Guest Post and Giveaway Death Toll (Ghost Wars Saga #2) by Robert Poulin

Publication Date: June 2014

Cover Artist: Hannah Carr

Description: 

What started out as a routine call led to so much more…

My name is Veronika Kane, and I’m the Captain of the Ghost Watch in the reborn city of Shadow Philadelphia. After we disposed of the city’s previous master and his minions, things were looking up, but in war things are never that easy. A routine call with Detective Frank Cooper blew the cover off of an elaborate scheme to plunge the city of brotherly love into chaos. When Necromancers, Were creatures, and the horrors of Chaos come together it can’t mean anything good. 

With new and old enemies joining forces against us, I’m going to need all the help I can get. Lucky for me, my old friend Frank Cooper will be there to lend a hand, along with Brianna, a strong willed were-ferret, and the stormy eyed wizard Nathaniel Carter. I just hope it will be enough to save everyone.

This time, our enemies aren’t just attacking us in Limbo; this time, they are taking the battle to the streets of the living world and its unknowing citizens. If the Old Ones rise, I don’t think there will be anything anyone can do to stop them. 

My name is Veronika Kane, and this war is far from over.

GUEST POST

The Nature of Ghosts and the Realm of Limbo in the Ghost Wars Sage

Wail of the Banshees and its new sequel Death Toll, follow the exploits of Veronika Kane, the victim of a serial killer who finds herself leading a revolution and saving the world from the depredations of the elder gods. The two novels reveal and explore the ghost realm of Limbo and its inhabitants. The ghosts of Limbo all share one thing in common, they all came to be there via an act of violence that ended their lives. This is true for creatures, the furies, as well as for human beings. Furthermore the violent death has to have been intentional. Someone dying as a result of a car accident does not end up in Limbo. An innocent bystander shot to death by a gunman aiming for someone else does go to Limbo. This means that Limbo is filled with victims, prey, hunters, and murderers. It is a realm where slavery and despotism are entrenched in the culture of the ghost society. The most evil of human beings, people like Hitler and Stalin become wraiths, the most powerful and feared of Limbo's denizens. Serial killers and other mass murders often become reapers, the captains of Limbo's armies. The biggest mystery not yet revealed in either book is the nature and origins of the Luminaries, the angelic beings that are a counter to the wraiths and reapers. Luminaries are the spirits of people who have died violently for a great cause. Many of these martyrs died for their religious faith, others for a cause like the civil rights of a minority group. Banshees and specters are very specifically created through a process revealed in Wail of the Banshees. 

The Realm of Limbo is a shadow world that looks much like our own. It has continents and cities that exist in our own world. Upon dying a violent death, a newly risen ghost finds himself or herself in a city or place that resembles the location where they died. The realm of Limbo is shrouded in thick mists and the buildings within its cities are decaying and older than the ones found in the living world. Limbo is a place of memory, what stands in Limbo is based on what the majority of its inhabitants remember. New buildings don't appear because they've been built in the living world, they appear when enough ghosts in an area believe that the structure should exist. Landmarks, historical buildings, and notable/unusual structures are the most likely features to gain a solid existence in Limbo. Veronika Kane is from the great city of Philadelphia, so the action in Wail of the Banshees and Death Toll take place in shadow Philly and in the living world of Philly. Two substances have a material presence in Limbo, celestial steel and devil's iron. In the living world, these substances are called spirit metal and blood iron by the fae and are the basis for magical artifacts. In Limbo, the weapons and armor of warfare are constructed of these substances and they can be used to destroy a ghost. 

Even though Limbo exists in an alternate plane of reality, it does have distinctive borders. The living world shares Limbo's largest and closest border. Beyond the Far Badlands, the lake of fire can be found, its depths leading to the demon realm of Tartarus. At the edge of the Endless Plain the Celestial Gates guard the entrance to the Seat of Creation. Beyond the Forsaken Lands lies the Realm of Endless Night where the Lady of Night, the lich queen Lilith, rules over the armies of night. Lastly, the Tempest Jungle gives way to the outer oblivion, the border that leads to the Outer Chaos, where the Great Old One, Azathoth resides in exile from creation. Limbo is a clear path for the cults of the Old Ones wanting to assist their ancient masters re-enter creation. Death Toll tells the story of just such a plot.

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About the author:

Robert Poulin was born and raised in the New England state of Connecticut. After spending his late teenage years in Boca Raton Florida, Robert moved to upstate New York where he lived with his uncle Wilbrod Poulin and attended the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. 

After earning a Bachelor's in Political Science and a Master's in Teaching, Robert went back to Florida where he taught Social Studies for a few years. After returning to Northern New York, Robert took a job with the North Country Center for Independence: a disability rights and advocacy organizations. 

Robert has worked for NCCI for thirteen years and is now the Executive Director.
Wail of the Banshees is Robert's first novel; he has been a huge fan of fantasy and science fiction since second grade when he discovered The Hobbit. Urban fantasy in particular has become Robert's favored genre in the past decade. Robert has been legally blind since infancy, but thanks to a mom that encouraged independence, hard work, and a healthy dose of dreaming, the disability has mostly just been an inconvenience. Robert is currently in the editorial process with his second novel, Death Toll, and is writing Echoes of Madness the third novel in the Veronika Kane saga.

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