When I was a kid, I used to watch reruns of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie and imagine being able to do magic. Who wouldn't want to blink their eyes and have a brand new bike or a clean bedroom? But no matter how hard I wished or how many times I used my finger to twitch my nose, I still had to pick up my own clothes.
Since I couldn't do magic myself, maybe I could find a bottle or a lamp with a genie inside. Three wishes were better than nothing, right? I kept my eyes open as I explored the neighborhood, but alas, the pop bottles were marked "No Deposit, No Return" and I was doomed to disappointment.
I might have gotten a little older and a little wiser since then, but I've never stopped dreaming about magic. It's why I fell in love with the paranormal romance genre. I could read stories about supernatural beings doing cool things--vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and yes, genies and witches fighting the bad guys and falling in love. Cool!
I've almost always managed to slip a paranormal element or two (or maybe three) into my own books, heck, I even did a story with two half demons as the hero and heroine, but I've never written about magic users, not even when I was a kid scribbling in a notebook. Until now.
No one was more surprised than I was when Ryne, the heroine of In the Midnight Hour, showed up and started talking. She didn't tell me anything about herself, but shared information about her people. The Gineal are magic users who hide in plain sight by living among humans. She's a troubleshooter, which means her job is to fight members of her society who've turned to dark magic as well as other creatures who walk on the dark side.
For the last six years, she's been trying to catch her former mentor, Anise, and has fallen short each time. But when she rescues Deke, the hero, from a dark spell cast by the other woman, Ryne thinks she's found the key to defeating her teacher once and for all. Too bad Deke's memory is spotty and he doesn't have a clue who Anise is.
Can I confess that I had a huge amount of fun writing this story? Maybe it's not as cool as having powers of my own, but Ryne's a lot tougher than I am and more altruistic. Hey, I still want to clean my room (and the rest of the house) with magic! My goals might not be lofty, but at least they're consistent. :-)
So if you had magical powers what would you do with them? Would you fight evil like Ryne? Turn to the dark side and become an arch-villain like Anise? Or going back to I Dream of Jeannie, would you be Tony Nelson, determined to do everything without magic or Roger Healy who wants money and riches from Jeannie?
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41 comments:
Patti,
Great cover! Great fun. Thanks for blogging with us.
I usually slip some paranormal element into my books too. I remember years ago when I wrote my dragonheart series, the publisher at Avon said they wouldn't be able to sell a single copy if they put a dragon on the cover. But attitudes have really changed now. Paranormal is hot.
Congrats!
Patti, welcome to the back seat! How cool to have you with us.
Good question: if you had magic what would you do with it? For me, it would depend on the source of my magic. If by doing magic I had to draw power and energy and life force from other things, then I'd bend over backward not to do magic. But if I could draw from some endless spiritual well, then I'd have at it.
Probably the first thing I'd do would be to help sick children. That's a real thing with me. The second thing I'd do would be to create an island of peace in a certain mid-eastern city where children could come to escape the terrors of war. And the third thing I'd do would be to make peoples' looks a reflection of who they are on the inside. People with shallow, tiny hearts would look crabbed and unpleasant and people with big loving hearts would be gorgeous. . . if only for a little while. It's an experiment I'd love to do. But then. . . I guess I'd have to put things back the way they were. . . where inside and outside don't always match. Because it makes for some interesting puzzles in life.
Oh, yeah-- and that house cleaning thing-- I'd have the fastest nose twitch in the west!
Hey Patti, thanks for joining us today!
I'd be all over that magical power and probably screw things up but good before realizing it wouldn't change a thing deep down. I'd have fun trying though!
Has to be enjoyable writing about paranormal stuff, huh?
Hi Patti. I would use my power for good. I would help the sick and poor.
Oh, I'm such a Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie fan! Although, at the time, I didn't really care about the magic. I wanted to live in Jeannie's cool bottle! And I thought Darin Stevens was dreamy (the first one). What kind of case was I?
Now, if I could twinkle my nose, I'd definately take Samantha Steven's powers to clean up a house and get dressed in a fab new outfit and even to silence my mother on occassion. :-)
M
Patti-- Welcome to Riding!
