Monday, March 9, 2009

People: Malachi

Malachi is a Hound, and a member of the Wild Hunt.

He is one of the oldest Hounds; one of the original three that Gabriel brought with him when the Hunt was summoned to Beth-Hill.

He was blinded by Stefan's Hound in Fire & Water (this was mentioned in The Secret of Redemption, the second Karen Montgomery story, so it's not really a spoiler.)

At the moment, writing anything else about him would probably be too spoilery, so I'm going to wait until Heart's Desire and Fire & Water are published before adding to Malachi's entry.

People: Lucas Lane

Lucas Lane is Jacob Lane's uncle and the Council Historian. He is also pretty much in charge of the Council nowadays; the elves who live beyond the Veil live in dread of what would happen if Lucas were to die.

He gave up his life to the Council early-on; it's more of a calling to him than an actual job, and he expects other Council members to feel the same way even if they do not. He's always been fascinated with the Wild Hunt; and he's always been unfailingly polite to Gabriel in the hope that he will win his trust.

Lucas would prefer that everyone asked him first instead of asking permission after the fact. But he realizes that as a member of the Council, he's in an odd position, and as the Council Historian, he is suspect no matter what he does.

He lives in a small stone cottage about a twenty minutes' walk from the Hunt's lair, right on the edge of the forest that surrounds Beth-Hill.

He is probably somewhere in his mid-70s.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Errata: Josiah in The Eighth Room

When Josiah casts a spell in The Eighth Room to keep the rain from drenching both himself and Jacob, he begs Lucas not to tell Gabriel about the fact that he is able to do magic. Of course Gabriel finds out anyway.

This was obviously written before I wrote the current version of Heart's Desire and Josiah became the Hunt's wizard. The only explanation I can come up with that almost fits is that this was very soon after Heart's Desire and Gabriel didn't want Josiah to exhaust himself. But since I think The Eighth Room happens after Fire & Water, this explanation doesn't make sense, so it's going to forever be placed in the errata category.

See what I mean about writing future books first?

Places: Beth-Hill

Beth-Hill, Ohio actually exists. It is really almost surrounded by a State Park, which actually includes almost 5,000 acres of mostly woods and a large lake. Obviously, names have been changed to protect the innocent or something like that.

Beth-Hill got its name from Bethany Daulton (the town was called Daultonsville for its founder at first), who was stolen away by the elves almost two hundred years ago and returned home seven years later, pregnant and half-mad.

Originally, the hill was a fairy hill, and one of the few places a normal person could get through the Veil that separates the human world from Faerie, but no one is certain where the hill once stood, or where it is now.

Folklore says that Jacob Daulton, Bethany's father, died at the top of the hill when he was struck by lightning and/or trampled by a horse, but the only person who knows the whole truth is Kyren, and he doesn't like to talk about it.

Timeline: The Mess

Almost every book I've written is actually connected in some way. I call it 'The Mess', because it is rather messy, and there's quite a bit of errata between series and such. There's a good reason for this: I don't outline, and sometimes I write books that take place in the future before the books that take place in the past are even faint glimmerings in my mind.

Here is the current timeline, in order: (It will be updated as more books are written.)

Binding the Hunt (part of Heart's Desire)
Nine Lives and Three Wishes (currently a standalone novel)
Blood of the Innocents (currently a standalone novel)
The Tenth Ghost (Book 1 of the Jacob Lane series)
Heart's Desire (Book 1 of the Beth-Hill series)
The Ninth Guest (Book 2 of the Jacob Lane series)
Fire and Water (Book 2 of the Beth-Hill series)
The Eighth Room (Book 3 of the Jacob Lane series)
Budget Cuts (A Karen Montgomery story (#1)
The Secret of Redemption (A Karen Montgomery story (#2)
The Seventh Secret (Book 4 of the Jacob Lane series)
Ladybug, Ladybug (A Karen Montgomery story (#3)
Scarecrows (Book 3 of the Beth-Hill series)
The Sixth Stone (Book 5 of the Jacob Lane series)

(And far into the future, Prince of Shadows, Lost in Shadows, and Bound in Shadows.)

(I'm not quite sure where Full Moon fits in, but it does. Somewhere.)

Errata: Lucas Lane

Jacob's Uncle Lucas doesn't live in England, as is mentioned in the beginning of The Tenth Ghost. I must have been channeling too much Harry Potter when I wrote that.

He lives in Ohio, where he has lived for most of his life, in a small stone cottage not that far away from the Wild Hunt's home. There is a portal in his library that connects his house to Darkbrook's library; he found it much easier to do that instead of adding on a room to house more books.

Monday, February 2, 2009

This will be the official Beth-Hill series blog, which will include a cast of characters, updates, and other things. Coming Soon!