Today, I’m excited to welcome Erica Hayes to Literary Escapism as we celebrate her upcoming release, Shadowfae!
Imagine a secret world veiled in fairy glamour and brimming with unearthly delights. A city swarming with half-mad fairies, where thieving spriggans rob you blind, beautiful banshees mesmerize you with their song, and big green trolls bust heads at nightclubs. And once you’re in, there’s no escape…
Enslaved by a demon lord, Jade is forced to spend her nights seducing vampire gangsters and shapeshifting thugs. After two hundred years as a succubus, she burns for freedom and longs to escape her brutal life as a trophy girl for hell’s minions. Then she meets Rajah, an incubus who touches her heart and intoxicates her senses. Rajah shares the same bleak fate as she, and yearns just as desperately for freedom. But the only way for Jade to break her bonds is to betray Rajah—and doom the only man she’s ever loved to a lifetime in hell.
Doesn’t this sound phenomenal? If so, stick around, we’re giving away a copy this week!
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Thanks for inviting me to join the fun here at Literary Escapism. It’s a real buzz!
Magical powers – you do the charm, you wear the harm
I always thought it’d be cool to have magical powers. I remember when I was a kid, I wanted to do the Jedi Mind Trick, like Obi-Wan Kenobi. I spent a lot of time wandering around, waving my fingers mysteriously and intoning in a deep voice, ‘These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.’
Sadly, it never worked for me. So now I’m a grown-up, of course, many of my urban fantasy characters have paranormal or magical powers. Hey, maybe I’m compensating for something. But now I’m old enough to realize that maybe magical powers aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Nothing gets you nothing, and like all good things, magic comes at a cost.
Jade, the heroine of my novel Shadowfae, is a succubus, which in my world means she’s a mortal woman granted a thousand-year lifespan by a demon. She wears enchanted golden bangles that give her the demonic power to seduce any man she desires.
Sounds pretty cool, huh? Live for a thousand years, stay forever young, have any guy you want. The catch? Jade’s bound to obey her demon’s will, and must spend her time hunting down the damned souls of gangsters and murderers and sending them to hell.
And because she’s always tricking men into wanting her, her self-esteem takes a real beating. Because they never see what she’s really like, she believes no one could ever want the real her.*
Bummer. Seems there’s always a downside. Take vampires, for instance, whatever flavor you like. They get some cool benefits, namely immortality, eternal youth and that sexy hypnotism thing. Maybe turn into a bat if the fancy takes you. Of course, to get those things, they have to drink human blood, stay out of the sun, sleep in a hard wooden box, that kind of stuff.
And it’s not just the old-fashioned creatures that get the raw deal. These days, you do the charm, you wear the harm. Sam Winchester from Supernatural gets premonitions of death. Sounds pretty cool, save some lives, that kind of thing? Bzzt! Guess what, Sam? It means you’ve been chosen by a demon. For… some bad stuff. {I’m only up to season 3, okay? No spoilys!}
Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse can hear people’s thoughts. Nice one! Find out what your friends think of you, right? The catch… well, you find out what your friends think of you. Not such a party after all.
Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood can’t die. You wouldn’t think there’d be a downside to that. But there is. Oh, boy, is there. Defying death is the ultimate act of un-humanity, and in the end the world casts Jack as the Monster We Can’t Understand. I defy any of you not to cry for Jack at the end of Children of Earth. Sob. Sniffle.
So now we’ve had the grown-up, beware-of-authors-bearing-gifts talk: if you could have paranormal powers, just for a day, which power would you choose, and why? And what would be the downside?
I think I’d still go for the Jedi Mind Trick, even though it’d be tempting to join the Dark Side. I’m waving my fingers right now. They aren’t the droids you’re looking for. Really, they’re not. Okay?
* She could be wrong, of course. The book’s a romance, after all
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Thank you Erica for visiting Literary Escapism.
Contest Time! We’re giving away a copy of Shadowfae to a lucky commentator. and all you have to do is answer this one simple question: if you could have paranormal powers, just for a day, which power would you choose, and why? And what would be the downside? Remember, you do have to answer the question in order for your comment to count. The contest is open to everyone, so everyone overseas can join in the fun as well.
As always, if you want more chances to win, you can post about today’s contest on your blog, social network, or anywhere you can. Digg it, stumble it, twit it (#litesc), share it with the world. Wherever you share it, make sure you add a link to it along with your answer (all in the same post please). The more places you share it, the more entries you get.
For more entries, preorder Erica’s second novel Shadowglass or purchase any novel (or any novel) through LE’s Amazon store sometime during this contest and send a copy of the receipt VIA email for your purchase to: myjaxon AT gmail DOT com. Each purchase is one entry and it has to be through the LE Link.
Join the Literary Escapism Facebook page and you’ll get an additional entry. Make sure you leave a comment here so I know that’s why you’re joining. Only new readers to the group will be considered.
For an additional entry, subscribe to Literary Escapism’s newsletter in the sidebar. All current subscribers will also have an additional entry.
I’ll determine the winner with help from the Research Randomizer. All entries must be in by midnight on October 13th.
My paranormal power for the day would be kinda naughty and on the succubus side – I would want to be able to make bring “you” intense pleasure with just a thought! The down side would be that “I” could not achieve the small deaths that I could create in others. Is that vague enough for you?! Don’t want to smack you in the face with my guttermind too early in the morning ;)
I’ve posted a link to your contest in my CONTEST BAR: Dirty Martinis on the house http://sweetvernalzephyr.blogspot.com
I’d love to have telekinetic powers for a day. I’d be so lazy. I wouldn’t have to get up to do anything, my mind would just make it happen.
