Characters I'd love to have visit my work

When I put out a call about what to post about today on the blog, I was asked:

"Are there any character from other authors that you would transport into your worlds that you write about and are there any author you'd like to co write with (dead or alive, same with characters)? This might possibly be two separate posts."

Since both of these questions follow the general theme of crossovers, I think they would indeed make a nice pair of posts. For this one, I'll focus on the question of characters.

Here are some characters I think would fit nicely into the Warder Universe:

From C.E. Murphy's The Walker Papers, Joanne Walker. Not only because the Walker Papers are urban fantasy, but also because they're set in Seattle. With two Warders and a high-powered half-Seelie mage running around the city, if that same Seattle contained Joanne Walker in its police force, she couldn't help but notice them.

From Kat Richardson's Greywalker series, Harper Blaine. Because again, urban fantasy set in Seattle. The Greywalker books tend to go a bit darker than the Warder universe has to date. But if Richardson's Seattle intersected in any way with mine, I daresay private investigator Harper would be in an even better position to notice Team Kendis than Joanne.

From Seanan McGuire's October Daye books, October Daye. More urban fantasy, this time not actually set in Seattle--but given that October's a high-powered half-fey, I'm pretty damn sure Kendis could learn a lot from her.

At this point, astute readers are probably noticing I'm pulling in a bunch of my favorite authors here, and those readers would not be surprised in the slightest to see that my next choice is Tanya Huff. And I'd have to go with two potential characters from her books. One would be Henry from the Vicki Nelson series, in no small part because to date the Warder universe does not yet contain vampires and it might be amusing to see what happens if Kendis discovers them. The other would be Charlie Gale from The Future Fire. Not only is Charlie high-powered magically, she's _also_ a musician. I'd have great fun seeing her and Elessir trying to out-jam each other.

No wait I lied, there's another Tanya Huff character I must include! I have to give a shoutout to Dean McIssac in her Keeper series. If he ever got a chance to meet Christopher, I think those two Newfoundlander b'ys would get on very, very well together. <3 (In fact, Dean is a strong inspiration for Christopher. I loves me some boy-scout-ish Newfoundlanders, what can I say?)

Last but not least I'll pull in Doranna Durgin's Brenna Fallon, from her book A Feral Darkness. This is still one of my all time favorite Durgin titles. I'd call it urban fantasy except its setting is not actually urban; it's more rural. I'm partial to the story not only for its use of magic and its excellent lead characters, but also because it's got an adorable dog. And if Brenna herself is not a Warder, I could see her very much being an ally power to the Warder nearest to her.

And one other Durgin character who I think would blow Kendis's mind: Jess, from the Changespell books. Just because a horse who gets changed into a human, has her entire brain restructured as a result, and who then has to figure out how to navigate both ways of existing and whether she even wants to exist both ways, would be someone very educational for Kendis to know. Just on general "whoa, how is this even POSSIBLE?" terms. And then on "letting her meet other people who don't necessarily think like humans" terms, too.

The Rebels of Adalonia books would be harder. Modern urban fantasy by its very definition--i.e., the "real" world, but with magic, supernatural creatures and situations, etc.--means it's more possible for different urban fantasy settings to intersect. Get two urban fantasy series set in the same city, and a crossover could practically write itself.

Epic/high fantasy, on the other hand, offers no such convenient intersection points. Some series in that genre are still ostensibly our world, but either in the distant past (like my beloved Tolkien), or a far distant, post-apocalyptic future (e.g., Terry Brooks). But many other fantasy series are set in their own secondary worlds, which may or may not have enough cultural or technological things in common to create crossover possibilities.

That said? After what I put all three of them through in the Rebels trilogy, I daresay Faanshi, Kestar, and Julian would all do very well with a vacation in Lothlórien--Faanshi in particular. My shy young healer girl could stand to learn a lot from Galadriel.

How about the rest of you out there? If you're a writer, whose characters would you love to drop into your work, and which of your characters would you love to drop into someone else's? And what are your all's favorite examples of crossovers in any media? Talk to me in the comments!

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Angela wouldn't necessarily give her right arm (she needs that to type with, as well as play her fiddle) to write with Tanya Huff, but she'd certainly be willing to sacrifice some time and maybe some very, very good Scotch. In the meantime, if you'd like to know more about the stuff she's written on her own, go have a look at angelahighland.com! Or come find her on Facebook or Twitter.

Summoning the Muse

I love talking to other writers. I learn so much from them while at the same time, get to impart a little of me to them as well. One of my favorite topics, as is many readers, is inspiration. Where do writers get their inspiration? Do they ever get to a point where their well runs dry and they are faced with the dreaded Writer's Block monster? *crazed lunatic pounds on an organ*

It seems as if muses come in as many shapes and sizes as there are writers. Some play guitar, go for a run, visit a museum, jump up and down on one leg while barking like a dog (a big dog), but me...I like my muse best.

She rocks. Literally.

 I knew exactly what the opening scene was going to be to my first novel DRYNN the first time I ever heard Forty Six & 2 by Tool.

Since I live in two states--NY and CT--I do some serious driving, back and forth, twice a week. Some people look at me with pity at all the driving I have to do, but I loooove it; I actually get to escape from the chaos of life and do a little decompressing. It's like going on vacation every week. The best part is that I get to listen to all the music I've been missing and within that music...novels are waiting to be born.

I actually conjured an entire book by a single song, it hit me like a Howitzer round--boom in the brain! Got it, and thank God for voice memo on the iPhone--I have hours and hours, which in of itself is a treasure because I get to actually hear epiphanies happening real time and get to keep them forever. Downloadable and all. ;)

I've written two books and have a third one on the way, and each one of them has a soundtrack, pieces of music that have moved me. Donald Maass calls the core of a scene the "uranium isotope", and it is such an apt description. I hear a song, I see a scene and I just start fleshing that sucker out. What's going on? Who're the main players? How'd they get there? What's the uranium isotope of the scene--rage, anguish, elation, vengeance? We as a civilization are so blessed with the plethora of gifted musicians out there and here's the cool part. As long as there's music...I get to write. :D

And that rocks.

What's your muse?

And thanks for the glance.

-Steve Vera

P.S. Oh yeah, maybe I should say a lil' something about my book. DRYNN, Book I of the LAST OF THE SHARDYN trilogy is an epic urban fantasy. The premise? The heroes of two worlds join forces to fight the Lord of the Underworld. Dun dun dun dunnnnnnnn. THROUGH THE BLACK VEIL (Book II) comes out Nov. 25th, 2013 and is also gonna be available on Audible.com as well as carinapress.com, Amazon, Google Play, and any other place in cyberspace that has ebooks.  I can't wait for the world to read it! DRYNN was just the appetizer. Okay, once again, thanks for the glance.

Steve out.