The protagonist is Ashley, the little girl from #ThunderbirdFalls, 20 years
“I had a grenade launcher. I wasn’t supposed to, of course. Nobody was, especially since the country-wide crackdown after the election riots when I was seventeen.”
The story was written in 2012 and was a deliberate (given the Walker Papers timeline) reference to the 2016 elections, and I kept the line even though it made my editor say it seemed like the future of Jo’s world had gotten very dark.
Yeah, well. Jo’s world got the magic back, and we got the Minority Vote President, so I’m not sure hers is as dark as ours.
CE Murphy began writing around age six, when she submitted three poems to a school publication. The teacher producing the magazine selected (inevitably) the one she thought was by far the worst, but also told her–a six year old kid–to keep writing, which she has. She has also held the usual grab-bag of jobs usually seen in an authorial biography, including public library volunteer (at ages 9 and 10; it’s clear she was doomed to a career involving books), archival assistant, cannery worker, and web designer. Writing books is better.
She was born and raised in Alaska, and now lives with her family in her ancestral homeland of Ireland.
Ashley is all grown up and is non magical but it doesn't stop her from fighting magical beings. She hear a tale of such things and goes to investigate. She determines it is a Sumerian demon and calls Joanne but doesn't wait. Read what happens next
Jo’s little friend Ashley has grown up, but she never became a cop, going into the military instead. Since she has no magic, she got a degree in anthropology and mythologies and uses that to assist Jo in taking care of the environment.
Though this takes place twenty years after Shaman Rises it contains no significant spoilers. Just enjoy.
Footnote: 1) Did some research on the sub-woofer/mosquito thing and it’s not as effective as smell-based (citronella, etc.) methods. Darn it.
Fave scenes: the milkshakes and fighting the golems.