Since you liked Damian so much, here is that scene in its entirety. 🙂 It will likely preface BLOOD HEIR to remind old readers about the events of Kate Daniels series and hopefully keep the newcomers from feeling lost.
One month after the Battle of Atlanta
Order of Merciful Aid
The Citadel
Wolf Trap, VA 22182
14 Sep 2045
Transcript for Record
FOR: Grand Master, Angevin, Damian, 3rd Knight-Preceptor of the Order of Merciful Aid
INDIVIDUALS PRESENT: Grand Master Damian Angevin, Knight-Inquisitor Bruce Dolivo, Knight-Secretary Timothy Hanson (recording)
SUBJECT: Battle of Atlanta /Attempted Invasion by Roland aka Nimrod of Shinar
BD [Reading]:To understand the conflict that took place in Atlanta resulting in the Battle of Atlanta in August 2045, it is helpful to consider two theories.
First, the forces of magic and technology exist in a balance. Both must be present for life to survive. The complete absence of either results in a mass extinction event, as we saw during the Lighthouse Keeper incident in Palmetto GA. Using technology or magic through means of devices and spells increases its respective potency in the world at the cost of the opposite force. So, the more spells the population uses, the stronger is the magic and the weaker is the tech and vice versa. This continues until the imbalance becomes too great and the system auto corrects. This is known as the Balance Theory.
DA: I’m well aware of this. Last time I checked, I wasn’t an idiot.
BD [Reading]: The Shift, the return of magic to our technological civilization is an example of such correction. The correction isn’t instant but gradual, which is why we’re now experiencing magic waves with periods of technology in between. That is also why magic destroys objects with a high technological concentration, such as tall buildings, aircraft, and computers.
DA: Bruce, my time is valuable. Get to the fucking monkey.
BD [Reading]: Second, the Shift isn’t the first such correction our world has experienced. Evidence suggests that several advanced civilizations existed in pre-history, based on the practice magic and that they obtained a level knowledge and innovation at least equal to or surpassing our own. They had experienced their own Shift, which brought waves of technology and ultimately resulted in their demise. This is known as Second Shift Theory.
DA: You’re doing this on purpose.
BD: Yes, you asked me to do this, I dropped everything, and now you’re going to sit and listen to my damn report.
DA: You always did love the sound of your own voice.
BD: And thirty years later you still can’t pay attention to the lecture. I’m still doing your fucking homework for you, Damian.
DA: That is a lie, and you know it. I did my own damn homework. It’s your job to investigate. It’s my job to decide what to do about your findings.
BD: Oh no, I’m losing my train of thought due to the constant interruptions. I think I’m going to have to start from the beginning.
DA: I already know this. The kid knows this. Tim, is any of this news to you or were you awake during the classes at the Academy?
TH: No, Grand Master. Yes, Grand Master.
DA: Tim, tell me who Roland is.
TH: He’s an exceptionally powerful wizard born in the prehistoric times when magic civilizations flourished. It’s rumored that he is the basis for Biblical figure of Nimrod, the man who built the Tower of Babel. When the first Shift destroyed the magic civilization, Nimrod went into hibernation. The current Shift woke him up and he took the name Roland. He possesses god-like powers, he uses blood magic, and he may have created vampires. He seeks world dominion and is classified as extraordinarily hostile.
BD: How is it you have a kid who uses words like flourished? Give him to me, he’s too smart for you.
DA: Get your own smart kid. This one is mine. Just give me the Cliff’s notes version, Bruce.
BD: Fine. Think of magic as water and technology as a dam holding it back. A little bit of water always flows through, but it’s barely a trickle. Then we have the Industrial Revolution, a couple of World Wars, and the Space Race, and information technology. The more we progress, the greater is the pressure on the dam, until eventually the damn thing starts cracking. We think it really started sometime in the 70’s, when all that psychic crap hit.
So, the magic keeps leaking through the cracks, the cracks widen, and eventually Roland wakes up, probably sometime in the 90’s. He crawls out of whatever cave he was sleeping in and starts running around waiting for the dam to break. Which we know it did, and we have our apocalypse.
