Lou Paduano | Urban Fantasy Novels | Sci-Fi Crime Series

A Circle of Shadows Commentary – Loss and Sacrifice

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The author commentary of A Circle of Shadows continues! SPOILERS AHEAD!

Theme in a larger sense…

I always hated this part of English Lit; determining the theme of a work. How do you summarize 300 plus pages into a single overall concept?

Now I can’t help but do it constantly. Much to my chagrin.

Big picture, Greystone has always been, to me, about good against evil. About standing for something, about being a light against the constant darkness. Loren and Soriya made up the light and with it they battled the shadows of Portents for the safety of all others.

Constant. Never yielding. No matter the menace. No matter the cost.

Loss and sacrifice.

Death holds meaning.

It has to, and I’ve done my best to exemplify this throughout the series. Soriya’s ruminations on death, on the concept of the afterlife as it ties to the ever-present Bypass, are constantly in the background of the stories. She is always wondering about coming back, about bringing people back, about righting the wrongs of those she’s lost over the years.

That need, those conversations early on in Signs of Portents and Tales from Portents, paved the way to the finale of this novel.

Soriya’s fear of death, that early memory of Gilgamesh taking the soul of the girl in the orphanage, made it clear this was a fight she needed to face.

And ultimately lose.

Not by surrendering and not by defeat. But by sacrificing herself for her ideals; for Portents.

For Loren more than anyone.

Killing a major character.

I didn’t want to shy away from this. I tried, Lord I tried, to change it. There are some terribly written hospital scenes buried somewhere in my recycle bin if you want the evidence.

Truth be told, I think death for Soriya was just another journey and she was willing to take it now more than ever.

She stopped the threat, survived the menace of the Heads of Cerberus, and had nothing left to give.

Loss and sacrifice. What Greystone means to me. For the greater good, sure, but for ourselves more than anything. The betterment of ourselves. Never out of fear but love.

When Soriya tosses the Greystone out to Loren, knowing the journey continues for him; knowing he will pick up the mantle and do the work she has since she was four, she lets go of the world with love in her heart and a smile on her face.

The way any of us would like to go.

So what happens next?

I want to tell you. Really, I do. But I won’t. There are clues in the books. Things Soriya has said herself about the Bypass and what lies beyond the veil.

Is Soriya’s story done?

What do you think?

A Circle of Shadows Commentary – The Dark Luminary

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The author commentary continues! Learn more about the Dark Luminary’s origins below and as always… THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!

The birth of a villain

I love the structure behind an arc. While I tire of the model used everywhere, especially on network television shows, there is something cool about understanding the evolution of a threat from beginning to end.

When I realized Soriya’s adventures could take on a series of novels, I began planting seeds about the monster to come. Monsters, if you’re being technical, as A Circle of Shadows came first in my mind in terms of the big bad at the end of the journey.

That changed over time. With the very first draft of The Medusa Coin, this one coming back in 2012, I understood the need for a figure in the background. I had Nathaniel Evans return in Signs. Then Henry Erikson stumbles upon the Medusa coin in the next installment. But how did they connect? How did each figure out what they needed most?

The answer was simple. They didn’t. Someone else did.

With that revelation I had my seed. Someone was creating this chaos in Portents. A figure in the shadows was manipulating figures for their own end.

But to what end could it be?

Enter Karen Winters.

There is a very specific chapter in The Medusa Coin where I figured out where I was headed. It was a flashback of Soriya’s first trip to the Library of the Luminaries. She learns of the coin, but while she does this, she also overhears the other members of the group discuss a dark light among them.

In truth, this was meant to be a seed explored in a spin-off series of adventures staring the Luminaries. It still might in some way or another, but it left me with this thread.

I had to pull it. I always have to pull the damn thread.

When you start to think about your villain, your big bad, the best way is to conceive of the polar opposite of your heroes. But they can’t just be evil. They can’t only have hate in their hearts. They make choices, same as everyone.

That is the key to solving them and where Karen Winters was born.

Her introduction in the prologue of A Circle of Shadows was more a way for me to figure out her motivation than anything else. It was as simple as her last line in the chapter:

“I hope for the light and prepare for the darkness.”

