Long ago when we were just starting out and writing our first novel, which shall never see the light of day, we had this awesome character who was a jester to a mad king. He was 5’10”, with coal black hair, pale skin, and piercing blue eyes. He dressed in black and was very good with a sword.
In the same novel, a dark mage was causing havoc. He was 5’10”, with coal black hair, pale skin, and piercing blue eyes. He dressed in black and was very good with a sword.
After stringing readers along, we were ready for the scene where all the clues came together. Having written it so obviously that neon arrows were pointing to the identity of the dark mage, we had posted a new chapter of the novel on the online workshop and braced ourselves for the “Aha!” and “You guys are too obvious!”
The first comment on the chapter said, “Huh. I wonder who the dark mage is.”
The answers to your King of Fire questions are in Gunmetal Magic, page 177. Or second scene in Chapter 10, if that’s easier.
Oh, BDH. You crack us up.
Lmao. Thank you Author Lords.
Do not understand. Must be Uber blonde today.
Couldn’t have said it better!! ?
WHAT……
Well, I’m glad y’all got a good laugh ? out of it, especially after yesterday!
I think y’all needed it!
Laughter is the best medicine, right? Can’t wait for the next Maud installment! (This is not a push. I’m a grownup person and I can wait.)
Dang it. I’m at work. I can’t look that up until I’m at home. That’s going to drive me nuts all day!
In my Kindle version it’s toward the end of 176, but it reads:
Julie crossed her arms. “But…”
“Julia,” Barabas said calmly. “Please get your bag.”
Julie stomped to the kitchen…
TLDR: Julia = Julie 🙂
Wait… that was a question? I mean, there are only so many names where Julie is the nickname. In our family the Julies are Juliette (or Juliet) but there’s also Julio (Italian) and Julio (Spanish) and well, Syvannah but that’s a special case.
Same I didn’t realize that people were actually confused on that ?
I thought I’d missed something. I recognized Julie, Conlan , Erra and Roland right off, I thought the clue was about who the Fire King was. I’m dumb and smart at the same time, talented.
I thought it was the red and gold that took the bone staff.
The question was – is the Julia from the snippet actually Julie or is it another character altogether.
Seriously? Wow.
I wondered first is the grandpa was Curran. Then I wondered if she was a younger sister of Conlan. Then Roland said Julia and it all fitted. 6 years in the future. I was a bit thrown by them calling Erra her grandmother, but i call my cousins’ sons and daughters nephews and nieces, when they are actually cousins so…
Similar process of thought, here.
My cousin-a-couple-times-removed Josephine was always Cousin Josephine, though, despite being like a bonus third grandma.
Ooooh! Thanks for the info! ?
The authorlords are always gracious and awesome! This snippet makes me happy.?
Honestly, the only thing I was confused about was who was the Grandmother in the snippet?….Kate’s mother’s dead, Erra would be a great-aunt and while Martha’s imposing I can’t see her characterized as especially magical. All that being said, I just assumed I was missing something. Having re-read this part in Gunmetal Magic (turns out I had to re-buy the book, apparently I didn’t have it on my e-reader lol) I’m still not clear what’s happening. I’m sure everything will be made clear once the Kings of Fire releases or when I’m not too tired to be dumb about it. XD
Thanks, as always, for the snippets!
Erra, in the last couple books, was rather motherly toward Kate. I don’t see Kate’s children viewing her as a grandmother to be off-base. 🙂 We don’t always treat our relationships literally!
The grandmother of Julie (now going by her legal name Julia) is Erra. Biologically, she’s no more Julie’s grandmother than Kate is her mother, but family isn’t always simple.
😀
Narrator= Julie (who is now 22-24? I have to recheck the math)
Mother= Kate
6 yo old brother= Conlan
Grandfather= Roland
Grandmother= Erra
That was my take as well… Julie(a) says at the end of MT “So if Kate is my mother, that makes you my great-aunt which is kind of like a grandmother.”
