Goldilox and the Three Weres: Gunmetal Magic Giveaway Blog Tour!

Welcome to my stop on the GUNMETAL MAGIC Giveaway Blog Tour!

I am tickled silly that I get to be a part of this tour because not only do I get to give away a copy of GUNMETAL MAGIC but I also get to post something special:

Ilona Andrews Top 5 Moments in the Kate Daniels Series!

I am posting favorite moment #2!

Read on to find out a favorite moment of Gordon's and one of Ilona's from the series

(they EACH chose one!):

Top Five Moments of Kate Daniels Series

The world has suffered a magic apocalypse. We pushed the technological progress too far, and now magic returned with a vengeance. It comes in waves, without warning, and vanishes as suddenly as it appears. When magic is up, planes drop out of the sky, cars stall, electricity dies. When magic is down, guns work and spells fail.

It’s a volatile, screwed-up world. Magic feeds on technology, gnawing down on skyscrappers until most of them topple and fall, leaving only skeletal husks behind. Monsters prowl the ruined streets, werebears and werehyenas stalk their prey; and the Masters of the Dead, necromancers driven by their thirst of knowledge and wealth, pilot blood-crazed vampires with their minds.

In this world lives Kate Daniels. Kate likes her sword a little too much and has a hard time controlling her mouth. The magic in her blood makes her a target, and she spent most of her life hiding in plain sight. But sometimes even trained killers make friends and fall in love, and when the universe tries to kick them in the face, they kick back.

Every author has favorite moments in their series. Gordon and I have many. We're easily bored, so we try to make each other laugh or go "Oooooh" at least once per scene. The idea is to cram as much gratuitous coolness into every chapter as humanly possible. Sometimes we come up with awesome moments, and sometimes it's kind of wince-inducing. We both had times when we'd ask each other, "Hey, this is what I've got. I need something funny here." Sometimes the response is great and sometimes we just end up rolling our eyes and scrapping the dialogue.

With that in mind, here are some of our top favorite moments and how we came up with them. We will be posting one special moment on 5 different blogs, so stay tuned….

Hugs,

Gordon and Ilona

Ilona, Moment #2: Make that weight your bitch. (Magic Burns)

This is one of my favorite Kate and Curran interactions. I just think it's hilarious, because this is probably the first time Kate gets checked.

The roof was filled with assorted free weights. Curran lay on a massive weight bench with reinforced steel frame. He was working the bench press, raising a bar loaded with weight above him and bringing it back to his chest in a slow controlled movement. He didn't cheat by letting the bar "bounce" off his chest.

I came closer. The bar was thicker than my wrist. Had to be custom made. I tried to count the weight disks on the bar. Normal bar weighed forty five pounds, normal disks up to forty five pounds also. But these didn't look normal.

I stood to the side and watched the bar rise and fall. Curran wore an old, torn T-shirt, and I could see his muscles pump under the fabric.

"How much are you lifting?"

"Seven hundred."

Allrighty then. I will just stand over here, out of your way, and hope you don't remember my promise to kick your ass.

He grinned. "Wanna spot me?"

"No thanks. How about I just scream verbal encouragements at you?" I took a deep breath and barked. "No pain, no gain! That pain is just weakness leaving your body! Come on! Push! Push! Make that weight your bitch!"

Gordon, Moment #2: Dancing Saiman (Magic Burns)

It's a very rare moment for Saiman. The mask of careful civility drops, he loses his air of indifference. He's happy in this scene. He's enjoying life and embracing what he truly is. He's drunk with joy dancing on top of a the only highrise remaining in Atlanta, while snow swirls around him in mid-June.

...A man wrapped his arm around my waist pulling me to him.

He was tall, perfectly proportioned, and muscled like a Roman statue. The same golden radiance that had illuminated the blonde lit his skin from within. His hair, a deep red streaked with gold, fell to his waist without a trace of a curl. His face was angular, yet masculine, and his grin had a mordant edge sharp enough to draw blood. He leaned to me and I got a good look at his eyes. They were orange. Radiant, brilliant orange, streaked with pale green that almost looked like the crystals of ice growing on a window during a freeze.

They did not look human.

"Kate," he repeated, pulling me closer. He towered at least half a foot above me. Snowflakes swirled around us. His breath smelled like honey. "I'm so glad you came to visit. I was so dreadfully bored."

That's it. The flare had driven him insane.

I tried to pull away, but he held me tight. There was strength in those arms that I had never expected to be there. ... Saiman touched my hair and I felt my braid unwinding on its own. In a moment, my hair framed my face. "What happened to you?" I asked.

He grinned wider. "Deep magic. It sings in my bones. Don't you feel it?"

I felt it. It pulsed through me like a wild wine ever since this magic wave had hit. Power twisted and wound within me, wanting to break loose, but I had held it in check this long and I wasn't about to let myself off the leash now.

"Can you dance?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Dance with me, Kate!"

And we were off, spinning and twirling through the snow, raising glittering snowflakes with our feet. The snow refused to fall but chased us, following our movement like a light shroud. It was a wild dance, primitive and fast, and all I could do was follow his lead.