Ancients of Light

Ancients of Light

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Hot Halloween Heroes Giveaway Hop

The Hot Halloween Heroes Giveaway Hop is hosted by the fabulous Felicity Heaton and Indie Romance Books and will run from October 29th to November 3rd, 2013.  The Giveaway Hop celebrates the paranormal heroes - incubi, vampires, werewolves, angels, gods, sexy shifters...and all the other hot paranormal creatures you can imagine.

I simply refer to all the above as Yumtastic! It is getting close to Halloween...and who would not want to find themselves under the spell of one hot Witch or mesmerized by a delicious Vampire. In the Realm, either is possible.  

What makes supernatural heroes so much more appealing than the average male? In this Witch’s opinion, EVERYTHING, but if we have to name a few...

Immortality – who doesn’t want to live happily ever after…FOREVER…with a hot male that is never going to get old and paunchy.  No ear hair, no balding…think about it. 

Powerful  - better, stronger, faster  and there is nothing bionic about these men. Can you say stamina with a capital ‘S’, and what female doesn’t want a total badass to protect her (even if she is perfectly capable of protecting herself).

Intense, honorable, intelligent, loyal…and these guys love you with a fierceness that will steal your breath.

No further explanation needed, right?

Our giveaway here in the Realm includes a set of the first three books in the Ancients of Light series (Chosen, Forsaken & Broken) and a $10 giftcard for Amazon.com.

Thanks to Felicity & Indie Romance Books for putting us all together with our favorite Halloween Hotties. 


Please scroll on down to the bottom of the post for links to all participating blogs.


Happy Haunting!! 
XOXO


Powered by Linky Tools
Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list...

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Witchspeak from the Realm, 1 Year Later (almost)

I began the Fangs & Broomsticks blog in February 2013 and honestly, it seems like forever ago.  I am thrilled to be doing another Q&A on the Realm as follow-up to the original Witchspeak 101 that kicked off the blog almost eight months ago.

I am going to jump into the questions because they are good ones (as a disclaimer – the main content of the questions is the same as submitted, I adjusted and/or truncated some of the text for clarification for the blog in some questions). 

From Rachel - 
Can you explain why and how Turloch became a Dark? Since he isn't an Ancient to my knowledge, who are his parents? Are you born darkness or does the environment you are raised in determine if you become a Dark? Where did your inspiration come from for him?

I can always count on Rachel to make me think.  The questions above were raised when I posted on the Ancients Facebook page a rather hot picture that made me think of Turloch along with the indication that in Alia's story, I would be going back to the beginning, and it would include the time before Turloch became Dark.

In Forsaken, I actually do make reference to the fact that Turloch is an Ancient and that he lived in the time of the Ancient Queens.  He is one of the original created Witch, so he has no parents. 

One of the premises behind the series is that the Ancients- both Witch and Vampire – were created with the same flaw (or not, depending on your perspective) as humans – free will.  While the Witch were created in the Light and the Vampire were conceived in the Darkness of Hell and their purposes were instilled in them at the time of creation, neither breed was restricted from choosing a different path.

In Chosen, Kaitriana makes reference to the fact that Turloch hated Brisen and all of the Queens. That idea is more fully explained in Mistaken and I do not want to dive into it too deeply, but the reasons for those feelings are revealed (whether justified or not.) I will say that there may be a couple of happenings in his life that push him into full Darkness – those \will be explored more in the 4th book.

As far as inspiration for Turloch – I cannot think of one character in fiction or a single person in real-life that came into play when I created him in my head.  I needed a smart protagonist, an evil Witch that would be fierce enough to hold his own in a Realm of Dark Vampire and with Rhydach. Turloch came to life as that, and he has continued to evolve and develop in complexity (in my head) as he comes into more prominence in the series.  He is dynamic, and somewhat fascinating, and while I do not expect many will be wishing for him to have a change of heart by the end, he might have a few readers longing for him to reconsider his Dark ways.  He is intelligent and charming, but his soul is black and ultimately, his fate is already set…and it will be a great storyline for him by the time all is done. 


From Angel - 
Ok so I know Kat is the Queen of Queens and Ella is the Fire Queen but what is Kylie the Queen of?  Also since there are only 7 different Castes will the other Queens be Vampire? I mean there are supposed to be 13, correct? I’m sure that Kat is included in the 13 so that would leave 5 Queens that would not be Witch. Can you talk about these without giving anything away?

You are correct, there are 13 books already plotted for this series.  There are also a few novellas, so at first glance, the numbers do not add up if every book features a Queen.  There are only 7 Castes. The ‘Queen’ designation began in Ancient times as a title for the most powerful Witch in each Caste (which just happened to be a female – because women are awesome). Kat is the Queen of Queens, but again, that means the rise of 8 Queens total – so 8 books, series over. 