My kids have 2 grandfather’s they aren’t in any way biologically related too… as a matter of fact, both grandfathers are bachelors and have no biological children… but they’re grandfathers nonetheless.
My nephew refers to his great aunt as “Grandma Aunt Barbara”.
+1
+1 for Kathryn’s answer. I understood that as well.
Agree
I though “Grandmother” was fairly obvious as Julie(ia)’s comment “She wanted to come herself, but she was too much. Too tall, too strong, too beautiful, and too full of magic.” directly mirror’s Kate’s comments about Erra in an earlier book.
mirrors no apostrophe…
I thought Erra was Kate’s Aunt. Roland’s sister. Grandmother was in the jail. Dead. Omg I’m soooooooo confused.
Peace light and love. K?
At the end of magic triumphs Julie makes a joke about calling Erra “grandma” besides this, Erra herself said she ended up treating Kate like a daughter and then when Conlan came around ended up treating him and Julie like her grandchildren.
This is why I don’t get the confusion. In the epilogue of the last book Julie flat out says to Erra when describing their relationship, “That’s sort of like a grandmother” to which Erra agrees. It’s like basically how the books ends. Why is this so confusing to people?
Because fandom. Now you know what we deal with and why Brandi is paid quite well.
I did not laugh out loud, but I giggled.
Maybe selective reading-not comprehending what you read. Like “in one ear but out the other.” Guess that would be eye instead of ear though. I have been known to do that from time to time.
Personally, I haven’t read MT yet so was missing some vital clues and have been one of the confused as a result. I’m almost done with a series I’ve been reading and listening to back to back or book to book, but now have been wondering about when I should read Iron and Magic, and the other two Hugh books, and MT since it was stated in the comments that the trilogy takes place before MT. Does that mean there are spoilers in MT? I asked about this later in the comments. I do own both books and plan on getting the others when they come out, but realize it will take time for that to happen… in the meantime, those two books have been calling out to me… “Read me! Reeeeeeeeead meeeeeeeee!”
I didn’t see a spoiler in MT. Read them in the publishing sequence is my recommendation. So go read those books that are calling you 🙂
There are certain things in Iron Magic that come up in MT so if you don’t read it first you’ll be missing the nuances. There are no real spoilers just scenes (in MT) that refer back to things that happened in IM.
If you’re a Hugh fan, and looking forward to reading his story, read it before MT. If you’re more “meh” about the idea of Hugh being redeemed, I would recommend reading it after MT. I think I would have enjoyed it more after, but I was never really sold on the idea of him being the/a protagonist in a book. (I mean, I still BOUGHT it and READ it, I just didn’t enjoy it as much as other people, and I think I would have liked it more after MT instead of before.)
P.S. If you enjoy audiobooks, the reader of this one is very good!
He IS very good, but also very annoying. Please tell mr why Andrea, born and raised in Texas, would have a bogus Italian accent. His voice is, however, PERFECT for Hugh.
Dawn,
The reader wouldn’t know Andrea was Texan unless he read Gunmetal Magic. It’s also interesting that most of his American characters have a twang. But you are right, he is a very good reader.
Hi, The authorlords said in a previous post to read in the order: Hugh Book, Magic Triumph, next 2 Hugh books. Enjoy
I wonder how much of it people speed reading and missing out on the smaller stuff. Sadly I can’t speed read and I still miss stuff.
I totally thought people were asking about the King of Fire, too, and was confused when I went back to Gunmetal Magic. (Only because Ascanio and Raphael were in there a bunch…no WAY are either one of them turning bad, and they are good with knives, not swords.) The characters were clear to me (Julie/Julia, Erra, Conlan, Roland, Kate), and I LOVED the snippet!
Pretty sure it’s age related cognitive decline. Or at least that’s what’s wrong with me and I’m sticking to my story.
the biggest clue to me was “hello Grandpa” and “the immortal wizard…..tried killing everyone he loved.” Well, Hello Roland! LOL Thank you AuthorLords for the awesomeness once again!!!
