[CD Sample Chapters - Spoilers] Suggestion Box for the Upcoming Q&As

[peregrine]

The Fae cannot lie, but they can be mistaken.  Does being fae grant one absolute self knowledge, or can they be mistaken about their own intentions and motivations, and thus "lie" to themselves?

Re: the above question, when Lily said she had not chosen, was she correct that she had not chosen her human or fae heritage, but that in accepting the Mantle, that choice was made for her? (see also actions determining other Scions choices)

At this point in time, can you give us a general rundown of Harry's strengths as a magicican?  He was especially skilled at thaumaturgy in the beginning, not so much evocation.  Has that changed with a decade or more of being in novels?  Are his multiple necromantic feats evidence of any special skill in that field, or just stuff he gets away with because of special circumstances/it's awesome?

Would you say that in general, Power and Purpose are linked?  That creatures that are outrageously powerful are so because they attach themselves to a specific purpose, like a train that is incredibly powerful, but only on train tracks, vs a car that can go on any roads?  (The metaphor being expandable to derailing being entirely intentional.)

What would happen to someone who spends a year or more in the nevernever, eating nevernever food, breathing nevernever air, then returns to the real world?  Do they get sick/die as all the ectoplasmic stuff in their bodies turns to goo, or does it metaphysically become one with them?

Just how pissed will Charity be?

Are we going to see any stories from Morgan's PoV?  Set a while back, obviously, but I'd love to see him do a Dungeon Crawl on some magical bad guys.  Kick in the door, and apply sword, fire, and boot to ass all up and down the battlemap.

If Harry had had the presence of mind to throw a Death Curse, would that have caused problems for him re: meeting Jack, and setting the plot of Ghost Story in motion?  Or would it have progressed the same, + changes from the affects of his curse?

Is Joe the janitor at the train station in Small Favor actually just a janitor, or is he, like Uriel, an angel in disguise?
And if so, is he Autobot or Decepticon?

Will we ever see some of the Supernaturally clued in mundane authorities in action?  Or does that not fit Harry's idiom?

[rad]

Free will as humans have it has more to do with the range of choices and the ability to go against one's nature.  A human can go around changing their mind, act in whatever way, and then change again with incredibly different repercussions.  Other creatures, like the Fey, can't go against their nature.  The Great Tit can't go around being cold and calculating just like Mab can't go around being all flowers and sunshine (without some sort of Mabish plan in the background).  As far as the fallen go, when they chose to rebel they became that choice.  That choice completely changed what they were on a certain level.  It is the same way that the messengers of the holy people became skinwalkers.  They were angelic beings and when they changed they became like shagnasty.  A human, however messed up, would still be a human. 

[TheCuriousFan]

At this point in time, can you give us a general rundown of Harry's strengths as a magicican?  He was especially skilled at thaumaturgy in the beginning, not so much evocation.  Has that changed with a decade or more of being in novels?  Are his multiple necromantic feats evidence of any special skill in that field, or just stuff he gets away with because of special circumstances/it's awesome?

It's changed, Harry has gone from "my fire evocation sucks (and evocation in general)" to the quote below.

I hadn’t used much fire magic lately, obviously. You don’t go messing around conjuring up flame when you’re at the heart of Winter. There are things there that hate that action. But fire magic has always been my strongest suit. It was the first fully realized spell I ever mastered, and on a good day I could hang around in the same general league as any other wizard in the world when it came to fire magic.

[peregrine]

I'm not crazy though, right?  In the beginning, his evocation wasn't so hot, because even though he used it in fights, he only had a small handful of spells he actually used.  Or that's how I remember it.

[TheCuriousFan]

I'm not crazy though, right?  In the beginning, his evocation wasn't so hot, because even though he used it in fights, he only had a small handful of spells he actually used.  Or that's how I remember it.

You're not crazy, he's changed from a shoddy evoker to a rather good one.

[KurtinStGeorge]

Twice in earlier books; in Storm Front and Proven guilty, Harry has talked about unleashing an attack based on animals or insects.  He thought of sending a flood of rats into the Varsity Club when he confronted Marcone in Storm Front and in Proven Guilty he joked with Karrin that he'd like to send a torrent of cockroaches in City Hall and watch "the suits" come running out of the building.

Will Harry ever use such an attack?  Would he be summoning actual rats and roaches or would they be something from the never-never that just looked like the real thing? If he has had this ability since SF why hasn't he used it yet?