Everything else is irrelevant. This is her mindset and it carries her through the novel. With each indiscretion comes a rationalization. With each death, a purpose. For the greater good.

Just like the Circle of Shadows.

Just like Soriya and Loren.

How she changed…

Most of the story unfolded the same as intended. Snippets grew in the telling. Backstory was necessary, her drive for knowledge crucial to come across throughout the narrative.

For the most part, however, Karen Winters stayed the same as she always had in my mind. Driven by knowledge and a desire to control said information. Was she benevolent? Would she have aided mankind with the secrets of the infinite?

Doubtful.

But in her eyes, there would always be a reason for keeping a secret or two.

Your thoughts?

If you go back to the very first book, you’ll see Karen Winters in the background. In Signs, it is during Mentor’s journey through the Bypass. In The Medusa Coin, it is in the first chapter with Henry Erikson finding the coin at his bedside.

Shoot me an email at lou@loupaduano.com. I’d love to hear your thoughts on Karen and her journey.

Thanks for reading.

A Circle of Shadows Commentary – Julian Harvey

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The author commentary continues for A Circle of Shadows! SPOILER WARNING is in effect. BIG TIME!

The moment everything changed.

So there I was, writing my way through The Medusa Coin. I had a clear line to A Circle of Shadows. I knew the mystery involved and the threats. The conflicts and the resolutions. To some degree at least.

At that moment, I needed an ending. I needed to make The Medusa Coin as strong as it could be by knowing without a doubt my final destination at the end of the arc. So I outlined like a son of a gun to position myself in the strongest spot possible.

I had my Circle of Shadows. I understood their motivation and had them in the mix as the primary threat in the novel. They worked WITH the Luminary originally, manipulated throughout until their collapse.

Then I started thinking about who should be in the circle. And everything changed.

Circling back…

I like callbacks to previous stories. Locations are used in new ways but are meant to harken to earlier times. The apartment building at the end of Signs of Portents is one such spot. Having the lightning strike in The Medusa Coin and then showing the result of the damage with Thel in A Circle of Shadows shows progression but also lets the reader know everything matters.

This goes for characters as well.

When thinking about members of the circle, I wanted some names. I wanted people readers from the beginning would recognize and immediately understand.

Julian Harvey was there right from the start. When it came to Harvey’s involvement I knew there was no underling role for him. He was a leader in his own right. That revelation brought with it a complete rewriting of my thinking about the circle and its purpose.

No longer was the Luminary involved. No longer were they manipulated. They were a power in the city, doing what they believed to be right as a counterpoint to Soriya’s methods.

Julian Harvey explains this in the book. They handle the threats Soriya and Loren don’t even realize exist. They are the front line not hiding in the shadows but keeping the rest of the city in the dark about the truth. For their safety. For their protection.

For the good of all. The same as Soriya and Loren only different.

In their eyes, too different and that is the center of the conflict between the two parties.

The impact on Trustfall

As I’ve said many times, outlining ahead to reach your destination and strengthen your current position really does help your writing. Knowing Harvey’s ultimate role in A Circle of Shadows made Trustfall all the more important.

When I was putting this book together I was also writing Pathways in the Dark. Ruiz’s story was a simple case of an overprotective father and his college-bound daughter. When I realized the villain of the piece and the foil in the guise of Zoe’s professor, I saw an opening for the return of Harvey.

Not only a callback to The Great Divide, but also as a precursor to A Circle of Shadows. To reacquaint the reader with the character and how he fit into Ruiz’s life, but also provide motivation for his choices to come.

One character can change everything.

Without Harvey, Pratchett wouldn’t be involved in the circle. Without Pratchett’s involvement the tension changes completely in the story. His motivation shifts, Loren’s does the same, and everything threatens to fall apart.

One character can be the linchpin and for A Circle of Shadows, I thank Julian Harvey for playing that role.

Writing Update – November 20, 2018

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Welcome to your monthly writing update! It’s been an insane month behind the keyboard so let’s catch up, shall we?

NaNoWriMo Insanity!

