The Qwillery

Fiery Edge of Steel
Author:  Jill Archer
Series:  Noon Onyx 2
Publisher:  Ace, May 28, 2012
Format:  Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 336 pages
List Price:  $7.99 (print)
ISBN:  9780425257166 (print)
Review Copy:  Provided by the Publisher

Lucifer and his army triumphed at Armageddon, leaving humans and demons living in uncertain peace based on sacrifice and strict laws. It is up to those with mixed demon and human blood, the Host, to prevent society from falling into anarchy.

Noon Onyx is the first female Host in memory to wield the destructive waning magic that is used to maintain order among the demons. Her unique abilities, paired with a lack of control and reluctance to kill, have branded her as an outsider from her peers. Only her powerful lover, Ari Carmine, and a roguish and mysterious Angel, Rafe Sinclair, support her unconventional ways.

When Noon is shipped off to a remote outpost to investigate several unusual disappearances, a task which will most likely involve trying and killing the patron demon of that area, it seems Luck is not on her side. But when the outpost settlers claim that an ancient and evil foe has stepped out of legend to commit the crimes, Noon realizes that she could be facing something much worse than she ever imagined…

Jill Archer has revealed the cover for the second novel in her Noon Onyx series - Fiery Edge of Steel.  The cover artist is Jason Chan. The Art Director is Lesley Worrell.  What do you think?




Fiery Edge of Steel
Noon Onyx 2
Ace, May 28, 2012
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 336 pages

Lucifer and his army triumphed at Armageddon, leaving humans and demons living in uncertain peace based on sacrifice and strict laws. It is up to those with mixed demon and human blood, the Host, to prevent society from falling into anarchy.

Noon Onyx is the first female Host in memory to wield the destructive waning magic that is used to maintain order among the demons. Her unique abilities, paired with a lack of control and reluctance to kill, have branded her as an outsider from her peers. Only her powerful lover, Ari Carmine, and a roguish and mysterious Angel, Rafe Sinclair, support her unconventional ways.

When Noon is shipped off to a remote outpost to investigate several unusual disappearances, a task which will most likely involve trying and killing the patron demon of that area, it seems Luck is not on her side. But when the outpost settlers claim that an ancient and evil foe has stepped out of legend to commit the crimes, Noon realizes that she could be facing something much worse than she ever imagined…

A Noon Onyx Novel 1
Ace, September 25, 2012
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 384 pages

Armageddon is over. The demons won. And yet somehow…the world has continued. Survivors worship patron demons under a draconian system of tributes and rules. These laws keep the demons from warring among themselves, the world from slipping back into chaos.

Noon Onyx grew up on the banks of the river Lethe, daughter of a prominent politician, and a descendant of Lucifer’s warlords. Noon has a secret—she was born with waning magic, the dark, destructive, fiery power that is used to control demons and maintain the delicate peace among them. But a woman with waning magic is unheard of and some will consider her an abomination.

Noon is summoned to attend St. Lucifer’s, a school of demon law. She must decide whether to declare her powers there…or attempt to continue hiding them, knowing the price for doing so may be death. And once she meets the forbiddingly powerful Ari Carmine—who suspects Noon is harboring magic as deadly as his own—Noon realizes there may be more at stake than just her life.

Read an interview with Jill here and a Guest Blog by Jill - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel without Zombies, Robots, Aliens, Dystopia, the Plague or Even a Recent War - here.

Please welcome Jill Archer to The Qwillery as part of the 2012 Debut Author Challenge Interviews. Dark Light of Day (Noon Onyx 1) was published on September 25, 2012. You may read Jill's Guest Blog - A Post-Apocalyptic Novel without Zombies, Robots, Aliens, Dystopia, the Plague or Even a Recent War - here.




TQ:  Welcome to The Qwillery.

Jill:  Thank you! I'm happy to be here.


