This is it! A short one, but a good one for the author commentary of The Gifts of Kali. This final installment looks at the touchstones in the book and how they relate to the rest of the series. SPOILER WARNING is in effect!

Touchstones

I look to these as a requirement when it comes to series writing. Giving your readers a nod every once in a while to the other books in the series goes a long way to endearing your fans to the story as a whole. I know I always feel that way when I catch a reference to an earlier work in a long form tale, be it prose, film, script, or comic.

Incorporating them into my writing has grown into a real treat, especially when it works well. The Gifts of Kali had a lot of smaller moments, both right in your face as well as hidden in the text.

Hady Ronne

I will use Hady Ronne references for as long as I can. Her inclusion in The Medusa Coin started as a one-note killer and has since grown into a genuine character with dreams and goals.

When I started thinking about ways for Kali to get out of her task, to circumvent her so-called fate, I thought about who she could throw to the wolves. What would be powerful to take on Shiva?

Hady Ronne as the Charon popped up immediately, and I am so freaking glad it did. The sequence at the morgue is one of my favorites from the book, mostly because no one, not even Mentor, has a clue why they are there.

Only Kali holds the knowledge, and she subtly implies as much to the reader through her narration.

It is no secret that The Medusa Coin is one of my favorite projects, so any chance I get to plug it, any opportunity to reference the work in anyway, I try to make it happen.

Beth

The chapter where Soriya visits her friend for advice was something I wanted right from the start. I was concerned, however, with it for the sole reason that Beth is not an active member of the cast in this book. Would it come off as a strange transition for this scene?

I think that concern was warranted with the first iteration of the scene. Soriya was alone in it, then, trying to find the strength to stand up to this impossibly dangerous threat. She looked to her friend for help only to find the place empty.

It isn’t until Mentor shows up that the scene works. Their relationship, the fact that she turns to Urg first and then Beth rather than her “father” speaks volumes to Soriya’s prideful nature. And Mentor calls her out on it.

That’s when I knew the scene worked.

Having Beth mentioned here did help me down the road with The Final Gauntlet, and gave all three books in the series a level of consistency when it came to the character’s role in the story.

 The Town Hall Pub/Caldwell Correctional

Names and places are important in Portents. It’s been that way since Signs. When it came to draft Gifts, I knew there would be some bar scenes to play into Kali’s aloofness.

The Town Hall Pub was a no-brainer for one of them to take place. Not only did it give her proximity to the docks for the inciting incident, but offered the reader a nice nod to one of the pivotal locations seen in Signs of Portents.

Caldwell Correctional was a new location, however the name has had an effect on the series since Pathways in the Dark. Wilbur Caldwell is considered one of the founders of the town and his full story is still forthcoming. I always like to include that historical angle when it comes to Greystone, because it played so vitally into the first story.

I never want to let readers forget how important the founding of Portents is to the overall narrative that will be unfolding.

Frank Domingo

You might remember him from Hammer and Anvil. He’s in Gifts if you look hard enough. During the Caldwell Correctional sequence, Frank is named (no last name) as one of the inmates of the ward Shiva has infiltrated.

It doesn’t end well for him…

Some people might have thought it was the only name I could think of, but there was a reason for it, I promise. I thoughts readers might enjoy seeing the consequences of Frank’s actions from Hammer and see him get what was coming to him.

The End

That’s all I have for this one, folks. If you had something you wanted to know more about from Gifts, shoot me an email at lou@loupaduano.com and I’ll be happy to answer.

Thanks for reading.

The author commentary on The Gifts of Kali continues! This week I’m talking about the lore behind the book, so SPOILER WARNING is in effect!

Lore

My absolute favorite part of the process. It is the biggest challenge, but also has the most satisfying payoff. I used to dread the research behind a menace, or some minor detail that an entire scene might hinge on. It can be something as simple as a traffic sign, or it can be the motivation for the main threat in the piece.

The Gifts of Kali utilizes so much of the mythology of Kali, Shiva, the Raktabija, and more to give credence to the main themes of the piece. The forms of Kali, the different phases she undertakes in her various incarnations – from the lover to the destroyer to death – were a vital component of what I was hoping to show through her story.

She is afraid of her other selves. She almost hates them, and why wouldn’t she? Which one is considered the real Kali? Is there one? That lack of identity thanks to being locked into a predetermined fate drives her actions throughout the narrative.

I found that angle fascinating to explore. It played so nicely into the idea of fate, into her arguments with Soriya on the subject.

Determining the villain

The research led to Shiva. I went through a number of options, but Shiva always came out on top in mind. There was more meat to his story, more pieces I could extract and pepper through the narrative without letting it takeover the action.

Shiva complemented Kali and offered a counterpoint to her dilemma. He had his own path to follow. He accepted it… to a point. It’s funny to think about actually. Shiva KNEW how his story ended, but refused to see what came next. He truly believed his death would lead to a change in the world. A cleansing that he had sought his entire life.

So how did he fail to realize Kali’s part in the end? Well, if you knew you’re story ended in failure, would you believe it? No one wants that to be their epitaph and Shiva was no different, in my eyes. He claimed victory in the end, even if it didn’t quite work out that way…

The Demon Blade

I like to utilize lore to give the narrative a nice layered background. What I really enjoy is twisting it, or making it fresh for the reader. That was my favorite part of The Medusa Coin. Taking the story of Medusa, melding it with this golden coin, and then building a new myth out of the two.

The same started with the introduction of the demon blade. At first, it was merely an instrument of death and a damn cool visual.

It grew into the most important component to the whole story. The demon blade transfers the sin into Shiva, allowing the Raktabija access to the world.

Is that factual? Is that written anywhere in the myth?

Nope.

I wanted that vehicle, that device, to help drive tension in the story and provide a certain physicality to the slaughters that occur in the book. The demon blade gave me that in spades.

Next time:

I close out the commentary with some touchstones to the other books in the series. One of my favorite things to do in these books.

Thanks for reading.