And the statement “Our family bred for power over the lands we claim.” Roland et al. in a nutshell.
Right!
I know they say, “No two people read the same book,” but honestly, I’m sometimes amazed at what other readers get out of a text (or miss).
I can’t recall the details (since it was a number of books in the series, and years, ago), but another of my favorite authors commented once about how some self-declared fans are very critical of the actions taken by a generally-beloved character (maybe Sharon Lee re. Daav yos’Phelium??), and I’m like, “If that’s how you feel about [Daav], what *do* you love about the books?”
Erra?! This whole time I was thinking Semiramis! I’m so confused now….
No Semiramis is still mostly dead. It’s Erra.
Julie had allowed herself to be captured by moloch’s futures in order to infiltrate and kill him.
She needed a brief reprieve so goes Roland, Conlan is there an gets a little protective.
Wait…. what?. Im confused
Semiramis is Kate’s grandmother, which would make her great-grandmother to Conlan by birth and Julie via the blood modification Kate performed on Julie’s blood.
Don’t worry. I was thinking it was Semiramis, too. When I read, it’s for enjoyment. Unfortunately, I can’t read and dissect the story at the same time. I figured this was in the future because Conlan is older. That Erra and Kate somehow ‘freed’ Grandma. The ‘dissecting’ part was that even if they freed her from prison, she would still be dead. Reaching down to pull up Julie is not possible. Erra went from spirit form to real life solid body at the conclusion of Kate’s story… Boy, I learn a lot from these comments!!
lol!
Me, too!!
I’ve become just as addicted to the comments as the books!
I just finished reading MT. Loved it, but toward the end, I started watching for cliff hanger places as if I was reading snippets.I found one perfect one between paragraphs, but got so involved with the action, I forgot to pay attention. I think I will have to re-read it a couple more times to before I can disengage enough to entertain myself pretending I’m reading with the BDH.??l
The ‘prophet’ who is the leader of the cult Ascanio escaped from?!?!?!?
That’s what i thought!
It’s sienna “the maiden”, 1/3 the witch oracle, the one that kate saved in book 2, called often in book nine and… Do you recall her yet?
Haha! That’s great. I loved King of Fire. That last scene especially. Wicked.
Loved the snippet! Thank you. And, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar!
And a blue curtain is just a curtain that is blue! 😀
The very end of Magic Triumphs, in the epilogue, has Julie and Erra discussing relations. Julie refers to Erra as “Granny,” and Erra later thinks that having Julie as a granddaughter wouldn’t be so bad.
Also, even Conlan refers to Erra as Grandma (“Gama”?) in Magic Triumphs, which she confirms by saying “Grandma is so proud” (after Conlan claws out one of Razer’s eyes after an attempted kidnapping).
It’s been quite a while since I reread Gunmetal Magic [though the purple shag carpet scene sometimes randomly pops into my head, at random times]. Went back and started reading at 177, then went ahead and finished the whole thing again. I can already see the dynamics between Julie, Derek, and Ascanio, and it’s going to be delicious.
Also noticed a nice, though completely over my head at the time, bit of fore-shadowing with the Jackel being a First, and that was how he initially attained god-hood. -squints at authorlords- I see what you did there. Now, at least. I swear, normally I’m much better at picking up these hints!
Yes. 🙂
Yes !! This is my proof. I was trying to explain to the husband that it was well thought out but couldn’t remember where we met another first who was a god.
+1 Just blew my mind! I’d completely forgotten about that..
*jaw drops and happy applause.
I TOTALLY DID NOT get that.
Thank you for the reveal and confirmation by the AL!
Wait, people were confused about if that was Julie and Erra? I thought it was clear! Lol oh well. Still want the full story some day. But it’s a great snippet for the future even if that’s all it ever is. I am a satisfied Kate reader who’s looking forward to all your future work in any world!
+1
+1
I went to GmM to look for hints at Moloch, only reading the comments I understood people were confused about Julia/Julie?
