Guest Post: Masters of the Veil Author Daniel Cohen + Giveaway
Feb 03
I am super excited to have Daniel A. Cohen, author of Masters of the Veil, stop by the blog today to share an interview he did with a few of the characters from his upcoming novel.
I can’t wait to hear what they reveal about themselves, but I am even more curious about what they think about the author. As authors tend to do bad, bad things to their characters, I’m dying to find out what they really think about him. It will be telling….
But before we begin, let’s meet them.
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The Characters
Sam Lock
High school football star. Popular, sociable, and knows nothing about magic… yet.
Daphne Sunder
Beautiful, intelligent, and one of the most popular young sorcerers in Atlas Crown.
Cassiella Pyx
Shy, kind, and sort of nerdy. Even though she keeps a low profile, she is also one of the more powerful young sorcerers.
Glissandro Thicket
Glissandro is a young, mute sorcerer who speaks magically through music. He uses the horn of a skull-wolf to create his musical language. He also keeps to himself.
Petir LaVink
Grumpy young sorcerer. He hates outsiders. VERY good at magic.
Rona Rono
Teaches the best young sorcerers in Atlas Crown (Daphne, Cassiella, Glissandro, and Petir). Was a tribal king in Africa before he was brought to Atlas Crown.
May
Liaison from Atlas Crown to the outside world.
***
So before “Masters of the Veil,” happened, Dan sat down and interviewed some of his characters. We won’t get into the details of how Dan got into Atlas Crown (the magical community where the story takes place), but let’s just say it wasn’t easy.
Here are some of the highlights of the interview.
Dan asked: “What’s your dream in life?”
Sam Lock
I’m living it, baby! Did you see how many scouts were at my last game?
Petir LaVink
You don’t belong here (at this point, Petir raises his second-skin* at Dan). You’re lucky May says you’re ok, or I would… You know what? I’m leaving (he leaves the room in a huff).
*A hand covering made from magical materials, which allows you to “grip” the Veil. Essentially, it’s how you do magic.
Daphne Sunder
Easy. I’m going to be head grower some day. Can you just imagine being in charge of the seven grow fields? Just being around all the animals, and plants, and colors. It’s like the most important job in Atlas Crown.
Cassiella Pyx
I don’t know. I guess… I don’t know. It would be nice to meet somebody (she looks down at her feet). Can we go to the next question?
Glissandro Thicket
<Translated from music> To be the first in my family to go through mystical Omani* I want to make my brother proud.
*Coming of age ceremony that determines what branch of magic you study
***
Dan asked: “What’s your favorite thing to do?”
Sam Lock
(Picks at his football jersey) Seriously?
Daphne Sunder
Well, me and my girlfriends love to go to the hot springs and relax. (She shrugs) And it doesn’t hurt that there’s usually some cute guys there.
Glissandro Thicket
<Translated> The Tinker Hut. You should see all the magical contraptions he has. Buttons that change the fabric of your robe, dancing figures, detectors, little globes that you shake and it snows around you. And there’s always something new.
Cassiella Pyx
I like the library.
Rona Rono
I teach. There’s nothing I like more. The first time one of my students drapes* an object, well, there’s no better feeling.
*Draping is a magical technique that involves wrapping the Veil around something to give it magical properties.
***
Dan asked: “What’s the most impressive magic you’ve ever seen performed?”
Sam Lock
(Grinning like an idiot) Did you say magic? You mean figuratively, right? Because there was this one-handed catch I had where I dove [rest of answer omitted because of extreme length].
Daphne Sunder
One time I was with May in the grow fields and she called like every bird in Atlas Crown. Thousand of birds, every color imaginable, all came and May tossed handfuls of seeds into the air and the birds each caught one and flew away. I’ve never seen anything more beautiful. There was no chaos. The birds all fell in line like a dance.
May said that another magical community had lost one of their fields—she never told me why—so she was sending a new one. It doesn’t get much better than natural magic.
Cassiella Pyx
I love watching Rona. He can drape anything. He made me a wooden flower that only blooms on the full moon, but when it opens up it gives off whatever smell would make me most happy. Last moon it smelled like honey and nettle-melon.
Rona Rono
(His eyes darken) If you don’t mind, I’d like to skip that question.
***
Their Thoughts on Dan
After the interview, the characters shared their thoughts on meeting Dan….
Sam Lock
He’s kind of small. I doubt he’d be very good on the field. He’s not like the son of a coach or something, is he? Oh. He’s a writer? Yeah, that makes more sense. So why did I meet with him?
Daphne Sunder
I guess he seems nice. Not my type. It’s not his fault though, I just wouldn’t ever date a flathand*.
*A flathand is someone who cannot connect with the Veil.
