What’s Next in Magiford?

It’s been fun covering Gate of Myth and Power, and again I am so grateful for all the support and love you Champions have shown Chloe and her new kingdom, but as we officially wind down the Magiford themed content, it’s time to address what everyone is wondering: What’s coming next in Magiford??

The next trilogy (which will launch December 2023) is about a character we’ve already met, Jade! She is a vampire slayer who was hired during the events of Queen’s Crown (that’s the third book of Leila’s series, Court of Midnight and Deception) to join the Curia Cloister’s task force.

Jade’s series takes place at the same year as Pip’s series, Pack of Dawn and Destiny, so we’ll be traveling back in time. (This also, notably, means her series takes place before Pat joins the task force.)

While we have not directly met Jade’s love interest, he has a history with some of the characters you know and love, and he also happens to be a vampire. (Yeeeeees, a vampire slayer and a vampire, the FUN we’re going to have, Champions! Buwahah!)

Due to the events that happen during this unnamed series, you’ll get to see Hazel and Killian, and more of the Drake vampires and Medeis wizards! So for those of you who were excited to see Josh in King’s Queen, the fun has only just started!

The last notable thing about Jade’s story is that it has nothing to do with the Paragon’s quest to find the missing elf princess. Jade’s series is a spin off series, and is more focused on Magiford as a city, but you’ll still see some of the major themes I’ve placed in all my Magiford books, and it’s going to have the same happy ending with humor and action guaranteed!

Quite a few of you picked up on Shiloh’s importance, and yes, she will be getting her own trilogy–which will finish out the Paragon’s Quest. At this time we don’t have any planned year for when Shiloh’s series will launch.

So that’s it for Magiford–for now, anyway! Thank you again, Champions, for your enthusiasm for Chloe’s series. I knew it was a bit of an odd premise for a story, so thank you for trusting me and giving this oddball Hades and Persephone a try.

Until next time, thanks for reading!

Character Profile: Noctus

Noctus is pretty tight lipped about himself for most of the series, so today I’m excited to share more of his character with you. Important: character profile posts do contain spoilers! If you haven’t read King’s Captive or King’s Shadow, I suggest you wait to read all Gate of Myth and Power character profiles until you finish!

Noctus

Noctus was a unique challenge to me because 1) He was an elf, a supernatural race I had established previously as being Bad 2) I didn’t set out to make him the overly doting pet parent, but holy moly did he go for it. Seriously, King’s Captive is me reigning in his character in that area. Thank goodness for Aristide, that’s all I can say!

I’m joking! (Sort of.) No, the other challenge to Noctus is that I needed to make him a good king, and make it reasonable that other elves are willing to follow him despite knowing that he fought and killed his own family, bringing an end to the era of the elves.

Noctus also needed to inspire fear because of his power and vast abilities. That’s how I set up elves in Magiford, and he needed to follow it. But Chloe is, frankly, a scaredy cat. If Noctus was as icy as Rigel, or as in-your-business as Greyson and Killian tend to be, she would have run, collar or not. So I had to walk the line of letting Chloe see a more gentle side to him underneath all the power and duty. (Gentle because there is nothing soft about Noctus, but he chooses to be gentle with those he trusts.)

This worked out well, because I wanted a Hades and Persephone retelling that didn’t smack of Stockholm syndrome–something that was particularly important to me after I did more research and essentially learned that Hades was probably the best king and husband out of the Greek list of gods as he was somewhat loyal and dutiful. (That is a pretty dubious distinction, though, as most of the Greek gods and goddesses could be source material for soap operas.)

Noctus’s softness towards his pet cat–and eventually Chloe–was a great way to round his character out, too. Without it, he was consumed with what he thought of as his reason for existing: to be the perfect king. He’s dutiful, concerned about his subjects well-being, and is very in tuned to their overall struggles, but because of his background of kingslayer—much less his notoriety from when he was the Crown Prince—Noctus automatically stands back and separates himself from others. Not because he’s paranoid, but because he believes it’s best given his reputation. Additionally, he’s willing to sacrifice anything–including what little shreds of personal happiness he has–for his people.

Ama—Chloe’s cat form—is the first being he’s willing to be selfish with, from expecting her to love him to his stubbornness in trying to pet her belly. Discovering Ama was Chloe was a mind-bender for him as there’s suddenly this person walking around that he previously had an expectation of affection for. Even more shocking for Noctus, Chloe didn’t shy away from him.  That position makes Chloe able to teach Noctus that it’s fine to approach others besides Charon, Aristide, and Ker. Despite everything Chloe knows from being Ama, she still reaches out to Noctus, which goes against everything he’s experienced and assumed.