Nobody exactly knows what happened to Roland in the past, but it was some heavy shit, because the man is unhinged. Mad genius, megalomaniac wizard, crazy cosmic powers, the whole enchilada. He’s obsessed with rebuilding his ancient kingdom, the Shinar. He settles in Ohio, creates the People, and sets about building the foundation for his kingdom.
Shortly after the Shift, he meets a woman, Kalina, and falls in love with her. She becomes pregnant, and at first, he’s happy, but then he decides to kill the child in the womb.
DA: Why?
BD: He’s had children in the past, and it didn’t go well. They were powerful and every one of them died or turned against him and then died. No one knows how many of his own kids he murdered.
DA: Clearly, father of the year material.
BD: Kalina had other ideas. She somehow seduced Roland’s warlord and ran off with him. Magic may have been involved. Roland chased them. At some point she gave birth to a girl. Roland caught up with them, so she gave the baby to the warlord and confronted her husband to buy them time. She did a damn good job, by all accounts. Bought her daughter twenty-five years before Roland learned of her.
DA: What happened to Kalina?
BD: She stabbed Roland in the eye, and he killed her.
DA: This has turned into a lifetime movie.
BD: Do you even know where that saying comes from?
DA: Yes, do you?
BD: Timothy, bonus question. Where does the phrase lifetime movie come from?
TH: Lifetime was basic cable channel that provided programing targeted toward women and featuring women in leading roles. Lifetime’s original content included made for TV movies, which often portrayed women overcoming adversity resulting from men’s actions, particularly in mystery genre.
BD: I’ll trade you Lisa for him.
DA: Pass. What happened with the girl and the warlord?
BD: The warlord decided to make the girl into a killer, and he did. This woman can kill anything. There are reports of her fighting in the pits South of the Border when she was eight years old. Eventually, the warlord died, and from fifteen until eighteen she ended up in a guardianship under one of ours, Knight-Diviner Greg Feldman.
DA: We had her?
BD: Yep.
DA: Did Feldman know?
BD: Looks that way. He tried to enroll her into Academy twice and she bolted both times. You can check the enrollment logs yourself. She went by Kate Daniels.
DA: Well, fucking shit.
BD: Eventually she ended up in Atlanta and ran into Curran Lennart.
DA: The first Beastlord of the Pack?
BD: Yep. Apparently, there was some sort of instant attraction. It gets better. Ted Moynohan at this point is in charge of the Atlanta Chapter.
DA: That fuckhead again. The gift that keeps on giving. I still don’t understand how he got to be the Knight-Protector. If that man was in charge of nothing except his own dick, sooner or later he’d suspect it of presenting a danger to humanity.
BD: He was one of the original 50 people Stone knighted. Stone liked him for dependability and promoted him to Knight-Sergeant, and after he died, Heath took over and Heath prized seniority over ability. We’re taking about the same man who commissioned a life size portrait of Stone and had it framed in gold…
DA: And if Stone was alive, he would’ve brained Heath with it.
BD: And I would’ve paid good money to see that. Anyway, Moynohan hires Daniels as an agent of the Order.
DA: What the actual fuck?
BD: Your guess is as good as mine. This thing is actually a lot more complicated, but you asked for highlights. She works for us for a bit. Meanwhile, her daddy wakes up his sister. Her name is Erra and she is the human equivalent of a nuke. In ancient times, she was his warlord. She’s got a list of titles a mile long, things like Plaguebringer and City Eater, and she is even less sane than her brother. For some reason, Roland sends her to Atlanta, and she runs into her niece. Shit hits the fan. A plague almost wipes out the city, crazy crap happens, but eventually Daniels kills her. In the process, it becomes clear that she and Lennart are an item and Moynohan thinks shapeshifters aren’t people and should be put down. So our girl quits and goes off to be the Beastlady.
DA: …
BD: You okay?
DA: Just think about it. If only we’d managed to reel her in. We could’ve had our own nuke.
BD [sigh]: Yep. This is what happens when you promote people beyond their intelligence. Anyhow, some years pass and Roland and Daniels keep coming into conflict with each other remotely. Meanwhile, Heath is leading us into political nightmare ass first. The Order’s reputation plummets. Moynohan, who is gone full lunatic by now, becomes convinced that the only way the Order can survive is to have a holy war against an evil enemy.
DA: And we know this how?