Cassiella Pyx
I really like blue eyes (at this point in the interview, Cassiella blushes). Don’t tell him I said that!
Glissandro Thicket
<Translated from music> He kept mentioning a saxophone. What’s a saxophone?
Rona Rono
(Shakes his head) He seems to have the right heart, but She [The Veil] hasn’t chosen him. It’s too bad. I would have loved to teach him.
***
Dan, thank you so much for stopping by, letting us get to know your characters and sharing their thoughts about you. I’m super excited to meet them all next month, even though I’m only a flathand. They seem like very different personalities and I can’t wait to see just how well they get along – or not – with one another.
I definitely want to know more about their abilities and I am now more curious than ever to find out about The Veil.
***
Book Trailer
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Places to Stalk
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Masters of the Veil is the first book in a new trilogy by the author being published by Spencer Hill Press.
About the book
Life can’t get much better for Sam Lock. Popular, good-looking, and with a future as a professional football player, every guy at Stanton High School wishes he were Sam. That is, until his championship football game, when Sam accidentally links with an ancient source of energy known as the Veil and reveals his potential to become a powerful sorcerer.
Sam is whisked off to Atlas Crown, a community of sorcerers who utilize the Veil as a part of everyday life. Once there, he trains beside a mute boy who speaks through music, an eternal sage who’s the eyes and ears of the Veil, and a beautiful girl who’s pretty sure Sam’s an idiot.
As it becomes clear Sam’s meant for power magic – the most feared and misunderstood form of sorcery – people beyond Atlas Crown learn of his dangerous potential. An exiled group of power sorcerers are eager to recruit Sam, believing that he is destined to help them achieve their long-held goal. If they succeed, they could bring about the downfall of not only Atlas Crown. but all humankind.
Masters of the Veil releases March 1, 2012. Where to find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble
About the author
Daniel A. Cohen was just your average business student. Microeconomics, finance, marketing… you name it, he had to do a PowerPoint presentation on it. One dark and stormy night, he was bitten by the radioactive realization that memorizing business jargon could possibly be the most boring activity known to man.After gaining eagle-eye vision, abs that could grate cheese, and a talent for imagining things (including his cheese-grating abs), he wrote his first novel and began his epic battle against the formidable business jargon. He continues to fight the good fight by playing saxophone and writing YA fantasy, forever hoping his Veil trilogy will help inspire others to join his cause.
***
[Note: Celebrity images of the characters are borrowed images from various sites found through Google Images.]
What’s up for grabs:
A pre-order copy of Masters of the Veil by Daniel A. Cohen from Amazon to three (3) winners (from Fiktshun) AND
A Masters of the Veil can cozy sent to each winner (from the author).
The deets:
1. One entry per person.
2. There will be three (3) winners.
3. You must be 13 or older.
4. Giveaway is US or Canada ONLY.
5. Contest ends at 9:59 p.m. Pacific on February 10, 2012.
6. Winner will be chosen by Random.org and announced on February 11th in this post.
7. Winner will have 48 hours after notification to respond with their details.
8. Book will be pre-ordered from Amazon. Can cozy will be sent directly from the author.
There is no requirement to like or follow. But if you’d like to spread the word that would be awesome!
To enter, fill out the form below:
The giveaway is closed. Thanks so much to everyone who entered. Stay tuned and I’ll be running the names through Random in the morning. Good luck to everyone!
Congratulations to Nicole, Kayla and Tin! You are the winners of the Masters of the Veil pre-order giveaway and can cozy. I’ll be contacting you all by email shortly for your details! This book sounds awesome and I hope the winners love it! And for those who didn’t win, I hope you get a chance to pick up a copy after it releases so you can meet all the amazing characters for yourself!
This is the first I’ve heard of Masters of the Veil. It sounds really good! Thanks for the chance to win!
I have seen this around quite a bit lately and it sounds really good.
I’ve seen this around once or twice, but this is the first time I’ve slowed down and checked it out. I’m getting more into magic related books and this one looks interesting.
Yeah, there aren’t that many. I think people are afraid of delving into it because of Harry Potter and possibly it doesn’t appeal to a female audience quite as much. But I love Chloe Neill’s YA series and this one sounds pretty awesome. I can’t wait to check it out either!
I kind of have a fan crush on Rona Rono already. And I’ve been hearing awesome things about this book so far. Can’t wait for March. Yay for male MC!
This was in my WoW post last week.
I like putting faces to the characters. Were these the author’s choices? I can’t help chuckling whenever I read Sam’s answers. 
Yes, they were the author’s choices. I asked for celebrity photos if he had any and those are not only the celebs, but the actual pictures he chose. I love meeting the characters like that… unless of course I can’t stand the celebrity, but I think these were great choices! And Sam made me grin, too.
Ah, we share the same sentiment.