A Warding Circle

The magical warding circle on the cover is called "Conjured Harm Returns to the Sender." A beautiful young artist struck by lightning in the Catskills shows the reader just how returning harm to the sender works in the New York art world, where jealousy, not talent, often decides the lives of artists like Artemisia.

The character of Artemisia is brilliantly drawn: she's funny and smart, and the reader empathizes with her plight throughout. Her razored sense of humor rubs other characters the wrong way, and we absolutely love her for it. But perhaps the book's most stunning achievement is the sharply drawn character of Nuala Gwilt... a woman who has somehow survived for decades in the male-dominated art world, and ... has the battle scars to prove it ... she displays her flesh wounds along with her fangs, so her contempt and jealousy of Artemisia come as no surprise.

-- Tommy Zurhellen, author of Armageddon, Texas