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The Beginning

The stories of the Chimera recount the adventures of four people who've spent their very different lives hiding some most astounding talents:

In the independencies of the Costa Drago, use of magic reaps a death sentence. But four sorcerers—a former courtesan, a professional duelist, a metalsmith, and an angry, illiterate youth—find purpose beyond simple survival. Calling themselves the Chimera, the four hire out their extraordinary talents to il Padroné — the Master — Cantagna's Shadow Lord, for missions of intrigue that ungifted spies would find impossible.

An Illusion of Thieves is the story of how these four came together and the strange mission that led them into this new life.

So why the window up top of this page? Because the Chimera stories have their foundation in the Independency of Cantagna - a city teetering between old ways and a vision of enlightenment. Where jealousies of privilege compete with more inclusive wealth. Where myths long codified in law and art just won't quite die out. Where plots and intrigues grow in the shadows...

Before us and on every side, the grandeur of Cantagna’s wealth rose in a magnificence of towers and spires, sculpted facades, and sprawling palaces. A gushing fountain centered the piazza. The monumental bronze depicted the god Atladu’s Leviathan drowning the kingdom of Sysaline on the day the beast washed the monster Dragonis out of the sky. Behind the fountain stood the Palazzo Segnori—the same venue my brother and I visited for his Quarter Day parole reports. The palazzo’s pillared loggia stretched left and right, and above it the harmonious rows of windows, like bright eyes ever open to the world. --An Illusion of Thieves

Read an an excerpt of An Illusion of Thieves.

Some reviews:

"Political intrigue, deceit, and forbidden talents...with a Mission Impossible vibe." --Booklist (starred review)

"...a lively, twisty tale of intrigue, theft, and double-crosses." --Kirkus Reviews

"A grand, romantic, fantastical adventure." --B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy blog

"Very tense and twisty [with] a world that feels broad and deep and believable... seriously compelling." --Locus Magazine

Certain prominent citizens of Cantagna have banded together to fund the assassination of Cantagna's longtime enemy, the brutal Tyrant of Mercediare. The Shadow Lord wants the list of their treacherous pledges found and destroyed before it can cause a storm of vengeance that would shatter the peace and prosperity of the entire Costa Drago. In the second adventure of the Chimera, A Conjuring of Assassins,Romy, Placidio, Neri, and Dumond draw on the limits of their magic to unravel a mystery of murder, vengeance, superstition, and divination with stakes that start high and grow more serious by the hour. An old friend from Romy's past and a memory-damaged stranger she drags from the river could be their downfall or the keys to their most difficult tasks.

Read an an excerpt of A Conjuring of Assassins.

View a map (sketch) of the City of Cantagna or a map (sketch) of the Costa Drago.

Read an interview with Cate at Fantasy Book Critic

After a long summer without word from their employer, a violent earthquake is but the first in a cascading series of circumstances that slam the four sorcerers of the Chimera from all sides:

* Romy's increasingly lurid and disturbing dreams.

* A gang of petty kidnappers with a menacing side business.

* Increasingly virulent anti-sorcery harangues from the Philosophic Confraternity, and heavier patrols by their grotesque, ever-present magic sniffers.

* The return of a mysterious friend with revelations about mystery and myth and dire warnings of an inescapable danger.

* Oh, yes, and there are demons...

Read an an excerpt of A Summoning of Demons.

Browse an updated Glossary and Pronunciation Guide for the Chimera World.

Colorado Humanities and Center for the Book announced that An Illusion of Thieves has won the 2020 Colorado Book Award for fantasy/science fiction. Colorado Book Awards are given out every year for excellence in books published in the previous year by Colorado authors, artists, and photographers.