Guest Post: Tools of the Paranormal Trade by Megan Derr

~I have the lovely Megs on the blog today! It's always a pleasure having her on POR, cus there is always a fun post involved. don't forget to say "hello".~

A reader asked me how I came up with the different gadgets and all that appear in Dance. The honest answer is, 'I don't know, it just comes to me.' My writing style has long been 'start typing and see what happens.' I have notes, outlines, spreadsheets, but nine times out of ten, what I think will happen does not happen at all, or plays out in a way far different.

This also comes out in the details. Until I wrote them, I had no idea grimoires would be one of the most important items in Dance verse (or that Sable would collect them obsessively). Jackie's guns I knew well ahead of time, and I did quite a bit of research on what kind of gun he would most likely have. For the curious, his guns are Colt Single Action Army, also known as the Peacemaker. As with most magic items in Dance verse, they belonged to his grandfather and were passed down to him. Jackie's father has a pair as well, and traditionally they would go to any child Jackie might have.

Another gadget that briefly shows in Dance Only for Me is a watch obtained by another character. It's not actually a watch, but a sort of miniature spell circle, all the runes laid out and only requiring to be moved into the correct arrangement to set the spell. This is, in theory, much easier than having to draw out a spell circle, but the technology, so to speak, has a ways to go yet. Interestingly, this idea was very loosely inspired by the alethiometer from His Dark Materials. I am pretty certain it's going to be important somewhere else down the road, though as usual my brain has not bothered to tell me how.

I like gadgets, tools, seemingly harmless items that can do a world of harm in the wrong hands (Johnnie's swordstick is a prime example of that). I always try to give each of my heroes something that is uniquely theirs—Chris' jewelry, Johnnie's cane, Devlin's runes, and Jackie's guns. And, of course, the more I get into the dragon clans, the more you're going to see the special relics they have

And I could babble about any and all of them for days on end, but I shall cut my rambling off here, thank you for reading.

Jackie Black is a cowboy and sorcerer and proud of both. He spends his days breaking curses and locating items of interest for other abnormals. His pride and joy are the alchemy-enhanced pistols at his hips. The love of his life is Roman, a businessman and witch. Tired of living several states apart, Jackie decides to surprise Roman by moving closer.


But instead of being a happy surprise, Jackie finds himself the victim of an unpleasant one. Alone in a strange city, with nowhere to go and his world in pieces, Jackie is taken in by an old man who says he is a paranormal detective and could use someone of Jackie’s power and abilities to catch a killer.



You can buy it here.

And in honor of its release, all this week paranormal books at LT3 are discounted 20%, so check those out too :3


Megan is a long time resident of m/m fiction, and keeps herself busy reading, writing, and publishing it. She is often accused of fluff and nonsense. She loves to hear from readers, and can be found lurking in various corners of the internet.

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