BD: He wrote a memo to Heath about it.
DA: … Continue.
BD: Moynohan looks around for some enemy to fight and settles on Roland. Roland decides it’s time to meet his daughter in person, so he sends his warlord to get her.
DA: Hugh d’Ambray, another massive pain in the ass.
BD: He was a pain until Roland threw him away.
DA: That man is a butcher. Right now, he sits safe in Kentucky playing house with his new wife, and the moment he steps foot outside of that state, I’ll be on him like white on rice.
BD: Okay. Moving on. Moynohan makes sure that d’Ambray slaughters the entire Atlanta Chapter and burns a deep cover agent embedded with d’Ambray. That agent is…
DA: Are you going to tell us?
BD: It’s a dramatic pause, Damian. That agent is Knight-Crusader Nikolas Feldman, Greg Feldman’s son. Didn’t see that coming, did you?
DA: How does this woman keep doing this?
BD: Luck? Coincidence? Fate? Anyway, Heath refuses to go to war with Roland and for some reason decides to promote Feldman to Knight-Protector and set him up in charge of the Atlanta Chapter. Mariana de Leon calls for Heath to step down and your name is brought up as the possible replacement. You know what happened next. While we were busy sorting all that out and fighting our civil war, Roland and Daniels come into open conflict. This family has an inborn ability to claim land.
DA: Define claim.
BD: They become bound to the land and all living creatures within it. If a significant magic power enters their domain, they know and can track it. It’s something that had been deliberately bred into them to make them better rulers. Apparently, there is a big price tag attached to all this, but we won’t go into that. Short version: Roland tries to claim Atlanta and Daniels blocks him and claims it instead. They make a deal. Lennart gives up the Pack, and Daddy dearest will mind his manners for the next hundred years. Basically, Lennart and Daniels bought some time.
DA: Didn’t last.
BD: No. He keeps poking her with a stick. She and Lennart get married and she gives birth to a baby boy, and that’s just makes her father’s meddling worse. While he’s harassing her, an ancient dragon decides it would be a great idea to invade the world. He opens a secret dimension where he’s been hiding with his slave army and starts capturing people and boiling them alive. The entire city comes together to fight him and somehow Daniels convinces Roland to help her. They kill the dragon, and the moment he croaks, Roland turns on his daughter. When the dust settles, Roland is gone, jettisoned out of our world.
DA: Where?
BD: Nobody knows. Feldman has written a report in which he claims that Roland is imprisoned in the realm outside of our existence and can never escape. I pressed him for explanation, but he hasn’t given one yet. He doesn’t have the highest opinion of us. Like Moynohan, he’s been writing memos for years explaining that Roland is going to invade and Daniels is a danger to democracy.
DA: I’ve read them. His points were valid, but we had more urgent things on our plate. What happened to Daniels?
BD: She unclaimed the land and went back to living in the suburbs with her ex-Beastlord husband.
DA: Just like that?
BD: Just like that. Here’s the kicker. You remember the aunt she killed? Erra, the Plaguebringer? The one with all the titles?
DA: Yes.
BD: She got resurrected on the battlefield.
DA: Bruce, death is forever. In all the decades since the Shift nobody has ever come back to life.
BD: Well, she did. Rumors said she wasn’t fully dead, and she and Daniels have some sort of arrangement. Shortly after the dust settles, she leaves. And here is another tidbit for you. Years ago, Daniels rescued a street kid, a little girl named Julia Olsen. Lennart and Daniels formally adopted her. Julia, they call her Julie, was a sensate and had some weird powers. Word is, she and Erra left together. Their whereabouts are officially unknown.
DA: So, we have an ancient warlord princess running around the country, possibly starting plagues and, good news, she found an apprentice with weird powers. Fantastic. How sure we are that Roland is no longer a threat?
BD: One hundred percent sure. Daniels is unconcerned, and she would be his primary target. As to Erra, we will find her.
DA: What makes you so sure?
BD: Because she looks like this. [passes photograph]
DA: … How tall is she?
BD: Six two.
DA: When you said she was thousands of years old, I didn’t expect… that.
BD: No. I know this look.
DA: What look?
BD: Damian.
DA: Yes? Is there something you want to tell me off the record?
