New Release Tuesday in the Realms of SciFi and Fantasy

Here are this week's suggestions in new releases in the realms of fantasy and scifi:


Born of Ice (A League Novel) by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Product Description
In the Ichidian Universe, the League and its ruthless assassins continue to keep rule. But at what cost? Welcome back to the future…and a whole new world.
Devyn Kell spent his life in service to the League until he learned of the double dealing and backstabbing that was costing innocent people their lives. Refusing to play those politics, he became a Runner—someone who makes sure planets get the weapons, medicine and supplies they need to survive. May the gods have mercy on any who get in his way, because he definitely won’t.
Alix Garran is a woman on the run from a past she can’t escape. Signing on to work for Devyn as a System’s Engineer, she finds a cause she can fight for—and a man she can respect. But as Alix’s past catches up to her, and Devyn’s old enemies turn lethal, they have to fight together…or fall alone.

Changing the World: All-New Tales of Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey
Product Description
In March 1987, a young author from Oklahoma published her first novel, Arrows of the Queen. This modest book about a magical land called Vademar was the beginning of a fantasy masterpiece that would span decades and include more than two dozen titles. Now sixteen of today's hottest fantasy authors-including Tanya Huff, Mickey Zucker Reichert, Fiona Patton, and Judith Tarr-visit the world of Valdemar, adding their own special touches.

Magical Places

Magic in fiction is the endowing of fictional characters or objects with magical powers. This often serves as a plot device – the source of the magical artifacts and the quests involved in saving a person or place. Magic has long been a component of fantasy fiction. It was a mainstay from the days of Homer through the fanciful tales of the Holy Grail. These are familiar themes with the popular work of Edmund Spenser (The Fairie Queene) and more contemporary authors such as JRR Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and CS Lewis (the tales from the land of Narnia in such works as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), and of course, JK Rowling (Harry Potter Series).

Historically, many writers who have written about fictional magicians have believed (and brought that belief to their readers) that such magic is possible. Think of classics like William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and the Weird Sisters, and wizards like Prospero (The Tempest) and Doctor Faustus in Christopher Marlowe’s play where the characters are considered to be real. In more contemporary work, however, readers and writers usually deal with magic as imaginary and take inspiration from the classics when developing their characters and plot devices in combination with the invention and imagination of the writer. Furthermore, when the writer combines non-fictional beliefs and practices the effects strengthen the rules of magic which will often lead to what the writer requires for moving his plot forward. Fictional magic may or may not involve a detailed system (although when these rules are spelled out craftily – not dumped upon the reader – it strengthens the ability of the reader to believe this magic, will, in fact do what the writer is designing it to do, When the rules are not created, it is more likely that the magic will be used at the author’s convenience for moving the story and be less believable, but still entertaining.

It is not unusual for specific locales in a story to be fraught with magical qualities all its own. This often serves as a conduit to amplify the magical abilities and attributes within the boundaries of this magical zone. This plot element is often used to strengthen the tension in the story because these areas are typically filled with the darker elements and ominous ways of amplifying the darker elements of the story. This can be a useful element for a writer as long as you remember to think outside the box – if everything that happens here is predictable and foreseeable, you will lose both the tension you seek to build and your reader’s attention. Remember to rely on your worldbuilding skills to throw a twist or two into the plot to keep your readers on the edge of their seats and scratching their heads in amazement of how your characters beat the odds and escaped to continue the quest.

What role will magic play in your fantastical work? Where will your imagination lead your readers? Magic can fill your plot with fun, excitement and mystery. Imagination is an exhilarating realm in and of itself. What will happen if you set yours free? The possibilities are endless.

Worldbuilding Wednesday - Celtic Heritage

There are powerful forces at work throughout nature, some powerful enough to change destiny.

Many people today have heard about the mysterious megalith Stonehenge, the legend of King Arthur and his magician Merlin. But few realize that this is part of the Celtic heritage.

The Celts inhabited a vast area of modern day Europe and the British isles. Their priests were called Druids, but they were not only priests but also judges, astronomers, healers, fortune-tellers and magicians. The word 'druid' itself is etymologically related to the trees, which were said to possess unusual power. The magic of the Druids is nature based, it includes the four elements, the power of trees and forests, the animals.

Using their millennial knowledge of nature, the Celtic magicians created complex magical structures, where the powers of trees, nature and space combined in one. The most unique part of their art skill is the Runic magic. The Runes are Scandinavian script characters, dating from the 2nd century A. D. and according to the legends god Odin gave them to the people. The Runes themselves, as well as the other symbols used in the Celtic magic, are projections of complex multi-dimensional structures. With their help corrections in time and space are made.