But…

Each book will not feature a newly risen Queen in a Caste.  Kylie was the first example of this – she is not a Queen, but she is very important to the Light’s purpose. In Broken, Kylie is given a very special designation of her own.  This will be a concept that you will see develop and grow over the remainder of the series…watch for it, it is key.


From Candy – 
We have the Queen of Queens aka The Chosen, a Fire Queen, and the Nature Queen. What are the other Castes the Queens come from?

There are seven Castes of magic in the Witch breed – Fire, Nature, Light, Seer, Spell Casters, Healers & Warrior. There is more information about the Castes on the Ancients website on the info page:  http://www.ancientsoflight.com/info.html; the powers are described a bit more there, as well as a bit more information about the Realm in general.


From Theresa –  
If the Realm is in Europe and modern Europe is heavily populated, what prevents humans from wandering through it? AFAIK, there are no vast tracts of unknown Europe.

In Broken, Kat explains to Kylie that …“Laverock and certain other structures in the Realm are so well protected by magic they could never be discovered by humans, but there are places where we co-mingle with the mortals and they are never the wiser. Other holdings are in plain sight, but are so magically enchanted that the ongoings of the Realm remain hidden. We clean up as best we can when the cloak of magic is breached, but no doubt much of the lore surrounding Witch and Vampire in human culture has been derived from encounters where we did not fix things quite as well as we believed.”

Based on my research, there are still vast areas in mainland Europe that are unpopulated, or sparsely populated. The areas are not necessarily undiscovered they are simply so well protected that access to them is restricted completely – humans would not be able to wander into them, (such as Laverock) -  or they are in plain sight, but supernatural happenings are cloaked by magical means.  Any human looking upon them would see nothing beyond the appearance of normalcy, whatever the Witch choose to project. 

It is part of the duty of the Witch to protect the humans from both the knowledge of the supernatural world and the Darks.


From Sharon - 
Over the years who would be the one person who had the greatest positive influence in Lorcan’s life? Was it a mortal? A great leader perhaps? Not necessarily family or close friends - excluding Kat. 

We all know that Lorcan had a strained relationship with his father. You will learn more about the dynamic between Brisen and her sons in Mistaken, but she was not the greatest positive influence in Lorcan’s life either.  Lorcan would tell you that Sayer remains the greatest positive influence in his life.  Lorcan is an incredible warlord with a Warrior’s mindset while his brother has always been more thoughtful, more deliberate, and less volatile. He is a great counter to Lorcan’s temper and unyielding persona. Before Kat, Sayer was the greatest voice of reason and is by far the most intellectual of the Elite.  Sayer is not only his brother, but his most trusted advisor, along with Colm.  Those are the two he most often seeks for counsel. 

Second to Sayer would be Maeve. I cannot tell you too much of the dynamic that exists between them without giving away more of Maeve’s story, but sufficed to say, she was the first female to show him that a female is fully capable of being a Warrior and having a generous spirit and giving heart.  He had a special fondness for Maeve when he was a child, and despite the overbearing, domineering lout he became over the centuries before Kat’s appearance in his life, he has always held admiration and love for Maeve.


From Sharon –   
I have another question. Kat lost her parents at a young age, and we know her father was a force to be reckoned with, and we know her mother was Brisen's BFF, but we really don't know much about them. So, with that intro.....what would be Kat's favorite memory of her parents?

Kat spent much of her youth and young adulthood training on Warrior skills with her father.  Her favorite memories of Elfred would be around those times. 

Since Vevila was a Healer, she was not often called to battle; she had a lot of time at home with Kaitriana when she was a child, while Elfred, Myrrdyn and the others were at war. Kaitriana learned her heritage, the lifestyle and culture of the Witch breed, and received basic instruction on healing and magic from her mother. Vevila, with her gentle spirit and kind heart was also a balance against the haughty arrogance that Kat was exposed to regularly with her powerful grandpapa. Her favorite memory of Vevila revolved around those times and would almost certainly have something to do with wrangling spiders. 

Kaitriana was close to her parents and had much affection for them, despite that they were not typical Witch and preferred to not associate with the faction regularly. She gained much of her free spirit and independence from them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you to everyone that posted questions on the Realm, and please continue to post your questions about the series and the books either here or on the Facebook page.  I love to talk about the characters and their stories.  Thank you also for your ongoing support of the series – I am having so much fun and am so happy to have found so many of you that are having fun in the Realm as well.

XOXO
~Heather


Saturday, October 5, 2013

Me, Myself & the Realm...Defending Lorcan, Part II...More Thoughts on the Series

In March of this year I posted a blog about 'Defending Lorcan.' It explained a lot about Lorcan, what drives him, Kat, and the series specifically.

I believe there is little room in the middle of the continuum - the majority of readers love him or hate him.