I set a pretty big goal this year. Last year it was a single novel. This year it is three novellas. Why? Because I want to put a pin in this project before New Years.

As I type this I am only 12 chapters away from completing Book Six of the DSA’s inaugural season. 12 CHAPTERS!!!!

I love working on this series. I absolutely adore the scope. No matter how terrified I become because of the sheer weight of managing the series, the format, the sub-plots, the cast–all that STUFF– I love the story being told here.

It’s grown so much over the year. Not just the size of the undertaking but the evolution on such a grounded level. Down to the very core of each character. It’s become this defined entity and when something new comes up it makes complete sense in where things are heading. It’s fantastic to watch. It truly is.

When I finished Book 5 last weekend, my initial plan was a four day break. Maybe watch some movies, catch up on my reading, remember the names of my children. That sorta thing.

I outlined a new book instead. More DSA. Season Two, Book Three. It’s the second of four planned spin-off pilots within the confines of the main series. The concept stems from one conceived a decade ago. I even wrote the first book way back then – it was terrible…

Coming back to it though, I remember the joy of piecing together the mysteries involved. That’s what this is and why the DSA has been this dream project for me. There is weird science fiction aspects, there is the conspiracy thriller side of the main series but every once in awhile it branches off into these new areas.

The first spin-off deals with ghosts and the law. This one? Pure mystery bordering on the cozy mystery side of the genre. An amateur detective working on disparate cases in an attempt to piece together a broader mystery and understand the disappearance of someone close to her.

It’s called The Missing. And yes, I am YEARS from unveiling this beast on you and, yes, it is unfair to tease you so, but it is so exciting to discover these little explorations that I had to share with you.

Hope you don’t mind.

Thanksgiving fun

Thanksgiving is around the corner. I have a HUGE Greystone promo in the works. Two FREE books and the other three for only $0.99! Head over to Amazon for more details starting THIS FRIDAY!

Speaking of Amazon…

For the last six months I’ve been exclusive to the platform. It was my hope to bolster the exposure of the series and pave the way for what comes next.

It was a fun experiment and certainly hundreds of people snagged copies at a steep discount. But I don’t think Amazon is the same marketplace it was a year ago. Things have changed, demanding authors pony up more in advertising than is feasible for someone like me at this stage in the game.

So starting after this session in KDP Select – December 19th or so – Greystone will be available at all major ebook retailers once more! Apologies if this set you off for one reason or another, but I had to see how things worked out and I intend to play with them many more times in the future no doubt.

In Remembrance of Stan.

Stan Lee passed away on November 12th. If you weren’t aware, I am and always will be a huge fan of the comic book medium. To say Stan didn’t have an impact on who I am today would be an utter and complete lie. The man enriched millions of people over the decades and I am lucky to count myself among them.

I had planned to write a piece solely about the man but there is little I can say that you probably haven’t read by much more intelligent people than me.

I can only say thank you to the man once more for all he has given me and also for all he has given my daughters who have absolutely fallen in love with his early work from the 1960’s at Marvel. Watching them tear open a comic written by Stan and enjoy the hell out of it no matter the age is a true testament to the man’s talent and his enduring legacy.

Excelsior, Stan. Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

A Circle of Shadows Commentary – The Heads of Cerberus

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Welcome back to the author commentary on A Circle of Shadows. As always, SPOILER WARNING ahead. Especially going forward in this commentary!

Starting…… NOW.

No waste allowed.

The Heads of Cerberus. Their return was something I had in my back pocket for quite some time. I owe it to the research done during the scripting of The Consultant. While putting together the story of Russell Kerr and his confrontation with Heracles, I discovered that the lore behind Cerberus has been adapted throughout the ages.

As we know it now, Cerberus is a three-headed dog. It’s been seen this way countless times. Try and tell me Fluffy from Harry Potter isn’t your first thought when you think of Cerberus. Go ahead, try it!

(Liar)

Okay, so prior to this belief in only three heads, the lore behind Cerberus mentioned a creature with hundreds of heads. A guard dog without limit, eyes and ears everywhere to keep the gates of Hell barred against those locked within.

I couldn’t let that go. I refused to allow something so cool as that slip through my fingers.