The rituals of the Celtic priests consisted mainly of spells, preparation of various magical amulets and attracting of the natural elements for battle victories or rich crops. Among the different methods for predicting the future, the Celts most often used the Runic fortune-telling, called Runemal. The Celtic idea of fortune was extraordinary, they thought that fortune is an endless, long, white linen, where Runes are embroidered and determine destiny. The fundamental changes of fortune were made with the supreme magic of the Druids, called Gold Celtic Magic.

The Gold Celtic Magic invoked the forces of nature and led to corrections of events, playing an important role in the individual's life path. A number of Runes and other symbols were written with the purpose of changing the destiny in the desired direction.

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New Release Tuesday in the Realms of Fantasy and Sci-Fi

Torch of Freedom (Honorverse) by David Weber, Eric Flint

Product Description
As the slavemasters of Mesa plot against the Star Empire of Manticore and the newly liberated slave planet of Torch, Anton Zilwicki and the notorious Havenite secret agent Victor Cachat set off on a dangerous mission to uncover the truth concerning a wave of mysterious assassinations that have been launched against Manticore and Torch. Most people are sure that the Republic of Haven is behind the assassinations, but Zilwicki and Cachat suspect others of being the guilty party.

Queen Berry of Torch was one of the targets of the unknown assassins. The former head of the Ballroom slave liberation organization, Jeremy X—now one of Torch's top officials, but still considered by many the most dangerous terrorist in the galaxy—calls in some past favors owed to him. In response, a security officer from Beowulf arrives in Torch to take charge of Queen Berry's security—a task made doubly difficult by the young monarch's resentment of bodyguards and the security officer's own growing attachment to her.

Meanwhile, powerful forces in the Solarian League are maneuvering against each other to gain the upper hand in what they all expect to be an explosive crisis that threatens the very existence of the League itself.

Green Lantern: Agent Orange by Geoff Johns, Philip Tan

Product Description
It's the prelude to "The Blackest Night" as the "War of Light" continues to intensify! Mongul attempts to establish his hold on the Sinestro Corps by enslaving the planet Daxam and making it the home world of his Corps. What does Sinestro's right hand man, Arkillo, think of all this? And will Sodam Yat, the Green Lantern known as Ion, fight to save his homeworld, which he's vowed to never return to?

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Magical Objects

It is not unusual in a fantasy story to have a powerful artifact or magical object that is so potent it can defeat the hero, or allow the villain to conquer the world. The hero will then find himself on a quest to either obtain or destroy this formidable item.

A very popular example of this type of plot is the epic tale of The Lord of the Rings. The One Ring is an Artifact that appears as the pivotal plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth Tolkien's legendarium. It is described in an earlier story, The Hobbit , as a magic ring of invisibility an ominous magical entity.

Lesser magical objects which do not affect or determine the plot are also common. These items allow characters to have access to magical abilities they need to successfully complete their quest. Fantasy is filled with magical objects. For example, besides the One Ring, The Lord of the Rings contained magic swords that did not determine the plot. Other famous magical objects include the invisibility cloak in Harry Potter, and an array of magical items from Arabian Nights, including a magical flying carpet.

Magical items can be created by magicians or powerful beings as a demonstration of their supernatural capabilities, or the items can originate in the past, with no such items being possible at the present time in the story. The more clearly these items can be described by the author, the more believable they will be to the reader. And when the reader believes in the capabilities of these wondrous objects the magic has truly been achieved.

The first magical wand appeared in the Odyssey where Circe's father used it to transform Odysseus's men into animals. Italian fairy tales put them into the hands of the powerful fairies by the late Middle Ages. These were transmitted to modern fantasy. As you may recall, Gandalf
Gandalf refused to surrender his staff in The Lord of the Rings, but the staff was not merely an aid to help an 'old man walk' as he explained its purpose to the guards, but was used to channel the wizard’s magical abilities and break Saruman's power. Magical wands are used from Andre Norton's Witch World, to Harry Potter.

One element of the wand is the need to limit a wizard, so that opposition to him (necessary for a story) is feasible; if the wizard loses his staff or wand (or other magic item on which he is dependent), he is weakened if not magically helpless. In the wizarding world of Harry Potter
a wizard can only perform weak and uncontrolled magic without a wand. The strengths and limitations of the magical artifacts are revealed as the author’s story unfolds.

