Witch Faith

by Narrelle M. Harris

Magda her three friends—also witches —are recovering from injuries sustained in a recent civil war. Sylvia seems to have lost her powers completely, and Leenan is stuck in the body of a dragon. Only Tephee is physically recovered, but she has changed in other ways. Confusion is added to the war’s aftermath by the arrival of Sebastian, an Arc priest who worships the space-faring founders of this world. He has reports of an “Arc vessel” which has crashed on Marin Kuta, an island off the west coast. Magda suspects the vessel may be a spaceship from Earth and determines to find it, seeking medical treatment for her injured friends. Marin Kuta was originally home to the Leylites, Earth-Mother worshippers who revere witches and are brutally persecuted by the Arc priests.

Despite the danger, the witches decide to investigate. They are accompanied by Sebastian, who is convinced that Magda has been sent to heal the rift between the two religions, and Cadogan Ho, a Leylite refugee from Marin Kuta who is now sergeant of the Castle Guard. The witches meet with awe and love as they travel—but also with fear and hatred. And death.

Genres: Fantasy

295 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

I grew up in a home bursting with books. My father was in the Royal Australian Air Force – we moved roughly every three years – and my parents were passionate advocates of reading and the importance of access to a library of ideas, no matter where we lived.

Between a childhood spent on the move yet steeped in literature, and a naturally dramatic personality, it’s no surprise I became a storyteller.

At home, and at libraries all over Australia, I read everything from Little Golden Books to The World Book Encyclopaedia. As my family moved so frequently, my companions wherever I went were the Pevensies of Narnia, a horse named Flicka and the Hardy Boys. I grew up with the characters created by Diana Wynne Jones as they too learned independence and responsibility. Miss Marple and the Dragonriders of Pern were always at my side.

Writers like Eric Frank Russell and Lois McMaster Bujold were as influential on my character and my writing as surely as Shakespeare and the Brontes. I’m still always picking up new influences, from modern writers like Emily Larkin and Neil Gaiman as well as classics by PG Wodehouse and Arthur Conan Doyle.

Before you figure I am always and forever reading, I’m a traveller too. My early years spent moving from state to state led to itchy feet. After moving out of the family home, I lived in Perth, then met Tim Richards and we decided to have adventures of our own. We moved to Egypt to teach English as a Foreign Language, then went on to Poland.

After we finished teaching, we kept travelling: we’ve been to the UK and US, to Thailand, Germany, Hungary, Syria, Jordan, France, Italy, Slovenia, Czech, and Canada – and we’re not done travelling yet.

The places I’ve visited – London, Hungary, Canada – often appear in my work, but the home of my heart is the place I write about most often.

Melbourne, Australia. The town we chose to live in always. The city I love so much she is practically a character in her own right in books like The Opposite of Life and short stories like Near Miss. I even researched the Marvellous Melbourne of the 1890s for my Holmes♥Watson romance, The Adventure of the Colonial Boy.

Given my background and all my literary influences, it’s hardly astonishing that my storytelling is eclectic: crime, adventure, fantasy, horror and romance – separately or combined.

For all the different genres I write in, everything I write generally includes the same tone and the same type of themes. They are full of the families one is born with and the families we make for ourselves. The protagonists all face challenges they’ve made for themselves as well as external threats that test them. They’re full of people who’ve made mistakes who seek to learn and to make better choices.

Whether you’re reading a vampire adventure in modern Melbourne, a Holmesian mystery in London or a racy lesbian romance in the Middle East, you’ll find humour, heart, friendships and love.

Awards

Jane: In 2017, my ghost/crime story Jane won the Athenaeum Library’s Body in the Library prize at the Scarlet Stiletto Awards, hosted by Sisters in Crime Australia.

Other nominations and shortlistings include:

Fly By Night (nominated for a Ned Kelly Award 2004)
Witch Honour (shortlisted for the George Turner Prize as Witching Ways in 1998)
Witch Faith (shortlisted for the George Turner Prize in 1999)
Walking Shadows (Chronos Awards; Davitt Awards in 2012)

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Narrelle's erotica published as NM Harris is listed on Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...