A detail about The Medusa Coin

The initial draft of The Medusa Coin, prior to the published novel, was a shoddy little comic book script I cobbled together back in 2009. I wrote the scene where Soriya confronts Henry Erikson in his classroom after hours and during the scene two hellhounds pounce at Soriya; summoned by their master during his quest for immortality.

It made no sense. But the image remained. Probably thanks to my undying love of Supernatural. Probably.

These hellhounds were my first attempt to land on the Charon that eventually found its way into the story. Something about that visceral image stayed with me though and I kept circling around to it as the series went on.

Pop ’em in a mixer and put it together.

Those two pieces led to the return of the Heads of Cerberus. Those two little discoveries along the way of forming these novels shaped the threat of A Circle of Shadows.

Lately, I’ve pondered what would have happened if I never researched The Consultant as fully. Or if I never revisited my old script for The Medusa Coin. Would A Circle of Shadows be the same book?

Definitely not.

It’s funny how things work out.

Why the Heads of Cerberus? Why here and now?

The same questions asked by Soriya upon discovering their return were asked by myself during the outlining phase.

The truth behind their involvement came from a need to overwhelm not only Soriya but Portents. I wanted to show what happens when you beat back the shadows for so long, how they come back twice as vicious.

It was a way to snap the city from the delusion of security, that the police handled the badness and everything was sane. Hardly. Not in Portents anyway.

Beyond that, there has never been a threat where I couldn’t see a way out for Soriya. A myth or legend that when all was said and done Soriya, with the power of her Greystone, couldn’t vanquish given the opportunity.

I wanted the unbeatable villain this time. The single greatest threat to our heroes imaginable.

The Heads of Cerberus fit the bill.

Perfectly.

A Circle of Shadows Commentary – The Second Greystone

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The author commentary on A Circle of Shadows continues with a closer look at the Greystone! SPOILER WARNING ahead!

The evolution of the Greystone

For me, one of the great joys of the series has been the slow-burn reveal of the Greystone and the mysteries surrounding it.

Purpose is extremely important to the players in the story, especially Soriya and Mentor. They exist for a reason, even though that reason has not completely presented itself to them as of yet. It is why Mentor takes care to teach Soriya all those years in the Bypass Chamber. Why he pushes texts and lessons above all else.

To introduce patience. To give her the knowledge to seek out that purpose.

But the Greystone itself remains locked to them.

How a villain showed the way to A Circle of Shadows…

The initial draft of The Medusa Coin held no insight into the Greystone. The focus was on Erikson and his quest for immortality. Even Loren’s search for his wife’s killer was sidelined, offering a very standalone installment.

To the detriment of the series as a whole.

As editing took hold, as I saw a way to introduce Myers and this element of Soriya’s involvement the day Beth fell, I realized that added something personal to Loren.

But what about Soriya? What was important to her at this moment? That was the start of the out of control Greystone, the inkling that the merging of the two stones in Signs of Portents came with repercussions.

Understanding why opened the door to Erikson’s connection with Mentor and in turn his innate knowledge of the stone. And the other pieces…

Introducing the second stone

There is a clear line of thought from that moment in The Medusa Coin where Erikson announces the existence of the other stones to the arrival of Gabriel Jordan in A Circle of Shadows. Without one, the other would fall flat or need more explanation than necessary in what was shaping up to be an action-packed book already.

But with that information, that possibility of other stones, introduced in the previous novel, Gabe’s entry is seamless. Without question.

Gabe’s involvement in this book was one of the first pieces of the outline put together. How he manipulated the stone, his access to the power – how the pair were more in tune than Soriya ever was with this stone she’s carried since childhood – were very much set from the start. To me, it was a way of looking at the power from an outside perspective, but also seeing how it could be manipulated, compared to the teachings of Mentor.

What does this mean going forward?

I won’t spoil where things are headed. What I will say is that Loren’s story has closed for the moment. His big mystery was solved here. Was Soriya’s?

What is the Greystone exactly? What is it here for? How many other stones are there with bearers to match?

I hope you’ve pondered these questions as well. I know I have and I can’t wait to find the answers with you.

Thanks for reading.

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