Think about the fantasy story within you waiting to be revealed. Open the doors to your own magical realm and let the fantasy unfold. Where will your imagination lead your awaiting readers?

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Happy Friday the 13th!

Amazingly, folklorists say Friday the 13th is probably the most widespread superstition in America. I don’t know about you, but I was surprised by that fact. There's even a name for the phobia attached to it: paraskevidekatriaphobia. Here’s a bit of the history I found behind the stigma of Friday the 13th.

Superstitions about the Number 13

Like many human beliefs, the fear of Friday the 13th (known as paraskevidekatriaphobia) isn't exactly grounded in scientific logic. But the really strange thing is that most of the people who believe the day is unlucky offer no explanation at all, logical or illogical. As with most superstitions, people fear Friday the 13th for its own sake, without any need for background information.

The superstition does have deep, compelling roots, however, and the origins help explain why the belief is so widespread today.

Many people consider Friday unlucky because that's the day of Jesus' Crucifixion, but historians believe the superstition goes much farther back and has something to do with the sacrifices offered to the goddess Frigg (goddess of marriage and fertility) or Freya (goddess of sex and fertility) or both, in Norse mythology.

Frigg/Freya's emblem was the fish, which was associated with the worship of love and was offered by the Scandinavians to their goddess on the sixth day of the week, Friday. But the worship of love on Fridays, according to Popular Superstitions, developed into "a series of filthy and indecent rites and practices."

According to Emery, Friday was considered lucky, especially as a day to get married, because of its associations with love. In other pagan cultures, Friday was the sabbath, a day of worship. Once Christianity entered the scene, Freya-whose sacred animal was a cat--was recast in folklore as a witch. In the Middle Ages, Friday was known as the "Witches' Sabbath."

Later, early Christians began attributing just about everything terrible to Friday: Eve offering Adam the apple in the Garden of Eden; Abel's murder by his brother, Cain; St. Stephen's stoning; the Massacre of the Innocents by Herod; the flight of the children of Israel through the Red Sea; the Great Flood; the destruction of the Temple of Solomon; and the Confusion of Tongues at the Tower of Babel.

The Knights Templar

One theory, recently offered up as historical fact in the novel The Da Vinci Code, holds that it came about not as the result of a convergence, but a catastrophe, a single historical event that happened nearly 700 years ago. The catastrophe was the decimation of the Knights Templar, the legendary order of "warrior monks" formed during the Christian Crusades to combat Islam. Renowned as a fighting force for 200 years, by the 1300s the order had grown so pervasive and powerful it was perceived as a political threat by kings and popes alike and brought down by a church-state conspiracy, as recounted by Katharine Kurtz in Tales of the Knights Templar (Warner Books, 1995):

On October 13, 1307, a day so infamous that Friday the 13th would become a synonym for ill fortune, officers of King Philip IV of France carried out mass arrests in a well-coordinated dawn raid that left several thousand Templars — knights, sergeants, priests, and serving brethren — in chains, charged with heresy, blasphemy, various obscenities, and homosexual practices. None of these charges was ever proven, even in France — and the Order was found innocent elsewhere — but in the seven years following the arrests, hundreds of Templars suffered excruciating tortures intended to force "confessions," and more than a hundred died under torture or were executed by burning at the stake.

Beware. Shiver with fear. Hide under the covers. Friday the 13th is a day that has been treated with apprehension for centuries. Hope yours is a good one!

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History of Magic - Celtic Magic

There are 7 Beliefs for Manifesting Real Magic in the Celtic Realm:


1. There is an invisible but knowable life force within you.
2. Your thoughts are something you control and they originate within you.
3. There are no limits other than those you place upon yourself.
4. Your life has purpose.
5. You overcome weaknesses by leaving them behind.
6. When you examine what you believe to be impossible, you can then change your life.
7. You can go beyond logic.


These are the building blocks, the very foundation of the Celtic beliefs. To the Celtic people, magic was a part of life. It was as common as walking or breathing. It encompassed all parts of life and nature.

They saw magic as any thought, act or ritual that influenced change in the energies that surround us. An example of this is creating a blessing on a crop to increase a harvest.

Rituals were predominant in Celtic magic. It was believed to open doors to the subconscious and creative mind and allow magical energy to flow through. Any outcome at all was considered a magical response.

Next time, we'll take a deeper look at Celtic tradition.

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