{"id":469,"date":"2013-02-08T03:01:28","date_gmt":"2013-02-08T03:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/?p=469"},"modified":"2013-02-08T12:32:09","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T12:32:09","slug":"a-heartbreaker-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/a-heartbreaker-hero\/","title":{"rendered":"A Heartbreaker Hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"This post is part of the Heartbreaker \u00a0blog hop. Scroll down to the end\u00a0for information about prizes available and other participants.<\/em><\/p>\n

The hero of my just-released novel, THE WIZARD\u2019S SHIELD, <\/strong>seems like a heartbreaker to me. Michael Morgan is a powerful wizard with a troubled past that included being a foster child and then being kicked out of the only home he\u2019s ever known after he’d settled there. In anger and despair he hooked up with a bad group of wizards, which led him to be part of a crime where a man was murdered.<\/p>\n

It woke him up to how self-destructive his behavior was. He turned himself into the authorities of the magical world, and took his punishment. But someone took it too far and Michael was tortured for months in the process.<\/p>\n

Once free again, he finished his education, getting a Ph.D. in physics, then retreated to a place on the North Carolina coast to work on his own. Among other things, he invents a shield to protect himself from magic used against him, to ensure no one will ever be able to torture him again.<\/p>\n

But when word leaks out about his device, one of the two ruling bodies of the magical world sends Ilene McConnell, a former girlfriend to find out what it is and what it can do. Meanwhile, those bad wizards recognize the potential of the device and steal it.<\/p>\n

Being together again is painful for both Michael and Ilene, especially when they quickly recognize that the old attraction is still there. But Ilene is working for Diamond Council, an organization Michael hates, and she believes his shield is too dangerous to exist. She urges him to destroy it if they can ever retrieve it.<\/p>\n

Before the story ends Ilene will see all too plainly and painfully why Michael needs the shield and Michael will face a nightmare scenario that forces him to do things he swore he\u2019d never do again.<\/p>\n

I like to think that Michael is a definite heartbreaker hero. He broke mine while I was writing the story<\/p>\n

(Those of you who’ve participated in previous hops may recognize that this book is one I asked for help with last fall. I wasn’t happy with the title or cover of the book that was once known as Magic, Murder and Microcircuits. I asked for advice on both and your comments helped me decide on the title and new cover!)<\/p>\n

Now for the promo part\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"About The Wizard’s Shield<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n

To solve a murder and retrieve a stolen magical shield, a pair of wizards journey into a dangerous, magical underworld, where the weapons of choice might be guns… or lightning bolts.<\/em><\/p>\n

A powerful wizard with a physics degree and a checkered past invents a shield to ensure he’ll never again be tortured almost to death.<\/p>\n

The wizarding powers-that-be fear the repercussions of such a device and send his former girlfriend, an accomplished wizard herself, to retrieve the device or destroy it.<\/p>\n

When the shield is stolen by the magical mafia, Ilene McConnell and Michael Morgan have to set aside their differences and work together to recover it. Michael claims he needs the device as insurance against the kind of injury and injustice he suffered once before. Ilene maintains its potential to upset the delicate balance of power makes it too dangerous and that it needs to be destroyed. But none of that will matter if they can\u2019t retrieve it before a ruthless, powerful wizard learns how to use it for his own ends.<\/p>\n