It will be a hard long wait, fortunately mitigated by Maud and Primes! ✌?
Me too! I was wracking my brain to figure out how Moloch was attached to Gunmetal.
Same
Same, I got stuck on “Gloria’s people might be coming after you” and didn’t even register the “Julia” because it was SO obvious…
The part I struggle with understanding is when anyone travels to see Roland:
– are they physically transported there? But then reappear exactly where they were before disappearing?
– does whatever they are in possession of travel with them? Like Kate’s sword or in this case, Julie’s chain?
– could Conlan break the chain even though he isn’t technically with Julie and the chain is still technically in the prison?
I know Roland had told Kate that she was a “ghost” while there. She couldn’t hurt anyone and they couldn’t hurt her. But I wasn’t sure of other things. I guess they could see what kind of physical condition Julie was in but I just wondered if they could actually affect it while being there; such as the chains. I’m obsessed with all of your works, if you haven’t noticed.
Kate was visiting the realm as a guest. Now they’re the “owners” of the realm by virtue of being related to the anchor.
They are ghostlike when visiting him in his pocket universe/prison, if Kate’s visit was any indication.
*Grabs stool. Stands on stool to reach top shelf of books. Pulls down copy of Gunmetal Magic. Blinks at the fact it’s one of the few in the series she has a real proper copy (as opposed to Kindle version) off. Turns to page 177.*
The only thing that confused me was the brown eye. I thought Julie was blonde and blue eyed.
Nope, brown eyes were part of the first description of Julie
This is a Trap!
You can’t just say page 177 Chapter 10 and expect us to read only Chapter 10 !!!
I’m weak! I’m rereading the entire book.
I was thinking the same thing…then I thought….well I can’t START at Gunmetal Magic, I have to start ALL OVER
Exactly. Got sucked in again….And I just reread it about a month ago waiting for MT to come out.
You guys are evil, nice evil. Brilliant evil. My kind of evil. But “malvaditos” nonetheless.
I admit I was one of the “me lo explicas con dibujitos?” Whateverrrr..there I admit it!
Before I go, if I again got this wrong…AGAIN… I swear I will stop posting.
For 24 hours.
Adios! lol
ALs, you realize you have created another beast? Love it!
I so enjoy the sound of your laughter!
I checked a wiki page to make sure Julie was indeed Julia. Though not always correct, I went with it anyway. I’m just glad we got a glimpse into possible future books.
So that was the laughter I heard earlier today….hmmm. I thought it was obvious who was the person speaking in the King of Fire snippet. I re-read Magic Triumphs (not because of the posted snippet…just for something to read) and still crack up a Hugh’s entrance. I also smiled when Hugh told Dali that she barged into the house of a woman who is his almost sister and is interrupting his breakfast. Oh the next book with Hugh and Elara will be interesting! I wonder if it will include Elara eating a whole chicken throughout the day?
The Hugh-Elara books are a trilogy that happen before MT, so we’ll learn why he wants her to eat a whole chicken ?. Unless there is a fourth book (and I totally support that idea), or it is covered in the first of Julie and Erra’s adventures, we won’t get to see it! I wouldn’t mind seeing H-E babies, so that might warrant a new book or a great epilogue to Book 3. Could also explain the need for Elara to eat lots of protein ?
Now I got it. Thanks Ilona.
So clearly, Barabas is the grandfather, Andrea is the grandmother and Julie is the mother.
Julia is Julie’s daughter. Clearly Kate and Curran died in an apocalyptic event and she was re adapted by Barabas and Andrea.
Also, I bet the dark Mage was the king.
\\\\\ /////
~◇□◇~
《○》
I sincerely hope that you’re kidding 😆 If that’s the case, the protective brother may have been Grendel ;D If you’re not kidding, I’m speechless *_*
On my first read through, for the first few paragraphs, I got Curran as Grandfather and Kate as Grandmother. The speaker was some unknown child of Conlan? ????? Ow, my head. It so didn’t work that way.
