First, thanks to Siobhan for asking me to guest post today.
When thinking of something to write about, I realized it’s already September.
This is important because September 22 marks the autumn equinox. The day is variously
called Harvest home, Mabon, the Feast of the Ingathering, Meán Fómhair, or
Alban Elfed. It’s the first day of Autumn, my favorite season of the year! But
what exactly is the equinox, scientifically speaking?
The equinox occurs twice a year, in March and September. The
plane of the Earth's equator passes the center of the Sun. When this occurs, the Earth's axis is tilted
neither away from nor towards the Sun. The name "equinox" is derived from the Latin
aequus (equal) and nox (night), because around the equinox, night and day are about equal length.
The autumn equinox is a mysterious time of balance between
day and night. From this date, until the spring equinox, days grow shorter and
nights longer. In ancient times, it meant time to gather the harvest and to
prepare for winter. People gave thanks for the bounty of summer, for the gifts
of meat, cheese, furs, cloth—all the things needed to survive during the dark
times to come. Today, most people don’t even mark the passing, other than to
note it’s the first day of fall.
Me? While I’m not an active practitioner of Wicca, the old
ways and gods fascinate me. As such, they often play roles in my writing. This
is especially true with my new Urban Fantasy series, The Penumbra Papers. I’m
often asked what a penumbra is. And here I get technical again. LOL Penumbra: Etymology: New Latin, from Latin paene (almost) + umbra (shadow). Yeah, I copied that from the dictionary
to be all cool and stuff. *wink* The important thing is that
light and dark fascinate me—whether physically in the change of seasons or
emotionally in looking at good and evil within my characters.
In the northern hemisphere, the sun enters the astrological
sign of Libra, which is the sign of the scales and of balance, at the autumn
equinox. The glyph for Libra represents the sun setting/rising, expressing the
balance between night and day. And I discovered something while putting this
post together. Sade Marquis, my main character, is a Libra. She is a balance of
light and dark, of human and magic, so it’s very appropriate that her
astrological sign is the scales of justice.
I’d like to share a snippet from the newly released novella,
THAT OL’ BLACK MAGIC. The novella offers a look at the world of Penumbra, where a human
FBI agent deals with all the things that go bump in the night.
SNIPPET
THIS was only Day One of what was shaping up to be a
bloody weird week and the gods had been drinking again. Too bad Sade Marquis
didn’t have that option. She was on duty. Dammit. Not to mention it was only
ten in the morning. However, if things got any stranger, she might change her
mind.
She occupied the one booth that gave her a broad view of the
whole place. Déjà Vu. All over again. Back in the early days, right after
graduating from the FBI Academy, the New Orleans Field Office had been her
first assignment. She’d leased an apartment upstairs from the Déjà Vu. The
bar-restaurant combo became a second home. Open twenty-four/seven, she could
eat no matter the time of day.
Jax Martine—or as she liked to think of him “a Jax of all
trades”—sailed by her table and two glasses of ice water appeared in his wake.
He was human, but Sade would bet dollars to donuts there was a witch in his
family tree. She glanced at her watch and wondered if she could squeeze in a
late breakfast. She was meeting her partner, who had no concept of time.
Werewolves were like that.
Catching Jax’s attention, Sade wiggled her fingers through a
complicated series of gestures. A plate with eggs, bacon, and French toast—real
French toast made from thick-cut slices of crusty French bread—appeared a
few minutes later, along with two more glasses of ice water to replace the ones
she’d drained.
She was on her third cup of post-breakfast coffee when two
girls sitting at the bar stirred. Their attention swiveled to the front door,
eyes on the prime specimen of fae male swaggering into the shadowed space.
Back-lit by a sunshine nimbus, Ariel made quite an entrance. Sade looked to
heaven for a reprieve that didn’t come. Her day just kept getting better and
better.
****
If you are interested in learning more about Penumbra, visit
my WEBSITE. And you can buy THAT OL’ BLACK MAGIC at:
To celebrate the Autumn Equinox, I’ll give away a free
download of THAT OL’ BLACK MAGIC to a random commenter, in the format of the
winner’s choice. Just answer this question: What’s your favorite season? And be
sure to leave your email address or some way Siobhan and I can get in touch
with you if you win!
Happy Autumn!
BIO: Silver James
likes to take walks on the dark side and coffee. Okay. She loves coffee. LOTS
of coffee. Warning: Her Muse, Iffy, runs with scissors and can be quite
dangerous. She’s the author of the best-selling Moonstruck series and new urban
fantasy series, The Penumbra Papers. She's been a military officer's wife,
mother, state appellate court marshal, airport rescue firefighter and forensic
fire photographer, crime analyst, technical crime scene investigator, and
writer of magic and mystery. Now retired from the “real world,” she lives in
Oklahoma and spends her days at the computer with two Newfoundland dogs, the
cat who rules them all, and myriad characters all clamoring for attention. She
writes dark paranormal thrillers, time travel romance, and light contemporary
with a kiss of suspense. To find out more about Silver, visit her at
www.silverjames.com, email her at silverjames@swbell.net, or follow her
infrequent tweets at @SilverJames_.