TQ:  What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

Jill:  My editor pointed out that I was overly fond of using dog metaphors in my writing. Until she mentioned it, I hadn't realized! Sure enough, I ran a search. Clearly, I love comparing people to pooches and demons to dogs. (I've since reduced the number of dog metaphors in DLOD).


TQ:   Who are some of your favorite writers? Who do you feel has influenced your writing?

Jill:  Past and current favorites include Lois McMaster Bujold, S.M. Stirling, Ken Follett, Naomi Novik, Anne Rice, Stephen King, Colleen McCullough, Elizabeth George, Elizabeth Peters, Nora Roberts, and Lisa Kleypas. To some degree they've all influenced my writing (as have many others whose work I admire). Despite the disparate genres represented by this list, collectively they represent the best that storytellers have to offer: memorable characters, richly detailed worlds, and/or stories with emotional resonance.


TQ:  Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Jill:  I'm a plotter, although I always give myself permission to create new characters or explore different plot directions. Neither the ending of Dark Light of Day nor the second book in the series is the ending I originally planned. So far, my books have been too detailed for me to be a pantser, but I can't deny myself the thrill of discovery that comes with being open to story possibilities I didn't see at the start of a project.


TQ:  What is the most challenging thing for you about writing?

Jill:  All of it. That's not to say I don't enjoy it, but I wonder if I'll ever be able to say that attempting to produce a 100,000 word novel with characters readers can be passionate about, settings that are imaginative yet believable, and plots that are as surprising as they are satisfying isn't challenging every step of the way! :-D


TQ:   How did practicing law prepare you for writing novels? Or not!

Jill:  Most of my ten years in practice was spent doing transactional work, not litigation. That means when I wasn't in meetings or on the phone, I was drafting documents -- inch-thick, single-spaced documents. The kind that take forever to finish. The kind that take a team of people to get just right. The kind that go back and forth between the involved parties multiple times. The kind with looming deadlines, lots of stress, but immeasurable satisfaction once they are complete. So, in a way, those ten years were prepping me for novel writing! (But now I get to double space).


TQ:  Describe Dark Light of Day (Noon Onyx 1) in 140 characters or less.

Jill:  A 21 year old post-grad magic user must choose between death or training to become a demon peacekeeper.


TQ:  What inspired you to write Dark Light of Day?

Jill:  Noon Onyx is very loosely inspired by the librarian Evelyn "Evie" Carnahan from the movie, The Mummy. Some years ago, while I was still practicing law, I sat next to a librarian during a writer's event. We each commiserated with the other about how dull we felt our day jobs were, a feeling each of us couldn't believe the other had. It led to a discussion about Evie's character and I got the idea to see if I could somehow create a similarly bookish lawyer character who lived in some sort of "otherworld."


TQ:  What sort of research did you do for Dark Light of Day?

Jill:  All kinds. There was the legal research, of course. Although I didn't obsessively concern myself with legal accuracy (demons and due process don't always mix), I wanted to use enough legal terminology to establish the "school of demon law" milieu I was trying to create. That said, no one needs a law degree to read the book! Necessary meaning can be derived from context. (The real story is Noon's emotional journey). I researched antique apple varieties to create the ensorcelled Empyr wines. That was fun! And I researched all sorts of demons and deities from around the world, as well as various religious myths and holidays. I played fast and loose with most of it. I tend to use research as an inspirational springboard.


TQ:  Who was the easiest character to write and why? Hardest and why?

Jill:  Noon Onyx was the easiest character to write. Since the book's written in first person, I'd be worried if she wasn't my answer to this question! I think if your character's perspective is hard to write from, or you don't identify with them for whatever reason, writing in first person would be doubly hard. That said, writing in first person is challenging because your main character's not going to be present for every single story event. And you have to work extra hard at showing what the other characters might be thinking or feeling (something I enjoy knowing as a reader).

Noon's parents were difficult to write at first. I get them more now that I've spent more time with the story, but when I was first fleshing things out it was difficult for me to relate to parents that acted the way they did.


