Tag Archives: spells

Caught on Camera: The Real Truth About Clockpunk Wizardry

Turn up the lights and roll the cameras. In Lita Burke’s newest video, the author confesses to creating the Clockpunk Wizard world, telling the story inside of Old Bony Blue Eyes, and much more.

Here Lita Shows Us a Picture of an Elf’s Home in the Clockpunk Wizard World

The truth is now told. Lita finally steps forward and comes clean. She answers the endless questions Gentle Readers ask about the Steampunk, Clockpunk, and Fantasy genres.

Lita describes these three genres’ telltale clues that anyone can spot. She has pictures on them, and shows us.

There are more, almost naughty, details. Oh, the scandal when these three genres became a ménage à trois known as her Clockpunk Wizard world. Then there is that Old Bony Blue Eyes affair. Lita blushes, but tells us all about it.

For the crack investigators among you Gentle Readers, here are more clues about Old Bony Blue Eyes. It all starts with the book cover that has the verified picture of the charming wizard they call Sir Death. That part isn’t so bad.

What is much more incriminating is that the book cover comes with that suspicious, oh so brief spell that writers call The Pithy Sentence. Lita shows the cover and the pithy below. Wait, this next part is so sneaky. On the flip side of the book is more evidence in the back cover blurb.

A wizard faces a dangerous journey to Sir Death’s castle to win a powerful spell book for a love-starved dragon.

Chapter 1 (Yes! Inside is actual proof about Clockpunk Wizardry.)

Old Bony Blue Eyes on Amazon US (So this is how Clockpunk Wizardry is spreading like a bad rash in fantasy circles.)

Old Bony Blue Eyes on Amazon UK (Wizard Kadmeion flew his airship across the pond, it seems.)

Old Bony Blue Eyes on Smashwords (iPads, tablets, and smartphones aren’t safe from this literary delight) Old Bony Blue Eyes on Barnes & Noble (and neither are Nooks).

Ephraim’s Elevator Pitch

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All sorts of odd things happen at Lita’s castle. Even a trip on a mundane lift turns magical when a sorceress goes along for the ride.

The Box Beyond This Door Whisks You From the Ground to the Clouds in a Magical Minute

The fun of fantasy worlds is that anyone can turn the mundane into the fantastic. Consider the magic of elevators. You enter the box on the ground floor of a lofty office building, and faster than an eagle can fly, it transports Gentle Reader to the building’s peak among the clouds. See? Magical.

Let Lita spin an enchantment the next time Gentle Reader rides in one of those lovely magical boxes. Now suppose this happens instead. Press the Up button to call enchantment. The doors rumble open. You, Madam Lita, and two others step inside the compartment. The elevator doors close, and then sigh as if whispering magical words. One of your companions, a jeans-clad guy all curious and handsome, sits down in front of the doors. “Madam Lita, tell me your tale,” he says. “But you have only a minute to beguile me.”

Press the Up Button to Summon Enchantment

Well. Lita would smile, rub her hands, and weave this spell called Elevator Pitch.

“Let me tell you Ephraim’s sad and lovely tale,” Lita says. “It is about a wizard who seeks a magical thingummy to free his kidnapped familiar.”

Your other elevator companion, a suit-clad businessman whose face looks like he eats unsweetened lemons, shakes his head. He sets down his stuffed and tired leather briefcase, and then crosses his arms. “Tell me more, Madam Lita. Good luck enchanting this doubting fool.”

“The young Wizard Kadmeion struggles with getting his magician-for-hire business off the ground.” Lita goes on about the wizard’s adventures in the skies filled with islands floating above the sea. [Find more of Lita’s spell here]

Beyond the Lift’s Doors Stretches a Grassy Airship Field

The satisfied young man blocking the exit stands. He steps aside and the elevator doors bang open. The lemon-faced man jumps.

Lita and the jeans-wearing man grin. Beyond the lift’s doors stretches a grassy airship field from the plate-shaped ocean world of Ephraim’s Curious Device. Take a deep breath and smell the grass and engine oil. Hear the screeching birds and the thumping of the propellers. Shiver a bit, because it is chilly beyond the doors.

“That’s impossible,” says lemon-faced man.

The handsome guy makes a grand gesture. His hand leaves a ribbon of glittery magic in the air. “See the fantasy world for yourself, doubting sir, and be a fool no more.”