Oh come on, Barabas is gay. Doolittle must be grandfather.
Lolololo
lol – love it!
Instead of being snarky I just realized some way more important: there’s an Ilona Andrews novel which we haven’t seen???
Give it!!!!
Good luck with that 😆
1+
You guys are amazing, I have all your books paper, kindle and audio. Please can you put a super fan out her misery and let me know if there will be more books. Innkeeper, Hidden Legacy, more with Hugh. Anything you write is a hit in my world. Thank you for all your time, energy and books that lead to amazing places.
According to the timeline at the beginning of Iron and Magic, Hugh’s entire trilogy takes place before Magic Triumphs, but MT is to be read second. But a chicken might come up.
This was meant as a reply to earlier comment.
I haven’t read either yet, though I bought them both. Does that mean that there are spoilers in MT about Hugh and that story/trilogy? Would any of the trilogy be beyond or after MT? I like to read things in order, but the thought of waiting and reading the whole trilogy before reading MT would be very difficult… I admit, my willpower would be too weak to wait!
No spoilers in MT. The AL are waaaay better than that. 🙂
I thought one of the BDH’s duties was to crack you up. That appears to be a motivation for you two to add devious, foretelling and misdirecting clues to each scene.
Yep, Henry is so right..
Me, I read HM page 177 – no fire king, no Moloch
Reread MStars – no page 177, no fire king, no Moloch
Searched ALL magic stories – no fire king, no Moloch
maybe error and you meant Marduk??? Strange!!! So what the heck.
And then that “Julia” brain wave.
How COULD you. And then I read the comments and realized people had not got the Julie=Julia.
So I apologize, but please try not to be so obscure in your hints again. I get a headache
Lolololo
I’m so confused! Julie of KD series has blue eyes. The Julia in the fire story ends up with one brown and one green eye. So I’ll just ask straight out – Is the Julia in the fire story Julie from the KD series?
Thank you.
Quoted from Magic Burns when we first meet Julie:
“Julie brought her picture from their bedroom: a tired woman with loose blond hair looked back at me from the photo with brown eyes, just like her daughter’s.”
Chapter 8 of Magic Burns, right at the beginning when Kate is helping her look for her mother.
Ilona answered that question that Julie/Julia has brown eyes… the book cover got it wrong with giving her blue eyes… so to go by text, not book cover.
I have also seen this with other books where the cover does not match the story or descriptions and it drives me nuts! You would think they would get something so important right or not take such artistic liberties! It would be nice if the author gets some say to correct errors such as this. I recently read a disclaimer by an author about the cover which was very amusing… Bite Me by Shelly Laurenston. The gist was that only a white tiger was put on the cover instead of showing a hybrid grizzly-Syberian tiger due mainly because of the limitations of a non-shifter society. The whole disclaimer was amusing and you don’t need to read the book to enjoy it, but it does show how there are decisions made or things done outside the authors. The Pride series is much lighter reading, very amusing, quite a bit of sex and profanity, paranormal romance with shape shifters which may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if anyone could just read the disclaimer about the cover of Bite Me, that is entertainment in itself! It’s at the very beginning before the story, at least in my copy… Hope it would be true with mass paperback or the reprints… I have the trade size. If it’s not at a library, maybe it would be at a bookstore chain, just to take a peek! Hehe!
My biggest beef, though, is when people do negative reviews because they don’t like the Kindle price when that is determined by the publisher and has nothing to do with an excellent story or the author, and it just drags down the rating/review average! I’ve seen this often happening to J.R. Ward with her Black Dagger Brotherhood series!
Susan, I enjoy Shelly Laurenston also. She writes well and tells a good story. I enjoy the humor in her books. She isn’t the team of Ilona Andrews, but it’s a good read while I wait.
Yes! I hate such ratings too
I thought that her eye color changed because she took one of Moloch’s and he got one of hers
Exactly.
NEVER see the light of day?
That’s just evil
What did (‘t) you do that we shouldn’t know
Hoarder … me no read
?