TQ:  Without giving anything away, what is/are your favorite scene(s) in Dark Light of Day?

Jill:  Hmm... that's a tough one. I think there's something different to love in each. But I will say I loved how the Barrister's Ball sequence turned out. There's also a small twist to the climax of the book that made me hoot out loud when I first thought of it. (I thought, "I can't write that--!" and then I knew I *had* to!) And the emotional note of the very last scene of the book, to me, is pitch perfect.


TQ:  What's next?

Jill:  Book #2 is currently scheduled for a spring release -- May 2013. My plan for each book is new assignments, new adventures, and new adversaries. In book #2, some characters will return, some new ones will be introduced, and Noon will get her first field assignment.


TQ:  Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

Jill:  Thanks for having me, Sally! I appreciated having a chance to share more about Noon Onyx and Dark Light of Day with your readers.



About Dark Light of Day

A Noon Onyx Novel 1
Ace, September 25, 2012
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 384 pages

Armageddon is over. The demons won. And yet somehow…the world has continued. Survivors worship patron demons under a draconian system of tributes and rules. These laws keep the demons from warring among themselves, the world from slipping back into chaos.

Noon Onyx grew up on the banks of the river Lethe, daughter of a prominent politician, and a descendant of Lucifer’s warlords. Noon has a secret—she was born with waning magic, the dark, destructive, fiery power that is used to control demons and maintain the delicate peace among them. But a woman with waning magic is unheard of and some will consider her an abomination.

Noon is summoned to attend St. Lucifer’s, a school of demon law. She must decide whether to declare her powers there…or attempt to continue hiding them, knowing the price for doing so may be death. And once she meets the forbiddingly powerful Ari Carmine—who suspects Noon is harboring magic as deadly as his own—Noon realizes there may be more at stake than just her life.

About Jill

Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jill earned a bachelor of science from Penn State University and later moved to Baltimore to attend the University of Baltimore School of Law, where she graduated magna cum laude. She went on to practice law as a “dirt lawyer” for ten years, specializing in real estate law, municipal development, commercial leasing, and anything involving exceedingly lengthy legalese-like contractual monstrosities.

Jill now lives in rural Maryland with her two children and husband, who is a recreational pilot. Weekends are often spent flying around in the family’s small Cessna, visiting tiny un-towered airfields and other local points of interest.


Website: www.jillarcher.com
Blog: http://jillarcherauthor.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @archer_jill
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jillarcherauthor
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13556956-dark-light-of-day




The Giveaway

THE RULES

What:  One commenter will win a copy of Dark Light of Day (Noon Onyx 1) from The Qwillery.

How:   Answer the following question: 

 
Please remember - if you don't answer the question your entry will not be counted.

You may receive additional entries by:

1)   Being a Follower of The Qwillery.

2)   Mentioning the giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter. Even if you mention the giveaway on both, you will get only one additional entry. You get only one additional entry even if you mention the giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter multiple times.

There are a total of 3 entries you may receive: Comment (1 entry), Follower (+1 entry) and Facebook and/or Twitter (+ 1 entry).  This is subject to change again in the future for future giveaways.

Please leave links for Facebook or Twitter mentions. You MUST leave a way to contact you.

Who and When:  The contest is open to all humans on the planet earth with a mailing address. Contest ends at 11:59pm US Eastern Time on Friday, October 5, 2012. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 years old or older to enter.

The results are in and the 2012 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars winner for September is Jill Archer's Dark Light of Day (Noon Onyx 1) with 40% of the votes cast. The cover art is by David Palumbo.




 The final results:












Thank you to everyone who voted, Tweeted, and participated. The 2012 Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars will continue in October with voting on the October debut covers.

Please welcome Jill Archer to The Qwillery as part of the 2012 Debut Author Challenge Guest Blogs. Dark Light of Day (A Noon Onyx Novel 1) will be published on September 25, 2012.