I'd be like Betina. I'd love to use magic but would weigh it against the consequences. At least at first and then I think I'd become power-mad and morph into an arch-villian who doesn't like to be told, "No."
::sigh:: I'm working on my character, but, sadly, it isn't going well.
Patti,
Love the video. I can't wait to read In The Midnight Hour. Just discovered your work not long ago thanks to my friend Ginni (Virginia Farmer) and have read all I could find so far!
What's the deal with the Sci Fi channel? Did I somehow miss this on TV?
Susan, who's completely out of touch these days...
Oh, and I guess I should answer the question...
Perhaps I'm not feeling as altruistic as I should be, because right now, I'd use that power to fix my broken freezer, my leaky toilet, and remove the nest of yellow jackets I just discovered inside the wall of my daughter's bedroom. And maybe to get my groceries bought and my car inspected...all on my list of things to do today.
Could I use it to make myself an office, too, so that I no longer have to go in the garage to write if I want quiet?
And who said those of us who work from home have more time to do things?
Geez...
Susan Greene
Thanks, Lois! I'm glad paranormal is hot again. It's my favorite subgenre to read, and for a long while there, it was hard to find books with anything extraordinary in them. :-)
Patti
Betina,
Thank you!
In Midnight Hour, I have a conversation between my hero and heroine about magic. Ryne cites an episode of I Dream of Jeannie, the one where Tony temporarily has Jeannie's powers. Jeannie tells Mjr. Nelson that by stopping one war, he could start ten others. Adds an interesting component to the question. :-) Not to make it difficult or anything.
Patti
Thanks, Helen, thanks to y'all for having me!
I really do love writing paranormal. My favorite part is creating a society that can impact my hero or heroine or both in ways that that real world can't. Not that I like to torture my characters or anything. Nope. Not me. ;-)
Patti
Hi Crystal,
Thanks for coming over and commenting!
Patti
Michele,
Jeannie's bottle was way cool, though! Who wouldn't want to live there? Although I can't imagine being imprisoned for thousands of years like she was. Claustrophobia, big time! You have me on Darrin, though. ;-)
Patti
Hi Debra,
Thanks! It's good to be here.
LOL! But arch-villains get to have so much fun! I think I'd choose catwoman over batgirl any day. ;-)
Patti
Susan,
Thank you so much! I'm thrilled you've enjoyed my books! Ginni is a sweetie--say hi to her for me.
The video did turn out cool, didn't it? Since I didn't make it, I can say that without sounding immodest. ;-)
The Sci-Fi/Lifetime thing has to do with advertising. The video was cut down to 30 seconds and is playing on those two cable stations in select areas of the country for the next week, including my hometown suburbian area.
I hope you enjoy reading Midnight Hour!
Patti
Susan,
I don't blame you a bit. Those are things I know I'd use magic on, too. What's the point of having it otherwise? Besides, yellow jackets are nasty buggers. Shudder.
Patti
Patti
How cool. I haven't seen the ad, but then, I haven't watched much TV lately. (Kids are home for summer, so the TV stays on the Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. Ugh. I'll be so glad when school starts and I no longer have to listen to Spongebob!)
Gin and I will be at M&M in September. I'll be sure to tell her you said hello!
I'm headed out for errands now, and just added Barnes & Noble to my list of stops!
Have a great day!
Susan
Your cover is striking and unique. I enjoyed the video. I would use my powers to improve everyone's health. I consider health to be the most important ingredient in our lives. Otherwise we cannot function and miss out on so much. Great to have you here.
Great storyline and love that cover. My quest would be for everyone to appreciate learning, reading and derive the great benefits from this wonderful ability. We can travel through books, become familiar with so many worlds out there and this is so wonderful.
My favorite genre to read is paranormal, so I'm looking forward to your book. If I could have a magical power I would like to have one that could take me back to a time already past.
My husband has some serious issues with I Dream of Jeannie. He was in love with Jeannie. His perfect woman would say "yes, master" and promptly do his wishes. To say the least, the woman in his life has fallen far, far short of this ideal.
Hi all,
Patti, I just checked out your website, looking forward to reading your new book.