BD: No, I want it on the record. It’s Timothy’s job to record every word that passes here, and I want to be damn sure that he puts this in writing. Do you understand, Knight-Secretary Hanson?
TH: Yes, Knight-Inquisitor.
BD: This woman is a weapon of mass destruction. She can do things we can’t even imagine. She can make indestructible weapons and armor out of her own blood. She has centuries of education and experience. The Shift happened less than fifty years ago. Our most advanced mages are babies compared to her. Leave it alone.
DA: Mhm.
BD: I’m dead serious, Damian. This woman is trouble. Don’t get involved. I mean it.
DA: I heard you. Thank you for the report, Knight-Inquisitor. The Order appreciates your efforts.
BD: I warned you. Ignore me at your own peril. Besides, it’s Julia Olsen we need to focus on. Roland had taken an interest in her. She was seen at his Swan palace and his subordinates referred to her as talmir, which means disciple. Daniels taught her to use bladed weapons, Roland taught her magic, and now, Erra took her with and God alone knows what she’s teaching her. Three individuals from that family have chosen to pour their knowledge into this child. Why? On top of that, this girl had a front row seat to the mess that is Atlanta’s politics for years. She has close ties to the Pack and the Witch Covens. Also, she’s welcome at Hugh d’Ambray’s Kentucky castle. She worries me.
DA: She’s what, eighteen?
BD: Just about. We don’t have an exact birth date.
DA: Young. Independent. And probably has a shit load of power. Find her for me, Bruce. We can’t get Erra, we lost Daniels, d’Ambray was never an option, but we can still get Julie Olsen. We can’t afford to pass on this one. The ruling family of Shinar aren’t the only ones waking up. We need the knowledge in her head, or we’re going to get outclassed fast.
BD: I’ll find her. The question is, how are you going to convince her to join us?
DA: She is an impressionable eighteen-year-old kid. Between the knights and the support staff, we have eighty thousand people who chose our side. Just get me to her, and I’ll take it from there. Make this a priority, Bruce.
BD: Understood, Grand Master.
Knight-Inquisitor Dolivo left the room.
DA [holding photograph of Erra]: What do you think about woman, Tim?
TH: She’s very dangerous, Grand Master.
DA: I’m sure she is. What was it Bruce said? Trouble.
TH: Yes, Grand Master.
DA: When you get to my age, Tim, you realize that playing it safe isn’t always the best strategy. After all, what’s life without a little trouble? Don’t write that down. We wouldn’t want Knight-Inquisitor Dolivo to lose his beauty sleep.
“She is an impressionable eighteen-year-old kid. Between the knights and the support staff, we have eighty thousand people who chose our side. Just get me to her, and I’ll take it from there. Make this a priority, Bruce.” – HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Julie will eat this guy for a snack
“Julie will eat this guy for a snack” lololol
Agreed.
I loved this so much!! If I were any more excited for this book I’d explode.
A Snack! LMAO
Probably won’t eat him for a snack, but will definitely have him eating his words.
Wonderful 🙂 love it
Thank you, fantastic can hardly wait for January.
I love the banter between B and D. Interesting…sounds like another side series in the making!
So, do we get to see a photo or illustration of how Damian looks like?
Sounds like Academy classmates, long-term co-workers, and old friends to me.
Best summation I have read. The insight into the knights is great. Such fun. I know this book is serious but so far I have laughed a lot. Julie wondering how come every one knows about her secret hideaway. It is hard to go home again. Thank you , this is fun
Love it!
Thank You ❤
I love this so much.
Excellent! Now I want to see that Lifetime movie.
Try the Aurelia Teagarden mysteries
Thanks! Best birthday present I’ve gotten today!
Hope it’s a good day and an ever-improving year!
This is perfect ♥️
Sooooo Excited!!!
Thank you House Andrews ????
Woohoo!!! I love it!
Thank you, waiting impatiently for the book.
OK, now I want to see Damian/Erra interactions…is he dark-haired, perhaps?
Loved it! You are true storytellers, finding a fresh and hilarious way just to preface the story with a “previously in Atlanta” exposition dump.
And an Actual DATE! Confirmation that Ryder 1 is indeed happening in 2053! Squee!
Thank you!
T H A N K Y O U ! ! !