Post-apocalyptic novels are big right now. It seems like everywhere you look, there's a great new story set in a post-apocalyptic world. There's Cormac McCarthy's The Road, Justin Cronin's The Passage, Max Brooks' World War Z, S.M. Stirling's Novels of the Change, Julianna Baggot's Pure, William R. Forstchen's One Second After, and Suzanne Collins' wildly popular Hunger Games trilogy (I know I'm missing some awesome ones; sound off in the comments with your favorites). Movies and television also have a wonderful selection of recent and somewhat recent post-apocalyptic fare: The Walking Dead, Contagion, Battlestar Galactica, City of Ember, Terminator Salvation, even Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland (both hilarious).

Most post-apocalyptic fiction deals with "end of the world" type stuff. That's what an apocalyptic event is, after all. It's an epic disaster, a cataclysmic event, total annihilation. It's an over simplification, but I tend to group post-apocalyptic tales into one of three categories:

• The Monster Stories: These stories have zombies, vampires, aliens, robots, or some other type of monster still actively chasing all of the survivors down.

• The Super-Plague or Disaster Stories: In these, the villain is faceless and much of the plot centers on the characters fight to survive in a destroyed world. Food and fuel shortages are common. Anarchy and lawlessness abounds.

• The Dystopian Story: These stories tend to be set a bit later than the two categories above, often years after the initial apocalyptic event. Civilization has had a chance to get back up on its feet, but it's walking around with a severe limp -- and a lot of poor governing practices. These stories pit the individual against a flawed society.

I adore post-apocalyptic stories. Why? Well, for starters, it's an ancient archetype of conflict. Monsters, sickness, and natural disasters have been man's enemy since the dawn of time. The passage of time, contemporary settings, and modern technology provide more, not less, story fodder. And dystopian tales? I'm betting the moment cavemen started banding together behind common leaders, they got a taste of dystopia. Dystopia is bad leaders happening to good people. Real world history is full of it.

When I started writing my debut novel, Dark Light of Day, I wanted to set it in a post-apocalyptic world, but I wanted to try something different. My premise (regarding the world of Halja, where my story is set) was:

What if the Apocalypse came and went... but everything was still relatively the same? What if Armageddon was old news? What if there were no zombies, vampires, aliens, or robots? What if there were no plagues or disasters, natural or divine? What if the society wasn't dystopian?

Well, if that's all there was to Dark Light of Day, the story might have been pretty darn boring. No monsters? No disasters? No dystopia? Where's the conflict?! I hear you and agree. So I added demons.

The concept of Armageddon originates with the Christian Bible. The Book of Revelation from the New Testament references Armageddon, which some have interpreted to mean the place where the final battle between God and Satan will take place. Such an event would, obviously, be apocalyptic. So I used the concept of Armageddon (not just a war to end all wars, but a war to end the world) as the apocalyptic event of my story. But then I added a twist by asking:

What if the demons won? And life just went on? What would it look like 2,000 years later? What would be the same? What would be different?

In the beginning, I had misgivings about setting my story in a world where Lucifer reigns as an absent king. But I can assure you, Halja is as full of light as it is of darkness. I've tried to be respectful of my Christian inspirational sources, while remaining true to my primary goals, entertainment and exploration. I wanted to explore what life might be like in a world where good and bad aren't as easily defined as they sometimes are in ours. Have other writers done that? Sure, but I hope my story's unique enough to attract some attention. To help you decide whether this story might be right for you, here's a brief excerpt from Chapter 2:

       If Halja, my country, was the lone man left standing in a battlefield after a long and brutal war, then its future would be the spilled blood under his feet—expected, yet somehow still startling, slippery and shifting, a sacrifice for peace in a world full of demons. Real ones. Because it was here in Halja that Lucifer’s army, the Host, beat the Savior’s army in the last great battle of the Apocalypse.
       And yet . . .
       Life goes on pretty much the way it did before. People still get married, have babies, and pay their taxes. Many things were destroyed, but many things have been rebuilt. We have mechanized cabriolets, electro-harmonic machines, winder lifts, pots of lip gloss, and nail lacquer. We have time to do our hair. Because the Apocalypse happened over two thousand years ago. Armageddon is old news and in the days, years, centuries, and millennia since, we’ve mourned our dead, buried them, and even forgotten where their graves were.