[Arjan]

Twice in earlier books; in Storm Front and Proven guilty, Harry has talked about unleashing an attack based on animals or insects.  He thought of sending a flood of rats into the Varsity Club when he confronted Marcone in Storm Front and in Proven Guilty he joked with Karrin that he'd like to send a torrent of cockroaches in City Hall and watch "the suits" come running out of the building.

Will Harry ever use such an attack?  Would he be summoning actual rats and roaches or would they be something from the never-never that just looked like the real thing? If he has had this ability since SF why hasn't he used it yet?

Because it is cruelty to animals

[wizard nelson]

If Harry had had the presence of mind to throw a Death Curse, would that have caused problems for him re: meeting Jack, and setting the plot of Ghost Story in motion?  Or would it have progressed the same, + changes from the affects of his curse?

yea i've always thought that a death curse was a wizard unwittingly putting every last drop of soulfire into a last spell. idk if this means the soul is gone though, i tend to think of it as the glass(soul) being emptied(life gone). the shell of the soul is still left but lacks the substance of life? makes me wonder who cast the first death curse, what its DV origins are?

[Socratov]

You're not crazy, he's changed from a shoddy evoker to a rather good one.

almost. he went from shoddy invocator to shoddy invocator with quite the ammopack, to shoddy evocator on steroids (hellfire), to somewhat skilled evocator without steroids but with aimbot (exchange hellfire for soulfire), to skilled evocator with aimbot (training Molly), to nothing (ghost), to very skilled again with aimbot (Mab's training plan, and retaining the soulfire) and yet again increased ammo (WK mantle). what I want to know is:

"Will the event of harry invoking his own name  to use against the outsider signify an increase, or realization thereof, of power for Harry?"

that's all. it really struck me as odd when it happened and even though it wasn't mentioned again, it seemed significant.

[wizard nelson]

"Will the event of harry invoking his own name  to use against the outsider signify an increase, or realization thereof, of power for Harry?"

i feel this in someway invoked his starborn status. notice he uses it to perfectly command an outsider?

[TheCuriousFan]

yea i've always thought that a death curse was a wizard unwittingly putting every last drop of soulfire into a last spell. idk if this means the soul is gone though, i tend to think of it as the glass(soul) being emptied(life gone). the shell of the soul is still left but lacks the substance of life? makes me wonder who cast the first death curse, what its DV origins are?

Explain to me why Harry having Soulfire is a big deal if every wizard can use it? Personally I write off what's used in a Death Curse as life energy like Harry says it is.

[wizard nelson]

Explain to me why Harry having Soulfire is a big deal if every wizard can use it? Personally I write off what's used in a Death Curse as life energy like Harry says it is.

soul fire IS life energy, thats my point. and every wizard can't just use it, they have to throw their lifeforce(soulfire) into it, hence "unwittingly". i pointed out i don't believe this negates the soul because the shell still exists. your misinterpreting me.

[TheCuriousFan]

soul fire IS life energy, thats my point. and every wizard can't just use it, they have to throw their lifeforce(soulfire) into it, hence "unwittingly". i pointed out i don't believe this negates the soul because the shell still exists. your misinterpreting me.

Explain where you get the idea that Soulfire = life energy.

[wizard nelson]

Explain to me why Harry having Soulfire is a big deal if every wizard can use it? Personally I write off what's used in a Death Curse as life energy like Harry says it is.

Explain where you get the idea that Soulfire = life energy.

explain to me where you get your death curse=life energy?
because harry references things associated with living life to things that create more soul. meaning experiencing life feeds the soul. (soul food anyone lol?) its a small logical leap from there.

[TheCuriousFan]

explain to me where you get your death curse=life energy?
because harry references things associated with living life to things that create more soul. meaning experiencing life feeds the soul. (soul food anyone lol?) its a small logical leap from there.

Which left me with one last spell to throw. I closed my eyes for a moment, reaching inside, gathering up the magic, the life force within me. Any wizard has a reservoir of power inherent in him, power drawn from the core of his self rather than from his surroundings. Aurora's circle could cut me off from drawing upon ambient magic to fuel a spell - but it couldn't stop me from using the energy within me.

Granted, once used, there wouldn't be anything left to keep me breathing, my heart pumping, and electricity going through my brain. But then, that's why they call it a death curse, isn't it?

Sounds less like using the soul up and more like using everything the body needs to keep running.