Grrr, my careful spacing got ignored. Oh, for a workable revenge spell against un-helpful word processors.
Now the alignment with the Order makes sense. Thank you for that.
It seems he took a risk and there was an exchange, this is how Julie got her credentials.
Interesting. I love it.
This makes me want to reread all the KD books but also need that chapter 14 like crazy. I’m gonna break the refresh button waiting on it 😀
Honestly, I reread the books at least once a year. I never get bored. They’re my favourite reads, quite like a security blanket.
I love Damian ????????????
Awesome
Thank you for using “fucktard” in a sentence!
We edited it out. While in US it means a very stupid person, according to one of the readers, in UK it’s a slur against mentally disabled. Fuckhead works just as well.
Thank you so much! As the parent of a mentally retarded child, any slur using the term in it is very hurtful. It applies in the U.S. as well.
In the US the slur is”retard”. A “fucktard” is someone who is so stupid they fuck up everything they touch. Kind of like FUBAR, fucked up beyond all recognition. I think the US took the second half of bastard and combined it to describe the most disastrous bastard ever encountered. However, I didn’t coin the phrase and I can understand why it would have negative connotations for you.
Crystal B: Feasible, but that isn’t the common understanding, especially here in the U.S. See https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Fuck+tard&=true
This thread is now closed. Let’s agree that the word carries negative connotations. How it came to be and what exactly it means is up for the debate, but I’d rather not have it here. 🙂
I have always liked ‘fuckwit’ ???? I find it has a certain elegance and is only offensive to the person at whom it is aimed ???? (and people who don’t like the ‘f-word’
Entomology here: https://slate.com/human-interest/2016/09/apparently-austrialia-invented-the-word-fuckwit.html
Agree on fuckwit. There’s no other word quite like it 🙂
Is DA manipulating Eraa and Julie to exploit their skills for his purpose?
I hope he is not another Jim using Kate. I don’t like the kind of personality Jim is. He was capable but unreliable partner and exploited he during their partnership. Then he let his crew lose on her to vent knowing it was not her fault.
If I knew someone like him, I would be less cordial to such a couple. They definitely do not get to have breakfast if they barge in the way Dalli used to at Kate’s.
[ It’s not a critic of your writing. I love your characters you write. I just find it surprising so many people seem to as like Mr and mrs Jim. ]
Have you read the Dali & Jim novellas?
May change your perspective a bit, perhaps.
[& TY, IA, for giving us the whole transcript. The incomplete one was kinda killing me.]
Lol….DA may have started that way, but as was pointed out, Erra has thousands of years of experience and magic so I doubt he could fool her. If anyone is using anyone, I suspect it is the other way around….
Is DA manipulating Eraa and Julie to exploit their skills for his purpose?
I hope he is not another Jim using Kate. I don’t like the kind of personality Jim is. He was capable but unreliable partner and exploited he during their partnership. Then he let his crew lose on her to vent knowing it was not her fault.
If I knew someone like him, I would be less cordial to such a couple. They definitely do not get to have breakfast if they barge in the way Dalli used to at Kate’s.
[ It’s not a critic of your writing. I love way you write these characters and make them feel real. I just find it surprising so many people seem to as like Mr and mrs Jim. ]
Yes! I so agree with you on this, but I guess that’s also a wonderful way that IA’s writings mimic life? Don’t we all (I used to, then didn’t and now again do) have someone that we don’t quite like/ agree with about outlook on life, yet still have in the backgrounds of our lives because of nature of acquaintance, or are part of the larger social circle we move in? I would always read anything IA wrote, which is why I read the two Jim/Dali stories, but they will never really be my vote for the direction of a new story. Neither was Hughes & I still have reservations on him too.
True. The best thing about Ilona Andrews is that characters are too real.
Yes, I have reservations about Hugh too. Though I can get along with him more readily than with Jim. Hugh grew more. He was more willing to acknowledge and take responsibility of his actions and accept consequences, even punishment. Unlike Jim, he came to fight in Atlanta when he didn’t have to.
Jim? He swindled Curran too, when Curran left, (the cheap Merce guild share instead of Curran’s share in businesses with pack people). Meaning Curran’s investment and work was reaped by Jim. Then he goes ahead and messes up with Roland and gets the pack in trouble, forcing Kate and Curran to fight for them.
