While YA fantasy novels abound, there’s not a lot out there for adults, so it’s fabulous that Patrick W. Carr is penning exceptional fantasy novels to be enjoyed. The Wounded Shadow completes his Darkwater Saga trilogy, his second series with Bethany House Publishers. I had the pleasure of meeting Patrick and Mary a couple of years ago, sharing a meal together. They are good people, friends! Be sure to enter the giveaway below for your chance to win a copy of The Wounded Shadow (such a great title, don’t you think?)

Over to you, Patrick!

*****

Animal

I love dogs and always have. Mary and I have one, Mel, who is roughly 15 pounds of throw-pillow with legs. I call him Mr. Fruffles. He’s always ecstatic to see me, which is great when you teach public school.

Artist

Painting would have to be DaVinci, if for no other reason than he was brilliant in so many other disciplines as well. Music would be any number of artists, but I love listening to Jeremy Soule at the moment.

Board Game

I love Settlers of Catan, but I have never, ever, ever won that silly game. I usually play with my wife and sons, and they’re much better strategic thinkers than I am.

Book

Besides the Bible, there are too many to list, but a quick set would be The Screwtape Letters (changed my life at 15), The Belgariad (It was like the characters were my friends), The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (I had no idea writing and words could be so powerful), The Dresden Files (seriously, that series is like a one-hit addiction. I have to stay away from them if I want to get anything done), Short Story: Late Night Final by Eric Frank Russell (I must have read it over twenty times by now, but I keep coming back to it.

Rel: Love The Belgariad and pretty much most of Eddings’ novels, but they were the best! I discovered them in my first year at University. About time I read them again (and yes, I have re-read them all before!)

Colour

Blue. It’s the only color I can dress confidently in. If I wear red, people ask me if I’m feeling okay.

Flower

Tea roses, the long-stemmed, fragrant kind that make you just want to breathe them in.

Ice-cream

Chocolate Moose Tracks. I love the serving size: one container. Heaven is where I get to eat it as much as I want without getting fat.

Movie

Several, but here are the ones I’ll watch at least part of no matter how many times I’ve seen them: Field of Dreams, The Shawshank Redemption, You’ve Got Mail, Star Wars. Lately, I’ve really enjoyed The Greatest Showman and Jumanji (the sequel).

Rel: Shawshank!!!

Non-writing activity

Hiking or cycling. It’s like God is pouring peace into my soul.

Reading genre

This varies according to the moment. I love fantasy and scifi, but I also really enjoy good detective novels by everyone from Raymond Chandler to Michael Connolly

Season

Spring, when it does what it’s supposed to. This year it can’t seem to make up its mind about whether it wants to be winter or spring.

Snack

Dark chocolate with a side of coffee, preferably something like peppermint mocha or some other candy-bar-in-a-cup variety

Sport (watch or play)

I love the Olympics and the World Cup. I’ll catch a bit of American football, but over the years that’s lost its charm what with the concussions and all that. To play, I would love to be able to step out onto the baseball field again, but those days are a bit behind me.

TV show

Bosch on Amazon. Best detective series after the BBC’s Sherlock! That I’ve ever seen.

The kings and queens of the northern continent lay siege to the Darkwater Forest, desperate to contain its evil. But rumors of gold and aurium have lured deserters and the desperate into its shadow, creating a growing army held in its sway. Desperate after the death and dissolution of their greatest ally, Willet and the Vigil seek the truth of what lies at the heart of the evil they face. They delve the mind of an old enemy and find an answer far worse than they could have imagined.

Danger stalks the cities of the north, striking at the rulers of the kingdoms. As Willet and the rest of the Vigil seek to find answers, the group is scattered with an ever-growing darkness around them. Will they discover a path to keep their land safe, or will an ancient evil reclaim the world it once called its own?

Share a favourite scene from your current novel

Here is the opening. My apologies for not sharing my absolute favourite scene, but there are way too many spoilers in it!

Ealdor emerged from the shadows to palpable silence. The Vigil and our guards held their breath as if the simple act of breathing might unbind the image of the fayit and destroy him. I took a step toward my friend who was nothing more than an image in my mind, but real nonetheless, and extended my arm. Whatever contact I felt would be nothing more than fayit trickery, a way of planting a sensation in my mind the way I planted memories, but Ealdor was my friend. He stepped forward to greet me, his right arm extended to meet mine, a prelude before we gripped forearms, and stopped.

I followed the motion, my gaze slipping from the familiar lines of his face, the iron-gray stubble of his beard and the gaze intense enough to see through walls, and froze. I knew Ealdor wasn’t really there, that what I saw at this moment was nothing more than the power of the fayit touching my mind and creating the familiar illusions of contact, but in the past those illusions had been perfect, indistinguishable from the corporeal interactions with other, more common beings.

But not now. Ealdor’s gaze followed mine, tracking down the length of his sleeve until he came to the bare skin of his forearm and hand.

His skin wavered like mist. I could see the stone of the floor and walls through him. Horror and anger chased each other across his expression, neither of them finding purchase until he withdrew his arm from the gesture of greeting and curled his fingers into an evanescent fist that he held in front of his face. “No, not now!” He growled the words in a voice that hummed with power and I stepped back.

I’d never seen Ealdor angry. More, I’d rarely seen him don an emotion other than the contented peace that took turns calming and infuriating me. But for all the resonant power that thrummed in his voice, his hand and arm refused to solidify. In defiance of his command, ethereal insubstantiality took him, turned the entirety of his appearance to mist.

He straightened, raising his clenched hands in some struggle I couldn’t see. “Here is what you must do,” he said, but his face twisted as if torturers I couldn’t see worked to ensure his silence. “To defeat the Darkwater…”

A spasm twisted his face and he shook his head. Screams of pain tore their way from his throat as he yelled in a language I couldn’t understand and for a moment I saw the walls through him. He dropped his arms, his face etched with tears and enough sorrow to fill uncounted centuries. He shook his head in surrender.

“Ealdor!” I screamed. “Wait. I don’t understand.”

Then he disappeared.

Thanks Patrick!

Patrick W. Carr is the author of the acclaimed fantasy series The Staff and the Sword. A Cast of Stones won the 2014 Carol Award for Speculative Fiction and the 2014 Clive Staples Award. A Cast of Stones and The Hero’s Lot were both finalists for 2014 Christy Awards. Patrick teaches high school math and makes his home in Nashville, Tennessee, with his incredible wife, Mary, and their four sons. Learn more at www.patrickwcarr.com.

Relz Reviewz Extras
All Things Carr @ Relz Reviewz
Visit Patrick’s website and blog
Buy from Amazon: The Wounded Shadowor Koorong

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