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.
From one childhood Jedi to another, Erica, I think having the power to ease, create or erase memories would be a challenge.
On the one hand you could assist people devastated by trauma/grief/shock etc. – either by numbing the memories so the pain doesn’t hurt so much or you forget it all together, twist it in ways so that it’s more bearable or remove it entirely so that you could make a person whole/functional again.
The disadvantages – trying to decide if what you do to the person is the best thing for them (all good intentions aside), the moral delimma of should I erase something in the person’s past, an experience they may learn from in some way/grow stronger and thus, alter their future and who knows how many others, and with such power the temptation to abuse it would always hover in the back of your mind eg.wiping the memories of “the bad people of society” – serial murders, warmongers, dictators, terrorists etc. On the surface this might seem like a “good idea” but again, what future events/moments/lives would you effect by using your power in this way?
“Powerful the ability might be.” (can you hear the Yoda-like voice?) “Wisdom without memory, an impossibility. Hmmm? Choose carefully, my apprentice.”
So Jedi-Master, Erica, does this Apprentice pass your test?
Mine would be the power of ‘mental persuasion.’
Not only could it bring the things I’d desire, that I would not normally be able to GET… but how cool would it be to make soemone pay in the way of MY choosing, for a crime or an unkind deed.
Can’t realy see a down side unless one got tooo carries away, and I’d have to live with my own conscience if I judged someone poorly.
Like the old crusader said in the 3rd Indianna Jones.
“alas, he did not choose wisely” Hmmmm
Hi, Erica,
I really like the whole downside thing; I think it’s an important part of paranormal romance. This is a tough question, Jackie. I’m trying to think of what might help out my family, who needs what, and I guess I’d like the ability to heal, so I could heal my daughter’s heart. I think the downside would be that I’d take on the heart troubles myself.
Sorry, that’s heavy, but really, it’s no different than what any other parent feels. : )
I’m looking forward to reading your book, Erica. And Jackie, once again, thanks for this wonderful blog.
I already have the Power of Procrastination! I use this power often. I’d love to have the Power of Punctuation with a dash of Grammatication.
So many visitors :) thanks so much to everyone for coming by.
Cara and Jen: Jean Grey is awesomely powerful, isn’t she? It would be quite something… almost scary.
Eleni: LOL! the last thing to go through a mosquito’s mind when it hits the windscreen, and all that… I keep seeing Wile E Coyote smacking face first into the wall :)
Helga: animal control! Woah, I’d never even thought of that one. Dracula can do wolves and bats and things, right? Cool :)
Trish: that would be really frustrating, eh? If it worked on anyone but yourself.
Jeanette, Elaine, Kimi and Terri: fly into space like Superman… Yes. Just as good as teleporting… unless of course one could teleport *through* things… Either way, it would be a big downer (heh!) to have to return to normality. And no doubt some military creeps would capture us and force us to reveal our secret…
Shelley: telepathy would be cool I reckon, until you heard something you didn’t want to hear… but I wonder if other people’s thoughts are as interesting as we suppose? If they’re anything like me, it’d probably be like watching paint dry :)
Neville: time travel backwards, I’m all for. Yes. So many interesting things to discover.
Brownwen: So long as I never met myself, I’d give it a go. It’s one of those powers it’d be hard to stop using, I think – always trying to save people or help them.
Maree: toad. That’s all I have to say ;)
Louise: it’s be like The Matrix, eh? Just jack it in, and voila! you know jujitsu! Awesome :)
Maria: I wanna become my cat. He’s so spoilt and does whatever he likes all day. I wouldn’t mind at all being stuck with that until the next full moon!
Kylie: that’s a prickly one. Hmmm. So much potential for meddling in the fabric of space-time, etc.. Be patient, young paduan…
Maryde: that’s a good point you make: with such a powerful ability, you’d only be limited by your conscience. WIth power comes responsibility, eh. Just like Spiderman :)
Michele: that’d be a nasty twist, wouldn’t it? To be able to heal, only you have to take the pain into yourself. Sounds like a great premise for a story!
Natalie: LOL! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s… Procrastination Man!!!!
I’m so behind today! And Eleni beat me to the paranormal gift I’d choose – teleportation (although without the squishiness eew!) I’d love that so I could go visit all my rellies and friends in the UK, nip over to NZ and hang out with my CPs and then visit Paris, Rome, Vienna and… oh, can I really only have this gift for *one* day? I don’t think I’d want to give it up!!!
Yep, them’s the rules. Sorry. One day only :) so where would you choose?
Erica – and here I was thinking that I couldn’t like you anymore than I already do, because see, I too would love to have mind control. Though screw the droids, my ultimate plan is to mind control the world into buying my books – and hey, I’m more than happy to tag you into my evil, but extremely cunning plan. Care to join me in an evil laugh? Mwhwhaha! (and roll on next week for the release of your book!!!!!!!)
