Blogger Book Fair: Sophie Duncan Guest Post

Posted July 23, 2013 by Julie S. in Author Appearances, Blog Tours, Giveaways / 5 Comments

July BBF button copy

Please welcome Sophie Duncan to Chapter Break!
I’d like to thank Chapter Break for hosting me as part of the Blogger Book Fair.

As an author, I’ve turned my hand to many genres, from horror through to erotic romance and as a reader, I like books of great variety as well (especially since I got my Kindle). However, I do have my favourite tropes and themes, magic being one of them, so, today, I’m going to show you my top ten favourite magics from literature, tv and film and talk about how they’ve influenced me.

I’m going to cheat and not put these in any order, because my entire top ten are favourites for different reasons.

Patronus

I’ve entitled this one Patronus, since it is probably one of the greatest magics from Harry Potter, because of the will that has to be put behind creating one. However, I’m including all the magic from Harry Potter as one of my favourite types of magic. I’ve read all the books, my favourite is Prisoner of Azkaban, my least favourite is Order of the Phoenix, but whether I loved, or loathed the main story line of any of the books, I always loved the magic. It is well crafted, fairly consistent, but also with the ability to inspire wonder in any reader.

J.K. Rowling has a gift for spinning up a magical world, and she, plus other authors like Diane Wynne-Jones have influenced me when I am creating magical worlds: anything is possible when playing with magic, but not everything is consistent, and when crafting my own societies and magical laws, they have inspired me to think through whatever I do to make sure that it makes sense. This was especially important when I was writing Sacrifice of An Angel with my sister, Natasha, which is set in a modern Britain where magic exists unseen by most of the population. We wanted magic to fit in with the real world, to make sense and to have rules and laws, and we spent a considerable time developing our ideas alongside the plot.

Blowing In the Flame of a Candle

This is a trick from Practical Magic, a movie about two witch sisters in a family of witches who try to make their own ways in the world, starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock. This is one of my go-to feel good movies and my all-time favourite bit is when Sally, played by Sandra Bullock, blows in a flame onto a candle. I just love it. It just underlines her power, the way she walks the world differently to others and, well, I just think it’s cool (and honest, no, I’ve never sat staring at a candle wondering how to blow it into life, no, uh-uh, no, never). I may, one day, use that trick in a book, just because I think it is so cool :).

The Magic of The Dark Crystal

Two brands of magic from Jim Henson appear in my list, and the first is the deep, ancient magic of The Dark Crystal. The whole world in which this adventure is set is rife with mysticism and I’ve been a little in love with Jen, the Gelfling hero of the story, since I was little. The story is about bravery and adventure to restore the balance of nature and magic that was destroyed when the great crystal was broken.

Moment, by moment, there is actually very little magic involved in the story, more sword than sorcery, if you get my allusion, but, underneath it all lies the power of the crystal. It is the reason The Skeksis rule and their opposites, The Mystics, protect one of the  last Gelflings on the planet. This type of background magic again feeds into my ideas of world building, where legends and events from the past can influence the present in any story. I’m currently working on a new fantasy world where the past has a huge bearing on the rituals and societal structure of the present. Because of this I have spent quite a while working on stories and ideas that will never appear whole in the main novels, but that will make up the mysticism and traditions that round out the characters and plot.

Magic from The Dark Is Rising Sequence

Susan Cooper is one of my all time favourite authors, and, yes, she does beat J K Rowling to the crown for me. The Dark is Rising Sequence, a set of five books, is set in modern Britain and Will, the main character is an eleven year old boy, who discovers in the second book that he is an Old One. Thus opens up a world behind his own of magic and ancient powers vying for dominion. Susan makes copious use of the existing legends and traditions of the British Isles, King Arthur and old fertility customs of throwing a straw woman into the sea grace the pages of her books.

Susan uses this rich history to build her own stories and also introduces aspects to magic that had never occurred to me before I read The Dark is Rising. Magic is neither good nor bad in her books, in fact, a lot of it is wild magic, under no-one’s control and that wild magic is a living thing, chaotic and dangerous. I have, ever since, liked the idea of giving power a ‘mind’ of it’s own, a purpose that may be outside that of the hero, or villains in my stories.

