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Urban Fantasy
Investigations Guest Blog
by Zoë Archer
I’ve always loved adventure stories. Loved the far-flung locations and almost
non-stop action—with time here are there for romance, of course.
One of my favorite parts of adventure stories came from the
inevitable puzzle solving our hero and heroine had to do. They needed to figure out the ancient code to
unlock the vault. Or figure out what
stones they could step on across the huge bridge to make it safely across. I loved the combination of using brains and
daring to solve a problem. And at the
end, they reached the treasure. Of
course, once they got the treasure, getting back to safety was rarely an easy
prospect—plus the bad guys were getting closer, so time was of the
essence.
Remember that awesome sequence in Raiders of the Lost Ark, when Indiana Jones carefully switches out
the golden idol for a weighted bag of stones?
Unfortunately for Indy, his calculations are off, so all the ancient
security devices wind up getting triggered, including poisoned spears and that
famous giant boulder. Fortunately, Indy
gets out safely. Unfortunately, his
nemesis Belloq is there to steal the idol from him. But then Indy uses his problem-solving later
when it comes to locating the Ark.
I wanted to capture that adventure/puzzle fun when writing
SKIES OF STEEL.
In addition to all the
other adventures they have over the course of the story, the hero, Captain
Mikhail Mikhailovich Denisov, and heroine, Professor Daphne Carlisle, are
required to break into an Arabian vault to steal a valuable object.
Since SKIES OF STEEL is a steampunk romance,
it was extremely fun to come up with different obstacles and puzzles for Daphne
and Mikhail to encounter and solve.
I
don’t want to give away any spoilers, but suffice it to say that it takes both
brains
and brawn to get through the
vault and back to safety.
Plus, I have
to give a lot of credit to my Ether Chronicles co-creator, my husband
Nico Rosso, for creating the amazing steampunk
security devices in the vault.
The trick became how both Mikhail and Daphne could work
together to solve the puzzles and get through in one piece, because if there’s
one thing I hate, it’s when the hero figures everything out and the heroine is
just useless or terrified. So both
Daphne and Mikhail lend their different expertise to reaching that valuable
object. And so they do, which helps show
that the jaded mercenary and the academic lady are not as dissimilar as they
first think.
So, my question for you is this: what are some of your
favorite books, movies, or television programs that feature puzzles and problem
solving? Leave a comment and you could
win a digital copy of SKIES OF STEEL!
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Zoë Archer is an award-winning romance
author who thinks there's nothing sexier than a man in tall boots and a
waistcoat. As a child, she never dreamed about being the rescued princess, but
wanted to kick butt right beside the hero. She now applies her master's degrees
in Literature and Fiction to creating butt-kicking heroines and heroes in tall
boots. She is the author of the acclaimed BLADES OF THE ROSE series and the
paranormal historical romance series, THE HELLRAISERS. She and her husband,
fellow romance author Nico Rosso,
created the steampunk world of THE ETHER CHRONICLES together. Her steampunk romance, SKIES OF STEEL, is now
available from Avon Impulse, and Nico’s steampunk Western, NIGHT OF FIRE, is
also available now. Zoë and Nico live in Los Angeles.
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Find Zoe and her books
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Skies of Steel
The Ether Chronicles #3
In the world of The Ether Chronicles, the Mechanical War rages on, and appearances are almost always deceiving . . .
The Prim Professor
Daphne
Carlisle may be a scholar, but she's far more comfortable out in the
field than lost in a stack of books. Still, when her parents are
kidnapped by a notorious warlord, she knows she'll need more than quick
thinking if she is to reach them in time. Daphne's only hope for getting
across enemy territory is an airship powered and navigated by Mikhail
Denisov, a rogue Man O' War who is as seductive as he is untrustworthy.
The Jaded Mercenary
Mikhail
will do anything for the right price, and he's certain he has this
mission—and Daphne—figured out: a simple job and a beautiful but
sheltered Englishwoman. But as they traverse the skies above the
Mediterranean and Arabia, Mikhail learns the fight ahead is anything but
simple, and his lovely passenger is not entirely what she seems. The
only thing Mikhail is certain of is their shared desire—both unexpected
and dangerous.
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