Authors After Dark 2012 Spotlight

So I think you've all noticed by now that I'm attending Authors After Dark this August, what with all the author spotlights I've featured thus far this year. I just figured I would go into a bit more detail for those of you unfamiliar with this convention.

First off, it is, indeed, a convention. Most of the authors attending are paranormal authors. There will also be a whole slew of NY and Small Press authors. Here's a list of the NY authors:

• Shayla Black  
  Judi Fennell    
• Leanna Renee Hieber
• Pamela Palmer
• Amanda Carlson         
• Mari Freeman
• Alexandra Ivy
• Allison Pang
• Manda Collins            
• Jeaniene Frost            
• Darynda Jones           
• Nicole Peeler
• Carolyn Crane            
• Yasmine Galenorn      
• Stephanie Julian         
• Katie Reus
• MaryJanice Davidson
• Lia Habel        
• Erin Kellison  
• Jessa Slade
• Virna DePaul  
• Jess Haines    
• Jade Lee         
• Sasha White
• Cynthia Eden  
• Mark Henry   
• Kelly Meding

And what a great list! I was fangirling when I saw how many authors I adore who are attending, and I can't wait to meet and read books by some debuting authors like Amanda Carlson.  I'm not as familiar with the small press authors (check out the list here), but the ones I've worked with thus far have been great, so I am looking forward to getting to meet them at the convention also.

Okay, so the authors are cool and all... but you know what gets me even more excited for this August? The fact that I will FINALLY be going to NOLA! The hotel is in the French Quarter, on Bourbon Street, and all the attendees got a great deal for the hotel.

I plan on stuffing my face with Karen from For What It's Worth, meeting some great authors and bloggers--finally!--stuffing my face, laying out by the pool area, stuffing my face, and exploring New Orleans.

Also, I got asked to be a presenter for the Bookie Awards, so I'm sure everyone I know will be laughing at me as I do that. I'll be that crazy girl up on the stage with a shot of tequila saying she's the book faery.

Maybe I should wear a pair of wings.

As you can see, I'm super excited about August, and I plan on doing a few book giveaways when I get back. It will also be the vacation I so desperately need after a long, long year and a half of college classes non-stop (if you've been wondering why I'm so scarce as of late, it's because I'm taking an accelerated Nutrition and Anatomy & Physiology class at the same time...gah!). I'll try to remember to take some pictures, and I'll definitely be tweeting to you guys.

I can't wait to meet those of you who are going! :)

Guest Post with Benedict Jacka

Good and Evil, Light and Dark

by Benedict Jacka 

            There are two main power blocs in the Alex Verus setting – Light mages and Dark mages – and the first thing to get clear is that Dark does not mean evil and Light does not mean good.  This is a very common misconception among newcomers to the magical world, so it’s worth explaining in detail. 

Of the two groups, the Light mages are the more organised.  They’re generally easier to deal with than Dark mages and they’re usually more approachable, but they’re not necessarily good people, for reasons that should be obvious.  Calling yourself a 'Light mage' doesn't make you a servant of light any more than calling yourself a 'good person' makes you a person who's good.  Even if they were originally set up as a bastion of goodness to stand against evil (which mage historians have differing opinions on), the Light faction is an organisation, not a status.  Old members leave, new members join.  Light mages have existed for thousands of years and their society has had time to evolve a very long way. 

Rather than thinking of it in terms of good vs evil, a better way to think of Light mages is in terms of order vs chaos.  The Council and Light mages as a whole stand for order.  They effectively run the magical world – there's no other body with anywhere near the combined power and influence of the Council, meaning that any kind of governmental functions fall to the Council by default.  They like things to be organised, predictable, and consistent.  The biggest reason that Light mages come into conflict with Dark mages isn’t that Dark mages are evil, it’s that they don’t follow the rules. 

Dark mages function quite differently.  They don't have a centralised organisation or a Council or any kind of administrative system.  In fact, it can be difficult to know whether someone even is a Dark mage – it's not like you can apply for a membership card (and other Dark mages wouldn't respect it if you did).  If being a Light mage is like being a citizen of a country, being a Dark mage is more like being a follower of a cause or a religion.  What makes you a Dark mage is the way you act and the ideals you believe. 

