Spotlight & $10 GC Giveaway: Shadowslayers by Colin Sephton

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Colin Sephton will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

 

 

Description of Shadowslayers

 

When doppelgangers start appearing in Oxford, Union Jack agents Ignatius and Indigo find themselves on another cosmic quest, one they didn’t set out to investigate.

 

Drawn into the search for the elusive and dangerous Book of Shadows, they find themselves traveling across the cosmos once again, racing against other versions of themselves, and visiting the Oracle to be given prophecies of terrible destruction that will engulf the cosmos in darkness. Only these two heroes—or their doubles—can open the book, which would lead to dreadful consequences for themselves, the world and the whole of creation.

 

The agents must outwit their own mirror souls and invade the impregnable Administorium, which holds the answers they need but also fearsome enemies of both the Union Jacks and the entire cosmos. In this quest, Ignatius and Indigo must protect not only England and the Empire, but the world and the cosmos.

 

 

Read an Excerpt of Shadowslayers

 

The scene became liquid, and blackness enveloped all, circling everything in the room, like an archaic ghostly phantom made of deadly vapours, before giving way to the slightest of dim light in which Indigo could see the ancient crepuscular shadow deepen and fully form into the upper body of the Queen of Shadows. She had concealed herself and had escaped the destruction earlier and was now a phantom bent on revenge. Her beautiful face appeared before Ignatius and she kissed him, her blue lips locking on to his as she pulled him closer, her slender arm.

 

locked around his neck. He had no escape. She looked directly at Indigo and sneered. The queen knew this would hurt Indigo the most.

 

As the queen kissed Ignatius again, then withdrew her face, Indigo could see she was sucking the lifeforce from his rigid lifeless body, revealing her black fangs as she pulled back, black tendrils draped between them like foul saliva.

 

The queen was now fully formed, her naked body displayed, her legs wrapped around Ignatius like a succubus in the night. Black tattoos covered her body, and as she moved, so did the tattoos. They writhed and changed shape, sliding over her skin, caressing her, absorbing energy from her.

 

Indigo knew it was only a matter of time before Ignatius would be an empty husk, a living zombie.

 

Interview with Author Colin Sephton

 

What inspired you to come up with the idea for your book?

The book is the second book in a trilogy and is really quite dark compared to the first. I thought it was a natural contrast to the first book (Timeslayers). But the whole trilogy is really my thoughts on modern day science and ancient Vedic knowledge. The story plays out with a collection of beliefs that are very ancient but seem to be coming together as truth as modern day science develops. So, it deals with themes like consciousness, both individual, collective and cosmic consciousness, free will, the flow of time and the possibility we live in a multiverse.

 

When you’re not writing, what are you up to?

When I am not writing, I am usually painting or drawing. However, we also have a large garden that requires quite a bit of maintenance whilst it is still maturing. I can quite easily see why Monet mixed his gardening with his art. It’s really relaxing and gets you back into nature where all thoughts of anything else just melt away.

 

Do you have a favorite writing environment?

I like to work in my study. I have a desk surrounded on two sides with bookcases with a great mix of books. They contain lots of science books, poems by Blake, fantasy novels by lots of different writers, but my two favourite are Michael Moorcock and Robert E Howard. I also have lots of art books about the old masters like Turner, Monet, Da Vinci, Constable; lots of Marvel graphic novels like Thor, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, the Avengers, Silver Surfer, Thanos, lots of independent titles like the Magdalena and the Darkness. And then lots of fantasy art books by artists such as Roger Dean, Boris Vallejo and Frank Frazetta. These shelves are also interspersed with prayer wheels, singing bowls, fossils, minerals meteorites and scientific devices made from brass. This is where all my inspiration lies. However, I can work virtually anywhere because I do a lot of my writing in a notebook, on an iPad or a laptop. I write in coffee shops, hotels and even at the beach.

 

How do you go about choosing the names for your characters?

I draw a lot of inspiration from Hindu and Buddhist texts. I often use an online Sanskrit dictionary and choose a word that carries the meaning I want the character or artefact to represent. But really, I will use anything that I see fits but always try to make them easy to pronounce. There is nothing more annoying than reading a book when you can’t pronounce a character’s name, especially if it’s the main protagonist. But I have also used the name of a song for characters. The character called the Voice is named after an electronic song by the 80s band Ultravox.

 

What other books have you written?

This is the second book in a trilogy. The first was published in 2024 and is called Timeslayers, and the third is due to be published in November this year. So, it’s been quite a journey to create lots of ideas and characters.

 

Print or e-books–do you have a preference?

I don’t mind either and have both. But my real love is a physical book that I can hold and flick through, easily stopping at any page I want. I particularly love the old mass market paperbacks, they are so much smaller and easier to carry around than modern paperbacks.

 

About Author Colin Sephton

 

Colin was born in Coventry and worked in the automotive industry for over twenty years before becoming an Engineering teacher. Obtaining his first library card at the age of thirteen, he became an avid reader of Fantasy and the mysteries of the Universe. He has an inbuilt curiosity for lost knowledge and ancient texts that may help to unlock the secrets of consciousness and the universe. Living in Oxford for many years, he has now moved back to his home county of Warwickshire where he enjoys creating and working with his wife on their garden in which he writes and entertains their two grandsons. He has always been an artist and writer and is inspired by the worlds created by Robert E Howard and Michael Moorcock, with the artwork of Frank Frazetta.

 

 

 

 

Connect with Colin on Instagram at @timeslayers or @sephtonart

Find Colin’s website here: colinsephton.com

 

 

Colin Sephton will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

 

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