The Ghosts of Blood and Innocence: The Third Book of the Wraeththu Histories (Wraeththu, 6)

The Wraeththu series is an underground classic, a perennial in Tor's trade paperback list. The Ghosts of Blood and Innocence brings the second trilogy of the series to a startling conclusion.

Set on a future Earth, where humanity has been replaced by a mutant race of hermaphrodites who call themselves Wraeththu, this second trilogy explores the shocking truths of their origins.

Two brothers, children of the rulers of the Wraeththu, are raised apart from each other--one in the luxuries of the city of Immanion, the other among a distant tribe. Each becomes a tool for mysterious forces who seek to overthrow the rulers of Earth. Their struggle is both powerful and mythic, and brings this cycle of Wraeththu history to a remarkable conclusion.

Storm Constantine has written over twenty books, both fiction and non-fiction and well over fifty short stories. Her novels span several genres, from literary fantasy, to science fiction, to dark fantasy. She is most well known for her Wraeththu trilogy (omnibus edition published by Tor), and a new set of novels set in the world of Wraeththu, beginning with The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure (Tor, 2003). Wraeththu are magical and sensual hermaphroditic beings, who when their story first began, almost twenty years ago, broke startling new ground in the often staid fantasy/sf genres.

Her influences include myth, magic and ancient history and the foibles of human nature. She uses writing and fiction to bridge the gap between mundane reality and the unseen realms of imagination and magic. She strives to awaken perception of these inner realms and the unexplored territory of the human psyche.

Aside from writing, Storm runs the Lady of the Flame Iseum, a group affiliated to the Fellowship of Isis, and is known to conduct group members on tours of ancient sites in the English landscape, in her husband's beat up old army Land Rover. She is also a Reiki Master/Teacher, has recently set up her own publishing company, Immanion Press, to publish esoteric books, and teaches creative writing when she gets the time.

Neil Gaiman, author of the Sandman series, once said: 'Storm Constantine is a mythmaking, Gothic queen, whose lush tales are compulsive reading. Her stories are poetic, involving, delightful, and depraved. I wouldn't swap her for a dozen Anne Rices!'