Hello friend! Today I am chatting with author, Christian Cura, about his YA fantasy novel, In the Midst of Magic.
Get to know the author: Christian
Welcome to Armed with A Book, Christian! Tell me and my readers a bit about yourself!
Although I’m a new author I’ve actually been writing on and off since I was a teenager. This is just the first time that I have seriously pursued it. Since I’ve started, I’ve learned so much about writing and forming professional relationships with other people, and it excites me to apply those lessons in my latest book In the Midst of Magic. Before I started this journey, I used to think I could just write a great book, and through some unknown magic, people would just discover it and rave about it. I know now it’s not magic. It’s hard work. You have to tell people about your book and get them interested in it. You have to show them your work and listen to their feedback. When you apply constructive criticism, you grow. This book is a huge improvement over my early efforts, and I am eager to share it with you all. I hope to one day support myself on just my writing so I can quit my day job as a lab assistant. When I’m not writing, I like to draw and work out at my MMA gym.
What inspired you to write this book?
It was my own personal growth as a writer that spurred me to write this book. After getting and applying feedback from several different editors and beta readers, I felt that I had evolved so much as a writer that I could execute this story with more skill than I did the first time around. In the Midst of Magic is actually a reboot of my first two books Dreams of Fire and Dreams of Thunder. In the reboot, I have fleshed out the world much more and deleted a lot of unnecessary POV shifts and scenes. I also accelerated the pacing and described the magic system in more detail.
My inspiration for the two original books were the Netflix shows The Magicians and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. I love how the characters in The Magicians use hand gestures and foreign languages to cast magic. It’s so different from how wizards and witches use wands in Harry Potter. I also like how they speak in ancient languages to cast spells. It makes it feel grounded in reality somehow. Magical beings also use hand gestures in my book, but they speak in an otherworldly language to cast spells. This is the language the Creator spoke in order to create the universe and all the life in it. (The Creator is the first being who used magic.) The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina inspired it because I’ve always imagined that my main character, Kara, looks exactly like Kiernan Shipka.
How long did it take you to write this book, from the first idea to the last edit?
That’s hard to say. I guess two or three years? This timeframe includes the time it took to write and publish Dreams of Fire and Dreams of Thunder. I’m including those two books because they were the stepping stones to writing In the Midst of Magic.
What makes your story unique?
My story is unique because unlike other fantasy novels, magic is out in the open in this world I have created. Magical and ordinary people intermingle with each other on every level of society. Casting spells in public are about as common as people talking on cell phones. People have magical and non-magical friends, family, co-workers, and classmates. Except for a nefarious minority, the rogue mystics, the two societies coexist harmoniously. It’s up to the enforcers (magical law enforcement) to safeguard ordinary citizens from those who abuse their power.
Who would enjoy reading your book?
Fans of Harry Potter by JK Rowling and The Magicians by Lev Grossman would enjoy this book a lot.
What’s something you hope readers would take away from it?
I write first and foremost to entertain people. I hope that this book can give readers an exhilarating escape from the mundanity of everyday life.
Do you have a favourite quote or scene in the book that you find yourself going back to?
I’ve daydreamed about the scene where Kara flies across the city and crashes through the window of the warehouse to rescue her best friend, Dani, from Charlotte who abducted her. It’s emotional and action-packed at the same time because it shows how far Kara is willing to go to protect those she loves.
In the Midst of Magic
Meet Kara Hartman, a photojournalist who is hiding her magic from the world. Traumatized by her brother’s death, she wants nothing more to do with magic. But just when she thought she could neglect her gift, it becomes apparent that the universe has other plans for Kara. When she discovers that an old foe has broken out of prison, hellbent on destroying her new life, Kara has no choice but to embrace the only power that can stop her.
Content notes: Violence is prevalent throughout the story, and there is an explicit scene between two consenting adults. There are references to bullying and cheating and occasional profanity.
Book Excerpt from
In the Midst of Magic
John’s gauntlet rattled as he fired into the swirling maelstrom. Dying shrieks pierced the air and corpses littered the ground. The snow beneath the carnage was streaked with crimson. His pulse pounded faster than the bullets streaming from his gauntlet. Sweat trickled down the sides of his face. Armor weighed on him like an anchor. Blood splattered his visor. Who had summoned the demons, and why was the compound under attack? The questions screamed in his mind although there was no time to ponder the answers.
