Spotlight & Giveaway: Magic Corrupts, Magic Conquers by A.J. Locke

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author A.J. Locke to HJ!

Hi A.J. Locke and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Magic Corrupts, Magic Conquers!

 
Hi everyone! Thanks for having me, Harleqin Junkie!
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

Pennrae stopped the event that removed magic from the world from ever happening and returns to a new timeline where she’s lauded as a hero. But her actions have also awakened an eldritch entity who has a specific purpose to fulfill…one that will put Penn and everyone she loves in mortal danger if she doesn’t stop it.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

A cloud was following me.

I looked up at the tuft that bobbed about twenty feet up. As though we’d made eye contact, the cloud vibrated and swooped down, causing me to yelp and jump back. I reached for the Gladius sword strapped to my back before the cloud revealed itself to be a small magical construct—a Zaphyr.

Having been born into a world full of magical creatures, the last thing that should have made me jumpy was a sentient nimbus, but I guess the eight years I’d spent living in a magic-less world had left their mark on me.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• The timeline is new, which opens up the world a lot
• There’s a fight scene that I would call “epic”
• There’s an over-the-top queen who I had fun writing
• Penn makes a very powerful discovery about herself

What first attracts your main characters to each other?

When they met in the first book Penn and Callan had a salty relationship but getting to know each other instead of going by their perceptions helped attraction bloom between them. I think witnessing each other’s strengths, determination, and stubbornness about what they really care about drew them together.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe your main characters”love affair?

flirty, sassy, passionate, angsty, strong.
 

The First Kiss…

Penn finds out Callan is making her a gift:

“Well, I’m no textile Shaper, so it’s not as good as—”

“It’s perfect.” I cut him off by stepping closer and kissing him, letting my lips and tongue slide against his.

He put his free hand on my waist and pulled me flush against him. We kissed until I couldn’t continue ignoring the stab of a knitting needle against my chest.

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

The big fight scene is one of my favorites and there’s a little moment when Callan gives Penn an assist that I liked:

“Penn!” I twisted to the side at the sound of Callan’s voice. He drew his arm back and launched a spear at me.

I jumped to catch it, then spun my body midair and threw it at my attacker, having only a split second to decide my aim.

The spear slammed into his upper thigh.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

A powerful entity called a Kiabi Warrior is after Penn, so those scenes would be crucial. This is a snippet from when Penn finds herself in a dire situation with the Kiabi Warrior.

The magic smelled of petrichor, of smoke and ash, of freshwater flowing through a forest bed, of animal musk, of everything that had ever grown roots and pushed itself out of the earth. It was the hollow emptiness of hidden caves and the gentle promise of life held in fragile bird nests. A promise edged in sorrow because all things that live must die and every song that celebrated new life would one day become a requiem for ears that would never hear it.

Readers should read this book …

If they’re looking for magic, big world building, epic fight scenes, swoony romance, and witty banter.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I’m juggling several projects. In May I’m publishing The Vanish Witch, the first book in a new urban fantasy series, and I’m also planning to re-release the first book in another series, Affairs of the Dead.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Signed copies of Magic Dark, Magic Divine and Magic Corrupts, Magic Conquers.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: There are several kind of magic users in my book, which one would you like to be? Penn is a Shaper who can manipulate metals and wood.

• Conjurers – Magic users who can harness one of the four elements: air, earth, water, fire. They can create and control elemental creatures that are used for things like transportation, hunting, fighting, and labor.
• Diviners – Magic users who use celestial guidance for card reading. Theirs is the only type of magic that can purify all the others.
• Necromajin – Practitioners of dark magic
• Shapers – Magic users who can manipulate physical matter such as wood, metal, textiles, stones, precious gems, bones, sand, and paper
• Tamers – Magic users who have mastery over flora and fauna
• Temporals – Magic users who have mastery over time manipulation

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Excerpt from Magic Corrupts, Magic Conquers:

The being was shaped like a human, but human felt like too small a word to encompass it.
It was about seven feet tall with broad shoulders that led to a wide chest and slightly narrower waist, and thick, long arms.

It wore stunning armor that looked like it was carved out of tree bark with shimmering veins of gold running through it. Its head was fully covered by a wood carved helmet, with eye slashes that shone gold. A crest of branches and vines arched up and over the top of its head like a crown. Twists of branch and vine curled around its entire form, blooming with small golden leaves and colorful flowers.

The word that fit wasn’t human but god. Was this some kind of deity?

Then I felt its magic.

Ancient and heavy, it flowed against me like a sheet of ice, yet under my skin felt like it was burning. The aura of its magic was intensely strong.

“Penn…” Callan sounded as shocked as I felt.

“Oh my God, what the hell is that?” Gideon’s voice was laced with fear as he stood close to Toji, who was looking at the thing as though he couldn’t believe his eyes.

I was right there with him.

We backed up, inching away slowly. Ashe was growling louder.

The being extended its arm, and I watched with eyes I didn’t think could go wider as vines and branches flowed down its forearm, across its palm, and extended into the air, twisting into the hilt of a sword from which a golden blade rose, starting as bands of magic that solidified into a curved, sharp blade that glittered under the sunlight.

I tuned out the chaos of people screaming and scrambling away as I drew my Divine sword, steadying myself against the pulse of celestial magic that circuited through me, sliding along my Shaper magic.

A beat of Temporal magic rose, thickening the air as Callan readied himself.

The creature moved.

It slashed out with that botanical sword, releasing shoots of vines aimed directly at me.

Okay, that was new when it came to swordplay.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

What if the world changed overnight…and it was all because of you?

All Pennrae wanted to do was to help. Now she’s found herself in a world that’s been instantaneously transformed by magic…that she brought back. She’s gone from a simple karate instructor to an instant celebrity—and she hates it. Fortunately, she has her friends, her beloved magic companion, and one ridiculously hot boyfriend.

But a sudden, unprompted attack in broad daylight is about to make Penn’s life even more complicated. An ancient forest guardian known as a Kiabi—a warrior of magic and almost impossible to defeat—has marked Penn to die. The attack at first seems incidental and unprovoked…until she discovers the true cause. Her. Penn may have saved the world, but her actions have set a chain of events in motion. In one brief moment, something dark, terrible, and older than time itself found an opportunity to escape, to free itself from the guardians and mark Pennrae as its enemy. Now the world and everyone she loves face a gruesome fate unless Penn can unleash the full force of her Divine magic…
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

A.J. Locke is a young adult and adult fantasy author, and also writes and illustrates picture books. She is an artist of various mediums including oil and acrylic paint, and watercolor. When she’s trying to avoid her writing projects she can be found trying to make a dent in her TBR pile, playing video games, watching anime, baking, and chasing the ever elusive eight hours of sleep. A.J. is originally from Trinidad and Tobago and now resides in NYC.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | | Instagram |