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Through Violet Eyes by Stephen Woodworth
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Through Violet Eyes by Stephen Woodworth
Mass Market Paperback $7.99
Aug 31, 2004 | ISBN 9780553803372

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    Aug 31, 2004 | ISBN 9780553803372

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Product Details

Praise

“Chilling . . . shades of Minority Report and The Eyes of Laura Mars . . . tantalizing puzzle rife with red herrings, one made all the more entertaining by brisk pacing and strong internal logic.”Publishers Weekly

“A fast, smart novel, brighter than a meteor and twice as scary. Stephen Woodworth provides shocks and thoughts in equal measure, and climbs right to the top!”—Greg Bear

“Wow . . . one cool idea and Stephen Woodworth makes it work like fine oiled machinery. Full of energy and suspense, Through Violet Eyes is a great and original first novel. I look forward to his next.”—Joe R. Lansdale

“An eerie and compelling page-turner that maps the terra incognita between the living and the dead, loss and redemption, desire and grief, at the same time exploring what it means to be human in a frightening otherworld that too closely evokes our own reality.”—Elizabeth Hand

Author Q&A

Stephen Woodworth

The idea for Throught Violet Eyes occurred to me after watching far too many true-crime shows on cable. Inevitably, whenever these shows depict an unsolved cold case file, the host will come on at the end and in a grim, hard-boiled baritone say something like "The only people who will ever really know what happened on that fateful night are the killer . . . and the victims." And I got to wondering: What if a detective could interview a murder’s ultimate witness? Indeed, what if this became standard procedure, and victims could even accuse their killers in court? Could someone still get away with murder in such a world? Would the dead be any more reliable than a living witness? Or would they merely add their own prejudices, misconceptions, and hidden agendas to a homicide investigation?

I also wondered about the psychics giftedor cursedwith the ability to channel these lost souls. What would it be like for them to experience the final torment and anguish of a killer’s prey firsthand, not just once, but again and again and again? How would they live with such a burden?
From such speculation were born the Violetsa group of violet-eyed mediums, rare genetic anomalies who are prized by society for their abilities yet shunned as freakish reminders of human mortality.

As I started writing, I began to contemplate the dramatic possibilities offered by a world in which the door between the living and the dead is left open. Here is an alternate reality in which one could buy a freshly painted Picasso or a CD of a symphony that Beethoven composed from beyond the grave. A place where the dead can guide avaricious archaeologists to hunt for hidden treasure. A world in whichfor a priceone could make amends with estranged family members who have passed on.

I explore these possibilities and others in Throught Violet Eyes, its sequel With Red Hands (02/05), and future volumes in the Violet series. This world has captivated my imagination, and I hope it will also have you wanting to see "through Violet eyes" for years to come.

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