I hope he finds another part of the city when he retires and doesn’t try to move in Kate and Curran’s area for second round of benefits.
Eh… If you look at Jim from the perspective of “He’s a shapeshifter loaded with Lyc-V and also a feline” you may adjust how you see him. With Hugh, you gotta read everything about him. It talks about who he was before Roland. It also talks about how much Roland would manipulate him to go against his better nature constantly. I see Hugh more as a victim of constant abuse then as some evil bad guy although he did some horrifyingly terrible things. Back to Jim, keep in mind that Jim was in charge of security for the pack. Yeah, he was friends with Kate but if you are friends with someone that commits a crime and you are a cop, you have a really hard choice to make. He errored on the side of “Pack”
I can agree with you on Hugh for the most part. But I do not agree on Jim’s actions. Kate did no crime towards pack or him. So cop analogy is not applicable. He messed up on his own. He also left Kate in a cage under imminent danger. Luckily for her the ancient warrior was not interested in killing her.
As a partner only Kate would put up with that kind of partner and still let Jim claim the money and be satisfied with small share. She was letting him exploit her to keep her identity hidden. But around Derek’s attack I started to dislike Jim quite a lot. That was serious problem and Kate only survived that attack because it was she. Jim knew perfectly well that she was not responsible for attack on Derek. It was his own fault. Yet his people took their anger out on her in his leadership.
Later too he threatens Kate needlessly. Then he tried to break her relationship. By that time Kate had done so much for the pack. Most of her injuries and risks were on behalf of the pack and even from the pack. Even got them cure for loopism among kids.
Then he and Raphael made Curran let his money go to them. Individuals in pack wouldn’t get it. Next beast lord or Rapheal who held those merc guild share took it.
I don’t care for Jim either. I really started disliking him when Kate had 22 challenges in 11 days. He could have mitigated that.
And when Jim threaten to kill her if she doesn’t comply with his expectations you cease to be on my trusted friend list and move to work acquaintance.
So, yeah, don’t like our trust Jim!
Wait!
Is this Erra’s snuggle wuggums that Julie mentions to Luther(or in the earlier chapters of her describing the West Coast New Shinar?
Yes.
Thank you!
Now I have to go OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!
Snuggle wuggums xD hahaha
Well…, we know (from ch 3 of Blood Heir) that they found Errah and Julie
Though I still wonder how everything happened
But who knows what future chapters hold – or how they will eventually end op in the book
Hahhahahhahhah oooooooooooh
Oh YAY!! Brilliant! Thank you for this. It’s the highlight of my very bad week.
Hahaha!
Not the brightest knight, that one!
Thank you!
“Sir, she’s Trouble”
D: “Yum!”
😀
I loved it!!
I thought I read something where Damien and Erra were a “ship”…did I dream that?
Sorry if quarantine brain just made that up! ????
This is preship.
Someone else mentioned that in the short version of this. I didn’t look it up to confirm, but I’m impressed that someone remembered it from a brief mention in an early Blood Heir chapter.
Damien gave Erra the Tower and Erra gave it to Julie and that is what Julie used to id herself to the Order.
Thank you! All of Kate’s books summed up in one hilarious summary. The parts with Moynohan…????????????????????
I can see Kate’s parents story being a Lifetime movie of the week. It has the vibe for it.
As for Julie being impressionable to work for the Order???? Uh nope. She saw too much of what the Order did to Kate and Andrea. I noticed Andrea’s name isn’t mentioned.
To be continued! ????
I can see Andrea not being mentioned. If you look at it from the Order’s point of view, Andrea was was a huge embarrassment. A beastkin who managed to not only get admitted but become a decorated knight. While the decision to toss her out fit Damien’s predecessors time as Grand Master she would likely be a sore subject.
From a writing standpoint, she was not central to the story the way the people mentioned were.
True. The Order did and probably still has a Pack issue, to put it mildly.
Still it would be interesting as a side story to read what they thought about losing Andrea thanks to Ted. If it’s anything like what we just read, oh boy!
When did Julie go to the Swan Palace? Was this after she left with Erra, because I don’t remember her doing it in Katie’s series. Roland talked to her, yes, but I don’t remember mention of her traveling to the palace.