Dark mages follow a philosophy called the True Path, the True Way, or simply the Path or the Way.  The True Path holds that someone's reality is defined by their personal power and the only goal that has any long-term value is increasing that power.  Traditional morality is seen as an artificial construct:  while it can be beneficial in certain situations, it places limitations on the user's ability to pursue power and therefore has to be discarded.  If power is a virtue, the corresponding vice is weakness, and Dark mages consider voluntary weakness the one really unforgivable sin.  Anyone who turns away from power is giving control of their life to whoever is willing to pursue that power, and by doing so they prove themselves unworthy to wield it.

The last paragraph probably makes Dark mages sound pretty evil, and it’s not at all difficult to find examples who live up to the stereotype – there’s absolutely no shortage of Dark mages who are cruel, brutal, vicious, and even murderous.  However, it’s worth remembering that Dark mages don’t believe in evil for its own sake.  They believe in power, but what a Dark mage does with that power is up to them – many Dark mages support quite sympathetic causes.  Finally, Dark mages have friends and family and loved ones, just the same as everyone else.  While trusting a Dark mage is rarely a good idea, automatically assuming the worst will often lead you to the wrong conclusion. 

Alice's Review: Shadow's Edge by J.T. Geissinger

Released: 12th June 2012
Paperback: 359 pages
Price: $7.16/12.96
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Source: ARC from author
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Night Prowler
Series Order:
1. Shadow's Edge
2. TBA
Summary:

Deep within the primeval forests of southern England, a race of beautiful, savage shape-shifters lives hidden from the everyday world. Bound together by ancient bloodlines and a ruthless code of secrecy that punishes traitors with death, the Ikati send their leader Leander on a mission to capture one raised outside the tribe before she can expose their secret. When Leander tracks the unsuspecting outsider to Southern California, the hardened warrior is prepared for a fight—but not for the effect the sensual young beauty has on his heart.

Jenna spent her childhood in hiding, on the run from someone—or something—her parents refused to discuss. She trusts no one, not since her father’s mysterious disappearance, not since her mother’s sudden death, and definitely not since she began exhibiting strange, superhuman abilities. When handsome, enigmatic Leander appears, promising answers to the mysteries that shroud her past, she knows she shouldn’t trust him either. But their connection is undeniable, and as powerful as the enemy hell-bent on destroying every one of their kind…

My Rating:

My Opinion: I was excited to read this book because it sounded promising. I sped through it (I finished it in one day!) and I thought it was a bit anti-climatic. Maybe a bit too obvious in its plot and ending. The novel starts off with a few news articles written about the Ikati, the cat shape-shifters and then continues on to Jenna walking around in a supermarket and then spotting Leander watching her.

I won't get into the plot because I honestly didn't think it was fantastic; it's predictable and didn't surprise me and I continued on because I knew there would be a happy ending. This is definitely a light read, without too many tense moments. I think the blurb made it out to be a lot more dramatic than it was.

I did like Jenna. She's assertive and strong and manages to hold her own against Leander and the Ikati leaders. I liked that she had the confidence to stand up for herself and get what she wanted. What I didn't like was how she made some stupid decisions, like trying to rescue a young Ikati woman by herself before she even learnt how to control her powers! She gained nothing from this and got herself captured and hurt and that was totally avoidable in my opinion! I know some people would consider her actions noble, but I think it was impulsive and stupid.

I didn't feel any particular like for Leander. I was a bit meh - he seems like a nice enough guy and he's definitely checked all the boxers on the 'Handsome, Mysterious, Sexy Stranger' list that qualify him to be a suitable love interest. I thought that these two fell in love too quickly, despite any 'strong connection' that they may have. They didn't interact enough with each other for me to easily believe they had something other than chemistry.

One of the things I loved was the mythology. I love shape-shifter novels because of the huge variety of mythology in them - all the different lore never gets old and it's so interesting reading about authors' takes on it. This contained a lot of cat stuff, which is cool because I love cats and there aren't enough novels written about them, in my opinion.

My verdict: This is a book that sits solidly on a bench in between boring and amazing - it wasn't anything special apart from its fantastic and interesting take on feline shapeshifters.