Book Discussion - P.L. Blair, Shadow Path, Portals series

01/12/2012

Sandy's Spotlight - Book Discussion Featuring
Shadow Path (Portals)

Shadow Path by P.L. Blair

This is an open forum to discuss Shadow Path by P.L. Blair. Ms. Blair will be joining us and will take questions from readers. Anything and everything about the book can be discussed so be aware, there will most definitely be spoilers. Please no inappropriate comments, this forum is for a friendly discussion and questions with the author.

Since we all live in different areas of the country, and we all have different schedules, bookmark this page and come back to it as often as you want to see responses from the author as well as new comments and questions.

If you would like to join in on the book discussion, but have not yet read the book, Shadow Path, you are in luck! This book discussion will be open until January 26th. Just click on the book cover above and you will be directed to the Amazon purchase link.

Let's have some fun!

Comments

Sandy Wolters link

01/12/2012 16:43

P.L., I just have to ask, for those of us that have to read very large print, when will the other books in the series be available in e-book format?

I can't wait to read them!

P.L. Blair link

01/12/2012 20:36

Sandy ... Hi!
First, let me say a huge Thank You for hosting me today!
Stormcaller, Book 2 in the series, is with my publisher for final review and posting to ebook. I'm not sure when it will happen, but hopefully by the end of this month.
No firm schedule yet for Deathtalker or Sister Hoods, but the plan is to release them as ebooks before the end of the year.
In the meantime, all four books are available in paperback from Amazon and Barnes & Noble online.

Sandy Wolters link

01/13/2012 12:46

P.L., Woot! I can't wait!

Su Halfwerk link

01/13/2012 02:49

Hi Pat,
I've read few of your books in the series and looking at the fantastic and magical world you created, I just have to know: what inspired you to start the series?
Details please :-)
Su halfwerk
PS: Sandy, kudos to you for connecting readers with their authors through this wonderful venue.

Sandy Wolters link

01/13/2012 12:49

Su, Thank you. I can't believe there are authors like P.L. Blair that people haven't heard about. I love her writing! It's important to me to get the word out about these fabulous authors.

I love the idea of readers being able to connect with authors that they've read and enjoyed.

Great question for P.L.

Markee Anderson link

01/13/2012 04:03

This looks fantastic, P.L.! I haven't read the book yet, but plan to. Thank you so much for posting here, and Sandy, thanks for a great interview and a place for a book discussion!

Sandy Wolters link

01/13/2012 12:50

Markee, You are sooooooo going to love this book!

P.L. Blair link

01/13/2012 04:56

Hi, Su! Hi, Markee!
Markee, thank you for stopping by. I hope you'll come back with more questions.
Su ... I've been enthralled by folklore and mythology since I was 9 years old and discovered a book of Irish folk tales compiled by W.B. Yeats. So I think the seeds were planted then.
Then in high school, my French teacher introduced me to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and - like Samwise Gamgee - I fell in love with elves.
So all of that has been cooking around in my brain for decades. And I've wanted to be a writer since I was at least 7 years old. That's why I got into newspaper work - figured it was a way to make a living while I honed my writing skills. Then in 2006 - at the "tender" age of 59 - I finally decided if I was ever going to write books, I needed to get started. That was when I started seriously thinking about ideas. I was, in fact, initially torn between fantasy and detective novels (my other passion), so it just kind of seemed natural to me to combine the two.

Sandy Wolters link

01/13/2012 12:58

P.L., I love the fact that you combined the two genres! I am mad about detective novels as well. I just can't get enough of them. I just read my first fantasy book last year. Can you believe it? It wasn't that I didn't want to read them, there was just other stuff out there that I knew I was interested in.

I think introducing the suspense genre in with the fantasy is brilliant! It draws more readers in and then hooks them with that wonderfully creative fantasy filled mind of yours.

P.L. Blair link

01/13/2012 14:18

Thanks, Sandy. I have to confess, When I decided to blend fantasy with detective, I wasn't really thinking of anything except combining my two loves - magic and mysteries. I've been a long-time reader of detective stories - starting with Sherlock Holmes, who's still my favorite.
Plus, I love the CSI-type shows on TV. I'm fascinated by forensic science. Of course then I gave Tevis the ability to (most of the time) "See" how someone has died just by laying his hands on a corpse ...
And kind of rewrote the forensics rules book. But it's been wonderfully fun! Still is, in fact ...

P.L. Blair link

01/13/2012 04:59

Here I will share another, not-so-secret secret ... Tevis Mac Leod, my elven detective, is kind of a combination of Sherlock Holmes (only my favorite of all fictional detectives) and Illya Kuryakin, the blond Russian spy in the old Man From UNCLE TV series. (I discovered a couple of years ago that Lois McMaster Bujold also modeled one of her first literary characters after Illya, so I feel like I'm in good company.)

Sandy Wolters link

01/13/2012 12:59

P.L., I can see that! I was so in love with Illya Kuryakin when I was a kid!

P.L. Blair link

01/13/2012 14:21

So was I, Sandy! I never missed an episode of that show!

P.L. Blair link

01/13/2012 09:42

I should have mentioned this earlier - my sincere apologies, Su. I can only plead that I wasn't yet awake enough to think about it.

Su Halfwerk is the talented lady who designed the Shadow Path book trailer that you've watched (and if you missed it somehow, please go back and take a look). Su chose the music as well, and blended it all into the whole. Su ... thank you!

Sandy Wolters link

01/13/2012 13:01

Su, the book trailer was really great. I loved that last shot with the blood dripping off of the sword!

Sandy Wolters link

01/13/2012 13:04

P.L., I noticed in Shadow Path that there is a bond that runs deeper between Kat and Tevis than just that of work partners. I loved the closeness of their relationship in Shadow Path.

(This is the romance writer in me speaking) Does the relationship stay solid and bonded throughout the books? Do they form a deeper relationship? What's the scoop on that?

P.L. Blair link

01/13/2012 14:29

The bond stays solid, Sandy. Without giving too much away, I will say that there isn't much change in their relationship in the first four books - which, together, span four or five months.
I touch on that in Stormcaller - Book 2 - in which Kat overhears Tevis telling Gairth why he (Tevis) believes that any romantic relationship between human and elf is doomed to hurt one partner or the other - or both.
Through the first four books, Tevis is insistent that he loves Kat as though she were his own sister.
But in Book 5 - "A Plague of Leprechauns," which I'm working on now - there will be a change in the relationship as Tevis comes to acknowledge - to himself - that his feelings for Kat are not those of a brother ...
Gee, I hope I'm not creating a spoiler here ...

Coming on 05.18.12 Book Discussion, Zero Balance by Ashley Fontainne.

Sandy Wolters is a proud member of PRG.

Books by Sandy Wolters

The following books were written by Sandy Wolters. The genre is romance with a ghostly paranormal twist. Purchase information for Maggie Mae
Justice For Emily
A Brother's Love

Maggie Mae - A steamy contemporary romance with a ghostly paranormal twist

The Paranormal Romance Guild nominated my book, Justice For Emily, as one of 2011s best reads in the Reviewer's Choice category.

Justice For Emily - A steamy romance/suspense with a ghostly paranormal twist

A Brother's Love - A contemporary romance/suspense with a paranormal twist

Are you looking for an editor? I highly recommend Dannye Williamsen as Your Editing Partner.