Jareth from Labyrinth

I am fascinated by Jareth, The Goblin King, from Jim Henson’s Labyrinth: he’s amoral, incredibly powerful and chooses to use all that strength to play games with a spoilt girl on the verge of womanhood, because he has fallen in love with her. His protestations at the end of the film that he has even changed time just for Sarah demonstrate simultaneously how powerful he is and how smitten. However, I always had the feeling that underneath it all, Jareth had his own agenda as well. He may have taken away Sarah’s little brother, Toby, because she asked him to, but he wants the boy for his own reasons too.

Jareth was one of the first villains I didn’t outright dislike, and his magic and whimsy went hand in hand to keep me eternally enamoured of him.

The Tomorrow People

I was a little too young to watch the original Tomorrow People when it was on British children’s television, but I started watching the reincarnation that Nickelodeon produced in the 90’s and then I went back and watched the originals on DVD. Yes, this is a science fiction show and The Tomorrow People are the first group of evolved humans, but there is no real science behind their powers of teleportation and telepathy and for me that makes what they could do a kind of magic. In this Young Adult series, both science and magic lead to adventure and it’s fun!

 

Fairytale Magic

My first encounters with magic were in reading fairytales, and I have had a love affair with the mystical and strange ever since. The earthy magic of Jack’s beans that make his beanstalk grow to the heavens; the tricks of Rumpelstiltskin; the transformative power of the fairy godmothers in Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella; all these wonderful magics inspired my imagination  and led me into reading more modern fantasy. I still go back and read fairytales today.

 

The Force

Now some people are going to start talking about midi-chlorians now and try and tell me the Force is science fiction, not magic, but I grew up watching the original three movies, so I was introduced to the Force via a mystical old man and a youth learning to feel the energies of the universe, and, what is that if not magic?

Return of the Jedi is up there as one of my favourite movies of all time and the best bit for me is the fight between Luke, Vader and The Emperor. Three wizards, one light, one dark, one dark with light deep down inside and in them, Lucas seamlessly blends technology and magic, with their light sabres in their hands and the Force at their command. I like science fiction, but thanks to this kind of movie, I have never been afraid to blend a little fantasy into my stories as well.

Dream

Many writers have pulled from myth and legend to bring depth to their stories, J R R Tolkien drew from Norse legends, Susan Cooper from Arthurian traditions, but I have read few sets of stories that pull so widely from so much world-wide tradition as Neil Gaiman in his Sandman graphic novels about Morpheus, also known as Dream. From aboriginal Dreamtime, through Greek and Roman myths to modern day superheroes, Neil embraces culture and popular culture in equal measure to populate his stories and then brings his own unique twist to it all. If there was ever a brilliant example of using the archives of human thought to enhance new work, it is in Neil Gaiman’s creations.

Vampire Magic

Okay, so I’ve talked about magic in science fiction and now I’m venturing into the paranormal for my final favourite magic. I have a thing about vampires, ever since I watched The Lost Boys in my teens, and their seductive powers are a special, sexy kind of magic for me. Flying, turning into smoke, mesmerism and mind control, shape-changing and the drinking of blood to survive – all supernatural magics that make a vampire a varied and interesting creature to play with in literature.

Although I have introduced some science into my Heritage is Deadly vampire series, I still want to maintain that air of otherworldliness that comes with vampires, leaving a suggestion that, however hard it looks, science will not explain everything about my protagonist, Tom.

So that’s it, my top ten of magic. There are many, many more wonderful books, shows and films out there, though. What is your favourite type of magic?

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If you like reading books with magic in them, here’s a chance to win a copy of my book, Sacrifice of An Angel.
givewawaylink
 
 
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About the author of this article:
 
Sophie Duncan is a UK author of genre fiction with Wittegen Press. She has been writing since she was a child and has been sharing her work with others since she discovered the internet in the 1990’s. She has published original works in many genres, from contemporary fantasy, through crime and mystery drama, to erotic romance. All of her published books can be found listed at her author page on the Wittegen Press website.
 
Other places Sophie would love to connect with you are:
 
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“Harry Potter (with grownups) meets Midsommer Murders with a magical version of C.S.I. thrown in for good measure.” – Rob Drake

The body of a beautiful girl dressed in a ceremonial robe is found on a playground roundabout. Her throat has been ripped out and the roundabout has a bad case of perpetual motion. Is it a ritualistic, magical murder or a setup to distract from the real killer?

