Baltimore Comic-Con Interview: Cerece Rennie Murphy

John F. Trent |

Oct 8, 2015

While much of Baltimore Comic-Con was focused around comics and graphic novels, there are a couple of booths dedicated to novels. One such booth was Cerece Rennie Murphy’s and we got a chance to talk to her about her Order of the Seers trilogy as well as her early reader children’s book Ellis and The Magic Mirror.

All photos are courtesy of Kate Todd Photography. You can find her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Editors Note: The following interview has been transcribed and edited for ease of reading.

BiC: Hey! Would you mind telling us a little bit about Order of the Seers?

Cerece: Hi, thank you so much for stopping by.

[easyazon_link identifier=”0985621001″ locale=”US” tag=”bounintocomi-20″]Order of the Seers[/easyazon_link] is about a group of people that can see the future and they are enslaved for that ability. The book is all about how they escape the organization that is trying to exploit their and how they reclaim their power and start fighting back.

There is lots of action, adventure, suspense, even a little romance in there too.

BiC: That sounds really fun and cool. You have about three different books out?

Cerece: Yup. It’s a trilogy and all the books in the trilogy are out. It’s a trilogy in the actual, factual meaning of that word. There is an ending at the third book and not a setup for another set of books.

BiC: It also looks like you have a kids book?

Cerece: Yes, I have an early reader children’s book.

BiC: Would you mind telling us a little bit about that?

Cerece: I’d love to. Thank you. It’s called [easyazon_link identifier=”0985621052″ locale=”US” tag=”bounintocomi-20″]Ellis and The Magic Mirror[/easyazon_link]. It’s about a little boy who discovers a magic mirror and finds out that there are trolls hanging out at his school trying to stop children from learning. So Ellis, his little sister, Freddye, and his best friend, Toro, go on an adventure to find out what the trolls are up to and stop whatever they have planned.

It’s designed with full color illustrations throughout the entire book, which is really different from most chapter books. It’s really designed to encourage the reader that is trying to make that leap from story book and all its awesome illustrations to chapter book.

Chapter books so often don’t have the illustrations that early readers kind of need to pull them into the story a little bit. We are happy to do that.

BiC: What inspired you to start writing that type of transitional book?

Cerece: Really my son asked me. My son last year was six years old and he wanted to read my first book in the Order of the Seers trilogy which is for ages 16 and up.

I said no sweetie, you can’t read that. He looks at me and says, “Can you write me a book that I can read?” I was so honored. I was like absolutely.

I asked him what he wanted in it. He said I want a skateboard, I want my penguin chirpie, and I want a good fight soon. Everything a little six year old boy would want.

I decided to put it together knowing that he was struggling in making that transition. Even though he could read chapter books. I asked him why aren’t you reading them, sweetie? Well Mommy, there’s so many words and no pictures.

So when he asked me to write him a book, I knew I was going to have a book with lots of pictures and a more challenging narrative. So that he could be excited and challenged at the same time.

BiC: That’s good. How do we get a hold of Order of the Seers if we want to purchase it if we aren’t here in Baltimore?

Cerece: You can go on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, all the usual suspects. Just type in [easyazon_link identifier=”0985621001″ locale=”US” tag=”bounintocomi-20″]Order of the Seers[/easyazon_link] and all the books will come up. All of the books are available in paper back and kindle. The first book is also available on audio book. I’m working on getting the other two available on audio book as well.

BiC: Thank you very much! It was great talking to you.

Cerece: Thank you so much!