I admit it. When I was growing up, I loved watching the Wizard of Oz, which was shown on TV once a year. I adored the magical and fantasy elements, and of course the HEA ending. But then I had teethed on fairy tales and already had magic, mystical creatures, resourceful heroines, and hunky, princely heroes firmly ingrained in my imagination. Then when I was eleven, I came across the book “Many Mansions” by Gina Cerminara, which was about the psychic Edgar Cayce. That was the beginning of my life-long interest in metaphysical subjects and in the Cayce readings. I was especially drawn to his readings about Atlantis (over 700 of them).
So it’s no wonder that my books embraced romance and the paranormal from the very start. After I wrote the Shielder series (science fiction romance), I turned to romantic urban fantasy, and found the perfect venue for my fascination with Atlantis and all things paranormal. Enter the Sentinels, reincarnated Altantians whose sole purpose is to track Belians (evil Atlantians also coming to Earth to wreck havoc). Both Sentinels and Belians have superhuman powers, and they’re waging an ageless battle of good versus evil. But wait—there’s hope for our heroic Sentinels, in the form of a small group of humans called conductors. A matched conductor is always the opposite sex of the Sentinel, and able to psychically link with that Sentinel and enhance his or her ability to track Belians. But there’s a catch—the conduction process raises powerful sexual energies—and many conductions include sex.
Oh boy, oh boy! Now we have Atlantian myth, magic, superheroes, combustible sexual attraction, and chilling suspense—all combined in romantic fantasy thrillers I call the Sentinel Series.
Book one, TOUCHED BY DARKNESS, sets the stage, in Zorro, Texas, a small town in the Hill Country. Conductor Dr. Kara Cantrell has fled from a dark supernatural underworld, and is trying to live a normal life with her young son, Alex. Yet Alex is anything but normal. Like his deceased father, he’s a Sentinel, and his powers are growing. Not only that, but a Belian is stalking the citizens of Zorro, and is being tracked by tall, dark, and dangerous Sentinel Damien Morgan. Damien instantly recognizes Kara as a matched conductor, and her son Alex as a fledgling Sentinel. Now his challenge is to convince Kara to help him track the Belian, and to let him train her son for his destiny. Not to mention dealing with the powerful sexual urges between Damien and Kara, and putting his life on the line when the Belian attacks. All in a day’s work for a Sentinel.
Book two, TOUCHED BY FIRE, will be available October 2, and moves on to ultra-sexy Luke Paxton, a leather-clad Sentinel who drives a Harley. Luke is tracking a particularly heinous Belian, a serial bomber creating a high body count. He finds help in the form of conductor Marla Reynolds, except she’s not going for the Sentinel/conductor thing. Since a brutal attack on her sister eleven years ago, Marla has been emotionally frozen and has insulated herself from the world and from relationships with men. Then she meets Luke in a Houston bar and is upended by an intense attraction she doesn’t understand. Of course Luke does—it’s the sexual pull of a Sentinel/conductor match. Luke sets out to convince Marla to help him focus his psychic powers and do his job. He’ll do whatever it takes—even if he has to kidnap her—and he does just that. Despite the friction between them, It doesn’t take Marla to come around and work with Luke, especially after she finds herself mentally linked with the Belian. As they track this unimaginable evil from Houston to Austin to Dallas, more players are drawn into the story, including Marla’s sister Julia, and Luke’s boss, the powerful Sanctioned Adam Masters. When Marla and Luke finally give into the sizzling sexual pull, they find themselves more deeply involved than they had ever planned or expected. Plus there are a few other surprises along the way. Life is never dull with Sentinels around.
Book three, TOUCHED BY LIGHT, will be available in early 2009, and is Julia and Adam’s story. Expect some explosive fireworks.
On my website, I have cool information on Atlantis and Edgar Cayce, a glossary of terms for the Sentinel universe, book excerpts and other fun stuff. Please visit me at http://www.catherinespangler.com/.
Back to The Wizard of Oz. It will remain one of my favorite movies, and I’ll always root for the good guys and the HEA. Meanwhile, in a world where Sentinels and Belians and conductors are secretly moving among us mere humans, I think it’s safe to say “Toto, we’re not in Kansas any more!”
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