Roland was training Julie. They had to do it somewhere, and the Swan Palace was a logical place.
She was going there to learn how to be a Herald. He’d occasionally go to her as well.
Oh, wait, was the Swan palace his place outside Atlanta? I was thinking it was the place in Iowa. Unless it’s the dragon’s realm. I couldn’t figure out when she went to Iowa, but if it was the place outside Atlanta or the dragon’s realm, then it makes more sense.
Roland could teleport. He would pick Julie up and take her. Or he gave her a supply of water from the Swan Palace so she could do it herself. Julie did seem to have considerable raw power in her own right. Water from her home’s bathroom would get her back when she needed to go home.
You’re right that the Swan palace is in Iowa. Roland probably taught Julie at his humble abode right outside Atlanta (the one where he was going to re-create the Water Gardens, and where Kate found Hugh’s second in command on a cross). He could have taught her in the dragon realm too.
Genius! This ties, bridges, whatever other words come to other readers mind KD world with the literary goodies to follow.
Thank you
???????????????? Erra + romance, from the Grand Master of the Order.
Thank you so much for the post, it’s the first laugh I’ve had in this very long week. What a great way to bring everyone up to speed. If I hadn’t already read the KD universe, I’d be looking for the books after reading this.
This was juicy! Thank you. Can’t wait to hear about what other big dogs are waking up
This is glorious!
“The ruling family of Shinar aren’t the only ones waking up.”
There could be stories written in this world until the Authorlords retire!
Consider that Moloch, the old family enemy, is the featured bad guy for the new stories.
In the Middle East, “you can’t swing a sacrificial lamb without hitting some old god.”
Mwahahahaha! Yay.
Thank you very much for this.
So The Order of Merciful Aid will continue to F things up in a spectacular manner.
This was soooo much fun! Please keep it in the final published version.
You probably have been able to tell that Julie and Derek were my favorite secondary characters in the Kate Daniels series. I have Blood Heir pre-ordered, and will happily buy anything you write about them.
One thing that’s kept me going through the past several months is speculating on how things will develop – I’ve had several fun ideas, and I’m sure you will produce something much better.
So basically the Grand Master used the Order of Merciful Aid as Tinder?
A Friday Ryder post. Squeeeee.
Thank you! It was fab. I re-read the series this year & think it’s a perfect re-cap.
Best of luck with all the deadlines. I hope the process is still a joy. Reading it certainly is.
There are so many potential spin-offs or novellas or novels I would just love that cover the gap between Magic Triumphs and Blood Heir. It’s amazing how you can stoke interest with just a few sentences. Erra and Damian. Nick and Desandra. Minty silver Derek and Ice Fury. And the kids: I would just love to see Barabas’s reaction when he found his Sophia in the sewer or the monster hunting note. Kate was raised by Voron so I can see her not too fazed but he seems more risk adverse, thanks law school.
This was great! After a day on zoom, it’s nice to laugh and rest the eyes! Thank you.
Love this! Thank you!
It just gets better.
How do you guys do that?
I don’t know, but I really appreciate it. This book is going to be so epic!
January is sooo far away.
Thank you for the snippets and posted chapters. I am already itching to read this book. I had no idea I missed “Kate World” so much, but evidently I do.
The “record” is a great idea. Memories get fuzzy with time and not everyone will want to reread all eleven (or twelve) previous books set in KW.
(I like Damian – even if he’s a bit fool-hardy…)
O_O
Thanx for that, great start to my weekend. ????
Bruce, Damian, Tim…. Where’s Jason and Dick? 😉
Lmao!! Now I know why all the names sounded so familiar xD
It’s always such a joy to click on the link to your blog and find a new entry. Thank you.
SQUUUUEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *trailing off into a noise only dogs can hear*
Totally freaking awesome! Y’all are the bomb! They did forget one important thing…. Nicholas Feldman is now considered family and so is Hugh by Ms. Daniels/Lennart. They need to be on their toes for sure. Nothing was said about the three who came to town to remove Nick either. Silly men!
Don’t forget that this was written shortly after the big battle, so all those family relationships would have deepened and solidified in the years following the battle…
Love it! Thank you very much!