I wrote the first draft of Demons at the Doorstep back in 2016, when I was finishing up my final year of university. I have always wanted to write a story where magic existed in the real world (which I would later learn is urban fantasy), but the ideas were never there. Until one day I sat down and in a burst of creativity wrote the first chapter. The opening line from Jessica was, "Oh Shit." Which was fitting, at the time.
Reading back that first chapter, I finally saw a story that I could work with. The beautiful 'What If" that drives forth a narrative. That first chapter as a creative exercise led to the first book which in turn led to six more books. In those first drafts each book was entirely from a different character's point of view as they joined Jessica and Damien's crew.
Since the launch of the Wicked Conjuring Series in January 2020, this story has evolved in ways that both surprise and delight me. It now has multiple points of view, which has become a staple of the series as it has grown. It's taken my characters around the world, explored magical species across the globe, and became five books instead of six.
Now the fourth book in the series is on its way, set to release in 2025, and I am excited to have the seeds I planted back in book one come full circle. Here are some things you can expect from Book 4 of the Wicked Conjuring series.
New Points of View
Book four is going to have not one but TWO new points of view, and a very long-awaited one at that.
Firstly readers are going to be Tobias "Tobi" Musa, an delinquent elf who will do anything to run away from his problems. Rather than joining his father and brothers at important elven events as he’s supposed to, he prefers to spend his time practising street magic or other hobbies he's picked up in his already a hundred-year long life.
Fun fact: the record for the longest living elf is 1000 years old, but it's rare for them to live that long as they are fragile creatures.
What Tobi is really running from is the burden of clairvoyance he carries. Plagued by visions he can't control, which his father wishes he would use for the betterment of elven kind, Tobi has relied on avoidance over everything to deal with the heavy curse he carries.
At least magic was something he could understand. Visions rarely made sense and Tobi had learned the hard way never to try and understand them. Fate was never to be questioned, challenged, or spoken aloud. All Tobi could do was grin and bear it. His family may disagree, but they didn’t have to live with the visions. In his opinion, his real magic was what he could do with the deck of cards still held tightly in his hands.
Tobi is impulsive, easily distracted, creative, outgoing, and he uses his charisma to get away with far too much. But he won't be able to run for much longer, once his fate becomes intertwined with Jessica and the others.
The second new point of view featured in Book 4 is Damien! The tall, dark and handsome witch hunter was introduced all the way in Demons at the Doorstep. Now Jessica's right-hand finally gets his time to shine, and it's anything but easy. Especially when his own mind is revolting against him, showing him images and memories that aren't his own. After the strange compulsion completely took over during a fight with Supai in Book 3, Damien knows the impulse is getting worse. But of course he would rather figure out how to fix it himself then tell the others he’s suffering.
You can also expect his relationship with Jessica to continue to grow, and be challenged, in Book 4. And as dark secrets from Jessica’s past are revealed while Damien’s own confidence it fractured, they’ll need each other’s strength more than ever
Damien prided himself on his composure. It was a skill that he had worked long and hard to forge into an unbreakable failsafe. But Jessica had a frustrating ability to rearrange his priorities with just a look. Before he realised it, she had found the fracture in him that formed when he lost his brothers during the vampire ambush, and started mending it with a purpose. With something he wanted, again.
I’m very excited for readers to get to meet both of these men, and of course continue with Jessica, Isla, and Nathan’s points of view as well. Book 4 has some big new experiences for all of the characters to face, for better or for worse.
Arthurian Lore
The world of the Wicked Conjuring Series came to be as it we know it today thanks to the actions of Merlin back in the Dark Ages, when Camelot was very much real. As the kingdom was falling and magic became wild and threatening Merlin, with the forced assistance of Morgana, used his power to create a magical realm and sealed away the majority of magical creatures in it. This history was introduced back in Book 1, Demons at the Doorstep, and there is a reason for it. Several Arthurian tidbits have been scattered throughout the series. Have you spotted them?
This splitting of the worlds meant that some creatures such as gods, demons, spirits, and any other species Merlin wasn’t a fan of, were locked away in the other realm. Other species who were human-passing such as elves, shifters, witches and such were allowed to stay. Those in between found a way to survive, either through isolation away from the growing human world or finding ways to blend in. Though despite Merlin’s best efforts, the barrier between reality and realm is not always stable. The summoning in Book 1 certainly wasn’t the first time something had crossed over from the other side.