Hi :)
Thank you Erica for sharing that fun post.
If I could have a power for 1 day, it would be time-travel.
I could find out true history, and satisfy my curiosity about what the future will bring.
Down side? I can’t think of one.
:)
All the best,
RKCharron
xoxo
I’ve often wished I could be ‘a fly on the wall’ and so I think shape-shifting into one at the opportune time would be very handy indeeed. Downside: having the person I’m spying on go and get a can of fly spray out… Hmm. Not a good way to go!
I would want the power to blink. You know, like Bewitched. I would blink to all sorts of places. Guess I would need this for more than a day to really enjoy it.
I’d want to fly because that has always seemed the ultimate trick to me. Drawback? The coming back down to earth…
Congrats on the imminent release of Shadowfae, Erica!
Hey, thanks for dropping by, everyone! And thanks to Jackie for having me!
Miranda: that would certainly save a lot of effort, wouldn’t it? {snicker} Bummer about never having the… er, pleasure… yourself ;)
Sara: oh, yes. Telekinesis. Housework? No problem. And no more getting up to let the cat out!
RK: oh, you’re scary :) knowing the future? Eek! You’re a braver soul than I! But it would be cool to go back in time. And meet, I dunno… Noah in his ark. Or Mozart.
Mel: mmm, you evil thing. Now I’m trying to think of a fly-shifter story :) Now there’s a challenge for EC… But yeah. Nerve gas in a can. Not good. Bzzz, bzzz, bzzzt!
Elie: Good one! That’d be great. I think I’d blink to the shops right now and get me some chocolate…
I’d want Jean Gray’s powers, you know from the X-men. Fortunately, she only reads minds when she wants to. With telekinesis, though, I’d probably get really fat. The rage thing would be a problem-don’t want to turn into Pheonix, but I think that’s really more of a personal history thing, not something inherent in her powers.
Teleportation – that would be so cool to just go somewhere with a thought.
Downside is: you can end up in solid matter and well be squashed like a bug!
My paranormal power would have been animal control. Be able to communicate with all kind of animals and creatures. Having that power gives you a lot of extra help if you should end up in trouble, or you need some sneaky little rats to spy on certain people for you. The downside is probably that all animals is unpredictable matter how good you are to the animals.
“if you could have paranormal powers, just for a day, which power would you choose, and why? And what would be the downside?”
I’d be able to teach anyone anything (think Hiro’s Dad’s training montage in Heroes end of season 1) in just a few minutes. Why, because potty training is a pain in the butt, and so is math. Down side…I can’t teach it to myself or let the normals know.
I’d have to go with telekinesis a la Jean Grey. I’m guessing the downside would be being able to control it so that I don’t put holes in walls and what not.
Thanks for stopping by Erica.
Thanks for the contest Jackie!
*Jen*
I would want the ability to fly, but I guess the downside would I have to be careful about being seen or else I may be captured and experiemnted on.
Great post. I look forward to reading Shadowfae.
A power for a day? I think I’d like to fly. the downside after the day was up I’d have to go back to the regular way of transportation.
forgot again.. I am a LE newsletter subscriber
My paranormal powers for the day would be teleportation because then I could teleport anywhere I would love to go. The downside might be you teleported to the place at the wrong time and in the middle of fight, etc.
Sorry I forgot to mention I’m a LE newletter subscriber!
I’d either want to fly or have the ability to heal. The downside to flying could be that it can get cold. ha ha ha I’d have to wear warm clothes. Another downside is I’d be flying alone, not unless I fly with the birds, that’s if they’re not scared of me.
Congratulations on your upcoming release, Erica. It sounds just like my kind of book.
I think I’d like to try telepathy – for a day, at least. I’d say the downside would be all the meaningless chitchat you’d pick up if you couldn’t screen very well. As a newbie no doubt I’d have that problem!
I would love the power to move back in time to any era I wanted and to then be able to go anywhere without being able to be harmed in anyway.
Think of all the mysteries over the ages that I could solve and the answers to what really happened that I could discover.
The downside: It would take a lot of the wonder out of life being able to know everything and life would probably turn out to be very boring.
Hi Erica
My one power for the day would be to be able to see into the future. I’d like that for several reasons. One: I could try to help avert any major disasters and save lives. Two: I could win lotto, bet onthe horses, etc and make enough money to help my families, friends and others in finacnial trouble. Three: Simply to be nosey – what inventions are coming up, does man ever live onthe moon, what will my grandchild grow up to be, will we ever get to do the ‘beem me up scottie’ mode of transport.
Can’t wait to read Shadowfae *rubs hands in gleeful anticipation*
I think I’d like to be able to shapeshift into any animal I wanted — i.e. be a true shapeshifter. The downside? Becoming so enamored with my chosen animal that I couldn’t change back!
Mine you, if it was a cat, I’m sure I’d be okay because my daughter is a cat-lover. Not so sure DH would be too impressed though. One neurotic feline in our household is enough for him to cope with, LOL.
a power, hmmm. I like the idea of being able to instantly learn anything (especially languages). Downside, your brain would get really full, and you’d have less patience with people who couldn’t learn as fast.
The review on Shadowfae is pretty interesting and worth a purchase.
As to my paranormal powers it would be a shapeshifter. I’ve always been intrigue of werewolves, werecats, etc; to have that power and strength of that animal and all the senses that animal has. The downside to my powers is that I have to shapeshift everyday and if not I stay in animal form til the next full moon.