1+
So now I want the story of the Jester and the mage. I would shamelessly beg, but you two are already the most prolific of the authors I regularly follow and I don’t want you to burn out like some authors do when they try to please everyone!
Here is how the last 20 minutes have gone… I frantically download Gunmetal and go to p177… trying to figure out who the Fire King was… I read, I back out and check the page number, I suppose that maybe the Kindle page numbers are different from the book, I go to the beginning of chapter 10 and page through until I encounter the second scene and avidly read through the same pages I already had moments before, still looking for anyone that might possibly be the King of Fire… you see, I already knew Julie was the character Conlan hugged before being sent home for his meal… so I just assumed that we would learn more about the Fire King… finally it hits me that you were simply pointing out the obvious… Julie.
You just described my response perfectly! I figured out who all the characters were except Moloch!
Moloch is a new character, and Because the ALs do so much research in creating their characters and worlds, often using existing myths and legends as a springboard or root, I immediately googled ‘Moloch’, and found this on Wikipedia…
Moloch[a] is the biblical name of a Canaanite god associated with child sacrifice. The name of this deity is also sometimes spelled Molech, Milcom, or Malcam.
The name Moloch results from a dysphemic vocalisation in the Second Temple period of a theonym based on the root mlk, “king”…..
Rabbinical tradition depicted Moloch as a bronze statue heated with fire into which the victims were thrown. This has been associated with reports by Greco-Roman authors on the child sacrifices in Carthage to Baal Hammon,[1] especially since archaeological excavations since the 1920s have produced evidence for child sacrifice in Carthage as well as inscriptions including the term MLK, either a theonym or a technical term associated with sacrifice.
And so the snippet makes wonderful sense, right down to Roland/Nimrod’s father having dealt with Moloch previously….
Lovely. Thank you for the information!
Exactly!
I was gonna re-read the Gunmetal Magic to find who Moloch is, but then I read the comments section. I thought it was pretty obvious that it was Julie in the last post. The connection to tall Grandmother and 6 year old brother with almost black fur is pretty clear enough for me.
Just like how clear who Caesar is in Hidden Legacy *wink*
On second thought, I’m still gonna reread Gunmetal Magic. LOL
Because we do hate to be bored *winks back*
Who Caesar may be obvious to you, but not to me. 🙁
Yes, we do so hate so be bored. I so loved that line… just made me wonder the chaos to come.
KaReN – look to the close of Wildfire and statement made to Neveda earlier.
Yep, the murderer is always the butler, or at least the most insignificant alternatively/or nicest not-main-character. Nevada met him 4 times (if I’m right that is) and liked him.
So guess.
Here is a question to help you with who Caesar is: who is Nevada’s second witness when she goes to the Office of House Records (it’s not Rogan…he’s Nevada’s first witness)???????? Also, who did Nevada contact when she and Leon were ambushed at the hospital???????
If the answer is not obvious, then look in chapter 2 of Wildfire (my Nook shows pp. 30-31). 🙂
Great short story. It ignited intense interest in Julie’s future story. I really enjoyed the constant hints that helped me figure out what people we were reading about. I needed a little nose leading, but figured it out pretty quick. I wasn’t expecting the same characters so it threw me a little in a good way. For my fellow readers who were asking about Julia’s “grandmother” it’s in the after-hours (can’t remember the proper word right now, prologue?) of magic triumphs.
I hadn’t read the pasted questions, so I was searching for The identity of Moloch, the king of fire, but then I caught on that the chapter lead was about identifying Julie. Moloch is just Moloch, King of fire. 🙂
Lol. The autocorrect made some funny changes to that comment 😀
About the jester and the dark Mage, yes, the obvious would be they are one and the same, but what if it’s a case like the Prince and the Pauper where you have two different people who are identical or very similar? Not so obvious… just the sort of thing we have seen many times with Ilona Andrews versus our speculation, though that does not exclude the possibility that things are as they seem, but then there are those, and times, where even the obvious is obscure, for whatever reason. Maybe those responses were from people who did not trust the obvious, thinking there was a twist beyond the one with the jester/dark Mage.