I think I’d like to be able to talk to anyone (person or animal) who was dead of my choosing (yay for weird phrasing) … for a day, but I think the ‘for a day’ would also be part of the hardness of it.
(Though teleportation might also be super tempting!)
I would go for teleportation because I hate waiting for public transportion. The downside would be missing out on the journey itself which I love!
Amanda: Bwahahaha! Soon, we will be invincible! But of course using the Jedi Mind Trick for personal gain would lead to the Dark Side. Then again… who cares? :)
Lucile: So, would you resurrect the dead things? Or just kinda send them a message? Maybe the message would be safer… unless the power included zombie control!
Llehn: I suppose it would get kind of boring after a while, just zapping around everywhere and never taking in the sights. Still, it’d save a lot of money in airplane tickets, especially from down here in the Southern Hemisphere…
Oh gosh you are a hard woman, Erica…! :-) ok Rome (OMG did I really just make a snap decision?!)
And wasn’t it fun ;) but you’re right. Going back to normal would definitely be the downside of that particular power.
If you could have paranormal powers, just for a day, which power would you choose, and why? And what would be the downside?
I would love to have teleportation – so I could just think about work and go there. I commute right now (1 and 1/2 hours each way!) and it would be a nice break. The downside would be if I laxed and was daydreaming about being home.. I may suddenly appear there and disappear from work.. lol
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Erica, your books sound amazing and I can’t wait to read them! Fab answers. You seem like a ton of fun!
If I could have paranormal powers for one day, I would want the ability to freeze time and fly. The downsides were be me not knowing how to fly properly and falling to my death, lol! And with freezing time, maybe someone would find out when I decided to de-pants them during a fight and I unfroze time and they were standing there in their undies. LOL
I’ve been dying to read Shadowfae! I love succubus stories and that right there had me sold!
Thanks for coming by ladies!
Kristen: oh, yes. How nice not to have to commute. That’s one thing I never, ever miss about having an office job… and what a great idea! You could pop home for a nap when no one was looking!
Rachel: LOL @ pantsing people with your powers!! Saving the world and stuff like that is all very well, isn’t it, but we have to have some fun along the way ;)
If I could have a super power it would be invisibility. I would love to be able to go places unnoticed. The down side would be that you could hear things that you aren’t supposed to.
Indeed, sometimes ignorance is bliss…
I would love the ability to go back in time. I would love to be able to trace my family tree. Most of all I wold love to spend more time with my mother, who died when I was 16. She has been gone for 41 years now. The down side, when it was over, it would be like losing her all over again.
Vickie
I’d love to be able to go back in time & just observe history. The downside would be not being able to change anything! (the butterfly effect).
Ooh, I like this contest! What an interesting question.
Ummmmmmmmmmm………
…having said that, I can’t really think of any power I’d choose to have. Maybe the power to go back in time – I’d have twenty-four hours packed with Jesus of Nazareth, the Romanov family, Henry VIII and his daughters, Anne Boleyn and Katherine of Aragon, Michael Jackson (always wanted to go to a concert… never going to now), Keith Green (same as MJ), and dinosaurs.
In fact, now that I’ve thought about dinosaurs, maybe I’d just spend the whole day then. Ha!
The downside is that many of these times would probably be injurious to the health, i.e., fatal. Actually, the downside would more probably be that you couldn’t change anything. You couldn’t warn Heath Ledger/Michael Jackson not to take the drug cocktail; you couldn’t stop Keith Green getting into that plane; you couldn’t rip the diamonds out of the Romanov girls’ dresses (which I always thought was so tragic). You couldn’t tell Anne Boleyn to stay the he..ck away from Henry VIII. And, probably, you’d get stepped on or eaten by dinosaurs.
But otherwise, it’d be totally awesome. (Like, totally.) ;)
Teleportation – so that I could do a one day tour of some of the great castles in Scotland! The downside – I wouldn’t be able to spend much time at each castle because I’d have to get home before the teleportation power ends. Otherwise, I’d be stuck in Scotland (which isn’t such a bad thing!)
I would love to be invisable for a day. This way I can sneak around hollywood and get to see all of the stars without anyone knowing. The downside of invisability would be that I would eventually get lonely having no one being able to see me.
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Vickie: bittersweet indeed. It’d be a tough choice.
pixie and Ruth: time travel seems to be a popular choice. We’re all so curious :) For me I think the worst thing would be seeing the terrible conditions people had to live in through most of history, and not being able to do anything about it. All those sick people we could cure with modern medicine. But I’d love to see a dinosaur!
Cheryl: getting stuck there sounds like a good option. Especially if there are a few gorgeous paranormal Highlanders hanging around…
Chelsea: LOL! The invisible stalker! Great idea. Perhaps I’d sneak onto one of those Virgin Galactic shuttles, so I could go into space without paying…