Release Date: February 2010 ISBN: 978-0425233054 Returning characters: Lily Yu, Rule Turner, Grandmother Check out the BLOOD MAGIC bookshelf page

BLOOD MAGIC excerpt: Chapter 1

On a blistering noon at the tag-end of July, Balboa Park in San Diego offered plenty of green to sun-weary eyes.  The paths in the Palm Canyon section were some of the park’s prettiest byways, though shade was scant now.  With the sun directly overhead, it was reduced to furtive puddles at the feet of the palms’ arcing trunks.

Release Date: January 2010 ISBN: 978-0425231975 Returning characters: Rule and Lily Check out the "Human Nature" bookshelf page

"Human Nature" excerpt: Chapter 1

“Sorry I’m late,” Lily called as she sped for the stairs. “I need to shower and change, but I’ll hurry.”

“They’ll hold the reservation.”

The man who’d spoken came out of the dining room that bridged the parlor with the kitchen. His black dress shirt was unbuttoned at the neck. His black dress slacks broke at just the right point on his black shoes. His hair stopped just short of black, being mink brown, thick, and a bit long for current fashion. He had a lean face, sharp-featured, with a sensuous mouth and eyes the same color as his hair. The dark slashes of his eyebrows mirrored the pitch of his cheekbones.

Release Date: February 2009 ISBN: 978-0425225523 Returning characters: Lily Yu, Rule Turner, and Rule's son Toby Check out the MORTAL SINS bookshelf page

MORTAL SINS excerpt: Chapter 1

Southern air holds on to scent. Scent is vapor, after all, a chemical mist freed by heat to hang, trapped, in moist air. In his other form, Rule knew this.

In this form he knew only the richness. His world was more scent than sight as he raced through silver-shadow woods, through air heavy with moisture and fragrance. Layers and layers of green overlaid the complex stew of water from a nearby stream with its notes of kudzu, rock, and fish. Rhododendron’s subtle vanilla scent jumbled with moss, with dogwood and buckeye and the sugary scent of maple, punctuated by the cool tang of pine.

But it was the musk, blood, and fur scent of raccoon he chased.

A three-quarter moon hung high overhead as he leaped the stream, muscles reaching in exhilarated approximation of flight. He landed almost on top of the prey—but his hind feet skidded in slick red clay. A second later, the raccoon shot up a tree.

Release Date: January 2007 ISBN: 978-0425213445 Returning characters: Rule, Lily, Cynna, Cullen, Grandmother... Check out the BLOOD LINES bookshelf page

This is a scene that didn’t make it into the final version of BLOOD LINES, but was originally part of the prologue.

Release Date: January 2008 ISBN: 978-0425220153 Returning characters: Cynna Weaver, Cullen Seabourne, Lily Yu, Rule Turner--and Gan, who used to be a demon, Kai, and Nathan Check out the NIGHT SEASON bookshelf page

NIGHT SEASON excerpt: Prologue

In the east, dawn smeared a promise across the inky sky, but air and earth were dark yet. At an abandoned house just outside Midland, Texas, a pair of headlights shut off. A man and a woman climbed out of a 2005 Toyota Corolla.

“I keep thinking we’ve forgetten something,” the woman said as she popped the trunk. She was tall and angular, with a runner’s build and with strong shoulders—not pretty, but more striking than some. She wore jeans, hiking boots, and a dark sweater; no maekup. Her hair was long and straight, a medium brown, her skin an indeterminate tan that looked more Anglo than not, but she had the broad, high cheeks and strong nose of her mother’s people, the Diné. Navajo, as outsiders named them. “I always forget something.”

Release Date: January 2007 ISBN: 978-0425213445 Returning characters: Rule, Lily, Cynna, Cullen, Grandmother... Check out the BLOOD LINES bookshelf page

BLOOD LINES excerpt: Chapter 6

The inhabitants of Los Lobos didn’t see many visitors from los Estados Unidos.  U.S. tourists went to the province’s capital, Morelia, or to Patzcuaro, near the beautiful lake of the same name.  A few made it down to Playa Azul for surfing.  But there was little to draw them along the highway that skirted the coast to a tiny fishing village, so the pale-skinned man sitting on the patio in front of the village’s only café attracted a lot of attention.

He was probably used to that.  No one who looked the way he did could have passed through life without drawing many eyes.  Especially female eyes.

Pity he was crazy.