Nonetheless the divide keeps our reality stable. It established a balance in both the natural and magical energies of the world. Magical creatures find ways to thrive in their own communities, and even amongst humans, despite their identity being in the shadows. Beataes, those who recognize their calling as creatures with extraordinary power, intervene if any power grows too great. Because if magic were to grow wild again and the species who wield it were to rise, the chaotic anarchy to follow would consume the world like fire, destabilizing reality as we know it.
Along with the Arthurian lore, other secrets that were set up in earlier books will come to light. And there will be some very key figures in Book 4 to help the crew find their way to the truth. But I won’t tell you more about that right now… you’ll just have to read it for yourself.
Global Settings (and what inspired them)
The crew has been on quite the globe-trotting adventure. First in Toronto ,Ontario, then to Prince George in British Columbia, then the French Alps, and now onto Valencia, Spain. There are also some magical locations the group will have to survive in Book 4, but I don’t want to spoil those yet. Firstly let me explain why these locations appear in the series.
In truth the locations had little to do with the plot, and everything to do with where I was in my life at the time of writing the first draft. When I first wrote Book 1I was in my last year at the University of Guelph in Ontario. Once I realised it was going to be a full book, I wanted to pay homage to my time in Ontario as it was such an formative part of my life. However, Guelph is a very small town that very few people know about, so I went with Toronto instead as the main setting for Demons at the Doorstep.
For Book 2 The Lupatus Stone I wanted to bring the story back to my home province of British Columbia, but Vancouver wasn’t the right fit for the story of isolation and reconciliation. So I chose Prince George, a northern BC town with beautiful forests to be the setting for Nathan and Abby’s quest.
Now I made a bit of an exception for Book 3, because I needed the goblins to be living somewhere remote and isolated away from humanity for it to fit with the evolution of their species. Since I had done city and temperate rainforest, I thought an icy, snow-covered mountain village would make for a great fit and some really interesting sensory exploration. While it is the most ‘fantasy’ that the settings get overall, it proved the perfect backdrop for Isla’s story in The Goblin Deception. And though it was a bit of a detour for the characters, what the crew uncovers in that village has major impacts on the remainder of the series.
This takes us into Book 4 which, at the time of writing, I was working for a non-profit aquarium and ocean conservation organization and they had just started a partnership with the Valencia Aquarium. Do you see where I’m going with this? While I haven’t been to Valencia (yet), I have loved my own travels through other parts of Europe and was excited to bring my story to those cobblestone streets. Fun fact the very first draft had our crew actually having a fight inside of the Aquarium. Unfortunately that specific setting didn’t survive the rounds of editing, but I remember that draft of The Eye of the Lion, fondly.
When it came to choosing the setting for Book 5, the finale of the series, the choice was easy. With the seeds of Arthurian lore I had already sewn into the story, it only made sense to bring the characters to where the stories of Camelot and King Arthur were set. Plus I had spent six months living and travelling the United Kingdom on an exchange in university and have very special memories of my time there, so it’s been a lot of fun revisiting those as I draft the final book in the series.
What’s to Come
Book 4 The Eye of the Lion is set to release next year, 2025. In this next book readers can expect a fight against fate as the found family of the Wicked Conjuring Series uncover series-long secrets about the world and themselves. There will be plenty of banter (I especially love the relationship between Tobi and Isla), new magical creatures, new power unlocked and deadly consequences. Keep an eye out for The Eye of the Lion, Book 4 of the Wicked Conjuring series, coming out in 2025!
As Jessica and her friends continue their quest, they face unexpected new allies and even greater threats than before, some of which are closer than they realise.
Damien Crowe refuses to let anyone else die because of him. Haunted by the loss of his military unit and his brother, his only goal is to keep Jessica and their friends safe as they seek aid from the apathetic elves. But as the inexplicable presence in Damien’s mind threatens to take over, he fears he may be the greatest threat amongst them.
When darkness from Jessica’s past resurfaces, Damien and his friends find themselves in the crosshairs of the powerful Elven Council. Through battles of strength and wit the crew fights to uncover if fate is on their side, or the weapon of the enigmatic threat they’ve been chasing. Alliances are tested, secrets are revealed, and Damien and the crew must uncover a legendary power to survive. But great power demands sacrifice, and every new legend invites a sinister force to challenge it.
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