[AUTHOR GUEST POST] Daniel Cohen - Masters of the Veil

Dear Readers,
Please welcome author, Daniel Cohen who has stopped by and shared some little exciting things about his upcoming book *drum roll* "Masters of the Veil," due on March 1st under Spencer Hill Press that brought The Covenant Series and (slated) Cursed by Jennifer L. Armentrout, The Ganzfield Books by Kate Kaynak and others.

Masters of the Veil by Daniel Cohen
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Release Date: March 01, 2012
Pages: 300
Summary:
Life can't get much better for Sam Lock. Popular, good-looking, and with a future as a professional football player. every guy at Stanton High School wishes he were Sam. That is, until his championship football game, when Sam accidentally links with an ancient source of energy known as the Veil and reveals his potential to become a powerful sorcerer. Sam is whisked off to Atlas Crown, a community of sorcerers who utilize the Veil as a part of everyday life. Once there, he trains beside a mute boy who speaks through music, an eternal sage who's the eyes and ears of the Veil, and a beautiful girl who's pretty sure Sam's an idiot.As it becomes clear Sam's meant for power magic-the most feared and misunderstood form of sorcery-people beyond Atlas Crown learn of his dangerous potential. An exiled group of power sorcerers are eager to recruit Sam, believing that he is destined to help them achieve their long-held goal. If they succeed, they could bring about the downfall of not only Atlas Crown. but all humankind.

                                                        Check out the book trailer

Can you tell us about Atlas Crown?

Atlas Crown harbors the biggest and most diverse community of sorcerers in the world. It's kind of like the magical world's main hub,primary travel destination, center of commerce, and intellectual epicenter all rolled into one. One peculiar aspect of the magic in the "Masters of the Veil" world is that more the Veil is used, the more She gives. Kind of like a snowball effect. So in places - like Atlas Crown - where magic is used frequently, all sorts of magical plants, animals, objects, and ideas spring forth. So let's just say there's a lot to see and do in Atlas Crown.

From a smattering of YA fantasy books I've read, passage is granted by either some form of magical object (Auryn in Neverending Story), an ability of the person (Inkheart), the Platform 3/4 (Harry Potter) to propel a person to a different world, does Sam have to go somewhere too, to reach Atlas Crown?

After Sam's football incident, he's essentially recruited (pun intended) by a sorcerer named May, the liaison from Atlas Crown to the outside world. I don't want to give away how or why, but May brings Sam to Atlas Crown and is the first person to explain the essence of magic. I will tell you that connecting with the Veil requires something called a second-skin. A second-skin is basically a glove (although Bariv the Conduit would yell at me for calling it such) made from some magical material that has come from the Veil. You use it to "grip" the Veil, which is how sorcerers do magic.

I am also interested in your inspirations when naming your characters. How did that process come to be? Was there a character bestowed with a particular name who will become important in the series later on? (I think this will be a spoiler so maybe a yes or no will do, please?) I couldn't resist to ask but I'll understand if you can't divulge this right now. *grins*

I'm SO glad you asked that question. You're the first person to ask about names and I've been dying to talk to some reviewers about them. Names are incredibly important in the book. I do want to keep to keep things rather vague on the name front, considering I like the readers to figure out as they go along, but I'll tell you that almost every character in the book (and the entire trilogy) has a name that has some sort of meaning - at least to me. So if you care to take the time to look into the names, you might find some cool stuff. The funny thing is - and I know most writers will say this - I didn't even realize the real significance of some of the names until well after the characters has been created. I actually just realized a rather obvious connection last week and smacked myself in the forehead for not seeing earlier. (I think this calls for a follow-up question. *grins* Curious now.)

Can you tell us briefly about the baddies we will meet in the first book?

The antagonists are an exiled group of sorcerers that excel at power magic (the misunderstood branch of magic). They're known as Tembrath Elite and if I told you what they were trying to do it would ruin a few surprises, so I'll be vague yet again. :)  A few things I can tell you are that all of their second-skins are made from the skins of murdered animals, which is very taboo in Atlas Crown. There are twelve of them, and they are seriously powerful.

Lastly, which sorcerer would you choose to get out of a magical jam and why?

My mind is telling me May (and those who read the book will probably agree with me) but my heart it telling me Glissandro. Glissandro is a young, lanky,  mute sorcerer who talks through music. Although May would no doubt be better at getting me out of a jam, I'd love to meet Glissandro in person. He's such a great guy and he's very mysterious. Maybe if I meet him in person he'd answer some stuff that I've been dying to know.

This ends my FIRST mini-interview with author, Daniel Cohen. I hope you've enjoyed reading this as I have while I tempered down my excitement and thought of coherent questions. *chuckles*  Watch out for the giveaway spot! Enter the GIVEAWAY. Good luck!

Daniel Cohen was just your average business student. Microeconomics, finance, marketing… you name it, he had to do a PowerPoint presentation on it. One dark and stormy night, he was bitten by the radioactive realization that memorizing business jargon could possibly be the most boring activity known to man. 

After gaining eagle-eye vision, abs that could grate cheese, and a talent for imagining things (including his cheese-grating abs), he wrote his first novel and began his epic battle against the formidable business jargon. He continues to fight the good fight by playing saxophone and writing YA fantasy, forever hoping his Veil trilogy will help inspire others to join his cause.
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