The Enchantment So Beguiled Him, the Visitor Forgot His Briefcase

Lemon-faced man nods, adjusts his tie, and steps across the threshold. The elevator doors close. Oops. The enchantment so beguiled him, the visitor forgot his briefcase stuffed with mundane world cares. Not to worry. He can fetch his Case of Cares during the return trip.

“Ah, Madam Lita. Tell me another Elevator Pitch?” jeans-clad man asks. He punches the Down button, again settles to the floor, and awaits the next story.

Lita again rubs her hands. “Let’s find more beguiling tales at Lisa’s Elevator Pitches.”

Ephraim’s Curious Device on Amazon US

Ephraim’s Curious Device on Amazon UK

Ephraim’s Curious Device on Goodreads

Read about Lisa Hall’s Elevator Pitches

Enchanter Kisses

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It’s Kiss an Enchanter Day

Let’s observe Valentine’s Day today and talk about one of Lita’s favorite subjects–Enchanter magical essence kisses.

It’s been some time since Lita has talked about the Enchanters in the Sye world. Here’s a quick recap, then we will get back to magical hanky-panky.

Sye is a world where the Enchanters, Church magicians, and others (called “non-Maji’kers”) live. The humans, and some sentient magical creatures, use magic (called “essence”) as an energy source for mechanisms that would otherwise use physics or natural laws in other worlds.

The living world of Sye is a separate place from the afterlife, called the Fields of Yalu (or the “city of the dead”). Ghosts from the Fields of Yalu are regular visitors to Sye. Powerful magicians keep dragonettes as pets. Everyone has a secret name given to them clandestinely by their mothers, which is the source of a person’s magical ability.

Enter the Sye Fantasy World

Lita has visited Sye before, and wrote about her visits with the Enchanters, dragonettes, and ghosts. Here are her Enchanter stories if Gentle Reader has not had time to investigate:

Wrath, Prequel to Tredan’s Bane is a short story that starts things off at a run. In Wrath, a retired Enchanter (Tredan) battles a powerful magician to keep a dangerous spell book from falling in to the wrong hands. Read the back cover blurb, watch the short Wrath book trailer, or read Chapter 1.
Masked Ghosts Threaten the Enchanters in “Ghost Orchid”

Tredan’s Bane plunges in to the thick of things with Tredan’s wife Lanith, a magical oddities dealer, getting a ghost’s warning, then returning home to find her home on fire and Tredan missing. After enlisting the help of the Enchanters, Lanith finds and hides her kidnapped husband’s dangerous spell book. Read the back cover blurb, watch the Tredan’s Bane book trailer, or read Chapter 1.
Ghost Orchid continues Lanith’s adventures, where she investigates crypt murders that release masked ghosts in to the living world who threaten the Enchanters. Read the back cover blurb. Release date for Ghost Orchid is summer of 2014.

Magic Must Make Sense

One of Lita’s pet peeves with some fantasy fiction, especially epic or high fantasy, is how the powerful magicians just wave their hand and bolts of magical energy shoot from their fingertips. Or sometimes it’s the end of the hero’s journey, and he/she has the magic wand/orb/book, and this magical lightweight (at best) use this thingummy to produce the bolts of magical energy.

Balderdash! Be gone, silly images. Magical energy isn’t that way at all. Here’s the truth–you get magical energy from kissing an Enchanter.

Just like the taste of Enchanter kisses–chocolate, cinnamon & peppery spice

What does magical essence taste like? Chocolate. Cinnamon. Hint of peppery spice.

Only Enchanters can produce the magical power that fuels the Sye world. What would be the life of an Enchanter man (or woman) if some magicians will stop at nothing to control the source of magical power? It’s not all smooches. Some of it is big trouble.

Find out for yourself. Lita suggests that you fix a cup of hot chocolate in a favorite mug, add a dash of cinnamon, and curl up with Wrath and Tredan’s Bane. Oh, and keep your Valentine darling nearby if you want to practice your own magical essence kisses.

Wrath, Prequel to Tredan’s Bane Book Trailer

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Here is the just-release book trailer for Wrath, Prequel to Tredan’s Bane. If you haven’t read the short story Wrath, check it out on Amazon, B&N, or Smashwords.