The series has become much more popular in recent months (thanks to all of you that are fans!) and with that I have seen a rise in Lorcan-hate. I thought it might be a good idea to put a bit more information out in general about the series for those that have not discussed the-good-and-bad-of-Lorcan with me over on my Facebook page.

My favorite romance genre has always been historical - give me a hot Scottish Laird or a surly English Lord that meets his match in a sweet, sassy, smart female and I am over the moon.  Given that the 16th, 17th & 18th centuries were my favorite time periods (if you have read much historical romance around those eras), you probably have a good idea where I get the flavor for overbearing (at times to the point of appallingly dominant and chauvinistic) males.

While we women may have always been equals - it took some boys a bit to catch on to that - we were not always treated as equals, no matter how smart, adept, or utterly amazing we might be.  In the fiction that I love, the heroes ALWAYS end up being smarter than the general society of their time; no matter how powerful, strong, surly, egotistical, unyielding, etc. they might be in the beginning, they cannot help but come around from those ingrained misogynistic behaviors because the most incredible women happen to love them.

Can you see where I am going here?

Lorcan is over 2500 years old when Chosen begins.  He was born and raised in hulking-male-not-considerate-of-women era, and then lived through centuries of the same.

You will note, in Chosen, I mention that Vampire tend to get caught up in eras that had significant meaning to them. Lorcan's significant era was when Kaitriana died - 500 years ago. When Kaitriana comes back, he has been conducting his life with a mindset of a circa-1500 AD European male for @5 centuries. Men of that era were certainly not known for their enlightenment on the topic of women. On top of that, he is a hardened warlord...and an arrogant Vampire. As such, while Lorcan does not treat Kaitriana like property or beat her, he is not going to respond to her and her antics like we would expect a man to today.  

In that first 'Defending Lorcan' post, I mentioned that he and Kaitriana both needed time to grow into the roles that were destined to be theirs - he as mate to the prophesied Chosen and she as a mature ruler of the Realm.

For that reason, their story continues through the series.

I never expected Lorcan would resolve all his man-issues in the matter of months in which Chosen takes place, nor fully resolve them by the time Forsaken ends.  He is beginning to come around quite nicely by the time Broken concludes - but he still has his moments.

I also mentioned in that 'Defending' post, and again above, that Kaitriana also needed time to grow into her role.  I can hardly fathom that it would be great fiction for a mid-twentyish female that has been asleep for 500 years to wake up and in the matter of a few months be completely able to competently manage the entire workings of the Realm that has been at war for thousands of years.

Forget believability, where is the fun in that?  Kat needs to grow into the role and just because she has not done it by the end of Chosen does not mean that there is not more to come, or that the role that she purportedly was to play in the series was misconstrued.  I know where the series is headed - all 13 books are already plotted, so trust me - before the end, this series features a group of smart, strong, supernatural women...and the men they allow to tag along for the ride.

On my social media sites and all book pages, in order to try to clarify this at least a little, I have today added the following additional series information:

About the Ancients of Light series
Chosen is the first in the thirteen books of the Ancients of Light series and is only the beginning of a young Witch’s journey toward developing both the strength of character and magic that will be required to fulfill her prophesied role as leader of the Light faction.

Revelations of nuances in the Prophecy - facets that were never fully comprehended by the Ancients - will continue in successive stories. The culmination of its true meaning in the destiny of the supernatural world of the Realm will only be revealed when Kaitriana is adequately prepared to lead the Warriors now being called together to champion the Light’s purpose.


Familiar characters return for each storyline as the focus turns to a new key couple in every book - a pair that significantly factors into the purpose of Light – however, the story of the Chosen does not end with Book #1.  Kaitriana and Lorcan, their growth together as partners in leadership and in love as a couple, will thread through the series as Kaitriana assumes the role that was destined as hers since the beginning.

I hope that helps clarify a bit more where I intend to take the story of Kat and the series.  I noticed after the release of Forsaken that there was some initial disappointment from some fans that the entire 13 book series would not focus on Kat and Lorcan.  I always believe that more information is better and I have been remiss in releasing additional information about the direction of the series.  I felt, after seeing some of the feedback, that it was time I correct that situation.  

I am sure as I publish more books in the series, I will tweak information, and I will make a concerted effort moving forward to put more information about sooner than later, because I want to eliminate any confusion for readers. I definitely do not want people to buy my books if they are not what they are looking for in a new read.  There are just simply too many great new authors out there to spend time reading something that is exactly the opposite of what you enjoy.  

I am putting this out here only because I want people to understand the series, the dynamics and that there is much more to the Kat/Lorcan story than has yet been written.  I have 10 more books in the series...Kat cannot possibly refrain from inserting herself smack into the middle of each and every one.  

XOXO

Heather

Ancients of Light