Risingshadow has the honour of featuring a guest post by Gail Z. Martin. In this guest post, the author tells about Legacy, which is the fifth novel in the Deadly Curiosities series.
This guest post is part of the author's Hawthorn Moon blog tour.
Gail Zehner Martin was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Grove City College with a B.A. in History, and earned an M.B.A. in marketing and management information systems from The Pennsylvania State University.
After nearly 20 years as a marketing executive for corporations and non-profit organizations, she started her own consulting firm, Dream Spinner Communications. She also writes feature articles on a variety of topics for regional and national magazines. In addition to writing and consulting, Ms. Martin teaches public relations writing and public speaking for the University of North Carolina - Charlotte. She is married and has three children, a Himalayan cat and a golden retriever.
Guest post: Legacy, Memory and Magic by Gail Z. Martin
Legacy is the fifth novel in the Deadly Curiosities series, set in Charleston, SC—one of the most haunted cities in North America. Cassidy Kincaide runs Trifles and Folly, an antique and curio store with a big secret. Cassidy’s touch magic helps get cursed and haunted objects out of the wrong hands. More than once, she and her allies have saved the world from supernatural threats.
All kinds of legacies are in play in this book. Cassidy’s family history and inherited magic plays a big role, as does the very active ghost of her privateer ancestor, Dante. The head of a powerful witch family is faced with choices that will affect the future of his dynasty. Dr. Lucinda Walker’s family heritage of being a Voudon mambo plays a role, as does Mrs. Teller’s basket-making expertise, handed down from generation to generation. A tontine among elderly veterans creates a dangerous inheritance involving a bottle with an imprisoned, wish-granting goblin. A sea captain and a swashbuckler work blood magic to protect Charleston from an ancient evil with a spell that binds their souls and their descendants to the task.
I love playing with that kind of theme, and when a series has several immortal or especially long-lived characters, all kinds of delicious complications are possible. Even for the mortal characters, a single lifetime is enough to perpetuate damaging old behaviors or to discover how to make a fresh start and leave the past behind. Weaving multiple stories and personal legacies together in this book was a lot of fun!