Magiford Universe: Calor Villa Elves

Today we’re going to talk about elves, and specifically their magic since it’s the very heart of this proud and powerful race.

To begin with, when I started thinking of the various magic systems I would need for the Magiford world, I wanted to make magic feel vastly different between the various species. Holy hills, did I sweat over the elves.

Firstly, I knew I needed my elves to be powerful, but I also knew from the get-go that I wanted them to believe that wizards were magic’s favorite, so I had to shape two distinctly different magics that both had huge possibilities while making it seem like human magic isn’t as flashy/cool as even fae magic.

Additionally, I knew I needed elf magic to have what they would view as a great weakness—which would explain why they coveted human magic so much.

I settled on making elven magic song/sound based instead of sensation based like it is for all our wizard/human heroines, and having their strength be greatly affected by their personal emotions. Sadness would put magic out of their reach, making it impossible to use, while anger would make magic almost uncontrollable and dangerous to the wielder.

This would be plenty to make the arrogant elves upset. First of all, because it meant they weren’t infallible and even the most powerful of elves could fall, and second of all because—as arrogant as they were—they would never like admitting they had feelings.

I also decided that elves would also be the only race that would have different types of magic, specifically the elven royal family specialties, like the Auron family’s tattoos/summoning, and the Mors’ ability to use super-powered artifacts like Destruction.

Believe it or not, the hardest part about the magical weapons was keeping them amazing and cool. I had to work desperately hard to keep any weapon transformations from being something closer to a Japanese anime magic girl transformation—a Japanese trope in which a high school aged girl has an object of some sort that makes her transform from her regular street clothes to a fantastical outfit that is basically her superhero identity. (I don’t know if time freezes or what during these transformations, or why no one recognizes the magic girl when she finishes the transformation even though 90% of the time she looks the same and is just wearing different clothes, that’s just part of the trope.)

We’re going to explore elven magic in future Magiford trilogies, but Noctus is a model example as he’s one of the very few powerful elves who isn’t also a raging ego-maniac, which means he’s an example of the best they can be. (Well…when he’s not wearing the silly magic restraints the Paragon insists he wear, that is.)

Noctus’s story also hints at the vast difference between the modern elves living in Calor Villa, and the historical elves that the rest of the supernatural community declared war against. While elves in history had highly specialized magic and considered themselves the rulers of Earth, Noctus’s elves are much more interested in living peacefully with the humans and avoiding supernaturals as much as possible.

Most of them don’t have the prejudices against Chloe being a shadow that the elves of yore would have, and while they’re inherently awed of their stoic ruler, they do care for him on a very personal basis. (Mostly because they’re very aware that without him to power the barriers of the city they’d be toast, but in general they’re aware of everything Noctus has done for the sake of magic.)

Noctus’s elves—as we will see in the future—are very different from their remaining brethren. But that’s because they rallied around Noctus, who chose to fight his family because he knew their plans were arrogant, greedy, and would cause destruction on a massive scale. Any of the elves who are more ruthless–like the elf who sent a spy to watch Noctus in book 1–didn’t choose to follow Noctus.

Even among the elves of Calor Villa, however, you can still see shadows of what they were–particularly in elves like Oleander, who has adapted to living with humans but is able to snap back to her training as a Mors soldier in an instant.

So far we’ve seen the best of elves, but in future trilogies we’re going to see the tragedy of their hubris and arrogance and how it has affected those who haven’t sided with Noctus. Which, wow, that sounds like a real downer, doesn’t it? But it is me, so I’ll tackle their issues with the same kind of humor and antics I face everything with! Besides, everyone now knows that Shiloh is the elf princess the Paragon is searching for, so we all also know it’s no accident that Noctus lives across the street from her…which might make you wonder how “accidental” it is that the uncles hang out on their porch and chat with her all the time live there, too…

Thanks for reading, Champions! Until next time, have a delightful day!

Character Profile: Ms Booker

King’s Queen has been out for a week, now, so I’m going to continue the Magiford fun today with a character profile for Ms. Booker!

Ms. Booker is definitely the most mysterious bookstore owner in all of Magiford, and today I’m going to let you in on all her secrets (ok only a few of them, but I think you’ll still find this interesting).  Important: character profile posts do contain spoilers! If you haven’t read the Gate of Myth and Power trilogy, I suggest you wait to read all character profiles until you finish!

