Ten Days of Yule: Guestpost by Robin D Owens

 Please welcome Robin D Owens, she is here to tell us about her latest release in her Mystic Circle series.

Thank you so much for having me!  Now a little bit about the Mystic Circle Series:

A dwarf at the door, brownies in the garden, and a merman in the koi pond…strange things are happening in the magical cul-de-sac of Mystic Circle in Denver, Colorado…

Enchanted Ever After is the third in the Mystic Circle series.  In book one, Enchanted No More, I had a half-human, half-Lightfolk djinn (magical fire person) as a heroine, Jenni Weaver.  She was also a game designer.

In book two, Enchanted Again, I focused on people who were descended from Lightfolk and humans and had personal magic, particularly Amber Sarga, a cursebreaker…and for every curse she lifted, she aged.

With Enchanted Ever After, I have a completely human heroine, Kiri Palger, who wants to leave her tough computer help-desk job to write games.  So gaming is an element.  This really came about due to, of course, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, and the movie The Last Starfighter. 

Writing about a game (Transformation) that could physically change a person has intrigued me for a long time and finally gelled for me in Enchanted Ever After.  In this case it changes Kiri from human to Lightfolk…to Waterfolk.

Of course she has a man – unbeknownst to her, a merman – in her life.  Lathyr Tricurrent can sense the potential of full humans to become magical Lightfolk beings.

A couple of years ago I decided I wanted to write something contemporary, and set in Denver, but with fantasy components – thus Mystic Circle and the Lightfolk were born.  The Lightfolk are magical beings, four major groups and four minor groups according to elemental magic: Djinn (genies)/Firesprites for Air; Dwarves/Brownies for Earth; Elves/Airsprites for Air; and Merfolk/Naiads for Water.  I wanted magical creatures limited, so there are only these eight groups – and a few crossbreeds :).  Humans with a touch of Lightfolk in their family trees can be more diverse.

Oh, and these Lightfolk are not “native” to Earth, but came through a dimensional portal that closed millennia ago, their magic has diminished…until an unusual event in Enchanted No More. 
I DO have “native” magical beings, Treefolk and Dryads.  Aric, my first hero, is one of these.

I’ve always been a sucker for architecture and houses.  My first manuscript (which will forever remain in the drawer) had a sentient house, as does my Celta series.  For Mystic Circle, I have a cul-de-sac of nine different styles of houses with a park – and a koi pond – in the middle.

I’ve enjoyed writing the books, toying with magic and brownies who love embroidered shoes and CHOCOLATE, and I hope you thoroughly enjoy the time you spend in Mystic Circle – watch out  for firesprites!

Robin