Ask Jim Questions - Today!

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...Was St. Patrick's curse actually intended as a way of containing something, in his own descendants?
*sigh* I can't come up with anything offhand he's likely to answer.

Well (assuming that demon was telling the truth) we know that being a Saint is mostly like being a Wizard in terms of Power and scope.  So if he actually created the Curse Im guessing it was a DeathCurse.


Ancient Mai is the Oldest Wizard on the Council (by certain measures). Theory confirmed, w00t!

5) Ancient Mai carries the title for oldest wizard on the Council, but does not see herself as a leadership figure, and regarded Langtry's talents as more suitable than her own for the role of Merlin.

[Magnus]

I also like this

Oh, they didn't wind up on Mab's shit list.

They wound up on the Custodian's shit list.

And yeah, obviously, we're going to use them more later. I'm too lazy to spend energy to build things I won't use.

That was in reply to this

First, thank you for creating such amazing stories. I was lucky enough to discover Storm Front a few months after it was released and I've been laughing, crying, and throwing my book across the room ever since. I can't wait for Brief Cases and the new Zoo story!

The question I'm hoping you'll answer:

Will we ever learn more about the frozen prisoners in Arctis Tor?

The Byzantine lovers, the cardinal, the spider (who I think is Arachne), and the three women? I'm fascinated about who they were, how the ended up on Mab's shit list (if that's why they're there), and if they'll ever be freed.

Thanks again!

[groinkick]

Who is the Custodian???

[TheCuriousFan]

Well I definitely wasn't expecting some of these answers.

1) Teach it? VERY quickly. She could alter your perception of time and give you months of pure mental lessons in an evening. If she just did it for you while you sit in the passenger seat? She can do that instantly.

2) Well, with the White Council for sure, and with a lot of human authorities. But if he'd become a friggin' necromancer, he would have found his allies among the dead and dead-adjacent, and things would have generally been a lot gothier.

3) Maybe.

4) I can.

5) Can't think of a reason to have him around for Harry's story. Might be a different case in a spinoff.

6) Because it wasn't pressing pause. It was just sustaining them for the duration of the transformation. Once the transformation dropped them back into their mortal form again, it was time to pay the piper. They paid for their life with life, the way all vampires do. They just chose not to take someone else's. But younger half-vamps, like Susan, would have been okay, just older and a lot more tired.

7) HHWB, being a Walker, is an outsider on a power level similar to Uriel. He can do all KINDS of stuff. But also has a lot of weird limits as to when and where he can use his power.

That last one punches a bit of a hole right through my theory about HWWB being the final thing Harry gets into a slugfest with in the series. Still, it was worth staying awake for this.

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Who is the Custodian???

He answered that question again later on.  Looks like he thought it was asking about Demonreach at first, so the Custodian is just Alfred. 

Answered agian he said:

Processing...

OH THOSE GUYS.

Yeah, I know who they all are. I don't have a further story role set for them at the moment, they're just part of Mab's backstory. That's kind of her trophy case of personal victories.

If I remember right they're Vlad Tsepes and his lover (who wanted to be together forever), Richlieu (Mab always collects eventually, no matter how tricky you are), that's not Arachne it's friggin' Anansi (Mab, too, knows hubris), and the triumverate of women was actually two women with Mab pulling a Scooby Doo move and hiding among them. Trying to remember, they were a pair of historical French or German or British twin sisters who were burned as witches by a Saint. Mab saved them, sort of. Instead of being burned to cinders, they were transformed to living crystal and used to decorate her bower. Mostly, Mab defeated the Saint, sort of at the end of the middle ages/opening of the Renaissance, when there hadn't been all that many Old Word wins lately.

They aren't really a part of Harry's story, just background details for Mab. Anansi is too much a trickster to be caught forever. He'll get free at some point and have a merry vengeance on Mab's pride and ego. She's just so serious, all the time, a guy like Anansi couldn't do anything BUT give her the grumpy camp counselor treatment once he was free.

[jonas]

Who is the Custodian???

Uriel... but I call him the Gardener
*above post apparentely says he was referring to DR... but I still see Uriel as the custodian, I mean, he appeared as a fricken custodian in SmF

[jonas]

Think a Reddit savvy user could post a link(or twitter or wherever this all took place today)

[groinkick]

Well I definitely wasn't expecting some of these answers.
That last one punches a bit of a hole right through my theory about HWWB being the final thing Harry gets into a slugfest with in the series. Still, it was worth staying awake for this.

What were the questions?  Some of the answers don't make sense without the questions being shown.

[TheCuriousFan]

What were the questions?  Some of the answers don't make sense without the questions being shown.

1: How fast could Lash teach magic? The bit about being able to teach Harry how to heal his hand in Dead Beat implied that it was several dozen times faster than normal (because there's no way he'd be able to pick up healing before his hand healed normally on his own).

2: How exactly would the version of Changes where Harry does the Darkhallow have gone afterwards? It seems like the kind of thing that would burn his bridges with absolutely everybody.

3: You've previously mentioned that Morgan might appear in book 17 (Mirror Mirror), is that still on track?

4: Can you tell us more about the details of how Ways work and how two people working in the same spot can end up in different places?

5: Will the Shapeshifting Guru from the Ukraine mentioned in the list of freeholding lords in White Night play a role in the series or will it be like the Jade Court and not appear in the series?

6: Why did the half-turned Red Court and Cassius experience sped-up aging the moment they lost the thing stopping their aging? Shouldn't they have just gone back to aging at normal rate if the Red Court half of them was just pressing the proverbial pause button?

7: Did He Who Walks Behind slow down time around the clerk who tried to run in Ghost Story? If no, how was he slowed down?

EDIT: Why could Harry understand Sharkface's name while He Who Walks Behind's name was just an impression that HWWB gave him?

Best I could come up with on short notice.

[Fcrate]

Thanks for everyone who posted any info, appreciate the effort

[Wolfeyes]

1. What is Mister's cat name for Harry in Cinders Spire style?

Sleeps Loudly

The important questions.

[Griffyn612]

...and the triumverate of women was actually two women with Mab pulling a Scooby Doo move and hiding among them.

She was there.  Finally, proof.

[groinkick]

Best I could come up with on short notice.

Thank you!

Dang Behind is on the level of Uriel?  Scary stuff right there. 

[KurtinStGeorge]

Hihi... that’s fancy way of saying he’s nearly halfway done. ;P I hope he spends time in the editing process instead of rushing at this point as that has been a big weakness of his releases; lack of good editing.

It's disappointing to learn Jim is only at about the halfway point, but I'm glad to be given accurate information about where he is in the writing process and that he's in a more comfortable situation for doing his work.  I won't be expecting Peace Talks until next Spring or even Summer.  I will be surprised if he finishes in September, we'll see.

[Fcrate]

Thank you!

Dang Behind is on the level of Uriel?  Scary stuff right there.

Yep. The dude can level galaxies.
But hey, he's also limited in the how and when he use his powers, so yay.