Description:
MAGICAL TRICKS. DEMONIC TREATS.
After narrowly escaping her fate as a sacrificial scapegoat, Arcadia (Cady) Bell is back to normal. Or at least as ordinary as life can be for a renegade magician and owner of a tiki bar that caters to Earthbound demons. She’s gearing up for the busiest day of the year—Halloween—when a vengeful kidnapper paralyzes the community. The influential head of the local Hellfire Club taps Cady to track down the fiendish bogeyman, and now that she’s dating red-hot Lon Butler, the club’s wayward son, she can hardly say no.
Cady and Lon untangle a gruesome thirty-year trail of clues that points to danger for the club members’ children. But locating the person behind the terror will require some metaphysical help from Cady’s loyal bar patrons as well as her potent new Moonchild powers—and she’d better figure it out before the final victim disappears and her own darkest secret becomes her biggest enemy.
www.jennbennett.net
Let's get my thoughts out of the way:
I loved the book. I kept clicking next page late into the night because I wanted to know what happens next. The tone and quality are consistent and the characters and the world are developing nicely. The plot, as we discuss in a bit, is very contemporary and salient. The book is well edited which I think is soooo important in a e-publishing world. I Highly Recommend the book and the series; I believe it's a great new series for Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance readers. I really like Kim Harrison and I think it would be a great series for any one who enjoys the Hollows/Rachel Morgan books. While it could stand alone, I believe it is better in a serial context and since it is only book 2, it's easy to catch-up!
This is a great Interview, not because I wrote the questions but because Jenn writes clear, direct and funny answers!
Hi Jenn, Thanks for taking time to answer my questions about the SUMMONING THE NIGHT and the Arcadia Bell series. And, thanks to you and your publisher, Pocket Star for the giveaway!
First, this is the second in the series, which started with your debut novel Kindling the Moon. The protagonist is Arcadia Bell, a human magician. To many, a magician is a guy you hire for kids’ parties but Cady wields real firepower. In your arcana of supernatural beings what is a magician? Are there non-human witches? Can anyone be a magician with the right training?
Hi Stephanie! Thanks so much for having me on your blog!
Regarding the word “magician” in my series, it refers to someone with magical ability: a witch, mage, sorcerer. My heroine, Cady, was raised in a community of ceremonial magicians, who are humans with magical talent. Any human can learn magic, but those who are most successful have a lot of natural Heka, or magical energy that fuels spell-work. Are there non-human witches? Well, Cady is surprised to discover that Lon, an Earthbound demon, can do magic. And readers will be learning more about Cady’s origins in books 3 & 4, which will delve a little deeper into this subject.
I say “debut,” had you published before?
I had only been writing for six months when I wrote KINDLING THE MOON. About six months after that, I had a literary agent and New York publishers were bidding on it. Right now, I’m contracted for five Arcadia releases, with the option for my publisher to extend the series if it’s successful. I feel rather lucky and humbled by how quickly everything happened for me, as I know it’s not the norm when it comes to getting published.
Do you believe in magic and such?
I’ve always been interested in the occult, world myth, esoterica. And I’ve witnessed a lot of unexplainable things that defied logic and reason. And I’ve seen a lot of bunk, too. So I suppose I believe that anything’s possible, but critical thought shouldn’t be abandoned.
Cady talks about her “esoteric” organization, Eklesia Eleusia or E∴ E∴ -- since this is the second in the series, what is that and how are these groups organized like churches? Is it a national organization in Arcadia’s world?
These are magical organizations that exist in Cady’s world. Membership is usually limited. Some only have a few hundred members. Others have thousands. They are generally secretive and exclusive, and the members have devoted themselves to learning and practicing magick. As you mention, Cady grew up in one of these orders. It was originally based in France, but moved its main temple to Florida years ago. There are a couple dozen other smaller temples scattered around the world.
Lon is an Earthbound demon? What is that in relation to any other type and what other types are there?
In my world, Earthbounds are humans with demon souls. They look human, have various minor paranormal abilities, and are descended from big, bad scaly demons that exist on another plane called the Æythr. Most humans can’t identify Earthbounds: to them, they are just their neighbors or coworkers. But Cady is different. She has supernatural sight and can see a marker of light on Earthbounds that other magicians/humans can’t see.
Please tell me about Arcadia: Other than making love with Lon, working in her bar, and having a pet hedgehog, what does she like to do in her spare time?
Lon keeps her busy (ha!), however, she also spends a lot of time doing magical favors for her friends and neighbors, banishing pesky imps, that sort of thing.
We know that Lon and Jupe like classic thriller flicks; what is Arcadia’s favorite film genre and what’s her favorite movie?
Cady probably likes Raiders of the Lost Ark. I think that’s where her older-man fetish started, but she likely doesn’t realize it.
Please tell us a bit about how she grew up—we know her parents allegedly conceived her in a play to obtain more power killing several people in the attempt. She believes they are dead in the other world/plane. But other than the interesting spiritual practices what was her childhood like?
Strange as it may sound, Cady’s parents were vegetarians, very strict, and focused on her education. She wasn’t allowed to date or have a lot of fun. I think her childhood could be described as lonely.
And, speaking of her crazy parents. She thinks they are dead, but I notice there is some wiggle room written in. Will we be meeting them again?
Mmm, you noticed that, did you? I think this subject—whether they are alive or dead—will pop back up in book 3 and 4.
A couple of times you mention Lon being much older than she is but not as old as the head of the Hellfire club; do demons age more slowly than humans? What is the life span and will Arcadia stay young because of her weird magick?
Lon is 42. Cady is 25. He’s not going through a midlife crisis, and she’s not a gold-digger. They are just two people who happened to fall in love, despite their age difference. (Gasp! Shock! Horror!) Earthbounds aren’t immortal in my world. Their ancestors, Æthyric demons, live longer lives. Because of this, Earthbounds tend to stay healthier longer, and live slightly longer than the average human, but only be a few years. A decade, at most.
This story deals with missing children, is it a result of the tragedy you see so much on the news about missing kids?
I was wary, writing SUMMONING THE NIGHT about missing teens. It’s a sensitive subject, and I didn’t want to exploit it, which is why I tried to focus the story on the hunt for the villain, and not the tragedy. But sure, I think a lot of my plot ideas are inspired by news stories, and this is no exception.
Sex between Lon and Cady is a little more adventurous in this story than the first. Is that something you’re working on in writing the stories?
For those who haven’t read this series, I’d categorize it as an urban fantasy/paranormal romance hybrid. But I’d like to think that it’s not the usual alpha-male, hyper-romanced kind of paranormal. I try to create real characters with insecurities and flaws. My writing is very character- and voice-driven. Regarding Cady and Lon, as this series progresses, their sex will likely reflect what’s going on in their relationship. In SUMMONING THE NIGHT, they are becoming more comfortable around each other. Not quite at the I-love-you stage, but they aren’t wooing each other, either. However, books 3 and 4 are progressively darker in tone, and some major things are revealed about Cady’s origins. So I think it’ll be very, very interesting to see that conflict manifest their physical relationship. And I hope readers will feel the same way.
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