Ms. Booker

In a rare twist, I came up with the idea for Ms. Booker after I mapped out what I wanted Book Nookery to be/act like. I knew I needed a night job for Chloe for various timeline problems to work out, and there was something so cozy about the idea of a 24 hour book store. (Probably because I know a 24 hour brick and mortar book store wouldn’t be able to survive without the patronage of night clientele like vampires!)

I wasn’t originally planning for the bookstore to have a hidden sort of magic of it’s own, but my inner book lover got the best of me, and I decided I needed to make Book Nookery a place of power. But after realizing that, I knew the owner of the store would also need to have a certain kind of confidence to be able to survive–independently–in a supernatural hot spot like Magiford. Thus, Ms. Booker’s character stepped into being, her every gesture and action covered with elegance and underlining the deep power that comes with owning a place like Book Nookery.

Outwardly, Ms. Booker might appear to be stiff and stern given her firm requirement that Chloe and the other Book Nookery staff members use their best manners. In reality, she’s very generous as most of her staff members are like Chloe and are outsiders in one way or another, making Book Nookery a safe place for them.

I also designed Ms. Booker to be a Hecate-like character as an ode to the original Hades and Persephone myth, making her role a cross of mentor/companion. She’s a great foil for Pat and Joy as she never pushes Chloe into anything. Rather, she helps only when Chloe asks, and while she’s invested in her employees she doesn’t pry into Chloe’s life. (As a character, she believes heavily in self-responsibility. While she will protect Chloe and even endanger herself, she expects Chloe to make decisions for herself.)

As the caretaker of Book Nookery–a mysterious but wonderful place–it’s only fair that Ms. Booker is equally as mysterious and wonderful. We know she has a more extensive knowledge of elves than the average supernatural–including owning several books that are probably among the last of their kind. We also know that she founded Book Nookery, which has some magic even though it isn’t a Wizard House, and that she is a wizard. She also has a good sense of business–as testified by Chloe’s correct assumption that Ms. Booker would make a special elf display to maximize profits when the elves were revealed to humans–and we can see from her interaction with Lord Linus that she’s aware of things like fae trickery and has a better understanding of supernatural politics than the average wizard.

I’m hoping to further explore Ms. Booker’s character, and the magic of Book Nookery in a future Magiford trilogy, so this isn’t the last we’ve seen of her or the 24 hour bookstore!

Until next time, Champions, thanks for reading!

Short Story: The Elven Ambassador

It’s party time, Champions! I’ve been saving this donut image just for this post because I have a special treat for you!

The King’s Queen is now available which means the whole trilogy for The Gate of Myth and Power series is released! I know you really want to read the short story (the link is down below) but I first want to thank you Champions–for the reviews, yes, but also for your support and for whole heartedly embracing this trilogy. Just being blunt, it’s a weird premise. (I mean, really: elf king forcefully adopts a cat he doesn’t know is actually a human??) I actually assumed this would be my least popular Magiford trilogy, but instead you Champions took the questionable premise in stride, and last night The King’s Queen hit # 5…in the entire amazon store! That’s the highest rank any of my books have ever had!! I am still wandering around my house in shock!

So thank you for rallying around this odd little trilogy, thank you for all of your support through probably the worst year in my entire life, and thank you for being a part of our uplifting, bookish community.

I’d keep going, except, THE SHORT STORY! To celebrate this amazing launch–and, yes, as my thank you for The King’s Queen getting over 100 reviews across the various Amazon stores and Goodreads–I’m releasing the free short story: The Elven Ambassador. (Click here for the short story!) This short story is best read after King’s Queen as it does have some mild spoilers, but–as you can probably guess from the title–it also has a lot of cameos! I hope it makes you laugh!

In conclusion….Champions, thank you so much for your kindness and patience with all of through all of this. This year didn’t start the way I wanted it to, but I’m so thankful for your support and patience since there was a bigger gap between King’s Shadow and King’s Queen than I normally have for the Magiford books.

Also, many thanks to everyone who sent me ideas for salty treats since my tooth surgery means I can’t eat chips right now. It’s given me plenty of ideas for me and future Magiford books! And it warms the cockles of my heart that so many of you have been craving donuts after reading Chloe’s books. I was actually intending to go out and get donuts and maybe a milk steamer this morning to celebrate Chloe’s trilogy, but we’re getting slammed by a snow storm right now, so I’ll just drink some tea and close my eyes and pretend  my bagel is a donut.

Thanks again, Champions! Happy reading!