That is the question that faces twins, Theo and Remy Haward, detectives in the Sorcerous Crimes Task Force (SeCT), when they are called to the scene in the middle of the night. That and who could commit such an act. They must find the answers to these and other questions, all the while ensuring the general public finds out nothing about the magical world that co-exists with their own.

Armed with their experience, their natural magical abilities and their complimentary instincts, Remy and Theo must identify the victim, follow the evidence and find the killer before anyone else dies.

Excerpt

“Spegel,” Theo addressed the mirror directly by its name and he felt the magic imbued into it flare: it was not a sentient creature and could not generate its own magic, but, like a battery, it remained charged with the power of its users and Theo sensed Remy all over it.”What were you doing?” Theo enquired as he greeted the object’s magic with his own and Remy’s.”I lost my house keys, I’m sure Satan’s Little Helper pinched them and I needed to find them quickly,” Remy explained a little defensively.

There were no rules about how trivial a Scry could be, so Theo just let that one pass, along with most other thoughts in his head. The complete darkness of the mirror’s surface drew his eyes and his mind as he let it swallow his thoughts and, before he drowned in nothing, Theo focused their magic and intoned, this time in proper Grail, “Spegel, tonen Yannan Trowton.”

The sensation of falling always caught Theo by surprise and he gasped as the mirror obeyed his command. Physically, he and Remy remained exactly where they were in the safety of the circle, looking into the blackness of the mirror, but Theo shuddered as, with his request, his mind’s eye lit up with the colours of the magical world over Trowton. Just like the computer readouts of the lab, the in-built Expressions in the mirror conjured the reds, blues, greens and yellows of human convention. They appeared at first in a blur and the dark mirror gave them a metallic hue.

When the falling sensation stopped and his stomach caught up with him, Theo took a deep breath and examined the image in his mind. He was looking down, as requested, on Trowton and it was not street lamps that lit it up. Much of the town was dark or misty, unrevealed, but small spots, the odd car, or a roof, were lined by the colour of the magical Elements that someone had left on them. Some were so faint that the touch could have been mere chance, but others shone brilliantly and Theo could see several houses presenting impressive amounts of magic, probably the wards of those who lived there.

Theo did not try to identify the magic he was being shown, not yet, instead, his attention shifted to the wide open park, and more specifically to the little corner of it that still showed the bright spectrum of inhuman magic that the SCSI’s had Profiled. The whole place was brilliant against the backdrop of the sleepy town and the nexus of it all was the little roundabout that, although it now stood motionless, had swirls of angry colour still circling it.

As his attention narrowed, so too the mirror followed his lead and the rest of the town fell back into the glass’ inky depths, out of his consciousness, leaving Remy and him looking down on the storm of magic from twenty feet above it. Remy whistled at the mess they had only partially sensed two nights previously and observed, “How the hell are the cleanup crew going to handle all this?”

There were many theories about the entities from There, and Theo was reminded of one that suggested some of them used magic like animals in the normal world used colour, to display dominance, mating readiness, warnings and such. Theo had an inkling that the theory was at least partially right, because every instinct he had was screaming at him to back off.

“Like everything else about this case, carefully,” Theo replied, his tone caustic as he gritted his teeth and he was glad of the protection that was flowing through them and their magic.

“So what do you want to do now?” Remy prompted, sounding just a little nervous. Theo paused: what he had planned next was both dangerous and difficult and would rely on Remy to boost their presence in the ethereal world of the mirror.

“We need to go into that and get physical,” he finally announced.

“Feeling suicidal are we?” Remy’s scathing response was not altogether unexpected.

However, Theo was not feeling confident enough to bark back orders, instead, he admitted, “Can you think of anything better? We have to be able to trace it and, to do that, we have to touch it.”

“You’re assuming it’s that close to a Fade then?” Remy checked.

“A Fade is only us taking a shortcut through There, this can’t be that different,” Theo justified. “This thing is like a heavy-hitting Natural and from that lot down there it’s clear it’s not much on shielding, so we should be able to track the trail back to the source location just like an innate Fade.”

Remy was silent for a moment and Theo waited for his twin’s opinion. It was not unexpected when it came.

“We’re not going in there, I am.”

“No,” Theo barked the order this time before his little brother charged in.

“I stand a better chance of defending myself if things get nasty,” Remy objected.