So that’s Noctus: the perfect king, a take on Hades that reflects his dutiful character, and the crazy pet parent. Thanks for reading, Champions, and have a great day!

What to read after Gate of Myth and Power series?

Thanks to the Gate of Myth and Power series quite a few new Champions have been added to our forces! I’ve noticed many of you asking on Discord/Facebook what you should read after finishing Noctus + Chloe’s trilogy so I decided to make an official blog post about this topic.

My #1 Recommendation: This isn’t an actual book but make sure you’ve read all the bonus short stories I’ve written for the Gate of Myth and Power characters. The full list is on the Magiford freebies and extra page. I had so much fun writing these shorts as I really had a chance to let the side characters show off their humor. And the Surviving Magiford short story works great as a prequel so it’s perfect to read if you are trying to blackmail convince a friend to try this series. Ok, now I’ll switch to actually recommending books!

My#2 Recommendation: Read all the other Magiford series if you haven’t already as all of them are connected in some way to the Gate of Myth and Power series. Here, I’ll tell you a little about each one:

1. If you like Vampires or Wizards start with the Hall of Blood and Mercy series where you will meet the scrappy wizard Hazel who is on the run for her life and is taken in by the deadliest vampire (and his family) in the Midwest.

2. If you like stories starring Fae or if you want to see more of the Paragon then make sure to read the Court of Midnight and Deception trilogy. Join the reluctant Fae Queen Leila and her assassin consort (marriage of convenience is one of my favorite tropes and I got to include it in this series, yay!)

3. And finally, if you’d like more werewolves, or if you really liked the Elves versus Shadows dynamic, then check out Pack of Dawn and Destiny. Pip is an werewolf hunter who teams up with the Alpha of the pack she lives with to take down those who are trying to attack their pack and town.

My #3 Recommendation: I mentioned this earlier, but the Magical Beings’ Rehabilitation Center series, and go for the complete boxset which is currently on super sale right now! This paranormal series is in a different “world” than the Magiford books but it’s packed with some of the craziest characters I’ve written (and my best Twilight jokes!). The main character is in high school but it’s not a typical YA supernatural story and Morgan strives to keep a level head through as she quickly realizes every paranormal franchise has lied to her! I loved mixing the magical with the mundane in this series and it’s a world of mobster goblins, over-caffeinated hobgoblins, hemophobic vampires, mermaid receptionists, a baby dragon named Doggy, and don’t forget the mysterious and to-handsome-for-his-own-good Pooka named Devin.

My #4 Recommendation: If you are willing to try something that isn’t paranormal/urban fantasy then I have several series you could potentially choose from, so I suggest you take my Book Matchmaking Quiz to receive a targeted suggestion for what to read next. But here’s some really quick ideas to get you started:

1. If you want another fantasy series that has a more modern setting then try my Second Age of Retha series in which hundreds of players are stuck in a video game and need to break their way out before the game crashes. (You do NOT need to know or like video games to enjoy the series. Think of it as if a modern young woman got stuck in Middle Earth from Lord of the Rings with a bunch of her friends, that’s the kind of setting in this story.)

2. If you would rather go for an Epic Fantasy read then I suggest you try The Snow Queen trilogy which has both fairytale romance and magic fueled battles.

3. If you want Epic Fantasy but more romance then go for the Elves of Lessa, which is a series of standalones Epic Fantasy Romance books.

4. If you want more action read King Arthur and Her Knights, which retells the traditional story of King Arthur only my “Arthur” is a time traveling modern woman who Merlin convinces to play the part of the young King. IMPORTANT: There is no love triangle in this series, and on a personal note I HATE LANCELOT. This feeling is reflected deeply in my writing.

5. Of if you like fairy tales I have an 11 book series of standalone (but related) stories that is just what you are looking for! The Timeless Fairy Tales series has everything from Disney favorites (like Beauty and the Beast) to lesser know stories (like The Twelve Dancing Princesses) and many Champions have read them out of order so you can start with your favorite fairytale and go from there.
   

Whew, that was a lot, but I hope it helped! We still have one last Character Profile to go over (the long awaited Noctus!) and then I’ll be talking about what’s next for Magiford, so stay tuned and thanks for reading!