Magical fire and lightning flashed in every direction. Enforcers fought on the ground, in the air, in the towers. Smoke and clouds of flame swelled into the sky.
A proximity warning whined in his helmet, and he turned just in time to see a gargoyle whirling around, its tail clearing a wide swath in its wake. Lunging over it, he aimed and fired, but his gauntlet only clicked harmlessly. He landed in the snow with a grunt. Before he could rip a fresh magazine from his belt, the gargoyle roared and stomped toward him, the ground shuddering beneath its feet. John rolled away an instant before he was trampled. Scrambling to his feet, he summoned a mace then ducked beneath a swiping claw. He bludgeoned the gargoyle’s knee, revolted by the crack of bone. The demon moaned, the disfigured leg buckling beneath its weight. He struck the other knee, and the gargoyle collapsed, its back facing him. Seizing the moment of agony, he pounded the demon’s skull, and it fell sideways with a thud.
John panted as he released his mace and slapped a fresh magazine into his gauntlet. He aimed at the nearest demon, then froze as a burst of static made his ears twitch.
“Sir, did you dispatch a unit of armored vehicles?” an enforcer asked.
A cold weight sank in his gut. “No, why?”
“I have a bird’s eye view of a whole caravan leaving the compound.”
What the hell?
“Stand by,” John said.
He cast a Flight Spell and let the sky swallow him as he zoomed toward the hangar in the north. Trundling through a blasted gate, was a train of armored trucks. They were bulky vehicles with tires designed to endure any kind of terrain. The windows were made of bulletproof glass, and machine guns were mounted on the rear of every truck.
But his enforcers couldn’t be the ones driving them because they were all out here fighting. With a growing sense of dread, he muttered, “Magnify and x-ray.”
The nearest truck became nothing but a wireframe as his tactical visor identified five rogues equipped with enforcer armor and weaponry. He scanned truck after truck, all of them occupied with rogues.
His heart sank. How did they get out? Why were they driving away? Didn’t they know the ward would kill them? But ten trucks had already crossed the perimeter where the electrocution ward should have been. Tremors ran up his spine. Someone had tampered with the ward. Someone had set the rogues free while the enforcers were distracted with the demons. But why?
He splayed his fingers, interwove them, then curled them into claws as he turned his palms to face one another. “Elektrios,” he said his voice wavering.
A glowing fractal wove itself into a dome over the whole compound as an unlucky driver smashed into it, the truck exploding into flames. The caravan halted.
Within moments, auras glowed within the remaining vehicles. Although his ward held steady for now, it wouldn’t endure forever, not against the will of fifteen hundred rogues.
John commanded ten enforcers to maintain the ward at all cost, then summoned a squad of fifteen officers to his aid.
Within seconds, they were soaring in a ‘V’ formation over the wilderness, veering south as the stolen vehicles rolled through the forest. Although the enforcers were severely outnumbered, the majority of the escaped rogues hadn’t wielded magic in over a year. Which meant their stamina was gone. That’s why they stole the vehicles rather than flew. That’s why they stole the weapons and armor. That was also the reason why the rogues didn’t want a direct conflict with the enforcers.
Well, too bad. They were getting one.
With both fists punched forward, he flew toward the rear vehicle coming under instant gunfire. Sparks leaped from his armor, and cracks webbed across his visor. The dulled impact of bullets tingled his arms, shoulders, and head. He summoned lightning and struck the rogue behind the machine gun. His body convulsed as wisps of smoke curled in the air. An agonized scream tore through the sky.
The roof hatch sprang open, and a rogue took aim at him.
Evading in a tight corkscrew motion, bullets grazed John’s armor. Lightning jumped from his fingertips, and the rogue screamed. His head disappeared beneath the roof of the vehicle. John accelerated until he was directly above the roof hatch and blasted a steady stream of electricity into the cabin. Orange light flickered from the windows amid a chorus of agonized cries. Bolts of lightning slithered beneath the hood, and the engine burst into flames.
John squinted, turning his face away as a wave of heat enveloped him.
Interested?
Find this book on Amazon and Goodreads.
Thank you so much for hanging out with us today! Connect with Christian on his website, Instagram, and Goodreads.
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Cover Photo on Unsplash
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