Character Spotlight: Jackie

Little is known about Jackie Meyer's history, mainly because she is a private person and hasn't revealed any of those details to any POV characters. I plan on elaborating on more of her past in the final four books of the series, so you will learn much more about her.

What is known is that she is a leader in the Department of Magic. While at first she appears to be one of Josiah's closest supporters, she has been secretly working on a resistance against him. She is instrumental in helping Cadan and the other Paladins escape from the Department.

Jackie is quite possibly one of my most favorite characters in the entire series. I think one of the most intriguing characteristics is that she has that "anything to get the job done" mentality. She wants to stop Josiah, and she doesn't mind killing an enemy to make that happen. She blurs the gray, ambiguous lines of morality. Definitely not your typical "good guy".

Her sole motivation is to stop Josiah. I haven't yet revealed what fuels that motivation though. Stay tuned.

She has stated before in her own POV that there were two men she has loved before. There are clues in the story that reveal both of their identities, but I haven't come right out and stated yet. Never fear, for I will definitely be getting to that in more detail in Book 10.

A common question I get about Jackie is why Cadan is so sure that he can trust her in the beginning. Well, that is actually a fairly big secret that I will be revealing about her. So far I've shown that only Cadan and Jackie are in on this secret, but there are actually several more characters who are aware of this secret. Again, I have put clues in the books to help the reader figure it out, and I hope to write the big reveal in Book 10 or 11 (probably 11).

Character Spotlight: Conner

I wanted to start a new feature on the blog that highlighted different characters. I would like to show a picture of each character if possible, as well as discuss my personal thoughts on them as well. One of the drawbacks of writing about such a large cast is that I never ever have the space in a story to go into detail about each one. Conner is one that if given the chance, I would love to go into more detail about. He's mostly a background character through the series, but from time to time, he steps up to play a big role, and his importance will increase dramatically from Book 10 through the remainder of the series.

Conner is one of my favorite characters. The idea came about when I was in the middle of writing Book 2, and I began to wonder what Cadan's life would have been like if he had grown up in the Department and the events of the series had never taken place. He shares many of the same qualities as Cadan, but when we encounter Conner in the story, that part of his life is long past. He's gone through some really serious, mind blowing stuff overseas, and now that he's back "home", most of his friends are on the "other side", and nearly everyone of them are changed from their tenure as War Mages.

I hesitate to say too much else because I know that people come to this blog at different stages in their reading. I'm sure there are people reading this right now who probably don't even know who he is yet. I'm not sure yet as to how much of his back story I will be able to get to before the series ends, but the Character Glossary that I'm planning to publish later this year will include much more detail that I've revealed so far.

What I will say is this: keep your eye on him. He has a large part to play in the overall story. I'm excited for the change in his story that's coming in Book 9, and I hope that you will be too. He has faced down more pain and anguish than most people have had to endure, but he is determined to make his life better for himself and those he loves.

Book 8 is available!

Book 8 is available now on Amazon!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BKFRSXG

Send me your questions!

I have received a few questions from fans related to the series, and I figured that it might be great for everyone to read the questions/answers. You can send questions about the story, the characters, the writing, or whatever you want to know. I'll compile them and begin answering, and will continue to do so as long as people submit the questions.

Just send them to deptofmagic@gmail.com with the subject "Question".

I look forward to reading and answering them!

Book 8 is almost here!

Book 8 is nearing completion with its final edits. I'm hoping to have it out by the end of the week.
Here's the cover --

The scene on the front is one my absolute favorites, and I hope you enjoy. Thank you to Tim for the amazing cover!

Book 7  - Hidden Relics is here!

http://www.amazon.com/B00AQSF0QA

Update on what's coming....

Here's my latest update for what's coming.

Book 7 - Hidden Relics

The cover is finished (see last post), and the manuscript is in its final stages of editing. It should be posted online by next Wednesday.

Secrets in Stone

Look for this one towards the end of the year, hopefully soon after Book 7.

Book 8 - Torch of Life

I'm about 3/4 of the way through the first draft. This particular book is a lot tougher than I thought due to the large number of POVs that I'm juggling. Right now, I have 11 POVs, including Natalie, Jackie, Daphne, Caira, Jackson, Karan, Tess, Tanner, Caleb, and Cody. I don't want to spoil the 11th one as it would be revealing one of the surprises in the book.

One other observation that I made as I started writing is that this book is much darker than any other. The story has reached a new level of violence which I wasn't prepared for at first. I think it will be one of the best in the series so far, mainly because of the revelations and an epic battle at the end. Tim's finished the cover already, and it captures the dark feel of the story very well. I'll post it sometime after Christmas when I'm finished with the second draft. I'm hoping for a late January/early February publishing date.

Book 9

I've put more detail in my outline for this book and will start it as soon as I send Book 8 off to the editor. This book will be very interesting as it will have a very short span of time that it deals with. Right now, I'm thinking the events of the book will all occur in the span of maybe two days, with the last half occurring all within a few hours. The last half will basically be one epic battle scene told from at least ten perspectives. As with every third book, the story takes a drastic turn and sets everything up for the end of the series.