Paranormal Powers I Covet
I’m back with another wish list of imaginary things from my books that I want in the real world. This all started because I wrote about my space opera tech wish list. That post inspired this one, in which I describe paranormal powers I covet. These come from my Ice Age Shifters® (IAS) paranormal romance series.
Portals: Teleportation Without the TSA
Who hasn’t fantasized about skipping annoying travel hassles while still enjoying new destinations? In my IAS world, portals are the magical teleportation of choice. No more airport security lines, canceled flights, coughing seatmates, or questionable gas station restrooms (where you should definitely bring your own toilet paper).
Also, they’d be very handy to have at your magical fingertips in an emergency. In Dire Wolf Wanted, wizards open a portal to escape a hideous hellfrog monster bent on eating them. Of course, magic comes with its own complications. Just ask the heroine in Heart of a Dire Wolf when she ends up in an abandoned Canadian town after lightning strikes a fairy portal. Still, I’d take my chances for instant travel!
Mirror Magic: Reflecting Truth, Not Illusion
Mirrors fascinate me as metaphors. They reflect true images but can also hide the truth. After all, there is truth in the phrase “smoke and mirrors.” In Shift of Destiny, the heroine doesn’t believe in shifters, fairies, or magic — especially her own. Mirrors become her perfect challenge: will she see what she wants to see, or the truth? Similarly, the heroine in Dire Wolf Wanted uses a variant of mirror magic to uncover secrets, making her an exceptional undercover agent.
I’d love the ability to see through deception and illusion in our increasingly complicated world.
Fated Mate Potential: Love Is A Possibility, Not A Sure Thing
While paranormal romances often feature “one true mate” insta-love plots, the shifters in my IAS world are offered the potential for magical compatibility, but it certainly isn’t guaranteed. I suspect I’m too practical to fully embrace predestined romance. It seems fraught with unnecessary complications. For example, it’s probably not a good idea to tumble into bed when being chased by a corrupt feline pride, or if you discover your potential partner might be an enemy spy you’ll have to kill.
I like giving my characters interesting choices; what they do with them is up to them. 🙂
Fairy Demesne: Pocket Universes of Possibility
The fairy demesnes in my IAS world were inspired by European legends of fairy rings. You know, the kind where you danced and caroused with fairies one night, only to discover you’ve been gone from the real world for years.
Think of fairy demesnes as pocket universes that are powered by fairy magic and will. They could come in very handy when you needed an extra room to store all your stuff. Or just wanted to escape to a place with perfect weather (and no spam texts!).
Especially powerful fairies can create a demesne so vast that it would take decades to explore the whole thing. A significant part of the action in Shifter’s Storm takes place in just such a demesne. Of course, the trouble with demesnes is that they require the fairy to replenish the magic from time to time, so what happens when the fairy dies? The extraordinary shifters this fairy captured for her highly illegal “zoo” are about to find out…
