Ahira's Hangar

Patricia Briggs has two books out now (the third one will be out in the winter) about a character named Mercedes (Mercy). Thompson. The two books are called Moon Called and Blood Bound and if you see them please disregard the ugly covers, as they have little to nothing to do with the contents of the books!

Now then, Mercy is half Native American and she inherited a heckuva legacy from the father who passed on before she was born - she is a walker. This means that she is a born shape changer, and go can back and forth between human and coyote at will. She is not any sort of were - this is a completely different genetic ability. Along with the shape changing, she has other abilities that she has only begun to explore - such as being able to see ghosts.

Her unwed teenaged mother was unable to deal a baby who sometimes turns into a coyote, so gave her to a distant relative's werewolf pack to raise. And, while wolves and coyotes do not normally get along, these wolves did the job well.

As an adult, Mercy is now a hard working and respected small business owner and college graduate. She owns a small garage, where she works on German imports, in eastern Washington state. As a supernatural with ties both to the local werewolf pack (another pack then the one that raised her - the alpha is her next door neighbor and friend) and the local group of vampires (through a friendship with the vampire Stefan), the fae (the being she bought the garage from is a metal smith of the fae and is still a friend who helps out in the garage occasionally) and a friend on the local police force, this little coyote girl sometimes finds her life to be pretty complicated!

A plus - Mercy is both celibate (very rare in horror/fantasy cross over novels these days, and something to be cherished - she has two men interested in her, but will not sleep with either one until she figures out her feelings and can commit herself to one of them) and a practicing Christian (a positive portrayal of any religion is also increasingly rare in horror fantasy crossovers these days). Like our own Danlo, she dislikes crucifixes as to her they symbolize the execution and torture of an innocent man - so on her necklace she wears a sheep - for the Lamb of God.

I really enjoy the character of Mercy, and her world. I am really looking forward to that third book!