Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Guest Blog and Giveaway with P.L. Blair

When the Characters Take Over

Before I get started, I want to thank you, Roxanne, for this week's tour and the opportunity to put a spotlight on Shadow Path and my Portals fantasy/detective series. It's been a great experience.

Next, I want to thank Kat Morales and Tevis Mac Leod, my human and elf characters, respectively, for guiding me through the writing of Shadow Path – and subsequent books – because they have been in control from the beginning.

It started with that vision of Kat, standing on a sidewalk in Corpus Christi, Texas, watching her partner (Tevis) examine the body of an ogre:

Tevis, kneeling beside the body, seemed unfazed. With his short-cropped blond hair, wearing a pale gray summer-casual suit (white shirt, no tie), he could have passed for one of the young attorneys who worked in the law offices that lined the surrounding streets. Except, of course, for the pointed ears that marked him as an Elf – Aalfar, as he called himself and his people – and the white, department-issued rubber gloves similar to those Kat wore.

"Almost done?" he asked in his strange accent that was slightly Scottish and slightly … something else.

"Almost," Kat said. Sense of duty overcame revulsion, and she raised the digicam and took two more shots, slightly different views, of the corpse. The Ogre lay face-down on the street just at the edge of the alley, its head twisted to one side. The one eye she could see was open. She slowly surveyed the kill site: North Carancahua Street, midway between Antelope and Leopard, just a few blocks from the Nueces County Courthouse Complex. The killer had nerve.

From that point, the plot seemed to take off. All I had to do was keep up with Kat and Tevis as they followed an investigation that involved diamonds … and pixies … swords inscribed with murderous runes … black magic – death magic – all of it leading back into Tevis' past, a former lover who now wanted Tevis dead …

Shadow Path seemed to write itself.

I loved watching it come together.

And I've loved this opportunity to share it.

Book Description:

The Ogre is dead, what's left of the murder weapon - a rune-inscribed sword - still in his liquefying remains.

That's just the beginning for Kat Morales, a Human detective with the Corpus Christi, Texas, police department and her Elf partner, Tevis. The two soon find themselves awash in Pixies, Magic of the Blackest kind, and a trail theat leads into Tevis' past, to a former lover, now a necromancer, who wants to extinguish her old flame - permanently.

This first book in P.L. Blair's "Portals" fantasy adventure series begins at a time in Earth's not-too-distant future when magical portals are opened between the world we now know and the "otherside," a parallel world filled with magic and all manner of magical creatures and beings. The "Portals" series will launch you on a wonderous journey of imagining what it would be like if magic and creatures of myth and legend were to suddenly step into our world for real.


Would you like to win a print copy of Shadow Path?

The please leave a comment on this post

Include your email

Winner TBA Next Wednesday

13 comments:

JenM said...

I hadn't heard of this book before, but I really enjoyed the excerpt. I'd definitely like to read more.

jen at delux dot com

BrittanyGale said...

Please count me in. Thanks :)


quixoticdreamer(at)hotmail(dot)com

Sherry said...

This is a new author to me but the book sounds like it will be a very good read.

sstrode at scrtc dot com

Sharon Stogner said...

I've read this and loved it. It is a true Urban Fantasy. I love the characters and can't wait for the next book. You learn where cats go when they go missing

Anne said...

A new to me author and series. As a fan of Urban Fantasy, I'd like to give this a read.

acm05atjuno.com

Laurie-J said...

Loved the guest post. I'm looking forward to reading this book. No need to enter me in the contest, though, since I already have a digital copy.
Laurie
Laurie's Thoughts & Reviews

Estella said...

I love finding new to me authors!

kissinoak at frontier dot com

Jen B. said...

I love UF. There aren't many books that include ogres. Thanks for the giveaway.
jepebATverizonDOTnet

wanda f said...

I would love to read this book.
flanagan@mebtel.net

Shadow said...

this sounds like a very good book and id love a chance to read it. thank for the giveaway.
shadow_kohler@att.net

Unknown said...

I really want to read this book. It sounds very good. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com

Barbara said...

I'm curious to find out what the future holds for Kat and Tevis solving the mystery!! It sounds awesome!
barbs562 {at} gmail {dot} com

lindalou said...

I loved the excerpt you shared with us... I'd love to read the whole book! I love paranormal mysteries. Thanks for the giveaway!
lindalou(at)cfl(dot)rr(dot)com

 
BLOG DESIGN FOR FANG-TASTIC BOOKS BY BARBARA.
RED CORSET © HALAQUINN ARCADIAS. GOTHIC NIGHT © ASHEN SHARROW.