• Paranormal

    Paranormal: Wizard’s Shield @kgmccullough #RLFblog

    The Wizard’s Shield

    The Wizard’s Shield by Karen McCullough
    Originally Published
    As: Magic, Murder, and Microcircuits
    Genre: Contemporary Paranormal Mystery/Romantic Suspense
    ISBNS:
    Length: Novel (90,000 words; 234 pages)
    Tagline: To solve a murder and retrieve a stolen magical shield,
    a pair of wizards journey into a dangerous, magical underworld, where the weapons
    of choice might be guns… or lightning bolts.
    Blurb:
    A powerful wizard with a physics degree and a checkered past
    invents a shield to ensure he’ll never again be tortured almost to death.
    The wizarding powers-that-be fear the repercussions of such a
    device and send his former girlfriend, an accomplished wizard herself, to retrieve
    the device or destroy it.
    When the shield is stolen by the magical mafia, Ilene McConnell
    and Michael Morgan have to set aside their differences and work together to recover
    it. Michael claims he needs the device as insurance against the kind of injury and
    injustice he suffered once before. Ilene maintains its potential to upset the delicate
    balance of power makes it too dangerous and that it needs to be destroyed. But none
    of that will matter if they can’t retrieve it before a ruthless, powerful wizard
    learns how to use it for his own ends.
    Buy links:
    Trade Paperback: http://amzn.com/148118296X
    Amazon http://amzn.com/B0060Y5IQ6
    Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-wizard-x2019-s-shield-karen-mccullough/1045768171?ean=2940015953275
    Excerpt:
    The rush of a sudden, fierce wind
    outside drew her to a window to watch the shrubs and palm trees flapping wildly.
    Sand blew over the pavement and splattered against walls and trees. Dead leaves,
    loose papers, and other debris danced in the air. A livid, purple-tinged darkness
    turned the day grotesque. Tendrils of indigo-shaded power floated along with the
    dark storm clouds.
    A flash of lightning seared its way
    from sky to ground just beyond a row of houses across the street, followed closely
    by a crack of thunder that rattled the windows.
    A man and woman hurried three small
    children along the boardwalk that led over the dune from the beach to the street.
    They toted coolers, bags, boogie boards, and buckets. The youngest trailed a towel
    flapping behind him in the wind. More lightning zig-zagged from sky to ground, not
    far away. Ilene sucked in a sharp breath.
    The father looked up and flinched.
    Fear tightened his muscles as he dropped a cooler and turned around to snatch up
    the straggling toddler. His voice carried over the rushing wind. “Get to the
    van. Quick!”
    He nodded toward a vehicle parked
    down the street. His wife and two older children raced on ahead.
    Ilene’s hands clenched into fists.
    Too much energy crackled in the air. It wasn’t directed at the family, but that
    didn’t guarantee they wouldn’t get hurt by it. Collateral damage. Some of the more
    ruthless mages cared little for who else was affected by their activities.
    Two flashes hit nearby, one right
    after the other. The child let out a frightened wail as his father, bent low over
    him, dashed off the wooden walkway and down the street. Even they could sense the
    danger building.
    Ilene couldn’t trust their fate to
    chance. She roused her own power, feeling for charged particles in the area. Gathering
    them in, she rolled and pushed them into position, building a lattice of force around
    the family. It wouldn’t keep out the wind or the rain–she could have done that
    with air, too, if she’d had time–but it should keep the lightning from reaching
    them. For the moment, that mattered most.
    Even at a distance, the rush of oppositely
    charged particles prickled in her brain. The growing polarization signaled an impending
    strike.
    What formed out there made her gut
    clench in fear. It was so close to the father and child the hair on their bodies
    must have been standing on end. The man looked around wildly, searching for shelter.
    The panic in his eyes radiated across the fifty feet or so that separated them.
    Would her barrier be enough to protect
    them? The ground charge was forming so close it could jump right through it if she’d
    left even a small opening. Ilene reached out toward the building charge differential.
    Playing with lightning was tricky business. Choosing her positions carefully, she
    pushed in various weak spots to move the polarizing field.
    It sucked a lot of energy out of her
    to divert its course. Her ribs and head ached as she herded protons in a subatomic
    cattle drive to get the charge well away from the family. Those minuscule bits of
    potential energy were every bit as ornery and uncooperative as cows were reputed
    to be.
    Even as the bolt formed, she didn’t
    know if she’d succeeded. Her breath stopped in her throat for a long, long moment
    as she waited.
    The streak of lightning followed the
    diverted path to the beach, a safe distance away.
    The man ran to the van, getting there
    just moments behind his wife and older children. He pushed the toddler into the
    back seat and ran around to the other side, while his wife slammed the rear door
    and got into the front. Ilene didn’t let out the breath she held until they were
    all safely inside the vehicle. She released the protective field. The van’s headlights
    flicked on and moments later it chugged off down the street.
    More lightning singed the sky. An
    inflatable ring rolled down the street like a runaway tire. Ilene shuddered, though
    it wasn’t entirely the weather that set it off. The storm was a natural thing, but
    someone–a powerful wizard–was using it.
    Using it to attack. The island or
    the house or its occupants. Brilliant, livid streaks of orange and red mixed with
    violet and deep blue swirls riding with the clouds. The smells of ammonia and ozone
    and peppers burned her nostrils.
    Lightning flashed brighter and closer.
    Dangerously closer.
    The grumble of thunder grew almost
    constant. The rushing downpour of rain added to the chaos and noise. Driven by the
    wind to blow almost horizontally, it splattered against the window in big drops
    that spread out, then slid down the glass like groping hands trying to claw their
    way in.
    Something was out there. The swirls
    of lividly hued power grew deeper and more intense. It rode on the storm in frightening
    concentrations. Why here, though?
    Additional Excerpt: http://kmccullough.com/Shield.php

    About the Author

    Karen McCullough is the author of more than a dozen published
    novels in the mystery, romantic suspense, and fantasy genres and has won numerous
    awards, including an Eppie Award for fantasy. She’s also been a four-time Eppie
    finalist, and a finalist in the Prism, Dream Realm, Rising Star, Lories, Scarlett
    Letter, and Vixen Awards contests. Her short fiction has appeared in several anthologies
    and numerous small press publications in the fantasy, science fiction, and romance
    genres. She has three children, three grandchildren, and lives in Greensboro, NC,
    with her husband of many years.

    Find Me Here