite thing is when I can’t figure out how a trick is done. Also, omg that cover is glorious!
i LOOOOVE that magicians have made such a resurgence in popular culture bc tv has responded with more sci fi horror fantasy programming (Huzzah for Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell mini series)
this makes publishers print & promote more sci fi fantasy horror books and i ahve more choices and my sci fi fantasy horror authors will hopefully expand their audiences and make more money
so i ahve more to read.
and i don’t ahve to watch ever more increasing iterations of CSI scripted dramas
LOL
What do I love best about magicians?
Hmmm…
I think it’s the performance, the build up like a classic song approaching the crescendo. I love the contained suspense.
Then the awe! The even if you think you have a hunch how it was done you can’t be entirely sure it wasn’t real magic!
Also what Jessica said, the Top Hats are AMAZING!
My favorite thing about magicians is the wonder they provide. It makes you feel like a child again. But at the same time, they are a puzzle and you can’t help but want to figure out how they did what they did. That combination of feelings is a rare one; it’s not often nowadays something invokes such wonder in us.
I looove how they come up with new tricks and the science of how they do it and how everything works!
Thank you for doing this, and good luck with everything 🙂
My favorite thing about magicians is the drama of the show. All that dramatic flair makes everything feel otherworldly!
The best thing about magicians is they completely blow my mind. To smithereens. The worst part? I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how they do it! Seriously though, how?!
Magicians open up a whole new world for the unimaginable and desired. While their acts may all be tricks it shows that nothing is far from impossible. They are a live representation that just because it’s a job doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy.
My favourite thing is a toss up between top hats and making magic real in the eyes of adults and children. Opening the mind to the possibility of more.
My least favorite thing about magicians is when they attempt to convince spectators that their powers are genuine or mystical. Great magic encourages people to think about the world with an awareness of misdirection, deception, and forces (while still enjoying a good show along the way).
I love that magicians are deceiving their audience through some means, but have found a way to make the show matter more than the knowledge that there is a deceit taking place. It’s theatre, trickery, and willful suspension of disbelief all in one show.
My least favorite thing is when tricks are explained. I’ve taken part in a couple shows, and it always makes me sad to know that it’s a mechanical device, oddly cut box, or weighted item. I’d rather be mystified.
You have the most amazing cover designers! I mean, I want to read the book, of course, but even if I didn’t, I’d never be able to resist that cover!
Oh, magicians? My favorite thing? Probably the eyebrows. Or the bunnies.
I love that they make me believe that magic is alive and well in the world, even though at the end of the day it’s just a trick.
The top hats are obviously the best thing about magicians 🙂 but I also like the mystery It wouldn’t be interesting if you knew how they did it
I think my favorite thing about magicians is, if they’re good, they can make you question reality in that moment.
I love their showmanship, even in a rinky dink room in a rundown hotel.
I love the art–and skill–of misdirection. It’s why even the shell game or Three Card Monte, done well, can be delightful. (I might be writing something specifically about Three Card Monte right now…)
My favorite thing is how easily I can get caught up in the trick. In the sense that, when I see it performed, I want to watch it over and over and over again until I can work out how it is done.
favourite thing? the tricks
least favourite thing?hmmm…if they downgrade their intelligence acting like pierrots for the crowd.i prefer them to be mysterious instead ^^
favourite thing? the tricks
least favourite thing? hmmm…when they are downplaying their intelligence in order to please the crowd. i prefer them to be mysterious rather that showy.
Oh, that’s hard! I guess I love the unexpectedness of them, when they either just do a trick, or tell you what they’re going to do, but you still have that feeling of awe that it’s happened. Congrats on the beautiful cover!
My favourite thing is how easily we can be misdirected. My least favourite is that I envisage a Jonathan Creek behind every major illusionist.
My favorite thing about magicians is the reaction of both adults and children to their work. The oohs and ahhhs are always fun- and the wonder it creates is simply marvelous.
This. Is. Glorious, Gwenda.
The cover is incredible!! I am so in love with it! Congrats! I can’t wait to read this. =D
My absolute favorite thing about magicians is the astonishment and wonder that they invoke in those that go to see them. I have always loved the idea of challenging impossibility. Things that have no explanation can be exhilarating and they leave me enamored.
My favorite thing about magicians is the mystery, knowing there is an explanation but not being able to figure it out. It’s fascinating. Love the cover!
My favorite thing about magic is the build up to the actual magic act. I love the anticipation that something is going to happen. I am not one of those people who have to know how it is done so I love the unknown nature and mystery of it.
My favorite thing about magicians if their really good they make me actually question my life choice of not becoming a magician. Especially when they keep their act going and make you really want to be a part of the show. My least favorite thing about some magicians is how cocky they can be that’s just a big no no for me if your good be proud of it don’t flaunt it. That’s my two cents. The cover looks gorgeous by the way can’t wait to read it.
My favorite thing about magicians is that moment of suspense when it’s the big reveal about whether or not they were able to pull off the trick.
My least favorite is that people can’t simply believe anymore, but instead make it their job to prove how fake it is. I wish that spectators just appreciated magicians rather than try to discredit them.
The costumes! All that dramatic flair.
My favorite thing about magicians is that they allow me to believe that the magic that I desperately want to exist is actually possible. I enjoy the thought that maybe a handful of people that have the power to make amazing things happen could actually walk among us.
I love the excitement they bring me!
I love all the costumes! They can be simple or over the top, but they always seem to enhance the performance.
I’m soooooo excited to read another book in this world. I loved Girl On A Wire so very much.
My favourite thing about magicians is the way they give everyone a different perspective. Now You See Me, a movie based on magicians, gave the audience a new perception on life and how not everything in life is as it seems. It’s actually pretty deep, and I’m sure I’m going to love Girl In The Shadows!
Thanks!