If I was given magical powers, it would use them for cleaning!!! I hate cleaning. Otherwise, I would try to use my powers for good and help others clean too! LOL
Hi, Patti! Thanks for joining us. If I had magic powers, at the moment I'd use them to take those movies spinning in my head and put them directly onto my computer screen as words. I dream about my characters at night, moving around and talking to each other, and then sometimes when I wake up I find it hard to transcribe them into pages of a book!
I'm always admiring of you writers of paranormal. It must be so cool to make up your own worlds.
Thanks for being here and guestblogging with us. I would love to have magical powers. I would use them to help people and to do lots of good in the world.
Hi Patti
Sorry to be chiming in so late but thanks so much for riding along in the convertible today.
I used to want to be Jeanie! Loved the idea of hiding away in a bottle.:o)
Hope your book sells a million copies.
Hugs
Cindy
Oy! Well, your story sounds fascinating. Now I'm cringing, because a story I'm working on is very similar. *sigh* Does this mean I've got to change it now? *sniffle*
I'd love to read it! When exactly is it out? If I don't win the copy, I'll go buy it. :D
And...if I had a magical power...boy I don't know what I'd want to do. Probably transport myself w/o ever having to actually drive there. I HATE traffic! :D
Patti,
Our bookclub choose this book and I am really looking forward to that month:)
Congrats, it looks like a great read.
Susan,
The ad's only playing a few cities, so probably you wouldn't see it even if you could get the remote away from the kids. ;-)
Thanks so much for looking for In the Midnight Hour!
Patti
Anne,
Thank you, I'm glad you like the cover and video!
You're right, health is so important and affects every aspect of our lives.
Patti
Thanks, Ruth! This is a story I really wanted to tell so I'm glad I had the chance.
That would be cool if everyone had the opportunity to read and learn and appreciate being able to do so.
Patti
Hi Tetewa,
Thanks! I hope you enjoy Midnight Hour! Paranormal is absolutely my favorite genre too. :-)
Time travel would be pretty cool. The characters in my book weren't able to do that, but the hero, Deke, sure wanted to. :-)
Patti
Flip,
LOL! I think every man has some kind of similar fantasy! I have a few problems with both TV shows and the role of women, but when I was a little kid, I was too fascinated by the magic to pay attention to that. :-)
Patti
Hey Carol,
Thank you! I hope you enjoy Midnight Hour.
LOL! I love it! Now that is really altruistic, helping others clean. If you get magic and I don't, please put me on your cleaning list. ;-)
Patti
You're welcome, Christie, thank you for having me!
Wow, it never occurred to me to use magic to get my stories out. I guess that's ignoring the obvious. :-) And yeah, making up societies is almost more fun than should be legally allowed. ;-) Almost.
Patti
Hi Cherie,
Thanks for commenting!
Patti
Hi Cindy,
The bottle was major cool and I also liked the idea of turning into pink smoke. :-)
Thanks so much!
Patti
Hi Kaitlin,
In the Midnight Hour is out right now. It's official release day was July 31st. The book I'm giving away is one of my older titles, but it's also a way cool book. ;-) (I loved Cai and Jake, too!)
On your story, I wouldn't worry about it sounding similar. Different writers can take the same general idea and write completely different stories.
And I'm totally with you on avoiding traffic! I keep telling the engineers at my Evil Day Job (EDJ) that they need to work on being able to beam people around like Star Trek. Magic, though, would be even better. :-)
Patti
Joanna,
Thank you so much! That's way cool that your book club is going to read Midnight Hour. I hope y'all enjoy it!
Patti
As a long time sci-fi fan and short time romance reader, I find this question of what would I do if I could do magic frustrating. I guess I've read so much about the "butterfly effect", that I'd be afraid to do anything major. One never knows when a good deed could cause a major screw-up. Also you wouldn't want to come to the attention of anyone in authority. sigh But in the end I'd probably go around healing people and try very hard to be circumspect about it. Oh, and clean the house in a wink. LOL
Byrd,
Well, that's where the conflict comes in. If you could do magic, what are the consequences of your actions? I didn't really delve into that in any great depth, but it's certainly something that would be interesting to explore. :-)
Patti
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