Now I am wondering which way they went with that story! Am I hearing groans and laughter?
HAH! I’m really quick on the uptake, myself! It never requires more than three of four shots upside the head with a two-by-four to get my attention!
Uh, yeah; so quick I didn’t check it first. And I hadn’t been wondering about that, personally. My puzzle was the ‘child of the steppes’ comment. Is that where Roland And Erra come from?
Julie’s ancestors are from the steppes. Erra makes comments regarding that somewhere.
Roland is ‘Nimrod’, a biblical figure described as a king in the land of Shinar which we know as Assyria/Mesopotamia. So he, Erra and Moloch all come from the Middle East.
According to Wikipedia: In the bible, Nimrod is the great-grandson of Noah. The Bible states that he was “a mighty hunter before the Lord [and] …. began to be mighty in the earth”. Extra-biblical traditions associating him with the Tower of Babel led to his reputation as a king who was rebellious against God.
I love that the ALs always do so much research and blend, in the most interesting ways, ancient stories, myths, traditions, etc. I always google any new characters and learn so much, in addition to enjoying what is invariably a wonderful story. Just google Moloch, and the snippet becomes even richer.
exactly!
I wasn’t confused until I started reading the comments. Then I was sure I must be wrong but I couldn’t make any of the other suggestions work. I do love all the comments. The BDH makes me read carefully. They make me smile.
Thank you! I love everything you guys write. ?
Huh, my question was: Where the hell is Derek? He’s supposed to be there by her side. Have I getting my hopes up about those two?
I agree, not appropriate for the blog.
Sent off an email to report it
Happy to see the post has been removed ?
Sooooo, blue eyed mage book? 😉
I thought it was.Julie… Went to that paage in Gunmetal Magic to check…got sucked in and am re-reading the book. It’s an awesome book….with a lot of Roman in it…who’s actually a really interesting character. I read somewhere that there may be a Roman book down the line… maybe the two are unrelated, but everytime something interesting in the book happens with him… and I cheer.. I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve been stealthy set up to want more of this character in the future. Thoughts?
So i re read that scene just to be sure I was right about it being Julie… had to stop re reading the rest of Gunmetal Metal Magic 2 hours later since I had to sleep. So addicting!! 🙂
I had already figured out the main bits, but it did remind me I hadn’t reread Gunmetal Magic in a whlie, so happily doing so now.
Description: blue-eyed dark mage
My left brain says : Roman in his Eeyore pajama pants.
My right brain says: Huh? Where did that come from?
Because sometimes your brain just decides that a staff-carrying Russian warlock wearing pants featuring a blue donkey is the answer to any KD trivia question.
I retract my statement about reading that there would be a Roman book. I checked back through the blog and I think I got it confused with the Christopher/Barrabas novella. My bad. I agree about the Eeyore pajamas though!
Hi authors
It’s really interesting how you incorporate all these ancient oriental deities in your stories. But I’m missing the native powers -a bit. I know the Europeans steamrolled the natives but all these old mesopotamians and no natives???. Would be a nice change to have some locals too. And additionally – you are fairly on your way to de-godulate (yeah, i just invented a new word!) the near east.
I’m quite afraid oft all these enthusiast that will quite likely pounce on me cause I dared to voice a slight criticism. But what about the local powers or the black african ones. You are on your way to fairly de-godulate good ol Europe and near East. Not nice, they need their powers too and you have a lot of them emigrating to US. What about the local powers, you’ll have them envious in no time. And mind the african ones, they are really vindictive.
I sincerely hope all these neglected deities won’t go and ruin your plots and harm our beloved heroe(ine)s.
Keep going and may the powers be with you
No. Ancient Mesopotamia is ancient, meaning it’s religion is old and basically obsolete. It allows room for interpretation. Old Slavic religion is basically obsolete and allows room for interpretation. Native American culture is alive but in danger of disappearing as it, and we are not going to disrespect it by putting our own spin on it. It doesn’t need our interpretation.
