The Evolution of the Paladins

Today we have the privilege of hearing how Alexis Morgan came up with the Paladins.

Thank you so much Alexis for taking the time to guest blog for me.

 

I’ve been living with the Paladins as part of my life for the better part of six years now.  Looking back, I can still remember the first stirrings of the ideas that led me to meeting my first Paladin hero, Devlin Bane. 

At the time, I was still writing American West historicals.  I’ve always had a soft spot for the kind of hero who was willing to risk everything to protect those he cares about—marshals, sheriffs, gunslingers with a heart of gold, and even Civil War soldiers. You get the idea.

But suddenly I found myself thinking about a modern day warrior. For some inexplicable reason, I kept seeing him carrying a sword rather than any kind of modern day weapon. That was intriguing enough, but somehow I knew—just KNEW—that the battle he waged was always fought in the darkness.

Now darkness can be literal—maybe his enemies only come out at night. That’s true of a lot of paranormal heroes and villains.  However, darkness can also carry the connotation of secrecy.  That felt right to me. My new hero fought a secret war using ancient weapons to keep those of us who live in the light—or in the open—safe from harm.  I called them Paladins because this new kind of warrior served a noble cause as did the knights of old. 

From there, I decided the secret enemy was not of this world, that there was a barrier between our world and theirs. Hence the secrecy of the war. Imagine the panic if people found out that we were under the constant threat of invasion by aliens who were out of their heads with the need to kill? What’s more, that only a handful of brave men had the ability to prevent a steady influx of crazies called Others into our world. What made the Paladins uniquely able to fight the Others? Good question. It’s because the Paladins shared some of the same DNA as their enemies. 

To be fair, I thought these heroes deserved to have a few extra tools in their arsenals beyond their swords, a gift from that alien DNA. They have enhanced senses, superior strength, speed, and the ability to heal much faster than regular humans.  Oh, yeah, there was one more thing—they can die and come back from it. Cool beans, huh? But the downside is, no one knows how many times each Paladin can make the long journey back to the living before he’s used up all his chances.

I started off with five Paladins, but others have introduced themselves along the way, not to mention the surprise of having a few of their sworn enemies becoming heroes who demanded their own books as well.  The next two installments in my Paladin world will be out in May and June.  The first, Bound by Darkness, has a Kalith warrior, Larem q’Jones as the hero.  The second one, The Darkness Beyond, is about Paladin D.J. Clayborne.  Both of these heroes were extra special for me, and I hope my readers feel like I’ve done their stories justice.

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Don't miss Alexis's newest Paladin Books 

COMING APRIL 26th

Bound by Darkness

COMING MAY 31st

The Darkness Beyond

Check out her other series: The Talions, and her vampires: eHarlequin Nocturne Bites (ebooks)

Now we are going to the world beyond!

I would like to expand the blog into some new worlds that authors have created. Depending on how many authors decide to send me blogs will determine how long this section will run.

Tomorrow my guest blogger will be Alexis Morgan, as she tells us how the concept of her Paladins came to be. In a sense she is both the last of my neighbor blog and the first of my other world blog.

Hope you enjoy. See you all tomorrow.

Talk about mixed up!

Today we get to have fun with my guest blogger Danica Avet. She likes to put a little spice in your life, Cajun style.

Thank you so much Danica for taking time out from your writing to share with us. 

Succubus: In folklore traced back to medieval legend, a succubus (plural succubi) is a female demon appearing in dreams who takes the form of a human woman in order to seduce men, usually through sexual intercourse. The male counterpart is the incubus. Religious traditions hold that repeated intercourse with a succubus may result in the deterioration of health or even death. (Wikipedia)

When I started world building for my Veil series, I threw in every single race from games I’ve played, books I’ve read, and things that I found myself interested in. As a result, the Veil is populated by vampires, werefolk, demons, angels, succubi, incubi, dwarves, Amazons, and everything in between. 

Then came the actual writing. I looked over all of the races and my eyes stopped on the succubus. As you can see by the definition above, they weren’t considered benign women. I suppose this has a lot to do with historical man’s fear of a woman’s power and I decided then and there that I had to write a book about a succubus. I like taking creatures of myth and legend and tweaking them. Why should a succubus be a demonic female? Oh, sure, she still has to feed off of male lust, but why couldn’t she take just enough to survive? Once I had that idea, I had to go further because my heroine couldn’t be just any succubus; she had to be different. I’m a big fan of different.

Piper Foxgrove isn’t just a succubus, she’s also part weretiger. In the world I built, succubi can only have succubi daughters. Any sons they have would be the same as the father’s race. So how did Piper end up both? Well, that’s a genetic mystery, but I knew she was going to be more than special. She wasn’t just going to be an anomaly in the Veil; she was also going to be an anomaly in her family. How? Well, unlike her mother and sisters who are full-blooded succubi, Piper wants to save her virginity for a man who’ll become her mate. Yes! She’s an old-fashioned girl who wants courtship, love, children, and that white picket fence. 

I liked the idea of taking the big, bad supernatural wanton and making her a shy virgin who wants to fall in love to the exasperation of her family. Piper was a lot of fun for me to write and I hope she’ll be a lot of fun to read as well.

How about you? What’s your favorite supernatural/mythological creature and how would you change them if you were writing about them? I’ll be giving away a prize, so be sure to comment!

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