“And that’s why I want you watching my back,” Theo explained himself more clearly. “Our protection is going to have to be storm-force and I want you concentrating on

that.”

Remy shut up again, but Theo didn’t have to see his twin to sense the disapproval from across the circle. His own magic levels were significantly less than Remy’s, but they were considerably more than most Naturals and it could be galling to Theo when his brother underestimated his strength. However, he chose not to have that argument while in the immersion of the mirror, so he just waited until he heard a huffy, “I am not letting go of you. One hint of anything hinky and I’m pulling us both out of here.”

“Of course,” Theo returned passively.

Remy huffed a second time, but Theo knew he was going to get no more arguments and so he slowly backed off the protection and felt Remy taking his place. The protection gained a hard edge as he relinquished control and it told Theo how concerned Remy actually was. Once completely free to concentrate on the tumult of magic below him, Theo did not give himself time to rethink, instead, he let his attention sink into the residue.

This time, Remy’s presence did not move with him and, as the alien magic encased him, Theo could not stifle a tremble back in the real world. Still, he reassured himself with the sense of his brother running through the power that kept him separated from the many varied hues of darkness around him. His instincts were still screaming at him to leave well alone, but finding the primary crime scene could cut the case by days and it was worth the risk. Very carefully, Theo changed his awareness from the visual interpretation he had initially created to one at a much baser level of his being.

For any Natural, magic was a part of their physical make-up as much as heart and lungs, and Theo felt the entity’s magic rushing against him, chilling his skin in the warm night air. The touch made his heart beat faster and his stomach tied itself in knots as his human instincts tried to reject the foreign entity completely. He had had some contact with other creatures from There over the years: It had quite probably originated from There, but, with alien hostility all around him, Theo had to stifle a streak of panic that lanced through him.

“You okay?” Remy asked sharply.

The check was enough to ground Theo’s involuntary nerves and he took a deep breath before responding, “This isn’t pleasant.”

“Then make it quick,” Remy sounded superficially impatient, but Theo knew his twin’s disquiet when he heard it.

“Will do,” he promised and cast his attention through the mass of magic, searching for its source.

As his third eye was buffeted by the maelstrom around him, Theo was not surprised the roundabout had been perpetually turning and he wondered at the power of a creature that could waste so much magic. If Remy could be like a bull in a china shop sometimes, this entity was a T-Rex. Still, it made a clear trail and if he could find the point the magic had broken through into their world, he could start the process of tracing it. When Theo found it, he could have kicked himself for not zeroing in earlier: outlined in a distinct silver halo, the bulbous hub of the roundabout could not have been more clearly marked as the Point of Portal.

“Found the way in,” Theo told Remy. “I’ll give you one guess.”

“They’ll have to replace that whole roundabout,” Remy observed, revealing his guess without bothering to answer directly.

“Hmm,” Theo agreed, but was more interested in the way the ball of metal pulsed angrily as he focused on it.

Theo narrowed his attention down to just the point of entry and pushed his awareness at it tentatively. The reaction to his mental enquiry was anything but as reticent and Theo tensed as what his mind’s eye had interpreted as a flash of silver turned into something much more violent. Pain sliced through him, ugly and ice cold and Theo’s mind reared away from it, but he was still surrounded by the storm of left-over magic. Too late, Theo realised why the residue was so strong: it was still connected to its maker.

The anger in the magic was not old, the portal was not some left-over connection to There, it was deliberately open and Theo felt the rush of something coming rapidly closer as its magic closed in on him like a prison.

“Help!” he gasped as his senses started to spin.
“Theo!” Remy responded, the protection tightening round him as his brother spoke and then everything turned on its head as power pulled him in two directions.



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Posted July 23, 2013 by Julie S. in Author Appearances, Blog Tours, Giveaways / 5 Comments

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5 responses to “Blogger Book Fair: Sophie Duncan Guest Post

  1. Yay, a fellow Practical Magic fan! You’re right, Lizzy, there is something special about that movie, something I can’t put my finger on, but everything just works.

    And we all know that witches should not point, even when being taunted with that nasty rhyme ;P

  2. I really liked this guest post, since I’m a huge magic fan too. I can’t believe you include Practical Magic! I absolutely loved the movie when it came out. There was something so special about it and that song is still in my head

    “Witch, Witch, you’re a b***”.