Our new release, Illumé is now available for sale through our website, or through your favourite online bookstore, in print and ebook formats.

It’s a lushly written urban fantasy, stand-alone but set within a richly detailed version of Paris that has lots and lots of understated backstory to it (and you can read another taste of Kate’s intertwined worlds at Smashwords for free). For all its wit and darkness and elaborate language, what truly sold me on this book were the incisive, full-bodied portraits of the female characters: lots of them, all flawed and living their own lives that don’t revolve around the hero, as charming and modest as he is. This is a gem of a book and Winterbourne is proud to present it.

Illumé by Kate Smith
Where there is light, there are shadows
Thane da Silva works for the Subrosa Negri, a secretive department charged with keeping the peace between the mundane and the Pale, those beings with a little touch of the supernatural in their genetic makeup. As the full blue moon casts a glow over Paris, Thane’s search for a pair of romantics performing a doomed ritual is just the beginning of an elaborate charade of mirrors and strange communiqués.

By turns macabre and whimsical, gothic and pop-cultural, Illumé will take you on a lavish journey into the shadows of the City of Light.

Learn more about this book, including places to buy, at the Illume information page. Via that link, you can read the opening chapters of the book online or as an ePub or pdf download.

Slated for release on December 12 is the next Winterbourne title, Illumé by Kate Smith. Set in Paris, City of Light, it follows ex-Interpol agent Thane da Silva, now working for a sort of supernatural-pest-control department, as he becomes embroiled in the investigation of an immortality ritual gone wrong and must turn to the powers-that-be in Paris for help.

Illumé is a beautifully gothic urban fantasy with pop culture references, whip-smart dialogue, and some laugh-out-loud moments of dark humour — in fact, even putting aside a few explicit Buffy references (who hasn’t had the “Spike or Angel?” conversation?), it reminded me of Joss Whedon’s works. All in a lush prose style designed to envelop you like a warm bath. As a taster, here’s a little excerpt that left this Aussie expat as homesick as if she’d heard that bloody Qantas song.

A rustle among the books drew Thane’s attention to their mistress seated cross-legged under the trestle table sagging beneath bibliomaniac battlements. ‘Are you okay?’

‘I want red meat.’

Thane stood firm against the quivering fierceness bound up in a ribbon-trimmed cardigan, a slate blue t-shirt featuring the characters from Mr Froggy Went A Courtin’ parading across the bosom, and a frothy confection of petticoats pretending to be a skirt. Bobbly blue knee-high socks completed her couture de jour. ‘If that’s all, I’ll get you red meat.’

‘I’m sure you can.’ An unrepentant flirt, Erica dimpled provocatively, sparks in her eyes lighting up the gloom under the table. ‘But you can’t get me saltbush mutton barbequed in the sun or the smell of a dry sclerophyll forest after rain. You can’t bring me the stomp of storms rolling in with the full force of the Roaring Forties behind, or the relief when the three-day northerly winds swing round. And don’t get me started on the stars.’

He heard the love in her voice, the possessive intent polishing her normally light accent to a sun-drenched shine.

‘You’re going home,’ Thane concluded.

‘Oh, yeah.’

Coming soon in print and digital formats, Illumé by Kate Smith.