Jeri Smith-Ready

Wicked Game

Author: Smith-Ready, Jeri
Format: Trade Paperback
Type: Novel
Page Count: 384pp.
Pub. Date: May 13, 2008
Publisher: Pocket Books
Links: WVMPradio.com (Due to go online soon in early 2008)

Recovering con artist Ciara Griffin is trying to live the straight life, even if it means finding a (shudder!) real job. She takes an internship at a local radio station, whose late-night time-warp format features 1940s blues, 60s psychedelia, 80s Goth, and more, all with an uncannily authentic flair. Ciara soon discovers how the DJs maintain their cred: they’re vampires, stuck forever in the eras in which they were turned.

Ciara’s first instinct, as always, is to cut and run. But communications giant Skywave wants to buy WMMP and turn it into just another hit-playing clone. Without the station — and the link it provides to their original Life Times — the vampires would “fade,” becoming little more than mindless ghosts of the past. Suddenly a routine corporate takeover becomes a matter of life and un-death.

To boost ratings and save the lives of her strange new friends, Ciara re-brands the station as “WVMP, the Lifeblood of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” In the ultimate con, she hides the DJs’ vampire nature in plain sight, disguising the bloody truth as a marketing gimmick. WVMP becomes the hottest thing around — next to Ciara’s complicated affair with grunge vamp Shane McAllister. But the “gimmick” enrages a posse of ancient and powerful vampires who aren’t so eager to be brought into the light. Soon the stakes are higher — and the perils graver — than any con game Ciara’s ever played . . .

Note:
This book was formerly titled Bad Company and is part of a two book deal sold to Pocket Books.

Voice Of Crow (Aspect of Crow #2)

Author: Smith-Ready, Jeri
Format: Trade Paperback
Type: Novel
Page Count: 464pp.
Pub. Date: October 1, 2007
Publisher: Luna

THE DEAD CRY OUT TO HER . . .

In pain, in fear, and in longing — with every passing Rhia hears the cries of the departed. This “gift” from the ancient and mysterious Crow gives Rhia an intimate connection to death. One that holds her soul hostage to enemies from the Other Side, even as her people are threatened by the enemies they call Descendents. But a new prophecy offers hope: Rhia’s infant son may hold the key to freedom.

And then he is stolen from her.

To save her family, protect her home, and reclaim her soul, Rhia will travel as far as she must. To the Descendants’ towering white city . . . or even to the Land of the Dead itself.

Eyes of Crow (Aspect of Crow #1)

Author: Smith-Ready, Jeri
Format: Trade Paperback
Type: Novel
Page Count: 480pp.
Pub. Date: November 1, 2006
Publisher: Luna

From the Editors of Barnes and Noble:
Mixing Native American folklore and mythology with romantic fantasy, Jeri Smith-Ready’s Eyes of Crow revolves around a courageous young woman who is forced to come to grips with her destiny — even if it means losing everything and everyone she holds dear.

In a society where everyone has a totem animal and some sort of related magical ability, Rhia is connected with the Spirit of Crow, which gives her the terrifying power to not only see the intimate details of a person’s death but also help their passage to the Other Side. But afraid to fully embrace her dark gift, it takes the tragic death of her mother to propel her towards her vocation — and a future that includes hateful fanaticism, carnage and a looming all-out war.

Heavily inspired by shamanistic philosophy — power animals, animal spirit guides, etc. — it’s no surprise that the Maryland-based author (and somehow, appropriately enough, Baltimore Ravens fan) is an avid animal lover, even fostering shelter dogs until they can be adopted. Bearing that in mind, any fantasy fan who enjoys novels strongly influenced by mythology and folklore (books written by Cecilia Dart-Thornton, Patricia A. McKillip, Juliet Marillier, C. E. Murphy, et al.) will enjoy this genre-blending hybrid, which is much more than just another romantic fantasy. The allegorical use of paganism and animism in particular underscores all-too-timely themes like religious prejudice, intolerance, environmentalism, etc. Like the aforementioned Dart-Thornton’s epic Crowthistle Chronicles, Smith-Ready’s Eyes of Crow is just the first installment in what could be an entertaining and profoundly moving series. Jean M. Auel meets Mercedes Lackey.

–Paul Goat Allen

Requiem for the Devil

Author: Smith-Ready, Jeri
Format: Trade Paperback
Type: Novel
Page Count: 396pp.
Pub. Date: April 15, 2001
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Set in modern-day Washington, D.C., Requiem for the Devil depicts the end of the Devil’s ten-billion-year career. For the first time in his existence, Lucifer falls in love, and this event threatens to transform his identity and perhaps even his destiny. Gianna O’Keefe is the woman who drags him out of his ancient despair and points him toward possible salvation. Yet Lucifer’s path from evil is neither straight nor smooth. Pursuing love means betraying his fellow fallen angels, the loyal friends who once followed him to damnation. Divine and infernal forces seem to conspire against his and Gianna’s union. Lucifer’s empire crumbles around him as he dares to defy the natural order and question his fate.