So, what about you? Do you like post-apocalyptic stories? If so, which are your favorites? Why do you like to read it (or watch it)? What about stories that explore the nature of good and bad and right versus wrong? Do you enjoy stories where the line between the "good guys" and the "bad guys" is more muddied than it is in our world?

If you're interested in more post-apocalyptic tales, check out: http://io9.com/5572283/30-post+apocalyptic-visions-of-the-21st-century. If you're Interested in reading more about the end of the world, check out: http://www.history.com/topics/the-end-of-the-world.

Thank you, Sally, for hosting me and including Dark Light of Day in The Qwillery's 2012 Debut Author Challenge!



About Dark Light of Day

A Noon Onyx Novel 1
Ace, September 25, 2012
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 384 pages

Armageddon is over. The demons won. And yet somehow…the world has continued. Survivors worship patron demons under a draconian system of tributes and rules. These laws keep the demons from warring among themselves, the world from slipping back into chaos.

Noon Onyx grew up on the banks of the river Lethe, daughter of a prominent politician, and a descendant of Lucifer’s warlords. Noon has a secret—she was born with waning magic, the dark, destructive, fiery power that is used to control demons and maintain the delicate peace among them. But a woman with waning magic is unheard of and some will consider her an abomination.

Noon is summoned to attend St. Lucifer’s, a school of demon law. She must decide whether to declare her powers there…or attempt to continue hiding them, knowing the price for doing so may be death. And once she meets the forbiddingly powerful Ari Carmine—who suspects Noon is harboring magic as deadly as his own—Noon realizes there may be more at stake than just her life.

About Jill

Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jill earned a bachelor of science from Penn State University and later moved to Baltimore to attend the University of Baltimore School of Law, where she graduated magna cum laude. She went on to practice law as a “dirt lawyer” for ten years, specializing in real estate law, municipal development, commercial leasing, and anything involving exceedingly lengthy legalese-like contractual monstrosities.

Jill now lives in rural Maryland with her two children and husband, who is a recreational pilot. Weekends are often spent flying around in the family’s small Cessna, visiting tiny un-towered airfields and other local points of interest.


Website: www.jillarcher.com
Blog: http://jillarcherauthor.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @archer_jill
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jillarcherauthor
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13556956-dark-light-of-day



The Giveaway

THE RULES

What:  One commenter will win a copy of the Ace/Roc 2012 Science Fiction and Fantasy Sampler from Jill.

How:  Leave a comment answering Jill's questions:

Do you like post-apocalyptic stories? If so, which are your favorites? Why do you like to read it (or watch it)? What about stories that explore the nature of good and bad and right versus wrong? Do you enjoy stories where the line between the "good guys" and the "bad guys" is more muddied than it is in our world?

Please remember - if you don't answer the questions your entry will not be counted.

You may receive additional entries by:

1)   Being a Follower of The Qwillery.

2)   Mentioning the giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter. Even if you mention the giveaway on both, you will get only one additional entry. You get only one additional entry even if you mention the giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter multiple times.

There are a total of 3 entries you may receive: Comment (1 entry), Follower (+1 entry) and Facebook and/or Twitter (+ 1 entry).  This is subject to change again in the future for future giveaways.

Please leave links for Facebook or Twitter mentions. You MUST leave a way to contact you.

Who and When:  The contest is open to all humans on the planet earth with a mailing address. Contest ends at 11:59pm US Eastern Time on Friday, September 7, 2012. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 years old or older to enter.