And Blue Skies From Pain

It’s November of 1977: The punk rock movement is a year old and the brutal thirty-year war referred to as “The Troubles” is escalating.

According to Irish tradition, the month of November is a time for remembrance of the dead. Liam Kelly, in particular, wishes it were otherwise. Born a Catholic in Londonderry/Derry, Northern Ireland, Liam, a former wheelman for the Provisional IRA, is only half mortal. His father is Bran, a puca — a shape-shifting, ghostlike creature — and a member of the ancient Fíanna.

Liam must dodge both the Royal Ulster Constabulary, who want him for the car bombing that killed Constable Haddock, and the Provisional IRA, who want him for the deaths of Éamon Walsh and several others found ripped apart in a burned down farmhouse in Armagh. Fortunately for Liam, both the Ulster Constabulary and the Provisional IRA think he’s dead. On the other hand, the Militis Dei — a group of Roman Catholic priest-assassins, whose sole purpose is to dispose of fallen angels and demons found living on this earth — is very aware that Liam is alive, and very aware of his preternatural parentage.

With the help of his unlikely ally Father Murray — a Militis Dei operative who has known Liam since childhood — he must convince the Church that he and his fey brethren aren’t demonic in origin, and aren’t allied with The Fallen.