An Interview with
Cassidy Kincaide, from Inheritance By Gail Z. Martin
Q: Tell us a little
about yourself.
A: I live in Charleston, SC and I own Trifles and
Folly, an antique and curio store that has been in business and owned by my
family for over 350 years, almost since the founding of Charleston. My Uncle
Evann left me the store when he passed away. Running the store and working with
antiques is a passion of mine, especially since I’m a psychometric, which means
I can read the history and hauntedness of an object by touching it.
Q: That must make for
some pretty exciting situations.
A: Sometimes, more exciting than I’d like.
Favorite objects and the things people carry around with them or consider to be
very important take on an emotional imprint—a resonance—that can be good or
bad. If the memories are good and the energy is positive, then the object might
make anyone else who handles it or owns it feel good. But if the memories are
tragic, or the person who owned the item was evil, then those dark energies can
seep into the object, and it can hurt people or cause trouble. We do our best
to make sure that cursed and haunted items stay off the market and out of the
wrong hands.
Q: Sounds dangerous. Do
you have special training?
A: Unfortunately, this is kind of a
learn-as-you-go sort of job. Everyone’s abilities are different, so even if I
found another psychometric to teach me, things still might work differently for
me than for them. But I do have friends who know about the supernatural and can
use different kinds of magic, or have a lot of experience hunting things that go
bump in the night, so I’ve learned a lot from them. We watch each other’s
backs.
Q: What’s the latest problem you’ve run into with
objects that are cursed or haunted?
A: We’ve been having problems with unusual kinds
of ghosts lately, spirits that usually only haunt the Caribbean islands. Some
objects that belonged to a collector of occult items have gone missing, and we
need to find them and get them back, because they’re really dangerous, and
there’s no telling what could happen. And just for good measure, there’s a lost
box with a trapped demon inside, and if he gets loose...let’s just say it would
be really, really bad. So, yeah. In other words—just another average day at
Trifles and Folly!
Deadly
Curiosities Series
Book
Four
Gail
Z. Martin
Genre: Urban fantasy
Publisher: SOL Publishing
Date of Publication: October 23,
2019
ISBN: 978-1939704986
ASIN:B07ZHKR2LD
Number of pages: 222
Word Count: 66000
Cover Artist: Lou Harper
Tagline: Can Cassidy and her friends find the demon box, stop the killer ghosts,
and break the Pendlewood curse before Beckford’s murderous cousins and the
vengeful demon destroy them all?
Book Description:
Book four in the Deadly
Curiosities series.Cassidy Kincaide runs Trifles & Folly in modern-day
Charleston, an antiques and curio shop with a dangerous secret. Cassidy can
read the history of objects by touching them, and she teams up with friends and
allies who use magic and paranormal abilities to get rid of cursed objects and
keep Charleston and the world safe from supernatural threats.
Caribbean ghosts terrorize
Charleston and start racking up a body count. Then Beckford Pendlewood, the
heir to a powerful family of dark warlocks, shows up raving about a bound demon
locked in a lost box and begs sanctuary. Can Cassidy and her friends find the
demon box, stop the killer ghosts, and break the Pendlewood curse before
Beckford’s murderous cousins and the vengeful demon destroy them all?
Excerpt
1 from Chapter 1 484 words
“I have a
problem antique I’d like you to take a look at.” The man on the other end of
the call sounded rattled. I recognized his name—Alfred Stone, from Stone
Auctions—but I didn’t think we had ever spoken, let alone met.
“What kind of
‘problem’ does it present?” I asked. A number of possibilities came to mind.
“Questionable provenance? Not sure how to authenticate?”
“I think it’s
trying to kill me.”
Well, damn. That
kind of problem. “All right, Mr. Stone. Try to stay calm.”
“I just told
you, it’s trying to kill me. I heard you…know…about these things. Please, help
me.”
Across the
store, Teag Logan glanced up to make sure everything was all right. I nodded,
and he went back to helping a customer.
“I can come now.
Are you at the showroom?”
“Yes. Thank you.
And…please…hurry.”
I ended the call
and sighed. This might be the first time Alfred Stone had an antique try to
kill him, but that made it just another day here at Trifles and Folly.
I’m Cassidy
Kincaide, and I own Trifles and Folly, an antique and curio shop in historic,
haunted Charleston, South Carolina. The shop has been in my family for more
than three hundred years. While we’re known as a great place to buy
high-quality antiques, the shop is also a cover for the Alliance, a coalition
of mortals and immortals who save Charleston—and the world—from supernatural
threats. I’m a psychometric, which means I can read the history and magic of
objects by touching them. Teag is my assistant store manager, best friend, and
sometimes bodyguard—and he’s also a talented Weaver witch. Sorren, my business
partner, is a nearly six-hundred-year-old vampire. Together with some other
friends with very specialized abilities, we do our best to keep the world safe
from dark magic and things that go bump in the night.
“Problem?” Teag
asked when the customer left.
“I’m not sure,”
I replied. “Alfred Stone just called—from the auction house. He says he’s got
an item that’s trying to kill him.”
“You want me to
go with you?” Teag pushed a lock of dark hair out of his eyes. His skater-boy
haircut and skinny jeans made him look younger than his late twenties. “Maggie
can handle the store.”
On cue,
Maggie—our lifesaver of a part-time associate—waved to agree from the other
side of the store. She was sporting a new bright pink streak in her short gray
hair, and it matched her sweater, a reminder—as if I needed one—that she
believed in taking risks and living large.
I reached up to
slick my humidity-frizzy strawberry blond hair back into a ponytail and shook
my head. “Let me go see what the problem is, and I’ll figure out what to do
from there. It’s not far away, in case I need to give a shout.”
Gail Z. Martin writes epic
fantasy, urban fantasy and steampunk for Solaris Books, Orbit Books, SOL
Publishing, Darkwind Press, Worldbuilders Press and Falstaff Books. Recent
books include Reckoning, Sellsword’s Oath, Inheritance, CHARON, Wasteland Marshals.
As Morgan Brice, she writes urban fantasy MM paranormal romance including the
Witchbane, Badlands and Treasure Trail series. Recent books include The Rising,
Flame and Ash. Find her at
Website: https://ascendantkingdoms.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gailzmartin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WinterKingdoms
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/GailZMartin
Newsletter signup link http://eepurl.com/dd5XLj
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