Why don’t you read Trail of Lightning instead? It is written by a Native American author.
PS. Don’t use Oriental as a culture descriptor. Just no.
Upps and OK. Understand and accept the reasoning regarding native powers. Being quite used to bestsellers that play around with existing religious believes I did not even suspect any restrains in this regard and I apologize.
But I don’t get the hint about ‘oriental”. For me “oriental” means a certain cultural and geographic region and is neither degatory nor ambiguous. I looked it up in Wiki but still don’t get the problem. Must be a language problem. If it is not too much trouble, could someone explain.
Anyway, if I’ve put my feet in (plural intended) I apologize.
Most people of Asian descent, at least in US, find it outdated at best and offensive at worst.
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112465167
It is a Colonialist term that has fallen out of use and with good reason. For example, you used it to describe Mesopotamia. Orient also included China, Korea, and other countries “east’ of Mediterranean. There is a world of difference culturally between Taiwan an Turkey. You simply can’t lump them together, since they have so little in common, unless you are using the term to mean “exotic lands to the East populated by not white people.” In US, calling someone an Oriental is often an insult.
Hello, nice hint to have me listen to Gunmetal magic all over again. Georgia Peach Ice tea, I have to try it sometimes. I have an idea who it is but I am not spoiling it for anyone. If I’m right I’ll be happy and if I’m wrong, I will be pleasantly surprised. When or if the Julie chronicles are ever published for the public, it will be nice to read all the second generation as crew.
Wow… I completely did not make the connection from Julie to Julia because of the eye color. I was thrown off because I thought Julie’s eye color was blue from Erra’s comment about her being a “throw back” to her ancestors. So that completely colored my perception. I definitely did not remember Julia being her true name. I never even heard Julie be a nickname for people named Julia. Lol it’s such a weird nickname, especially since it’s the same number of letters as her true name. .
Yes, I know. Not only you didn’t connect Julie and Julia, but you also ignored all other clues in the story. ?
My grandmother is a Julia who went by Julie for years. It’s not that uncommon of a thing.
I had to go back and reread chapter 10 because the page count is off in my Kindle edition. I caught the reference to the cult, but is the prophet the God King or was he just a prophet/puppet?
As a Julia, I would have to behead anyone who called me Julie, or at least operate on them without an anaesthetic!
My grandmother is named Julia and went by Julie for years and years and years. Now in her 80’s she’s suddenly decided to switch back to Julia lol.
I have no clue what I have missed or what everyone is talking about….. How can I call myself a fan anymore!?!
LOL Hang in there. You were probably just one of us that got it and can’t figure out the big mystery because there wasn’t one.
My name is Sofia. My mum calls me Sofie because in Greek that’s the more familiar/affectionate way of saying my name and not a different name.
Affectionate nicknames can also have more letters than the official names, btw. See: John/Johnny.
Just got back from a week long trip across the county, still in time zone change flux. Have to go get dressed so we can attend a wedding. I’d rather be asleep but no, I have to wrestle my way into Spanx.
I pulled out my Kindle and went to Chapter 10. Still have no clue.
Can someone explain it using tiny little, easy to understand words?
Now I want to read about this Jester Mage and his mad king. *wistful sigh
Am I weird that I figured out it was Roland/Nimrod with Grandfather in the library and, therefore, one of Kate’s kids immediately? I have been hoping for a Julie & Erra spinoff. I hope this is only a tiny taste of what’s to come in the future.
The King part is what threw me. That and eye color. I still can’t figure whether Julie’s eyes changed to brown or green with the changes caused by Kate’s blood.
Someone please please please explain to me about what’s going on. I have SUPER pregnancy brain and can not for the life of me connect the dots. PLEEEAAAASE
Someone please please please explain to me what is happening! I have SUPER pregnancy brain and unable to put 2 and 2 together. HELP PLEASE!